Sermon help

Below is my sermon for Sunday.  Read it over if you get a chance and give me some feedback.  I will warn you that I haven't proofed it yet so there could be some major mistakes or words left out.  I tend to do that when I type.  Thanks for your help.

A Savior has come....now what?  We are formed into people of the Kingdom of God.

Exodus 16
Isaiah 9:2-7
Matt 5:2-16, 43-48; 6:19-34

Previously we have been answering the question, “a Savior has come, now what?”  Last week Pastor Dave and Pastor Doug answered that the Savior challenges the status quo.  This week I want us to take this idea a step further and look at how the Savior begins in us a process that forms us as people of an alternative kingdom that stands in contrast to the kingdom of the world.  But before we begin to talk about how we are formed, I want to talk about the kingdom of the world.  This is a rather popular catch phrase that we use in Christianity, especially around the Christmas season if you’re listening to Handle’s Messiah.  Deep down as Christmas rolls around each year, we know that we are supposed to be celebrating something unique that has happened at a point in human history.  But how often do we forget this unique event and get sucked into celebrating a totally different holiday?  How often does our citizenship in the Kingdom of God get traded in for a citizenship of the kingdom of the world?

Today I want to talk through 3 periods in history and what the kingdom of the world looked and acted like and how the alternative Kingdom of God speaks to something radically different.  First let us talk about the central story that is found in the Hebrew scriptures, the exodus.  The world in which the exodus story unfolds is wrapped around the narrative of power and domination.  The Israelites find themselves in slavery because the Pharaoh of the day thinks that they might be a threat to his rule and reign as Pharaoh.  So instead of trying to build a bridge of friendship to this foreign people group, the Pharaoh enslaves and oppresses them.  They are forced to build bricks without straw and to labor for the glory of Egypt.  There is even a law passed that all of their male babies are to be put to death upon birth.  It is out of this situation that they cry out to God and God begins to intervene on their behalf.  The story goes that God, through 10 plagues, begins the process of freeing the Israelites from Egypt.  Now it is important to note that as the Israelites are leaving Egypt that God leads them every step of the way and even performs a miracle, in parting the Red Sea, that saves them from the Egyptian army who is coming to force them back into slavery.

In Exodus 16 we pick up the story of a formerly enslaved people that no longer have to deal with the fear of their past.  The very people that could put them back in slavery are gone.  God has taken care of them.  It is in this time that God continues this process of forming them into an alternative kingdom, or into the people that are to fulfill God’s promise to Abraham of being blessed to be a blessing.  But as you can imagine, the story is not that easy.  Let’s look together at Exodus 16.

1 The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. 2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the LORD's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death."
4 Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. 5 On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days."
6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, "In the evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?" 8 Moses also said, "You will know that it was the LORD when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the LORD."
9 Then Moses told Aaron, "Say to the entire Israelite community, 'Come before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling.' "
10 While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the LORD appearing in the cloud.
11 The LORD said to Moses, 12 "I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, 'At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.' "
13 That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was.
Moses said to them, "It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat. 16 This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Each one is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.' "
17 The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. 18 And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Each one had gathered just as much as they needed.
19 Then Moses said to them, "No one is to keep any of it until morning."
20 However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.
21 Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. 22 On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much—two omers for each person—and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. 23 He said to them, "This is what the LORD commanded: 'Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.' "
24 So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. 25 "Eat it today," Moses said, "because today is a sabbath to the LORD. You will not find any of it on the ground today. 26 Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any."
27 Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. 28 Then the LORD said to Moses, "How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? 29 Bear in mind that the LORD has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out." 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
31 The people of Israel called the bread manna.  It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. 32 Moses said, "This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of Egypt.' "
33 So Moses said to Aaron, "Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the LORD to be kept for the generations to come."
34 As the LORD commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna with the tablets of the covenant law, so that it might be preserved. 35 The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.

Two things about this passage.  First, we see that the people do not quite get what God is wanting from them.  They find themselves without food and instead of turning to God to provide something for them, they begin to long for the time when they were back in Egypt and in slavery.  So once more God provides for their need in a miraculous way.  In the evening there was quail for meat and in the morning there was manna for bread.  Second, we find mention of a Sabbath.  Now for many us that simply means the day that we come to church, but the word Sabbath has a much deeper meaning.  For God the institution of a Sabbath was a regular way for the Israelites to be reminded that they are to put their faith in God to provide for them.  Walter Bruggemann, an Old Testament Scholar, says this about the Sabbath.

“I suggest that Sabbath is a way of contrasting wilderness with Egypt positively.  Egypt is a place where bread is gotten only for labor, where bread is given only as a reward for productivity, and where bread is always received in and with fearful anxiety.  The gift of bread, then ,is a decisive break with the exploitative conditions of Egyptian bread.  Bread from heaven is an invitation to break with the destructive politics of bread production and the pressures upon which the empire depends for productivity- namely, fear, abuse, anxiety, and exploitation.  Sabbath is yet another opportunity to depart economically and psychologically from Egyptian modes of social reality.  The alternative in this narrative is a world of glad dependence and utter fidelity, devoid of all anxiety and threat.  The conclusion of the narrative, ‘so the people rested on the seventh day’, is an affirmation that at least for this narrative Egyptian patterns of existence have been nullified.”

The followers of God are to live by a different pattern, an alternative kingdom if you will, than the pattern of the world.  This is God’s desire.  This is one way that they can live out being blessed to be a blessing.  I wish I could tell you that they finally got it and never had to have any more teaching moments with God, but the very next story shows us that they slipped back into their old way of thinking.  As a matter of fact they actually wandered in the desert for 40 years because of their disobedience time and time again.  But God is faithful and keeps the promises that have been made and reiterated for generations and generations.

The second period that I want to look at is the time of Jesus.  The world in the day of Jesus was under Roman occupation which was not much different from the rule of Egypt.  Rome controlled much of the world because of their military might and kept peace through the threat of violence and destruction that usually fell on those that tried to rise up against Rome.  On top of that the Caesars wanted the people of Rome to worship them as gods.  So they would institute festivals in their name, they would mint coins with their likeness or symbol on them, the Caesars demanded your allegiance or it could mean your death.  It is into this situation that words of the prophet Isaiah some 7 or 8 centuries earlier find depth and a meaning that we cannot begin to imagine.
Isaiah 9:2-7
2 The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.
3 You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as soldiers rejoice
when dividing the plunder.
4 For as in the day of Midian's defeat,
you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor.
5 Every warrior's boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.

Do you hear the hope found in this passage?  Into darkness a light has dawned which overcomes the darkness.  Did you notice the reference to Midian in verse 4?  That points back to the story of Gideon where God used Gideon and 300 men to defeat the Midianites without them having to draw their swords.  Verse 5 points to a time when anything having to do with war will be burned in the fire, it simply will not be needed.  Verses 6 and 7 point to a new kind of ruler that will reign in justice and righteousness.  Do you see how this is radically different from the Roman empire or the other kingdoms of the world?  Peace is brought through justice and righteousness not through violence and fear.

We of course know that this passage points us to Jesus, the Son of God, the reason for the season if you will.  Jesus came and began to live out this alternative Kingdom of God in flesh and blood among us.  Some people got it and others did not.  Some people embraced this new way of living while others rejected it.  But Jesus continued on living as an example of this alternative kingdom.  Here the words of Jesus found in experts of what we call the Sermon on the Mount.  Listen for how Jesus describes the Kingdom of God.  I will be reading from a new translation project called the Voice.

Blessed are the spiritually poor- the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
Blessed are those who mourn, who weep about sin and long for how things are supposed to be-they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek and gentle-they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness-they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful-they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are those who are pure in heart-they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers-they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness-the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
And blessed are you, blessed are all of you, when people persecute you or denigrate you or despise you or tell lies about you on My account.  But when this happens, rejoice. Be glad.  Remember that God’s prophets have been persecuted in the past.  And know that in heaven, you have a great reward.

You have been taught to love your neighbor and hate your enemy.  But I tell you this: love your enemies.  Pray for those who torment you and persecute you- in so doing, you become children of your Father in heaven.  He, after all, loves each of us- good and evil, kind and cruel.  He causes the sun to rise and shine on evil and good alike.  He causes the rain to water the fields of the righteous and the field of the sinner.  It is easy to love those who love you-even a tax collector can love those who love him.  And it is easy to greet your friends-even outsiders do that!  But you are called to something higher: Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Some people store up treasures in their homes here on earth.  This is a shortsighted practice-don’t undertake it.  Moths and rust will eat up any treasure you may store here.  Thieves may break into your homes and steal your precious trinkets.  Instead, put up your treasures in heaven where moths do not attack, where rust does not corrode, and where thieves are barred at the door.  For where your treasure is, there you heart will be also.

No one can serve two masters.  If you try, you will wind up loving the first master and hating the second, or vice versa.  People try to serve both God and money-but you can’t.  You must choose one or the other.
Here is the bottom line: do not worry about your life.  Don’t worry about what you will eat or what you will drink.  Don’t worry about how you clothe your body.  Living is about more than merely eating, and the body is about more than dressing up.  Look at the birds in the sky.  They do not store food for winter.  They don’t plant gardens.  They do not sow or reap-and yet, they are always fed because your heavenly Father feeds them.  And you are even more precious to Him than a beautiful bird.  If He looks after them, of course He will look after you.  Worrying does not do any good-who here can claim to add even an hour to his life by worrying?
Nor should you worry about clothes.  Consider the lilies of the field and how they grow.  They do not work or weave or sew, and yet their garments are stunning.  Even King Solomon, dressed in his most regal garb, was not as lovely as these lilies.  And think about grassy fields-the grasses are here now, but they will be dead by winter.  And yet God adorns them so radiantly.  How much more will He clothe you, you of little fiath, you who have no trust?
So do not consume yourselves with questions: What will we eat?  What will we drink?  What will we wear?  Outsiders make themselves frantic over such questions-they don’t realize that you heavenly Father knows exactly what you need.  Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all these things will be give to you too.  So do not worry about tomorrow.  Let tomorrow worry about itself.  Living faithfully is a large enough task for today.

As we conclude today I want you to think about your current life situation and answer this question.  Which kingdom are you being formed into?  The kingdom of the world today is not much different than the previous two periods that we have talked about.  It is still built on fear and the need for security.  It may have a leader like a Pharaoh or Caesar, but it is still very real.  It is calling out for our attention and loyalty.  It’s calling us to consume more and more and more while the gap between the wealthy and the poor is growing bigger.  It’s calling us to dive deeper and deeper into our work while our family is growing disconnected from each other.  It’s calling us to save and to horde all that we can while our fellow neighbor cannot even provide the basics for their family.  You get the picture don’t you?  This is not the kingdom that Jesus was about.

Maybe this Christmas season can be a time when we celebrate that Christ has come to show us another way.  Christ has come to liberate us from the slavery of the kingdom of the world.  Christ has come to invite us into the alternative kingdom of God.  A kingdom where the last are first and the first are last.  Where its better to serve than to be served.  Where God can form us into people that look and act more and more and more like Christ.

Last thing, you may be asking how is it that God forms us?  I believe by a few things.  First, by reading, studying and most importantly embodying the Word of God.  The book of James instructs to not just be hearers of the Word of God, but to do it as well.  Second, by our prayer life.  When we understand that prayer is how we communicate with God and vice versa, we understand how important this connection is with God.  Lastly, by living in community.  When we live together in authentic community we have an understanding that we are not alone on our journey with God.  We have people that can help to hold us accountable to how God is forming us in this alternative kingdom.