The Gospel: Broken People in Communion with God

As I studied John 3 for the first time for a sermon this past Sunday, I felt the heaviness of God. I was excited and discovered many things in this popular passage that I never expected and never heard preached from this passage before.

One of the first things I noticed was the ridiculous analogy of life in Christ as being "born again." Like Nicodemus, I reflected on the practicalities of being born and even one day having my own baby being born. Naturally I ventured to Wikipedia as my reliable source of all knowledge. I discovered the intense process of giving birth with all the turns of the child and dilation and the fainting of the husband (I think that was in there). Through all of that I noticed a section on my job as a calm husband. Apparently I can reduce the pain and chance of a c-section.

Anyway. I then reflected on learning all over again. Walking, talking, eating, morals, lifestyles, relationships. Nope. I am sure that I don't want to do that all again. But, unless we are born again in the Spirit, then we cannot even see the Kingdom of God. Ok. Fine. I need to be born of the Spirit.

The next thing I noticed was the blindness of Nicodemus

, this teacher and ruler of Israel and how we are often blind like him. In verses 10-13 Jesus asks him how he doesn't get this to then tell him that the Son of Man was standing in front of Him. If only the Son of Man has descended to heaven, who else can tell us of heaven but the Son of Man? Of Course! What causes us to not see and believe God for what he says?

Pride.... Just like the Pharisees. Pride, but we call it truth. That's what the Pharisees did. They had "truth" and held it over people. We do the same thing. In arrogance and pride we take truth, say we know it, and lord it over people, condemning others for not having the truth. I am guilty of being this way and have battled with it.

Is being wrong so wrong? Romans says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God." We are all wrong and sinful. If being wrong is the wrong place to be in then we miss the next part in this chapter. God sent His Son for the wrong and evil ones.

Next, Jesus tells Nicodemus and us that the Messiah's first job on this earth was to save men, not judge them. This is what the Pharisees miss. Jesus' mission was focused the first time. Salvation of those who are already condemned.

Here's the last thing I noticed. Verse 21 is GOLDEN! When our life is exposed to God like spilled water is exposed to a clothe, he soaks it up through His Son and uses His mighty hands to squeeze it out. All our deeds are wrought, or carried through God. Whether good or bad, our deeds go through God. A healthy christian walk is one in full communication with God, even while we sin. Then God can purify us. We are broken people attempting communion with God.

So let's lose our pride (we hide as truth) and allow each other to be broken people in communion with God together.

Prayer - The art of falling in love

Prayer is such a funny thing. Throughout my life I have watched people be passionate, swaying and give many words on one spectrum and solemn, still, and monotone on the other. I always believed the one that was most passionate were more spiritual. Boy was I ever wrong.

I still love the passionate and love being passionate. And nor do I think that the solemn man has it figured out either. Here's what I have discovered: Prayer is being in love.

Matt 6 tells us that babbling is no way of being heard by God. Nor is standing on street corners for people to hear your "righteous" prayers.

I also used to believe that you got what you wanted when you prayed. Jesus did teach that after all, didn't he? There are several times in the Gospel of John where Jesus says "I will give you whatever you want if you have faith" (my paraphrase John 14-16). Honestly, I still struggle with unanswered prayer. But I always have to come back to the reason we pray: Why do we pray anyway?

The answer is easy: Because we are in love. If we look at those passages in John a bit closer and add that with Matt 6, we see that surrounding them are passages that say things like this: "If you remain in me and my words remain in you whatever you ask I will give to you" (John 15:7). The purpose of prayer is not to use God to get what I want, but to fall in love with him to pray what he wants. "Your kingdom come. Your will be done." Our hearts become God's heart.

Why do you think we pray "in Jesus' name?" We are praying in the authority and power of Jesus' life, death and resurrection. He has given us that authority and we are now Christ's ambassadors, carrying his Spirit and his authority (2 Cor 5:20). When we pray in Jesus' name, we surrender our feeble will and take up the powerful will of God. When we pray in Jesus' name we begin to see what it looks like for His kingdom to come and His will to be done.

That's why we pray.

Youth Quake Link

Here is the link for the messages given at Youth Quake. http://www.briercrest.ca/bcast/

Check it out!