Category: Podcasts

3 (Marks): Serving the World: Canaanites, Dogs, and Us Vs Them

jesus-1233747Well on Sunday we looked at a passage most people have never heard preached. Because well there is no other way to say it, but this passage makes Jesus to seem to be a racist; it’s Matthew 15:21-28.

But when you dig into it you start to realize something that should be obvious – Jesus isn’t a racist, we are.

And I mean that in the truest sense, that we all have groups of people that we struggle with. Maybe it’s not along race lines, maybe it’s along sexual lines, or theological lines, or geographical line, or political lines. But the truth is that we all have groups that we love to exclude, scapegoat, and blame. Groups of people that don’t really deserve to be in on what God’s doing. Unless of course they change and become just like us…then they can.

But it’s this underlying “us vs them” thinking and scapegoating that Jesus challenges in a unique passage. In this story Jesus is actually enacting out a parable. He is telling the truth but as Emily Dickinson says, he is telling it slant.

Jesus teaches the disciples that what makes someone clean is what comes out of hearts. And he then takes them specifically on a trip into Canaanite country. You know the hated enemies of the people of God. You know the people that God said wipe out. You know the blood enemies of the Israelite people. There is bad blood between these two groups.

And a woman comes up and asks for Jesus to heal her daughter. And then there is this odd interaction between Jesus and her where he seems reluctant. Where he seems to privilege Israel as a group over an individual right in front of him that needs healing and hope. This is a completely uncharacteristic with Jesus in every other part of the gospel. So what’s going on?

What’s going on is that Jesus is trying to reveal the blatant racism and us vs them thinking in the disciples. And this type of thinking lurks in our hearts and is so hard to change without experience, teaching, and blog posts certainly don’t do it. The power of the Spirit through relationships does.

So Jesus leads his disciples to have this encounter with this woman. And when she first approaches him, says nothing, but the disciples do say something. They try to get rid of her, and ask Jesus to send her on her way. They demonstrate what’s in their hearts, hate, hurt, and lack of desire to help and heal. They don’t believe she deserves their help.

So Jesus has a conversation with her that sounds odd to us. But to the disciples it must have been rupturing and revealing. Because I believe Jesus is saying everything that is going on in their hearts, their excuses as to why she should be sent away. 

Let’s be clear on one thing, Jesus didn’t travel all the way into this country to avoid this woman or refuse to heal her. He travelled all the way here to heal her, and the disciples’ hearts which are fixated with us vs them. He wants to heal them, and her.

So Jesus brings the disciples into this interaction and experience where their hate is exposed so that it can be changed. Because if there is any hate within us, it needs to be changed.

So the main point we landed on Sunday after working this all through was that we are called to serve and help everyone, even those we hate. Especially those we hate. We asked the Holy Spirit to convict us if there people, groups, or individuals we believe “God can’t be active there”, or “I don’t need to help them” or “they don’t’ deserve my help”. Because what we see is that God is active even in the enemies we think where God can’t be found. What we see in this passage is our need to serve and help and heal everyone. And we all know that. Christians are to love the whole world, the trouble is when it gets to specifics to that person, that group, that co-worker. We find excuses and reasons not to help and heal. And that’s what this passage is about – taking away our excuses revealing the ugliness of hearts and giving us a chance to change.

So we left with a challenge. To be open to serving the needs of those around us this week – especially those we hate. That if there are people we struggle with, these are the people to serve this week.

Not an easy challenge, but following Jesus has never been easy. It’s been life-changing but not easy. So don’t settle for easy, challenge yourself, reach and love and see what God might do in you, through you, and around you. Because God is moving, and he wants us to join him.

Sermon Notes:

Big Idea: You are called to serve and help everyone, even the ones you hate

Teaching Points:

  • Disciples are to love God, love others, and love the world.
  • Love towards the world is to mark our lives
  • “Tell all the truth but tell it slant” Emily Dickinson
  • The Canaanites are ancient enemies of Isreal
  • We think with “us vs. them”
  • Faith and hope and God’s amazing working can exist outside the people and places we expect to find it
  • We are called to serve the entire world, not just the people like us who we like.
  • You are called to serve and help everyone, even the ones you hate
  • The mark of a disciple is to be someone who serves everyone.
  • There is no “them”, there is only “us”.
  • There is no one who is outside the scope of God’s love and healing.

Adult Discussion Questions:

What stuck out to you from the sermon? What was challenging to you? What was new? Was this a new passage for you to think through? Why do you think that sometimes “experiences” teach us more than straight “teaching”? Who do you think we as the church struggle with loving – like the disciples with the Canaanite woman? How can we serve them? Who do you struggle with loving? How can you serve them?

Discussion Questions for Young Families

Today talk to your kids about loving and serving everyone. Ask them who they think gets left out, and needs some love. Then do something about it. If it a classmate invite them over, if it’s a family make some food for them. Serve, but do it together.

Challenge for the Week: To go about your week looking for needs, and meeting them.

by Andrew Mills

3 (Marks): Journeying with Others: In the Beginning We all Need a “Helper”

traces-old-shoes-on-the-path-1425216On Sunday we looked journeying with others again. This is a key mark of a follower of Jesus, that they don’t follow him alone. Because we all need others, we need support, direction, and love. Life is meant to be lived together.

And this is actually what we discover way back in the very beginning. God shows up to Adam and says, “It’s not good for man to be alone”. And here I don’t think he is just talking about Adam specifically but humanity in general. That we were not created to live and journey in this world alone.

What is quite amazing is that pre-sin Adam still needed someone. That it’s not sin and challenges that causes us to need to journey together, but something in our very makeup. That it is simply put not good for humanity to journey alone. We all need others. We need a “helper” or “companion”.

Now this word in English gets read through patriarchal lens and it makes it seem like what Adam needs is a domestic wife to support him. That he needs a little helper at home. And this is not only demeaning to women but to God too, because that is not what God is saying.

God is actually saying it is not good for Adam to be alone, he needs a helper. He needs someone to save him, to protect him, to sustain him, to shield him, or to journey with him. The word “ezer” (helper) is most often used in the Psalms to refer to God’s activity of saving, sustaining, protecting, rescuing, or giving hope. So a “helper” is not a nice little addition to your life, but an active presence that guarantees your future through saving, sustaining, protecting and rescuing.

God is saying I believe that we all need those people in our lives. We all need companions who help us to journey into life, because life isn’t meant to be lived alone. This was the main point on Sunday, that life is meant to be shared with others. So I ended with a very specific challenge, to journey with two other people closely for the rest of this year. I truly believe that it isn’t good to live alone, so I challenged all of us to journey with others closely for this whole year. Two people at minimum (and your spouse doesn’t count) because we all need companions to rescue, protect, help, save, and give us hope.

For some of us we are doing this, and just need to keep doing this. For others we have friendships that can become deep and committed but we need to invest in them. And for others we don’t know where to start with relationships, but we are called to pray for them. Because God still wants to make sure all of us don’t live alone but with life-giving relationships.

So whether that means investing in your good relationships, investing in your potential relationship to become good ones, or investing in prayer for God to help you create some. We are all called to invest in relationships to live with and for one another. Because God is right, “It is not good to live alone”, we are called to live together.

Sermon Notes:

Big Idea: Life was meant to be shared with others, and we need to journey together

Teaching Points:

  • It is easier to be selfish and self-interested in our world, but it not better
  • That we need to be journeying with others, if we want to journey with Jesus
  • Life is not complete without someone to share it with
  • “To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul”. Simone Weil
  • Commit to journeying closely with 2 other people this year

Adult Discussion Questions:

What stuck out to you from the sermon? What was challenging to you? What was new? What relationships have impacted you most? Which relationships do you have now that are closest? Who have been your “ezers” or helper and companions in life? Are there people in your life who are this to you now? Are there people in your life who you are like this for them? Can you commit to journeying with at least two people for this year?

Discussion Questions for Young Families

Journeying together isn’t just for adults but for kids and families as well. Studies show us that kids need 5 adults caring and pouring into their lives to truly thrive. So spend sometime thinking about the adults who can pour into your family, and what family you can pour into. Who are you journeying with as a family? And go spend time with them this week.

Challenge for the Week: Commit to journeying closely with 2 other people this year

by Andrew Mills

3 (Marks): Journeying with Others: The Sacredness of Relationships

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We began on Sunday by noticing something that is so obvious but that we forget: that our culture has a way of taking the depth out of our relationships. 

What I mean by this is in our lives it seems like we have many more relationships at a loss of deep ones. We have lots of friends on Twitter, Facebook, or in our office but don’t have a lot of deep ones.

Jen Pollock Michel writes, “Our connections have grown broader, but shallower”. And I think that’s true. We know so many of the shallow details of one another’s lives, but don’t truly know one another.

But relationships are not just peripheral to our lives, they are absolutely central. They are where we experience not only life, but also God.

Andrew Root writes,

“Our relationships are the very field, the very place where God is encountered”

So relationships matter. That’s what we explored and we began with the only place I know to begin – the Incarnation of Jesus Christ.

God became human in the person of Jesus Christ. The implications of this are huge. But right off the bat we should notice one thing if God became a person – persons matter. If the person of Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, was shaped and formed by relationships, relationships matter deeply!

Our culture teaches us that relationships are to be used. To be used for our own needs, self-interest, entertainment or whatever. What the Bible teaches is that relationships are sacred and to be shared, and are places for us to give.

Pauls says in Philippians 2 that in our relationships we are to have the same attitude as Jesus, who emptied himself for others. This is to how we live as well. We are called to live with the same self-emptying, self-giving love in relationships.

Our world teaches us relationships are to be used; Jesus teaches us they are places of sacred connection meant to be invested in.

So on Sunday we ended with this main point: Relationships are sacred and meant to be shared. So often we use them, are entertained by them, or are forgetful of them. The Christian’s calling is to give, invest, and cultivate them.

So we gave the challenge to actually invest in relationships. To push past the shallow relationships of culture into real life-giving, God-finding, ones. The challenge for this week wasn’t for a week, or a day, or a month. But for a year. I challenged everyone to journey with at least two other people closely for a year. To choose to invest in relationships. To choose to find God in relationships. To choose to see the sacred and give like Jesus in relationships. Because what I know is this, that without relationships life dries up. But with deep relationships life bursts, spills over, and changes everything.

Sermon Notes:

Big Idea: Relationships are sacred and need to be shared

Teaching Points:

  • 3 Marks of Christians: Love God, Love Others, Love the World
  • Our connections have grown broader, but shallower. Jen Pollock Michel
  • Our deep desire is to be known and to be loved.
  • Developing deep friendships isn’t helpful in following Jesus, it’s necessary if you want to follow Jesus.
  • “Our relationships are the very field, the very place where God is encountered” Andrew Root
  • Relationships aren’t a part of life, Relationships are life
  • Relationships aren’t tangential to our existence, we only exist because of relationships
  • Jesus is self-giving, self-emptying, self-sharing love and relationship
  • Many people now don’t have friends for decades, they have them while it,s convenient.
  • Relationships are places where lives are changed
  • Relationships are not shared interests, but shared connections.
  • “Everything changes because you share in her life and she shares in yours; you dwell with her and she with you. It is sheer grace” – Andrew Root

Adult Discussion Questions:

What stuck out to you from the sermon? What was challenging to you? What was new? What relationships have impacted you most? Which relationships do you have now that are closest? Which relationships do you need to invest in more? How have you seen God move in and through the relationships around you? Who can you journey with for the year?

Discussion Questions for Young Families

Today, rather than talking about relationships with your kids, invest in them. Ask them what they’d like to do, make it something special and build some experiences and memories. Focus on giving in the time, and be like Jesus emptying yourself for your kids.

Challenge for the Week: To pray about 2 people to journey with for the year.

by Andrew Mills

3 (Marks): Three Circles

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On Sunday we kicked off a brand new series looking at the three marks of a Christian. We began by discussing what the “marks” of a follower of Jesus are. And we began with a really simple, but difficult question: what is a disciple of Jesus?

At first glance that question seems simple doesn’t it? A disciple of Jesus is someone who follows Jesus. But what does that mean? What does that look like?

I think these questions really matter because if you only have a vague idea of what God is asking of you, chances are you won’t be getting where God wants you to be.

So we began to define what a disciple and the three marks of a Christ-follower by looking at two passages: Matthew 22:36-40 and Matthew 28:18-19.

And in the first passage we got the first clear glimpse into what a follower of Jesus looks like. It looks like someone who loves God. But loving God isn’t enough, because you can love God and still miss out on living like God. People who loved God caused the crusades, inquisitions, and still today spew hate. The idea of “loving God” needs definition or all sorts and manners of hate can be spewed in defense of God.

This is why Jesus then utters a second command he says is just as important as the first. We need to love others. Loving God, necessitates loving our neighbors. Jesus gives definition for what loving God looks like, and it looks like someone who loves their neighbour.

So the first two marks of a follower of Jesus are loving God, and loving their neighbour. But those two aren’t enough, there is a third mark. Because you can end up loving God and loving others but not having a forward momentum, you can end up isolated, rather than transforming the world. We need to also hear not only the great commandment but also the great commission.

Jesus says in Matthew 28:18-19 that we need to go out and make disciples. We need to spread his love and light among the world. We need to go out and bless the nations and bless our neighbours. Part of the Christian calling isn’t just to love God, and love our neighbours, but to also actively love the world around us.

And we need to do all three: loving God, loving others, and loving the world. Because if we aren’t doing any of the these three marks of a Jesus-follower our lives will not be fully formed.

So that’s where we went on Sunday explaining the three circles of love and how every Christian needs to do all three. Now as we move forward we’ll unpack each of those circles and for how, if you focus on journeying, connecting, and serving, you’re life with Jesus and those around you can be changed. Which is what following Jesus is all about – being changed by him, and changing lives with him.

Sermon Notes:

Big Idea: Jesus followers should love God, love others, and love the world.

Teaching Points:

  • A mark is:
    • 1) An obvious object or article that serves as a guide to travellers
    • 2) An impression or a distinguishing trait or characteristic
  • Vague impressions of direction get you no where.
  • What is a disciple?
  • Loving God needs definition.
  • Loving God and Loving others are part of what following Jesus means.
  • Loving the world propels us out into the world.

Adult Discussion Questions:

What stuck out to you from the sermon? What was challenging to you? How did God speak to you through it? What was new? What circle do you most resonate with (Loving God, Others, or the World)? Which circle do you most struggle with? How do you think you might grow deeper with your struggling circle?

Discussion Questions for Young Families

Take a look at your family and think through which circles you are good at, and which ones you need to grow in. Ask your kids then for ideas for how to grow in the difficult circles and put them into practice.

Challenge for the Week: Make a decision to grow in all three circles

by Andrew Mills

Finding God on Your iPod: U2 and a Girl Called Grace

On Sunday my wife protested my song choice for this series. It had something to do with picking “songs so obscure only I could love them.” So I promised her one Sunday of a song by a band most of us would know. And that Sunday, was last Sunday. And that band was U2. We listened to and jumped, taught through the song “Grace”.

 

 

The song “Grace” has some beautiful lyrics. And what is wonderful is they give a starting point to hear some familiar words with fresh ears. 1 Corinthians 13 is commonly known as the love chapter. It is read at weddings, and is now so overly familiar that it’s lost some of its “oompf”. So to regain some of that we read 1 Corinthians 13, along with Bono’s lyrics to make some new connections.

Bono sings that “Grace has the time to talk”. And I love that line because not only is it true, it’s also incredibly pertinent and practical. Paul says that love is patient, but for many of us we are so busy we don’t even have time to talk. Time to listen. Time to show love through our giving of ourselves.

Paul continues saying that love is anything but rude, proud, or self-centered. Love, in essence, isn’t aggressive, showy, and loud. Or as Bono talks about love and grace “when she goes to work / you can hear her strings”. Love sounds like strings of invitation, movement, and gentle melody. Pride though as Paul says, sounds like a clanging cymbal.

Paul writes that love doesn’t keep records of wrongs. This is something I wish we would not only know, but practice. But sometimes we’ve heard it so often we forget it too quickly. Bono gets at the same things singing, “Grace moves outside of karma”. Grace and love aren’t record keepers, but forgiveness givers. And lastly, we looked at how love lasts and never gives up. Or as Bono puts it, “it’s a thought that changed the world.”

We tried to use the song to get a fresh glimpse into Paul and our main point: grace and love change the world and change lives. They have changed lives and will keep changing lives if we put it into practice.

So to discern how to put love into practice we ended by reading 1 Corinthians 13 with our name in place of the word love. Because Paul is really giving us a challenge for how to live, not just teaching on the abstracts of love. Paul is teaching us how we are to live. So as we read the passage we asked God to make it true in our lives, and direct us in anywhere we need to start acting differently.

[            ] is patient and kind. [            ]is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. [            ]does not demand its own way. [            ] is not irritable, and keeps no record of being wronged. [            ] does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. [            ] never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

(Read the passage slowly multiple times, and put your name in the blank, and let God speak to you through it)

 

 

Sermon Notes:

Big Idea: Grace and love change the world and change lives

Teaching Points:

  • All truth is God’s truth.
  • Grace has the time to talk – Bono
  • When she goes to work / You can hear her strings – Bono
  • Love is the opposite of self-centeredness
  • She travels outside of karma – Bono
  • Grace and love change the world and change lives
  • Scripture interprets Scripture

Adult Discussion Questions:

What stuck out to you from the sermon? What was challenging to you? How did God speak to you through it? What was new? What is your favorite U2 song? When you read the passage from God’s perspective what jumped out? When you read it with your name in blanks, how did God speak to you? What jumped out?

Discussion Questions for Young Families

Today talk to your kids about their favorite song. Ask them why they love it, and what they learn from it.

Challenge for the Week: To put love into practice

by Andrew Mills

Finding God on Your iPod: Finding Your Way Through Darkness and “No Longer Slaves”

A few Sundays ago we changed up our schedule. I strongly believe that God’s Holy Spirit can prepare and prompt you well ahead of time. By that I mean that planning and preparation are pretty important to me, and I believe God uses those.

But I also believe in listening to the Spirit in the moment as well.

So I have this little rule – plan for everything you can – and listen and change as you God’s Spirit leads in the moment.

So that’s what we ended up doing a few weeks ago. I had a great sermon planned, but in light of some significant health challenges our church was facing it didn’t feel it was the right one. Instead, the church leadership felt we should share on why difficulty happens and why it’s happening right now in our church.

So here is the audio of what I shared. I don’t have teaching notes like normal, or blog posts pre-prepped but I think that’s okay. Because when God’s spirit is moving, the only option you have is to follow it. Hope the audio is helpful.

by Andrew Mills

Finding God on Your iPod: The National and Learning to Lament

On Sunday we looked a song by one of my favourite bands called “The National”. And the song we explored was called “Sorrow”.

The reason we looked at this song was because this was the song that I played on repeat again and again when my dad passed away. It was a song that for me got tied to that dark and difficult time. The singer sings, “I don’t want to get over you” and that was so very true in my life.

He also sings, “Sorrow waited, and sorrow won”. And that was also true in my life; sorrow seemed to be winning.

And that’s really what we wanted to explore on Sunday, how do you move past sorrow? How do you overcome sorrow that grips you? How do you move forward?

And the answer is found in something called the lament.

The lament is really a type of prayer. A brutally honest, bring up the raw stuff within, kind of a prayer. Lament, if it’s about anything, is about honesty. But rather than discuss what it is, we looked at an example of lament in Psalm 39.

Psalm 39 is where David wrestles with maintaining silence before God, and expressing his hurt, anger, and accusation at God. David begins with maintaining silence, in fear that he might sin in what he says (v 1). But this doesn’t last for long because silence can’t last forever. And instead, out comes a torrent of expectations, longings, and hurt.

Listen to some of the raw stuff he says,

Rescue me from my rebellion. Do not let fools mock me. I am silent before you; I won’t say a word, for my punishment is from you. But please stop striking me! I am exhausted by the blows from your hand. (v. 7-9)

Or

Leave me alone so I can smile again before I am gone and exist no more.

These are some brutally honest lines. David accuses God of punishing him, ignoring him, or not rescuing him when he should. And he ends with this line, that if God doesn’t help, at least leave him alone so that he can smile again. Being left alone by God is better than being rejected and punished by God. Or so David thinks.

Now do I believe that God is the one punishing David, or that God “strikes people”? No. But that’s not the point. The point is that David brings all that he feels, right or wrong, and brings it openly and brutally honestly before God. David’s reaction isn’t to avoid God, but to bring his accusation towards God. And this in itself is an act of faith, and hope. That even in bringing his desperation, hurt, and anger that God might hear and act.

This is lament. Being brutally honest with yourself and with God about what you feel and where you are at.

And this is what we need to learn. We do not lament. We hide, we paper over pain, we bury pain. We do not address pain and loss. But the truth is that if we want to learn to ever heal or move forward in sorrow, we need to learn to lament. We need to learn to be brutally honest with God and ourselves. And this is something that not only does the Bible authorize, but suggests. One third of the Psalms are complaints, laments, or Psalms of disorientation. Their very existence says that we can come to God with all that’s within us.

So we ended with the main point on Sunday, that we need to learn to lament. And for some of us this might take some really practical points. We might need to journal and let the hurt out. We might need to let a song speak for us (like “Sorrow” which is a modern day lament). We might need to lament with others either in a structured group, or with close friends. Or the best way is maybe to just read the Psalms and let them express our feelings to God.

The point is that if sorrow, grief, or difficulty ever grip and grab you, the way out isn’t to pretend it’s not there. The way out begins with one step. It begins with lament. And life and healing might be a long way off, but lament is the step that begins a journey. And it’s one we need to be okay to take.

Sermon Notes:

Big Idea: We need to learn to lament.

Teaching Points:

  • You are never ready for grief.
  • “I don’t want to get over you” – The National
  • Lament, if it is about anything, is about honesty.
  • David brings what he feels, not just what he knows, to God.
  • Within lament, even when you accuse God, You are still hoping in God.
  • To the extent we have not learned to lament, we deal superficially with the world’s brokenness, offering quick and easy fixes that do not require our conversion. Chris Rice, Emmanuel Katongole
  • We need to learn to lament.
  • Learning to lament has helped me find healing.
  • Lamenting can be journaling, sharing with others, having a song express your heart, or reading Psalms to lament.
  • We all take each other too much for granted. The routines of life distract us; our own pursuits make us oblivious; our anxieties and sorrows, unmindful. The beauties of the familiar go unremarked. We do not treasure each other enough. Nicholas Wolterstorff
  • I have been . . . grievously wounded. So I shall look at the world through tears. Perhaps I shall see things that dry-eyed I could not see. Nicholas Wolterstorff

Adult Discussion Questions:

What stuck out to you from the sermon? What was challenging to you? How did God speak to you through it? What was new? Was it awkward for you to talk about grief and sorrow? Have you ever experienced sorrow? What was it like for you? Have you ever “lamented”? What might lament look like in your life?

Discussion Questions for Young Families

Today let your kids teach you. Ask them what they do when they are hurt, and angry, and in sorrow. Kids are much more open and we can learn from them.

Challenge for the Week: Learn and practice the art of lament.

by Andrew Mills