Tag: New Testament

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Walk, Don’t Run – John 20:1-18

This morning we gather at the tomb not as passive observers but active participants along with the disciples John, Peter and Mary. We are invited to linger in the story, to engage with the sorrow, the uncertainty and the joy.

This passage opens with a race between Peter and John, aka “The Disciple Jesus Loved” (which John wants you to be sure to know that he won). He does, though, wait for Peter to go in in deference to his elder. The two responses here illustrate different faithful responses to the risen Christ. John sees and believes, while Peter enters into the tomb to investigate and examine the evidence. John represents the eager willingness to believe, while Peter shows judicious, even forensic examination. They believed, but the scripture tells us that they did not yet fully understand before they left the scene.

The story of Peter and John, though, is bookended by the experience of Mary Magdalene, who has been a consistent presence through the Crucifixion and into all the stories of the empty tomb. She was there before the disciples had their race, and she stayed after they left. She sits in her sorrow and loss, remaining at the scene to grapple with her grief and uncertainty. Mary’s story goes beyond belief, whether eager and willing or careful and forensic. She does not merely believe, but she loves and lives in relationship with Jesus, and so feels the loss deeply. And it is in the midst of this lament that Jesus enters in.

And when he does, He engages on a heart level, speaking her name, Mariam, in Aramaic rather than the Greek that is used elsewhere in the story, in her “heart language.” And Mary responds in kind, crying out “Rabboni,” again in Aramaic and depicting a close relationship with a teacher and mentor.

And he tells her that everything has changed – in Luke, he asks, “why do you search for the living among the dead?” Don’t cling to the old life, but embrace the new. Don’t live in Friday, because Sunday has come

Easter is not an invitation to run faster, but to linger in our uncertainty and sorrow, to encounter the truth and love of a relationship with our glorious, risen savior. It is a chance to understand what dead things we are clinging to that fracture our relationships. It is an invitation not to examine faith but to embrace life.

And it is an invitation to tell others, just as Jesus instructs Mary to do. She takes the title of the first apostle, not because she was fast, not because she was authoritative, but because she missed Jesus and sat before the tomb and cried. Let us take her as our example of resurrection faith.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, April 5, 2026

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Paradigms – John 9

This story is a tale of paradigms – opposing and shifting understandings of how the world works.

It starts out immediately with the disciples assuming a paradigm and begging that question. “Who sinned?” The Old Testament tells us God punishes the wicked, which had turned into the idea that any negative situation was itself a punishment, maybe even for sins committed before birth!

But Jesus rejects that paradigm – no one sinned to make this man blind. Some English translations imply that God instead made the man blind in order to display the works of God, but the Greek does not necessarily suggest that level of cause and effect. The works of God, rather, are what Jesus is there to do regardless. Specifically, the bringing of light into darkness, both in the form of this man, and also in the broader spiritual sense.

Thus ends part one, but the story continues. The people around the blind man are confused, unclear even if it was the same person. In an effort to sort things out, they bring the man to the Pharisees, who have their own paradigm. It’s the Sabbath, and work, including healing, is forbidden on the Sabbath – therefore this healing is sinful and cannot be a miracle from God, which means it probably didn’t happen at all.

So the Pharisees push back and make the man tell his story again. He does, and every time he tells the story, his understanding of Jesus increases. He goes from being just a guy with some mud to being a prophet, which the Pharisees do not like.

So they bring in his parents, presumably with the goal of showing that he was never blind. But his parents are terrified of being ostracized from the community and so stay clammed up, pointing them back to their son.

So their son tells his story yet again, and zeros on on both what he knows and what he does not – “I was blind, but now I see.” This does not fit into the increasingly frustrated Pharisees paradigm, and so – after a bit of mutual rudeness – they toss him out.

Jesus then seeks him out, and the man’s understanding increases once again, accepting Jesus as Messiah and Lord. Jesus draws the line between the man’s former physical blindness and spiritual blindness, and the healing Jesus brought to both, and offers to the rest of the world. But on the flip side, he also points out that he will do the reverse, and those who think they see properly will be unable to see the work of God.

The Pharisees, correctly, guess he’s talking about them, and object. In their paradigm, they are chosen by God, so how can they possiblybe blind? But Jesus points out that their very paradigm condemns them, because their behavior does not match their teaching.

That’s where this story wraps up. What can we learn from it? We here have (or seek to have) a Christian paradigm, centered on the work of Christ. And like the formerly blind man, we will run into people who do not share our paradigm and who reject it outright. Like the blind man, we should stick to our story. This is uncomfortable in our post-postmodern environment, which dislikes the idea that spiritual things can be objectively true. But like the blind man, we should center our story on what Jesus has done for us. We know from our own various experiences that Jesus is loving and compassionate. This starts with His sacrifice on the cross and extends into our daily lives following him.

Jesus’ final words to his disciples on earth echo this – go and make disciples. Tell your story, just as the blind man did.

When do this, we can count on Jesus to encourage us and comfort us as we do this, and to use even the small things that we do in service of the Great Commission to further the work He is doing in people’s hearts over time.

— Sermon Notes, Robin Swearinga, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, March 15, 2026

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Love Meets Us in the Wilderness – John 3:1-17

This story comes in the early part of Jesus’ ministry as chronicled by John. He has turned water into wine, called disciples, cleared the temple courts and just started building a name for himself. That name was enough to connect him with Nicodemus, a leader among the Pharisees, who primarily interacted as Jesus’ antagonists.

Unlike most, though, Nicodemus came at night – this may be partly because he didn’t want his interest getting around, but it also creates a strong contrast with the other Pharisees who came during the day with the goal to draw a crowd and debunk or humiliate Jesus.

So you have this very learned, powerful person submitting himself to learn from this itinerant, newly arrived, lower class rabbi. But Nicodemus didn’t just take what he was told, and pushes back on the notion of rebirth. Possibly drawing from Jewish arguments against Grecian cults of rebirth, he tries to dismantle this metaphor of being “born again” – but Jesus pushes forward, because it’s not just a metaphor but a spiritual reality centered on his very person.

Nicodemus is a spiritual leader of Israel, but he is not equipped to grapple with spiritual realities – he’s trained on rules and sub-rules and interpretations of rules, but this is heaven breaking in on the earth, this man in front of him a rent in the fabric of reality, ushering in a new way of relating to the creator, one that extends to the entire world, not just the people of Israel.

And this is not just a far off moment, “somewhere in outer space” but rather a reality we have access to right now. The salvation that Jesus brings is a real, immediate thing, and he offers it to us freely. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

This salvation is there for us to ask for, and Jesus longs to hear you ask for it. The Father sent him to save us and open us to the work of the Holy Spirit. The fullness of the Trinity welcomes us into that eternal relationship. We are ourselves invited to serve as that rent in reality, points in space and time where heaven bleeds through in the form of love and truth and grace.

We never get a clear answer on what happens to Nicodemus in the wake of this conversation, but later in John we see Nicodemus defending Jesus from his fellow Pharisees, and then after the Crucifixion bringing spices to honor and embalm this man who one night opened the mysteries of heaven to him, who spoke to him of the undefeatable love of God.

Let us live out that love ourselves, accepting the love and grace Christ offers, and then living out that love and grace we have received.

— Sermon Notes, Nancy de Jong, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, March 1, 2026

Image: Nicodemus Visiting Jesus, 1899, Henry Ossawa Tanner

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The Transfiguration – Matthew 17:1-9

What comes up must come down. The Transfiguration is the ultimate mountaintop moment – whatever it is that brings us to the height of emotion, whether spiritual highs or Super Bowl championships, eventually fades away. The Transfiguration was a moment like that, but also calls forward to a mountaintop moment that will never fade.

Jesus brought Peter, James and John with him, fulfilling the instructions in Deuteronomy around bringing witnesses. That explains the disciples, but why Moses and Elijah?

Both had their own literal mountaintop experiences – Moses receiving the Law, Elijah defeating the priests of Baal. Both of those lofty experiences were followed immediately by times of trial and despair. Moses descended to find his people worshipping an idol, while Elijah ended up on the run from Jezabel and falls into a deep depression. This happens in all our lives, as the memories of the high points fade, and sometimes we turn to harmful things in an attempt to recapture those feelings.

Similarly, the disciples were heading for their own disappointment and despair in Jerusalem when Jesus is crucified. Peter, who is gung how on the mountaintop, ready to build shelters for each glowing person there, seeking to capture and control the experience – soon he will deny even knowing Jesus.

But the temporary nature of these experiences here on Earth is not a reason to avoid them. Jesus brought Peter, James and John for a reason, and their experience of awe and worship was valid and valuable.

So, too, were the words of God, spoken from the cloud – “Listen to Him.” The words and instructions of Jesus are pearls of great price. God wants us to listen to them – and to do so in the context of the Law and the Prophets, as represented by Moses and Elijah. It’s a reminder not to become fixated on individual verses or statements in the Bible, but to understand the call of God in the broader context of the live story told all throughout scripture.

Then Jesus demonstrates that love directly – he places his hand on the terrified disciples and consoles them – “Get up – do not be afraid.”

And that’s what he’s telling each of us in our own lives. If we will just follow the three instructions given on the mountain here, we will be in good shape. Listen to Jesus – Don’t be afraid – Get up.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, February 15, 2026

Image: “Iesu transfigurato (Mark 9:4f)” by Salvador Dali

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Mary’s Song

Mary’s song is a song of reversals – the high brought low, the rich made humble and the lowly raised on high. It’s an echo of Hannah’s song in the Old Testament.

Key to understanding the song is the biblical theme of waiting on the Lord – patience through times of silence and wilderness, finally rewarded in ways that are beyond our understanding. Hannah had been waiting and longing for a child, while Israel had been waiting and longing for a savior.

Unlike Hannah, Mary did not sing this song upon discovering that she was pregnant – instead of wasn’t until meeting with her cousin Elizabeth and receiving confirmation of what had been promised her.

Many of us have gone through this ourselves many times in smaller ways, and God is always bigger and always has these problems in his hand.

Mary’s song also pulls us away from our tendency towards individualism. She began her story as an individual, burdened with a great and terrible blessing. But when she meets Elizabeth, and feels the connection between their unborn children, it’s a reminder that we are all connected. Her song calls back to ancestors and calls forward to descendants, it rejoices with her nation and with all generations.

We can all do the same, rejoicing together, waiting together, looking ahead to the fulfillment of God’s promises together. This Christmas, let that be our goal.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, December 21, 2025

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No Peace Without Repentance – Matthew 3:1-12

John the Baptist was playing the role of the Grinch to the celebrations of the rich and powerful of his time. He was the ultimate party-pooper, bringing down the vibe and warning the Pharisees that their time was coming. You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, John’s telling you why – the Messiah is coming to town.

He warned them not to rest on their ethnicity and generic heritage. He warned them that an axe was at their roots, and “unquenchable fire” is in the offing. It’s not what we generally think of as a Christmas message.

But John is calling us to do exactly what Advent is there for – preparation, clearing the way, and removing those things that get in the way of our straight path to the savior.

How can there be peace when we have oppression and violence and sin? Ultimately, there can’t be peace without repentance, and there can’t be repentance without confrontation. There is real sin that impacts others and must be addressed before we can have peace – in our lives, in our neighborhoods, in our nation.

What are the obstacles in the roads of your heart that need to be flattened? Where are we going in the wrong direction and need to turn around? How do we as a church be prophetic and speak the truths that need to be told?

Where are the places we need to repent? Where are the wells we go back to that are not life-giving? What does repentance look like for us in our lives individually? What does it look like as a nation collectively? Where do we have privilege and position that we can use for the good of others?

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, December 7, 2025

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Hostility to Hospitality to Family – Hebrews 13:2

This exhortation comes at the end of the book of Hebrews, a part of a list of closing instructions – love each other, minister to those in prison, be sexually moral, and this one. “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”

The term is philoxenia, a combination of the terms philos or affection, and xenos or stranger. We see this same instruction in Romans 12:13 – “Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” Both the people of God and the stranger, the xenos, are covered here.

The concept of welcoming the stranger is a continuance of the same instructions in the Old Testament where it is often connected to the people of Israel living as strangers, whether in Egypt or in Babylon.

But there is an additional angle here, this idea that there is more to these encounters than just the practical. At one level, it’s a reference to the story in Genesis where Abram and Sarai welcome and show hospitality to angels and are blessed in turn – or the reverse of that story that results in the destruction of Sodom. This negative example gives us a strong sense of how important hospitality is to God.

Beyond that is the promise that when we serve others in this way, we are touching something more than human, beyond the material world. It’s echo of the promise that when we serve others we are really serving Jesus in a very personal way. There is a magic to hospitality that transcends the practical effects, as valuable as those are.

And if we look at the “sin of Sodom” we also see that there is a negative magic as well, associated with hostility towards the stranger. This should give us pause, and give pause to the portions of the American church in particular that have set themselves up in opposition to the strangers and immigrants in our midst, painting them as criminals and as taking resources from deserving Americans.

In reality, immigrant churches are driving forward the kingdom of God across the country, especially in urban areas where white churches have declined or closed. A majority of the baptisms performed by the Evangelical church today are by immigrant churches. Immigration of non-Christians is bringing the mission field to the USA, while the work of immigrant pastors and churches are evangelizing Americans, reversing the typical ministry flow.

We must seek to go from hostility to hospitality to family as we engage with the strangers and immigrants around us. We should seek to learn from the ways of worship and teaching that seem foreign to us instead of putting up walls. We know that the ultimate destiny of the church is exactly this congregation from all peoples and all tribes.

But this unification of all voices can look a lot like a loss of control if we are used to being the only voice being heard. We must put that fear aside and instead step into the supernatural opportunity we are given to show hospitality to strangers–and possibly even to angels.

–Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, November 2, 2025

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Giving and Receiving Hospitality – Sermon Notes, Acts 28:1-10

It can be difficult to accept help – it can be embarrassing, demoralizing and overly vulnerable. But we are also commanded to give help and assistance to those in need – this means that if we are not careful, we can fall into a pattern of paternalism, making a separation between those who Have and those who Need. But this dichotomy is not biblical – biblical hospitality is a two way street. You cannot truly give unless you can receive.

We see that in this story in the book of Acts. People serve each other throughout the story – even at the beginning, the people of Malta rescue Paul and his companions, while Paul works to build a fire.

When he is bit by a snake, Paul’s reputation swings wildly from being a murderer to being seen as a god. This miracle does not result in an immediate conversion of the people there – they do not turn to Jesus but interpret what happened within their own pagan framework.

But even so, Paul heals the father of Publius, the chief official, and then heals many others on the island – in turn, they are given hospitality by Publius for three months, and are greatly honored by the people there, “in many ways”, finally sent off with all the supplies they need

We don’t see Paul preaching the gospel here, but rather we see him “doing life together” with the pagans around him, accepting their help and providing his own.

We can learn a lot from this passage about receiving hospitality in God’s economy. First, God’s people aren’t immune from need. If we pretend we do not have any needs, we will miss opportunities to receive help. And we will be surprised by those who step in to help. Christians are not the only people who work the will of God, just like we see on Malta. As we also see on Malta, receiving hospitality creates community. Paul and his shipwrecked companions created a community for three months with the people of Malta, a combination of cosmopolitan Jews, superstitious islanders, maybe a few sailors in the mix. And in that community, like this motley crew in the Mediterranean, we can experience home and life.

As a people, our hospitality muscles have atrophied – between the pandemic and the general drift of culture, as Paul says later in Acts 28, our “heart has become calloused.” This is true on an individual level but also on a national level.

If we as individuals and as a nation could reflect more on how we have received help and wisdom and gifts of other people and peoples, perhaps there would be less calloused behavior, and more celebration.

We, as a church, are called to be openhearted, to both give and receive hospitality with joy and gratitude. We are to be expansive in both directions as we expand our family circle and God brings all of us to His banquet table.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, September 21, 2025

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The Bread of Life – John 6:28-35

We eat for many reasons – sustenance, comfort, taste, specific health purposes, business meetings, social connection, family connection and much more. In scripture, food is extremely important because in life it is important. Food is discussed throughout the Bible, and food as a component hospitality in particular. There are also many food-based spiritual metaphors, because the nourishment – and more – that food provides is also needed spiritually. We come together for the Lord’s Supper today, and look forward to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb in the future, and in between coming together for meals and fellowship together.

What shape do you think the Table of the Kingdom of God is? Likely not a hierarchical rectangle, but a round table of equality – or perhaps even a shifting, amorphous shape that modifies itself based on the needs of those coming to eat.

The food metaphor here is one of the most important. It is the first of seven “I AM” statements in the Gospel of John, as Jesus connects himself to the YHWH of the Old Testament while also describing who He is in more detail. The Bread of Life, the Light of the World, the Door of the Sheep, the Good Shepherd, the Resurrection and the Life, the Way the Truth and the Life, the True Vine.

Jesus used these statements to point people to himself from the things they were familiar with. It does often confuse them, as it does here. In part this is because Jesus has just come from feeding the 5,000, with 12 baskets of food left over. That miracle of compassion and abundance is the backdrop of his discussion of Himself as the Bread of Life.

The crowd has followed him from one side of the lake to the other, asking what they should do, perhaps in order to keep the gravy train coming. They even reference the manna given by Moses in the wilderness, more physical sustenance provided miraculously.

But Jesus corrects them on multiple points. First, it wasn’t Moses who gave the manna, but God. And second, the physical sustenance, while important, is secondary to the Person of the God who gave that Manna – He Himself is the Bread of Life, who comes down and gives Himself for the world. The work of God, he explains, is simply to know and be in relationship with Him.

Jesus’ I Am statements are more than just theological statements of his identity, but they are invitations into relationship with Him as a natural and inescapable outgrowth of His divine identity.

Even so, we see the confusion of the crowds here, which may give us some comfort in our own confusion. Jesus, in the midst of our confusion, misunderstanding and tendency to go our own way, stands before us and says “I Am.” We can be still and know the He Is.

At the great feast of the Kingdom of God, it will be full of every kind of food, all the wide diversity of sustenance, connection and joy that food brings. We are called to serve and to invite others to this feast, tearing down every door and barrier that could keep people from this feast. The Great Feast of the King is abundant and generous – it is an open invitation to all – it is as diverse as humanity itself – and it is live giving in a supernatural way.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, September 9, 2025

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Activated – Matthew 8:14-17

Many of us are impacted by emotional inertia – objects in motion tend to stay in motion, abs objects at rest tend to stay at rest. We have difficulty moving ourselves from one mode to another – getting ourselves going when we have been passive, or giving ourselves needed rest when we keeping ourselves busy.

But those moments of activation, when we step into those activities and work that energize us and bring us to where we were meant to be, are special times. We see that in Jesus’ ministry here, another part of the epilogue to the Sermon on the Mount.

The story takes place at Jesus’ home base – he spent significant time in Capernaum throughout his ministry, and Peter’s family home in particular. (This home eventually appears to have become one of the first ever church buildings, in fact). It was a place of rest and hospitality – and hospitality was taken very seriously in that time and place. Peter’s mother in law would likely have been the driving force for that, prevented from that duty by illness.

So when Jesus heals her, he returns her not just to health but to her role and contribution of hospitality. This is a reminder that Jesus’ healing is more than physical, but a holistic restoration of people and their identities.

We see that Jesus physically touches a woman to bring healing, stepping across taboo and custom to demonstrate love in both a practical and emotional way.

We see that he treats women with dignity in a society that often did not. We see that he heals with authority and power, both purely physical ailments and those with dark spiritual roots. We also see him intimately involved with those sick and outcast. Matthew cites the passage in Isaiah in which the Suffering Servant pays a price for the healing he provides. Salvation, then, goes beyond forgiveness and info healing. The atoning work of Jesus goes beyond justification into sanctification, rebuilding and remaking our very selves into the person we are meant to be.

Finally, Jesus not only heals but activates – we are “renewed by God for the renewal of our neighborhoods.” We are loved by God to let us love our neighbors. Peter’s mother-in-law was healed to enable her to serve, living into her vocation of hospitality.

So when we come to church and are healed even in small ways from our hurts, we should seek to do the same. When we are activated by Christ, how do we step into that and take it forward? Can we see service as an act of power imparted by the the Holy Spirit?

Where do we see people today lying in metaphorical “fever”- isolated, suffering unseen? How can we, like Jesus, extend healing through presence, touch, and word? What does it mean for the Church to fulfill Isaiah’s vision of bearing others’ burdens?

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, August 24, 2025