Tag: New Testament

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The Stone Rejected – Mark 12:1-12

Jesus is getting into some heated discussions with the religious leaders – as he gets closer to the cross he begins saying less and less, but at this stage he is being very vocal.

He is, however, still using parables. This less him use simple things to talk about big issues. It lets him be subversive without actually riling his opposition up too early. It also enables selective revelation – those who do not want to engage with the message will not learn from it, but for those who do there are truths to be learned. Likewise, it sets that choice in front of people, whether to receive or reject the message based on the person of Christ more than the specifics of the message.

This parable was directly referencing the people he was telling the story to, but the leaders did not realize this until late, and then when they did realize it they were too afraid of how the people would react to do anything about it.

The cast of characters here is fairly straightforward. The landowner is God the Father, and his son is Jesus. The tenants are the leaders of Israel, those in power over the people. The servants sent are the many prophets, right up to John the Baptist. The vineyard itself is Israel, which is a metaphor used throughout the Old Testament in both positive and negative contexts. The imagery of a place where people have a responsibility to steward creation and mold it in productive ways goes all the way back to Eden.

Then Jesus brings in another metaphor, that of the temple building and the rejected stone that becomes the cornerstone. This comes in the context of Mark’s mentions of the temple building and Jesus promise that it would be destroyed and rebuilt within his person. Ultimately this body of Christ, Paul tells us, is we who are his members, his body parts as part of the church.

This means we are the vineyard, we are the workers who must steward what we have been given, and working to turn it back to the ultimate owner of the vineyard. And how do we do that? Elsewhere, Jesus tells us – the broken, the imprisoned, the needy, the oppressed.

That also means that when we put barriers in front of people and prevent them from coming to partake in the fruits of the vineyard, that is functionally the same as the leaders of ancient Israel who murdered the prophets to stop their testimony.

We see this concept in the Old Testament through concepts like leaning and jubilee.

Another thing to glean from this passage is the patience of God. How many servants did He send to be beaten and killed before His final retribution?

And for us, who are the prophets and voices at have ignored, beaten and even killed? As a nation, as a church, as individuals?

But we are placed right here in this particular place in our own vineyard. Let us welcome people into the vinyard to partake of the fruits that God has been growing, that we have been tending. We are the new temple building, we are the new vinyard – let us live and serve like we know it.

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

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The Kid-Hearted Life – Mark 10:17-30

Do you suffer from PYD Syndrome? “Perfect Yet Dissatisfied” – where you have what you want but not what you need? The young man in this story has achieved everything a human being could want – wealth, power, youth, moral rectitude – and yet still knows there is something missing. So he comes to Jesus, which is a good start.

Anytime you see a one-on-one conversation with Jesus, pay attention, because those are the moments Jesus pushes deeply into how to live out his general teachings. In this case He pushes into the missing piece of the young man’s life.

There is a clue in the language to the problem. He asks “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” What does anyone have to do to inherit something? Nothing, because it is about the relationship – the young man is conflating two very different things.

So Jesus rolls with it – He lays out commandments, but not all 10. Specifically, he lists the commandments that have to do with our horizontal relationships with others. The young man objects that he is good to go there and has checked all those boxes.

Jesus responds in two ways. First, he looks at him and loves him. This is vital context – discipleship is not about our own wisdom or capability to fix people. It begins and ends with love for other people.

Then He cuts to the heart of the matter – sell what you have, give to the poor, follow me. And that hits him where he lives, and he goes away sad. Mark leaves the question open, ending this story (like he does the whole gospel) with a cliffhanger. We don’t know what he chooses – in some ways this puts us in the able position, with the same choice.

Jesus generalizes from this story for the disciples – it is hard for rich people to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The disciples are startled, living in a culture where wealth and morality were seen as related. If the ultimate man can’t do it, who can?

We all have our own “many possessions” that we put at the center instead of our relationship with Christ, both as individuals and as churches. We put wealth, church growth, material success, patriotism, all kinds of things, even good things, at the center of our lives, as the things we can’t give up.

Ultimately, it’s impossible to do enough. But Jesus tells us that He makes all things possible. Peter objects that, hey, I’ve been doing lots, giving up lots. But Jesus makes it clear that it’s not about the doing, but it’s about the relationship with God, the relationship that turns all our power structures upside down.

The story just before this one gives us the context. Jesus tells us “anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” The rich young ruler was trying to enter as an adult, the disciples were making their case as adults. We see this again in the following story, where James and John jostle for position: “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.”

Eternal life is a gift of being, not earning. We receive it, we don’t obtain it.

Follow Jesus to the cross, and give up what hinders you from following.

Remember that God can do anything – he can save the wealthy, the powerful, the prideful and the self-righteous.

If we are the rich young ruler, hanging on to something that gets between us and God our us and those around us, let’s not end on a cliffhanger. Let’s not go away sad, but engage in relationship with the Christ who makes all things possible.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, February 25, 2024

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In Awe – Mark 9:2-9

Mark’s story of Jesus is now on the downhill side – it reached its center with Peter’s acknowledgment of Jesus as Messiah, but also with Jesus’ rebuke of Peter as he drives towards the moral and spiritual goals of his mission, not the secular, material goals that are expected by Peter and others. Then in the part right before this, Jesus tells them that the cross is not just his destiny but the very nature of following Him.

This section puts more context around this, giving the disciples a glimpse of Christ’s glory, as a counterpoint or even result of that suffering.

All of scripture is coming to a point here – Moses representing the Law, Elijah the prophets, and Jesus as the culmination and fulfillment of them both.

In the midst of this incredible, supernatural, symbolic awe-inspiring event, Peter’s immediate, natural reaction is to get very material (even if not particularly practical). Let’s build some tents! The idea may have had its roots in the Tabernacle carried by the people of Israel through the desert – but ultimately, this is not the point. Jesus’ goal is not pointing back to the time of Moses, but rather Moses and Elijah point to and lead to the new thing that Jesus is doing.

Like us, Peter wants to do something active in order to capture this moment of awe, to stake it down in our reality and make something material out of it. But that is not what Jesus wants – the goal here is almost entirely just awe. Sometimes that is all we are called to.

So what was the purpose of the transfiguration? First, to help the disciples (and us) understand who Jesus is. This is the question he asked at the centerpoint of the gospel of Mark. He is the Son of God, the divine Christ, the second person of the Trinity, even if not all of that was clear yet.

Second, it helps us understand what Jesus is about. He is the culmination of the Law and Prophets. He is there like Moses to lead His people to the promised land, and like Elijah to proclaim the truth of God.

And third, helped along by the voice of God the Father, it helps us understand that we are called to listen and follow Jesus. Just as the Jewish people of the day looked to the words and instruction of Moses and Elijah, we now look to the instructions of Jesus, we now follow Him and His example.

But as Moses and Elijah return to heaven, Jesus remains with His disciples and walks alongside them, just as He walks alongside us. The glory of God as revealed on that mountaintop is right by our side every day.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, February 11, 2024

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The Center of it All – Mark 8:27-33

“Who do you say I am?” This question from Jesus is the exact center of the Gospel of Mark. It’s the question that the whole book pivots on – and, in fact, all of reality. Peter is the first person in history to explicity acknowledge this truth, though what comes next isn’t really what we would expect.

First, he charges them to keep it quiet, as he has done earlier in the book. Second, he begins to warn them about what was coming – the suffering and death that was on the horizon. Peter, even having made this confession of faith, takes hold of him and scolds him. After all, everyone knows the messiah is there to throw off the oppression of Rome, to lead the Jewish people to military victory and secular power.

Jesus’ response is as harsh as any we see from him in the gospels. Peter goes from being the start pupil and the first to name Jesus the Christ to being the embodiment of Satan. Why is this?

It’s not that Jesus feels disrespected, but it’s because the direction Peter wants Jesus to go is in direct opposition to the Gospel Jesus came to bring.

The word gospel, or euangelion, was historically used to refer to royal decrees or reports from battles (famously, the report from the battle of Marathon would fall into this category). We even see it used to describe the birth of Augustus in inscriptions. The Gospel of Caesar was a known and understood thing, a thing of the Empire and a thing of worldly power. The Gospel of Christ was a new thing, a subversion of the concept that wins by losing, that succeeds by failing, that rules by serving. But the temptation to reverse this paradigm back into what is natural and normal is strong. This is what Satan’s final temptation of Jesus was – all the kingdoms of the earth. This was the option open to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, and its power made him sweat blood.

The American church has often fallen into Peter’s mistake, framing the gospel of Christ into no more than the gospel of Caesar, one where secular power is the mode and victory over our earthly enemies is the end goal, where the world is divided into us and them rather than the teeming mass of sinners all in desperate need of the true Gospel.

This would not be the last failure of a disciple. As the cross approached, even with many warnings, they would abandon him and Peter would deny him. We have the same calling down hard paths. How will we respond?

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, February 4, 2024

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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