bible — Page 3

September 20, 2015 – “First Things First” from John Knox Kirk on Vimeo.

A sermon preached at The Kirk of Kansas City, Missouri, on September 20, 2015.

So I had a chance to chat a bit with an old friend from High School.
I’ve not seen him in more than 20 years.
He’s living on the other side of the country,
and really I only catch him here or there on my Facebook news feed.

But he reached out to me.
Turns out that he sometimes reads my sermons
or watches the sermon videos that I post online.
Not too many, he said.
I think he didn’t want to sound too much like a stalker,
but really, I was humbled that he took the time to do so,
and I told him that.

And after reading here and there for a couple of years,
and after seeing something or other on social media
that piqued his attention
he just wanted to send greetings
and a word of encouragement online.

It was kind of him.

I did notice, however, that there were three or four things
that I found somewhat…odd about your preaching. He said to me.
Only four things? I said back.
You must not have been reading closely enough.

A sermon preached at John Knox Kirk of Kansas City, Missouri, on March 15, 2015.

Ephesians 2:1-10
and John 3:14-21

Editorial note: I’m working on correcting spacing issues. Thank you for your patience in the meantime.

(Click above link for the Scripture texts upon which this sermon is based)

Why?
The questions of why.

We people of faith are great at them.
Why does a bad thing happen to someone we care about?
Why is that wonderful parent sick?
Why can’t I find a job?

And then, on our more hurried days, what seem to be the questions we get caught on:
Why am I stuck in traffic when I’m so late? Every red light? Really?
Why do I always choose the SLOW line at the grocery store?
Or, before last year, that timeless question:
Why do the Royals always seem to be out of it by late April?
If God is a Good God we won’t revert to our old form this year.

We are good at asking questions. It’s a faithful thing to do, I think.
It’s what we human beings are inclined to: we ask questions; we seek understanding.
It is part of our what makes us human,
an innate desire to understand and to know God
a yearning to fit into a larger design for the world, for our lives.

Sometimes, though, as we are searching for why,
whether the big questions, or the lesser ones,
we might miss what is perhaps the most important question:
Why this—God so loved the world that God gave the only Son.

Why that?

Why would God do that?

Why would God sacrifice the only Son? Now THERE’s a why question.
Why in the WORLD does God love us?

Why DOES God so love the world? Why does God so love me?

///
Best as I can tell, there isn’t much logic to it.

Why does God love this reluctant-to-trust,
reluctant-to-be-extravagantly-generous,
reluctant-to-be-forgiving,
quick-to-judge,
quick-to-harbor-resentments,
quick-to-find-excuses,
quick-to-covet-power-and-CONTROL-everything humanity?

A quick read through the news websites or fifteen minutes watching the Daily Show
tells you all you need to know about how messed up we seem to be sometimes.
All too often, it seems God loves the world, in spite of the world.

Could it be that God is simply more loving than our logic can figure—
so loving that God would sacrifice the only Son
that we might have life eternal, and life abundant…

Questions of faith… [Read more…]

Sermon: First Things First

Sermon: The God Who Does Not Condemn