Foundry Community Church
Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany- Year A
  • When I Survey The Wondrous Cross (Hamburg)

      • Psalm 112:1–9NIRV

      • 1 Corinthians 2:1–12NIRV

  • Near The Cross

      • Matthew 5:13–20NIRV

  • I know you probably get tired of hearing about my “other job.” Sorry. My other job affords me so many opportunities for illustration and illumination on various topics. So…
    We have a lot of rules at our facility. As you may be aware, my principle job duty is to adjudicate any disciplinary actions our officers write on a resident’s alleged infraction of these rules. The number one thing that I deal with, yes, the number one thing, not the most serious infraction, not the most egregious infraction, just the number one thing that takes up my time, is when a guy covers his windows, lights or bunk with some sort of curtain or covering. Yup. That’s the one. Heinous right? I understand that guys want privacy to sleep, use the toilet, just unplug. That sounds reasonable until you understand why we don’t allow those things in the guys’ cells.
    In prison, guarantees of privacy would give far too much room for illicit actions. Think about it like this… If you’ve ever come into a room and turned on the light, and there was a roach or a mouse, they always scurry into the darkest place they can find. Right? You never turn on the light and they come crawling out to see what’s going on do you? These vile hideous creatures thrive in creating their havoc in the dark, where no one can see them. The same is true of criminal activity. Most illegal actions occur at night, in dark places or far out of view of everyone. - Except “peaceful protests…”
    Today, I want to “shine a light” so all may see the Glory of God!

    1. Savor and Shine: Be the Difference

    My guys don’t like it when we shine the lights in their rooms. Often, we find ourselves having to adress the situations with force, but more often, we have the opportunity to talk about the “why” we need light in the rooms.
    I have asked several guys, “If you were getting brutally attacked in your cell, wouldn’t you appreciate us being able to see what is going on to help keep you safe?” or “If you were having a medical emergency, wouldn’t you like for us to see what was happening?”
    Understand, if we can’t see in the room and we aren’t doing anything to remedy that, if something does go really wrong in the room, we would be found negligent in our primary duty of keeping those incarcerated safe. “Well, I didn’t see anything wrong…” Not gonna help you in court pal…
    So, here’s Jesus talking about this very thing. Let’s look at Matthew 5 a little deeper.
    Matthew 5:13–14 ESV
    13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
    We have heard a thousand sermons on salt and light. Yup. Here we go again… How much light are we shining? How much have we brought some real savor to the hearts and lives of our community? Then we haven’t heard it enough. If we, like salt lose our ‘taste’ - our very ability bring some goodness to a world that is rotten in sin… we are useless. Salt has a couple of important purposes, first, to bring flavor to otherwise bland food. And second, to preserve that which could and would spoil otherwise.
    A long time ago, I worked for a company that made gourmet hams, salamis and other deli meats. It was very interesting to see the process. We would salt the hams, hang them and then let them age. If we just hung the hams without first salting them - not just a little either… copious amounts of coarse salt all over the hams in the creases, the crevices essentially hiding the meat under a layer of salt, then hanging them, without the salt, they would just rot.
    Let me ask a tough question. Why is the world so stinking rotten right now?
    ~ Maybe because the church has lost its’ saltiness… The church has lost its’ passion, its’ first love, its’ fire. We have allowed heresy to flood our pulpits our pews. It’s time to get back to the truth of the Word. ~AND LIVE IT.
    Matthew 5:15–16 ESV
    15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
    This is what Jesus was teaching us about. We are hiding in our Churches - under a ‘basket’ trying not to ‘offend’ anyone. This isn’t a “Global Church” problem first. It is a right there in the pew you’re sitting in problem first.
    Ouch. What do you mean Pastor? Glad you asked… Who have you brought to the Cross of Christ by getting down in the dirt with them, not worrying about getting your Sunday best dirty, helping them find their way to a loving Saviour who died for them, and then stayed with them until they were able to stand alone and bring others to the Cross?
    Been awhile? Get your saltiness back. Get some fresh batteries in your light. There’s the hope for our community, our nation, our world.
    I don’t care who’s in the statehouse or in the White House. Get out of the outhouse and shine your lights for Jesus.

    2. Surpass and Shine: Fulfillment of Faith

    Too many times, we - the church have watered down the Word of Truth to ‘accommodate’ the lost. We have tried to ‘remain relevant’ by lessening our standards of faith and truth. Here’s what Jesus said…
    Matthew 5:17–20 ESV
    17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
    The law is the law. It is absolute. It is not subjective to my interpretation or your opinion.
    Matthew 5:18 ESV
    18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
    We didn’t write it, we don’t have the right to change it. The Law of God is final authority.
    Matthew 5:19 ESV
    19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
    Don’t know about you, but those ‘churches’ preaching ‘other gospels,’ wouldn’t want to be them...
    Matthew 5:20 ESV
    20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
    This is an interesting statement Jesus is making. “…your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
    Jesus didn’t think too much of the Pharisees did He? Their pompous attitudes, their oppressive rules and disciplines. Frankly, the bar is pretty low here.
    Exceeding that? Should be easy eh? Live in and for the truth.
    Matthew 5:16 ESV
    … let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
    This doesn’t have to be difficult…

    3. Spirit and Shine: Wisdom in Weakness

    Paul helps us understand this on a personal level. Let’s look at what he said to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 2.
    1 Corinthians 2:1 ESV
    1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.
    Paul is saying that he didn’t come with “Great theological expository...” or spouting off origninal Greek, Hebrew and Latin… He wasn’t proudly displaying his “theogical credentials…”
    1 Corinthians 2:2 ESV
    2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
    If you don’t know much, know Jesus!
    1 Corinthians 2:3–4 ESV
    3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
    He’s saying the same things I’ve been saying to you for the last couple years. I may not have the greatest oratory skills, the biggest theogical degrees, the highest accolades academia has to offer. What I do have is Jesus. The same power that raised Christ from the dead dwells in me and I live in His power. Further, His power works in me and through me.
    Why do I do what I do, say what I say? Here you go…
    1 Corinthians 2:5 ESV
    5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
    If your faith is resting in my words, you’re not resting in the power of God. If you are only ‘feeding on the Word’ out of what I’m saying/doing, you’re hungry. You need the Power of God for yourself!
    1 Corinthians 2:6–8 ESV
    6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
    God isn’t trying to impress those who want to be impressed by earthly wisdom and knowledge. He wants to show His Glory to those who choose to reflecting the Glorious Radiance of His Divine Presence!
    1 Corinthians 2:9–10 ESV
    9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— 10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
    The Spirit of God is searching everything ~ even the depths of God AND revealing it to us!
    1 Corinthians 2:11–12 ESV
    11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
    The revelation of God’s power comes to us through God’s Holy Spirit. ~ Last week Meredith shared about “recieving the Holy Spirit.” I then talked about how Jesus “breathed on them to recieve the Holy Spirit.” We then went through a physical exercise. Some of you, maybe most of you, dismissed that. too bad for you. You have opportunity to tap into the Glorious Power of the Holy Spirit of God and because it doesn’t mesh with the ‘theology’ you were taught for years, you dismiss it. What if the ‘theology’ you were taught was wrong, or worse heretical?
    Would you be wanting a “course correction?” What is being said here is the inerrant Word of God. Check it out for yourself. I dare you. Where in Scripture does it say that the Holy Spirit or the Gifts of the Holy Spirit were “woo-woo?” “Not for today?” “Not for you?” Maybe in First YOU 1:1. And that ain’t Gospel!

    4. Serve and Shine: Light through Love

    So what does this really look like? How does it play out in real life?
    Isaiah 58:1 ESV
    1 “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.
    Turn on the lights! Shine the truth of the Gospel on the sin of this world!
    Isaiah 58:2 ESV
    2 Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God.
    Seek God!!!!
    Isaiah 58:3–4 ESV
    3 ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. 4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.
    Ugh. Fasting. Yup Fasting. We’re coming up on Lent. Maybe a corporate fast is in order. This isn’t fasting like the Pharisees mind you. It’s like the tax collector in the corner beating his breast in humility and repentance. Isaiah was very clear I think about motivations.
    Isaiah 58:3–7 ESV
    3 ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. 4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord? 6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
    How about this? We, as a church for Lent, choose to fast a day. Say Fridays. Divide our food budget by seven and donate the 1/7th of our food budget to feeding the homeless? Not for a tax deduction. Not for pride, but because He’s called us to “share your bread wtih the hungry…”
    Why?
    Isaiah 58:8 ESV
    8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
    This is called ‘practical theoloy.’ We’re not talking ‘systemic theology’ where we challenge the hierarchy of denominational power. We are touching people where they live. ~ Like Jesus did.
    Isaiah 58:8–9 ESV
    9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
    I don’t know about you, but when I cry out to God, I want Him to hear me. I want him to take away the yoke of sin, the accusations, the wickedness…
    Let us pray…

      • Matthew 5:13–14NIRV

      • Matthew 5:15–16NIRV

      • Matthew 5:17–20NIRV

      • Matthew 5:18NIRV

      • Matthew 5:19NIRV

      • Matthew 5:20NIRV

      • Matthew 5:16NIRV

      • 1 Corinthians 2:1NIRV

      • 1 Corinthians 2:2NIRV

      • 1 Corinthians 2:3–4NIRV

      • 1 Corinthians 2:5NIRV

      • 1 Corinthians 2:6–8NIRV

      • 1 Corinthians 2:9–10NIRV

      • 1 Corinthians 2:11–12NIRV

      • Isaiah 58:1NIRV

      • Isaiah 58:2NIRV

      • Isaiah 58:3–4NIRV

      • Isaiah 58:3–7NIRV

      • Isaiah 58:8NIRV

      • Isaiah 58:8–9NIRV

  • MYSTERION
  • Doxology
  • When Morning Gilds the Skies
  • Now Unto Him
Foundry Community Church
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