John 14: 23 29 23 Jesus replied, Anyone who loves me will keep my word. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me does not keep my words. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. 25 All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. 28 You heard me say, I am going away and I am coming back to you. If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. Rescue and Renewal Do you remember how you FELT the first time you God rescued? The first time you knew God was renewing your life? You might want to take some time revisiting that sometime this week, take some time meditate on the times you have experienced renewal. God does not leave us with one experience of his saving grace, God offers us many. How is God rescuing and renewing you now? Let s try this, sit back, close your eyes if you want, take a deep breath and let go. Take another breath and relax as you exhale. Now for just a few moments, visualize one of the beautiful flowers you have seen through this last week, perhaps a blooming bush or tree caught your attention. Breath in its fresh scent. Notice the color and texture of the flower in your minds eye. Bring as many details as you can remember, 1
the stamen and pistil, the petals and stem. Follow the flower down through the stem to its roots, where this last weeks rain saturated the ground offering this flower nutrients from the soil. Imagine that all this flower needs to create beauty is being provided by our Creator. The sunshine, bees in their season and rain on a regular basis bring blossoms to fullness. Now take a moment to consider your own life. Imagine God caring for your life in the same way the flower is cared for. Consider the things God is nurturing your life with at present. There is nothing you need to schedule or arrange, nowhere you need to go for the moment, just take some time in the assurance that God is already providing all that you need to bring meaning and purpose to your days. Just as a flower opens up to reveal the blessing it offers, imagine your life gently opening to reveal something God is using to bless others. Now look around the garden of your life, at all the other blooms. How is your life connected to the others? Walk right to the center of this garden to the source of peace and contentment. Inhale that grace deeply. Take a moment to soak up the peace. When you are ready, you may return your attention to your surroundings and stretch. ****** 2
What I remember about the way I felt when I first knew that God was renewing my life was an amazing feeling of peace, a settled calm inside and outside, a oneness with all that existed. I think one of the primary ways we experience God is through peace. I am even coming to understand what it means to have peace in the midst of conflict. Perhaps as parent, or caregiver, you know about this, too. Jesus was talking with the disciples about his departure, and he tells the disciples, my peace I give you, my peace I leave with you. Jesus was answering a question from Judas, the one who would betray him, Judas asked Jesus, But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world? As disciples of Jesus today, we could ask a similar question, you promised to give us peace, what about the rest of the world? What happened in Boston interrupted peace in many lives, and rippled out affecting whole families, communities and countries. Incidences of terrorism, natural disaster, wars between nations, we deal with regularly. Today it seems there is no peace until we have demonized the bad guy. There is no peace until justice has prevailed. Far from peace, we have not solved the problem of human evil, nor the issue of human suffering. And yet, we, in the church, have the answer the world needs for rescue and renewal, don t we? 3
Do you realize that in the time of Jesus, not everyone wanted a Messiah? There were some who understood the system that was in place to be working just fine. And those who did want a Messiah wanted a mighty military ruler. The Messiah would come fight the battle against Rome. He would rescue, purify and restore the temple. He would reestablish the monarchy and represent God for Israel, like Caesar did for Rome. There was certainly no peace in Jerusalem when Jesus went to the cross, there was turmoil for some, hatred for others, but not peace, even for Jesus, it says in the garden of Gethsemane, "And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground." (Luke 22:44) Apparently even Jesus had no peace until blood was shed. Ironic isn t it that blood had to be shed for peace. Not the blood of a military battle, but the blood of sacrifice. God s own sacrifice. You see the law had guided the community of faith, many of these laws required making sacrifices. If you were poor, you might not be able to afford the sacrifice, many could find no salvation through these laws. Then Jesus through his death and resurrection established a new covenant that is initiated by grace. By grace we have been saved through faith. No rules and regulations, a free grace that is granted for all. Romans 3:23 25 Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a mercy seat by his blood, effective through faith. 4
Well this is not the way God was supposed to come and rescue the nation of Israel, Gentiles would not even have to uphold the law of circumcision anymore. What was that about? You can hear the outrage, even today, what do you mean the laborer who comes to the vineyard at 5pm still gets paid, even though I have spent all day here? What do you mean the adulterer goes free? Nothing is needed for the community of faith except for the gospel. You did not add anything to it. God provides all that is needed for our rescue and renewal. We do not have to add a thing. All we need is Jesus Christ. Let me say that again, all we need is the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, nothing can be added, nothing taken away. Here s the point I want to make today: We question where God is in the world, when we need to begin with asking questions of ourselves, of our faithfulness. Here Jesus s words to the disciples: My Father will love them and we will make our home, we will dwell in them. Here s the thing: Here is the point I want to make today. God is a community of persons, and God called a community to be the revelation of the gospel today. So we can t sit back, we can t do just the things that make us comfortable, don t you sense the urgency, our world is in pain, our world is without peace, and my friends, we have it, we have it in Christ. Our community of faith, this church, has a responsibility, to reach the youth who are lost and lonely, to help the families that are overwhelmed and stressed, to be the place of safe refuge for anyone who needs it. And 5
it is work that will take us to the cross, it is work that will require us to agonize in prayer, dripping sweat like blood for the sake of those who need Christ, for those who need community. We need to pray for our ability to reflect the gospel for others. Individual lives cannot do this alone. God intended that we become a community for others. All the spirituality in the world will not get you to Christ without a community. Revelation 1:5 6 To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, "this is about you now, up to you now, your life will be the life that reveals me." You ask where is the rescue and renewal in the world today, it is in Christ and anywhere you see rescue and renewal, you can be sure Christ is there. This is the transformation of the church that is to come. Resurrection is on its way, God already provided for it. We have groundwork to do, in the soil, in the dirt, fertilizing and spreading nutrients, we are all part of what creates beauty in our world today. And the ground work we do is this, its called love, love is what makes everything grow. We love others even when we don t feel like it, even when we are tired, even when we don t know who they are, we love God don t we? The world doesn t have the sight we do, we have the vision for the love of God, and that is what we need to allow others to see. This is not about works, not about what we do, it is about what God 6
is doing in us. We are to keep our lives so focused on Christ, lives so fully dependent on Christ alone that the only result of our faith is love for others. We can t leave it up to the world. We are the rescue and renewal Christ intends for the world today. Jesus said, I leave this counselor who will help you, the counselor will nudge you to the right places and will also convict you of the wrong. Jesus said the counselor will be your teacher, the HS will teach us, will console us yes, but also convict us. The Counselor is present here today, in this holy meal. The meal Jesus left for us to be nurtured and strengthened into a strong garden with His Presence in the center. Let all who have ears, hear what the Holy Spirit says to the Church! 7