Order
Sunday, February 20, 2022
- Pre Worship Audio (10:15am) – ‘Calming Acoustic Guitar’
- Music 1 (10:30am) Billy/Abbie
The Solid Rock
Rock of Ages
- Welcome/Prayer (Gallery View) Rick
- Music 2 Billy/Abbie
Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus
- Scripture (No slides just reader) Online – Musgroves
- Music 3 Billy/Abbie
I Know Whom I Have Believed
Message The Effectiveness of Absurdity Rick
- Music 4 The Truth Billy/Abbie
- Benediction (signal to Linda when slides are ready) Linda
- Community (Gallery View) Rick
- Closing Peace Rick
- Closing Audio – ‘Calming Acoustic Guitar’
Words and Voices
Music 1 (9 Slides)
The Solid Rock
CCLI Song # 25417
Edward Mote | William Batchelder Bradbury
Verse 1
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name
Chorus
On Christ the solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand
Verse 2
When darkness veils His lovely face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In ev’ry high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil
Chorus
On Christ the solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand
Verse 4
When He shall come with trumpet sound
O may I then in Him be found
Dressed in His righteousness alone
Faultless to stand before the throne
Chorus
On Christ the solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand
Rock Of Ages
CCLI Song # 40588
Augustus Montague Toplady | Thomas Hastings
Verse 1
Rock of Ages cleft for me
Let me hide myself in thee
Let the water and the blood
From thy wounded side which flowed
Be of sin the double cure
Save from wrath and make me pure
Verse 2
Not the labors of my hands
Can fulfill thy law’s demands
Could my zeal no respite know
Could my tears forever flow
All for sin could not atone
Thou must save and thou alone
Verse 3
Nothing in my hand I bring
Simply to the cross I cling
Naked come to thee for dress
Helpless look to thee for grace
Foul I to the fountain fly
Wash me Savior or I die
Welcome/Prayer (No Slides)
God, in this moment we come before you
We come with painful baggage and minds full of things that distract us from you and from truth
We come with shaky foundations and falling walls
Lord, we come asking for clear minds and focused hearts
We hope for a genuine heart seeking truth, real truth
We long to be able to see you God, to see truth Lord, amongst the false prophets, the persuasive half truths, and the deceit that calls for our attention
Father, may we, this morning, let go of those things that blind us to you, may we lay down our baggage so we can fully listen, fully look, and fully trust you
Amen
Music 2 (6 Slides)
Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus
CCLI Song # 22609
Louisa M. R. Stead | William James Kirkpatrick
Verse 1
‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus
Just to take Him at His word
Just to rest upon His promise
Just to know thus saith the Lord
Chorus
Jesus Jesus how I trust Him
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er
Jesus Jesus precious Jesus
O for grace to trust Him more
Verse 3
Yes ’tis sweet to trust in Jesus
Just from sin and self to cease
Just from Jesus simply taking
Life and rest and joy and peace
Chorus
Jesus Jesus how I trust Him
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er
Jesus Jesus precious Jesus
O for grace to trust Him more
Verse 4
I’m so glad I learned to trust Thee
Precious Jesus Savior Friend
And I know that Thou art with me
Wilt be with me to the end
Chorus
Jesus Jesus how I trust Him
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er
Jesus Jesus precious Jesus
O for grace to trust Him more
Scripture (No Slides)
Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.” Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.” Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” For they no longer dared to ask him another question.
Luke 20:27-40
Music 3 (6 Slides)
I Know Whom I Have Believed
CCLI Song # 31762
Daniel Webster Whittle | James McGranahan
Verse 1
I know not why God’s wondrous grace
To me He hath made known
Nor why unworthy Christ in love
Redeemed me for His own
Chorus
But I know whom I have believed
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day
Verse 2
I know not how this saving faith
To me He did impart
Nor how believing in His word
Wrought peace within my heart
Chorus
But I know whom I have believed
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day
Verse 5
I know not when my Lord may come
At night or noonday fair
Nor if I’ll walk the vale with Him
Or meet Him in the air
Chorus
But I know whom I have believed
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day
Message – Absurdity (13 Slides)
I listened as a young couple, who had been together about 3 years, tell me a story of their latest argument. For the husband, the entire argument began when his wife walked in the door from work and immediately noticed a small pile of dirt on the kitchen floor. For the wife, the argument began shortly after they began dating. As she calmly questioned why the dirt had not been cleaned up on the floor she had just cleaned the day before, the husband, apologetically jumped up and cleaned up the mess. While he thought this would solve the problem, in truth, this was just the beginning. She continued to remind him of her work cleaning the entire house the entire weekend before, a process during which he had not helped with at all. As her focus of discontent continued, he finally asked, ‘Are we still talking about the dirt on the floor?’ To which she cried out, ‘No, it is not about the dirt, and you should know this!’ Remarkably, shortly after this, the 2 sat down and talked about his lack of attention and concern, and her constant attention and concern.
Communication can be a challenge in the best of times, bring in baggage that is unknown to one of the parties and you can have an explosive and destructive lack of communication.
Our passage today is about a moment of communication that was designed to be absurd, full of baggage, weighted down by an unholy agenda,. It is also one of the few times when Jesus does not answer the question with more questions. Here, Jesus answers with a very clear and definitive answer. Those trying a use of absurdity, an approach that was surely successful in the past, did not prove effective. In the end, those seeking to trick Jesus with absurdity were silenced, asking no more questions of Jesus ever again.
Chapter 20 of the gospel of Luke falls within a series of discussions in which various religious groups question Jesus’s activity and his religious thinking. Opening in verse 3 the key question that serves as the theme for all the questions: “by what authority are you doing these things?” (Luke 20:3).
This all takes place as Jesus’ public ministry is drawing to a conclusion as he is approaching the crucifixion. Jesus has entered Jerusalem and by the end of the week he will have been crucified and buried. The climax of the story, of course, will be the empty grave. It is during this week, however, we see Jesus’ moments with crowds wind to a close, moments after the resurrection will be spent with, and preparing, the followers. This week began with the crowds shouting in support, the next crowd that will shouting ‘Crucify Him!’. During this week, there will be a rapid intensification of the opposition as the religious authorities who will seek every opportunity to bring about the death of Jesus.
The Jewish religious institution had 2 primary groups of men overseeing the practices, theology, and finances of Judaism. Much like our political parties, these two groups both played major roles in religion, and , much like our political parties, they also had unshakable agendas. This is the Sadducees and the Pharisees. The Sadducees, who questions Jesus in our passage today, were largely the aristocrats, they were the experts on law.They were not believers in the mystical stuff (angels, heaven, hell, resurrection, life after death, etc.), and, in general were not as spiritual as they were legalistic. They held authority over the temple which is primarily why they cease to exist after the destruction of the temple 70 years after Jesus birth.
Also, the Sadducees only believed the Pentateuch, the Torah, the first five books of ur Old Testament, they rejected the books of the prophets and the Psalms.
All of this baggage was brought to their discussion with Jesus especially that they did not believe in resurrection and therefore they did not believe in any life after earthly death. This was their line in the sand, it was the core of their very existence. But in this encounter with Jesus they attempt to make the idea of an after life an absurd way to disprove that Jesus is from God.
The Sadducees thought they would make Jesus, and the belief in the resurrection, look foolish. So they used the levirate marriage laws from Deuteronomy 25:5-10 as the basis for their argument.
The Levirate law was designed to look after widows who were left not only without the support of a husband but also of her husband’s children – due to the damage humans had already made with a patriarchal culture. The law states that is a man dies without children, then the man’s brother must take the widow as a wife in order to provide for her through the birth of his children through her. The Sadducees then carry this absurdity out through several brothers none of which produced children and all ended in the husbands death. Leaving the question, ‘In the afterlife, who is her husband, or, who does she belong to?’
[2 Slides] Jesus avoids the Sadducees trap through 2 means. First, he demonstrates their failure to understand the resurrection — resurrection life, contrary to the assumption betrayed by their question, is qualitatively different from life here and now. Second, he demonstrates their failure to understand Scriptures by using a passage from their own Pentateuch, their own Torah, a passage they accept as being holy, a passage they have either missed or ignored — the Exodus 3 story of Moses’ encounter with God in the burning bush,
[Slide] God said to Moses, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” God further said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
Exodus 3:5-6
As God is introducing himself to Moses he begins with a definite statement, ‘I Am’. It is a present tense saying, ‘I Am Being.’ Not only this, but God adds to this, ‘I Am Being the God of your Father, I Am Being the God of your ancestor Abraham, I Am Being the God of your ancestor Isaac, and I Am Being the God of your ancestor Jacob.’ God does not say ‘I Was their God’ but instead, God says the very present and active tense ‘I Am Being their God.’
In Mark’s account of this story Jesus begins his response to the Sadducees with,
“This is the reason you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God?
Mark 12:24
The Sadducees, as with the other questioners of Jesus during holy week, had an agenda, to make Jesus say or do something that was heretical, unholy, offensive. They did this through an absurd question about resurrection even though they did not believe in the resurrection. It was an attempt to attack the Jesus and the Pharisees. Their attempt was a dismal failure because it revealed their lack of understanding of the law of God, something they believed was their turf, and therefore that they did not know or understand the God of their law.
[Slide] First, they failed to notice their adherence to the societal acceptance of a patriarchal culture – men were supreme and all others were less than human. Women were property. Instead of correcting the wrong perception of women, they maintain their sinful patriarchtical status.
[Slide] Second, they believed that women, as property, could only survive with the help of a husband and the children that God would give to the husband.
[Slide] Messiah College Professor of Biblical Studies, Emerson Powery, writes, “the female body often becomes the place of theological regulation. For this unnamed woman, Torah would determine her earthly relations but could not resolve her future life.”
[Slide] Third, they were ignorant about afterlife, heaven, where all of God’s children will live, truly live, as God’s beloved, not as possessions of any other child of God.
[Slide] Here is our truth from this interaction of Jesus with the Sadducees – God is a God of the living.
[Slide] Jesus himself said that, ‘I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.’ (John 10:10). Remember that this word life is not just life now but also eternally, but it is Now as well.
The question is ‘What theological beliefs do we still have in place that displace and disregard the lives and bodies of people? What beliefs hold a greater sway on us than God’s call to love and respect? What theological debates cause us to circle our wagons in an inclusive faith club ignoring those who don’t fit?
David Lose, Senior Pastor, Mount Olivet Church in Minneapolis wraps it up this way,
[Slide] Resurrection (empowered by the God of the living) insists that the whole person will in some way be united with God (see I Corinthians 15, especially 35-49).
[Slide] It is the whole person, not some wispy essence, that God promises to redeem. We do, in fact, die — there is no escaping that.
[Slide] But because of the One who died on the cross and was raised again from death, we live and die with the promise that God will similarly raise us from death to new life where, in the words of Jesus today we “cannot die, because [we] are like angels and are children of God, being children of resurrection” (20:36).”
[Slide] Our hope is the God of the living.
Let’s Pray
Music 4 (5 Slides)
The Truth
CCLI Song # 7172904
Andrew Holt | Austin Davis | Lauren Strahm
Verse 1
What could take away the sting of death
Only a love I hadn’t met
What could cause this restless heart to rest
Only the promise that You kept
Pre-Chorus
For so long I was searching for truth
When all along I was searching for You
Then You opened my eyes
Chorus
You opened my eyes to see You Lord
Oh I was blind to love before
You opened my heart to know the truth
Now all I see is You
All I need is You
Verse 2
What can cause the broken things to heal
Only a power that is real
What can cause the prideful heart to kneel
Only a grace that none can steal
Bridge
There is only one Name who conquered the grave
Only one way my soul can be saved
Only one truth only one life
Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ
Benediction (6 Slides) (signal to Linda when slides are ready)
Reader: God, you are the God of our peace
Response: God, you are the God of the living
Reader: God, you are the God I our misery and our calm
God, you are the God of the living
God, you are the God of our hope
God, you are the God of the living
God, you are the God that calls for us, that woos us to you
God, you are t he God of the living
God, you gave us life in the beginning and raise us to new life
God, you are the God of the living
God, you are compassionate, you are merciful, you are passionate, and you are love
God, you are the God of the living
Community (4 Slides)
- March/April Bible Studies survey now up, deadline February 27
- Afghan info come and go today, noon to 3pm
- Contribution Statements rechecking (confusion w/quarantines)
- Next Sunday – Mortal Concerns
Peace (3 Slides)
As you leave this place, may the peace of the Lord go with you.
And also with you.
We gather here because of God’s love for us, we go from here because of God’s love for everyone out there. Go in the peace of the Lord.
Order, Words, & Voices 