This is the last sermon I preached as Pastoral Intern at Grace Covenant Church in Chicago, IL. If you listen to the first few minutes of the sermon, you will hear how much I appreciated being able to serve in that wonderful place! I am so grateful to the community there that welcomed and nurtured me as I grew into my call during my last year of seminary.
This sermon was one of the last in the series on Ephesians 6:10-18, reflecting especially on the last verse, encouraging the church to "pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and
requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all
the Lord’s people." I also studied and preached on Luke 18:1-8, the parable of the persistent widow.
"Keep on Praying" - August 14, 2011 by Kelly Gillan Johnston
Showing posts with label sermons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sermons. Show all posts
9.08.2011
Sermon at Grace Covenant Church, July 10, 2011
This sermon was a part of a series on the "armor of God" passage in Ephesians 6:10-18 - we called the series "Grace in Action," and on this particular Sunday I was preaching on having "feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace" in verse 15. I also drew from Ephesians 2:13-22 to help us explore the idea of Christ as our peace.
The actual sermon is about 20 minutes long - the end of the recording includes a guided time of congregational prayer.
"Prepared for Action: Peace" - July 10, 2011 by Kelly Gillan Johnston
The actual sermon is about 20 minutes long - the end of the recording includes a guided time of congregational prayer.
"Prepared for Action: Peace" - July 10, 2011 by Kelly Gillan Johnston
6.09.2011
Sermon at Grace Covenant Church, June 5, 2011
I was both intimidated and excited to be asked to preach the last sermon in a series on generosity at my church. The text for the sermon was 1 Timothy 6:7-10, 17-19 - Paul's final instructions to Timothy in addressing wealth in the church in Ephesus.
"Generosity: Living the Rich Life" - June 5, 2011 by Kelly Gillan Johnston
"Generosity: Living the Rich Life" - June 5, 2011 by Kelly Gillan Johnston
1.08.2011
Sermon at North Park Theological Seminary, December 6, 2010
In the Fall 2010 semester, as a part of my Foundations of Christian Worship class, I had to plan a chapel service with six other seminary students for the second week of Advent. When I volunteered to prepare the sermon, I noticed my colleagues breathing sighs of relief - though most of them enjoy preaching as much as I do, they didn't want to have an extra assignment during the last couple weeks of the semester! Our professor asked us to use the lectionary texts for the week, and I chose to preach from the Gospel text, Matthew 3:1-12.
- - - - - - - -
This morning, we have lit two candles on our Advent wreath because we have journeyed into the second week of Advent. Of course, it is also the sixteenth week of the semester. For most of us in this room, if I say, “the end of the semester has come near!”, you probably feel a mix of emotions. On the one hand, you feel fear and worry – you still have so much to do to before the semester is really over and you fear that you can't get it finished or you won't succeed the way you thought you would. On the other hand, you probably feel an excited anticipation – something new is coming, a time when you won't have the burdens of this semester, when the work you've done will be over and accounted for. The end of the semester has come near – indeed, it is here, and it requires action while it also evokes hopeful anticipation.
If the end of the semester strikes a mix of fear and hope in our hearts, how much more does the coming of the kingdom of God. John's cry in our gospel text this morning is a cry that reaches through the ages. As we explore God's word together this morning, in this second week of Advent and sixteenth week of the semester, let's all take a deep breath and ask God for his wisdom and guidance. Please pray with me.
Gracious God, thank you for this time, and for the privilege we have to encounter your word for us this morning. Please use me as a messenger, speaking on your behalf. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
JOHN THE BAPTIST'S LIFESTYLE & LOCATION
Though John lives on in memory as “the Baptist”, it was his prophetic message that brought people from Jerusalem and all over Judea to be baptized by him. And John was a prophet who spoke with more than just his words. His way of life and the location of his ministry were a form of communication as well. His simple lifestyle communicated a connection with Elijah, one of Israel's most important prophets who also spent much of his time in the wilderness, and who was unforgettably taken up in a whirlwind right there along the Jordan River. John's lifestyle said that he was a prophet – he would bring the word of the Lord and lead the community in acting on that word.
The place where John raised his prophetic voice said something as well. The wilderness represented much for the Jewish community. The wilderness is where God brought his people from the oppression of Egypt and led them to the freedom of the promised land, passing through the waters of the Red Sea and the waters of the Jordan River. The wilderness is a place where God leads his people into new things, and John's presence there said as much.
In our text today, Matthew connects John's prophetic call to that voice that Isaiah said would be crying out, heralding the coming of a Messiah who would lift up the valleys and bring down the mountains, making a smooth, even pathway so that the glory of the Lord would be revealed to all the people.
Now John, this wilderness prophet, stands at the Jordan River, preaching this message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!” Not only does his lifestyle and his location stir up memory of the prophets of Israel's past, but his call to repent echoes the repeated call of the prophets who have come before him.
REPENTANCE IN THE OT PROPHETS - RETURN TO GOD
In the Old Testament, the word for repentance is a word used commonly for turning back or returning. Whenever there is language of God's people repenting, it always refers to them returning to God.
And so we hear this call throughout the prophets – “turn back to him whom you have deeply betrayed,” says Isaiah. “Return, O faithless children,” is God's call in the third chapter of Jeremiah. And in Lamentations 3:40 we read, “Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord.” Repent, return, turn back to God, we hear the prophets calling through time. And here comes John, echoing their cry – “repent, return, turn back to the Lord, for God is doing something new - the kingdom of heaven has come near!”
In this time, when the end of the semester has come near, we know what it means to prepare. It means to hit the books, to write that paper, to get that study group together, to goof off in the library because otherwise you'll go insane, to cast your burdens upon - - - your Facebook wall...
When the kingdom of heaven has come near, we prepare by turning to God in repentance, humbly confessing the ways we have turned away from God and seeking to follow God's leading in our lives.
GOD IS RETURNING TO YOU
Now, we have looked at the concept of repentance as God's people turning back to God. But in the Old Testament, it is not only people who return to the Lord. The same word is used when God himself returns to his people. In Zechariah and Malachi we hear God say, “Return to me, and I will return to you.”
I will return to you. Is that not a good paraphrase of “the kingdom of heaven has come near?” The kingdom of heaven is about God's rule on earth. John is announcing that God is returning to his people in a new way – in Jesus the Messiah, God has returned, not just to his people Israel, but to all people. Jesus is that shoot from the stump of Jesse we heard about in Isaiah 11. When he comes, the whole earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord. The kingdom of heaven has come near – God is turning back to you. His rule, John says, is beginning, now! Here in this second week of Advent, this sixteenth week of the semester in 2010, God's rule is here, now – turn towards him, because he is turning to you.
I hope I haven't got you dizzy with all this turning. But doesn't repentance make so much more sense when it is a response to God first turning to you? When we enter Christian faith in the waters of baptism, it is a response to the God who first loved us. We make a once-and-for-all turn to God in baptism and enter a future marked by hope. And yet, we find ourselves on a path where we are frequently compelled to veer off into temptations of all kinds. We find ourselves lured by pride and greed to turn only to our own desires. And so it is still necessary for us to choose each day to turn again to the one who has turned to us.
BEARING FRUIT WORTHY OF REPENTANCE
And as John tells those religious leaders who come to check out his baptism, when we really turn to God, it's only natural that we would have something to show for it. Bear fruit that is worthy of repentance, John says. That every day decision to turn to God doesn't mean we walk around like this (look up). No, we walk around like this (look around), and we see the world with God's eyes. As you turn to his coming, what does God want you to see in the world today?
Sometimes we might be surprised at what God shows us when we turn to him. John himself seemed to be surprised later in Matthew's gospel when Jesus' ministry wasn't characterized by this whole unquenchable fire thing, but rather by the blind receiving sight, the lame walking again, lepers being cleansed, deaf people hearing again, the dead being brought back to life, and the poor having good news brought to them. That of course was Jesus' response to John in Matthew 11 when John sends his disciples to ask Jesus if he's really the one who is to come. Sometimes God surprises us when we turn to him.
I've been captivated lately by the life of Mary Lou Williams, a jazz pianist and composer who began her career as a teenager in the late 1920's and performed until she died in 1981. I find her intriguing not just because she was one of the few women well-known in the jazz world alongside men like Duke Ellington and Dizzie Gillespie. I find her intriguing because of the way God surprised her when she began to see the world with his eyes. When Mary truly met God for the first time, she felt a need to turn away from that late-night-smoky-club world of jazz completely. But in her process of repentance, as she turned to God through constant prayer and sought counsel from wise spiritual guides, she found herself returning to jazz with new vitality. She said that when she played piano as a Christian, she was praying through her fingers. God surprised Mary Lou Williams by showing her that repentance could mean staying in the world of jazz, but doing it with a new perspective. I think the timing of her conversion in the late 1950's was providential, because a few years later, the Second Vatican Council opened up Catholic worship to new art forms, and Mary ended up using her gifts to compose several jazz masses for churches she was involved in. She continued playing “secular” music as well, but she chose to turn to God, and she was praying through her fingers as she played.
This morning we get to turn to God at the table. We step out of our pews and come down the aisle and we take the body and blood of Emmanuel – God with us. As we celebrate the Lord's Supper together this morning, turn again to God, who has promised to turn to you. And as you turn out of this building later today, may you go with God, and may he open your eyes to the hopeful future that he has for you.
- - - - - - - -
This morning, we have lit two candles on our Advent wreath because we have journeyed into the second week of Advent. Of course, it is also the sixteenth week of the semester. For most of us in this room, if I say, “the end of the semester has come near!”, you probably feel a mix of emotions. On the one hand, you feel fear and worry – you still have so much to do to before the semester is really over and you fear that you can't get it finished or you won't succeed the way you thought you would. On the other hand, you probably feel an excited anticipation – something new is coming, a time when you won't have the burdens of this semester, when the work you've done will be over and accounted for. The end of the semester has come near – indeed, it is here, and it requires action while it also evokes hopeful anticipation.
If the end of the semester strikes a mix of fear and hope in our hearts, how much more does the coming of the kingdom of God. John's cry in our gospel text this morning is a cry that reaches through the ages. As we explore God's word together this morning, in this second week of Advent and sixteenth week of the semester, let's all take a deep breath and ask God for his wisdom and guidance. Please pray with me.
Gracious God, thank you for this time, and for the privilege we have to encounter your word for us this morning. Please use me as a messenger, speaking on your behalf. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
JOHN THE BAPTIST'S LIFESTYLE & LOCATION
Though John lives on in memory as “the Baptist”, it was his prophetic message that brought people from Jerusalem and all over Judea to be baptized by him. And John was a prophet who spoke with more than just his words. His way of life and the location of his ministry were a form of communication as well. His simple lifestyle communicated a connection with Elijah, one of Israel's most important prophets who also spent much of his time in the wilderness, and who was unforgettably taken up in a whirlwind right there along the Jordan River. John's lifestyle said that he was a prophet – he would bring the word of the Lord and lead the community in acting on that word.
The place where John raised his prophetic voice said something as well. The wilderness represented much for the Jewish community. The wilderness is where God brought his people from the oppression of Egypt and led them to the freedom of the promised land, passing through the waters of the Red Sea and the waters of the Jordan River. The wilderness is a place where God leads his people into new things, and John's presence there said as much.
In our text today, Matthew connects John's prophetic call to that voice that Isaiah said would be crying out, heralding the coming of a Messiah who would lift up the valleys and bring down the mountains, making a smooth, even pathway so that the glory of the Lord would be revealed to all the people.
Now John, this wilderness prophet, stands at the Jordan River, preaching this message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!” Not only does his lifestyle and his location stir up memory of the prophets of Israel's past, but his call to repent echoes the repeated call of the prophets who have come before him.
REPENTANCE IN THE OT PROPHETS - RETURN TO GOD
In the Old Testament, the word for repentance is a word used commonly for turning back or returning. Whenever there is language of God's people repenting, it always refers to them returning to God.
And so we hear this call throughout the prophets – “turn back to him whom you have deeply betrayed,” says Isaiah. “Return, O faithless children,” is God's call in the third chapter of Jeremiah. And in Lamentations 3:40 we read, “Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord.” Repent, return, turn back to God, we hear the prophets calling through time. And here comes John, echoing their cry – “repent, return, turn back to the Lord, for God is doing something new - the kingdom of heaven has come near!”
In this time, when the end of the semester has come near, we know what it means to prepare. It means to hit the books, to write that paper, to get that study group together, to goof off in the library because otherwise you'll go insane, to cast your burdens upon - - - your Facebook wall...
When the kingdom of heaven has come near, we prepare by turning to God in repentance, humbly confessing the ways we have turned away from God and seeking to follow God's leading in our lives.
GOD IS RETURNING TO YOU
Now, we have looked at the concept of repentance as God's people turning back to God. But in the Old Testament, it is not only people who return to the Lord. The same word is used when God himself returns to his people. In Zechariah and Malachi we hear God say, “Return to me, and I will return to you.”
I will return to you. Is that not a good paraphrase of “the kingdom of heaven has come near?” The kingdom of heaven is about God's rule on earth. John is announcing that God is returning to his people in a new way – in Jesus the Messiah, God has returned, not just to his people Israel, but to all people. Jesus is that shoot from the stump of Jesse we heard about in Isaiah 11. When he comes, the whole earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord. The kingdom of heaven has come near – God is turning back to you. His rule, John says, is beginning, now! Here in this second week of Advent, this sixteenth week of the semester in 2010, God's rule is here, now – turn towards him, because he is turning to you.
I hope I haven't got you dizzy with all this turning. But doesn't repentance make so much more sense when it is a response to God first turning to you? When we enter Christian faith in the waters of baptism, it is a response to the God who first loved us. We make a once-and-for-all turn to God in baptism and enter a future marked by hope. And yet, we find ourselves on a path where we are frequently compelled to veer off into temptations of all kinds. We find ourselves lured by pride and greed to turn only to our own desires. And so it is still necessary for us to choose each day to turn again to the one who has turned to us.
BEARING FRUIT WORTHY OF REPENTANCE
And as John tells those religious leaders who come to check out his baptism, when we really turn to God, it's only natural that we would have something to show for it. Bear fruit that is worthy of repentance, John says. That every day decision to turn to God doesn't mean we walk around like this (look up). No, we walk around like this (look around), and we see the world with God's eyes. As you turn to his coming, what does God want you to see in the world today?
Sometimes we might be surprised at what God shows us when we turn to him. John himself seemed to be surprised later in Matthew's gospel when Jesus' ministry wasn't characterized by this whole unquenchable fire thing, but rather by the blind receiving sight, the lame walking again, lepers being cleansed, deaf people hearing again, the dead being brought back to life, and the poor having good news brought to them. That of course was Jesus' response to John in Matthew 11 when John sends his disciples to ask Jesus if he's really the one who is to come. Sometimes God surprises us when we turn to him.
I've been captivated lately by the life of Mary Lou Williams, a jazz pianist and composer who began her career as a teenager in the late 1920's and performed until she died in 1981. I find her intriguing not just because she was one of the few women well-known in the jazz world alongside men like Duke Ellington and Dizzie Gillespie. I find her intriguing because of the way God surprised her when she began to see the world with his eyes. When Mary truly met God for the first time, she felt a need to turn away from that late-night-smoky-club world of jazz completely. But in her process of repentance, as she turned to God through constant prayer and sought counsel from wise spiritual guides, she found herself returning to jazz with new vitality. She said that when she played piano as a Christian, she was praying through her fingers. God surprised Mary Lou Williams by showing her that repentance could mean staying in the world of jazz, but doing it with a new perspective. I think the timing of her conversion in the late 1950's was providential, because a few years later, the Second Vatican Council opened up Catholic worship to new art forms, and Mary ended up using her gifts to compose several jazz masses for churches she was involved in. She continued playing “secular” music as well, but she chose to turn to God, and she was praying through her fingers as she played.
This morning we get to turn to God at the table. We step out of our pews and come down the aisle and we take the body and blood of Emmanuel – God with us. As we celebrate the Lord's Supper together this morning, turn again to God, who has promised to turn to you. And as you turn out of this building later today, may you go with God, and may he open your eyes to the hopeful future that he has for you.
12.30.2010
Sermon at Grace Covenant Church, July 11, 2010
This summer, about a month into my internship at Grace Covenant Church in Chicago, I preached in front of a congregation for the first time. We were into the second week of a series looking at being faithful and depending on God, called “Do What?!: Divine Dependence.” I preached on Moses in Exodus 5, which I asked some youth to read dramatically before I preached (they did a great job, by the way). My manuscript is below.
"Speaking the Truth" - July 11 2010 by Kelly Gillan Johnston
- - - - - - - -
Last Sunday we began a summer series here at Grace called "Do What?!?" We're looking at people in the Bible who chose to follow God's call, even when it seemed like an impossible task...even if their initial response to God might have been, "DO What?!?" The Bible is full of stories of real people who, despite their weaknesses or insecurities, were called by God to incredible things and depended on God's faithfulness to carry it out.
I have to admit that over the last few years, I've definitely had moments with God when I have said – um... Do What?! Seminary? Ministry? Do What? In the last few days, as I've prepared to preach to you, to illuminate the Scripture and speak God's truth for us, I've had moments where I've said to God, Do What?! And as I got into this Exodus 5 text and saw a theme emerging of speaking God's truth, I kinda said, Do What??
This idea of divine dependence is not often easy, but it is what we are all called to do as disciples of Jesus Christ. It is humbling task I've been given, and I do not take it lightly. My hope and prayer this morning is that as we look at the text and we reflect on it, we might be able to discern God's truth for us and all be inspired to speak God's truth in our lives.
Let's pray: O God, thank you for the opportunity we have to explore your word and your will together. Move amongst us, Holy Spirit, and make my words and our meditations pleasing to you...our rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
CONTEXT OF EXODUS 5
I want to thank Forrest, Tirzah, Perry, Paxton, Kara and Maddie for bringing God's word to life for us this morning. They helped convey for us the situation that Moses was in when he went to deliver this message to Pharaoh.
The passage they read for us, from Exodus 5, is the first time that Moses confronted Pharaoh. Not long before this confrontation, God met Moses at the burning bush. Perhaps you remember this story, and I encourage you to look more closely at some time this week. Basically, God told Moses that he knew about the misery of the enslaved Israelites in Egypt, and that he had heard their cries for help. God revealed to Moses that he himself was coming down to save the Israelites from slavery and bring them into the Promised Land. This is the particular truth from God that we're dealing with in Exodus – that God loves his people and he wants to save them.
Then God tells Moses that he's going to send him to tell Pharaoh all this that God is going to do. And Moses says...what do you think he said?....Do What?! Go talk to one of the most powerful people in the world, face-to-face? Do what? Tell him that all his workers are going to quit at once? Do what?
This might be a little bit like one third grader going to the principle of her school – one of those scary principles – and declaring, “I've met with God, and he's told me that he wants every student in this school to leave and go to a better school.”
I don't know about you, but I can't imagine standing up and doing something like that. And when God asked Moses to give this message to Pharaoh, he couldn't really imagine doing it either.
But after God encouraged him over and over again, including letting Aaron go along with him to help him speak, finally Moses kinda gives up and he goes to Egypt. He's been given God's truth and now he just needs to get up the nerves to go speak it.
Right before the passage that the youth read for us, Moses and Aaron go to the people of Israel – the community of their people – and tell them everything about how God was going to deliver them, and at the end of chapter 4 it says that they believed and they worshiped this God who loves them and wants to save them.
So Moses had had a mountaintop experience with God, he had his brother as a support, and had been encouraged by his people when he told them why he was in Egypt. He had received God's truth and had spoken it to God's people, and everybody was on board and feeling good about it. He's all ready to go to Pharaoh and get it done and over with. He just had to speak God's truth to the king of Egypt, and it would be all good, right? (do what?)
MOSES & AARON SPEAK GOD'S TRUTH
Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh, and they tell him what God said – let my people go! Give them a break so they can worship me in the wilderness! And Pharaoh's response is basically, “I don't know who this God of yours is, and I don't care – I'm the one in charge here. Nobody is going anywhere.” When they ask again, Pharaoh's answer shows that he is concerned about losing his labor force. The people of the land are numerous, he says – he can't afford to lose all those workers.
Not only does Pharaoh reject the word of the Lord, he makes the situation even worse for the Israelite slaves. Moses tells Pharaoh to let the people go, and instead Pharaoh makes their work even harder. He commands that they need to keep making as many bricks as they had to before, except now they also need to find all the supplies for the bricks as well.
The people complain to Moses about all this, and so Moses complains to God, which was the last part of the passage that was read this morning. God reminds Moses that he's the one who is in control, and his plan is still in place, his word is still his word, his truth is still his truth.
The thing is, God's truth doesn't always look the way you expect it to, and telling God's truth doesn't always get immediate results. Sometimes when you speak the truth, things get worse before they get better. Jesus' death and resurrection is the ultimate example of this...the truth about Jesus was that he came to redeem the world, but before completing that task, he was humiliated on the cross. God's truth doesn't always look the way you expect it to. Likewise, God's message of liberation for the Israelites didn't immediately result in liberation, but rather in worse oppression. Moses had to trust that God knew what God was doing.
TWO TASKS
In reflecting on this passage and what God might have for us this morning, I see two tasks for us. The second task is to speak God's truth. It's to be inspired to proclaim the word of God, even when it might be scary for us. But first, if we are going to speak God's truth, we need to discover God's truth.
Now, I don't intend to debate the concept of truth this morning. On a practical level, it seems like as soon as we come to understand that there is such a thing as a truth and a lie, we start to find all the possible gray area in between. The point I think is pertinent today is that truth that comes from God is deeper, better, truer truth. That's the kind of truth that we want to spend our time really thinking about, and that's the kind of truth that changes lives.
In Egypt, one Israelite might have turned to the other and said, “to tell you the truth, this slavery thing is simply awful. I'm struggling every single day and I don't know how much longer I can go on.” That was the truth about the situation. But Moses came to speak God's truth about their situation. God's truth was that he had heard the cries of the people, that he cared about their suffering, and that he would bring salvation. God's truth offers hope. It is not always easy, but it is the truer truth that God offers. It might get worse before it gets better, but it is God's truth.
You might say to a friend, “I've had some really stressful moments this week.” But to tell God's truth would be a little different, wouldn't it? To tell you God's truth, you might say, “God has been present with me every moment of this week, even when I haven't acknowledged it.” Perhaps we could tell the truth about our city. To tell you the truth, there are a lot of hungry people in Chicago. To tell you God's truth, there are a lot of people in Chicago that God wants fed, and he's calling his people to join him in that work. It might not be easy, but it's God's truth for our city.
HOW WE DISCOVER GOD'S TRUTH
There are a few ways that we discover God's truth in our lives.
Moses got to spend a pretty intense hour with God on a mountain...we may not get quite the same experience, but we do need to spend time with God. God is always with us, but it is important for us to take time to attend to the movement of the Spirit in our lives. We need to pray and be open to what God has to say to us. We need to know God. When Pharaoh rejected Moses' message, what was his first response? I do not know the Lord. To discover God's truth, we need to spend time with God.
Second, we need to spend time in the living word of God. We say over and over again in the Covenant denomination that we believe that the word of God is the only perfect rule for faith, doctrine, and conduct. We believe that the Bible is true, and is the best place to find God's truth. We need to be reading and reflecting on the Bible regularly so we can internalize the truth of the word. As we discover God's truth, we need to test it in the word. To discover God's truth, we need to spend time with God's word.
Third, we need to be here, with these people. If you're visiting Grace, I'm not trying to say that this is the only place that truth is discovered, of course. What I am saying is that if this is your church home, this is a place where we discern God's truth together. In John 14, Jesus promises his disciples the Spirit of truth – as a church body, we are called together by that same Spirit. To discover God's truth, we need to spend time with God's people.
Spending time with God, spending time in God's word, and spending time with God's people – these are all intertwined, or at least they should be for us. When we use all our resources to discover God's truth, we start to develop some consistent characteristics about God's truth.
To go back to Exodus, we can compare the characteristics of God's truth to the characteristics of Pharaoh's truth. The truth of God is the word that Moses is sent to give to Pharaoh, and then there's the truth that Pharaoh lives by. While Pharaoh's truth says that the top priority is production and power, even at the expense of human dignity, God's truth says every person has worth, and people were created not just to work, but to worship. Pharaoh's truth exploits people, and God's truth empowers people. Pharaoh's truth is boastful and is revealed in his proud, arrogant response to Moses, while God's truth is revealed in a humble servant who isn't very good at public speaking. Let the one who boasts boast only in the Lord. The truth of God brings life and the truth of Pharaoh brings death.
SPEAKING TRUTH
I hope that God's truth makes you excited. It can be easy to get caught up in Pharaoh's kind of truth though, can't it? I think our society often encourages us to care more about Pharaoh's kind of truth than God's. But God's truth, embodied in the gospel of Jesus Christ, says that there is more to life than producing as many bricks as possible in the shortest amount of time. God's truth says that you shouldn't work every day – you should stop, take a break, and worship your creator.
God's truth is exciting. God's truth offers us such hope that we can't help but speak about it. When we spend time exploring God's word together, we're going to discover there are things we need to say. God is going to call us to speak a word of love, to speak a word of liberation, to speak a word that values life over death.
It might get worse before it gets better, but when we know God is in control, we can trust that the one who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. Do not be ashamed of these words, but with the help of the Holy Spirit, depend on God to speak God's truth.
"Speaking the Truth" - July 11 2010 by Kelly Gillan Johnston
- - - - - - - -
Last Sunday we began a summer series here at Grace called "Do What?!?" We're looking at people in the Bible who chose to follow God's call, even when it seemed like an impossible task...even if their initial response to God might have been, "DO What?!?" The Bible is full of stories of real people who, despite their weaknesses or insecurities, were called by God to incredible things and depended on God's faithfulness to carry it out.
I have to admit that over the last few years, I've definitely had moments with God when I have said – um... Do What?! Seminary? Ministry? Do What? In the last few days, as I've prepared to preach to you, to illuminate the Scripture and speak God's truth for us, I've had moments where I've said to God, Do What?! And as I got into this Exodus 5 text and saw a theme emerging of speaking God's truth, I kinda said, Do What??
This idea of divine dependence is not often easy, but it is what we are all called to do as disciples of Jesus Christ. It is humbling task I've been given, and I do not take it lightly. My hope and prayer this morning is that as we look at the text and we reflect on it, we might be able to discern God's truth for us and all be inspired to speak God's truth in our lives.
Let's pray: O God, thank you for the opportunity we have to explore your word and your will together. Move amongst us, Holy Spirit, and make my words and our meditations pleasing to you...our rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
CONTEXT OF EXODUS 5
I want to thank Forrest, Tirzah, Perry, Paxton, Kara and Maddie for bringing God's word to life for us this morning. They helped convey for us the situation that Moses was in when he went to deliver this message to Pharaoh.
The passage they read for us, from Exodus 5, is the first time that Moses confronted Pharaoh. Not long before this confrontation, God met Moses at the burning bush. Perhaps you remember this story, and I encourage you to look more closely at some time this week. Basically, God told Moses that he knew about the misery of the enslaved Israelites in Egypt, and that he had heard their cries for help. God revealed to Moses that he himself was coming down to save the Israelites from slavery and bring them into the Promised Land. This is the particular truth from God that we're dealing with in Exodus – that God loves his people and he wants to save them.
Then God tells Moses that he's going to send him to tell Pharaoh all this that God is going to do. And Moses says...what do you think he said?....Do What?! Go talk to one of the most powerful people in the world, face-to-face? Do what? Tell him that all his workers are going to quit at once? Do what?
This might be a little bit like one third grader going to the principle of her school – one of those scary principles – and declaring, “I've met with God, and he's told me that he wants every student in this school to leave and go to a better school.”
I don't know about you, but I can't imagine standing up and doing something like that. And when God asked Moses to give this message to Pharaoh, he couldn't really imagine doing it either.
But after God encouraged him over and over again, including letting Aaron go along with him to help him speak, finally Moses kinda gives up and he goes to Egypt. He's been given God's truth and now he just needs to get up the nerves to go speak it.
Right before the passage that the youth read for us, Moses and Aaron go to the people of Israel – the community of their people – and tell them everything about how God was going to deliver them, and at the end of chapter 4 it says that they believed and they worshiped this God who loves them and wants to save them.
So Moses had had a mountaintop experience with God, he had his brother as a support, and had been encouraged by his people when he told them why he was in Egypt. He had received God's truth and had spoken it to God's people, and everybody was on board and feeling good about it. He's all ready to go to Pharaoh and get it done and over with. He just had to speak God's truth to the king of Egypt, and it would be all good, right? (do what?)
MOSES & AARON SPEAK GOD'S TRUTH
Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh, and they tell him what God said – let my people go! Give them a break so they can worship me in the wilderness! And Pharaoh's response is basically, “I don't know who this God of yours is, and I don't care – I'm the one in charge here. Nobody is going anywhere.” When they ask again, Pharaoh's answer shows that he is concerned about losing his labor force. The people of the land are numerous, he says – he can't afford to lose all those workers.
Not only does Pharaoh reject the word of the Lord, he makes the situation even worse for the Israelite slaves. Moses tells Pharaoh to let the people go, and instead Pharaoh makes their work even harder. He commands that they need to keep making as many bricks as they had to before, except now they also need to find all the supplies for the bricks as well.
The people complain to Moses about all this, and so Moses complains to God, which was the last part of the passage that was read this morning. God reminds Moses that he's the one who is in control, and his plan is still in place, his word is still his word, his truth is still his truth.
The thing is, God's truth doesn't always look the way you expect it to, and telling God's truth doesn't always get immediate results. Sometimes when you speak the truth, things get worse before they get better. Jesus' death and resurrection is the ultimate example of this...the truth about Jesus was that he came to redeem the world, but before completing that task, he was humiliated on the cross. God's truth doesn't always look the way you expect it to. Likewise, God's message of liberation for the Israelites didn't immediately result in liberation, but rather in worse oppression. Moses had to trust that God knew what God was doing.
TWO TASKS
In reflecting on this passage and what God might have for us this morning, I see two tasks for us. The second task is to speak God's truth. It's to be inspired to proclaim the word of God, even when it might be scary for us. But first, if we are going to speak God's truth, we need to discover God's truth.
Now, I don't intend to debate the concept of truth this morning. On a practical level, it seems like as soon as we come to understand that there is such a thing as a truth and a lie, we start to find all the possible gray area in between. The point I think is pertinent today is that truth that comes from God is deeper, better, truer truth. That's the kind of truth that we want to spend our time really thinking about, and that's the kind of truth that changes lives.
In Egypt, one Israelite might have turned to the other and said, “to tell you the truth, this slavery thing is simply awful. I'm struggling every single day and I don't know how much longer I can go on.” That was the truth about the situation. But Moses came to speak God's truth about their situation. God's truth was that he had heard the cries of the people, that he cared about their suffering, and that he would bring salvation. God's truth offers hope. It is not always easy, but it is the truer truth that God offers. It might get worse before it gets better, but it is God's truth.
You might say to a friend, “I've had some really stressful moments this week.” But to tell God's truth would be a little different, wouldn't it? To tell you God's truth, you might say, “God has been present with me every moment of this week, even when I haven't acknowledged it.” Perhaps we could tell the truth about our city. To tell you the truth, there are a lot of hungry people in Chicago. To tell you God's truth, there are a lot of people in Chicago that God wants fed, and he's calling his people to join him in that work. It might not be easy, but it's God's truth for our city.
HOW WE DISCOVER GOD'S TRUTH
There are a few ways that we discover God's truth in our lives.
Moses got to spend a pretty intense hour with God on a mountain...we may not get quite the same experience, but we do need to spend time with God. God is always with us, but it is important for us to take time to attend to the movement of the Spirit in our lives. We need to pray and be open to what God has to say to us. We need to know God. When Pharaoh rejected Moses' message, what was his first response? I do not know the Lord. To discover God's truth, we need to spend time with God.
Second, we need to spend time in the living word of God. We say over and over again in the Covenant denomination that we believe that the word of God is the only perfect rule for faith, doctrine, and conduct. We believe that the Bible is true, and is the best place to find God's truth. We need to be reading and reflecting on the Bible regularly so we can internalize the truth of the word. As we discover God's truth, we need to test it in the word. To discover God's truth, we need to spend time with God's word.
Third, we need to be here, with these people. If you're visiting Grace, I'm not trying to say that this is the only place that truth is discovered, of course. What I am saying is that if this is your church home, this is a place where we discern God's truth together. In John 14, Jesus promises his disciples the Spirit of truth – as a church body, we are called together by that same Spirit. To discover God's truth, we need to spend time with God's people.
Spending time with God, spending time in God's word, and spending time with God's people – these are all intertwined, or at least they should be for us. When we use all our resources to discover God's truth, we start to develop some consistent characteristics about God's truth.
To go back to Exodus, we can compare the characteristics of God's truth to the characteristics of Pharaoh's truth. The truth of God is the word that Moses is sent to give to Pharaoh, and then there's the truth that Pharaoh lives by. While Pharaoh's truth says that the top priority is production and power, even at the expense of human dignity, God's truth says every person has worth, and people were created not just to work, but to worship. Pharaoh's truth exploits people, and God's truth empowers people. Pharaoh's truth is boastful and is revealed in his proud, arrogant response to Moses, while God's truth is revealed in a humble servant who isn't very good at public speaking. Let the one who boasts boast only in the Lord. The truth of God brings life and the truth of Pharaoh brings death.
SPEAKING TRUTH
I hope that God's truth makes you excited. It can be easy to get caught up in Pharaoh's kind of truth though, can't it? I think our society often encourages us to care more about Pharaoh's kind of truth than God's. But God's truth, embodied in the gospel of Jesus Christ, says that there is more to life than producing as many bricks as possible in the shortest amount of time. God's truth says that you shouldn't work every day – you should stop, take a break, and worship your creator.
God's truth is exciting. God's truth offers us such hope that we can't help but speak about it. When we spend time exploring God's word together, we're going to discover there are things we need to say. God is going to call us to speak a word of love, to speak a word of liberation, to speak a word that values life over death.
It might get worse before it gets better, but when we know God is in control, we can trust that the one who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. Do not be ashamed of these words, but with the help of the Holy Spirit, depend on God to speak God's truth.
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