The Kin-Dom of God

Ephesians 2:11-22

This week we are going to look at how Paul’s words orient us HORIZONTALLY in light of our vertical relationship with God.

Paul views the gathering of vertically aligned people as an entirely new humanity.

The horizontal relationships we have in this body are critically important because in here we are being told a story that has the power to not only transform us, but to transform our families, our friends, our school, our work places, even our social media feeds. Taken all together, this story can change the world.

God intends for the church to be inside out kind of place, and Paul knows that in order for us to be what God intends, we have to be people who understand who we were as outsiders, before we were brought inside by the cross of Christ.

The Honor of Jesus

In Matthew 15:1-20, Jesus confronts the Pharisees and challenges everyone around him to be people who bring their hearts in line with their words of devotion to God. Jesus wants them to be whole persons. In quoting Isaiah Jesus brings to their minds what hollow honor looks like.

In the ancient world, honor was a matter of public recognition, zero-sum transaction, and heavily bound in the face to face nature of society. If one person has honor it has been taken from someone else. And it is incumbent on the recipient of honor to have that honor recognized publicly.

In our world, we live in a “face to space” culture. That is a culture which values individualism and space. Honor is oriented bestowed upon the individual based on the values of a society built on meritocracy. The more successful the person is, according to the values of the culture, the more honor is bestowed upon them.

In speaking to some of the most religiously observant believers of God, Jesus wants to take them to a place of greater authenticity. He wants to bring their hearts, inline with their words, in the service of serving others. Jesus wants his followers to be people who are shaped by their connection and love for God, rather than formed by their adherence to the religious institutions and instructors of the day.

Power and Humility: Jesus and the Roman Centurion

Matthew 8:5-13

When the need of another person is made plain to us, we can enter into the universal experience of being human, and all distinctions disappear. But we need a humbling power to help us. We need a power greater than our own so that we can adequately relativize whatever authority has been given to us. And the only power that works on the privileged and the underprivileged alike is the divine power of Jesus.

We come at it from different places. Jesus comes to preach good news to the poor and the captive, all the while offering those of us who are not poor, who are not oppressed a place at the table if we can have faith like that of the centurion. However, we have to remember that the faith of the Centurion came at a cost. His faith moved him to an action of humility and letting go of power in the service of another person, that in his day would have been unimaginable.

Hearing the Voice of Wisdom

Jason Isbell, the Children and Student Minister for the Manhattan Church of Christ, preaches on wisdom found in the book of Proverbs.

Finding Jesus in the Temple

Luke 2:41-52

Our passage today is a small glimpse into the process of reconciliation that God initiated through Jesus. Luke, has one of the most vivid descriptions and comprehensive narratives surrounding the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of all the Gospels. The text in Luke 2:41-52 is the final of four blocks of text that captures the key events in the infancy of Jesus. It is important to recognize, that Luke is a very careful and deliberate writer. He intends to “draw up an account” of all the things that he has witnessed and investigated as a disciple and follower of Jesus. Luke begins his Gospel with the end of Acts in mind. He is steady and clear in making an ordered testimony of all the events that surrounded the coming of the Lord’s Messiah, Jesus. Luke is trying to make the point, that our expectations will not bind the Messiah, and that Jesus will not only be fulfilling the promise of God’s deliverance, but he will also be undoing our limited expectations of God.
 

Shepherding for the Kingdom of God

Matthew 10:11-18

Jason Isbell, the Children and Student Minister at the Manhattan Church of Christ, brings a message exploring the connection between fatherhood and Jesus’ self-identification as a shepherd in John 10:11-18. The sermon looks beyond a simple calling to be a “Good Father” and challenges the church body to be people, in the words of Jesus to Peter, that “feed my sheep.” This sermon was delivered on the Sunday immediately after the horrific attack on the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.