 |
| Rev. Brent Russett |
Pastor of
Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:
http://www.sunnysidechurchottawa.com/ _______________________________________________________
PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, December 6th, 2015:
'Finding Jesus in Unexpected Places'
Good morning. And welcome to good news in the
morning. My name is Brent Russett. I am
the Senior Pastor at Sunnyside Wesleyan Church here in Ottawa. It is my
pleasure to look at some of life’s challenges, and then bring you some good
news in the morning.
I am glad that you tuned your dial
to CFRA. I want you to know that you can also find Good News in the morning on
the internet at Goodnewsinthemorning.ca
. There you can keep up to date with what is happening around Good News
Christian Ministries.
I want to say a special welcome to
our international listeners, who listen via the internet. We are glad that you
have found us, and that you are finding this ministry an encouragement.
******
For
those of you who follow the Church Calendar, this is the 2nd Sunday of Advent.
This means that, including today there are 3 Sundays before Christmas. Advent
is a time when we prepare to meet Jesus anew. This morning I want to talk about
preparing to meet Jesus in Unexpected Places
I am
going to start by reading from Scripture. The New Testament book of John – from
the New Living Translation
John
1:1–5
1 In the beginning the
Word already existed.
The
Word was with God,
and
the Word was God.
2 He existed in the
beginning with God.
3 God created everything
through him,
and
nothing was created except through him.
4 The Word gave life to
everything that was created,*
and
his life brought light to everyone.
5 The light shines in the
darkness,
and
the darkness can never extinguish it.*
That
is how the Gospel of John starts That is how the gospel of John introduces us
to Jesus. The Word. The Logos. The idea of God, the spoken power of God, God
himself. And this is what it says of him.
In
the beginning, before the world began, Jesus already existed. Jesus was with
God, Jesus was God. God created everything through him. It was the Word of God
that brought all that is into existence. It was Jesus who brought all that is
into existence.
Not
only that but he spoke life into us, he enlightened us with truth and
understanding. Jesus did all of this.
1 In the beginning the
Word already existed.
The
Word was with God,
and
the Word was God.
But this is what John goes on to say
in verse 14
John
1:14 (NLT)
14 So the Word became
human* and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and
faithfulness.* And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and
only Son.
I
like how Eugene Peterson paraphrases this in “The Message”
John
1:14 (The Message)
14 The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own
eyes,
Last
week I talked about finding Jesus in unexpected circumstances. This week I want
to look at finding Jesus in unexpected neighbourhoods,
unexpected places.
.
The
one who existed before anything else existed. The one who cause all that is to
come into being.. The who was and is God – became flesh and blood and moved in
the neighbourhood.
****
There
are times when I think about this world as a precision time piece. If the earth
were just a little closer or a little further away from the sun, it could not
sustain life. I am amazed at the connectedness of nature, where everything
works together. The forest needs the air and the air needs the forest. The
water evaporation rain cycle. The intricacies of your body. It is amazing how
it works together, right down to the microscopic level. The world is like a
precision time piece. At least that is the way I think about it sometimes.
Then
there are other times when I think about this world, I think about it more like
a Ford Edsel. For those of you who don’t know the Ford Edsel – it was a 1958
car that was named after one of Henry Ford’s sons. It was brought to the market
with great fanfare, but it was a lemon. It was ugly and a gas guzzler, and it
kept on breaking down. Sometimes when I think about this world, I like an
Edsel.
The
hurricanes and floods and earthquakes and volcanoes, heart disease, and cancer
and mental illness and death. Sometimes I think that this world is ugly and
constantly breaking down.
Depending
on the news and the mood and the day I can revel in a glorious sunset or be
depressed over the evil that is the world like ISIS. I can be enthralled by the
creativity of human ingenuity, or I can be disenchanted with the cruelty of
people. I am awed at the grandeur of mountains, and distressed over the
devastating effects of famine.
Then
I am reminded that the one who existed before anything else existed. The one
who cause all that is to come into being. The one who brought life to all and
life and truth to humanity, The who was
and is God – became flesh and blood and moved in the neighbourhood.
That
is kind of like the architect and the general contractor of a community, moving
into that community. You get a chance to ask, and why did you put that door
there, and that light switch over there. What were you thinking.
It is
one thing to be the God of the universe, it is a whole other thing to move into
the neighbourhood. God what were you thinking when you created the Giraffe? God
what were you thinking me in creating me the way you did..
The
one thing I have learned about God is that he does what is unexpected As you
know from the Christmas story, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, where he used a
stable for a motel and a manger for a cradle. He then migrated to Egypt to
escape wicked King Herod. He grew up as a child there in Egypt and then
migrated back to Israel, to Nazareth when King Herod died, because that was the
home of his mom and dad.
John
lets 30 years pass in his narrative and we see Jesus at the beginning of his
ministry on earth. He has been introduced by John the Baptist. Jesus was calling
his disciples and his disciples were telling their friends.
John
1:45–46 (NLT)
45 Philip went to look for
Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses* and the prophets
wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”
46 “Nazareth!” exclaimed
Nathanael. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
“Come
and see for yourself,” Philip replied.
To
the people living in Israel Nazareth was a back water town, where nothing
happened, and nobody important lived. But that is where Jesus grew up as a
teenager, and that is where he grew into a man. He grew up in an unexpected
place. You would expect the architect of humanity to live in some prestigious
place not in a humble home, -carrying out a humble trade, in a humble town. But
that is exactly what he did.
MUSIC
Make your home in me – Vineyard Music – Hungry.
5:00
*******
If
you want to know what kind of people Jesus likes to hang around with, take a
look at the people who chose to grow up with. He didn’t gravitate towards a
palace, nor to people who try to fit in at the palace by putting on airs.
Although it is obvious that he studied the Scriptures, which meant that he
spent a lot of time at synagogue in Nazareth, he didn’t gravitate to the
religious centre of the time – Jerusalem.
No,
he who existed before the world began, chose to grow up in an unexpected place,
a humble place, a humble town, a humble home.
I
grew up in the Ottawa Valley, in the country between the village of Glasgow and
the village of Braeside. Humble places. I first pastored in a small town in
Northern Ontario named Bruce Mines. Humble Places. Here is what I know about small places. They
are filled with quirky people –– People know each other business. You don’t put
on airs because everybody knows everyone.
You
might not like all your neighbours but you know all your neighbours and you
need to get along.
I
loved pastoring a church in Bruce Mines. It was a town of 600 people on shores
of Lake Huron. What I loved was there were no pretentions. What you see is what
you got, for better or worse.
Those
are the kind of people Jesus chose to live amongst.
I now
live in a very different time and place. I live in a city that is the capital of
Canada. Power and status matters – it allows you to get things done, or not get
things done. Ottawa is not a fashion capital, but how you present yourself
matters. It is more important that you look good than that you be good.
We
live in a world where your presentation in a resume matters. Your presentation
of Facebook, Linked in and Twitter matter – at least in terms of how people
perceive you, and yes, judge you.
That
is just the world we live in. It is a
reality we have to deal with – which is ok as long as you don’t start believing
your own press. When you start believing that perception is more important than
reality; When you start to believe that is more important that people think
your good than to be good, then your life gets derailed.
You
see those are not the kind of people Jesus chooses to come amongst. Those
aren’t the kind of people that he chose to hang out with. He likes people to be
who they are.
It is
not that Jesus won’t talk to the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the people who
were the ruling elite of the day; the people who had a way of putting on airs –
What Jesus did was call them to repentance. Jesus called them to righteousness
on the inside, not just the outside. Because Jesus wants our inside and outside
to match. He does good work with people who will be authentic.
******
But
you know what this means – It means that each one us can be the kind of people
that Jesus chooses to hang around. We can be the kind of people that Jesus
chooses to live with.
He
wants you to be authentic. He wants you to come as you are. No perfect people
allowed.
Too
much of religion is striving. Striving to be something better than we are.
Striving to be something different than we are. Striving to be somehow work of
the emotions to feel the way we should.
But
that is just the religious form of being inauthentic. There is a way to be inauthentic
in the world and there is a way to be inauthentic in the church. Neither are
the kind of people that Jesus chooses to really be with.
When
we come to Jesus we come as we are. Jesus takes us as we are. He loves us that
much. You may think that you are too bad for Jesus, but you don’t know Jesus.
Jesus knows you at your worst, and he comes to you where you are. But he
doesn’t come to your false self. He doesn’t come to the mirage of the person –
the person that you would like to be. He comes to you as you are.
Now
he loves you too much to leave you there. He loves you too much to let you
remain where you are at. He takes you where you are at, and calls you to be all
that you were created to be.
But
you know that can pretty scary. Jesus comes to us where we are at. He meets us
in our neighbourhood. He sees us unmasked. He knows our good points and he
knows our bad points. He moves in right beside us – and you can see that as an
opportunity to know the architect of the universe – or you can choose like in
the story of Adam and Eve to run and hide. Many people choose to run and hide.
But
it is one thing for Jesus to choose to
move into our neighbourhood. It is another thing for you to accept that.
John
1:10–13 (NLT)
10 He came into the very
world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He
came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to
all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of
God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting
from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
He came to these ordinary people,
the people of Nazareth, the people of Israel – and they rejected him. It is a
scary thing for the God of the universe to move into the neighbourhood. It has
a way of upsetting the status quo. A lot of people didn`t like that. Some
people didn’t recognize him. Others just flat out rejected him.
But Jesus moved into the
neighbourhood anyways. To those who did believe in him, to those who did
receive him, showed them how to become children of God. He is not talking about
a physical birth but a spiritual birth. A birth that comes from God.
Many of you have had that happen in
your life. You have said, Jesus I believe you died for my sin, I believe that your
rose from the dead. Come into my life, forgive me of my sin, I am going to
follow you. That is how you become a child of God. That is how you receive him
into your life. That is how you welcome your neighbour who was and is God.
******
What a lot of people don`t realize
is that not only is this the way you become a child of God, a friend of God –
Not only is this the way you become a Jesus follower, or a true Christian –
this is the way that you continue to walk
with Jesus.
It always happens the same way.
Jesus comes to us, and we have to choose to receive him – or not.
Here
is what a lot of us do, especially those of us who have been in the faith for a
while. We are familiar with the bible. It is kind of like we have taken a
course on what the Christian life is supposed to be.
. We
know the general principles. We know that we are supposed to love, and be kind
and we are supposed to be generous and gracious. We know that we are not
supposed to lie. We know we are to pray and to worship and tor read the
scriptures. We know the rules. We know
the expectations.
And
with these rules we set out to live life. But of course life doesn’t fit into
the rules all that well. So we kind of live the best way we know how and the
hope for the best.
But here is what Jesus said to the church in Laodicea and Here
is what Jesus says to those who have
already received him.
Revelation
3:20 (NLT)
20 “Look! I stand at the
door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we
will share a meal together as friends.
Not
only did he move into our neighbourhood, but now he is knocking on our door.
Notice that it is Jesus that always comes to us. He is the one who is always
making the first move. He knocks at the door of your heart and you have the
choice – do I invite him in or not.
It is
a little intimidating. Some of us are not the best house keepers. We don`t have
everything organized. But he knocks and waits for an invitation to come in.
If
you will extend that invitation He sits down with you and talks with you. He
says we are going to work together on you. If you do what I tell you to do,
when I tell you to do it, you are going to change. You can’t change yourself,
but I am going to give you the desire and the power to be all that I created
you to be. It is not about striving, it is about following. It is not about
what you do, but what you allow me to do in you. Just do what I say.
He
has a way of changing us from the inside out as we hang out with him.
But
what happens if you had someone to coach you. How about, this week, you put
your emphasis on this. How about, you focus in on this for a while. It is not
that you stop loving people or being kind. But you focus on what he leads you
to focus on.
What would happen
if we were these authentic people who lived in the community being coached by
Jesus. I want to encourage you to move
into a day by day, hour by hour relationship with him.
Let’s
pray together;
Lord,
You come to people who are humble, who are authentic, who don’t put on airs; you
come just as we are.
So,
for each person who comes to you, right now, I’m praying, Lord, that you will show
up in ways that they will hear and know and understand; that you would guide them
into the ways that they can live life to the fullest, for you.
So,
Lord, I’m praying that you would just be there in a way that they can see with their
eyes and hear with their ears, and give glory to you.
I
pray this in Jesus’ name, AMEN.
“ If Good News in the Morning has been a factor in
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May you know Jesus Christ personally and profoundly. May the Holy Spirit reside deep within your
heart . And may the heavenly Father
surround you with His constant and abiding and accompanying love
MUSIC – Steven
Curtis Chapman – Be still and know – 3:20
By Rev. Brent Russett
Pastor of Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in
Ottawa:
_______________________________________________________
PODCAST LINK to the CFRA broadcast:
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