Denver Community Church

December 13, 2015: A Star, A King and Wise Men – Landon Lynch

Herod was the King of the Jews – a title he begged and connived from Rome itself. He, in fact, was not a Jew, but an Edomite. Everything about him suggested he was not the real king of Israel and even the wise men from the East. Why? Because when they went to Herod they assumed the king of the Jews had not been born in the house of Herod, but somewhere else.

And it was this recognition that angered and terrified Herod and would have thrilled those reading Matthew’s gospel. The star pointing to Jesus as King told Herod he was not. Because this is what Jesus – in his very existence – does. In being King he simply shows others they are not. He does not need to oppose or argue or fight them. He is simply born. Perhaps this is what Mary meant when she sang her song about toppling leaders.

December 13, 2015: A Star, A King and Wise Men – Jon Gettings

Herod was the King of the Jews – a title he begged and connived from Rome itself. He, in fact, was not a Jew, but an Edomite. Everything about him suggested he was not the real king of Israel and even the wise men from the East. Why? Because when they went to Herod they assumed the king of the Jews had not been born in the house of Herod, but somewhere else.

And it was this recognition that angered and terrified Herod and would have thrilled those reading Matthew’s gospel. The star pointing to Jesus as King told Herod he was not. Because this is what Jesus – in his very existence – does. In being King he simply shows others they are not. He does not need to oppose or argue or fight them. He is simply born. Perhaps this is what Mary meant when she sang her song about toppling leaders.

December 6, 2015: Getting Ready for the Showdown – Michael Hidalgo

On the surface, taking a census does not seem to matter much. It’s just a government counting its people, right? Not exactly. A census was directly connected to paying tribute (taxes) to the Roman Empire. And few things rubbed against Jewish sensibility like paying tribute to Caesar. The tribute paid to Caesar financed imperial domination and the income of the oppressor (this gives a small insight into why tax collectors were so reviled). If one were so inclined to not pay tribute – or encourage others to do the same – it was considered high treason. 

Still, many rebelled. Judas of Gamla refused to pay tribute based on the belief that God, and God alone, was their King. When his movement was countered by Joazar (the High Priest) Joazar was overrun by the crowds. Why? Because tribute posed not just a heavy burden on the people of Israel, but a religio-political question: Who is your God and King?

December 6, 2015: Getting Ready for the Showdown – Scott Oppliger

On the surface, taking a census does not seem to matter much. It’s just a government counting its people, right? Not exactly. A census was directly connected to paying tribute (taxes) to the Roman Empire. And few things rubbed against Jewish sensibility like paying tribute to Caesar. The tribute paid to Caesar financed imperial domination and the income of the oppressor (this gives a small insight into why tax collectors were so reviled). If one were so inclined to not pay tribute – or encourage others to do the same – it was considered high treason. 

Still, many rebelled. Judas of Gamla refused to pay tribute based on the belief that God, and God alone, was their King. When his movement was countered by Joazar (the High Priest) Joazar was overrun by the crowds. Why? Because tribute posed not just a heavy burden on the people of Israel, but a religio-political question: Who is your God and King?

November 29, 2015: So This is Christmas – Landon Lynch

Lights. Tinsel. Trees. Parties. Busyness. Gifts. Materialism. It must be Christmas season! Which is honestly one of the most backward things we can do, isn’t it? I mean, if we are honest we all say we know the real reason for the season, and yet we fall prey to it year after year. Perhaps we could condemn the materialism and stress that are so rampant and connected to Christmas each year or – better yet – we could explore what the birth of Jesus was really about.

The answer? Liberation. Jesus, was and is the one, who came to set us free from the very things that enslave us each year in all areas of our life. It will do us good as we head into Advent to not fool ourselves into thinking about life as categories of political, economic, religious, etc. But understand Jesus and Christmas are about the whole of life – material and spiritual. Which means when we take a good hard look at the birth of Jesus we must take a good hard look at our whole selves.

November 22, 2015: I Am the Vine – Landon Lynch

In the ancient world, they didn’t have supports for grape vines. Grapevines ran along the ground. Which meant the farmer had to lift up branches with small stones, rocks, or other branches, to keep the grapes from touching the ground. More than this, every year, the farmer clipped off the branches that did not bear fruit – and he pruned the branches that did. Pruning comes from the root, “to lift up.” On a surface reading it would mean God cuts off the bad stuff.

But what if it means “to lift up?” Imagine God, the gardener, walking up and down these rows. He sees a branch struggling, that is touching the ground – if grapes touch the ground, they turn sour and they are not good for anything (Isaiah uses this imagery about grapes that drag along on the ground – they turn sour and they rot). What does He do? Lift them up. 

And to help the branches dragging along the ground because of the weight of their fruit, he cuts off the ones that don’t bear fruit – and lifts up those that struggle. Maybe this should be of great encouragement to us. 

November 22, 2015: I Am the Vine – Bekah Stewart

In the ancient world, they didn’t have supports for grape vines. Grapevines ran along the ground. Which meant the farmer had to lift up branches with small stones, rocks, or other branches, to keep the grapes from touching the ground. More than this, every year, the farmer clipped off the branches that did not bear fruit – and he pruned the branches that did. Pruning comes from the root, “to lift up.” On a surface reading it would mean God cuts off the bad stuff.

But what if it means “to lift up?” Imagine God, the gardener, walking up and down these rows. He sees a branch struggling, that is touching the ground – if grapes touch the ground, they turn sour and they are not good for anything (Isaiah uses this imagery about grapes that drag along on the ground – they turn sour and they rot). What does He do? Lift them up. 

And to help the branches dragging along the ground because of the weight of their fruit, he cuts off the ones that don’t bear fruit – and lifts up those that struggle. Maybe this should be of great encouragement to us. 

November 15, 2015: I Am the Way – Michael Hidalgo

This verse has been used so often to exclude as many as possible, draw lines and make claims about the Christian faith being thee one and only true faith. And we have gotten a lot of mileage out of this. What we miss however, is he is saying about himself – not us. Our first response on hearing these words should be that if Jesus is the way, truth and life then we are not. But for some reason we assume he is talking about our way of thinking, our certain religion or our particular group. 

Which raises the question: Will we use something Jesus said to make him smaller than the God that he is?

We have to ask – who is Jesus – that is he is the way, the truth and the life? The simplest answer (which also makes it the most complex answer) is that he is a physical representation of the eternal God (human and divine). We cannot forget Jesus is nothing new. He was from the beginning – and it is this reality that invites all of us to consider who God is. He not only is way, truth and life … he embodies it. 

November 15, 2015: I Am the Way – Landon Lynch

This verse has been used so often to exclude as many as possible, draw lines and make claims about the Christian faith being thee one and only true faith. And we have gotten a lot of mileage out of this. What we miss however, is he is saying about himself – not us. Our first response on hearing these words should be that if Jesus is the way, truth and life then we are not. But for some reason we assume he is talking about our way of thinking, our certain religion or our particular group. 

Which raises the question: Will we use something Jesus said to make him smaller than the God that he is?

We have to ask – who is Jesus – that is he is the way, the truth and the life? The simplest answer (which also makes it the most complex answer) is that he is a physical representation of the eternal God (human and divine). We cannot forget Jesus is nothing new. He was from the beginning – and it is this reality that invites all of us to consider who God is. He not only is way, truth and life … he embodies it. 

November 8, 2015: I Am Life – Michael Hidalgo

In the midst of Jesus’ famous “I am” statements comes possibly the most profound and the most nebulous statement yet. Jesus doesn’t simply coopt a picture in our lives for his purposes (ie: a gate, a good shepherd…), but he coopts life itself, life as we know it, in order to point us towards a different understanding of our relationship with God, others and ourselves that would leave no part of us untouched. 

Jesus arrives at his friends’ house to discover Lazarus is dead. Death brings with it confusion and debate about the nature and purpose of life. Martha tries to find words for faith in the midst of one of the great debates of her day: Is there life after death or not? For her in the moment, it seems like the answer is “no.” Everything she has experienced tells her “no.” The best she seems to be able to believe for is prevention, “If you had been here…” or an ethereal eventuality, “I believe he’ll rise on the last day.” But Jesus’ statement to her is different. In not so many words he says, “I am what you are scared to even hope for. I am the resurrection strong and creative enough to use the very materials of death to make life; I am the life that makes the life you live worthy of the name ‘life’.” 

Besides putting his two cents in on a very heated resurrection debate, he makes the absolutely massive claim that when walking with him we come to see that life is everywhere.