Good News Weekly Message

Does it feel as though your life is full of unnecessary clutter? If so, you’re not alone. While you can find plenty of good advice about how to declutter your closet and your calendar, the best way to live a life focused on the essentials is to hear good news. Because of Jesus, we know where we are going. And once we know where we’re going, we’ll know what we need. This week we see that mercy is essential to our relationship with God and therefore essential to our relationship with our neighbor. Rather than our neighbor being a pawn in our game to justify ourselves before God, God wants us to recognize that his mercy is all we need to be righteous before him. In the process, he transforms our neighbor in need into an opportunity for us to show the same mercy.

Does it feel as though your life is full of unnecessary clutter? If so, you’re not alone. While you can find plenty of good advice about how to declutter your closet and your calendar, the best way to live a life focused on the essentials is to hear good news. Because of Jesus, we know where we are going. And once we know where we’re going, we’ll know what we need. This week we see that, while our service to God is good and right, his service to us is what’s essential. While we have a tendency to get caught up in all kinds of busyness—even busyness in service to him—he is always willing to spend time with us and serve us through his Word.

This past week we had the wonderful privilege of welcoming 63 children from our congregation and community to our Good News Soccer Camp. We had great weather, great volunteer help, and great participation from all our campers. It was an awesome week for learning about soccer, meeting new friends, having a lot of fun, and—most importantly—learning about our good and gracious God. This year’s camp theme was “Nothing is impossible with God!” The theme comes from Mark 10:27. After his disciples asked him who could possibly be saved, Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” This week we met a number of different people who seemed impossible to save. But we saw how Jesus reached out to them to share his forgiveness and salvation with them. Today we will meet one more example of such a person. We’re glad to have campers and their families with us today to celebrate the conclusion of this wonderful week!

“Is this all there is?” That question can torment people when they reach the fulfillment of their life’s goals and still aren’t satisfied. Thankfully, Jesus’ ascension into heaven demonstrates that there’s infinitely more to life than what we can see. This week we see how the battle between good and evil continues to rage in and around us. Even though on the surface things may seem calm, our enemy is constantly working on us and all those around us. Thankfully, the same word of God which was powerful enough to drive out demons when it came from Jesus’ lips has been given to us. In our various callings, God provides the opportunities for us to share that word and drive back the forces of evil.

“Is this all there is?” That question can torment people when they reach the fulfillment of their life’s goals and still aren’t satisfied. Thankfully, Jesus’ ascension into heaven demonstrates that there’s infinitely more to life than what we can see. This week we see how there’s more than what there seems to be when it comes to death. Death seems to get the last word. It seems to be in control in terms of how long we get to enjoy life and the things and people we love. In reality, however, death has been brought into service to Christ. Christ has the power over death, which means he gets to decide when it comes—and when it doesn’t. And even when it does, far from separating us from Christ it must usher us into the eternal presence of Christ.

“Is this all there is?” That question can torment people when they reach the fulfillment of their life’s goals and still aren’t satisfied. Thankfully, Jesus’ ascension into heaven demonstrates that there’s infinitely more to life than what we can see. In today’s day and age we are frequently told to distrust the power and meaning of words. In the same way, we experience the frustration of words in our own lives when our best and strongest words still fail to accomplish their desired effect. However, God gives infinite meaning to words when he chooses them as the vehicle through which he reveals himself. On the day of Pentecost, Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit to be his Advocate—the one who would use words to bring God to people and people to God during these last days.

“Is this all there is?” That question can torment people when they reach the fulfillment of their life’s goals and dreams and still aren’t satisfied. Thankfully, Jesus’ ascension into heaven demonstrates that the answer to that question is a resounding “No.” When Jesus ascended into heaven, in a certain sense it was the end. It was the end of his time on earth. It was the end of his work for our salvation. But in another sense, it was just the beginning. It was the beginning of what he would continue to do in our world through us and with us to bring his saving name to all mankind and extend his kingdom to all the earth. This is the story and the mission that our faith in Jesus makes us a part of. Whenever we might be tempted to wonder if this is all there is, Jesus ascension assures us that there’s infinitely more to our life than what we can see.

Jesus came to earth to go head to head against our greatest enemies. When Jesus died, it seemed as though our enemies had one. However, three days later, Jesus was the last one standing. No matter what we might face in life or in death, the good news of Easter still stands. This week we see how Easter still stands for joy. Conventional wisdom suggests that joy is found only when we maximize pleasure and minimize pain. Therefore pleasure is to be pursued and pain is to be avoided at all costs. However, Easter demonstrates that God can generate joy not just from good circumstances but from the worst of circumstances. Easter proves that he is in the business of turning grief into joy, a joy that no circumstances can possibly take away.

Jesus came to earth to go head to head against our greatest enemies. When Jesus died, it seemed as though our enemies had one. However, three days later, Jesus was the last one standing. No matter what we might face in life or in death, the good news of Easter still stands. This week we see how Easter still stands in spite of death. Left to ourselves, death would be an unstoppable foe that would rip us apart from those we love. Thankfully, we can place ourselves and those we love into a hand much stronger than ours, stronger than even death. Those who listen to the voice of Jesus are his sheep. And to those sheep he promises: No one can snatch them out of my hand.

Jesus came to earth to go head to head against our greatest enemies. When Jesus died, it seemed as though our enemies had one. However, three days later, Jesus was the last one standing. No matter what we might face in life or in death, the good news of Easter still stands. This week we see how Easter still stands for love. The Bible’s definition of love—fully embodied by Jesus—is very different from the romantic, touchy-feely concepts of love prevalent in our world today. But Jesus’ resurrection proves that the gritty, determined, stubborn sort of love Jesus always triumphs. It will never fail and will always last.

Jesus came to earth to go head to head against our greatest enemies. When Jesus died, it seemed as though our enemies had one. However, three days later, Jesus was the last one standing. No matter what we might face in life or in death, the good news of Easter still stands. This week we see how Easter still stands in spite of skepticism. One of the great mysteries and miracles of history is that the good news of Jesus resurrection has spread so far and is believed by so many. In spite of disciples who were slow to catch on and enemies who tried to stamp it out, the good news of Easter spread. What explains it? The undeniable reality of Jesus’ resurrection has the power to convert even the most intense skeptic.

Jesus came to earth to go head to head against our greatest enemies. When Jesus died, it seemed as though our enemies had one. However, three days later, Jesus was the last one standing. No matter what we might face in life or in death, the good news of Easter still stands. This week we see how Easter still stands in spite of chains. Both Jesus’ followers and later his opponents tried to put the good news of Easter under lock and key. However, because he has risen Jesus holds the keys to even the strongest prisons of death and hell. As a result, the good news of his resurrection will always find a way to get out.

Christ came to earth to go head to head against our greatest enemies. When Jesus died, it seemed as though our enemies had won. However, three days later, Jesus was the last one standing. Easter means that sin cannot condemn us; guilt cannot control us; and death cannot contain us. No matter what we might face in life or in death, the good news of Easter still stands: Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

If the battle against evil in any way depended on us, we would be destined for defeat. That’s why the heart of the Christian message is not about empowerment or encouragement. It’s about substitution. In the battle against our greatest enemies, we are spectators rather than participants. On Good Friday we see Jesus go head to head with the law—both in its demands and its threats. The law demands full, constant obedience and threatens with death all who fall short. Jesus came both to fulfill the law’s demands and endure its curse. Because he did, salvation is a free gift to all through faith.

If the battle against evil in any way depended on us, we would be destined for defeat. That’s why the heart of the Christian message is not about empowerment or encouragement. It’s about substitution. In the battle against our greatest enemies, we are spectators rather than participants. This week we see Jesus go head to head with the old and, more importantly, natural—approach to religion. Our default assumption is that our relationship with God is a quid pro quo arrangement. We do our part; he does his. Instead, Jesus came to establish a new covenant, one in which God’s favor and forgiveness are completely free. Jesus established this new covenant with his death. He delivers its blessings with his meal.

If the battle against evil in any way depended on us, we would be destined for defeat. That’s why the heart of the Christian message is not about empowerment or encouragement. It’s about substitution. In the battle against our greatest enemies, we are spectators rather than participants. This week we see Jesus go head to head with the idea that being humbled is to be despised while being exalted is something to be pursued. Rather than grabbing onto the power and glory that was his by right, Jesus came to let go of all that was his in order to win our salvation. As we begin Holy Week, we already know the outcome of Jesus’ strategy: the Father has rewarded him by exalting him over all things.

If the battle against evil in any way depended on us, we would be destined for defeat. That’s why the heart of the Christian message is not about empowerment or encouragement. It’s about substitution. In the battle against our greatest enemies, we are spectators rather than participants. This week we see Jesus go head to head with our natural tendency to judge outward appearances. That tendency both causes us to have an inflated opinion of the visible good we see in our lives and in our behavior and to have a deflated opinion of the value of Christ. In our eyes trash often looks like treasure and treasure like trash. However, Jesus opens our eyes by reminding us that this is exactly how God intended it. The stone chosen to be the corner of Christ’s church is the very one that people chose to reject.

If the battle against evil in any way depended on us, we would be destined for defeat. That’s why the heart of the Christian message is not about empowerment or encouragement. It’s about substitution. In the battle against our greatest enemies, we are spectators rather than participants. This week we see Jesus go head to head with our most natural religious instinct: the idea that we become right with God through our good works. Jesus taught with words and demonstrated with actions the exact opposite: that we become right with God only by his grace. That grace is the reason he loves us in spite of our sin. That grace caused him to send Jesus to make the payment we could never afford.

If the battle against evil in any way depended on us, we would be destined for defeat. That’s why the heart of the Christian message is not about empowerment or encouragement. It’s about substitution. In the battle against our greatest enemies, we are spectators rather than participants. This week we see Jesus go head to head with false security. If we base our confidence in where we stand with God on any sort of outward, superficial connection, we are standing on shaky ground. Instead, Jesus urges us to sincerely repent - putting our whole trust in his work on our behalf.

If the battle against evil in any way depended on us, we would be destined for defeat. That’s why the heart of the Christian message is not about empowerment or encouragement. It’s about substitution. In the battle against our greatest enemies, we are spectators rather than participants. This week we see Jesus go head to head with the pursuit of comfort. The assumption that this should be our life’s goal is almost universal. However, Jesus’ own life - and the life he calls us to - demonstrates a different approach. God’s greatest blessings are not found in what brings our greatest comfort. Rather, they are found in bearing our crosses.