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There Is a Better Way HELP US LORD TO BE SO CONNECTED TO YOU THAT WE MIGHT BECOME THE SERVANTS OF OTHERS. TAKE OUR LIPS AND SPEAK THROUGH THEM, +++++++++++ IT WAS PERHAPS THE MOST PAINFUL PERIOD OF MY LIFE…
THAT WAS THE SUMMER OF 2000… I WAS IN AMSTERDAM HOLLAND WHEN I GOT THE CALL FROM MY FATHER… A PHONE CALL IN WHICH MY FATHER TOLD ME HE WAS GETTING A DIVORCE…
ALMOST AS IF SOMEONE WERE TO HAVE PUNCHED ME IN THE STOMACH. THAT CONVERSATION, PLUS SOME TALKS IN PERSON, ACTUALLY LED TO A PERIOD OF 5 MONTHS WHERE MY FATHER AND I DIDN’T SPEAK. MY ANGER TOWARD HIM WAS SO GREAT, ANGER OVER A DIVORCE I THOUGHT SHOULD NEVER HAVE OCCURRED. ANGER THAT LEAD TO SILENCE, PAINFUL BECAUSE MY FATHER AND I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN CLOSE, AS ONE BEARING NOT ONLY HIS NAME, NOT ONLY HIS FATHER’S NAME, BUT FOLLOWING IN MY FATHER’S FOOTSTEPS, WEARING THE COLLAR, THAT PERIOD OF TIME FELT LIKE THERE HAD BEEN A DEATH IN THE FAMILY. HAVE YOU BEEN THERE MY FRIENDS? IF SO, WHERE DO YOU GO FROM THERE? YOU HIT A FORK IN THE ROAD ON A RELATIONSHIP, WHERE DO YOU GO? SOME WILL SAY…
MY FRIENDS, HAVE YOU EVER KNOWN TIME TO HEAL ANY WOUNDS? PERSONALLY I’VE FOUND THAT TIME SEEMS ONLY TO EXCASERBATE THEM. BUT THERE’S ANOTHER VOICE OUT THERE… ANOTHER VOICE WHISPERING… THERE’S A BETTER WAY.. A BETTER WAY… THAT VOICE IS THE VOICE OF THE MAN WHO WROTE THE BOOK OF HEBREWS… WE BELIEVE IT TO BE PAUL, IN HIS BOOK, HE WHISPERS THE WORD BETTER 13 TIMES! SAYING THAT IN CHRISTIANITY, THERE IS A BETTER WAY, A BETTER WAY TO DEAL WITH OUR OWN SIN, A BETTER WAY TO DEAL WITH THE SINS OF OTHERS AND OUR OWN RELATIONAL DEAD-ENDS. PAUL IN HEBREWS IS WRITING TO JEWS WHO HAD CONVERTED TO A BELIEF IN JESUS AS MESSIAH. JEWS WHO PREVIOUSLY DEALT WITH SIN BY SACRIFICING ANIMALS ON THE ALTAR… ONCE-A-YEAR THE HIGH PRIEST WHOM GOD APPOINTED, WOULD COME INTO GOD’S PRESENCE OFFERING THE BLOOD OF CALVES AND GOATS WHERE PEOPLE WOULD PUT THEIR SINS INTO THE ANIMAL, ANIMAL SACRIFICED AND SINS FORGIVEN.. THEN THAT HIGH PRIEST WOULD GO INTO THE HOLY OF HOLIES WHERE THE ARK OF THE COVENANT RESTED, AND THERE GOD MET THE PEOPLE THROUGH THE MEDIATOR, THAT HIGH PRIEST. THAT WAS THE WAY TO FORGIVENESS.. AGAIN THE VOICE WHISPERING… THERE’S A BETTER WAY…. A BETTER WAY… PAUL DESCRIBES IT… JESUS CAME TO EARTH TO BE THAT HIGH PRIEST.. JESUS THE NAME MEANS RESCUER, RESCUING US FROM WHAT? THOSE FORKS IN THE ROAD, THOSE RELATIONAL DEAD ENDS, THOSE SINS OF YOU AND ME… EARLIER IN HEBREWS WE FIND THIS… ‘JESUS IS NOW OUR HIGH PRIEST, (BOOKS) THAT NOW BY TAKING THE SINS OFF OUR SHOULDERS AND PUTTING IT ON HIS, WE ARE CLEANSED… ALL BECAUSE HE ENTERED INTO THE HEAVENLY SANCTUARY CALLED EARTH, BEARING THE BLOOD OF HIS OWN SACRIFICE AND OUR SINS ON THE CROSS TO CLEANSE US FROM OUR SINS AND TO GIVE US A NEW BEGINNING!’ DO YOU SEE MY FRIENDS! GOD DOESN’T WANT ANIMAL SACRIFICES, OR HIGH PRIESTS GOING INTO A TEMPLE…, HE WANTS US TO BEAR OUR SINS UPON JESUS… THIS IS WHY PAUL WRITES… JESUS IS BIRTHED TO ABOLISH THE FIRST, I-E, ANIMAL SACRIFICES, TO ESTABLISH THE SECOND… WHICH IS HIMSELF, AS THE SACRIFICE ONCE AND FOR ALL… THIS MORNING, IS OUR LAST WORSHIP SERVICE BEFORE THE BIRTH OF THE RESCUER… OUR LAST WORSHIP IN ADVENT… THERE IS SOMETHING YOU AND I MUST DO TO PREPARE FOR THE BIRTH OF THIS SIN BEARER… THE BEST WAY TO ILLUSTRATE THIS ACT IS THROUGH AN EXPERIENCE I HAD YESTERDAY. YESTERDAY OUR FAMILY INCLUDING 13 MONTH-OLD HUDSON, WENT TO SEE THE MOVE, THE NATIVITY, AND COMING OUT OF THAT BEAUTIFUL STORY, MY MOTHER-IN-LAW MADE THE PROFOUND THEOLOGICAL POINT THAT BEFORE JESUS COULD BE BIRTHED IN THAT MANGER, THE MANGER HAD TO BE CLEARED OUT… SHEEP AND GOATS HAD TO COME OUT SO MARY AND JOSEPH COULD GO IN… COULD LIE DOWN AND GIVE BIRTH TO NEW LIFE.. SO IT IS WITH OUR HEARTS! WE’VE GOT TO CLEAR THE MANGER OF OUR HEARTS TO ALLOW FOR THE FULL LIFE OF JESUS TO EXIST IN HERE! THEN IT WAS SHEEP, GOATS AND ALL KINDS OF CRITTERS! NOW FOR US, BITTER-NESSES, ANY BITS OF ANGER… OR WALLS BUILT UP IN OUR HEARTS, WALLS PERHAPS THAT HAVE BEEN BUILDING FOR YEARS, OR A WALL BUILT THIS MORNING FROM AN ARGUMENT WITH YOUR SPOUSE! THE MANGER HAS TO BE CLEARED… AND WE DO THAT SIMPLY BY SAYING JESUS, OUR NEW HIGH PRIEST, I GIVE YOU THIS BURDEN IN SORROW AND REPENTANCE,
LORD TAKE THEM OUT OF MY HEART, I DON’T NEED A PHYSICAL HIGH PRIEST TO TAKE IT TO THE TEMPLE AND THORUGH AN ANIMAL BE FORGIVEN.. I CAN BE FORGIVEN BY JUST SAYING FATHER, I GIVE IT TO YOU, REMOVE IT SO YOU CAN HAVE MORE ROOM TO BE LIVE RIGHT HERE! CLEAR THIS MANGER OF MY HEART! BUT LET’S BE HONEST, DOESN’T IT KIND OF FEEL GOOD TO KEEP THAT MANGER FULL OF GARBAGE?
IT CAN BE COMFORTING AND CAN GIVE US A LEG UP ON PEOPLE, AND WE CAN USE IT FOR ALL KINDS OF EXCUSES CAN’T WE? GO TO THIS PERSONS HOUSE FOR A CHRISTMAS PARTY? NO, I DON’T TALK TO THEM.. BUT MY FRIENDS, WOE TO US WHEN THAT MANGER’S NOT CLEARED..
REMINDS ME OF THE OLD SAYING…
AH, BUT HERE’S THE KICKER, ONCE WE FORGIVE, ONCE THAT THING HAS BEEN REMOVED, YOU MUST KNOW THAT SOMETHING PROFOUND IS HAPPPENING! YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE IN YOUR HEART THAT THAT WALL IS GONE… SOMETIMES WE FORGIVE, YET IT DOESN’T CHANGE OUR BEHAVIOR! WE GO BACK TO THE SAME OLD BEAHVIOR THAT IS DESTRUCTIVE! REPENTANCE MEANS A CHANGED BEHAVIOR! OUR HEBREWS PASSAGE ENDS WITH THIS… WE HAVE BEEN MADE HOLY, SET APART… THROUGH THE SACRIFICE OF THE BODY OF JESUS CHRIST, ONCE AND FOR ALL! ONCE AND FOR ALL! THIS PHRASE ONCE THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST CAN NEVER BE REPEATED! GOOD NEWS ISN’T IT! I LOVE THAT POEM BY JAMES DENNY, IN 1902 THIS IS WHAT HE WRITES: CHRIST DID NOT COME INTO THE WORLD TO BE A GOOD MAN… IT WAS NOT FOR THIS THAT A BODY WAS PREPARED FOR HIM… NO, HE CAME TO BE A GREAT HIGH PRIEST, HIS BODY WAS PREPARED FOR HIM HE MIGHT PUT SINFUL MEN FOR EVER INTO A PERFECT RELATIONSHIP TO GOD. AND THAT IS THE GOOD NEWS.. YOU SEE, ONLY WHEN THAT SIN BARRIER IS REMOVED CAN WE SEE GOD THE FATHER… UNTIL THEN WE ARE TOLD GOD IS JUST A SHADOWY FIGURE… WHEN THAT BARRIER IS REMOVED FROM OUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHERS, WE CAN THEN LIVE AGAIN, WE ARE THEN RESTORED… LAST WEEK, I ASKED ALL OF YOU TO WRITE DOWN ON THE PURPLE SHEET, NAMES OF PEOPLE YOU’VE HURT, OR THOSE WHO HAVE HURT YOU, OR EVENTS YOU NEED FORGIVENESS FOR… SOME SAID I NEED A BOOK! I ASK YOU, IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY, WRITE THEM DOWN… AND AFTER THE SERMON, WE WILL ASK YOU TO COME FORWARD AND PUT THAT CARD INTO THE FIRE PIT AND WE WILL BURN THOSE CARDS AS A SIGN OF CLEARING THE MANGER FOR THE CHRIST’S BIRTH.. AND AS WE LIGHT THAT FIRE, YOU MUST KNOW YOU ARE FORGIVEN… MAYBE YOU PUT YOURSELF ON THE SHEET AS SOMEONE YOU NEED TO FORGIVE, MAYBE YOU PUT GOD ON THAT SHEET AS SOMEONE YOU NEED TO FORGIVE FOR SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED YEARS AGO… AFTER THE FIRE…. BARRIER GONE! DO YOU SEE THE RADICAL NATURE OF JESUS? HOW HE LIVES UP TO HIS NAME ‘RESCUER?’ RESCUING RELATIONSHIPS, RESCUING OUR HEARTS FROM AN EMBITTERED PRISON! NOW, INEVITABLY, WHENEVER YOU FEEL LIKE THE BURDEN OF IT IS COMING BACK, AND YOU QUESTION WHETHER OR NOT ANYTHING HAPPENED IN THE FIRE… ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS UTTER THE NAME… JESUS, JESUS. LET HIS NAME WASH OVER AND ANNOINT YOU AGAIN. 5 MONTHS… 5 MONTHS IT WAS AFTER 5 MONTHS FROM THE TIME I HUNG UUP THE PHONE WITH MY FATHER TO WHEN WE MET FACE TO FACE, WE MET AT KANUGA, A CAMP IN HENDERSONVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA. THERE WERE TEARS TO BE SURE, FOR BY THIS TIME THE DIVORCE HAD GONE THROUGH WHICH BROKE MY HEART TO PIECES. WE TALKED AND TALKED IN THE MOONLIGHT ON A BENCH NEAR A LAKE, WE BOTH ACKNOWLEDGED THE BROKEN-NESS, THE LOST DREAMS, OUR OWN SENSE OF PERSONAL LOSS. I KNEW I WOULD NEVER SEE THE SITUATION THE WAY MY FATHER WOULD, I JUST SAW TWO WONDERFUL PEOPLE WHO OVER TIME GREW APART, AND EVENTUALLY CAME APART. WE ACKNOWLEDGED THAT, AND THEN WE EXPRESSED OUR SORROW FOR THE WHOLE SITUATION, ASKING CHRIST FOR MUTUAL FORGIVENESS.. AND WHEN THAT HAPPENED, IT WAS AS IF A VEIL WAS LIFTED! THE MANGER CLEARED… OLD SCALES FELL OFF OUR EYES, IN GIVING IT TO CHRIST, WHO TOOK THAT ONCE AND FOR ALL, WE WERE FREE TO LIVE AGAIN, FREE TO LOVE EACH OTHER … BUT A LOVE THAT WAS NOW DIFFERENT..
BUT EACH OF THOSE ADJECTIVES COULD BE APPLIED TO THE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ONE BIRTHED TONIGHT…
JESUS DIDN’T TAKE AWAY THE CONSEQUENCES AND PAIN OF THAT DIVORCE, BUT HE DID ALLOW FOR NEW LIFE. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, HE ALLOWED US TO SEE GOD THE FATHER IN A WAY THAT WAS BREATH-TAKING, BARRIERS REMOVED. |
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