One of the Great Secrets

One of the Great Secrets

What would I do if I loved this person?

Do not waste time bothering whether you love your neighbor. Act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we will find one of the great secrets.

Welcome to the Light of Christ weekly podcast. Light of Christ Anglican Church is located in Georgetown, Texas, at MLK and University Avenue. We are a modern expression of the ancient faith. You can learn more about us at lightofchristgeorgetown.org.

Our sermon sound bite today is brought to us by Chris Wright, as he comments on First John, chapter four, verse seven. "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God."

So this love that we show to others comes from him. It's this outpouring, right? So in John's gospel, Jesus commands us. He says, "As I have loved you, so you must love one another." So we're sent out to love as we are loved. Now what does that look like? Well, C.S. Lewis, who I think I have a requirement to quote him at least once a day, he suggested that if we were to think about, okay, what does this look like to love our neighbor, to love one another, is we should ask ourselves, first off, "If I really love this person, what would I do? How would I act? I just imagine this person here, if I really, really love them, what would I do for this person? What do they need? How can I fulfill that need? How can I love them?"

And in Mere Christianity, he says, "Do not waste time bothering whether you love your neighbor. Act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we will find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him."

So sometimes the attitude isn't always there, right? You think, "Okay, I'm supposed to love one another. Great, okay, except him, right? He's a jerk. I'll love him. Bless your heart." Right? But you ever notice that like if you really don't like someone, the more time you think about how much you don't like them, the more you don't like them? And maybe the more time you start treating them badly, it just becomes easier, right? But it's that same effect. It's the more you start loving someone, the more lovable you find them. That's actually how G.K. Chesterton saw the moral of the story for Beauty and the Beast. It was someone has to be loved before they can become lovable. So she, by loving the beast, he became a prince. That was how he saw that story. So it is through our actions that we begin to show love and that love begins to grow in us, this love from Christ that is pouring through us.

So when you wonder about loving your neighbor, think about, "If I were to love this person, what would I do?" Do it. Act upon it. Continue to actively love them.

Thank you for listening to the Light of Christ weekly podcast. Let us end our time together with a prayer from the Book of Common Prayer. You can find this prayer for the human family on page 659.

O God, you made us in your own image, and you have redeemed us through your Son Jesus Christ: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Lord Arrives in His Temple

The Lord Arrives in His Temple

God has come to live with us.

“And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.”

Welcome to the Light of Christ Weekly Podcast. Light of Christ Anglican Church is located in Georgetown, Texas at MLK and University Avenue. We are a modern expression of the ancient faith. You can learn more about us at lightofchristgeorgetown.org

Today's morning meditation comes from the Old Testament reading from this Sunday from Malachi three, beginning at verse one: "Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me: And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight: Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years."

Yesterday was The Feast of the Presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ at the Temple. Forty days after the Lord's birth, Mary and Joseph come to the Temple to fulfill the Law of Moses to present their firstborn son to the Lord. And as Jesus is presented in the Temple, we're reminded of these words of the prophet Malachi who says that, "The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple." The people of Jesus’ day were waiting in expectation for the Lord's presence to return to the temple.

Remember in Ezekiel, because of the faithlessness of God's people, he saw the presence of the Lord leave the Temple grounds? And so the remnant of God's people that were faithful to him were waiting in expectation of the Lord's presence to return to the temple so that God would be with them and Israel's fortunes would be restored.

And the Lord does come suddenly to his temple in this little baby Jesus, but it points to a much deeper reality. See, the Lord has come into the temple of his human body. He dwells with us in an even more intimate way. And the Lord, Yahweh, taking on flesh, human flesh, now he experiences life like us. Hebrews says that, "he was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin." And in taking on a human body, he's even able to die, enter death; and through his resurrection, destroy death.

And so let's meditate on that today, that the Lord has come suddenly into his temple, that our Lord knows the temptations and struggles we go through; and that through his death and resurrection, he has provided a way for us to be cleansed and to offer ourselves as pleasing sacrifices to the Lord. To love him and to love our neighbor.

Thank you for listening to the Light of Christ Weekly Podcast. Let us end our time together with a prayer from the Book of Common Prayer. The collect for The Presentation of Christ in the Temple can be found on page 626.

Almighty and everliving God, we humbly pray that, as your only-begotten Son was this day presented in the temple in the substance of our flesh, so we may be presented to you with pure and clean hearts by Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Jesus the Rebuilder

Jesus the Rebuilder

He rebuilds the broken down.

Transcript:

Let's listen and join Jesus the rebuilder of the broken.

Welcome to the Light of Christ weekly podcast. Light of Christ Anglican church is located in Georgetown, Texas at MLK and University Avenue. We are a modern expression of the ancient faith. You can learn more about us at lightofchristgeorgetown.org.

Our sermon sound bite today comes from Matthew 4:12. Jesus chooses to begin his ministry in a place that has a history of trauma and brokenness. In the North, the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali is where the Assyrians in about 700 BC came and destroyed the Northern Kingdom, and this is where Jesus chose to begin his ministry. Beginning at verse 12. “Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee and leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, might be fulfilled. The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”

”From that time, Jesus began to preach saying, ‘Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ While walking by the sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea for they were fishermen, and he said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him and going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father mending their nets and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”

Well, I think we can look around at the brokenness of this world and we can get discouraged. We can look at the brokenness in our own heart and we can get discouraged and ask, "Is there hope?" Yes, there is. God rebuilds from the ashes just like he did with Israel. And how does he do it? In broken systems, he goes to the broken people, to us, and he calls us and he says, "Will you join me in rebuilding?" There's also a warning here. The kingdom of God is at hand. What's the call? To turn. To not maintain our selfish attitudes. To be open to what God wants to do. The other... Let's see, I think it was a week ago, we went up to Waco. Where did you go in Waco?

Magnolia.

Magnolia, right. Magnolia is a beautiful place. And how have they made their name? Chip and Joanna Gaines. And what do they do?

They rebuild.

They rebuild. They go and rebuild things. Now, imagine if they tried to go to a house and the person said, "No, I'm not going to sell it to you and I'm going to lock all the doors." Would they be able to rebuild?

No.

No. How often do we do that to Jesus? When he sends us his call and says, will you join me in rebuilding? He is a much better rebuilder of lives. Is he not? He rebuilds the heart. Yet we shut down to him. We say, "No, this is my property, get off. I don't need your help. I like how things are." And we can do this as Christians too, we can let him in the front door, but, “You can't get into this room or that room because they're still mine!”

So there's a warning. Repent! To turn, to unlock the bolts of our heart and allow Christ to begin to renovate us, to follow him. So if you look at your life, if you see the brokenness and you wonder, is there hope, don't lose hope, but continue to open the doors to Jesus. Don't lock him out of the house, don't lock him out of any room. Like the disciples who are in that dark place of Zebulun and Naphtali, let's listen and join Jesus, the rebuilder of the broken. And as he rebuilds our lives begin working with him to rebuild this world.

Thank you for listening to the Light of Christ weekly podcast. Let us end our time together with a prayer from the book of common prayer. Today we'll be praying the collect for the Third Sunday of Epiphany, found on page 602.

Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Behold the Lamb of God

Behold the Lamb of God

We no longer need to live with shame and guilt.

Transcript:

Jesus is the greater and better passover lamb who carries the sin of God's people.

Welcome to the Light of Christ weekly podcast. Light of Christ Anglican Church is located in Georgetown, Texas, at MLK and University Avenue. We are a modern expression of the ancient faith. You can learn more about us at lightofchristgeorgetown.org.

Our sermon soundbite today comes from the Gospel of John, chapter one. Where John the Baptist seeing Jesus says, "Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

Jesus is the greater and better Passover lamb who carries the sins of God's people. Pay attention. He is the lamb of God, the Passover lamb. This is Passover language. John is absolutely clear. Who can carry your sin? Can you? Who will carry your sin? Jesus will carry your sin. He is the lamb. This refers to Jesus' humanity. Jesus is fully God and fully man, his humanity. He's the lamb. He's obedient. The perfect, spotless lamb without sin, and he is able as a human, fully as a human, to suffer and to die, to be sacrificed, to enter with his perfect humanity into the fray because he's one of us. He's able to experience death and sin and all of those consequences, all of those wages and weight of sin, he's able to experience on the cross. The full weight of it and through dying he's able to destroy the tyranny of death through his resurrection.

Hebrews 2 says this. Exactly. “Since therefore, we share in flesh and blood. He himself likewise partook of the same things so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” He took on humanity. He was the lamb, the lamb of God. Notice he's a lamb provided by God. This is Christ's divinity, fully God and fully man. No one takes Christ's life from him. He lays it down willingly and he is of the same heart and mind to the father. It's for God so loved, the Father so loved the world that he sent his Son. Notice what John 10:18 says. Jesus says, "No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

It is God who provides the lamb. No, it's not us. And this is what makes the sacrifice of Jesus absolutely opposite of the pagan sacrifices. What were the pagan sacrifices about? You want something from the deity who is selfish and you want something because you're selfish. And so what you do is you basically bribe the deity. I am going to give you something of worth and the deity will like it. And so he'll give you what you want. That's how pagan sacrifices work. But this is nothing like that at all. This is a sacrifice of pure love. It's provided by God for your benefit, for our benefit. What is love?

”Seeking the good of the other for their own sake.” Exactly, and that's what the sacrifice is. A sacrifice of pure love and what does this sacrifice do? Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and this word takes away. It doesn't quite capture the Greek here. It could be translated carries. It has the sense, behold the lamb of God who will lift up and carry away the sin of the world. You see that? By God becoming a human, right? He's able to, like in the days of the Passover, he's able to insert himself. God inserts himself into our humanity so that he can be our passover, our covering. He places himself on that cross between the wages of your sin, the weight of your sin, and it's eternal consequences and you. So that you are saved. So that you do not have to bear the shame and guilt anymore. You can't! But God could. No human alone could do it but God did.

Thank you for listening to the Light of Christ weekly podcast. Let us end our time together with a prayer from The Book of Common Prayer. You can find the collect for the Second Sunday of Epiphany on page 602.

Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory, that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Father's Business

The Father’s Business

Even as a boy he was willingly following his Father’s will.

There's a phrase that people try to find in scripture, but it's not there. It goes, "God helps those that help themselves." But this is not the Father's mission. God helps those that can't help themselves.

Welcome to The Light of Christ weekly podcast. Light of Christ Anglican Church is located in Georgetown Texas at MLK and University Avenue. We are a modern expression of the ancient faith. You can learn more about us at lightofchristgeorgetown.org.

Our sermon sound bite today comes from Luke chapter two. The famous story of the boy Jesus becoming lost and his parents finding him after looking for him for three days in the temple, and frustrated with him Mary says, "Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress."

And then Jesus says in verse 49, "And he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business?" We pair that with Jeremiah 31 verse 11 where the prophet Jeremiah tells us what the Father's business is, what Jesus is all about.

"For the Lord has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from hands to strong for him.” The Father's business is to ransom Jacob, God's people, from hands too strong for him.

Verse 11, "For the Lord, Yahweh has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him." His first order of business is to ransom his people. If you put something into a pawn shop you ransom it when you come back and you pay for it and you get it back. So, there's this idea in ransom that you're getting back that which is yours by right.

But God's people have been enslaved. Enslaved by sin. Now, we're in the beginning of a new year and what do people do in the new year? They make new year’s resolutions, and how often do we keep those resolutions? Let's face it, more often than not we've already broken those by month two.

And there's a phrase that people try to find in scripture, but it's not there. It goes, "God helps those that help themselves." And this is kind of, an American Christianity. God helps those that pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, but this is not the Father's mission.

God helps those that can't help themselves. He helps those that have been enslaved into sin. You see, we don't understand how deep of an issue we have, that even our best intentions and best works are tinged with that snake of selfishness.

Thankfully God doesn't reveal that to us all at once when we first come to know God and follow Jesus. He just shows us sort of, the big things, but then as we walk with Jesus, he shows us how big of an issue we have, that we can't get ourselves out of this, that we need a savior. We need a Passover lamb, as the children of Israel needed. He was in Jerusalem for Passover. The little boy Jesus will be the Passover lamb, the Passover sacrifice. He will die and rise, remember, three days they found him. Three days later.

And he will ransom us, save us from fear of death. He will save us from the power of sin by giving us forgiveness. Giving us the Holy Spirit so that he can begin to change us, not from us just trying hard, pulling ourselves up by our boot straps, because that doesn't work. But the Holy Spirit that changes us bit, by bit, by bit from the inside out.

His Father's business that this boy Jesus is all about, is to ransom Jacob, his people from hands too strong for him. Thank you for listening to The Light of Christ weekly podcast. Let us end our time together with a prayer from the Book of Common Prayer. You can find the Collect for the Second Sunday of Christmas on page 601.

O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.