John 1:29-42

John saw it all. Now there is seeing and then there is seeing. Some people can look at something and miss it completely. Others see and they know what they are looking at. John was one of those lookers and knowers.

He saw it all at Jesus' baptism. He knew who Jesus was when he saw him coming to be baptized. The other gospels tell us how he recognized Jesus as the one he was preparing the way for. They even tell us how he at first refused to baptize Jesus but then did as Jesus commended. And he saw the Holy Spirit come down on Jesus in the form of a dove. He heard God's voice saying "This is my Son."

Now there were other people who witnessed the same events. Including many of John's disciples. But they did not see it. They did not recognize the significance of this Nazarene coming to be baptized.

It was the next day that John saw Jesus again. And John told the people what he had seen. He said "This is the Lamb of God who came to take away your sins." But it still did not register. So the next day John told two of his disciples, "This is the guy I have been telling you about. He is the Lamb of God!"

This started a chain of events. These two disciples of John went to see Jesus. They spent the day with him and realized, saw, who he was. So one of them, Andrew, Simon's brother, went to his brother. He said, "We have found the Christ!

Simon came to Jesus. And Jesus said, "I know you Simon. You are a rock solid guy. I will call you Peter, or in English, Rocky." And from that day Peter followed Jesus.

"Behold, the Lamb of God!" Lamb of God? Jesus is the Lamb of God. The words just seem to roll off the Christian's lips. But do we really know what they mean?

What does a lamb mean in the Bible? When we think of a lamb we think of a wholly small cute animal. But in the Bible a lamb was a sacrifice. God had told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on the mountain. At the top of the mountain God provided a ram to take the place of Isaac and be sacrificed in his place. So from them on the descendants of Isaac would use a lamb to buy back or redeem their firstborn. The lamb was offered as a sacrifice in the place of their child.

In the days of Moses when the children of Abraham and Isaac were in slavery God brought plagues on the Egyptians to liberate the Israelites. The last plague was a plague on the firstborn of all Egypt. To save their own first born they took a lamb and sacrificed it. They placed the blood of the Passover lamb on the lentils and doorposts of their homes. And those who were under the blood were protected from the plague.

So to say that Jesus is the Lamb of God is saying a lot. First of all it is saying that his purpose in coming was to die. That is what sacrifices do. They are slain. Their blood is poured out and their lives are taken. And that blood redeems and covers and protects.

Jesus came to die, but not in vain. He died for the sins of the world. We were all sold into slavery to sin and death. But Jesus redeemed us, or bought us back, out of sin. He covered us because we are under his blood and eternal death will pass over us.

In his death on the cross Jesus took our place. Just as the ram took Isaac's place on the Mount Moriah, So Jesus took our place on the Mount of Calvary. He died to pay for our sins.

Jesus is the Lamb of God. I hope you can see that more clearly now. I hope that is more than just some religious sounding phrase. I hope you can see that Jesus came to die. And that his death paid for our sins and redeems us.

But seeing is not the end. You have to accept Jesus as your Lamb of God. You have to accept him as the one who died for your sins. And then you have to follow.

You notice that once John saw it, he tried to tell everyone he could. When Andrew saw it he followed Jesus and told his brother. When Peter saw it he followed Jesus.

Do you believe that Jesus is the Lamb of God come to take away the sins of the world? If you do then follow him. Tell others that he has given you forgiveness and new lease on life. Devote yourself to living for him every day. Behold the Lamb of God - What will you do?

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Corinth was a gifted church. It was a church that grew against all the odds. They had people in that church that could do all sorts of things. People who could preach and teach and lead inspiring service. There were healers and people with the ability to discern spirits - to know if something was right or wrong. There were wealthy people and intelligent people. There was a diversity of cultures and backgrounds and languages represented among the members of that congregation. That was but one of their strengths.

It is no wonder that Paul gave God thanks for the grace they had been given. He goes on to say that in Jesus they had been enriched in every way. He then sites the example of their speaking and in all their knowledge. I would guess he meant their teaching and preaching and wisdom. In fact he says that they lack no spiritual gift.

But having thanked God for what they had received, Paul goes on to tell them that Jesus will strengthen them. God is faithful and He alone has given them the ability to do what they have done. And He will not stop strengthening them. God will keep giving them the grace and the gifts they need to persevere until he comes again.

Problem was they got puffed up about it. Sure the Corinthians were gifted, but they came to think too much of themselves. As you read through the books of 1st and 2nd Corinthians you see that over and over again. The people who could preach thought themselves better then those who couldn't. The people who could speak in tongues thought they should run the worship services. The rich brought a feast to the "carry in" dinner and the poor went hungry.

At the heart of it all, I think, was a failure to recognize the source of their grace. They were there by the grace of God. Corinth was world renowned as a city of sin. To live an immoral life was called "Corinthizing" in the ancient world. And many of the members of that congregation had been saved out of those immoral lifestyles.

The fact that the church even existed in that environment is a testimony to the grace of God. And the gifts of speaking and teaching and healing and inspiring were all from God. The diversity of people and cultures and languages were a gift from God. But over and over again the Corinthians failed to acknowledge that truth, and instead they thought themselves to be great. They said "Look at what we have done and what we can do." The danger was that they would stop trusting in God's grace all together. Then they would very ungracefully fall flat on their faces.

You know Grace is a very gifted church. I look around at the faces of all the people present. I see people who can paint, people who have published books. I see professors and nurses and doctors and school teachers and all the skills that go with those professions. I see people who can fix anything, and the list goes on. We have a wonderful music staff, which is about to be expanded, and a wonderful choir for them to work with.

We have people who can act and sing and teach and lead and � And Grace has a leadership that is creative and energetic. In most churches the phrase "We've never done that before" means "We never will do that." At Grace "We've never done that before" means: "Well let's try it!" And the general diversity of Grace is a strength too. There are so many backgrounds and cultures and races and life experiences represented here to be the size church as we are.

Grace has been graced! I give thanks to God because of the grace that has been given to us! So let us be graceful about being graced. It would be so easy to say, "Look what we have done." In a few weeks we will be burning yet another Mortgage and if all goes well we may be breaking ground before the end of the year. Let's be sure that we don't make the same mistake as the Corinthians. Let's be sure we acknowledge that God is the source of all these blessings. Because if we are not graceful recipients we may forget to trust in God and find ourselves falling most ungracefully flat on our faces.

This is true on a personal level too. We have all been graced. I think we just don't realize how blessed by grace we are. As residents of America we have so many blessings! I am not just talking about the freedoms and rights we exercise. The prosperity - when I think about all the advantages I had growing up in America I am amazed.

Just consider the plight of most people n the world. Things like food clothing and shelter along with medical care and electricity and heat, we take for granted. In many parts of the world they are luxuries or if present they are undependable. In this community we are blessed. People may complain about the schools in South Carolina being ranked 48th or 49th in the nation, but here in this area they are the best.

And personally, we all are blessed. To have family and friends and a church. The point is that as people who are graced we need to remember who gave us that grace. We are where we are because of the grace of God. And God is faithful and will not stop blessing us. He will strengthen us to the end. So let us gracefully acknowledge the source of our gifts. Let us give God the glory and place our trust in him!

John 1:29-42

We live in a strange time. People are beginning to become more and more interested in the spiritual. I think maybe people have tried everything else and so now they are trying the spiritual. Our society has tried indulging itself in the sins of the flesh to find fulfillment, but that has only led to empty relationships and meaninglessness. We have tried indulging ourselves in materialism and the accumulation of things, but that has proved to be a treadmill with no ultimate meaning. People have even indulged themselves in intellectualism and trying to find fulfillment by figuring the world out, but with every answer come thousands of more questions.

Of course you and I know why. We can clearly see why these ways of hedonism, materialism and intellectualism lead to unfulfilled lives and emptiness. We can see clearly that Jesus is "the way the truth and the life." It's as plain as day to the Christian that indulging in the flesh is futile. Fleshly hungers are never satisfied. And the pursuit of material things is useless because the material passes away. Even intellectualism is unfulfilling because we are incapable of conceiving the fullness of the universe. It's as plain as day that Jesus is the only way to find fulfillment.

It is clear to us, but why don't other people see it? Like I said people are beginning to look at the spiritual aspects of life for fulfillment. The problem is many aren't looking to Jesus. Instead many are looking to astrology and eastern religions to find direction. Instead of listening to God's word, they are listening to psychics and channelers. Instead of listening to the Son of the living God, they are trying to talk to the dead! Why can't they see that only Jesus can satisfy their spiritual hungers?

Of course times really haven't changed much. People in Jesus' day were looking for meaning and fulfillment too. They were looking for a great leader who would bring them peace. A king, a Messiah, who would create a world ruled by justice. This king would also be a great prophet and priest who would be the presence of the living God. Someone who would restore their relationship to God and heal their evil society.

John the Baptist was sent by God to prepare the way for this Messiah. John was a voice that cried in the wilderness, "Prepare the way of the Lord!" The people were seeking for the Messiah, so they thought, "Maybe John is the Messiah." But John told them, "One who is greater than me is coming. I am baptizing you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!"

Then it happened at Jesus' baptism! John recognized him. He saw the Holy Spirit come upon Jesus as a dove. But John's disciples didn't see it. Some of them were there, but they didn't recognize Jesus. John had to point it out to them. He had to tell them, "Behold the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the world. There is the Son of God. There is the one that I was telling you about who will baptize with the Holy Spirit, who will wash you with God's presence. There is the Messiah you have been seeking who will heal you and your nation." In fact he had to point it out on two different days before anyone followed him. Then, after seeing for themselves, those two had to go to others who were seeking to tell them.

Why couldn't they see it when John saw it so clearly? Have you ever been looking for something and it was right in front of your face the whole time. It is like the time I was looking for my glasses and couldn't find them. I was looking and looking. Finally someone asked me what I was looking for and I told them. They pointed out that I was wearing my glasses at that moment. I was literally looking through what I was looking for.

I think the same kind of thing happens when people are looking for answers and fulfillment in life. They look right past the obvious. People want complex answers to life's problems and so they dismiss the simple answers without trying them. We tell them, "Just trust in Jesus and you will be saved." But they say, "No, that's too simple. It will never work. I must work harder or longer to find answers and fulfillment. There has to be more to it than trusting in this Jesus fellow."

It seems as plain as day to us that trusting Jesus is the only way. Jesus after all is God's Son and God has all the answers because he created the questions. Who better to give us fulfilled lives than the one who created us? But they can't see it. The world keeps looking past Christ and trying to find meaning without him.

Maybe they need someone to show them. They need a John the Baptist to point to Jesus and say, "Behold the answer to life's problems and the source of true wholeness and happiness." John's disciples needed someone to point Jesus out to them. And what about John? Did he just know that Jesus was the Messiah? Well according to the Bible God showed John by making the Holy Spirit visible in the form of a dove. John said that God had told him to look for one on whom the Holy Spirit rested and when he saw it rest on Jesus he knew.

If you think about it, no one can see that Jesus is the way without someone pointing it out to them. Think of your own life. Did you just know who Jesus was the first time you heard of him or did someone tell you or show you. I know I could give you a list of Sunday School teachers and preachers and family members who told me. Through their actions and words they told me that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

That is why the world can't see that Jesus is the answer: they need someone to point him out to them. You might say, "But we have pointed him out and they still don't notice." And I am sure John said the same thing. He pointed to Jesus and said, "Behold the lamb of God and his disciples just stood there." I imagine them saying, "You know John he is always saying religious sounding things." Or "You know those prophet types always seeing God around every corner." Or maybe, "John's probably been dipping into that wild honey again if you know what I mean" John had to repeat himself the next day before anyone took notice and did something. And so we have to keep repeating ourselves.

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world! If you are seeking answers and fulfillment in life. I present to you Christ. Don't overlooking him. Don't say, "He's old hat" and ignore him. Jesus is God in the flesh, your creator, come to give you eternal life through the forgiveness of your sins. Put your faith in him, and you will find the meaning and abundant life you seek.

But I am sure that most of you can see that. How do we make that truth evident to the lost souls in world around us? Follow the example of John. Just keep pointing. People may discount you at first. They will say, "Oh she's just a Christian, they are always saying things like that. Or, "You know those religious types always talking about Jesus." Or maybe, "I wonder what he's been into?" But as you live a life that points to Christ, it may begin to sink in for some of them and they will see it as clearly as we do.

Jesus is the way to abundant life. Don't you forget that. Live everyday based on that truth. And don't you ever let the world forget that Jesus is your way so that maybe they can see that he is The Way.

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

I was in seminary at Duke when hurricane Hugo hit my home town. My hometown of Summerville and my home church of Bethany and both my sister and dad were in Hugo's line of destruction. At Duke there was another seminary student from Bethany. It is odd for one church to have two people in seminary at the same time much less at the same seminary. We both tried hard to get through to people we knew in Summerville and we shared information that we got.

One Sunday afternoon less than a week after Hugo, Linda got through to the church. She talked to one of the Associate Pastors who filled her in on what was going on. Bethany was a coordinating center for Meals on Wheels and the local food bank, so they knew where all the needy people were. Food was quickly coming into Charleston but some of the outlying areas in Dorchester and Berkley Counties were being overlooked. Places like Knightsville, and up around Four Hole Swamp, and St. Stephens. Bethany was helping to distribute the food to those who lived out in those areas. That evening Linda went to a dinner at the church she was serving at in Durham. She told them about what was going on at Bethany. Before that dinner was over that church had obtained an 18 wheeler and planned to fill it with donated canned and dry goods to be sent to Bethany. They sent that truck and another a week later.

That is how the church should work. People who know and care for one another reaching out in a time of need. Those people in Durham spontaneously giving of their time and energy and money to help a church they had never seen. That is what the hymn "Blest be that Tie that Binds" is talking about. "Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love, The fellowship of Kindred minds in like to that above."

Is that bond of love really like that above? Is the love we experience in church like heaven? I would say "Yes, with God's help." I have experienced that kind of love here in this church. And I am sure that you have too. The love that we share in Christ is heavenly. But at the same time we have to admit that sometimes we don't experience that love. Through God's presence we have the opportunity to experience that heavenly bond of love, but sometimes we let the human part of us take over and we fight instead of love.

In this age the church, every church, is a mixture of the love of God and the sin of humanity. The church at Corinth was no different. In fact I would say that the church in Corinth was worse off than most. There were factions and divisions in it and people fighting. It had a lot of Gentiles in it and they really had no idea what being the people of God was all about. In fact Paul wrote this letter in response to reports about these divisions.

One of the problems was that there were people there who were proud of their knowledge and gifts. They were wise and they thought they knew better than the others. The Gentiles looked down on the Jewish way of thinking, and visa versa. And then there were the gifts. They were gifted. There were people in that church who could preach and teach and prophesy and speak in tongues. But each one thought themselves better than the others because of their gifts. The result was that their worship was chaos with people preaching and speaking in tongues and prophesying all at the same time. They didn't let the Spirit guide them in when to use their gifts. Instead, out of a sense of self importance, each one tried to take center stage.

They were all thinking of themselves. They had no sense of community. They didn't know about the tie that binds. Maybe they had experienced it at one time, but they must have forgotten it. When they got together for their love feasts everyone brought their own food. They didn't share so the rich feasted and got drunk. At the same time some of the poor went home hungry. They didn't think and act like one family. Instead they thought of themselves as Jews or Gentiles, Apollo's followers or Paul's followers, rich or poor, gifted or ungifted.

Paul wrote the letter we call 1st Corinthians to address these problems and many others too. Our Scripture lesson is the opening to this letter. Paul begins each of his letters with a salutation greeting and thanksgiving. This was the traditional way to start a letter in those days. Just as you or I would begin "Dear So and So:" they began like this. But Paul uses this beginning to lay the theological groundwork for the rest of the letter.

He doesn't begin by merely writing, "To the church in Corinth." Instead he wrote, "To the church of God that is in Corinth." Might there be churches of God elsewhere? Yes, Corinth isn't the only church of God. He continued, "to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints." He is reminding them who they are and whose they are. They are Christ's saints. They have been purchased by the blood of the Lamb of God, ransomed from sin by Jesus. And they are supposed to act like Saints, not squabbling children. He goes on, "Together with those who in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:" Again he reminds them that they are part of something larger. He is reminding them of their ties to other Christians.

Later in the thanksgiving he continues this strategy. He gives thanks to God for their knowledge and gifts. This is a direct attack on their pride. He acknowledges that they are smart and gifted. But he also asserts that these are gifts from God. As a result they are ultimately dependent on God not themselves. Then he ends his thanksgiving, "God is faithful: by him you were called into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ our Lord."

Basically Paul is reminding them of their connections; the ties that bind them. Through their salvation in Christ they are bound to God. God through Christ has given them the knowledge, gifts, and salvation that they cherish. Through Christ they are called into the fellowship of the church. And they are bound together by God's love; not only in a single congregation but to other congregation.

We Christians today have a lot to learn from what Paul told the church at Corinth. There are still divisions and pride in Christ's church today. We seem to have forgotten the ties that bind us on every level. Congregations allow divisions to ruin the blessed fellowship offered to us by God because we forget whose we are. As in Corinth the rich look down on the poor. Rich churches built opulent cathedrals, while poor churches meet in borrowed meeting rooms. Just like the rich and poor at the Corinthian love feasts. Christians who practice some gifts look down on those who don't, and those who have intricate theologies and well educated preachers look down on others. And so we all clamor to have ourselves heard instead of waiting to listen to the others. The result is a clamor of noise that prevents the world from understanding what each is saying.

Within denominations sometimes there are divisions. Individual churches try to be independent instead of bearing one another's burdens. In the United Methodist church we speak of connectionalism. That means that we all work together because we are connected to one another. This is an attempt to live out the ties that bind us to each other. Unfortunately we too often see those means of support as burdens. Some churches complain about having to share a pastor with another congregation. Some complain of being asked to support the ministries of the conference or denomination through the apportionments.

These divisions are visible to us on the denominational level too. One denomination ridicules another for some doctrine or practice. We need to have differences of opinion. They help us to learn and grow. But we need to love each other while we are doing it.

We need to learn that God has bound us together. Christ died for us and called us to be the sanctified people of God. If we push our brother or sister down, whether it be a brother or sister denomination, church within our denomination or a fellow believer, we push ourselves down, because we are bound to one another by God's love. But if we lift up a sisters and brothers, we lift ourselves up. The ties that bind are a blessing. If we let ourselves forget them, and selfishly think of ourselves instead of others, we will reject that blessing.