Posts

Posted on

On the Inside- Mark 7:14-23

The laws and precepts of God point His people to love, hospitality and peacemaking. We live in an era of divisiveness, where each election seems like an existential crisis and these things seem far off. In reality, though, our hope and faith are not in any political party, but rather in the Great Party, the wedding feast of the Lamb at the culmination of all things.

Even so, it is easy for us to find our identity in reaction to others. That’s how polarization happens, as we align ourselves with one team or another and then all our positions, beliefs and actions become about supporting Us and opposing Them.

Jesus here, though, is saying that the outside is unimportant, that what people consume is not their identity but rather what they produce. We are tempted to see the source of our sin as something external but in fact it comes from within our own hearts. Likewise, we try to solve our sin from the outside in, when in reality the only solution is within us, namely an inward surrender to the grace Christ offers.

Jesus makes it clear here that sin is real, and He lists a clear set of diverse sins that come from the heart. But they are all inward out, but outward in, which frees us up and even directs us to join in fellowship with those who are different from us externally.

That is what we are trying to do at Renew, in a diverse mosaic of peoples and backgrounds and opinions, to create an inward-out renewal of each other and our communities through this big glob of worship and fellowship that we do here.

Back to the passage, Mark talks a lot about Jesus going back and forth across Israel and the Sea of Galilee. In the west it’s mostly Jewish, while in the east there are more gentiles. In this passage he’s more westward and the Pharisees are going after Jesus for not following the ceremonial traditions like the ritualistic washing before meals. Righteousness and unrighteousness, pure and impure, have become more about cultural markers than they are about the universal Law of God. Just before this part, he chastises the Pharisees specifically for how they specifically use their traditions in order to enrich themselves even at the expense of their own parents. Then here he moves on to making it clear that it is that kind of thing that matters far more than the rituals or ceremonial rules. This gets extended in Acts when Peter has a vision that makes it clear that all foods are ultimately clean, and notably, by extension, so too are all peoples and cultures.

We can extend this further. The beauty and even sexuality of a woman isn’t what causes sin, but the lust and objectification from within men. Money and economic systems don’t cause greed, but it comes from within. Politicians and media do not cause hatred and division, rather it comes from within.

This then means we must continue to live lives that demonstrate the truths Jesus speak here. The outsides are not material, and we are to live in community and fellowship across cultures, ethnicities, parties and opinions. We are to remember that it is the inward parts that matter, and whatever happens externally, the Church of Christ endures within our hearts and within the hearts of all who earnestly seek Him.

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

Posted on

Names of God: The Unknown God – Acts 17:18-28

Paul here is speaking to two very discrete groups of Athenian scholars. On the one hand, the Stoics, dutiful pantheists who literally give their name to being stoic. On the other, there are the Epicureans, essentially hedonistic deists, to simplify things. And all throughout, of course, you have the standard polytheists of paganism. They are all interested in what Paul has to say but accuse him of being a “spermologos, ” sperm meaning seed and logos meaning word or idea – the picture being of a bird picking and choosing between seeds.

And so Paul gets in front of the Aereopagus, both a governing body and a philosophical debate society. He dives into a “first principles” version of the gospel, one that touches on many names of God.

God “made the world and everything in it” – He is Creator. This is in direct opposition to the Stoics who saw God and nature as the same.

God “is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything” – a strike against paganism and polytheism that saw the need for service and sacrifice. He is the All-Sufficient One.

“From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth, and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.” – God is the King of Kings, and this cuts directly against the Epicurean idea of a distant, uninvolved God.

Then Paul starts quoting the Greeks’ own philosophers. “For in him we live and move and have our being,” – He is the sustainer. “We are his offspring,” He is Father.

When we meditate on the attributes and names of God, it draws us closer to Him. Let us go forward and think on this in our daily life.

— Sermon Notes, Alison Robison, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, January 21, 2024

Posted on

Rejection – Mark 6:1-13

This passage is a bit of a surprise because it seems to indicate that Jesus was incapable of doing something. In reality, of course, Jesus is capable to do anything, but the environment in Nazareth was not conducive to Jesus found miracles. The people were not open to the work of Jesus, they were not vulnerable to his truths. That’s something our society should consider. We both look for the work of God and remain hostile to it and cynical about it.

A lot of us have had the experience of going back to a hometown or a class reunion or just running into an old flame. It is in our nature to put labels on people and sort them into categories, and it’s also in our nature to kick against those especially when put back into an old environment or old relationships.

That’s the experience of Jesus here. He has coming off of wild success in other cities, as people have been amazed at his authority and wisdom. In Nazareth, though, the amazement was in reverse. They knew him, they had him in a box in their minds and what he was doing did not comport with that, so they rejected it.

We see this ourselves – people often do not let you change. If they knew you once, they will expect you still to be the same person that you were when they knew you. Sometimes it can be like crabs in a bucket. People resent self-improvement or success in others because of how it reflects on them, and seek to pull them back down. Sometimes we do the same thing.

So we get this apparent power outage, with only a few people healed (which is still amazing). And Jesus is in awe of their lack of faith, the polar opposite of other stories where we see him amazed by someone’s faith.

And Jesus is a gentleman – He does not force His love on us. If we are not open to God’s help, He will not help us. That’s one way to see Hell, the eternal rejection of God. It’s a way to see the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, the rejection of the saving power that God offers.

We see that here where the people of Nazareth were so repulsed by Jesus in this new context that they feel into sin. When we lack trust in Jesus, we have the same thing happen.

A lack of trust or faith in Jesus can make us misunderstand and misappropriate Jesus. It makes us dishonor Jesus, even. And perhaps worst of all, it makes us miss out on real change, as we stay in the bucket of our own misery and fail to see or experience the miracles He is doing.

Then we come to the second part of this passage, where Jesus sends out His disciples, whose success stands in sharp contrast to Jesus’ failure in His hometown. He sends them out stripped down to the bare necessities and made to rely on the gifts of God.

This ties back to the story of rejection, because it is that fear of rejection that keeps us from doing new things,. It keeps us from sharing the truth of Jesus. The biggest obstacle for you daring to do great things or braving something new is the fear of rejection or failure.

But Jesus was the ultimate failure, and in that failure was the ultimate victory. And so the disciples too, are set up for this failure. They go out with just a staff and sandals, entirely dependent on God. That also means that the ultimate responsibility for what happens does not lie with them or us. It lies with God and those we speak to.

That is why Jesus tells his disciples not to sweat it when they are rejected as He was. Shake the dust from your feet and move on. It is not about us.

On the other hand, we also need to look at what we actually worship. We worship a hometown Jesus. An American Jesus, a prosperous Jesus. We worship a Jesus we create in our own image. We may not recognize the real Jesus if He does not come in the way we expect. But Jesus is a disruptor, and He will break up and disrupt our conceptions of Him if we let Him. He is so much bigger.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, January 7, 2024

Posted on

Something New Piercing Through – Luke 2:25-35

On New Year’s Eve we naturally want to take the time to consider both the past year and the year ahead, and how to improve ourselves. The concept of New Year’s Resolutions is a normal one. Many of them spring from internal desires for real change in our behavior. Usually we start strong and then it peters out after a while. We can get cynical, even, about our or others’ ability to change.

But real change is what Simeon speaks about in this passage, and real change is what Jesus offers us. Simeon’s song here in one of four songs in the first two chapters of Luke – we discussed Mary’s song, the Magnificat, a couple of weeks ago. Before that, we had Zechariah’s Song and afterwards the Angel’s song.

But in this moment we have this incredible juxtaposition of a newborn baby with the ancient prophet. We have the child who contains all the power of Creation and the old man who has been waiting for the “consolation of Israel”.

The Holy Spirit looms large in this story. The work of the third person of the Trinity is a consistent theme throughout both Luke’s gospel and his book of Acts. In chapter 1, there are four separate references to being filled with, strong in or overcome with the Holy Spirit. In this passage, we get three references in quick succession – the Holy Spirit was on him, truths were revealed by the Holy Spirit and he was moved by the Holy Spirit. These are all ways the Holy Spirit interacts with us today.

We all have the capacity to access the Holy Spirit, we all have the potential to be drawn into the work and story that the Holy Spirit is doing. Jesus was and is destined to bring change, as Simeon said. He will pierce through our souls and bring us new experiences, new opportunities, new parts to play in the work that He is doing. It may start as a pinprick or a mustard seed but that can grow into something mighty.

As we look at the year ahead, there are disciplines we can practice to foster this. First, we can listen – listen for what God is teaching, listen for the opportunity He sends your way. Second, gratitude – be actively thankful for what you have been given.

One way to do both of these The Prayer of Examen a spiritual practice of reviewing the day to retune ourselves to the sacred in ordinary life. This can also be done as a look at the past year. Others ask God for a theme word or verse for the year ahead, using that to center their relationship and growth.

Often we strive to change ourselves and the world. Often, we fail. But when we work empowered by and led by the Holy Spirit, we can live more fully and abundantly than we can on our own.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, December 31, 2023

Posted on

Peace Building – Ephesians 2:14-22

We live in an age when tearing down the walls of hostility seems impossible. Whether vast societal chasms or arguments with family members, the distances feel too wide to span. Likewise, the distance between us and God also often feels too wide as well. But Paul offers us hope in this passage.

God does not want barriers between Him and us – we see this when Jesus took a whip to the money changers and merchants the temple creating barriers between the Gentiles and the worship of God. In that instance, Jesus warned everyone that He would destroy the temple and raise it again in three days. He Himself would be that temple, and He Himself would be the new way in which all people access our Heavenly Father. He Himself becomes the intersection of eternity and our finite, fleshly realm.

The Church, then, as the Body of Christ, serves that same purpose – we are the intersection of Earth and eternity, we are the pathway between the people around us and the Creator God of the universe.

Here in Ephesians, Paul emphasizes how Christ’s work at the Cross creates this pathway and removes the barrier between God and Man. The breaking of the relationship described in Genesis is healed by the work of Jesus Christ.

But Paul then moves from the vertical relationship between God and His People, to the horizontal relationships between all His peoples, both groups and individuals. The focus here is on groups, specifically between the Jews and Gentiles, those set apart in the Old Testament and those grafted on by the Cross, fulfilling the promise of God to Abraham that all peoples would be blessed by his family.

Paul here writes that the two groups are coming together as one oikeios or household. In Rome, this was the fundamental social/political unit of the empire, the base layer of the hierarchy that went from the lowest infant and slave to the Emperor himself. But as in other places, Paul takes this term and subverts it. The household is not Cesar’s, but God’s, and we all live together within that single great oikeios.

But even though we know and believe this to be true, there persist chasms, deep chasms of culture, of politics, of ethnicity. All of them are ash and dust in comparison to the love of God and community of His people, and yet we grasp them so tightly.

This means the work of the church, as Christ’s Body, has the same mission as Christ Himself did when presented with worldly structures preventing people from coming to God. Peace cannot exist without that connection to God, and so the Peace Jesus brings often must come after the smashing of the structures that prevent the unity and peace that God calls us to. Sometimes in the work of peace, something has to die in order for something new to emerge.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, December 24, 2023

Posted on

The Magnification – Matthew 1:46-55

Let’s take a look at Mary’s situation here. We don’t have the full context here but we can try to get a better understanding. Mary would have likely been very young by our standards, 13 or 14. She was betrothed to Joseph, probably as an arranged marriage. Then suddenly she finds herself in this new situation, completely upending her life socially, physically and more.

We aren’t told what happened between the annunciation and visiting her cousin Elizabeth. It is possible that she ran away to Elizabeth or was cast out from her family. But when they came together the baby in Elizabeth’s womb – also a prophesied child, John the Baptist – leaps with joy. That is the context of this song.

This song is the first of four songs in the first two chapters of Luke – the others are Zechariah’s song in Luke 1:67-78, the angels’ song in chapter 2:14 and then Simeon’s in 2:29-32. There are notable parallels with Zechariah’s song in particular.

This is actually a key aspect of Luke, who regularly and purposefully pairs stories about men with stories about women. This is true both in terms of miracles and in person interactions but also parables – notable because women in that age were deeply oppressed and never treated as equal in the way that Luke does here. It’s a radical affirmation of the equality of men and women in their access to the love of Christ and the work of God m

The song opens with essentially a statement on the nature of praise. Mary’s soul and spirit are what are erupting into praise and rejoicing.

It follows as a song of reversals. The rich and powerful are brought down but the poor and lowly are raised up. This is particularly relevant for Mary herself who is arguably in the lowest state possible, a member of an oppressed people group, a young woman pregnant out of wedlock. It also closely parallels the song of Hannah in 1 Samuel, the story of a barren woman given a son devoted to God. Both are stories of reversals and the glory of God. Both point to the nature of God as Someone who loves the lowly and casts down the mighty.

This is who God is. God sees you when you are are at your lowest and when, like Mary, your life is spinning out of control. In Genesis another woman at her lowest, Hagar, calls Him “the God Who Sees” – and He sees Hannah, He sees Mary and He sees you.

On that note, the song is in past tense despite the promise of Gabriel being future-tense. She places herself and her story in the broader context and history of God’s relationship with humanity, calling back to Hannah and Hagar and all the work of God that came before.

It’s also and a song that calls us to participate in this work of feeding the hungry and empowering the powerless.

In this Advent season, it is easy to see these concepts of Hope, Peace, Joy & Love as the worldly, two dimensional versions all around us. But we have access to deep and full realities. Hope is more than wishful thinking, but a sure security in the person Ave return of Christ. Love is more than the conditional emotional state or the transactional engagement of the world. Rather it is a participation in the unconditional, sacrificial and eternal love of the Creator for His creation. Joy is more than feigned happiness and peace is more than the absence of conflict.

Let us rejoice along with Mary in the works of God past, present and future. Let us seek the hope, peace, joy and love God offers us.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, December 17, 2023

Posted on

The Patient Love of God – 2 Peter 3:8-15

“The call is coming from inside the house.” That is, to some degree, the situation Peter describes in his servings Epistle. It is very parallel to the message in Jude, as well. Both books warn that people within the church are believing and spreading lies about Jesus. Jude calls them” blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead.”

Peter, in chapter 2, writes that “In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.” Specifically, in chapter 3 here he is addressing the assertion that, because Jesus hasn’t returned yet, He never will. But Peter asserts that, first, we misunderstand how God’s timelines work, and second, any delay in God’s judgement is, in fact, a demonstration of His mercy and His patience.

And, as Peter writes in chapter 1, we are invited to “participate in the divine nature,” including in exercising the same patience and mercy that God shows. This is not “waiting for Christmas morning” patience, but waiting for people to come to repentance. Waiting for “everyone to come to repentance,” in fact – God’s patience is indiscriminate. Ours should be as well

God’s patience is also persistent and does not expire. Ours should be as well – this does not mean we should not have boundaries, or that many times this merciful, persistent patience must be exercised from a healthy distance. But it does mean that we never give up hope for restoration.

Ultimately, we have two paths in front of us and we can only choose one. We can choose the path of the false teachers who prioritize their own prosperity, stature, safety and comfort. Or we can choose the path that participates in the divine nature. And in this time of Christmas, as we celebrate the Incarnation, we should remember that core to that divine nature is the giving up of an infinite amount of prosperity, stature, safety and comfort in order to better love humanity.

— Sermon Notes, Alison Robison, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, December 10, 2023

Posted on

Wait and Be Shaped – Isaiah 64:1-9

This poem is a prayer of lament. The Prophet is feeling a desperate desire for the presence of God, for God to make Himself known.

This comes in the third part of Isaiah. The second part is actually more hopeful than the third, as the people of Israel look forward to returning from exile and being restored. The third part, though, comes as the restoration has happened and has not gone as well as they would have liked. There was conflict between the exiles returning and those who had stayed in the land. The people feel much like the Israelites coming out of exile in Egypt, resenting their very deliverance because it was not playing out as they expected.

The desire for something that isn’t happening is intensely frustrating. We see it in the tantrums of a toddler, but we also see it in ourselves when we see injustice or suffering, when we feel like our own goals or health are slipping away.

That is what the Prophet is experiencing, a deep desire that God would just come down and fix things. He understands the immense power of God and just wants so badly for it to be unleashed on the broken world he sees around him.

This is the longing of Advent. This is the time when we wait actively for “He who began a good work in you” to “be faithful to complete it.” We seek to be intentional in our waiting, to be purposefully engaged in the “already but not yet” of Christ’s work.

Ironically, this time of waiting is itself a time when the world hates waiting. There is so much to do and so many places to be and people to see, all these demands on our time and all of them immediate.

But the alternative to this active waiting is outlined in this passage – we wither and are carried away on the wind. When we wait badly, we move outside of what we should do because we grab for security even when what we grab is ephemeral. “No one calls on your name; No one bothers to hold on to you.” When our hearts are sick, we turn from holding onto the creator and instead grasp at straws and withered leaves.

So as the passage asks, how then can we be saved? We’re called here to remember and to praise as we wait, to act righteously and do so gladly, in anticipation of Jesus’ ultimate victory. We actively live into the hope that we have, living out the way we want the world to be.

How is not contingent in cumstance – the circumstances might change or might not change, but that should not change our posture because it’s a gift.

The changing itself comes from God – He is the potter and we are the clay. We are being shaped by Him, even in the waiting.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, December 3, 2023

Posted on

Legion – Mark 5:1-20

In this passage, Mark spends a lot of time describing the state of the demon-possessed man. He is not only oppressed by demons but living among the tombs, howling in the darkness, soaked in death and pain.

The man is experiencing severe isolation. He is an outcast from society, a problem for those around him and so rejected. He is exhibiting anti-social behavior, keeping himself isolated. He is homeless, only able to find shelter in the most cursed place in the region. He is self-destructive as well, cutting himself. While the specifics may be different, these are things we see on the streets of our cities regularly.

The demons controlling the man recognize Jesus and know His name, though He does not know theirs and asks. But they beg him not to send them out of the region. But why does that matter?

It implies that there is a greater strategic purpose and goals of the demons – it’s not ultimately only about one man, but about the region as a whole. It’s the people, the environment, the systems. Everything is interconnected. The demon goes from singular to plural and our understanding of evil should likewise expand.

So the demons know their time is over but they beg to keep some control. Jesus sends them into herd of pigs, which promptly commit suicide. These thousands of pigs (which indicate a gentile area) represent a huge investment, a large amount of money and serves in some ways as a corporate payment for the evil centered on this man.

And just as the demons begged to stay in the region, the people begged Jesus to leave it. Despite the miracle He has done and the freedom He had given, the people of the region prized their peace and prosperity over the health of that man – they prized the status quo despite the evil that it meant lived among them.

We see in the Greek names of the region and the fact of a herd of pigs that this was a Greco-Roman region rather than a Jewish one. Jesus’ actions here demonstrate His power over not only supernatural oppression, but also the Empire that oppresses His people.

And the final step here is the actions of the man himself having been freed. The natural next step is to jump in the boat and follow Jesus, just like the disciples – but Jesus sends him out to his own people to spread the word of what has happened to him.

Two big takeaways for us. First, we all bear responsibility for each other. We are all called to care for the howling people among us. Second, evil is real and must not be ignored. We must face the evil in both our past and our present, both corporate and individual.

In response to that evil, though, we must not despair but turn to Jesus in His person and His body, the Church. Like any predator, evil goes after the isolated and alone. Come together and draw others into the saving relationship with Christ.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, November 26, 2023

Posted on

Listen! – Mark 4:1-9

This is the first set of parables in Mark, and the theme that comes through most clearly is “Listen!” This is something we are not, as a whole particularly good at. Between personal media, social media and all the other distractions of modern life, we have many barriers to listening and building connections with other people.

There is benefit and fruit to living a life that is open. It is a scary thought for many, bringing up fears of rejection, fear of intimacy and often a weariness and lack of time. But if we do open ourselves up, it makes us more rooted, in our relationships with God and others.

The same was true of the crowd gathered around Jesus. He tells them to listen because many of them are not there for that. Some of them are just there to be part of the crowd, others want healing, others just want to see what all the guys is about, but few really want to listen. And so Jesus gives them a story that requires them to listen and engage – “whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.” Active listening requires more than an “uh huh” at the right time.

This is one of the reasons Jesus uses parables and stories. It also gives the message a chance to get past our defenses as we identify with the characters in the story before we put up barriers against the truths we don’t want to hear.

Another reason to use parables is to veil the truth to some degree. Jesus describes it as a “secret” that is revealed to the disciples, who asked Jesus directly, opening up their hearts to the truths Jesus is sharing. Jesus offers us the truths of eternity, the power that created the universe, but asks us to make the effort. “Take up your mat and walk.”

In the parable itself, the seed is the word of God and the sower can be seen as either God Himself or us, His followers, spreading that word. And the soil is those listening – that may be us ourselves, or it may be those we interact with.

So we have to ask ourselves, what is the state of my soil? At different times, we may be the sower of the seeds or any of the various soils, and it is worth considering where we stand.

One notable aspect of this story is that the sower is indiscriminate in his sowing. He does not hoard the seed based on what he thinks the soil is like, and we should not do that either. At don’t control how people receive our messages and we don’t know how God has been preparing the soil.

Let us seek to have the word deeply rooted within us, and let us be open to that word and those around us to bear fruit that nourishes the world we have been sent to.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, November 5, 2023