Cornerstonekaty

Resurrection Life

Ezekiel 40-48

Ezekiel 43:1-9, 47:1-12.

In 1941 CS Lewis gave one of his most famous sermons entitled, “The Weight of Glory.” In that sermon he challenges the Christian’s pursuit of God. Most of us, it would seem, are far too apathetic in our faith. We make too many compromises with it and approach it with such a measure of casualness that one who observed you might wonder why you believe at all, as it makes so little difference in your life. What about you? Would your neighbor say of you, “wow, he really believes in something more” or would he have no idea you believe anything different from him.

The resurrection of Jesus should mean something to you so powerful that it upends everything about your life. It should turn it upside down. And if it doesn’t, you ought to be asking, “what do I really believe about it?”

In his sermon Lewis wrote this famous line,

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

His point was that if a Christian really knew what the resurrection was about, then his life would look radically different because his desires would be radically changed.

The world says you ought to pursue a good career with good pay and you will be happy. The world says sign your kids up for sports and extra curricular activity because that will put them on the path to success. The world says join a gym, eat healthy and get shredded and people will admire you. Jesus says, “take up your cross and follow me.” Which seems the better option?

As Christians we say we should take up our cross and follow Jesus, but it is often the promise of these other things that drive our decisions. Why is that?

We get caught up on the “take up your cross” part of Jesus’ teaching. We remember the story of Jesus and see that those who followed Jesus, his disciples, did that and suffered for it, just as Jesus did. No wonder what we do doesn’t match what we say we believe.

This morning I want to turn things upside down for you. I want to show you the other side of that statement. Yes, we take up our cross, but we do it that we might “follow Jesus.” Jesus didn’t end on the cross. Not at all. The cross was cosmically important, but it was just a stop on the way to something greater. And we forget that. If we really understood there was something greater, then taking up your cross would be a piece of cake.

Take up your cross, and follow Jesus because it leads to resurrected life.

Ezekiel gives us a vision of what is so great about life promised by the resurrection.

Death, Where is Your Sting?

Ezekiel 38-39

This week is often called Holy Week. This week we remember the final week of Jesus some 2000 years ago beginning with his triumphal entry on a donkey end ending with his resurrection. In between was a whirlwind of events that led to his arrest, trial, beating, crucifixion, and finally resurrection. If you had been one of Jesus’ disciples during that week, you would have been through the gamut of emotional ups and downs. The good news is that the week ends with the resurrection, the highest of notes. What is the lesson of holy week? One important lesson is simply this: getting to the resurrection is not easy. It was a hard road for Jesus. The gospels make that clear. If it was a hard road for Jesus, it is a hard road for you. I’m not talking about just this week. I’m talking about your life on this earth. It is and will be filled with difficulties, some of which will try and drive you to despair. 

It helps knowing the resurrection is coming. That can keep you going. We will look at resurrection life next week on Easter. This morning, instead, we will learn some things about the enemies that make this road so hard. 

What do we learn about God’s enemies? They will have their day and then the end will come. They will be no more. On that day God will have his final victory and that road, once filled with despair, will end.

For God's Sake

Ezekiel 36:16-28

When you’re growing up, there are some things you simply don’t want your parents to know. For example, you don’t want to tell them about embarrassing things that happen in junior high. The last thing you want is for your parent to make things worse by going down to the school and trying to make things right. They may have good intentions, but you know their mere presence will make things worse. You don’t want to tell them about that party you went to when bad things took place. You can fill in the blank as to your own set of “bad things.” You don’t want them to know because 1) you don’t want to get into trouble, and 2) you don’t want them to have a worse opinion of you than they might already. As kids, we like to maintain that idea that our parents see us as angels for as long as we can.

Of course, parents know a lot more than you think they know. We’re not as good at hiding things as we think we are. That’s true of God, our heavenly father, too. Of course he knows more than we think he knows. He knows it all. And yet, those same fears are there. We don’t want to get in trouble, that is punished, and we don’t want God to have a bad view of us.

While there is, justifiably, some overlap in our view of our parents to our view of God, they are not the same.

For example, now that I’m a parent, I’ve learned enough about my kids’ bad choices that I’d rather not know the full extent. I’d like to hold onto some measure of ignorance about them. Right? A little ignorance is bliss. But that is not the case with God. He has no limit to what he knows about you and yet, contrary to your fears, he doesn’t pull back from knowing you, no matter how bad your choices have been.

How do I know? Because there is no limit to the lengths he will go to save his children.

Is it too Late for me?

Ezekiel 33:10-20

Is there still time to turn to the Lord? Yes! There is! We are called to trust in a gracious and long-suffering God. Even when it seems all is lost, that you’re too far gone, that God couldn’t possibly accept you because of your long history, whether that is a history of shameful living or simply a history of agnosticism toward God, there is still time. We are called to a good and beautiful God.

How the Proud Fall

Ezekiel 28:1-19

When I was young, there were public service announcement commercials that promoted the importance of children having a sense of pride in themselves. According to the PSA, pride was good. I remember it because it conflicted with what I had been taught about pride from the Bible. Pride was bad. There are no shortages of passages that speak of the dangers of pride.

There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him… (Proverbs 6:16–17)

The first of which is pride (haughty eyes).

In CS Lewis book, Mere Christianity, he writes about pride as “the great sin”:

There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves. I have heard people admit that they are bad-tempered, or that they cannot keep their heads about girls or drink, or even that they are cowards. I do not think I have ever heard anyone who was not a Christian accuse himself of this vice. And at the same time I have very seldom met anyone, who was not a Christian, who showed the slightest mercy to it in others. There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others. The vice I am talking of is Pride… (The Great Sin, Lewis, Mere Christianity)

It struck me, even as a child, that something about our culture’s view of self was out of sync with the Bible’s teaching. I just couldn’t untangle it. Should we or should we not have a sense of pride?

Perhaps the best way to approach it is to define what pride is, what pride seeks, where pride leads, and pride’s solution.

Persistent Prayer and Abiding Hope

Luke 18:1-8

God Will Not Fail

Ezekiel 26

Before we look at Ezekiel 26, let me give you some context. Ezekiel can be most easily divided into two parts. The first part is chapters 1-24, which we finished last week. The 2nd part is chapters 25-48, which we are beginning this week. The dividing event is the fall of Jerusalem, the darkest moment in the history of God’s people in the Old Testament.

Why was it so dark? Jerusalem represented the dwelling place of God in the midst of his people. These people were God’s treasured possession, a people who would prosper under God’s care so greatly that the rest of the world would be drawn to them. This was their intended destiny. And so, it was believed that Jerusalem could never die. This was why the exiles listening to Ezekiel prophesy over and over again that Jerusalem would be defeated was not believed. Jerusalem was their hope.

With the fall of Jerusalem, the foundation of what they believed was suddenly shaken. What did this mean? Was their any hope left? The answer is Yes! And the 2nd half of Ezekiel’s book spells it out, though it doesn’t look like it at first glance.

The next several chapters, from 25-32, talk about more judgment. Specifically, judgment upon the nations around Jerusalem. We’re going to look at a sample of these judgments. In chapter 25 we see the judgment of Ammon, Moab and Seir, Edom, and Philistia. In chapters 26-28 we have a judgment against Tyre and Sidon, and in 29-32 we have judgment against Egypt. I chose to look at Tyre because the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy is best understood historically and it is fascinating.

Rock Bottom

Ezekiel 24

When I was young, my parents smoked cigarettes. It seemed that most people smoked back then. Cigarettes can be terribly addictive. I recently asked someone who stopped smoking over 40 years ago if they ever had a desire to do it again and their answer surprised me. “Everytime I smell a cigarette I want one.” It reminded me of an episode in the sitcom Frasier when one of the characters on the show was trying to quit smoking and wanted Frasier’s help. So, he brought this character to his home where he and his family could help.

One scene unfolds at the dinner table:

You're wrestling with an unhealthy and disgusting habit.
It isn't disgusting. It's wonderful.
Oh, now, tell me: what is so wonderful about smoking?
Everything.

And she goes on to describe the experience in such a seductive manner that everyone around the table is craving a cigarette. It serves as a great example of the seductive nature of sin. It provides a cheap thrill that captivates only to capture you.

Israel’s history shows their struggle with an addiction to idolatry. They have times of great repentance, such as under Hezekiah or more recently under Josiah. Josiah followed Manassah, who was arguably the most wicked king in Judah’s history. He was the one who erected the image of jealousy in the temple gate and setup altars on high places throughout Israel to foreign gods. He offered some of his own children as sacrifices to these gods and led Israel to do the same. It had become part of their lifestyle; part of their culture. When Josiah came, he turned things around. He removed the image of Jealousy and the many idols that had found their way into Jerusalem and the temple. He tore down the altars on the high places to the foreign gods and spread ashes upon all of them to desecrate them so they couldn’t be used again. And he reinstituted the proper offerings in the temple and led the people to participate and celebrate the great feasts that commemorated the mighty works of God in their history. It was a great moment. But after his death, these addictions were too powerful to the people of Judah and they reverted back to them.

He cleaned up the outside cultic practices of the nations, but he was not able to remove the inclination on the inside to worship these foreign gods. Our inclination to sin runs deep and no matter how hard we try and clean up our lives; no matter how many reforms we embrace; no matter how many resolutions we make, our fundamental nature still plagues us and the idols of this world still hold us captive. It is a devastating reality to face.

It begs the question: is there any hope to break free from our addictions? From our idolatry? Yes there is, but only if God intervenes. It is beyond our efforts. But it is drastic and it is terrifying. It is the message that Ezekiel has been given to preach to the exiles in Babylon. It was such a terrifying message that they have refused to believe it even though he has repeated it in so many different ways. What was that message? Jerusalem has to die. Our only hope lies beyond this death.

What we see in this chapter is the devastating necessity of God’s wrath to be poured out. This should give us a wake-up call as to the way we choose to live today.

 

Back to the Basics

Acts 2:40-47

LIfe and Death

Psalm 139:1-16

Did you know that God ordained not only the day you were born, but the day that you die? That’s what this means. Death does not surprise God like it surprises us.