Good News!
Sermon
PREVIEWS OF COMING ATTRACTIONS
Sermons for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany
From your childhood, think of some good news which came to you suddenly. Maybe it was the announcement of a new baby in the family, or a new puppy. Maybe it was the announcement of a vacation or your first trip to Disneyland. Get in touch with the feeling of good news. That's especially helpful when there is so much bad news around.
We certainly hear enough bad news these days. Newspapers, television, and radio bombard us daily with news like: "Pam Am Jet Down;" "258 People Killed;" "Bomb Suspected;" "1 ,000s Of Homeless Sleep In The Streets;" and "Kadafy Builds Chemical Warfare Plant."
We begin to wonder if there is any good news anywhere. The people of God in Babylonian exiled in the sixth century B.C. wondered the same thing. They were in bondage to the Babylonians. They were surrounded by war and warriors. They heard bad news everywhere. There was little hope anywhere. Then a messenger running across the mountains broke in with good news: "... The Lord will return to Zion ... The Lord will use his holy power; he will save his people, and all the world will see it (Isaiah 52:8-10, TEV)." This messenger said:
"We are going to be released. We are going back to Zion. After 70 years of captivity, we are going home." That was good news! The announcement of the return of the Jewish exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem is the historical context of this Word from God.
Can people come home to God like the Jews came home to Jerusalem? How can this good news be translated for our day?
Paul Translated The Good News
Paul, the apostle, made the direct connection with the good news of return for his day. In Romans 10, he quotes Isaiah 52 and says that we Christians are the messengers of the good news of Christ.
"... Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." But how can they call to him, if they have not believed? And how can they believe, if they have not heard the message? And how can they hear, if the message is not proclaimed? And how can the message be proclaimed, if the messengers are not sent out? As the Scripture says, "How wonderful is the coming of those who bring good news!" But they have not all accepted the Good News. Isaiah himself said, "Lord, who believed our message?" So then, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through preaching Christ.
- Romans 10:13-17, TEV
In other words, Paul believes that Isaiah 52:7-10 should inspire Christians to get out and proclaim the good news of Christ's coming. Paul centers everything in Christ. He says, "... the message comes through preaching Christ."
If only unbelievers and borderline believers could see Christ, wouldn't they be released? Wouldn't they come home to God and home to the church? Christ said, "Come unto me." Christ invites us to come home to God.
Rosie, a 34-year-old woman, was miserable in her unbelief. She had been a Christian as a child, but she was reared in an oppressive church which had so many rules and regulations that as a teenager she left God and the church and said, "I'll never come back." That was 20 years ago. Since age 14, she had lived a life of captivity, a life away from God. "I've broken all ten commandments," she said. "You mean God will still accept me?" "Yes," her Christian friend replied, "that's how it is with God." Rosie came home to God in the context of the message: "Jesus Christ came to earth to save you from your sins." The captive was released.
David was a captive in every sense of the word. He was arrested for stealing. He was hooked on drugs. "For a period of seven years I attended a Christian church with my girlfriend, but it never took," he said. He was in jail when I visited him. He was a captive, literally behind bars. "It's like I'm possessed by a demon," he said. "I want to believe, but I just seem unable to have enough faith." I replied, "God forgives us in Christ, David. God sets us free." David is considering coming home. He hasn't quite stepped across the line and committed himself to Christ because he feels unworthy, but I'm confident he will.
Borderline believers, you can come home to God. Un-believers, aren't you homesick for the One who created you? Prisoners, won't you return to God?
John was on board a ship in a vicious storm in 1736. He turned to some Moravians who were calm in the storm. "Aren't you afraid?" he asked. "No," they replied, "we trust completely in the Lord." John was deeply impressed. Shortly thereafter in a small group Bible study, John heard the introduction to the book of Romans written by Martin Luther and his heart was "strangely warmed." John launched his mission of starting Bible classes throughout England. He rode across England on horseback setting up Bible and prayer groups throughout the land. By the time of his death, he had covered 250,000 miles on horseback for Jesus Christ. John Wesley and his brother Charles also wrote 6,000 Christian hymns including "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling":
Love divine, all loves excelling
Joy of heaven, to earth come down!
Fix in us thy humble dwelling,
All thy faithful mercies crown.
When Christ enters humbled hearts, unworthy people are crowned like royalty.
Jesus thou are all compassion
Pure unbounded love thou art;
Visit with us thy salvation,
Enter every trembling heart.
When Christ enters the trembling heart of the believer, the believer comes home to God. It happens every Christmas.
Finish then thy new creation,
Pure and spotless let us be;
Let us see thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in thee!
When Christ enters hearts filled with sin, righteousness and purity replace self-centeredness. Captives to sin are set free.
Another John, the one for whom Wesley was named, described the good news over 1,700 years before John Wesley got it in terms of restoring God's creation through the redeeming Word.
John Translated The Good News
John, the apostle, says that we can come home to God, because the God who created us "became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth."
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light.
The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name,
he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.
- John 1:1-14, RSV
That Jesus dwelt among us, makes it possible for us to come home to God. John translated the good news of Christ in such a way that many captives can come home to God.
Ron, an alcoholic who recently had a heart attack told me, "Old Everett Dirkson from Illinois used to say, 'When the heat goes up, the light goes on.' That's how it is with me. I've been away from God and the church for many years. It took a lot of heat for me to see the light." Ron came home to God. He said, "I used to be a Christmas and Easter Christian." He'd sneak in and sneak out of church twice a year, refusing to sign a visitors' card for fear that someone would follow up on him. "That's all behind me now," he said, "I've come home to where I belong." Ron came home for Christmas. So did Nicolas.
Named after a famous saint, Nicolas had a child-like faith until one day at the orphanage where he had been placed because his father was at war, and his mother could not afford to feed him. Nicolas heard the name of his father in the prayers for English soldiers who had died in World War II. "Right there and then," he said, "I told God I would never believe in him again." We met Nicolas in Lewes, England, when we were there in 1984. He and his wife Jean ran a bed and breakfast where we stayed. We became fast friends. Jean was a new Christian. She was aglow with her new-found faith in Christ. She witnessed to Nicolas, but apparently to no avail. We shared our faith with him as well, but his heart was burdened. He wanted no part of God.
When we returned to England on sabbatical leave in the summer of 1988, we went to Lewes and stayed with Jean and and Nicolas again. As Jean greeted us, she burst forth with the good news, "Nicolas has become a Christian. It happened last week." We all rejoiced. Two weeks later we heard some bad news. Jean had a lump on her breast. It was cancer. She faced the surgery with great Christian courage, but we wondered what this bad news would do to Nicolas. Would this major tragedy destroy Nicolas' fledgling faith? A quiet man, Nicolas tried hard to express his feelings of fears that now he might lose his wife. Jean continued to witness that Christ would get them through this crisis. Nicolas prayed out loud for the first time at a quiet supper we shared in an English cottage that was more than 400 years old. The prayer was a thing of beauty and simplicity. "God, take care of Jean. And help us to accept whatever happens. Thank you, Jesus, for coming with your comfort. Amen."
The day we left England we heard the good news. The surgery was a success. Our prayers for healing had been answered. Nicolas said, "Praise the Lord." Nicolas had come home to
God like the Jewish captives who returned to Jerusalem. Nicolas returned to the light from the darkness of resentment.
John describes the journey from captivity this way:
The true light which enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not.... But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
- John 1:9-13, RSV
Isaiah foretold it. Paul and John translated it. Messengers have picked it up and promulgated the message of good news into every language and situation. "Break into shouts of joy you ruins of Jerusalem! The Lord will rescue his city and comfort his people. The Lord will use his holy power; he will save his people, and all the world will see it (Isaiah 52:9-10, TEV)."
Rosie, David, John, Ron and Nicolas heard the good news and came home to God. So can you.
We certainly hear enough bad news these days. Newspapers, television, and radio bombard us daily with news like: "Pam Am Jet Down;" "258 People Killed;" "Bomb Suspected;" "1 ,000s Of Homeless Sleep In The Streets;" and "Kadafy Builds Chemical Warfare Plant."
We begin to wonder if there is any good news anywhere. The people of God in Babylonian exiled in the sixth century B.C. wondered the same thing. They were in bondage to the Babylonians. They were surrounded by war and warriors. They heard bad news everywhere. There was little hope anywhere. Then a messenger running across the mountains broke in with good news: "... The Lord will return to Zion ... The Lord will use his holy power; he will save his people, and all the world will see it (Isaiah 52:8-10, TEV)." This messenger said:
"We are going to be released. We are going back to Zion. After 70 years of captivity, we are going home." That was good news! The announcement of the return of the Jewish exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem is the historical context of this Word from God.
Can people come home to God like the Jews came home to Jerusalem? How can this good news be translated for our day?
Paul Translated The Good News
Paul, the apostle, made the direct connection with the good news of return for his day. In Romans 10, he quotes Isaiah 52 and says that we Christians are the messengers of the good news of Christ.
"... Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." But how can they call to him, if they have not believed? And how can they believe, if they have not heard the message? And how can they hear, if the message is not proclaimed? And how can the message be proclaimed, if the messengers are not sent out? As the Scripture says, "How wonderful is the coming of those who bring good news!" But they have not all accepted the Good News. Isaiah himself said, "Lord, who believed our message?" So then, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through preaching Christ.
- Romans 10:13-17, TEV
In other words, Paul believes that Isaiah 52:7-10 should inspire Christians to get out and proclaim the good news of Christ's coming. Paul centers everything in Christ. He says, "... the message comes through preaching Christ."
If only unbelievers and borderline believers could see Christ, wouldn't they be released? Wouldn't they come home to God and home to the church? Christ said, "Come unto me." Christ invites us to come home to God.
Rosie, a 34-year-old woman, was miserable in her unbelief. She had been a Christian as a child, but she was reared in an oppressive church which had so many rules and regulations that as a teenager she left God and the church and said, "I'll never come back." That was 20 years ago. Since age 14, she had lived a life of captivity, a life away from God. "I've broken all ten commandments," she said. "You mean God will still accept me?" "Yes," her Christian friend replied, "that's how it is with God." Rosie came home to God in the context of the message: "Jesus Christ came to earth to save you from your sins." The captive was released.
David was a captive in every sense of the word. He was arrested for stealing. He was hooked on drugs. "For a period of seven years I attended a Christian church with my girlfriend, but it never took," he said. He was in jail when I visited him. He was a captive, literally behind bars. "It's like I'm possessed by a demon," he said. "I want to believe, but I just seem unable to have enough faith." I replied, "God forgives us in Christ, David. God sets us free." David is considering coming home. He hasn't quite stepped across the line and committed himself to Christ because he feels unworthy, but I'm confident he will.
Borderline believers, you can come home to God. Un-believers, aren't you homesick for the One who created you? Prisoners, won't you return to God?
John was on board a ship in a vicious storm in 1736. He turned to some Moravians who were calm in the storm. "Aren't you afraid?" he asked. "No," they replied, "we trust completely in the Lord." John was deeply impressed. Shortly thereafter in a small group Bible study, John heard the introduction to the book of Romans written by Martin Luther and his heart was "strangely warmed." John launched his mission of starting Bible classes throughout England. He rode across England on horseback setting up Bible and prayer groups throughout the land. By the time of his death, he had covered 250,000 miles on horseback for Jesus Christ. John Wesley and his brother Charles also wrote 6,000 Christian hymns including "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling":
Love divine, all loves excelling
Joy of heaven, to earth come down!
Fix in us thy humble dwelling,
All thy faithful mercies crown.
When Christ enters humbled hearts, unworthy people are crowned like royalty.
Jesus thou are all compassion
Pure unbounded love thou art;
Visit with us thy salvation,
Enter every trembling heart.
When Christ enters the trembling heart of the believer, the believer comes home to God. It happens every Christmas.
Finish then thy new creation,
Pure and spotless let us be;
Let us see thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in thee!
When Christ enters hearts filled with sin, righteousness and purity replace self-centeredness. Captives to sin are set free.
Another John, the one for whom Wesley was named, described the good news over 1,700 years before John Wesley got it in terms of restoring God's creation through the redeeming Word.
John Translated The Good News
John, the apostle, says that we can come home to God, because the God who created us "became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth."
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light.
The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name,
he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.
- John 1:1-14, RSV
That Jesus dwelt among us, makes it possible for us to come home to God. John translated the good news of Christ in such a way that many captives can come home to God.
Ron, an alcoholic who recently had a heart attack told me, "Old Everett Dirkson from Illinois used to say, 'When the heat goes up, the light goes on.' That's how it is with me. I've been away from God and the church for many years. It took a lot of heat for me to see the light." Ron came home to God. He said, "I used to be a Christmas and Easter Christian." He'd sneak in and sneak out of church twice a year, refusing to sign a visitors' card for fear that someone would follow up on him. "That's all behind me now," he said, "I've come home to where I belong." Ron came home for Christmas. So did Nicolas.
Named after a famous saint, Nicolas had a child-like faith until one day at the orphanage where he had been placed because his father was at war, and his mother could not afford to feed him. Nicolas heard the name of his father in the prayers for English soldiers who had died in World War II. "Right there and then," he said, "I told God I would never believe in him again." We met Nicolas in Lewes, England, when we were there in 1984. He and his wife Jean ran a bed and breakfast where we stayed. We became fast friends. Jean was a new Christian. She was aglow with her new-found faith in Christ. She witnessed to Nicolas, but apparently to no avail. We shared our faith with him as well, but his heart was burdened. He wanted no part of God.
When we returned to England on sabbatical leave in the summer of 1988, we went to Lewes and stayed with Jean and and Nicolas again. As Jean greeted us, she burst forth with the good news, "Nicolas has become a Christian. It happened last week." We all rejoiced. Two weeks later we heard some bad news. Jean had a lump on her breast. It was cancer. She faced the surgery with great Christian courage, but we wondered what this bad news would do to Nicolas. Would this major tragedy destroy Nicolas' fledgling faith? A quiet man, Nicolas tried hard to express his feelings of fears that now he might lose his wife. Jean continued to witness that Christ would get them through this crisis. Nicolas prayed out loud for the first time at a quiet supper we shared in an English cottage that was more than 400 years old. The prayer was a thing of beauty and simplicity. "God, take care of Jean. And help us to accept whatever happens. Thank you, Jesus, for coming with your comfort. Amen."
The day we left England we heard the good news. The surgery was a success. Our prayers for healing had been answered. Nicolas said, "Praise the Lord." Nicolas had come home to
God like the Jewish captives who returned to Jerusalem. Nicolas returned to the light from the darkness of resentment.
John describes the journey from captivity this way:
The true light which enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not.... But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
- John 1:9-13, RSV
Isaiah foretold it. Paul and John translated it. Messengers have picked it up and promulgated the message of good news into every language and situation. "Break into shouts of joy you ruins of Jerusalem! The Lord will rescue his city and comfort his people. The Lord will use his holy power; he will save his people, and all the world will see it (Isaiah 52:9-10, TEV)."
Rosie, David, John, Ron and Nicolas heard the good news and came home to God. So can you.
