Paul the theologian and teacher talks about the resurrection of Jesus as the first fruits of the general resurrection. This is his insight and understanding.

Paul the pastor and follower of Jesus speaks about the Day of Jesus Christ. This is his great hope. The Day of Christ is the resurrection experienced from the inside.

The Day of the Lord:

• When Yahweh rewards his friends and punishes his enemies.
• When the Lord of the earth judges all who have not kept his commandments.
• When God makes all things right, establishing his just kingdom.

With Jesus it is not a matter of being judged for what we have done wrong or have left undone but of finally being made perfect.

“… the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.”

“… so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced a harvest of righteousness.”

In the joy of receiving Jesus back among them the disciples had no need to ask him what it was like where he had just been. It was like what they were experiencing.

The day of Christ Jesus is coming; it is coming indeed!

Types of sentences:

• Statement.
• Question?
• Command.
• Exclamation!
• Pronouncement.

Example: I now pronounce you husband and wife.

Presbyterian tradition (but not clear in the Book of Order):

• Only ordained ministers may pronounce a benediction (and only in the context of a congregation at worship).
• Anyone may ask God in prayer to bless the congregation.
• First act of newly ordained minister is to pronounce a benediction.
• Benediction (together with a charge) concludes the service at the end of the liturgy (work).
• Scriptural — Aaronic, Apostolic

But Jesus often begins with a pronouncement of blessing and ends with a charge — here and the Sermon on the Mount, and many of the stories of healing and exorcism.

And, within his pronouncement, Jesus often gives to the blessed the authority to make similar pronouncements.

Could it be that God first comes to meet with us, and begins that meeting with a blessing?

This week, when you meet someone, begin that meeting by blessing that person, silently.

Below are two different paradigms for worship:

“Worship is our response to God’s love for us.”

• It is a service which we perform for God.
• What does God require? There are right ways in which this service is performed.
• “True preaching of the Word of God.”
• “Right administration of the sacraments.”
• (“Ecclesiastical discipline uprightly ministered.”)
• We learn these right ways from the Bible. (Truly preached.)
• [Kierkegaard: God is the audience, the congregation are the performers, the pastor is the director.]
• Worship is judged by its faithfulness to its right form.
• (Ideological, Theological, Traditional)

Worship is a meeting of God and God’s people.

• God makes this meeting possible by coming to be with us.
• Each of us has a longing for God.
• How does God meet with God’s people? In many and various ways.
• We have examples of these ways in the Bible and in our own experience.
• Worship is judged by the experience of the worshippers.
• (Pragmatic, Experiential, Contemporary)
• Numbers, Emotions (during or after), Manner of life.

Listening to God’s word is aspect of our meeting with God which easiest to conceive.

The manner of life of members of a worshipping community is the most objective evidence of our meeting with God.

How does God meet with us? Our listening to God’s commands is, and always will be, a way we meet God.

“You need to repent, then …”

• You have sinned and done wrong.
• You need to say you’re sorry and mean it.
• Then God will forgive you.
• But don’t do it again.
• The focus is on what is wrong.
• Repentance as turning away from sin.

“Come and begin a new life.”

• Now is the time.
• You can begin a new life.
• God is here to help you; Jesus will lead you.
• Leave the past behind; God has set you free.
• The focus is on what is good.
• Repentance as stepping forward into a new life with God.

Example of two step repentance: Luke 17:3-4

Repentance as grace (vs. works).
Repentance as good news.

Why did Simon and Andrew, James and John follow Jesus?
Was he irresistible, or did he just know who to ask?

Two qualifications for bringing the good news:

• News is relevant to the predicament of the hearer.
• News bearer is trustworthy.

“Come with me and follow Jesus”

Some people use “born again” not to signify a beginning but to signify a destination.

·   I once was wrong but now I’m right.

·   I once was a sinner but now I’m not.

·   I once was without it but now I have it.

·   I once was outside of God’s kingdom but now I’m in.

And along with this kind of witness comes this invitation:
     If you want to be like me, do what I’ve done.
Some people might feel judged by this kind of witness and invitation.  They might become defensive and push back.

But anyone who is truly born again discovers a new passion to learn and to grow, to try out the new life she has been given.  Some authentic way of witnessing to this gift:

·   I once was perishing but now I’m living.

·   I once was bound but now I’m free.

·   I once was wounded but now I’m healing.

·   I once was mine but now I’m yours.

·   I once despaired but now I hope.

And along with this kind of witness comes this invitation:
     If you want to life a new life as I am living a new life, you can be born again and see where God takes you.
This witness and invitation is more inviting, gracious.

Homework:  Fill in the blanks.
    I once _______________ , but now I _________________ .

• What will happen to me when I die?
• Will I go to heaven?
• What are the criteria for going to heaven?
• Who else will go to heaven?

Answers often include: Judgment, heaven and hell, believe in Jesus Christ, be good, Christians, good people.

But … I find that I ask these questions less and less. And the Bible rarely addresses these questions, at least not in these terms.

These questions originate from a fear of death made conscious by the death of another, aging, danger, sickness, loss, and decline.

The other questions: If not in this life, …

• How will God reward my faithfulness?
• How will justice be achieved?
• How will God fulfill God’s promises?

These questions originate from faith in God’s justice combined with experiences of injustice such as innocent suffering, failure, betrayal, abandonment, persecution, and corruption.

Answers include:

• The great resurrection, begun by and insured by Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.
• Innocent suffering is necessary part of our work on behalf of God’s justice, as demonstrated by Jesus’ death on the cross. Our suffering is a sign, not of God’s failure to achieve justice, but of God’s continuing work for justice.

Two questions of judgment:

·         Would you rather be right or would you rather be good?

·         Would you rather take credit for who you are or would you rather be who you are (without credit)?

The paradoxical fruit:  Self-control.

We can put faith first and imitation second, inasmuch as it is necessary for me to have faith in that which I am to imitate. But we must also put imitation first and faith second. I must, by some action, be marked in some measure by conformity to Christ, and thus collide with the world.  Without some kind of situational tension, there is no real opportunity of becoming a believer.

—Søren Kierkegaard

     This circle in the Sermon on the Mount:

  “Whoever does one of the least of these commandments and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”  (Matthew 5:19)

  “Where your treasure is there will your heart be also.” (6:21)

  “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven but only the one who does the will of my father in heaven.”  (7:21)

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like the wise man who built his house on a rock.”  (7:24)

     Regular self-examination:

• How strong is my love for Jesus Christ?
• How am I succeeding and where am I failing in keeping his commandments?
• How has he revealed himself to me?  Where and when have I seen him?
• How has my life been conformed to the life of Christ?  How is God working through me?

When we undertake a journey we would like to know the destination, if not the final destination at least some next place along the way. We want to know where we will end up so we can decide if we even want to begin.
But God shows us the way and asks us to trust that the place whither that way leads is good.
“Enter through the narrow gate … For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life.” (Matthew 7:13-14)
We don’t get to make a final choice. A choice to follow God’s way is a choice to live, which presents us with another opportunity to choose the way but not the distination.

At the end of our spiritual journey we would like to see God, actually, the sooner the better.
But Jesus shifts the focus from seeing God to doing the works of God.
God will not be satisfied simply to show himself to us. God is at work and God is with us when God is at work in and through us.