“…do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus…”: Sermon 12/31/2006

Pastor David Nicol

1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26 Colossians 3:12-17 Luke 2:41-52

I want to ask you a question that I think we all need to ask ourselves from time to time—how much of your life is really committed to Jesus? How much of who you are and what you do grows out of your relationship with God-Come-in-The-Flesh? Have you so met God in Jesus Christ, that all you are and all you have is committed to the service of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Would someone know to look for you, with Jesus, in “your Father’s house?” To what degree are you committed to “…do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus…?”

As we all know, we have come to the end of another calendar year, to a time when many Methodist Christians are planning for Watch Night Services tonight. Watch Night was originally a monthly meeting in early Methodism—a time for confession of sin and reaffirmation of the covenant between Christians and God—held on the night of the full moon at Midnight. Since then, Watch Night has often been an annual celebration, held on New Year’s Eve, focused on Covenant Reaffirmation—a renewal of our covenant with God. I’ve been to a few Watch Night Services, and I’ve always found them inspiring—full of singing, praying and a call to renewed discipleship, they’re kind of like Ash Wednesday, only broader, and meant for a year.

As Americans, we have a broader tradition that parallels covenant renewal at this time of year. Many of you are probably thinking about New Year’s resolutions already…some of you may be planning to break them a few more times before Midnight tonight… Resolutions can be a wonderful thing. Our popular cultural wisdom tells us that we have “a New Year, and so a fresh start.” That’s probably a very good thing for many of us. I’ve heard people make resolutions to quit smoking, join a gym, actually start an exercise routine, find a new job, eat healthier, lose 50 pounds, give up Twinkies, and spend more quality time with their families. I’m sure many of you have heard these resolutions as well—some of us may have even made some of them in the course of our lives.

Many of us have probably found that New Year’s Resolutions work better when we have someone to hold us accountable for what we’ve committed ourselves to do. Watch Night Covenant Renewal worked best in this way as well—Methodist Christians were organized in to small groups, called “classes…” which sound educational but come from a Latin word meaning a small gathering or group. Each class met together regularly (often more than once a week) for prayer, and to ask one another “how is it with your soul?” a basic question for assessing how well each member was doing maintaining their covenant with God and living a Christian life. I’ve been healthiest in my walk with God when I’ve been a part of intentional or accidental small groups who have held me accountable for my spiritual well-being—I’m sure some of you can testify to the same thing.

I’m not going to pull punches today—if you haven’t noticed already, this is a “give it all to Jesus sermon…” If we really want to be followers of Jesus, this is a whole-life commitment. Just as you could expect to find Jesus in the Temple or in prayer when he wasn’t about “his Father’s business,” we as Christians should be found in prayer, praise, or service at all times, in our work, play, and family life, not just in our intentional time with God.

The Apostle Paul, in Colossians 3:13 urges Christians to “Bear with each other and forgive one another…” and in 3:16 to “…teach and admonish one another…” in the Body of Christ. Christian life requires a whole-hearted commitment, and cannot be entered into alone. Our covenant is first and foremost between God and ourselves—we are called into new and right relationship with God through Jesus Christ—but we live out our covenant with God in relationship with one another.

Even though it’s a little earlier in the day than Watch night would typically be, we’re going to pray together A Covenant Prayer. I want to encourage you to take our invitation to renewed Christian Living very seriously—as we pray, give it all to Jesus, and commit yourself, in the words of Paul, that “…whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the mane of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Living according to God’s covenant with us isn’t always easy, but I think it is vital! We who bear the name of Christ need to live like him—and to commit ourselves to follow him no matter what.

So let me ask you again—how much of your life is really committed to Jesus? How much of who you are and what you do grows out of your relationship with Him? Have you so met God in Jesus Christ, that all you are and all you have is committed to the service of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Would someone know to look for you, with Jesus, in “your Father’s house?” To what degree are you committed to “…do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus…?”

“The Incarnation…”: Sermon Christmas Eve 2006

Pastor David Nicol

John 1:1-14

John gave us a rich accounting of him, not just as a baby born in a Middle Eastern barn 2,000 years ago, but as the Eternal Son, the Second person of the Trinity, Truly God. Year after year, century after century, in churches around the world, Christians have read and re-read these words at Christmas. At a time when we can be overwhelmed by materialism, we read these words to remind us that Christmas isn’t just about a Baby, even the most precious baby ever born, but about God’s embodiment, God’s becoming flesh – becoming material – so that our material existence could have the divine image restored to it. Christmas is the feast when we commemorate Jesus’ birth, but it is also the feast where we celebrate the Incarnation of the Word – the time when we remember the Word became Flesh.

Even the reminder that Christmas is the feast of the Incarnation isn’t enough. Incarnation is at the center of a process – the process of Creation. In an important way, today’s texts speak to us about Creation—as in Genesis God speaks creation into existence, through the Son, Jesus, the human being, the traveling rabbi, the man crucified like a common criminal by the Roman garrison in Jerusalem… He is God, the Creator of All Things, equal in all ways to the one he called Father, to whom he prayed, and to whom he taught his disciples to pray.

At Christmas, when images of the baby Jesus abound, John’s Gospel asks us to see Jesus as the Light of the world, “The true light, which enlightens everyone…” Listen carefully, these words bear repeating, because they speak to us about how this message could transform our lives: “He [Jesus, the Light] was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood [human lineage] or of the will of the flesh [our own broken and sinful desires] or of the will of man [because only God, not even the most righteous of human beings, can make children of God out of mere mortals], but of God.”

In this passage, John’s Gospel speaks to us about far more than the birth of an infant! In just 14 verses, John presents Jesus as the Word, spoken at creation, through which all things were made, the failure of the world to recognize its Creator, and Jesus’ gift of the power to become God’s children, through his incarnation, his embodiment. That power comes through Christ’s purification of our sins, as the passage in Hebrews makes more explicit… Sin is a difficult thing for many of us, especially at such a happy time as Christmas, but according to today’s lessons, the Incarnation is important precisely because it takes us as sinners, as people created by God but who have failed to recognize our Creator, and gives us power to become not just God’s people, but God’s children, by receiving God’s gift – the Word made Flesh.