We are on a journey with Jesus to His resurrection.  Along the way, we met a Pharisee, a man, Nicodemus, a ruling council member.  Nicodemus stepped from the darkness of night into the light of Christ’s presence.  In the light, Nicodemus learned that unless we are born again, we shall not see the kingdom of God.  We also met an unnamed man lying beside the Pool of Bethesda. The man was paralyzed for 38 years. Jesus told the man to “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk!”  The man learned that we must choose to be made well by Jesus and be freed from sin.  This is what happens when we are born again.

Today, we are moving with Jesus towards His resurrection as He told friend and foe alike that to be bound for glory in the realm of God required eating Jesus’ body and drinking his blood.  Jesus’ words were difficult for his followers to hear and repulsive to his detractors.  When Jesus’ followers heard Jesus’ words, many left him and never returned.  Jesus’ foes declared Him insane or demon-possessed. What in the world was Jesus talking about when He said that you must eat of his body and drink of his blood? Let’s pick up our journey today in Chapter 6 of John’s Gospel, where Jesus taught through dialogue with the people of a synagogue in Capernaum, the hometown of several of Jesus’ disciples.

“35 Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me” (John 6:35-38).

Just before this teaching, Jesus had fed 5,000 men plus their accompanying families.  The people were excited by what Jesus had done.  The people were so excited that they had in mind to force Jesus to become their king.  Jesus left the crowd's presence, but the crowd followed, looking for Jesus to fill their stomachs.  Jesus shocked the crowd when, rather than miraculously producing more food to eat, Jesus said, “I am the bread of life that has come down from heaven.” 

To Jesus’ audience, which was overwhelmingly Jewish, the idea of bread coming down from heaven was understood as the manna God provided to the Hebrew people escaping Egypt.  The Book of Exodus records, “4 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day’” (Exodus 16:4).  “31 The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey” (Exodus 16:31).  Manna, bread from heaven, nourished the ancient Hebrews and gave them life.  Manna was seen as a life-saving gift from God.

But Jesus declared himself the bread of life that came from heaven.  John wrote, “41 At this the Jews [likely the ruling Council members] there began to grumble about him [Jesus] because he [Jesus] said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ 42 They said, ‘Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?’” (John 6:41-42).  The ruling Council members again focused on the physical world and relied upon what they thought they knew.  The Jews thought Jesus was the son of a common laborer.  Jesus was a nobody born of a nobody.  Jesus, the Jews believed, was talking nonsense about having come down from heaven, as though Jesus was somehow superior to them.  The Jews were displaying arrogance.

Arrogance is believing foremost in yourself, not in a self-confident manner but in a way of self-importance. It is a belief that you are beyond learning.  Arrogance breeds a sense of entitlement.  The Jews defensively dismissed Jesus because he was a nobody.  In rejecting the person Jesus, the Jews did not need to deal with Jesus’ message.

          Jesus, undeterred by the Jews’ arrogance, continued to bring the message God sent Him to speak. “48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:48-51).  Jesus made His message so stark as to end the grumbling about His parents.  Jesus said He was the bread of life and that to live forever, to move from the realm of the world to the realm of God, was only possible if you ate the bread Jesus offered.  Jesus said that bread was His own body, his flesh.

          Jesus’ words broke through the first layer of the Jews’ arrogance.  “52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’” (John 6:52). The Jews were still thinking in the worldly realm, but instead of speaking of Jesus’ parents, they were talking about Jesus offering his flesh for people to eat.  They were thinking like cannibals, not as spiritual leaders.  The scene with these Jews differs from when Jesus taught Nicodemus at night.  But the central problem is the same.  Jesus said to Nicodemus, “12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?” (John 3:12).  Nicodemus struggled, the Jews here struggle, and many people today struggle to understand the spiritual things of Jesus because they do not understand essential earthly things.

          What are those essential earthly things?  It all begins with God.  God calls all things into being and gives them their nature and place in an ordered creation.  Plants and animals, even such things as rocks and rivers, follow the patterns of their nature.  Humans, because they are made in the image of God, were designed to follow the pattern of God’s nature with creativity and reason.  But sin marred that image, and humans no longer followed the precise pattern of God.  These are the essential earthly things.

God gave the Law, the commandments of Scripture, of the heavenly things to humanity through the Hebrew nation as a mirror to see that marred image.  But now the Hebrew nation, the Jews, were trying to use the mirror, the Law, as a tool to clean themselves of unrighteousness.  I do not know anyone who successfully used a mirror to make themselves clean.  A mirror only reflects the light; in this case, the mirror, the Law could only show the sin, and the Law could not heal people from sin.

  To redeem and cleanse humanity and heal people from sin, God sent Jesus to become the pathway to righteousness.  Jesus was and is an answer to prayer.  Jesus said the way to the restored image of God, to live forever, was by believing in Him and accepting without hesitation the life He would offer through His flesh and blood.   Jesus was again speaking of his journey to the resurrection.  But profound arrogance blinded the Jews.  They could only conceive of spiritual things through the mirror of the Law and not through the Lawgiver standing before them.  Arrogance about sin remains with us today.

Despite the profound arrogance of the Jews, Jesus' purpose compelled Him to speak of spiritual things.  “53 Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them’” (John 6:53-56).  Jesus’ message never wavered.  Jesus had come to give eternal life and that life required the presence of Jesus to be found in each person.  Salvation was not about the Law because no matter how someone lived, that mirror of the Law would only show their sin, not cure it.  But with Christ, a sinless person living within the believer, the mirror, when used by the believer, would reflect the image of the sinless Christ.

Jesus then spoke the words the Jews could not accept, but Jesus’ disciples needed to hear.  “57 ‘Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever’” (John 6:57-58).  This was Jesus’ teaching on spiritual things.  Jesus gives life.  Activities in the flesh, such as doing earthly things to achieve righteousness, lead to death.

I can only imagine how quiet the synagogue became that day.  The Jews’ grumbling stopped.  The disciples sat motionless.  All eyes were fixed on Jesus.  Then, somewhere in the back of the synagogue, Jesus’ followers began looking at each other and saying, “60 ‘This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?’’ (John 6:60).  “61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, ‘Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.’ For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, ‘This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.’  66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him” (John 6:61-66).  The quietness of the synagogue remained.  The voices heard earlier were replaced by the shuffling of feet as people left and went home.  It was one thing to take Jesus’ free meal, but it was something entirely different to follow Jesus without hesitation or reservation.

Finally, perhaps with just Jesus and his twelve apostles remaining in the synagogue, Jesus said to them, “67 ‘You do not want to leave too, do you?’  68 Simon Peter answered him [Jesus], ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God’” (John 6:67-68).

What, then, do we make of this profound spiritual teaching from Jesus? I think there are just two things I want to emphasize today.  First, Jesus made an outrageous claim.  Jesus claimed to be one with the Father, making Himself God.  The Jews reacted with anger, believing they should kill Jesus for His claim. The Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, had spoken of such a day for Jewish people.  Isaiah wrote, “13 All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace” (Isaiah 54:13).  Now, Jesus claimed God was teaching the people, but significant was their distress, not their peace.  Why were the people, especially the Jewish ruling council, in distress about Jesus’ teachings?  The Jews were distressed because they believed Jesus was a rabbi from Nazareth, not God’s Son from heaven.  The Jews were distressed because Jesus’ words conflicted with the sense of God they had created for themselves.  The Jews were distressed because to accept Jesus meant their lives would have to change, and they did not want to change.  Because the Jews distressed themselves, they did not receive the peace by being taught by God as promised in Isaiah’s prophecy.

How about you?  Does Jesus’ teaching distress you or bring you peace?  Jesus’ teachings distress the world, even though many nonbelievers think Jesus was a great moral teacher.  But Jesus was not a great moral teacher.  Jesus was and is God.  I want to share a quote from the atheist-turned-Christian writer C. S. Lewis. ““I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”  Our first point is that we must decide who this Jesus is making his way to the cross and resurrection.  Is Jesus God, or is he only a man?  Your answer determines your life.  If Jesus was just a man, Jesus points out clearly that your life will be like the ancient Hebrews.  You will eat manna, bread if you will, and will die.  If Jesus was and is God, He offers Himself that you may have abundant life now and forever.  But you must choose.

If you follow Jesus as God, then Jesus has some stern words for you. You must eat his flesh and drink his blood.  What does Jesus mean?  Jesus must provide us with the strength of faith and spiritual life on our journey through life.  This is the second point.

Jesus was clear. He did not come to fill our stomachs with perishable bread. His mission was not to end the suffering of world hunger but to end the suffering of separation from God. To end such suffering, Jesus would go to the cross, and God would demonstrate His power over death, our most feared enemy, by raising Jesus to life on resurrection day.  The resurrection of Jesus would prove Jesus’ claim that to live, we must never be separated from Him.  Perhaps today, we should think differently about the words of the Lord’s prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread.”  Give us this day, not our daily ration of manna, but Jesus, the bread of life, for this day we may live.

I have met many distressed people and counseled a fair number. Every one of them wanted peace. Many of those people have not received peace because they choose to eat manna.  They do not genuinely accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  Sadly, they will live in distress and die separated from God.  Others who were distressed now live in peace because they received Jesus as their bread of life.  Do they struggle with difficulties and illness?  Of course, they do.  We all do. But we can still be at peace if we allow ourselves to consume and take up the bread of life fully.  Peter said it well.  “[Jesus] You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68b-69).  Can you say this about Jesus?  If so, then be at peace and live.  Let us pray.

We are on a journey with Jesus to His resurrection.  Are we taking this journey because Easter is coming?  I suppose, in part, that is true.  However, the most significant reason for this journey is that Jesus’ resurrection changes everything about your life.  You and I were born into this world at different times and places.  But Jesus’ resurrection erases all the differences between us because Jesus offers us a common second birth.  Our second birth is through the Spirit of God, making us children of God, meaning we become brothers and sisters of the same family.  That was what we learned last week when Nicodemus came out of the darkness of the night and into the light of Christ.  We must be born again.

          This week, we continue Jesus’ journey from the surrounds of Jerusalem back to the heart of Judaic practices: the Temple. Most scenes in the Gospel of John focus on Jesus in the Temple and surrounding areas. Those scenes often alternate between Jesus’ dialogue with people, some named and some unnamed, and a confrontation with the ruling council. Today will be no different.

          As we enter the scene, we find Jesus came to Jerusalem during one of the major feasts of the year.  Jerusalem was swollen with people.  The Temple complex was crowded.  Jesus approached the Temple from the east through what is known as the Sheep’s Gate, the gate through which shepherds brought sheep to be sacrificed.  A short distance from that gate within the Temple complex stood a water feature called the Pools of Bethesda.  John said when Jesus entered the pools that day, “3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4]  5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years” (John 5:3, 5).  Let’s address a couple of points with our opening Scripture. 

First, we notice the text omits verse number 4.  Bibles did not have verse numbers until the 1200s.  At that time, verse 4 read was included and read, “4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had” (KJV).  However, archeological discoveries in the 1800s and 1900s found early manuscripts of the Bible did not contain the words of verse 4.  Editors of modern Bible translations, such as the New International Version, concluded the words of verse 4 were not original to John’s writing, so the editors removed the words of verse 4 but retained the verse numbering.  There was no angel involved in the stirring of the waters.

Second, during that feast, when Jesus entered Jerusalem, there were many ill and disabled people present at the Pools of Bethesda.  The area was crowded, but Jesus’ eyes fell upon just one person, a man invalid for 38 years.  John offered no reason for Jesus’ focus on this man, except we discover that the man proved to be the perfect person to draw out the message of Christ.  We need to keep that latter point in mind because, at any given moment, each of us may be the perfect person to share the message of Christ with another person.  It is a sobering thought that at just the right moment, you may be the closest person to Christ your family, a friend, or a stranger has ever met and that Jesus wants you to make Him known at that moment.

On Jesus’ journey, He entered the Sheep’s Gate and went to the Pools of Bethesda and saw many disabled people, including one who was invalid for thirty-eight years. “6b Jesus asked him, ‘Do you want to get well?’” (John 5:6b). Jesus’ question seems strange because we would expect anyone who has been disabled for so long to want relief. For his part, the disabled man seemed confused by Jesus’ question, as evidenced by his response, “7 ‘Sir,’ the invalid replied, ‘I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me’” (John 5:7).  We learn two things.  First, we know the man believed, and as did others, that whenever the waters of the pool stirred, there was a chance for miraculous healing, but only for those who could get into the pool while the waters stirred.  The man believed he was in a cruel competition that favored healing only for the strongest or best supported of the disabled people.  Mercy was not a consideration.  Second, we learn that the man does not know Jesus or of Jesus’ reputation as a healer.

“8 Then Jesus said to him [the disabled man], ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.’ 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked” (John 5:8-9a).  What just happened here?  We need to visualize this scene.  The area around the Pools of Bethesda was crowded with people who were blind, lame, and paralyzed.  They waited for some unpredictable moment for the pool water to stir so they could dash into the water to be made well.  Among all those people, this abled body stranger, Jesus, stopped to speak to just one man among them, a man known to be paralyzed for 38 years.  The stranger commanded the invalid to get up, take his mat, and walk, and the stranger’s words cured the man.  Jesus cured the man.  We know that if we are ill and lay in bed for a few days, our limbs, joints, and muscles become sore and hurt when we get up.  This man lay on a mat for 38 years and got up immediately.  That was a miracle.  Others present must have gasped in shock to see this man walk.  And then, before anyone could speak, this stranger who commanded a cure melded into the crowds and was gone.  Those around the pool must have wondered what happened and why it did not happen to them.  John’s first readers and we wonder what happened and its meaning.

The meaning began to show with John’s following words, “The day on which this [cure] took place was a Sabbath” (John 5:9b).  Meaning will be found in the combination of Jesus’ journey to the resurrection, his commands to the invalid at the Pool of Bethesda, and the Sabbath. We are beginning to understand something about Jesus’ journey to the resurrection.  We learned something about the invalid and the Pools of Bethesda. What must we know about the Sabbath?

In the Book of Exodus, God said of the Sabbath, “8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:8-11).  God created the Sabbath so humanity could rest and keep the day holy to God.  By Jesus’ time, the Jewish ruling council had developed rules and regulations that defined what was work and what was permissible on the Sabbath.  These rules meant no plowing, reaping, grinding, baking, threshing, or binding sheaves.  There was to be no building, demolishing, trapping, shearing, slaughtering, or skinning. The rule prohibited physical activity like burning, writing, cooking, sewing, or carrying things.

To that final point, John wrote, “10 And so the Jewish leaders [ruling council] said to the man who had been healed, ‘It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.’ 11 But he [the healed man] replied, ‘The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’’  12 So they [Jewish leaders] asked him [the healed man], ‘Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?’” (John 5:10-12). Again, we learn two things. First, the man caught the ruling council’s attention because the man violated their Sabbath rules by carrying a mat. Who did this man think he was violating the ruling council’s Sabbath regulations?  Second, we learn the Council had no interest in the man’s cure. Telling the Council a stranger cured him and told him to carry his mat only shifted the Council’s inquiry into the stranger’s identity.  Who did this man who cured the invalid think he was telling people to violate their Sabbath regulations?  The miracle of healing was of no concern to the Jewish ruling council.  But the man did not know the stranger who healed him. We learn from this encounter that the Council was more interested in acts that violated their methods of following the Sabbath than mercy.  The Council took Jesus’ words to man not as a merciful rebuke of lifelong paralysis but as a challenge to the Council’s authority, and a challenge to authority must be defended.  In its rightful role of guiding the people's religious faith, the Council had forgotten God’s command, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (Hosea 6:6).  It appeared the story would end here.

But “14 Later Jesus found him [the healed man] at the temple and said to him, ‘See, you are well again. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you.’ 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that Jesus had made him well” (John 5:14-15).  Here, we learn three things.  First, Jesus found the man in the Temple.  This was cause for celebration because the paralyzed and seriously ill were not allowed in the Temple, another Jewish ruling Council regulation.  Disabled people were not permitted to worship in the Temple.  Now healed, the man wanted everything that had been denied him. Second, Jesus said that continual sin brings something worse than 38 years of paralysis.  Continual sin brings hell.  And so, Jesus told the man, “Stop sinning.”  Finally, the healed man wanted people to know about Jesus and Jesus' authority to command healing, an authority known only to God.  Now, John’s readers and we might think this will be an excellent day for the Council.  They will meet someone whose spoken words can heal.

But alas, “16 Because Jesus was doing these things [healing] on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him” (John 5:16).  Persecute here means to harass, mistreat, to be hostile toward.  The ruling Council was only interested in Jesus submitting himself to their authority. John said, “17 In his defense Jesus said to them, ‘My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.’ 18 For this reason, they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:17-18).  Jesus had done it.  Jesus said even on the Sabbath, God was at work.  The ruling Council would have agreed.  But for Jesus to call God His Father and that He was working on the Sabbath as His Father worked on the Sabbath was Jesus making Himself equal to God. Suddenly, the violation of the Sabbath was pale in comparison to the blasphemy of Jesus making himself equal to God. Violating the Sabbath brought persecution.  Blasphemy required death.

We now can understand the combination of Jesus’ journey to the resurrection, his commands to the invalid at the Pool of Bethesda, and the Sabbath.  Jesus was deliberately going to the resurrection, where salvation would be offered.  Along the way to the resurrection, Jesus wanted people to know that salvation was not a cruel competition among people.  Salvation was not about who was most physically fit or able to help themselves to achieve perfection.  Salvation was not about the work you did, the clothing worn, or the position of authority held.  Salvation was not and is not a cruel competition.

   Instead, salvation is granted to us by mercy.  God’s mercy that gifts us salvation we call grace.  And our access to that grace is determined based upon our answer to just one question, “Do you want to be well?”

What is meant by that question?  We see the meaning through the man at the pool.  The man was bound to live a life of doing the same thing.  The man could not change his circumstances or find a friend strong enough to change the man’s life for him.  The man was without hope. 

The imagery of the man bound at the pool is the picture of a life, our life, bound by sin. We are confined to doing the same thing over and over.  We cannot break sin on our own and do not have friends strong enough to break our sin for us.  Sin is cruel.

Then along came a man, a stranger at first, who asked the man at the pool, “Do you want to be well?”  Then the stranger said to the man, “Get up and walk; you are no longer bound. But sin no more.”  Mercy had been given, and mercy received.  The man who had been bound was now free to share with everyone the identity of the man who freed him.  The imagery of the man freed to walk is the picture of a life saved by Jesus.  The scene at the pool showed us that the man who could make the lame walk had the power to cancel sin.  And the only one who can cancel sin is God.

But the message of grace is not readily accepted by those who live their life based upon cruel competition, nor is it readily accepted by those who want to remain in sin. The ruling council set the rules and procedures for the cruel competition over who could enjoy God’s grace. Anyone who challenged them must be opposed to God and be condemned.  Jesus’ journey to the resurrection would require the ruling council to condemn him. Why?  So that the power of the resurrection, the authority of Jesus, and the wrongness of the competition would be evident.

But to live in the power of the resurrection, we sinners must answer one question: “Do you want to be well?”  Let us pray.

          I recently purchased a book entitled “On the Resurrection: Evidences.” It is a hefty 1054 pages and is marked as Volume 1. It will take me a while to read that book.  The author intends to prove through evidence within the Bible and external to the Bible that Jesus was resurrected from the dead.  The reason for this is that the resurrection of Jesus is the moment that the history of the world was forever changed.  Without Jesus’ resurrection, we would not be here today.  There would be no New Testament.  There would be no hope.  And so, for the next 11 weeks, I would like us to journey together to the world-changing event of Jesus’ resurrection.  Along the way, we will meet some named characters like Nicodemus, Lazarus, Mary, Martha, Caiaphas, Pontius Pilate, and Mary Magdelene.  Some are loving and kind people while others are nasty and villainous.  We will also meet some unnamed people who were crippled, blind, scared, and hungry. Each, in their way, brings greater depth to the story of Jesus’ resurrection.  Our journey’s aim is not to become historians of Jesus’ resurrection. The aim is to allow the Holy Spirit to excite and renew our faith, confidence, hope, and joy that Jesus is the Son of God who lived, died, and arose from the grave conquering death and giving life to all who would believe in Him.  To accept Jesus' resurrection without reservation or hesitation is to change your life forever.

          We begin our journey to Jesus’ resurrection in a quiet setting of total darkness.  It is dark, except where Jesus sat in the light with his disciples.  The Gospel of John described the scene this way, “1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night” (John 3:1-2a).  Our journey to Jesus’ resurrection has begun and it begins with a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus, a member of the ruling council of Jerusalem, and it starts at night.

          Some significant events had already occurred by the time of this nighttime encounter.  Jesus, who had lived in obscurity doing manual labor, had been baptized in the River Jordan by his kinsman, John.  As Jesus arose from the water, John “saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him [Jesus]. 33 And [John said] I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this [man Jesus] is God’s Chosen One” (John 1:32b-34).  Jesus, upon his baptism and anointing by the Holy Spirit, began his journey to the resurrection moving from the anonymity of a small town in Galilee to notoriety in the heart of Judaism of Jerusalem.  Jesus’ baptism gives us a visible image of transformation.  Baptism is that chief moment when believers say publicly, I am a new creation because of the work of God.  My old life, whether lived quietly or loudly, is over.  My new life, focused upon God as my greatest good, has begun.

          Jesus left behind his old life and went into the center of Jerusalem.  It was Passover, and “14 In the temple courts he [Jesus] found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he [Jesus] made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he [Jesus] said, ‘Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!’ 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: ‘Zeal for your house will consume me’” (John 2:14-17).  Jesus demonstrated that his life would be focused on doing the work of God until his life itself had been consumed.

Jesus had caught the attention of the people and the ruling council, comprised of Pharisees, Sadducees, and the Chief Priests.  Council members confronted Jesus and said, “‘What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?’  19 Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’  20 They replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ 21 But the temple he [Jesus] had spoken of was his body. 22 After he [Jesus] was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he [Jesus] had said. Then they [Jesus’ disciples] believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken” (John 2:18b-22). From the beginning of Jesus’ transformation from unknown to known, Jesus began speaking of his death and resurrection. There was nothing secretive about Jesus’ behavior.  Jesus cleansed the Temple, responded to the challenge from the Council, and healed the sick within the Temple openly and in broad daylight.

“1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.  For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him” (John 3:1-2).  What do we learn here?  First, a Pharisee emerged from the darkness into the light of Jesus’ presence.  The Pharisees were one of the two major religious groups that guided the Jewish people in the ways of God.  Pharisees were recognizable by their dress and careful follow of religious practices, some Biblical and some they created.  Second, John reminds us that this Pharisee is a man who had a name, Nicodemus.  To point out that Nicodemus is a man seems like an unnecessary detail.  But that Nicodemus is a man reminds us of his humanity. It reminds us that Nicodemus, as well as you and me, were born and that before God we stand not by the strength of any title of life but as man or woman made in God’s image.  Third, Nicodemus is part of the power structure of the Temple that opposed Jesus' cleansing of the Temple and immediately challenged Jesus’ authority.  The Council’s challenge to Jesus’ authority was immediate and relentless, and their resistance to Jesus grew into a murderous rage that ended in Jesus’ death on the cross. Finally, Nicodemus said he came to Jesus because “we know you are a teacher who has come from God.”  We will soon discover that Nicodemus’ statement is not true.  The Council did not know Jesus and did not believe Jesus was from God.  In Nicodemus’ opening statement, we do not learn why he came out of the dark and into the light to meet with Jesus.

But Jesus’ decided to accept Nicodemus’ visit and began to teach the man named Nicodemus. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Very truly I tell you, no one [man or woman] can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (John 3:3).  Jesus had introduced a central teaching of Christianity.  To move from one realm, the world, into which we were all born, and enter the realm of God, each man and woman must be born a second time. There is no natural birthright that entitles anyone, man, woman, Pharisee, or Council member the right to the realm of God.  No set of prayers or rituals can create a right to the realm of God.  To see and enter the realm of God requires a second birth.

Nicodemus was stunned, confused, and misunderstood Jesus’ words.  4 “‘How can someone be born when they are old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!’” (John 3:4).  Nicodemus had perhaps witnessed Jesus heal someone or heard reports of healing but had not listened to Jesus teach about God.  Nicodemus heard Jesus’ words now as nonsensical thoughts about the physical realm and not words about the realm of God.  Born again, how can that be?  We benefit from Nicodemus’ misunderstanding because Jesus goes deeper into God’s truth.

“5 Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3:5-6).  Jesus addressed Nicodemus’ misunderstanding about a second birth.  Jesus was not speaking of a second physical birth. Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is closed unless a person is born a second time supernaturally. A person must be born of water and then of the Spirit or said differently a person must be born of the flesh and then the Spirit.  There is no alternative for moving from the realm of the world to the realm of God. The second birth must be given to each man or woman as a gift from God.

Jesus continued Nicodemus, “7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:7-8).  The wind follows the path of its choice.  That choice cannot be altered by human intervention.  Likewise, a person born of the Spirit follows the path of the Spirit’s choice.  Human voices no longer control that person's movements as they move from the realm of this world to the realm of God.  A person born of the Spirit is no longer the same as when they were only born of the flesh.

9 “‘How can this be?’ Nicodemus asked.”  How can it be that one must be born supernaturally to enter the realm of God?  For Nicodemus, his entire life was about rituals and sacrifices to please God. His whole life was about being a child of Abraham and worshiping in the Temple of Jerusalem.  Nicodemus’ status among the people was based on being seen as holy in the way he dressed and what he ate.  Jesus no said none of that mattered.  To be in the realm of God, Nicodemus must be born again and start life afresh being led by the Spirit.  “How can this be?”

Jesus said, “10 ‘You are Israel’s teacher, and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people [Pharisees, Council members] do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him” (John 3:10-15). Nicodemus may not have understood much of what Jesus said.  But Nicodemus would have understood the reference to Moses lifting up the snake in the wilderness.  This was done to save the sinful people of Israel from death caused by snake bites. The lifting up of the snake upon a pole was God’s way of moving people from physical death to physical life. Jesus said it will be in a similar way that when the Son of Man (Jesus) is lifted up, when He is crucified and then glorified, then those who believe in Him shall have eternal life.  Jesus was equating the belief in Him to a spiritual second birth.

Again, Jesus was speaking of the necessity and the power of his death and resurrection for people to move from the realm of the world and into the realm of God.  The second birth will be one of faith, not of work. The second birth will be marked by accepting Jesus as God’s anointed One.  This thought would be emphasized again a few verses later with the most favorite verse of all Christianity, “16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).  Unless a person is born again, they will not see the kingdom of God (John 3:3, 5) and that birth comes in the form of belief in atoning sacrifice of Jesus as Savior (John 3:16).

Nicodemus said nothing and faded back into the darkness.  What was Nicodemus’ reason for coming into the light of Jesus’ presence? We do not know.  What was Nicodemus’ report to his fellow Pharisees and other Council members?  We do not know.  We do know that after Jesus was lifted up, crucified, and glorified, Nicodemus was born a second time.  Nicodemus would help bury Jesus’ lifeless body.  Nicodemus became a believer and receiver of the salvation offered by Jesus and Nicodemus moved from the realm of this world to the realm of God. Nicodemus did so not by ritual or animal sacrifice but by the movement of the Holy Spirit within him.

Where does Nicodemus’ story leave us on our journey to the resurrection?  We need to see that Jesus was forthright about what lay ahead.  He was moving from His baptism to his death and resurrection for the sake of His disciples as well as you and me.  We need to see that Jesus’ desire was for everyone to believe in Him and be born again, only this time by His Spirit.  The outward symbol of belief in Him of that second birth would be baptism. Jesus’ message was loving and blunt. You will not see the kingdom of God unless you are born again.

We must ask ourselves, “Have I been born again?”  If our answer is “No” or “I am not sure,” then we are like Nicodemus, we stand in the dark and watch Jesus, who is in the light.  “7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his [God’s] Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).  Do not let the day go by without coming out of the darkness and joining Jesus for His journey to the resurrection and your eternal salvation.  Amen and Amen.  

          This is our third week looking at the cornerstones of Biblical inner peace.  Two weeks ago, we saw that worship was the first cornerstone to having a inner peace.  We are able through worship to give of ourselves to God and to receive from Him the transforming grace of His word.  Last week, we saw that prayers offered with thanksgiving for all that God has done, returns to us with a peace that surpasses all understanding.  Today, I would like to look at the third cornerstone which called fellowship.  And I would like to begin our time looking at this cornerstone with a short story about my childhood.

I come from a family of four children.  I was the youngest of the four.  The oldest of the four children was my sister Marie.  She was fourteen years older than me.  One of the earliest memories I have of my sister, Marie, was her sitting at the kitchen table with a group of her friends.  It was not uncommon for Marie to have friends over at our house to enjoy some time together but there was something about their gathering this time that was different.

          What struck me the most about this gathering was that they all had Bibles in front of them and they were reading them.  We were raised Roman Catholic.  This was the mid-1960’s and one of the things Roman Catholics in the mid-1960’s did not do was read the Bible.  We were never encouraged to read the Bible, and, in fact, I had a sense we were discouraged from reading the Bible.  At this gathering, it appeared to me that my sister, Marie, was leading the conversation. I do not recall what they were talking about, but I knew it was from the Bible.  I was probably 5 or 6 at this time.  Having never seen this before I asked my mother whether what Marie and her friends were doing was allowed.  My mother said it was fine.  Satisfied with my mother’s assurances, I probably grew bored of watching my sister and her friends and went to find something else to do.  It seems like a silly story to me now, but it was a very uncommon experience in the mid-1960’s.

          We might think for a moment that what I witness that day was my sister and her friends engaged in Bible study.  That was true.  But the more I have thought about that moment, what I did not realize then, but now I understand is that in watching my sister and her friends at the kitchen table, I had witnessed the Bible playing out in front of me.  I witnessed something more than a Bible study, what I witnessed was what the New Testament writers called, in Greek, koinonia, which is often translated into English as fellowship.  Too often, in church settings, we associate the idea of fellowship to simply being the sharing of a meal after a worship service.  Certainly, sharing a meal after worship is a facet of fellowship but doing just that, sharing a meal, would leave us short of what God’s Word intends for us to understand in the practice of koinonia. Why does it matter that we understand koinonia?  It matters because koinonia is one of the pillars of Biblical inner peace.

          The first time the word koinonia was used in the New Testament was in the Book of Acts, Chapter 2. Luke was writing about the formation of the early Christian church, in and around Jerusalem.  Luke described the early church this way, “42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:42-47).

          The early Christian church had begun, and the church began with some very unexpected developments. Let’s focus on the beginning of Luke’s description.  Luke wrote, ““42 They [The church] devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42-47).  We see here that there were four things emphasized in the early church and all of them were undertaken with a sense of devotion, that is a sense of unforced priority.

          First, the early church was devoted to the apostles’ teaching.  The apostles were not religious scholars.  The apostles were fishermen and at least one tax collector. The apostles, as well as the members of the early church, would have been thought of as common people, ordinary people, nothing special.  And yet, the apostles were able to teach with authority not found among the professional teachers of the Scriptures.  How were these common people transformed into uncommon teachers?  There could be only one explanation.  The transformation occurred by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had told the apostles this would happen.  In the Gospel of John, Chapter 14, Jesus told his apostles, “26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26).  And so, we see that the Holy Spirit was involved in the empowerment of the apostles to become teachers of God’s Word and to remind the apostles of what Jesus had said and taught.  The people were devoted to hear more of what the apostles had to say because the more they heard the more peaceful their lives became.

          Second, the early church was devoted to fellowship.  We will cover what that meant in a moment.

          Third, the early church was devoted to breaking the bread.  The use of the term “breaking the bread” carried with it two obvious meanings. The first is sharing a meal.  The second being to share in the Lord’s Supper. Here, though I believe breaking the bread is most likely related to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Biblical scholars believe that one of the teachings from the earliest days of the Christian church was recorded and shared by the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.  In that letter, Paul said to the Corinthian church, “23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).  This teaching is believed to have originated immediately after Jesus’ ascension into heaven and was carried forward to each new group of Christians, all the way up to and including us.  Devotion to the celebration of the breaking of the bread is an act of worship of God through Jesus’ Christ.  It is both solemn in the sense of the moment of Christ’s sacrifice and it is hopeful in the establishment of a new covenant.  And people devoted themselves to the breaking of the bread because it too brought them peace.

          Fourth, the early church was devoted to prayer.  We spoke about prayer last week and saw the power there is in prayer to bring God’s peace into our lives.  Prayer was fundamental to the early church because the strong connection prayer makes between believers and God.  Prayer is an interesting thing to contemplate.  Prayer is the only thing we will ever create that here on earth that we will be found in heaven.  The Book of Revelation speaks of the twenty-four elders in heaven, “Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people” (Revelation 5:8b).  So, when we pray those prayers do not disappear.  They have left the bonds of earth and are received in heaven.  And so, prayer brought peace to the people.

          This leaves us with the topic of fellowship.  Let’s go back to that second devotion of the early church, namely fellowship coming from the Greek word koinonia.  What is koinonia?  It is not entirely clear from the way Luke used the word here and it is, for me, somewhat surprisingly, Luke never uses the word koinonia again.  Our primary source of understanding then comes from the Apostles Paul and John.  And the principal way Paul and John used the word koinonia was to represent a deep spiritual connection between a believer and God through Jesus Christ and between believers in Jesus Christ.  Let’s look at just a couple of examples.

• “9 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship [koinonia] with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9).  Paul was emphasizing the koinonia means a strong connection to Christ.
• “14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship [koinonia] of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14).  Paul ended his second letter to the Corinthians encouraging them to keep and enjoy their deep spiritual connection with the Holy Spirit.
• “And our fellowship [koinonia] is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3b).  John emphasized again that the deep spiritual connection with Father through the Son.
• “7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship [koinonia] with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).  John was emphasizing that koinonia a deep spiritual relationship with God through Jesus Christ that is empowered by the presence of the Holy Spirit naturally leads to a coupling and connection with other believers.

So, koinonia has very little to do with the physical world, very little to do with casseroles and potato salad, but has everything to do with spiritual relationships with God through Jesus Christ and between believers. And Luke said the early church devoted itself to such divine and believers’ fellowship.  The idea here is that believers intentionally sought out each other and because there was an excitement of finding and being in the presence of another believer.  The sense of the power of the Holy Spirit and the sense of connectedness to Christ, to God, grows when believers encounter each other.

          Let me illustrate that point in a couple of ways.  When I worked for the federal government, I would travel frequently by air by myself. Onboard the aircraft, you would always be meeting someone new.  In my experience, whenever I was seated next to a believer, the time passed quickly and was refreshing as we shared in each other’s life.  There was fellowship at 30,000 feet because it was the interaction of two beings each possessing the Holy Spirit.

          In ancient times of the early Christian church, the primary symbol of Christians was not the cross but the fish, the ichthys, (ick’-thy-us).  According to one ancient story, when a Christian met a stranger in the road, the Christian sometimes drew one arc of the simple fish outline in the dirt. If the stranger drew the other arc, completing the image of the fish, both believers knew they were in good company.  The company of believers was something that early Christians sought at every opportunity because it brought about the sense of greater empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

          So, koinonia, fellowship as we might translate it, has to do with the ever-greater experience of togetherness with Christ and believers possessing the Holy Spirit. The early church devoted themselves to this drawing of themselves together bask in the sense of spiritual unity. This is what I now believe I saw back when I was a child observing my sister, Marie, and her friends surrounding the kitchen table.  It was perhaps the first time I had seen believers gather in an unforced manner and basking in a sense of spiritual unity, koinonia.  Researchers tell us that our earliest memories become our earliest memories because there was a strong sense of emotion associated with that recalled event.  In my case, this every early childhood memory is recalled because of the strong sense of spiritual unity and a sense of peace.

          Our life should be at peace.  We were not designed for turmoil.  Medical professionals will tell you the more chaos and turmoil you experienced as a child, the more illness prone and the shorter your life will be.  We were not designed for turmoil.  We were designed for peace.

The Garden of Eden was peaceful and balanced.  Sin changed all that.  But time and time again, God has called us out of the world of turmoil that we have created and brought us back into peace.  Jesus came to bring us peace.  Jesus came to love us.  Jesus came to reconcile us from the turmoil of sin to the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.  Jesus gave believers the Holy Spirit to enable them to do the things He called believers to do and to bind believers together.  That binding together of believers to Christ and to each other is koinonia. Be devoted then to koinonia and let us be together brothers and sisters in Christ.  Amen and Amen.          

          Amazon, as many of us know, is an amazing place to shop for just about anything you need or want. One of the products sold by Amazon is the Kindle, a device used for reading electronic books.  Each Kindle can hold hundreds of books.  The Kindle allows you to highlight sentences or paragraphs that you found especially interesting so that you can refer to it later.

          Of all the electronic books sold and downloaded to Kindles worldwide, the Bible is the book that users have highlighted more than any other electronic book ever sold.  There is much in the Bible that people want to refer to and think about.  If we did a top five listing of the passages highlighted from Bible in Kindle, we would find the fifth most frequently highlighted passage is Galatians 5:22-23, “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”  Coming in at number 4 would be, “5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”  The number 3 position goes to Matthew 6:33-34, “33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”  The second most frequently highlighted passage goes to the ever-popular verse, John 3:16, “16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  And the most frequently highlighted Bible verses on Kindles across the world is Philippians 4:6-7, “6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

          The Holy Spirit of God inspired the Apostle Paul to write those words to his friends at the church in Philippi.  Paul, at the time he wrote this letter, was in prison and his counsel to the church was “do not be anxious.”  Several years ago, my wife and I did some prison visits.  We submitted to the search process and then were allowed to enter the prison through a series of prison doors and gates leading to the visitors’ center.  Each door and gate made a loud metal bang as it locked behind us.  It was difficult not to feel somewhat anxious just visiting a prison, let alone being confined to a prison.  And yet Paul was giving counsel to the church not to be anxious.

          Anxiousness is the number one emotional/mental health issue in the United States with nearly 20% of all American adults, 1 out of every 5 people, reporting in 2024 that anxiety was adversely impacting their life.  That means one in every 5 people you know is being robbed of inner peace because of anxious circumstances.  And yet God desires for us to have peace, a deep inner peace, that helps us even when things of life get troubling.  The fact that the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write about anxiousness among the members of the church at Philippi suggests that anxiety was a problem for them as much as it may be for us.  Paul wanted the people of the church to have peace not anxiety and so do we. What then is the antidote to anxiety?

          Let’s see how Paul introduces us to the antidote.  We begin by looking in Chapter 3 of Paul’s letter to the Philippians.  Paul said, “If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless” (Philippians 3:4-6). Paul was saying here that he had achieved much in his life through his own efforts.  In fact, he had achieved more religious things than most people. He was circumcised, he was an Israelite, supremely Hebrew in his behaviors, a Pharisees, he followed the law without fault, and, at one time, persecuted Christians as an act of support for God with greater energy than anyone else.  Paul was accomplished in religious observance more than most everyone else. 

But then Paul said this, “7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. [What I once held dear, I now count as loss.] 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith” (Philippians 3:7-9).  And that, “15 All of us, then, who are mature [in faith] should take such a view of things” (Philippians 3:15).

Paul was making the point that everything, anything that he or others could point to as an accomplishment in Paul’s life, Paul now considered garbage, something of absolutely no worth whatsoever.  It was all trash that had been exchanged for one excellent thing, knowing Jesus as his Savior and Lord.  Having Christ was all Paul needed, and Paul knew that Christ could never be taken away from him.

Perhaps the way we would have to look at this is to take an inventory of everything we have accomplished and everything we possess. We would have to list educational degrees, business and work accomplishments, roles we accomplished in church, and things we own and be willing to say none of it matters when we compare it being saved by Christ.  Said another way, we would not be willing to retain any of our stuff if it meant not having eternal life.  Paul was saying start your thinking here and recognize that all these things, these accomplishments, and these possessions are temporary.  They all disappear to you when you die.  The only thing that will matter now and for all time is whether you know Christ and he knows you.  If the answer is, Christ knows you and you know him, then you will be in glory forever! If this is the case, Paul says, then don’t be concerned about these trifles on earth such as things and accomplishments.  They are temporary and rubbish.

Paul then reiterated what he had shared with the church when he was present with them along these lines, “18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:18-20a).  Paul’s point here was that those who live for this world live to eat and live to brag about their accomplishments.  These are their gods and thus are enemies of the cross.  But, Paul says, we who love and have accepted Christ are already citizens of heaven.  We are here awaiting the time for Jesus to return or for us to go to Him.  “1 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!” (Philippians 4:1).  Paul’s point was the believer has a fundamentally different way of looking at circumstances of life because of the great confidence a believer has in the eternal nature of their life.  If a believer keeps focused on Christ and the joy of being in Christ, then things of earth are clearly secondary.  However, if we lack that confidence in Christ, or if we deny Christ, then everything earthly becomes very important and we become anxious about losing them. 

Augustine, a 4th century Christian theologian explained it this way.  “The good things that people think essential to happiness are so easily lost. Whatever we think will make us happy ends up making us unhappy, because we fear we might lose it.”  Augustine went on to say, “Happiness must meet two conditions.  First, it [whatever brings us happiness] would have to be a good that is higher and more complete than any other.  Second, this good would have to be something that cannot be lost.  The only good thing that fits this description is our relationship to God through Christ.  Nothing is greater than our relationship to God and it cannot be taken from us.”

Paul continued that when we realize the true value of the gift we have in being with God and his salvation then we should, “4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”  (Philippians 4:4).  And because our posture begins with joy in the Lord, we should then, “5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near” (Philippians 4:5).  The predisposition of maturity as a Christian is to have an inner joy because of Christ and we should have an outward presentation of gentleness because Christ is near to us.

We should pause for a moment and think about what Paul was saying. When we woke up this morning, did we think or say to ourselves as mature Christians, “Thank you Lord for being near to me and giving me joy to start this new day!”  Or did we say, “Ooh!  It is too early, too dark, too cold, I’m too tired to get up.  I’ve got so much to do but I just want to roll over and go back to bed!”  Our starting point makes a difference.  Paul was saying because our highest desire is God, we can start the day saying, “Rejoice! The Lord is near!  I say again, Rejoice!”  I believe this was Paul’s posture even though Paul was imprisoned.

Now the Apostle Paul was no stranger to the hardships of life. Paul had been beaten with iron rods, stoned, and whipped.  He had gone without food.  He had been shipwrecked.  And now, Paul was imprisoned.  There were plenty of reasons for Paul to feel anxious, depressed, angry, fearful, helpless, and overwhelmed.  So, what was Paul’s antidote for such poisonous feelings?  Paul said, “6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6).  Paul’s remedy was simple.  First, when life’s troubles come pouring in, resist the natural tendency to become anxious. Instead, for each situation that might make you anxious, and will make those without Christ anxious, turn instead to God and pray.  But pray, in a particular manner.  Paul said “pray with thanksgiving.”  Don’t pray with anxiousness built into the prayer.  Don’t pray, “Lord you know how overwhelmed and depressed I get when I don’t feel well or when the car does not run well.”  Paul said pray with thanksgiving.  “Lord, I thank you that you are near and that you are my greatest joy now and forever.  I rejoice in your presence and I turn over to you the illness I feel this morning so that it does not rob me of my joy and the gentleness I seek to present to others. Thank you, Lord, for the peace you have given me and will preserve within me.  In Christ’s name, Amen.”  Prayer that is focused on the goodness and nearness of Christ and the joy and thanksgiving that brings into life while preserve and protect the inner peace that we have as citizens of heaven.  Prayers that focus and dwell on what could make us anxious are only inclined to draw our thoughts towards anxiousness.  Paul said, “6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6).  And the promise is, “7 And [then] the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).  God’s peace comes to us from prayers offered in thanksgiving to God.  Prayers that remind us that God is the highest, the best presence in our life are answered by God with a protection established around our hearts and minds helping to push back our natural tendency to become anxious. The song, All I Once Held Dear, gives us the lyrics from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, “Knowing you, Jesus, knowing you; there is no greater thing.  You’re my all, you’re the best, you’re my joy, my righteousness and I love you, Lord.”  We pray with thanksgiving and God answers us with protection.  We are granted an inner calmness that surpasses all understanding because to others our circumstances would suggest we should be panicked. 

Last year, when my wife was severely ill.  We prayed.  You prayed for us.  And the sense we had and shared with others was “no matter how things turn out, we will be OK.”  Becky’s illness was serious, but it could not separate her or me from our highest joy, our greatest gift, Jesus Christ.  And in response to those prayers, our hearts were guarded and our minds were protected against the disability of anxiousness.  Prayer, a cornerstone of inner peace, had been granted to us and protects us from being robbed of the joy of life itself.

“4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:4-7).  Amen and Amen.

          Have you ever been to a sporting event?  Perhaps you went to a football game, a hockey game, baseball game, soccer game, boxing match, wrestling match, or basketball game?  Why did you go?  Most people go because they have some interest in one of the teams or individuals involved in the contest and they want to cheer that team or person on to victory. And so, we go and sit in the bleachers or a seat and together with other people we may or may not know, we cheer on contestants. 

Now why don’t we just sit there quietly, watch the game, and then go home?  Why do we spontaneously cheer and yell words from the stands to the players in the contest? We cheer at a sporting event because we want to help create a sense of excitement and energy in the stadium, with the belief that we can positively impact the team's performance.  Cheering is a way for us to show support for the team and encourage them to play their best.  Cheering is the way we show our admiration and joy for the performance of the athletes in the contest, and we hope that if we all cheer loud enough then our cheering will help elevate the athletes to great feats.  We cheer in the hope that doing so will change the performance to be greater than ever.  We cheer to change the outcome.

          Now let’s change the setting a little bit.  Instead of going to a sports stadium for an athletic contest, we go to church.  Now that is quite a switch, isn’t it?  But here you are in church instead of a sporting event, so my example is not that farfetched.  You have taken your seat near some people you know and near some people you may not know, just as you would have done had you gone to a sports stadium. 

In gathering today, we began our time together at church standing and reciting words together toward God our intended listener.  We got louder together with some music, and we sang couple of songs, again toward God our intended listener.  Why did we use our voices by reciting words and song, our church cheering, if you will?  Our church cheering today is not that different from our cheering at sporting events. Now, at a sporting event we cheer in the hopes of encouraging the athletes to change a bit and do better. Do we use our voices at church in the same way, in the hopes of encouraging God to change a bit and to do better?

          Since God is perfect, the “try to do better” option does not exist for God.  And we are told in Scripture that God does not change, “For I the LORD do not change” (Malachi 3:6).  And neither does Jesus Christ change, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrew 13:8).  Augustine, a fourth century Christian writer and scholar, spoke of nature of God this way:

What then is my God?...Supreme, best, most mighty, most omnipotent, most merciful and most just, most hidden and most immediately present, loveliest, strongest, steadfast and impossible to grasp, unchanging and yet changing all things, never new, never old, making all things new; driving the proud into decay of old age though they know it not; ever in act, ever at rest, gathering up and never in need, bearing and filling and sheltering, creating and nourishing, bringing to perfection, seeking, though nothing are you in want.  You love, but you do not burn with passion; you are jealous for what is yours, though you are secure in your possession; you regret, though you do not grieve; you grow angry, though you are at peace; you alter your works but not your counsel; you take up what you find though you never lost it. (Confessions, Book 1, Chapter 4).

God is unchangeable.  He is never in need.  And so, our words and songs, our church cheering, is different from our cheers at a sporting event because our words and songs at church will not encourage or inspire our listener, God, to change, or do better. 

But it would be a mistake to believe that our church cheering does not lead to encouragement or to change.  Because it does.  Our words and songs to God are rightly and appropriately directed toward God as our form of worship, but instead of encouraging and changing God, our words and songs are part of encouraging us and preparing us to be changed by God, through our worship.  Our words and songs help us to come out of the world to worship God by expressing our appreciation and gratitude to God’s blessings.  Our cheering in church is part of our worship of God and it helps us break up the hardness we experienced in the past week.  Our church cheering done together, with those we know and those we do not know, helps those who are here today who cannot cheer today because the burdens and hurts that they feel are so severe that they do not have the strength to speak the words or sing the songs.  And so, we speak, and we sing for them to help prepare them to receive healing from God.  And someday, these people who cannot engage in church cheering today, will speak and sing for us when we lack the strength to do so.

          And so, you might ask, “Well Pastor we have spoken words and sung our songs of praise and gratitude to God as part of worshipping God, how then will God change us?”  God will change us through the hearing of His word in response to our cheering.  “12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).  When we meditate on and interact with the Bible as part of worship, God's Word can change our hearts and our thinking.  God's Word can set us apart as pure and holy.  God’s Word brings us peace.  Jesus said, “27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27).

          Today because of our worship of God, we are in our prepared state to receive from God.  And I want us to look at some challenging words from God, given to us by Jesus in what we now call the Sermon on the Mount recorded for us in the Gospel of Matthew.  I want to begin with the words from Chapter 5, verse 23 and 24.  Jesus said, “23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24).

          What is going on in this short passage?  Jesus set the scene that someone skipped going to an athletic event and went to the synagogue or Temple to worship, just like you and I have done today.  After some prayers and hymns, one of the worshipper was ready, prepared, to make an offering to the Lord as an act of further worship.  But something interrupted the anticipated next step.  The worshipper had been changed.  The hardness of worshipper’s heart, the difficulties of the week, had softened and the worshipper heard God’s Word causing the worshipper to change. The worshipper remembered, or could no longer hide from themselves, that they had a falling out with someone close to them, a brother or a sister.  They had not loved their neighbor as themselves.  And so here is that worshipper who because they had been prepared by the words and songs they and others had sung had received the Word of God and now realized they need to reconcile with a brother or a sister.  This story all takes place within the setting of worship.  Do you see how worship works to change us? 

What is this worshipper supposed to do?  Jesus said, “First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:24).  The first step was the worshipper to act and reconcile with brother or sister.”  In our context, if you are in church, prepared by worship, and God’s Word comes to you, “Love your neighbor,” and you realized that you have done something to offend a brother or sister, here meaning another believer, and that person is not there with you in that moment, Jesus says, leave the church now and make things right.  You can come to church again, but you may not be able to reconcile with that person again. Wow!  Think about the change that has come over that worshipper.  God was moving that worshipper to a place of greater inner peace and more into the image of His own Son.  Because of worship of God, God changed the worshipper from a peacebreaker to a peacemaker.

          Even if we do not find ourselves in the circumstance of that worshipper who has been called to become a peacemaker, we now rightly understand the change God wants in our life.  We now see through this worship experience we read about that God wants us to always be peacemakers.  Jesus said as much a little earlier in the Sermon on the Mount when he said, “9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9).  And so because we are in worship of God today, God has already been able to use this moment to take our prepared hearts and minds to breath His word into us to charge us all to be peacemakers in a world that is breaking apart.  If we do as God has instructed, Jesus says, then you and I are not only changed but we are truly children of God.

          Seeing how worship of God prepares us to be changed by God’s Word, let’s look at one more example from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus said, “21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell” (Matthew 5:21-22). Jesus was saying, “I know you have been taught that you shall not murder, that is number six of the top ten list of commandments, ‘Thou shall not murder.’”  You know that Jesus said then said my favorite theological word, “but.”  This is an important word because that word signals the unknown thing that must be known is coming.  “22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ [Stupid! Idiot! Dummy! Moron!] is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell” (Matthew 5:22).  Jesus was not abolishing the law but instead was enlightening his audience and us that righteousness in the kingdom of heaven demands that we neither murder a person’s body nor their reputation.  Righteousness lived out means that we do not choose to be angry toward another person, because anger is a choice, and we do not choose to have contempt for another person.  There are two ways we should consider Jesus’ teaching here. 

First, I think is the most obvious.  We shall not kill outright, that’s murder the body, nor are we to kill someone softly, that is murder of their reputation or spirit.  To kill outright is to take someone’s life.  As Jesus said, “You have heard that said to people long ago.”  To kill softly is to abuse another person. When we abuse another person, we kill them, only we do it softly, often without injury to their body itself.  But abuse can be physical, emotional, psychological, sexual, and spiritual.  If you have been abused or if you have a friend or family member who has been abused, you know what it means to be killed softly.  The body may not have died but permanent damage to the person, to their spirit, has been done.  And so, Jesus was saying any form of abuse violates the righteousness underpinning the commandment not to murder and such behavior must not be found in the life of a righteous person.  As so Jesus was saying that not only must we be peacemakers, but first and foremost, we must be peacekeepers. 

And we know this to be true because we came here today to worship God.  In our expressions of gratitude and praise to God, our hearts and minds became prepared to receive this truth from God.  And as part of worship, God sent His Word and He has changed each of us.  We must not be peacebreakers, but peacemakers.  And more than just making peace after it has been broken, we ourselves must allow God’s spirit to work through us to be peacekeepers, saying and doing nothing that would cause harm to begin with.

Now in a few moments, we will sing songs to God again and partake of the Lord’s Supper as a continuation and conclusion of our worship today.  We continue to worship after the receipt of God’s Word as a symbolic way of surrounding God’s Word with praise as one would surround something precious and treasured.  We have come to worship God and He has honored our worship by changing us into the image of His Son and granting us a peaceful spirit.  Praise be to God.  Amen and Amen.

In the 1950’s, television anchorman, Walter Cronkite, hosted an educational program that presented a reenactment of a historical moment. Cronkite would begin the program with the program title, “You are there!”  At the end of the thirty-minute reenactment, Cronkite would conclude with the words, "What sort of day was it?  A day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times... and you were there."

Every time we pick up the Bible, that moment can become a “You are there!” moment.  When we read Scripture, we are stepping out of our life and entering the lives of people whom we have never met.  We are entering their world and their times.  Why do the stories of these other people exist for us to read at all?  They exist because God who created all that there is and ever will be wanted their stories preserved because he was using their stories to reveal something about Himself.  So, yes every time we pick up the Bible we are stepping out of our life and into the life of other people but we are doing so to discover something about God who made us and made the people of the stories.

But here is the thing we need to ask ourselves as we choose to pick up the Bible and read it.  Why am I reading the Bible?  Am I reading the Bible simply to learn more about God?  That is true but is the purpose of our reading the Bible simply more knowledge of God?  It seems like a shallow reason that could easily give way to doing something else. Or is what I am learning about God ultimately being used by God to make more out of me?  Said another way, the only one God can change by me reading Scripture is me.  And so, we should embrace those “You are there!” moments to read Scripture and allow God to change us in the most we ever could be.  And what is the most we ever could be?  To be like his Son, Jesus.

Today, our “You were there!” moment occurs shortly after Jesus’ birth. In this scene, Joseph and Mary were traveling to the Jerusalem Temple to present Jesus to God, an act that the Law of Moses required be done for first born male children.  As we hear these words, we recognize that we are stepping into a culture and practices that are not like our own.  We have entered other people’s lives, and we are trying to visualize these movements.  Jesus is perhaps 40 days old at this point and Joseph and Mary are walking from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, about 7 miles.  Today, the task of walking from Bethlehem to Jerusalem would be extremely difficult.  Jerusalem is in Israel and Bethlehem is in the Palestinian West Bank.  There are substantial walls and multiple military checkpoints between the two locations making the retracing of these steps nearly impossible.

About the time Joseph, Mary, and Jesus are arriving at the Temple, Luke introduces us to another character, a man named Simeon.  “25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah” (Luke 2:25-26). Simeon is a deeply religious Jewish man who was patiently and confidently awaiting the coming of the Messiah. For Simeon, the coming of the Messiah was not an occasional thought or passing hope, it was very much the focus of his prayer life with God.  God had heard Simeon’s prayers and sent the Holy Spirit to Simeon to assure him the Messiah would come in his lifetime.  As a result of this revelation, Luke said Simeon was confident in his beliefs.  Simeon went about his life with a mixture of humility and confidence.  Simeon was humble before God and confident before others that God would keep his long ago promise.

In the Gospel of Luke, this is the second devout and righteous man we encounter.  The first was an old priest named Zechariah, who while serving in the Temple, encountered an angel who revealed that Zechariah’s long-ago prayer for a son would be soon answered.  The difference between the two men, however, was that Zechariah received the news of the angel with skepticism asking the angel, “How can know what you are saying is true since I and my wife are very old?”  Zechariah was humble before God, but Zechariah lacked the confidence in God that Luke pointed out was present in Simeon.  One might conclude that Luke was showing that the presence of the Holy Spirit gives confidence to the believer.

After these introductions, Luke brings Simeon together with Joseph, Mary, and Jesus this way.  “27 Moved by the Spirit, he [Simeon] went into the temple courts. When the parents [Joseph and Mary] brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him [Jesus] in his arms and praised God” (Luke 2:27-28).  The Holy Spirit moved Simeon to go to the Temple, not just every day or anytime, but at the precise moment Jesus was brought to the Temple for presentation to God.  Simeon took Jesus into his arms and Simeon praised God.

Luke presents to us that Simeon needed to only look at Jesus to know he was the Messiah.  There was story from Mary about the visitation of an angel and virgin birth.  There was no story about how her cousin Elizabeth became pregnant in her old age to bear a son who would announce the coming Messiah.  There was no story of shepherds coming to stable.  There was instead the enabling of Simeon by the Holy Spirit to know with confidence that the baby before him was the Messiah.

Many years later, Jesus would expand our understanding of the confidence given to believers.  Matthew recorded for us, “13 Jesus came into the country of Caesarea Philippi. He [Jesus] asked His followers, “Who do people say that I, the Son of Man, am?” 14 They [Jesus’ followers] said, “Some say You are John the Baptist and some say Elijah and others say Jeremiah or one of the early preachers.”  15 He [Jesus] said to them [his followers], “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven” (Matthew 16:13-17).  The revelation that Jesus is the Son of God is a sign that God through His Holy Spirit has enabled someone to receive a revelation.  Such conviction is not from the teachings of another person. 

And so, Simeon was confident and had a conviction about him that Jesus was the Messiah because Simeon had been blessed by God to receive that revelation.  In response to the revelation, Simeon gave these words to those present:  29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace.  30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32).

Simeon was thus at complete peace. God kept his personal promise to Simeon but more importantly, God kept his promise to the nation of Israel to bring forth the Messiah who would bring glory to Israel and would be a light attracting the Gentiles, the non-Jewish nations.  Simeon did not need to see all the events of the Messiah play out in his lifetime, it was sufficient that Simeon knew the events had begun.  Luke said, “33 The child’s father and mother [Joseph and Mary] marveled at what was said about him [Jesus]” (Luke 2:33).

And as Walter Cronkite used to say, “What sort of day was it?  A day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times... and you were there."  And so you and I were there.  What did God reveal about Himself that He intends for us to know and use to change us into the most that we can be?  I think there are three things for us to consider.

First, what sort of day was it?  A day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our life.  Simeon was a righteous and devout man upon who the Holy Spirit resided.  That meant that every day had the potential to be an extraordinary day to alter Simeon’s life.  Simeon allowed himself to be moved by the Holy Spirit to go to the Temple on a particular day and at a particular time.  In doing so, Simeon met and embraced the person he longed for more than any other person, God’s Messiah.  To embrace the will of the Holy Spirit is to allow all the days of your life to be used to alter your life.

Second, if you have come to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that Jesus is God’s Messiah, then you have received that belief as a revelation from God through his Holy Spirit.  If you are a believer, then the same Holy Spirit that was upon Simeon and moved him into the Temple that day is upon you for the same purpose of moving you into places God desires you to be.  The blessing of the Holy Spirit was promised by Jesus and has been given to enable believers to move in accordance with God’s will.  Simeon was a confident man in his faith because of the presence of the Holy Spirit within him and at the same time he was righteous and devout, meaning Simeon was a humble man before God.  As believers, we should be humble before God accepting His will and the movement of His Holy Spirit in our lives and knowing that when we do so we can be confident we are doing the very thing God wants us to do even if we feel uncomfortable in doing so or we don’t know how all the details will fall into place. Simeon did not know ahead of time why he was being moved to the Temple on that day at that time.  He may have had other plans for that moment.  Perhaps Simeon was uncomfortable going in that moment, we are not told.  What we are told was that Simeon was confident in his going because he believed he was going at the direction of the Holy Spirit.  To become the most we can be, we must allow the Holy Spirit to move us at God’s timing and to the destinations God chooses.  The humbler before God we are, the more confident we are in our steps of faith.

That brings us to our third and final point.  Luke preserved for us this story between just four people Joseph, Mary, Simeon, and baby Jesus.  There was no other audience identified.  By all appearances, Simeon’s words were spoken so that only Joseph and Mary could hear them.  We never hear about Simeon again.  So why do we have this story and Simeon’s words?  The simplest answer is we have these words because God wanted us to have these words, this story.  For in the story, we meet Simeon whose life was guided, and his steps were measured, by his devotion to God and confidence in God’s promises.  Simeon did not stay at home waiting for Jesus to come knocking on his door.  Simeon did not sit idle waiting for someone else to come along and invite them to go to a worship service or religious celebration.  Simeon was a confident and active believer willing to invest his life into a God that had invested in him.  Simeon was living his life with purpose to whatever extent his physical limitations allowed.  And Luke placed this story just days after Jesus’ birth.  We are now just days after celebrating Jesus’ birth.  Perhaps we need to each look at our lives and ask ourselves, “How am I investing in God who has invested in me?  Am I living my life with a purpose that reflects the movement of the Holy Spirit?  Am I allowing God to make me into best of who I can be?  Am I being humble before God and confident in my faith?”  If our answers to those questions is “No,” then perhaps we should ask ourselves one more question.  “If not now, then when?”  I would suggest that the Simeon story exists so that we see the need for us to be motivated and moved by the Holy Spirit now because now is just the right moment.

What sort of day is today?  It is a day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times... and you are here.  Let’s allow God to make the most of it and the best of us.  Amen and Amen.