Pastor Andy's sermon on 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 on May 1, 2016.
If you’ve never heard another word from 1 Corinthians, I can almost guarantee you’ve heard chapter 13. Paul’s “Ode to Love” is a wedding favorite, and often read when love is at its peak. However, these words were originally written for very different circumstances: to a community split into factions and embroiled in conflict. What does it look like to love when things aren’t going well?
Our guest preacher on Sunday, April 24, 2016 was Rev. Tom De Vries, General Secretary of the Reformed Church in America. His sermon, titled "The Unity Factor" was from Acts 18:1-4 and 1 Corinthians 1:10-18.
Pastor Andy's sermon on Acts 17:1-9 and 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 from April 17, 2016.
As the Gospel continues to spread “to the ends of the earth”, it encounters opposition yet again in Thessalonica. There the leaders of the Jews accuse them of disturbing the peace or “turning the world upside-down”. While this accusation is clearly false, they are saying more than they know for the power of the Gospel does turn the world upside-down.
Pastor Andy's sermon from April 10, 2016 on Acts 3:1-10.
As we continue to celebrate this season of Easter, we’re going to continue to talk about what it means for us that Jesus rose from the dead. What does this resurrection life we now live look like? Today we see the restoration and re-orientation that Jesus works in our lives.
Pastor Andy's Easter sermon from March 27, 2016 on Mark 16:1-8.
Pastor Andy's sermon from March 20, 2016 (Palm Sunday) on Mark 11:1-11 and Mark 14:3-9.
So this week we had some technical difficulties and the recording of the sermon was compromised. In its stead we've included the written manuscript of Pastor Andy's sermon below.
“Following Jesus: Staying Alert”
Mark 13:1-8, 24-37
The Wyckoff Reformed Church
Fifth Sunday of Advent
March 13, 2016
Every few years it seems like we go through these patterns of being obsessed with the end of the world. Have you noticed how many apocalyptic TV shows and movies there have been lately? There’s that new NBC series: “You, Me, and the Apocalypse”, there was a Steve Carrell movie a little while back: “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World”, and there is my current favorite: “Last Man on Earth”. There are zombie apocalypses like The Walking Dead and post-apocalyptic action films like Mad Max. It seems we can’t get enough of the end of the world.
And it’s often not enough to just talk about the end of the world, we often get caught up in trying to predict the end as well. Do you remember Harold Camping back in 2011 and his prediction that the world would end on October 21, 2011? He was simply the latest in a long line of people who have thought they could predict the end of the world by doing some hidden math based on the bible. He was, of course, wrong. They’re all always wrong.
At least until now. I’ve figured it out. THE END IS NEAR!!!
In all seriousness, today we’re going to look at an apocalyptic speech Jesus delivers in Mark 13, a passage that is often used by people as they try to predict Jesus’ return and the end of the world. But I’m going to give you the spoiler before we hear the passage. Passages like this in the bible were never meant to be used as codebooks to ferret out signs of the end. Books like the Left Behind series and others are incredibly mistaken.
Passages like this one are often called Apocalyptic literature, and “Apocalypse” doesn’t mean “the end”, it actually means a revealing, an unveiling, a making known of something hidden. Passages like this emerge in times of great persecution, oppression, and suffering when the only way in which the people of God can answer the question about who is really in charge of this world is by using such grand, cosmic language. Apocalyptic writings are meant not to raise our anxiety about the end, but to comfort God’s people in the present, and to reveal the true reality about what is going on right in front of them.
So having heard that, I want to turn now to Mark 13 and see what new thing we can hear in it. Do whatever you need to do in order to listen well to these words from the book that we love.
As Jesus left the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Teacher, look! What awesome stones and buildings!”
Jesus responded, “Do you see these enormous buildings? Not even one stone will be left upon another. All will be demolished.”
Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives across from the temple. Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will these things happen? What sign will show that all these things are about to come to an end?”
Jesus said, “Watch out that no one deceives you. Many people will come in my name, saying, ‘I’m the one!’ They will deceive many people. When you hear of wars and reports of wars, don’t be alarmed. These things must happen, but this isn’t the end yet. Nations and kingdoms will fight against each other, and there will be earthquakes and famines in all sorts of places. These things are just the beginning of the sufferings associated with the end.
“In those days, after the suffering of that time, the sun will become dark, and the moon won’t give its light. The stars will fall from the sky, and the planets and other heavenly bodies will be shaken. Then they will see the Human One coming in the clouds with great power and splendor. Then he will send the angels and gather together his chosen people from the four corners of the earth, from the end of the earth to the end of heaven.
“Learn this parable from the fig tree. After its branch becomes tender and it sprouts new leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, you know that he’s near, at the door. I assure you that this generation won’t pass away until all these things happen. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will certainly not pass away.
“But nobody knows when that day or hour will come, not the angels in heaven and not the Son. Only the Father knows. Watch out! Stay alert! You don’t know when the time is coming. It is as if someone took a trip, left the household behind, and put the servants in charge, giving each one a job to do, and told the doorkeeper to stay alert. Therefore, stay alert! You don’t know when the head of the household will come, whether in the evening or at midnight, or when the rooster crows in the early morning or at daybreak. Don’t let him show up when you weren’t expecting and find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to all: Stay alert!”
The Word of the Lord, Thanks be to God, Amen.
Still a pretty crazy passage, right? Well let’s see if we can’t make some sense of it.
It begins with Jesus leaving the Temple. He’s been there for the last couple chapters teaching, and as he leaves with his disciples, one of them turns around in awe of the temple and says, “Teacher, look at how incredible these stones are! How amazing this building!”
Josephus, the Roman historian of Jewish descent, wrote that the temple was so magnificent that it inspired awe among even the most seasoned of world travelers. The foundations stones were absolutely massive, and the face of the temple was covered in gold so that it would rival the sun with its reflection. Imagine what it must have looked like to some country bumpkins like the disciples who had never really been anywhere.
And yet Jesus again is unimpressed. Again, we mistake glory for size and grandeur and power. We take security in the size and beauty of our buildings. The Israelites in particular believed that this building, which was God’s house, would protect them from their enemies and secure their future forever.
But Jesus is the one who says, “the greatest will be the least”, that all of this will be torn down. That we won’t be saved by our big buildings, by our beautiful sanctuaries, but by Jesus who is going to the cross to give everything up, to lay his life down, and only then to draw all people to himself. For Jesus, of course, replaces the Temple as the center of our worshipping life, as the dwelling of God among humans, as our only hope in life and death.
Don’t put your hope in big buildings, in beautiful sanctuaries, grandeur and might. All of this will be torn down some day. Put your hope in Jesus.
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But the disciples are a little scared by all of this talk, and four of them come to Jesus later that night as they’re sitting on the Mount of Olives, looking over the Kidron Valley at the Temple and the rest of Jerusalem. “The temple is going to be destroyed? When? How will we know, what signs will show us that the end is coming?”
And Jesus continues on with his apocalyptic vision about false messiahs and wars and rumors of wars and earthquakes and famines. Now, we should note that the Gospel of Mark was likely written sometime around 70 AD, right around the time that the Temple in Jerusalem was actually destroyed by the Romans as they came to put down a Jewish Rebellion. The first readers of Mark’s gospel would have seen themselves living in the midst of those things about which Jesus was speaking. And it must have seemed to them like the world was falling apart.
It still seems like it’s falling apart, doesn’t it? Like everything is slipping away, like we could descend into war again at any moment, like we’re just one terrorist attack away from destruction, one despotic tyrant like Putin or Kim Jung-Un away from a Nuclear Apocalypse.
And while the world seems like it’s falling apart, Jesus’ message to all of us is clear: Don’t be alarmed, these things must happen, but this isn’t the end yet.
These things are not the signs of the end, so don’t worry, take heart. I imagine these words of Jesus like those large friendly letters on the cover of every copy of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: Don’t Panic!
This apocalyptic vision was meant to be comforting to its first readers, it was meant to be a revealing of what truly is. This is not the end, these are just the birthpangs. SO be comforted when the world seems to fall apart because God is still in control, because everything is not falling apart, because God himself is still speaking: do not fear.
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But of course this passage isn’t just meant to comfort, there’s another message in it for us as well, a message that Jesus repeats a number of times. Anyone catch what it was?
Watch out, stay alert! That command shows up 5 or 6 times in this passage. In other translations it’s Keep watch, Keep awake!
As Jesus offers this apocalypse he calls us to keep watch, but not to keep watch of the heavens. To keep watch of the signs, to count down to the end, to beware of the impending doom of the earth and to simply sit back and watch the skies for Jesus’ return. We are to keep watch as the stewards of our master’s house, staying alert for we do not know when he will arrive.
And that is probably the most helpful way to think about this call to wakefulness, to vigilance. Jesus says, it’s as if someone took a trip, left the household behind, and put the servants in charge, giving each one a job to do, and told the doorkeeper to stay alert. So: Stay alert! For you don’t know when the master will return. Keep awake!
Sometimes I think we are nervous about when Jesus is coming back because we want some time to get our houses in order. We want some time to prepare, to get ready, but that’s precisely the point of Jesus’ message here: Get ready, and always be ready. There is no time to put off living the life Jesus would have you live, there is no meantime when we can slack off, or not love our neighbor as ourselves while we just watch heaven for signs and clean up our act before the end.
The end is coming, the end has already begun, don’t be alarmed, but get ready! Watch out, stay alert! You don’t know when your master will return, and so Jesus is calling you to be ever vigilant. Not with anxiety about minding Ps and Qs, but in joy and confidence. Joy, because we have seen God’s grace and mercy and love poured out for us and for all creation once and for all in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. Because in Jesus we have seen God’s eternal YES spoken to us and so we have can rejoice no matter what comes. And confidence because the God who has spoken this yes is the God whose Word will not pass away, even though heaven and earth pass away.
So Watch out! Stay alert! For God’s kingdom can show up at any moment: in an answered prayer, in a meal offered in support and love, in an invitation given unexpectedly, in a helping hand. Keep alert and watch for God’s kingdom.
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And one final thing, that might help us understand this passage. Jesus says here, “Stay alert! You don’t know when the head of the household will come, whether in the evening or at midnight, or when the rooster crows in the early morning or at daybreak. Don’t let him show up when you weren’t expecting and find you sleeping…stay alert!”
As Jesus is sitting on the Mount of Olives with his disciples, I’m sure they assume the events he’s narrating are years off in the future, and so they miss it as they begin to unfold before their own eyes in just a few days.
It’s just two days later, in the evening, as they gathered to celebrate the Seder and Jesus tried to tell them what he was doing for them, but they just weren’t alert.
In the evening, and at midnight. At midnight as they gather in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus urges the disciples to stay awake with him and keep watch, but three times they fall asleep, and at midnight Jesus is arrested.
In the evening, at midnight, and when the rooster crows. When the rooster crowed Peter realized that he had denied Jesus three times, that he hadn’t been alert and had fallen away.
In the evening, at midnight, when the rooster crows, and at daybreak. At daybreak when Jesus is brought to trial before Pilate and EVERYONE has abandoned him.
In using this kind of apocalyptic language, Jesus is casting his own actions in the coming days with cosmic and eternal significance. Which of course is true, for in the death and resurrection of Jesus we see the very central events of history. We see the deepest realities of the universe unveiled: that there is a God who has created everything that is, and while we have run away in rebellion and sin, that God has loved us with a love that we simply cannot understand or imagine. This God came and poured himself out for us in love, poured himself out so far as death, as crucifixion, as torture and execution. And he bore this pain and rejection in order that we might once again live with God, that we might come home to our creator.
The disorder of the universe has been shaken, the Temple curtain has been torn in two and destroyed, and God is once again with us.
SO keep alert these next two weeks. As we gather together to tell the stories of Holy Week, keep watch, the story that unfolds before us is not just the drama of one man, but is the unveiling of God’s will for all creation, is the cosmic, central event of all of history. So stay alert, lest you miss any of this grand story, lest you miss any of the depths of God’s love for you.
Pastor Andy's Sermon from March 6, 3016 on Mark 12:28-44.
"As we continue our journey with Jesus we continue to learn who He is and what it will mean to follow. The Way of Jesus is a way that asks us to lay everything else aside, everything that would compete and distract, in order to love Him with everything we are. Today we step even further in and meet a legal expert who is almost there, and a widow who gets it."
Pastor Andy's sermon from February 28, 2016 on Mark 12:1-12.
"This week Jesus offers us a haunting parable about a vineyard and some tenant farmers who refuse to render to the landowner what was his, eventually killing his son in rebellion. As we dwell in this story this morning and ask what it means for us who follow Jesus, we find a Calling, a Warning, and a Mystery."
Pastor Andy's sermon from February 21, 2016 on Mark 10:32-52
"As we continue to make our way toward Jerusalem with Jesus, he again makes clear that what it means for him to be King is that he will suffer, die, and rise again. Now we get our first hint as to why: “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” What might that mean for those who follow him?"
Pastor Andy's sermon from Sunday, February 14, 2016 on Mark 10:17-31.
A man who has everything, and yet is unfulfilled comes to Jesus this week asking “Is there something I missed? Something else I need to be doing to experience God’s life?” Jesus wisely sees to the heart of the matter: it’s not about what you do, but what you love. By calling us to give up our other loves, Jesus invites us to experience the only love that can fill us up.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of our annual journey through Lent. Marked with ashes and sealed by the cross we now make our way with Jesus to Jerusalem and eventually to the cross. Throughout this season we will discover what kind of Messiah Jesus is and what it will mean for us to follow. For the season we will again be forming Pilgrim Groups to dive deeper into each story in the Gospel of Mark. We will also be posting each sermon here and on our podcast so that we can make the journey together as one body.
Below is the text from Pastor Andy's sermon on Ash Wednesday, titled "Following Jesus". The Scripture passage is Mark 9:30-37.
Today marks the beginning of our journey through the season of Lent, the beginning of our journey again alongside Jesus as he heads to Jerusalem, and eventually to the cross.
My church and, I think, Abundant Life as well, have been walking through the Gospel of Mark since Christmas as a way of taking this journey with Jesus, walking through the whole story of his life, death, and resurrection as Mark tells it. The Gospel of Mark is often split up into two halves. The first half deals with the mystery of who this Jesus is, who is this who shows up on the scene proclaiming Good News, who heals the sick, casts out demons, commands wind and waves, calls disciples, who is this? That first section came to a close this past Sunday as Jesus asked his disciples point blank: Who do you say that I am? It was Peter who offered the correct answer: You are the Messiah, the Christ. It’s only a few days later that Peter, James and John are on the mountaintop with Jesus and he is transfigured before them, shining in his full glory, and the cloud of God’s presence overshadows them and proclaims: “This is my son, the beloved. Listen to him!”
Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, the King sent by God to set the people free and make all things well. With the first mystery answered, the second half of the Gospel begins and Jesus seeks to teach his Disciples what this will mean, what kind of Messiah Jesus will be. And we find again and again and again that the disciples just don’t get it. They are expecting a Messiah with great military might, with political power, with wealth and celebrity, with status and prestige. Jesus tells them, “I am King, but the King going to the cross. The passage we’ll hear now is the second time Jesus tries to explain what sort of Messiah he is, and it’s a perfect passage for us as we begin this season of Lent marked with ashes, sealed by the cross, and following this King. So do whatever you need to do, if that’s close your eyes, if that’s sit up a little straighter, if that’s follow along in a Bible—do whatever you need to do to listen well to these words from the Book that we love:
They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, ‘The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.’ But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.
Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the way?’ But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’ Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’
The Word of the Lord, Thanks be to God, Amen.
Jesus is Messiah, is the Christ, is the Anointed One, is the King sent by God to set the people free and make all things well, but as we follow Jesus and listen to his teaching it becomes clear that this is not going to look like what we thought! The Disciples don’t get it again and again and again. Here Jesus is telling them that he is going to be betrayed and killed, that he is going to lay down his life in selfless love for all of humanity, and they’re off arguing about which of them is greatest. Here Jesus is emptying himself completely, and they’re arguing over who gets to stand on top.
And isn’t that our way? Few among us are immune to this search for status. We are infatuated with celebrity, with how many followers we have, with how we rank next to our co-workers, neighbors, family members. Who is greatest? Most popular? Famous? Important? How can I get on top? I was writing this sermon, preparing for tonight and found myself thinking that I need to make sure that I impress you, make sure you know that I’m a great preacher, maybe even the best one here.
What is it in us that is so concerned with being on top? With impressing? With being first?
I think it goes back to Genesis 3, to the Fall, to that first temptation: that we could be like Gods! That we could shed this mortality, this creaturehood, this dependence, but that we could be like God! That we could be worshipped, immortal. And from that day on we have not stopped trying to be like gods, to be on top, to be greatest.
But then here’s Jesus who says that he’s King, the Son of God, the Messiah! But that this means he’s going to be betrayed and killed… and then he says to us that if we would follow him, we too must deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him! That to be first, we must be last of all and servant of all. That we must give up our quests to be best, to be greatest, to stand on top.
And tonight, as we’re being invited join Jesus on this journey, to follow him as he makes his way to the cross, we’re also being invited to hear this as good news.
We stand now at the beginning of this journey marked with ashes, to remember what Adam and Eve forgot: that we are mortal, creatures, dependent, that we are dust and to dust we will return. And what if tonight we could hear that as good news? What if we could hear it tonight as an invitation to see ourselves as we are: dust, shaped by God’s own hands, and alive only because of God’s breath in our lungs. That we are dependent, but dependent on a God who created us and promises to sustain and provide for us. And hearing this, what if we could finally surrender, finally give up all of our projects for self-salvation, all of our pursuits to be God ourselves, what if we could surrender our anxiety, our shame, our exhaustion from striving.
What if, marked with the sign of the cross, joined to Jesus who gave himself for us in the first true act of selfless love the world had ever seen, what if, filled with God’s love, we were able to give up our striving for status in our own eyes and in others?
Maybe then we could finally take our place as servant of all, caring for the least of these, for the vulnerable, for the left out and left behind. Maybe then we could finally taste of the abundant life Jesus offers us.
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return. So come and drink deeply, eat heartily, for God knows what you need, and has done everything necessary. Friends, let’s come to the table.
Pastor Andy's sermon from November 29, 2015 on 2 Kings 22-23.
"In the story this week, King Josiah rediscovers the Book of the Law, which had been lost and forgotten. Reading its words for the first time, Josiah realizes the sin of his nation and their need of God to save them. Worship and God’s Word continue to lift up our eyes and realize how deeply we need Jesus. This is where we begin our journey in this Advent season of waiting and hoping."
Pastor Andy's sermon from October 25, 2015 on 2 Samuel 5-6.
"Who are you? I mean, really, who are you? Have you ever come to a crisis of identity, had everything else stripped away, and had to wonder who you even were? In the story this morning of David’s bringing the Ark into Jerusalem we see how and where we learn who we are: worship."
Pastor Andy's sermon from September 20, 2015 on Genesis 18 and 21.
Are you waiting for an answer to a prayer? For the fulfillment of a promise? Are you in the midst of barrenness and brokenness wondering about this God who offers such distant, lavish promises? This morning you’ll find yourself in the story and hear again about the God who is faithful. Our God is the God who turns barrenness into abundance, mourning into joy, darkness into light. Is there anything too wonderful for the Lord?
Pastor Andy's sermon on the Trinity for Trinity Sunday. Scripture passage is John 3:1-17
Pastor Andy's sermon on Pentecost Sunday celebrating the gift of the Holy Spirit and the birthday of the Church. Scripture passage is Acts 2:1-42.
Pastor Andy's sermon on 1 John 5:6-13.
Pastor Andy's sermon on the story of Philip and the Eunuch, Acts 8:26-40.
Pastor Jim's Easter sermon on John 20:1-18.
A community of Christians in Wyckoff, NJ who are called to worship God, make disciples of Jesus, and live missionally.
