Sermons

After creation of the Earth and its inhabitants in six days, God rested on the seventh.   In so doing, He a set a precedent for the life pattern of humankind.  We often say we don’t have time to be still, meditate on scripture, pray, or visit the lonely and sick.  But God has given us one seventh of our days to rest in Him through these very things, all to our benefit and his glory.

After God created the cosmos, the earth, and every living thing on the earth, He created man uniquely—in the image of God.  To us He gave the noble purpose of tending to the earth and it’s inhabitants by filling the earth with other images of God and subduing it for their well being to the glory of God.  But when we rebelled by our sin, our image and our purpose was corrupted.  Our only hope was, and is, to be redeemed, to have our image and our good works restored by the One who is Himself the perfect image of God.

In this installment of our series we see the third, or relational aspect of being made in the image of God.    Friendships, exclusively those among humans, reflect the image of God.  These include marriage, close relationships among singles, families, and communities.  The Genesis command to be fruitful includes the pursuit and nurture of relationships, and the effort to guard against the enemies of friendship.

This sermon continues our exploration of what it means to be made in the image of God.   One aspect of our image is the creation of the human body by God, a deliberate act of God which gives rise to the body’s intrinsic value.   We live in a culture that rejects the biblical account of it’s origin and it’s Creator.  The result is devaluation of the body with disastrous consequences.   We may cite examples of careless or cruel disregard for the body by many in our world, but are we not also guilty of blindness to those around us whose value we do ignore or suppress?  (partial recording)

The strivings of mankind so often end in little or nothing worthwhile.  The life of King Solomon, the “Preacher” of the book of Ecclesiastes, serves as a comprehensive example of these futile pursuits.   He had, and took, every opportunity to pursue knowledge, wisdom, pleasure, and toil, and in the end declared all his efforts to be vanity.   What does that tell us about the purposes we adopt as our own?  Do we choose the purpose given to Adam when he was created, or do we, as Adam did when he listened to Satan, think we know better?  God has so much for those who embrace the purposes he has given us to seek His glory. 

What does it mean to be created in God’s image?  In this week’s sermon, we return to our Genesis series, this time at the moment when human life is created.  As created, man is made to be a mirror of God, testifying to His existence, reflecting His glory, made with an Intrinsic capacity to glorify Him by acting on His behalf. This is countercultural in a world that considers humans no more significant than other living things, that is, without high calling or purpose.  Do we desire to reflect God’s glory?  Or do we settle for something less?

Jesus, our Savior King, is coming again.  In this series we have followed the biblical trail of ever-greater revelation of a perfect king for a fallen human race from description, to promise of an earthly King David, to the promise of a perfect king to David and to the prophets, to the birth of that king, and to Paul’s confirmation of the Son of David as Son of God.  In this text, we hear from the king Himself, a descendant of David, announcing that He is coming again to judge our faith and gather His own to Himself.  Are we living as for a great king?  Is each of us ready with repentant hearts at any moment for His coming?

In this series, we have heard from various sources in both Old Testament and New, identifying Jesus as the Son of David.  Now in his letter to the Romans,  the Apostle Paul weighs in on the theme to show that Jesus, the Son of David is the Messiah, the Son of God, born with a high purpose and reigning even now to give us a high purpose as well.

After centuries of rebellion against God, and life ruled by unworthy judges and kings, the nation of Israel could hardly expect a future. Yet even amidst His judgments on them God continued to deliver promises of a future king even greater than David. In this text, Mary, a humble Jewish girl is the one blessed to receive God’s final climactic gospel announcement of a king named Jesus, whose reign would never end. This One, a son miraculously born to her, would bring salvation, not only to her people, but to all humanity.

As we continue to search the scriptures for the “Son of David”, we must consider the gospel message of Isaiah. In this text, the Prophet Isaiah has just broken the bad news of coming judgment for Israel and a warning to Judah. Both have been trusting in the power of foreign kings instead of Yahweh. But he doesn’t leave them, or us, without ultimate hope.  He reveals God’s promise of a king and a kingdom to come like no other.

Just who is the “son of David” anyway? In our text this Second Sunday of Advent, King David desires to build a “house” for God, a permanent tabernacle in Jerusalem. But God denies him permission and insists instead on being the builder Himself. In the covenant with David that follows, God promises an answer to David’s desire that extends far beyond what he could have imagined. And the implications for us are staggering.

Our aversion to rule by kings is understandable given our nation’s past. But we in the church refer to Jesus as king, and the Bible refers to Him as son of another king, King David.  How can kingly rule be good when the track record of kings in so much of history is dismal? This text describes the qualifications of a good king from God’s point of view. The aim of our Advent sermons this month is to see the significance of viewing Jesus as the Son of David and how that relates to our redemption.

Jerry Croyt (November 20, 2022)

Psalm 34:  Even under duress, David the psalmist finds reason to bless the Lord.  In this text, he calls the listener to do the same and, even more, to savor the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord and to place one’s fear of the Lord over the inevitable competing fears that come from less worthy sources.

Genesis 1:20-25:  As we continue through the account of God’s preparation of the earth for humankind, we come to the fifth day when He blesses the earth with living things in air, sea, and land.  The world bursts forth with the evidence of His provision, drawn from His wealth of intrinsic authority, beauty, and power.   A rational response by us would be thanksgiving and worship, but instead we have sought our own wealth and way.  What then is His response to us?

Genesis 1:14–19

Our God, the God of the Bible,  provides for us through His creation.  But how?  And why?  The example in this day’s text is His creation of the lights in the heavens, especially the sun and the moon for their appointed purposes as instruments of our care.  And in this we see our utter dependence on Him for all that we have.

Genesis 1:6-13: Nothing that happens to us occurs by chance, but rather by God’s providence. In our continuing Genesis narrative of God’s acts of creation, we see Him creating earth and sky, land and sea, separating out parts for their intended purpose. These creative acts reveal how God cares for us, and why.