Denver Community Church

March 12, 2017: Justice, Forgiveness and Death – Landon Lynch

We are people who hold tightly to a justice. What we often overlook is that justice in the hand’s of anyone who is not willing “to lay down his life for his friends” … or his enemies – well that sense of justice often leads to blood shed. It leads to the death of the other, and in the end, may well lead to the death of everyone we know because everyone does things to upset us at some time or another. But there is another way of understanding justice … and that is through the lens of forgiveness. This is the story restorative justice tells.

 

The trouble with this perspective however is that we, the offended, are the ones whose blood is shed. We are the ones, who like God who forgave all in Christ, die to and die for the injustice committed against us. We can’t imagine ever doing such a thing! And this is perhaps due to how we unconsciously think of God. We can’t imagine that God really dropped all our sin in death – so how can we ever expect to do the same thing?

March 5, 2017: Every Last Particle of the Universe – Michael Hidalgo

 

It is not just that the Incarnation happened, but that it is happening everywhere and always. And this is important, for it means that all things have been in Christ since the beginning, and still are. Now I know this immediately raises questions for all of us. If everyone is in Christ, then does everyone get in? Isn’t that just plain ol’ universalism? No, not at all. But it does raise the question for us of what we believe about the God revealed in Jesus. 

Did Jesus reveal that God is for all people, forgave all sins and proclaimed everyone innocent? Or was it just for a select few? Throughout Scripture we continually see that God’s salvation is for all people – no qualifications. Which means God’s forgiveness in Christ is present for all people, in all places here and now. It is like sunlight … it bathes us in its glow on a sunny afternoon. If someone claims it is dark, it may only be because his or her eyes are closed, not because the sun is shining. Perhaps we only need to open our eyes to see that Christ has been everywhere present in every last particle of the universe since before time … and maybe then we will understand we are all in Christ. 

February 26, 2017: Unloading the Camel – Kent Dobson

February 26, 2017: Redeemed For a Life of Worship – Landon Lynch

Paul is writing to a group of people, who, when he arrived, had not ever heard of the Spirit’s coming and are finding out that following Jesus is more than what they imagined. What we find out early in Acts 19 is that receiving the Spirit is really the essence of participation in the Christian life. Something about Spirit identifies this group of people as unique. The understanding is that to participate in true practice of faith and life with God is more than head knowledge, and more than ritual practice. It is more than just a shifting of religious allegiances. In the Greco-Roman world, where rituals were widely seen as the essence or definitive aspects of religion, this quite unique. The point isn’t an ecstatic moment brought on by the right ritual, but a life that’s caught up "in Christ” (sacrificial healing love, embrace of the death to life pattern of renewal), that includes and transcends right thoughts, actions and rituals.

So how does one know that this kind of life has and is taking hold of them? The Spirit’s work is redemption, and you begin to see it in your life. Redemption refers to the idea of being “bought back.” Back to what? Back to the original, blessed, delighted-in you that still is the most present thing about you, even when sitting beneath the crud and the rubble that seems so evident many days. After this work of the Spirit begins in us many moments in life will cause us to question whether we will ever be full free, fully redeemed, fully cleared of the crud and rubble, BUT there is no scenario in which the Spirit is present where full redemption is not the eventual result (Phil 1.6).

Paul says this arrival of a redeemed life is “to the praise of his glory,” high and lofty language to describe what we might call “a life of worship.”  And a life of worship, the great destination of the Spirit’s work in us, is being “so fully who you are that there is no thought of yourself” (Dan Allender). The Spirit’s work buys back the full you from the rubble. And being fully you is the greatest act of worship you will ever offer. 

February 19, 2017: We Are Meant For This – Michael Hidalgo

There are some who choose to use verses like this to argue for predestination; it appears to be obvious from what Paul is writing here that God chose us and predestined us. Fair. But two questions surface in that: first, chose us for what? second, what does predestined mean exactly? Good questions; thanks for asking. 

First, chose. Too often we consider the idea of being chosen by God as an election to privilege. Perhaps this is why some claim God elects some for heaven, and some for hell. But Paul claims we are chosen to be holy. And holiness means to be set apart for a specific use by God. And we are elected to that … to be used by God for his purposes. To join him in his work!

Second, predestined. Have you ever said to someone, “You were meant to do this?” You say that because you have seen their life, their gifts, their passion, their interests, their heart and now see what they are doing with all of it? It’s as though everything comes together and it’s clear … this is what they were created for? Paul seems to point to God’s activity in this world as something that invites us into something bigger and into living out who we are. To join God in his pleasure and joy … by doing what we were created to do! Thank God!

February 12, 2017: Everything and I Mean Every Thing – Landon Lynch

Paul makes an astounding statement. First, God is a pleasure seeker? Paul states God enjoys what he is doing in and through Christ. And what he is doing through Christ involves everything. Or as Paul says it in Colossians 1, “… all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven.” Which is to say – this involves everything in existence. So now we know God enjoys what he is doing for everything in the universe; and the thing he is doing? 

Well that is the amazing part. He is bringing “unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.” This is not just something Paul cooks up here. This is something Paul speaks about in Colossians, and Jesus speaks about in Matthew 19. It speaks toward the renewal, redemption and restoration of everything. Whether our most glorious moments or our great sadness; God’s joy is doing something new with all of it! Thank God!

February 5, 2017: Heavy and Light – Michael Hidalgo

Paul speaks multiple times in the first chapter of the “praise of his glory.” This is one of those things we can say, talk about, use in conversation … but how often have we ever stopped to ask the question, “What is the praise of God’s glory?” Well the most simple way to describe is by saying that we have the opportunity and responsibility to live in such a way that when people see us they will praise the glory of God they witness before them.

But that still doesn’t quite answer it, does it? So maybe we can try to explain glory. The word in Greek is doxa which was the word used to translate the Hebrew word kavod. Both speak of something massive or heavy; something that carries a luminous majesty that upon seeing it we know it is far more than we are. That is glory … and here Paul speaks 3 times in eight verses of God’s glory. It speaks toward something heavy, serious, real, tangible, bigger than us. And this is what we long for – to be a part of something bigger. We live in a world that is lite – offering us cheap momentary thrills and products that continue to waste away. But glory … now that is something that will last – and we are caught up in it. Thank God!

January 31, 2016: The Reason We Give (Community) – Landon Lynch

Jesus’ teachings on wealth and poverty seem offensive to our modern Western individualistic mindset. I mean “sell everything and give to the poor” would be irresponsible. And why would we not “store away in barns” since we need to be sure we are able to provide for ourselves in the future when we are old. And how exactly is God going to clothe us if we are not thinking about the fact that we need clothing on our backs? And every time we think Jesus is a little out of touch we only prove we are more in touch with our world and culture than his heart.

 

What we cannot miss is that Jesus called people into a new community - a new social order. His last command to the rich young man, after he tells him to sell everything – is “follow me.” It implies a new way of living in which generosity is a part of the whole. And this is what is so challenging about Jesus. 

 

His call is not just a private change of morals or philosophy. His call is into a new community which changes the meaning of family, success and wealth. He understood true wealth was not defined by cash, but by the how rich a person was “toward God” measured in relationships, faith and generosity. This is why those who gave away everything found more than they first had, and why Jesus understood he had many mothers, brothers and sisters.

 

Perhaps the reason we struggle so mightily with generosity is because we have no real experience of true community.

January 24, 2016: Always With Us – Michael Hidalgo

Without question one of the most often quoted passages of Scripture regarding poverty is, “The poor you will always have with you.” Not only is the verse quoted with zero regard to context, but often quoted as an excuse for shrugging off poverty. The problem is, it takes very little time at all to recognize Jesus was not saying this as a way to ignore the poor – just the opposite.

 

Jesus is at the table of a leper and a woman, in an amazing act of service, anoints Jesus’ feet with perfume. Perfume that would have cost her most everything she had to get. This story takes place in proximity to the poor – as a leper would have been. Jesus’ assumption seems to be that if we are his followers we will always be around the poor. But when we have little proximity to the poor we find this verse hard to understand.

 

And Jesus’ quote was not just a passing thought. He quoted from Deuteronomy where two things stand out. First, there need not be any poor among his people, but if there is we are to to be generous and open handed toward them. All this makes me wonder why we misuse these words of Jesus about caring for the poor as a way to not care for them.

January 24, 2016: Always With Us – Dave Neuhausel

Without question one of the most often quoted passages of Scripture regarding poverty is, “The poor you will always have with you.” Not only is the verse quoted with zero regard to context, but often quoted as an excuse for shrugging off poverty. The problem is, it takes very little time at all to recognize Jesus was not saying this as a way to ignore the poor – just the opposite.

 

Jesus is at the table of a leper and a woman, in an amazing act of service, anoints Jesus’ feet with perfume. Perfume that would have cost her most everything she had to get. This story takes place in proximity to the poor – as a leper would have been. Jesus’ assumption seems to be that if we are his followers we will always be around the poor. But when we have little proximity to the poor we find this verse hard to understand.

 

And Jesus’ quote was not just a passing thought. He quoted from Deuteronomy where two things stand out. First, there need not be any poor among his people, but if there is we are to to be generous and open handed toward them. All this makes me wonder why we misuse these words of Jesus about caring for the poor as a way to not care for them.