Category Archives: christianity

The Return of Christ — in Jesus’ Own Words…

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I remember a good man named Fred who came and spoke to me just a few months after I started in my first church. He said, “The previous pastor didn’t preach enough on the end times!”  I am sure Fred was disappointed in me as well, as I didn’t spend large amounts of pulpit time speaking on Christ’s return either.

The fact is that the return of Christ is an important doctrine. It’s something every Christian needs to understand. However, the kind of information that most people want to hear about the end is not what the Bible gives. And the amount of data many people want is not representative of the content of the Bible.

When Jesus speaks of the end, he speaks about how we should behave, not just as The Day approaches, but every day. As always, Jesus’ emphasis is on loving God by obeying him and sharing the good news with our neighbor, whom we are to love as well.

This sermon addresses the first verses of Matthew 24 where Jesus begins to speak of his return. As he does this, Jesus gives at least four action verbs that help us know what to do as we await his return.

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Hyde Park — The Speakers’ Corner

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Sunday, after attending church at St. Paul, we went to Hyde Park and walked around.

Among the commonplace sites at a park such as this we witnessed what we, as “outsiders,” considered uncommon: a place where speakers brought stools and proclaimed their message. Most of them were little more than rhetoric — some in bad taste.

But then there was one named Jay Smith. He spoke with the people, rather than shouting at them. He explained the gospel to Muslims and pointed out the greatness of Jesus.

It was one of the highlights of my trip.

Oh — and a church we passed by had the Meaning of Life at 42. Next thing you know, they’ll be canonizing Douglass Adams.  🙂

The Gap Between who you THINK you are and who you REALLY are…

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Each of us faces a gap at different times in our life. It’s just part of being human.

I remember when I used to be able to walk any hill around and never get winded. I’m not saying I am older and out of shape. I am just saying that I am finally old enough to see the importance of taking a good long rest at the end of a big hill-climb.  And maybe a couple rests in the middle of such climbs. There’s a gap between how I see myself — 25 years of age, and how I really am — nearly twice that.

There’s another place you often see a gap. It’s the gap between how you see yourself in terms of morality and how you really are, morally. I think that often, those who are caught in a sexual compromise are people who saw themselves as being above temptation. Then when the chance came along, they learned of the gap between who they thought they were and who they were.

Everyone who is a Christian has seen the gap. We’ve seen that we are not good, moral people who are better than others. And coming to terms with that reality, we’ve repented of our pride and other sins. And we’ve turned to Jesus, asking him to forgive us. That’s the most basic way there is to mind the gap: To admit you’re not, ethically speaking, who you need to be. And to see that Jesus died to forgive you and transform you into who you need to become.

This gap between who we think we are, morally, and who we really are, morally is the gap Jesus speaks of in the passage this sermon springs from.

You can listen to it below.

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