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Jesus Heals an Ear – Luke 22:47-53

This is a story of Jesus healing someone that does not get as much attention, primarily because it comes in the story of the Crucifixion with so many other things going on. But it is worth close attention because it tells us a great deal about who Jesus is.

Just before this story, Jesus took the disciples from the Last Supper to the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives. This is a place he took them often, it says, but this time is different. With the Crucifixion looming, Jesus felt intense anxiety – so much so that he sweat blood. This is a reminder that Jesus was human, that he experienced all the emotions of Inside Out 2 and more. But we also read in the passage that Jesus was ministered to by angels when he prayed.

Meanwhile, the disciples had fallen asleep during this intense time of prayer. Jesus warns them to be alert (which is good advice for us, as well). And then shortly after that, his friend Judas arrives to betray him with a kiss. Jesus has every reason at this point to break down, and most of us would have.

Just before this, Jesus had instructed his disciples that a time of change was coming. “If you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.” The disciples eagerly show him that they already have two swords, but Jesus response implies he was (as often happens) being metaphorical.

So then we see Peter use one of those swords violently – apparently ready to go down in a blaze of glory because he has absolutely no skills here, as indicated by the fact that he cut an ear rather than anything vital. But Jesus has every reason so be angry, every reason to lash out in the same way, but with infinitely more effectiveness. But even more within the bounds of his mission, he still has every reason to leave his enemy writhing there on the ground.

Instead, he kneels down and heals the man who came there to arrest him. This is a picture of how we are called to be, even in the midst of enemies who seek our destruction. Jesus taught his disciples to love their enemies, and now he shows them exactly what it looks like. We are called to the same.

We don’t know exactly what happened to Malchus next, but the fact that he is named implies that he may have become a Christian, known to the early church who Luke wrote this account for. Likewise, we never know if our loving actions towards our enemies will bear direct fruit or not, but our call is to create those opportunities by following the lead of our savior.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, August 3, 2024

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The Lord is Our Banner – Exodus 17:8-16

Yahweh Nissi means “the Lord is Our Banner” – in Exodus 17, Moses named an altar this after defeating the Amalekites. Banners were key to pre-modern warfare, telling soldiers who is leading and where to attack. “Under the banner” can also mean “in the name of” – “under the banner of love* for example.

The name is used only once, in a passage that is ultimately problematic. The Amalekites ambushed the people of Israel, and after God enables victory, the Amalekites are marked out as a people for destruction.

This destruction becomes relevant again in 1 Samuel, when Samuel instructs Saul to wipe out the Amalekites, down to the children.

This story is hard to square with the teachings of Christ, and is even difficult to reconcile with the teachings of the Old Testament like “do not kill.” This is important because we see leaders today justifying violence in God’s name as well. In reality, if the Lord is our banner then it redefines our relationship with our enemies.

Irenaeus was an early church father who struggled with this difference as well. He sees the story of the Old Testament as one of “gradual pedagogy” where His gradually moves a primitive, violent people to a full understanding of the God who is Love. Origen was another, who saw over time a development and revelation of how to interact with enemies, finding its fullness in the Cross.

If the Lord is our banner, He redefines the source of our security. We no longer place our faith in our own strength or resources, but rather in God Himself. We no longer need to have a scarcity mindset, but can rest in His abundance, letting that impact our engagement with others in love rather than fear and competition.

If the Lord is our banner, it redefines our identity, our vocation and equips us with a different ethic. We are to participate in God’s work of lifting up the marginalized, freeing the captives and giving sight to the blind.

— Guillermo Jimenez, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, July 21, 2024

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God and Body Image – Psalm 139:13-16

Paul prayed for the Thessalonians:

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

This prayer gives us the promise that God cares about and addresses all of us “through and through… spirit, soul & body”.

This goes back to the story of creation and the fall. God calls us and all He created good, but the serpent comes in and tells us the lie that what He made us and gave us is insufficient.

Psalm 139 tells us more of this truth. Verse 13, makes it clear that we are carefully, individually crafted. We are handmade, artisan, made-to-order, small-batch humans.

Verse 14 echoes this, putting it into the context of all God’s marvelous creation. We see the creation and know how beautiful it is, but question it when it comes to ourselves.

Verse 15 emphasizes how special we are, carefully crafted in the deepest, the most sacred place. We are made to be one of a kind and precious.

Verse 16 stretches this promise out, beyond only our bodies and out to our full lives rolling out ahead of us along the paths God has laid out.

As a people, however, we struggle mightily with what we look like. This cuts across men and women, all ages and ethnicities. Body dysmorphia, eating disorders, plastic surgery – all of these can come against the beautiful truth that our bodies were created by God. Social media has multiplied these issues exponentially even though filters, editing, AI and of course full time health & beauty regimens by models and celebrities mean that reality and image are farther away than ever.

The response to this is to seek the truths of God, over and over again. We need to hear the truth that we are His beautifully crafted creation multiple times to let it sink in. We need to let the Holy Spirit speak to us, making it clear that we are beautiful and we are loved.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, July 14, 2024

Images created with Midjourney.

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Healing Shame

When we feel hurt we often run from the church, which is traffic because that is the one place where we should feel safe. One reason we often do not is because of shame.

The word shame itself has its roots in the ancient word for “to cover” and is deeply rooted in notions of privacy. There are physical aspects to shame – humans are the only animals who blush. But beyond these intellectual understandings of shame, we want to understand what God has to say about our shame.

The past has a way of bubbling up like hives. Shame that is hidden well reemerge. We hide in at least two ways.

First, we hide from God. That is silly of course, because we cannot actually hide from God. It’s an ancient story, though – we see Adam and Eve going from feeling no shame to hiding their bodies from God and from each other. But more than its impossibility, it is also unnecessary. God forgives – Jesus himself forgave the crowd and the soldiers and the politicians who murdered him, and he will forgive you for anything you may have done.

There are two basic forms of shame. Genuine Shame is that shame we feel after having done something truly outside of morality. It begins as guilt and evolves into shame – moving from feeling bad about what we have done to feeling bad about who we are. This is where confession and repentance comes in.

There is also False Shame – shame put on us by our surroundings, shame put on us by others even when we have not done anything wrong. This is the shame felt by the abused, put on by abusers, or the shame of family expectations unmet – shame that does not stem from wrongdoing but mismatched expectations or manipulation. This shame, too, must be brought to Christ.

Going back to Genuine Shame, though, scripture gives clear direction. Psalm 32 says:

When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.

Psalm 32:3-5

There will be times, though, where we do not know whether we are feeling genuine shame or false shame. Is this real sin, or shame brought on by society or those around us? In those times, we can fall back on the Holy Spirit. John writes:

As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you don’t need anyone to teach you. Instead, his anointing teaches you about all things and is true and is not a lie; just as it has taught you, remain in him.

1 John 2:27

We feel shame about sex, we feel shame about money, we feel shame about how we treat our children, we feel shame about lies we tell, we feel shame about drugs & alcohol, we feel shame about having been abused. If you feel shame about any of these things, know that you are not alone. Many of us have either struggled with the same sins or felt the same false shame for many of the same reasons.

In all these cases we need community, we need to share our burdens with others. You may be burned by this at some point but true healing happens in community.

If you have shame buried deep – and nearly all of us do – bring it to God and bring it to your brothers and sisters. We are the beloved of God and He wants us to bring healing to each other of all our shame, false, genuine and that which could be either.

— Sermon Notes, Alison Robison, Renew Church Lynnwood, WA, July 7, 2024

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I Am – The God of Surprise

God first calls himself I Am when he reveals himself to Moses in the burning bush. This is one of the key “theophanies” in the Old Testament – the visible, physical appearance of God to humans.

There are many of these across scriptures, mostly by surprise. The appearance to Hagar in the wilderness, the promise of a child to Abraham, the wrestling with Jacob, the appearance to Samson’s parents, the call of Samuel and many others. He also appears in other forms, like the pillars of cloud and fire, or the storm on Mount Sinai.

If you look at a map of these theophanies, the miracles of Jesus, or even all the locations mentioned in scripture, you will see a relatively small window of geography. But if you consider the eternal nature of the name “I Am” you’ll understand that God is everywhere and can work in any and all places – hence the surprise.

We get a taste of this in the story of Jonah – Jonah thinks by leaving the physical location of Israel he will escape the call of God. In reality, God meets him in the middle of the sea, and in a notably surprising way. Jonah’s prayer from the depths gives us a picture of what this surprising encounter can look like when we are at our lowest.

And so he finally obeys and heads to Nineveh where something equally surprising happens – they listen, and are forgiven. Like Jonah, many of us seek for justice, even vengeance, and so the end of the story where Jonah rages at the compassion of God. Ever dramatic, he wishes he would just die. Then comes the story of sitting beneath a plant God causes to grow, but then that God causes to be destroyed by a worm. Again, he wants to die. The story of vengeance deferred because of the mercy of God is a surprise and also a challenge.

— Sermon Notes, Melanie Malone, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, June 16, 2024

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Where Can I Carry My Shame? – 2 Samuel 13:1-22

The subtitle of this sermon series is “Renewed Life in Christ and His Body”. That last part is key because healing is not only an individual activity but something that happens corporately and in community.

The previous Sermon looked at the hurry created by our families of origin. It started with a look at the family of the patriarchs and all the dysfunction there, and how through the work of God in Joseph, healing came to that family.

The story today is of another high profile biblical family that was deeply dysfunctional. David’s son Amnon lusted after his half-sister and manipulated her into being alone with him where he raped her.

It’s key to understand in this context that God hates abuse like this. Violence led to Him causing the Flood; Jesus warns that violence against the vulnerable will lead to millstones around necks; Christ Himself was abused and betrayed.

So when we look at this story of abuse and violence, we should not be centering the perpetrator of that abuse, but rather Tamar herself. We need to listen to what she has to say: “Where can I take my shame?” Ties of family and society barred her from doing more than being silent.

This is in contrast to the four men in the story who had far more freedom of movement and agency. Amnon was infatuated with Tamar, and instead of setting aside an inappropriate desire or finding a legitimate way to address it, sees what he wants and takes it. Then having done that, the deception (self-deception and otherwise) is over and his “love” turns to hate.

Absalom, though ostensibly on her side and offended on her behalf, does not do anything for two years. When he eventually does, it is a mirror of Amnon’s behavior, taking Amnon’s life much as Amnon took Tamara’s dignity.

David, responsible for this whole household, does nothing but wallow in impotent anger, and certainly does not take any responsibility for his own part in unknowingly enabling Amnon.

Finally, Jonadab, who actively and knowingly enabled Tamara’s violation, appears to get off scott free, and is still advising David towards the end of the story.

This is a story with important implications for us as a church. A massive proportion of people, women especially, have been sexually in some way. We have victims in our church and in our lives. When a victim of sexual abuse enters our church we need to be in a place to welcome and love them.

Tamar asked the question “Where can I carry my shame?” It’s a question that goes unanswered in the original story, but we see the answer come under the new covenant: she can carry her shame to Jesus, and so can we.

And as we are Christ’s body, as a church we must be a safe place where the hurting and abused can carry their shame. We must listen, acknowledge and walk alongside the hurting without being presumptuous or impatient.

Abuse and shame thrive in silence, so if you have lived that, find ways to break the silence. Start small, maybe writing a letter and then destroying it if you aren’t ready to share it. But seek someone you can trust to share it with. If you are mired in shame and self-blame for what someone else did to you, forgive yourself, and let go of any self-recrimination. Seek the redemption and healing Christ offers both directly and through His body.

God wants to renew every part of us – mind, body, soul, spirit. He wants to make us all whole again.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, June 9, 2024

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Unhealed: Origins

To paraphrase M. Scott Peck, life is difficult, and once we accept that, we can transcend it. Much of this difficulty stems from the dysfunction we all have in our family of origin. There are generational messages transmitted, both purposefully and otherwise, that impact our lives.

So no family is perfect – and when we look to scripture we see this emphasized. The families in Genesis paint a clear picture of dysfunction and generational trauma. From Cain & Abel to the Jacob/Rachel/Leah love triangle, we get many, many stories of people chosen by God but still hurting within themselves and hurting others. But out of that chaos comes the legendary 12 Tribes of Israel, the People of the Covenant the line of Christ and the mechanism by which God saved the world.

We can take some comfort in this, that we are not alone – there is nothing we have ensured or are enduring that God has not seen before, that God has not used for the good of His people and the glory of His name.

The dynamics in our families of origin still impact us. They help determine how we interact with people we love, what we value, and how we respond to both hurt and success.

Scripture tells us that the sin of parents impact their children and their children’s children (Exodus 34:7). But it also tells us that His grace is even more pervasive.

We get a picture of this grace and healing in a family, also in Genesis. Joseph came out of this same dysfunctional brood, with favoritism, pride and jealousy all coming together to leave him considered dead by his family and enslaved in a foreign land. But Joseph turns his focus to following God even in his circumstance, so that when he is brought face to face with the brothers who wronged him, he (eventually) finds a way to forgive and find healing. First, though, he is overcome and finds a private room in which to weep. What are your private rooms, where you go to when triggered by a reminder of past hurt?

When Joseph finally confronts his brothers, he does so with mercy and forgiveness that is nearly unfathomable. The story of Joseph is the story of the Gospel, turning trauma and tragedy into salvation.

In the same way, our misery becomes our ministry. When God takes us through healing, He gives us the words and the ability to reach others with that same message of healing. Sometimes that trauma itself will even push us to God and to that healing.

Joseph’s brothers deserved to be cursed and to have revenge taken on them. Instead, God made their sin the mechanism of material salvation for their family, and even of healing for the relational trauma of the family.

What are the traumatic events of your past that have wounded you? God is big enough. There is nothing too bad or too overwhelming such that He cannot bring healing and redemption.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, June 2, 2024

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Resurrection Life – Why are You Looking at Heaven? – Acts 1:4-11

It is not for you to know

We get a sense of impatience among the disciples in this passage, and like much impatience it may have stemmed from fear. The disciples had been looking forward to Jesus as Messiah overthrowing Rome’s rule over Israel – Jesus’ death derailed that plan briefly but now things seem like they should be back on track, but over the 40 days from His resurrections He hasn’t made any kind of move in that direction. So naturally, they are getting impatient. What’s the plan?

Here, they ask about this directly, and Jesus’ answer is critical to understand: “It is not for you to know.” We all want answers and a clear understanding of our place in God’s overall plan. But Jesus’instruction is to wait. We hate that!

But there is a promise coming – the Holy Spirit will come, and the disciples will be witnesses. That is ultimately the story of Acts, which is an active, mission oriented book, but that starts with the leader of this new movement disappearing and telling his followers to sit tight.

And so they stand there looking at the sky feeling confused and maybe frustrated. Then along come two angels, much like the scene at the tomb that Luke also described. They promise that, even if the details are hidden, Jesus would return. Their task was first to wait and then to be His witnesses.

We are called to the same – we are not just biding our time until heaven. God has set a plan in front of us and a purpose on this earth. We aren’t meant to simply stand and gaze at heaven, huddled together with like minded people and waiting for the second coming. We are called to be witnesses. There is work to be done!

The church is supposed to be the collective witness of the Good News to the world. We are not here to calculate the times and seasons, to seek and predict the next big change. We are called into the streets and homes and lives of those around us, the nitty-gritty of life. Gaining and losing, loving and mourning, succeeding and failing – we are to be witnesses amongst all of it.

But when we do find ourselves standing around looking at the sky, when we do feel lost or impatient, we have instruction here too: wait. Rather than jumping to whatever seems right in our own mind, Jesus instructs us to wait.

Waiting on God’s spirit can be challenging but it is a fundamental part of building a relationship with God. God’s timing is perfect, even when it differs from our own expectations or desires.

Let us be a people who can wait on God’s timing, and be His witnesses.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, May 12, 2024

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Resurrection Life – Listening to the Spirit – Acts 10:44-48

What does it mean to be led by the Spirit? Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would come and instruct the disciples after He ascended into heaven. The Holy Spirit is the real time presence of God working and and through us to do His work in the world. This passage gives us an example of this.

Christianity began as a sect of Judaism. At the time, Jewish religion, ethnicity, culture and language were all very tightly tied together, so the early movement of gentiles into the sect of The Way, it created tension. Many of the Jewish Christians considered these converts to still be outsiders.

This tension is addressed head-on in Acts 9 and 10. In Acts 9:8, Saul, who had been persecuting the church, is blinded after ‘seeing’ Jesus. Meanwhile, the Christian man Ananias has a vision telling him to go to Saul. In 9:18 after ministering from Ananias, scales fall from Saul’s eyes and he is baptized. Then in 9:40 we get the story of Peter raising a little girl from the dead. He says “Tabitha, get up.” She opens her eyes, and seeing Peter she sits up. Then in Acts 10 wet get Peter’s vision that leads him to understand that the gentiles are loved by God and that “God does not show favoritism” even to His chosen people. This is a key pivot point for the Church that ultimately transformed it from a sect of Judaism into the global body of believers it is today.

We have those same transformational moments in our own lives, where the paradigm we have operated by is disrupted and overturned by the Holy Spirit. Consider Peter, looking at this collection of unclean animals, age being told to eat, against a thousand years of culture and religion. Consider him entering the house of gentile, uncircumcised Cornelius, and sharing a meal.

What would be similarly kind blowing today? What could the Holy Spirit do today that would be a similar paradigm shift? On the one hand we must be alert to people claiming the leading of the Spirit, and use the boundaries of scripture, tradition and the discernment of the community. At the same time, we must be open to be challenged in church – church is not only able feeling safe.

So we must find ways to listen to the Spirit and listen to those around us but who may be moved by the Spirit. This takes trust and patience, but the more that we grow in that practice is spiritual formation and discernment, the more we can accomplish for God. The Spirit is moving and speaking all the time, if we are open to listen.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, May 5, 2024

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Resurrection Life – Philip and the Eunuch – Acts 8:26-40

This is a story of God pulling Philip out of his standard routine. Philip has been preaching in Samaria and has just had his ministry blessed by Peter and John. But now God calls him away to a completely different place, the road from Jerusalem out to Gaza, where he meets an Ethiopian official.

The official had been castrated as many were in order to keep their full attention. He also must have been either a convert to Judaism or someone curious about it because he was reading Isaiah, specifically chapter 53, the “suffering servant” passage that is one of the clearest prophecies of Christ.

The passage may have had special resonance for him, especially the line “In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants?” As someone bodily humiliated, someone who would have no descendants, he wants to know more about who is being discussed here.

Given this perfect setup, Philip spikes the ball and walks the Ethiopian through the story of Christ, and he immediately jumps to wanting to be baptized in a pool they just happen to be passing.

For some additional context, this comes shortly after some trouble in Jerusalem where the Greek-speaking widows were being overlooked by the Aramaic-speaking church leadership who then put in place Greek-speaking deacons, of whom Philip was one. The apostles were “oo busy teaching and preaching to” wait tables” so they put in place these deacons to work out the logistics. But then the next two chapters are all about two of these deacons teaching and preaching! Stephen becomes the first martyr and Philip gets teleports all over.

This is a story of the Holy Spirit pushing on our human boundaries. God wants us to move beyond our central comfort zone, to leave our holy huddle and get out on the road to Gaza.

We are called to live a Spirit-Led Life. The Holy Spirit continues to work powerfully today, but at do need to work the muscles that He wants us to use.

But beware, the spirit filled life can take you off track, disrupting your plans and putting you in an entirely different place and directions.

This may happen through timely and crucial interactions. Philip never saw the Ethiopian again, but tradition holds he went on to found the Ethiopian church, among the oldest in the world.

This happens because God has been working ahead of time, moving eunuchs to investigate the Jewish religion and page through Isaiah.

The Holy Spirit will prompt you to push to the margins and boundaries, which means we must practice listening and trying.

God is calling people from the ends of the earth and we all have roles to play in that great work.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, April 28, 2024