Chosen for God's Team

Who is on God's team?

Welcome to The Light of Christ weekly podcast. Light of Christ Anglican churches 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

The homily that you are about to hear was preached on Sunday, March 22nd, during our evening prayer service at 6:00 PM. You can join online at lightofchristgeorgetown.org/visit.

Our Old Testament lesson is a favorite of mine, 1 Samuel, Chapter 16. Have you ever asked the question, who's on God's team? Who is on God's team? I remember as a youth, we would play pickup basketball games and so we would pick two team captains and then we would be in just this mass, undifferentiated mass, and the two team captains would take turns picking who they wanted on their team.

Of course, who do they start with? Well, they start with the guys that have a lot of skill who can shoot threes or have a good jump shot or lay up. A lot of times, I don't like to admit this, I was chosen last. It never feels good to be chosen last. Everyone gets chosen. You're like, "Oh, can I just be second to last? Second to last."

So how does God choose his team? Does he do it based upon how good we are? The sort of talents that we bring to the table? Our stature, how good we are at layups, how much money we have, how much power?

In our Old Testament lesson Samuel is on an undercover mission. You see the first king that Samuel, the prophet of God, anointed to be King over Israel, Saul, has been a absolute failure and so God is calling Samuel to anoint a new king. So you can imagine a new king in town would be what? Treason. And so Samuel is told by God to go down to Bethlehem where Jesse lives and has a bunch of boys there, men, and he's told to go down there and meet with Jesse because in Jesse's house is going to be the new king. Samuel says, "Hey, how am I going to do that? Because if Saul finds out, he'll kill me."

So God gives him a cover story, if you will, for this undercover operation. The cover story is you go down there and you go like you're going to sacrifice in Bethlehem and then just invite Jesse over. “Okay, sounds good. Sounds like a good cover story.” So he goes down there, gets ready to do the sacrifice. Notice when he comes to Bethlehem, the elders of the city are terrified. They meet him trembling and they said, "Do you come peaceably?"

So Samuel, the prophet of God had a lot of power, spiritual power, and so the people were terrified of what might happen. They thought he might be coming in judgment. He says, "No, it's okay. I've come to do the sacrifice."

So Jesse comes and as Jesse comes with his sons, he sees the firstborn Eliab and he's the one you want on your team. He's tall, he's handsome, he looks like just the guy to be king. That's what Samuel thinks. It's like surely the Lord's anointed is before him.

Verse six, but notice the Lord says to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature because I have rejected him, for the Lord sees not as man sees. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

So Eliab isn't chosen. So Jesse brings his next son and then his next son and each one is rejected, rejected, rejected, until there are no sons left. He says, "Are these all the sons you have?" Jesse says, "No. Actually my youngest, I didn't even bother to bring him. He's with the sheep." He was like, “Bring him right away. He's the one!” And so David is chosen.

Why was David chosen? Who is on God's team? Is it the ones that are talented? Is it the ones that are really good? The ones that have lots of power or lots of money? That only the beautiful people? Sometimes I wonder, I've asked this question and maybe you have to. I've asked him, "Lord, how can you use me? I know my imperfections and my inability. How can you use me? There's so many more talented people out there; people that seem more right for this than me."

But how does God choose someone to be on his team? He looks at the heart. What he's looking for is not how talented you are; how good you are. He's looking at your heart. He's looking for a heart that trusts him. No, David wasn't a perfect guy. We see that in his life, right? He had lots of failures in his life but the one thing that was always there, on the mountain top and in the valley, when he was doing well and then when he messed up so bad that you can barely believe it when you read it in scripture, he just face plants. God still had him on his team. Why? Because he had a heart of trust. He had a heart of faith in the Lord. He had a soft heart so that when he was confronted with sin, he turned to the Lord in repentance.

Paul quoting Habakkuk says, "The righteous, (the ones that are right with God, the ones that are on God's team) shall live by faith; by trust."

So do you want to be on God's team? You want to be with God? Of course you do, right? He's the one that's on the winning team. We go back to that analogy of God picking his team. You know what he's looking for? He's not looking for you to be uber-talented or the best person out there or beautiful or rich or any of those things. All he's looking for is the heart can trust.

In the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen

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 submission to God's will on page 673.

Oh Holy spirit, beloved of my soul, I adore you. Enlightened me, guide me, strengthen me, console me. Tell me what I should do. Give me your orders. I promise to submit myself to all that you desire of me and to accept all that you permit to happen to me. Let me only know your will. Amen.

Love First

Love First

The most essential human need.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

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.

During this time of uncertainty because of COVID-19, it's important that we reduce our social contact in order to protect the vulnerable among us. But why do we do this? Is it because safety is first or is it because love is first? Today's sermon soundbite is based on Romans chapter 8, verse 35. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” We can follow Jesus in this time by listening primarily to God. It is the first priority. Often you hear safety first, safety first. Well, as Christians we have to push back on that. No, it's not safety first. It's love first, right? The commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself.

Sometimes love means taking risks for the sake of the other, but love is also the reason that we want to be prudent and we want to be careful with how we are interacting with people today because we don't want to unnecessarily spread this disease as we heard before. But our primary human need is not safety in this temporary life which is inherently unsafe and eventually will end for all of us. The first and primary need of humans is to know, to know relationaly, that they are loved by God. We see this in our gospel reading as Jesus is there with the Samaritan woman. He knows the issue isn't physical water. Physical water is the most important thing for us besides air. Is it not right? We're mostly water. We need water, but Jesus is clear. What is more important than water? What really refreshes the soul? The living water. To know the love of God through Jesus Christ who poured out the love of God through his wounds on that cross for you, for your community.

This is the most essential thing, to know you are loved of God. To know that your neighbor is loved of God. Romans 8. Paul is going to talk about the power of God's love. The true safety is in God's love because when we know we are loved by God, when we are in a relationship with God, no virus can take us and snatch us out of God's hand, not even death itself. The cross proves that. Jesus went into death and rose again. Not even death itself can separate us from the love of God, from our belonging and from our eternal destiny. Listen to the faith of Paul as he speaks to us.

Romans 8:35. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword, (and you could put in there pestilence coronavirus, economic uncertainty?)” What is the answer? “As it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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 third Sunday in Lent on page 606.

Heavenly Father, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you: Look with compassion upon the heartfelt desires of your servants, and purify our disordered affections, that we may behold your eternal glory in the face of Christ Jesus; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Powerless to Help Ourselves

Powerless to Help Ourselves

We need a powerful rescuer.

I am powerless, but he is a powerful savior.

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 3:3,13. "Jesus answered him, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. No one has ascended into heaven except he who has descended from heaven, the son of man'"

”Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves.” Who are you apart from God? You are powerless to help yourself apart from God. I am powerless apart from God, to help myself. I remember when I was a child, we went to the Ozarks in the State of Missouri. The Lake of the Ozarks is a beautiful park there. It was gorgeous. We went to a cave that was there, the cave of the Ozarks. They take you down into this cave and each of you have a light, and then the tour guide says turn off the light. You turn off the lights and it is completely black night, not a single photon. You can't see anything. Then you realize, "Wow, without this lamp, I don't think I could find my way out of here. I would be powerless to find my way out."

I think of the story of the 12 soccer players in the very north of Thailand, who are in a junior soccer league, with their assistant coach went down into a cave. It was monsoon season, so this was not smart. The rains came and the waters rose and so the path that they took down, they could not take back up. They're stuck there for a week, no one knew where they were until divers finally found them two and a half miles inside that cave in Thailand. Through their heroic effort of over 10,000 people combined working on this, they were able to bring each and every one to safety. But not without a cost, it cost two people their lives. They were helpless, powerless to save themselves.

I think about the story of Nicodemus. He comes to Jesus. He's a religious leader of their day. He comes to Jesus by night. I think this is important imagery. We, born in Adam, are in night. We are in that cave stuck and powerless to help ourselves. He comes to Jesus and Jesus tells him, "Truly, truly. Amen amen." We end our prayers with amen, Jesus starts speaking with amen. He says, "Amen, amen. Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again", and that word again also means from above. Unless one is born from above, has this new birth from above, "He cannot see the Kingdom of God." He cannot enter the Kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is what God is doing on this earth.

Apart from this rescue, from above, this new birth, we are powerless. Ironically, Nicodemus can't see and understand what Jesus is saying, and Jesus clarifies, "That which is born of flesh, is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Our problem is that we've been disconnected from the Spirit of God, from God's life. Sin has done that to us. So we are like in this dark cave. We've wandered down the pathway of lust with our father Adam. Sin, remember we talked about self-gratification, self-glorification and greed. We thought we could remain in control, but what happened? It took control of us. We went down into that cave thinking it was great fun and then the waters rose and now we're trapped.

Who am I apart from God? I am powerless. Yeah, we're able to do nice things, but we're not able to rescue ourselves from this situation that we're in. A classic example of this, and we'll talk a little bit more about this, is we have pride. The moment you think that you are humble, that pride is still lurking there. That's why you can't write the book, How I Overcame Pride. It's always there, always there. Jesus is saying they need a new life, we need a rescuer from above who can come down and pull us to safety. I am powerless, but he is a powerful savior.

Jesus is the one that gives us this birth from above. Notice what he says "No one has ascended to heaven except he who has descended from heaven, who is the son of man." Notice that? When we think of our relationship before God, we often think of it as a ladder that we ascend by doing good works, but we can't do that, as we've already shown. But what did God do? He descended that ladder to us. He came down in Jesus Christ to reconnect us with God. Like those Thai divers who went down into the cave, into the water to reconnect those kids with food and with water and with what they needed. Jesus came down to give us the life of God and to reconnect us with heaven.

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 Collect for the Second Sunday in Lent on page 605.

Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities that may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts that may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Self-Gratification, Self-Glorification, and Greed

Self-Gratification, Self-Glorification, and Greed

God’s creation is a gift that we abuse.

Where Adam failed, Jesus won.

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, we will hear a selection from Sunday's sermon based on Romans 5:19, "For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous."

Imagine yourself as a child. Maybe middle school. It's Christmas day. There's a gift under the tree. You open up that gift and it is a beautiful new bat. It's like the best that money can buy. You take that gift and that very day you go over to your neighbor's house, break in using the bat through the window, beat your neighbor and take his candy and eat it. That's sin. Is the bat bad? No, the bat is a good gift given to you. Sin is the misuse of God's good gifts. Sin is the misuse of God's good gifts. We see in Genesis that God created everything good, and he puts Adam and Eve in the garden to work it, to steward it, to receive that gift. But what do they do? They take that good gift and they misuse it. That is sin. Sin is the misuse of God's good gift.

What is the baseball bat made for? Baseball, right? It's made to hit a home run, hit a base hit, or put a bunt down. It's not meant to beat your neighbor. What have we done? Adam shows really what all of us have done. “Because through one man's disobedience, we were all made sinners.”

How do we take God's good gift and sin? Well, first we use God's good gift for self-gratification. For self-gratification. We were meant to be gratified. God made that in us, but we were meant to be gratified in using our bodies and the good gifts he's given us to love our neighbor. What is love? To seek the good of the other for their own sake. Love is to seek the good of the other for their own sake. Why did God make this world? Why did he make you?

Why has he given you everything you have, including your body? So that you can seek the good of the other for their own sake. The reason he's given you the baseball bat is to play baseball. The reason he's given you a body and given you everything you have is to love others. But what have we done? Instead, we use that for self-gratification, right? Like the child who beats his neighbor and takes his candy, we use our bodies to not love other people, but to use other people and manipulate other people to get what we want for self-gratification. Not gratification because we've loved, but gratification at others' expense. Self-gratification. Adam sees sees that the fruit is good. He wants to be self-gratified apart from God's plan for him, which is to love.

How do we abuse God's good gift of creation? Self-gratification and self-glorification. What does the serpent say to Adam and Eve? “If you take this fruit, you will be like God.” You know what's really interesting about that? What did God make us to be like? God. God made us to be like God. God made us to be glorified. But how? Adam and Eve were placed in the garden to learn how to love one another. That's why there was Adam and Eve, so they could learn to love one another and have kids and learn how to love. This is why God made us, so we could be glorified. We could become like God because God is love. But instead we chose self-glorification. “I'm not going to be glorified by God because I love my neighbor! No, I am going to seek glory for myself on my own terms.”

If you were a kid, you ever play king of the hill wherever there was a dirt hill? You would try to be the one on top. You would try to be the glorious one on top. How did you get there? You push everyone else down. That's right. You give them a good kick in the face to stay on top. This is what we do, isn't it? We don't seek glorification by laying our lives down, by loving. We seek glorification by stepping on other people and pushing them down.

Self-gratification. Self-glorification. What's the last way that we abuse God's good creation? Greed. Greed. They took it and they ate. Mine. Mine. This idea that it's mine, I can do whatever I want with it. I'm going to accumulate, accumulate, accumulate.

“It is mine.” Is it yours? When Adam and Eve are put in the garden, they were placed there as managers, stewards. It's as if God has an investment account and he's placed you as the investment manager, or he has a small business and he's placed you as a manager over it. Can an investment manager ever say, "These investments are mine?" No, he's doing it for someone else. It's by God's grace that he's allowed us in on his work. We're part of it, but what have we done? We have stolen from him. We've said, "No, it's not yours, God, it is mine. I don't have to use everything you've given me to love. My body is mine and everything I have is mine. I can use it for myself. I don't have to use it to seek the good of the others for their sake. It is mine." It is greed. We've been made managers, but we try to take ownership.

Here's a time for a little self-diagnosis. How are you seeking the good of others for their own sake with your possessions, with your time, with your talent, with yourself? I think if we're being honest with ourselves more often than not we are seeking our own self-gratification, our own self-glorification and greed at the expense of others. I am a sinner. I need a Savior to heal this heart that's all tangled up inside. We need a better father than Adam. A better example to follow.

I am a sinner, but He is righteous. Here in this painting is Jesus in the desert place. He's the second Adam, and he's placed by God... Remember, the Spirit takes him into the desert. He's placed by God not in a garden, but in the desert. The desert that we have made because of our sin.

The desert represents the consequences of our sin. It is the God forsaken place. God himself, God the Son goes into the god-forsaken place. Why? To undo what Adam did. Like the tangled string, he's going to undo what Adam did. How does he do that? Well, the tempter comes. What does he tempt Jesus with?

Jesus is on a very clear mission. Jesus' mission is to undo what Adam did. His mission is to love, to use his body and everything that he has, all of his power to seek the good of the other for their own sake. The way he specifically going to do that because he's the savior, and this is what's unique to Jesus, is he's going to do that by going to the cross, dying and rising again.

He knows that that's his mission, and what Satan is trying to do is the same thing he tried to do with the first Adam. He's trying to get this man off of God's mission to love. How does he do that? He tempts him with the very same temptations.

Self-gratification. Jesus is there hungry, fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, and Satan comes to him and says, "Hey, you've got the power to do it." We know that, right? Because later what does Jesus do? He does make bread. "You got the power to do it. You're hungry. Turn these rocks into bread. Gratify yourself. Step out of God's plan to love others with your power and use your power to gratify yourself." Jesus says no.

Then Satan moves to self-glorification. Hey, will you seek glorification apart from the cross? Look, Satan is actually advanced in his techniques here. What did Satan do? He quotes scripture. Just a little side note, you can quote scripture to hide your lust. You can quote scripture to maintain your life of self-gratification, self-glorification, and greed. It's something to remember. Satan says, “Look the scriptures say, ‘If you jump down off of this temple, that God has you completely protected.’" What does Jesus say? "No. You're missing the heart of it. I'm protected as I am walking in God's plan for me. Do not put the Lord your God to the test. I will not seek glorification for myself. My glorification will come as I love others, and it will come from my father."

Finally, greed. This is where Satan is his most honest I guess you could say. He shows him all the kingdoms of the world. He says, "I will give you all of this. Everything. You can have it if you fall down and worship me." I think Satan's getting desperate at this point because it's so obvious. Jesus says, "Get away from me. We only worship the Lord God." What Adam failed to do and sinned, Jesus did and was righteous. Where Adam failed, Jesus won. He was always seeking the good of the other, always using his power for love, even to this cross where he poured out his entire life for you. I am a sinner. He is righteous.

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 First Sunday in Lent on page 605.

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations, and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Mission Motive

The Mission Motive

God’s Mission is Motivated by God’s Compassion

God's motivation for His mission is God's compassion.

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 Matthew 9:35-38, "And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.'"

"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them." Notice the motivation is not fear. It's not guilt. It's not anger. God's motivation for His mission is God's compassion, His compassion, His love, because God is love. To quote the Jesus Storybook Bible ... Who here has read the Jesus Storybook Bible? Okay. It's for little kids, but I tell you what, if you read it, it's like a theological education. Please buy yourself that regardless of your age, read it to your grandchildren. Read it to your children. It's a beautiful book.

As Jesus Storybook Bible says about God's love, "It's a never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love." That's God's love. That means that the moment that humanity walked away from God, the moment Adam and Eve walked away, ran away from God, God was running after them because God is full of compassion. That means every time that you make a decision where you turn away from God, what is God doing? He's running after you.

Notice that it's Jesus that goes out. He doesn't wait for people to come. He's the one going out from village to village, healing and bringing his good news. Compassion. it comes from this Greek word that's related to the gut. It's that feeling you get, that intense feeling when you see someone in need that compels you to move forward into their pain. It compels you to join them in it, to bring them what they need. That's compassion. And that is the heart of God.

It's God's compassion that led Him to His mission. When He saw our situation, it's His compassion that brought Him to join us in our suffering on the cross, so that as He's connected to us in our suffering, He brings us the healing we need. He brings us Himself.

So likewise, when we think about God's mission, about being on God's mission with Him, because He's inviting us into His mission with Him, we need to think about our motivations. Not guilt, not fear, not anger, but compassion.

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 World Mission Sunday can be found on page 604.

Almighty God, through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, you revealed the way of eternal life to every race and nation: Pour out this gift anew, that by the preaching of the Gospel your salvation may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.