Christopher Wright in an article in Christianity Today entitled, "An Upside-Down World," writes, "The map of global Christianity that our grandparents knew has been turned upside down. At the start of the 20th century, only ten percent of the world's Christians lived in continents of the south and east. Ninety percent lived in North America and Europe, along with Australia and New Zealand. But at the start of the 21st century, at least 70 percent of the world's Christians live in the non-Western world - more appropriately called the majority world. More Christians worship in Anglican churches in Nigeria each week than in all the Episcopal and Anglican churches of Britain, Europe, and North America combined. There are more Baptists in Congo then in Britain. More people in church every Sunday in Communist China than in all of Western Europe. Ten times more Assemblies of God members in Latin-America than in the U.S." And I would add that there are many more Lutherans in Africa then there are in the United States now, also Latin America. The promise given to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 and 22 has been fulfilled in ways that no one could have expected. Who would have ever thought that the center of Lutheranism would end up being Africa instead of Germany or Scandinavia or America? But that is what has happened. Who would have thought that there would end up being more Chinese Christians than European ones? But that is what has happened. Who would have thought that Africa would start sending Christian missionaries to America to bring the gospel to people who at one time were the dominate force in Christianity? But that is what is happening. Abraham would have bowed down in worship if he had seen this for himself. God has been true to his Word.
Abraham, a blessing to the world is today's theme. You could almost say that this is a sermon about the history of missions in the church. In Genesis 12:3 we hear God say to Abraham, "I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse: and all people's on earth will be blessed through you." God here is singling out Abraham to start a line of people that will be his people, his nation. These would end up being the Israelites or as a smaller group of them would later be called, the Jews. But here he points out that, that is just an intermediate step that in the end all peoples on the face of the planet will be blessed through him. Later in Genesis 22 God reissues this promise. The plan was that the Nation of Israel would draw other people around them to God. When people saw how the Israelites were blessed they would desire to have what they had. We see this start to happen in the book of Exodus. We see that some of the people listen to Moses' warnings about the plagues and take actions to protect themselves. In Exodus 12 we see that when the Israelites finally do leave Egypt that a number of the Egyptians go with them. They had come to the realization that this God was the one true God, they had become believers.
We see this promise continue to be talked about throughout the Old Testament. We also see many Gentiles brought into the Israelite nation. Gentiles like Rahab the Canaanite prostitute in Jericho and Ruth the Moabitess. We see God continues to send out his Word promising salvation for the Gentiles. In Isaiah 49 he says, "I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth." In Isaiah 52 we see that the Messiah suffers for all men's sins. It reads, "So will he sprinkle many nations." This is alluding to the high priest sprinkling the blood on the mercy seat in Leviticus 16:14. The servant doing the sprinkling of his own blood is of course Jesus Christ. The sprinkling brings forgiveness of sins and redemption. And it is for all people, for all nations.
Unfortunately God's people are not so generous at times. Sometimes we tend to want to limit God's promises to people like us. For instance in the book of Jonah, Jonah is ordered to go and witness to the gentiles in Nineveh, but he does everything he can to avoid it. Eventually he ends up going and is very angry when they do repent and God forgives them. He does not think they deserve to be forgiven. But that is what God does because he desires that all men be saved.
This line of promises about the gentiles continues throughout the Old Testament. The prophets Jeremiah, Zechariah and Malachi also look forward to the time when all the gentiles surround the throne and worship hm as Lord and king. The most remarkable thing we see about this is that God always seems to use humans to do his work in this area. He usually doesn't just bring people to faith he generally works through other people to do this. We really see this in the New Testament. In Matthew and Luke all Christians are given the directive to out and baptize and teach all nations about Jesus Christ. And we see this happen for instance in Acts 8 where the Ethiopian eunuch is brought to faith through Philip explaining Isaiah to him. In Acts 10 we see Cornelius, a gentile and centurion in the Roman Army brought to faith through the ministry of Peter. All of this by the way resulted in much consternation in the church at first. They did not like the idea of the gentiles coming into the church. They were unclean and didn't follow the traditional customs. But in Acts 12 we see Paul saying that he and Barnabus will bring the message of salvation to the gentiles. In Galatians 3 Scripture talks about the gentiles being justified by faith in Christ alone. In Ephesians it talks about how the gentiles and the Jews are united in one church. Finally in the book of Revelation we see the multitude praising the Lamb and counting him worthy to open the book. This multitude is from every tribe, tongue, people and nation.
The book of Revelation is book that looks into the future which means we are also part of the process of getting this blessing out to others. You could say that this is a promise that is not completely fulfilled yet and that we have a part in filling it. We are included in that directive of Matthew 28 to go out into all the world and baptize and teach about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The history of missions is impressive to say the least. Through the past two thousand years Christians have risked life and limb and even died doing missionary work in the hardest of circumstances. Yet there is much work yet to do.
At the same time we have many Jonah moments when it comes to missions. Most of those Jonah moments have to do with local missions in our own backyard. There are certain people that some do not want in their churches. In one of my previous ministries I was at a function where an elder in another Lutheran church, which was in the inner city, told me that some people in his church wanted to call an African American pastor because most of the community was African American, but he said he was against that, after all the good African Americans went to the Baptist church and we didn't want the other kind. When I started doing developmentally disabled ministry I found that 80 percent of that population had no church, not because they didn't want to go but churches didn't want them because they made too much noise and sometimes messed up the carpets. So much like Jonah we don't care if someone burns in hell as long as we have good people like us in the church and our carpets are clean. When God told Abraham that through him all peoples would be blessed he meant just exactly that, all peoples, even Ninevehites.
The fulfillment of this promise though has been nothing short of amazing to watch, whether it has been following it through the Old Testament and into the New or whether it has been looking at the history of missions in the couple of thousand years that have followed it. God has succeeded in keeping his promise and he did it through us, humans. Whether it was the Israelites witnessing and demonstrating their faith, or the Apostles spreading the Word or modern missionaries covering the planet. God has kept his promise. Through the Seed of Abraham we have the Messiah dying on the cross for us and rising from the dead, paying for our sins and redeeming us and also through the blessing given to Abraham we have the message shared with everyone, no matter their tribe or language. We as Gentiles have been the recipients of that blessing. The early church did not want our kind in their church with our non-Jewish ways and unclean habits, but God through his Word brought us in any way. And thank God for that. Thank God that the Lamb of God sprinkled his blood on the altar for the healing of all nations, because that means we are the forgiven and saved people of God. And it also means that now we have the joy of sharing that with all the others that Christ died for as well. Amen.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
The Seed - Sermon on January 4th, 2009
People pass down a lot of things to their children. They pass on their appearance, their attitudes, their property, their businesses, their money among other things. That is why some businesses have been in the family for years, why people in certain professions also have had dads, granddads and even great-granddads in the same profession. Scripture is also full of things being handed down through the generations, things being given to their seeds. Land in the OT was one big thing that was handed down. The biggest thing that was handed down though was the Promised Seed. I am not talking about plant seeds here but human seed, offspring would be another way to put it. What we are talking about here though is not just any offspring but the one offspring that had been promised clear back in the Garden of Eden. Immediately after the fall God pronounced judgment on Satan. That judgment would include the seed of the woman crushing Satan's head and Satan's offspring striking his heel. God does not reveal who that seed is at the time, just that he will come from the woman. We of course know that Seed as our Savior Jesus Christ.
What we have here is the greatest promise ever given to mankind bar none. Man had just lost everything and had been kicked out of the Garden of Eden and was told that now he would die. The ground was cursed because of him and he was forced to work it. Nothing would ever be right again. Because of that sin we now have death and disease, conflict you name it. But in the midst of it all God made a promise that one day paradise would be restored. The people were to look for the Seed of the woman which would bring it all to pass.
Well Eve did not have that promised man herself instead generations of people came and went and time passed on, but God had not forgot. The next major time we hear of the promise is in Genesis 17 and 22 where God promises Abraham that he will be the Father of many nations and that all people on earth will be blessed through him. The seed was going to pass through Abraham. Then in Genesis 49 we hear Jacob blessing his children and when he comes to Judah he tells him that the scepter will not pass from him until the one to whom it belongs comes. This messianic prophecy was fulfilled in two ways. David fulfilled it in the short run as the first king of Israel who was after God's heart. Ultimately though it would be fulfilled again in Jesus.
The next big mention is in 2 Samuel chapter seven where David is promised by God through the prophet Nathan that his throne will be established forever. The final inheritor of that throne is of course Jesus who came from the line of David.
Paul takes up the prophecy of the Seed in Galatians 3:16 where he says, "The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ." This was the Seed that Adam and Eve had been promised. Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of that promise. He was the one who would crush Satan's head by his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead.
In conclusion, the promise that was given to Adam and Eve that their seed would crush Satan's head was fulfilled at Christmas when Jesus was born to Mary. Eve would not have the promised seed, instead her descendant Mary would literally thousands of years later. It is the most important promise ever fulfilled in all of Scripture. People pass down a lot of things to their descendants. Adam and Eve passed down sin and death to us. But thankfully God in his mercy had his Son Jesus Christ, the promised Seed, passed down to us. Through his life and death and resurrection he brought forgiveness for those sins and he brought us back to life with him. That is truly something worth inheriting. May it be yours in Jesus Christ. Amen.
What we have here is the greatest promise ever given to mankind bar none. Man had just lost everything and had been kicked out of the Garden of Eden and was told that now he would die. The ground was cursed because of him and he was forced to work it. Nothing would ever be right again. Because of that sin we now have death and disease, conflict you name it. But in the midst of it all God made a promise that one day paradise would be restored. The people were to look for the Seed of the woman which would bring it all to pass.
Well Eve did not have that promised man herself instead generations of people came and went and time passed on, but God had not forgot. The next major time we hear of the promise is in Genesis 17 and 22 where God promises Abraham that he will be the Father of many nations and that all people on earth will be blessed through him. The seed was going to pass through Abraham. Then in Genesis 49 we hear Jacob blessing his children and when he comes to Judah he tells him that the scepter will not pass from him until the one to whom it belongs comes. This messianic prophecy was fulfilled in two ways. David fulfilled it in the short run as the first king of Israel who was after God's heart. Ultimately though it would be fulfilled again in Jesus.
The next big mention is in 2 Samuel chapter seven where David is promised by God through the prophet Nathan that his throne will be established forever. The final inheritor of that throne is of course Jesus who came from the line of David.
Paul takes up the prophecy of the Seed in Galatians 3:16 where he says, "The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ." This was the Seed that Adam and Eve had been promised. Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of that promise. He was the one who would crush Satan's head by his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead.
In conclusion, the promise that was given to Adam and Eve that their seed would crush Satan's head was fulfilled at Christmas when Jesus was born to Mary. Eve would not have the promised seed, instead her descendant Mary would literally thousands of years later. It is the most important promise ever fulfilled in all of Scripture. People pass down a lot of things to their descendants. Adam and Eve passed down sin and death to us. But thankfully God in his mercy had his Son Jesus Christ, the promised Seed, passed down to us. Through his life and death and resurrection he brought forgiveness for those sins and he brought us back to life with him. That is truly something worth inheriting. May it be yours in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
If you missed the sermon
If you missed the sermon there will be a cliff notes version of it on this blog the next week. I am not going to put my whole sermon on because it is just too long. But if you want just the main points then this will be the place to come to. Those of you out there in churches that follow the church year, well I don't. At least not much of the time I should say. Right now we are doing a series on Old Testament prophecies and how they were fulfilled in the New Testament.
For those of you interested in Bible study, this coming Sunday we are starting a new Bible study on the book of Daniel in the Adult Sunday School class which is at 9:30 a.m. in room 9. This is an important book in the Old Testament and is also important for understanding the book of Revelation in the New Testament. So come and join us.
Pastor Fred
For those of you interested in Bible study, this coming Sunday we are starting a new Bible study on the book of Daniel in the Adult Sunday School class which is at 9:30 a.m. in room 9. This is an important book in the Old Testament and is also important for understanding the book of Revelation in the New Testament. So come and join us.
Pastor Fred
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Goodby 2008
Tonight CBS had their end of the year Christmas specials. Charlie Brown and his pals rang in the New Year with a dance while Charlie tried to finish reading War and Peace. I guess the title of that book is a good summary of just about any year lately. The Charlie Brown special was followed by Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer saving the New Year. It was actually a very interesting story. It seems that Father Time has called out to Santa Claus for help because Happy the Baby New Year has disappeared and if he doesn't get back in six days than the Old Year will continue forever. The weather is horrible and so Rudolph is asked to go out and find him before it's too late. It is not an easy mission though because there is an evil bird out there trying to find him as well. This evil bird is supposed to turn into snow and ice with the New Year so he wants to find the Baby and stop him from taking the throne of the New Year. In other words he wants to stop time. A strange story yes, but if you think about it that is kind of scary. Just imagine if 2008 never ended. What if it just went on and on and on? Some parts of that might not be too bad, there were many good things that happened in 2008, but there was also a lot of bad.
That is always the great thing about a New Year, we get to restart all over again. We put the old year behind us and say things will be different this year. They may not be, but at least we have some hope that they will be. January first always gives us a clean slate in a way. We need that, we want that. So thankfully tomorrow night we can say goodbye 2008, its time to move on. Its time for 2009!
Pastor Fred
That is always the great thing about a New Year, we get to restart all over again. We put the old year behind us and say things will be different this year. They may not be, but at least we have some hope that they will be. January first always gives us a clean slate in a way. We need that, we want that. So thankfully tomorrow night we can say goodbye 2008, its time to move on. Its time for 2009!
Pastor Fred
Monday, August 25, 2008
John McCain, Misty May and Family of Christ
The latest news from Family of Christ is that a bunch of us had lunch with John McCain and Misty May (Who won the gold medal for beach volleyball last week) on Sunday. We had a great time. We even watched a Diamondbacks game together. I had a bratwurst and then some Panda Express. Darla and the kids had pizza. The rest of the Family of Christ had all kinds of different foods and drinks. I didn't see what John and Misty were eating but I have a feeling they didn't stand in line to buy it. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to give John any advice on a running mate, and Misty wouldn't let me hold her gold medal. But it sure was a lot of fun being with them.
Now I have to admit that we didn't have a lot of conversation, actually we didn't have any at all. It is kind of hard to talk to someone when they are on the other side of the field or in a box suite. 20,000 other people kept getting in the way as well. But I saw them on the big screen in the stadium. John was there, well because he is from Phoenix and with the Democratic Convention this week, he might as well take a few days off. And Misty was there because her husband plays for the Florida Marlins who the Diamondbacks were playing.
Family of Christ's name appeared on the big screen as well during the game, so you could say that we did share the spotlight with them. Overall a great time was had by all.
Pastor Fred
Now I have to admit that we didn't have a lot of conversation, actually we didn't have any at all. It is kind of hard to talk to someone when they are on the other side of the field or in a box suite. 20,000 other people kept getting in the way as well. But I saw them on the big screen in the stadium. John was there, well because he is from Phoenix and with the Democratic Convention this week, he might as well take a few days off. And Misty was there because her husband plays for the Florida Marlins who the Diamondbacks were playing.
Family of Christ's name appeared on the big screen as well during the game, so you could say that we did share the spotlight with them. Overall a great time was had by all.
Pastor Fred
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Hey Let's do some Bible Study
Starting on Tuesday September 9th there will be a new Bible study called TUMBS. It is for whatever ails you. TUMBS stands for Tuesday Morning Bible clasS. We will be studying the book of Luke this year. The class starts at 9 a.m. with some coffee and refreshments and then the study will start at 9:15 a.m. and go until 10:15 a.m. Everyone including parents in the Learning center are invited to take part. It will be lots of fun. The book of Luke presents the life of Christ a easy to follow manner and has many of the good parables. So come and join us in Room 1.
Pastor Fred
Pastor Fred
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Where have I been?
That is what many people have been asking when they look at the blog online. What in the world have you been doing? Well I will have to admit not so much that I couldn't have updated this blog sooner. But lately yes I have been on the run. At the end of July I spent a week in Seward Nebraska. It sounded like a fun entertaining place so why not right? It is a corn lover's dream. Corn as far as you can see and cattle mooing in the background. Let me tell you it was the highlight of my summer. That is why they call me mister excitement! No actually I was there for a music and worship conference. It was great, 720 people gathered together to study music and liturgy and worship and 719 of them could sing and play. I sat in the audience. It was the best conference I have ever been too. Learned a ton and enjoyed it all. Then two days after getting home I headed up north for a Pastor's Retreat. That was fun too. Then I had a couple of days in the office and headed up to Lewiston Idaho to do a wedding. I am sure you have heard of Lewiston it is famous for....? Well anyway it is in Northern Idaho and the scenery is great, no corn fields there. Finally got back to Phoenix last night. I am tired, I just want to stay home for awhile, but this weekend we are headed back up north to install a guy in Payson. It never ends.
I learned some things on my trips though. The first one is that there is no good substitute for toothpaste. No matter how hard I plan I always forget something and the new airline restrictions don't help. So when I got to Seward I realized the next morning I had forgot my toothpaste. Well my roommate had already left so I couldn't ask to borrow his and I was going to be spending the day with over 700 people. Skipping brushing my teeth was not an option. So I headed to the bookstore and they didn't have any. So there I stood in the bathroom with my toothbrush but no paste. It was then that I saw the bar of soap I had just used in the shower. My mind went back to all those times I sat in a corner with one of those in my mouth because of some word I had said. I didn't remember it being very pleasant. But man not brushing my teeth, that thought I couldn't stand. So as I looked at it I thought well it is just soap right? And isn't toothpaste soap. Well.... So I ran my toothbrush across it several times closed my eyes and began to brush my teeth. The first 5 seconds weren't so bad but then the soap was all over my mouth and I think I swallowed some. Thankfully I was in the bathroom alone because within seconds I found my self on the floor gagging and then spitting everything out of my mouth into the sink. I was filling my mouth with water and doing everything I could to get it out. It took an hour or so before the taste of soap finally left my mouth. Again there is no good substitute for toothpaste.
Second lesson. You know that car insurance they always want you to take out on a rental car? Well not a bad idea. I have driven tons of rental cars and never had a problem and felt I had been flushing money down the drain buying that insurance. So when I arrived in Spokane this past week I turned down all the insurance. I mean what could possibly happen? Five miles from the airport on I-90 headed into Spokane a semi passed me and threw up a rock and hit the windshield dead center. Huge rock chip! I still am waiting for the bill on that. Buy the insurance!
The other thing I learned is that every place you have lived has certain things you always have to do when you return. Lewiston is a town of about 30,000 people with about another 15,000 across the river in Clarkston. Not very big compared to Fort Wayne or Phoenix. But it has two of the best restaurants I have ever been to. One is Fazzaries in Clarkston WA. Best pizza ever, bar none. And then Taco Time in Lewiston. Now I know they are a chain and I have ate at a great number of them. But the one in Lewiston is the best one in the country. It has even won awards to show it. No other Taco Time measures up. Then I found another little restaurant which I will return to some day. My buddy suggested we go eat breakfast at a place called the Bait Shop. Not exactly the most appealing sounding place to eat. So I reluctantly went. It is a fisherman's hang out with all kinds of fishing gear on the walls and most of the people in there looked like they spent all their time fishing. Sometimes they even put a gummy worm on your plate. Well I ordered breakfast and I have to tell you I have never tasted pancakes so good in my life. I think we spent close to two hours in there eating and talking. It is just a tiny run down looking place but man the food is out of this world!
So that is what I have been doing since April. Basically traveling and eating. I will try to be more regular here.
Pastor Fred
I learned some things on my trips though. The first one is that there is no good substitute for toothpaste. No matter how hard I plan I always forget something and the new airline restrictions don't help. So when I got to Seward I realized the next morning I had forgot my toothpaste. Well my roommate had already left so I couldn't ask to borrow his and I was going to be spending the day with over 700 people. Skipping brushing my teeth was not an option. So I headed to the bookstore and they didn't have any. So there I stood in the bathroom with my toothbrush but no paste. It was then that I saw the bar of soap I had just used in the shower. My mind went back to all those times I sat in a corner with one of those in my mouth because of some word I had said. I didn't remember it being very pleasant. But man not brushing my teeth, that thought I couldn't stand. So as I looked at it I thought well it is just soap right? And isn't toothpaste soap. Well.... So I ran my toothbrush across it several times closed my eyes and began to brush my teeth. The first 5 seconds weren't so bad but then the soap was all over my mouth and I think I swallowed some. Thankfully I was in the bathroom alone because within seconds I found my self on the floor gagging and then spitting everything out of my mouth into the sink. I was filling my mouth with water and doing everything I could to get it out. It took an hour or so before the taste of soap finally left my mouth. Again there is no good substitute for toothpaste.
Second lesson. You know that car insurance they always want you to take out on a rental car? Well not a bad idea. I have driven tons of rental cars and never had a problem and felt I had been flushing money down the drain buying that insurance. So when I arrived in Spokane this past week I turned down all the insurance. I mean what could possibly happen? Five miles from the airport on I-90 headed into Spokane a semi passed me and threw up a rock and hit the windshield dead center. Huge rock chip! I still am waiting for the bill on that. Buy the insurance!
The other thing I learned is that every place you have lived has certain things you always have to do when you return. Lewiston is a town of about 30,000 people with about another 15,000 across the river in Clarkston. Not very big compared to Fort Wayne or Phoenix. But it has two of the best restaurants I have ever been to. One is Fazzaries in Clarkston WA. Best pizza ever, bar none. And then Taco Time in Lewiston. Now I know they are a chain and I have ate at a great number of them. But the one in Lewiston is the best one in the country. It has even won awards to show it. No other Taco Time measures up. Then I found another little restaurant which I will return to some day. My buddy suggested we go eat breakfast at a place called the Bait Shop. Not exactly the most appealing sounding place to eat. So I reluctantly went. It is a fisherman's hang out with all kinds of fishing gear on the walls and most of the people in there looked like they spent all their time fishing. Sometimes they even put a gummy worm on your plate. Well I ordered breakfast and I have to tell you I have never tasted pancakes so good in my life. I think we spent close to two hours in there eating and talking. It is just a tiny run down looking place but man the food is out of this world!
So that is what I have been doing since April. Basically traveling and eating. I will try to be more regular here.
Pastor Fred
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