Christ Redeemer Church >> Sunday Sermons Christ Redeemer Church

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION
 
“Love is when the other person’s happiness is more important than your own.”

~H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (1940-2021), inspirational author
 
“The happiness you feel is in direct proportion with the love you give.”

~Oprah Winfrey, talk show host and media mogul
 
“Happiness is only real when shared.”

~Jon Krakauer, writer and mountaineer
 
“We are not those who pay homage to stones, that are without sensation; but of the only God, who is before all and over all, and, moreover, we are worshippers of His Christ, who is truly God the Word existing before all time.”

~Melito, Bishop of Sardis (written c. 169-170) in his “Apology to Marcus Aurelius”
 
“Jesus is the Word, the Image, the Expression and Exegesis of God.”

~Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988), Swiss theologian
 
“To receive God’s grace, the main thing you need is need—the main thing you need is nothing. But not many people have it.”

~John Gerstner (1914-1996), theologian and professor of church history
 
Question 8: Is there more than one God? Answer: There is only one, the living and true God.
Question 9. How many persons are in the one God? Answer: Three persons are in the one God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Although they are differentiated by their own individual, personal qualities, these three are one true, eternal God, the same in substance and equal in power and glory.

~Westminster Larger Catechism (1647)
 
“In space, astronauts experience the misery of having no reference point, no force that draws them to the center. Where there is no ‘moral gravity’…there is spiritual weightlessness. We float on feelings that will carry us where we were never meant to go; we bubble with emotional experiences that we often take for spiritual ones; and we are puffed up with pride. Instead of seriousness, there is foolishness. Instead of gravity, flippancy. Sentimentality takes the place of theology. Our reference point…is merely ourselves. We cannot possibly tell which end is up.”

~Elisabeth Elliot (1926-2015), missionary and author

SERMON PASSAGE

Galatians 6:1, 6, 13-15, 19-26 (ESV)

Galatians 5

1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery….

6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love….

13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another….

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
 
Ephesians 4

1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION
 
“The Name Bryan Johnson may not ring a bell....The 46-year-old tech millionaire has made the rounds time and again on social media for going to extreme lengths to curb the effects of aging in a longevity project called Blueprint, which he calls an ‘algorithm’ for preserving his body. Johnson takes more than 100 supplements a day, submits himself to constant medical assessments, keeps to a strict diet that prohibits any food after 11 a.m., goes to bed at 8:30 p.m., and pursues experiments with a dizzying array of treatments….”

~Rolling Stone interview with biohacker and technologist Bryan Johnson, September 11, 2023
 
“From its very first verse, dearest friends, this psalm urges us to seek happiness. Yet there is no one who does not long for this. Is there anyone, has there ever been anyone, will there ever be anyone, who does not want to be happy? Surely not….Why, then, do we need to be invited to will something that we are incapable of not willing? Only because, though men and women all long for happiness, many do not know how to reach it.”

~Early Christian philosopher Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Commentary on Psalm 119
 
In the ancient world, “Philosophy did not consist in teaching an abstract theory, much less in the exegesis of texts, but rather in the art of living. It is a concrete attitude and determinate life-style, which engaged the whole of existence. The philosophical act is not situated merely on the cognitive level, but on that of the self and of being. It is a progress which causes us to be more fully, and makes us better. It is a conversion which turns our entire life upside down, changing the life of the person who goes through it.”

~Pierre Hadot (scholar of ancient philosophy), Philosophy as a Way of Life (1987)

SERMON PASSAGE

Psalm 119:1-24 (ESV)

1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
   who walk in the law of the Lord!
2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,
   who seek him with their whole heart,
3 who also do no wrong,
   but walk in his ways!
4 You have commanded your precepts
   to be kept diligently.
5 Oh that my ways may be steadfast
   in keeping your statutes!
6 Then I shall not be put to shame,
  having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
7 I will praise you with an upright heart,
  when I learn your righteous rules.
8 I will keep your statutes;
  do not utterly forsake me!
 
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
   By guarding it according to your word.
10 With my whole heart I seek you;
   let me not wander from your commandments!
11 I have stored up your word in my heart,
   that I might not sin against you.
12 Blessed are you, O Lord;
   teach me your statutes!
13 With my lips I declare
   all the rules of your mouth.
14 In the way of your testimonies I delight
   as much as in all riches.
15 I will meditate on your precepts
   and fix my eyes on your ways.
16 I will delight in your statutes;
   I will not forget your word.
 
17 Deal bountifully with your servant,
   that I may live and keep your word.
18 Open my eyes, that I may behold
   wondrous things out of your law.
19 I am a sojourner on the earth;
   hide not your commandments from me!
20 My soul is consumed with longing
   for your rules at all times.
21 You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones,
   who wander from your commandments.
22 Take away from me scorn and contempt,
   for I have kept your testimonies.
23 Even though princes sit plotting against me,
   your servant will meditate on your statutes.
24 Your testimonies are my delight;
   they are my counselors.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“To any normal person, the practice of communion is one of the most bizarre things that Christians do. Jesus’ cannibalistic tendencies offer explicit evidence that Jesus is not God.”

~Marshall Brain, Atheist blogger
 
“The story about the initiation of young novices is as much to be detested as it is well known. An infant covered over with meal, that it may deceive the unwary, is placed before him who is to be stained with their rites: this infant is slain by the young pupils... Thirstily – O horror! they lick up its blood; eagerly they divide its limbs. By this victim they are pledged together; with this consciousness of wickedness they are covenanted to mutual silence.”

~Minucius Felix, 3rd century Christian apologist, describing a common Roman misunderstanding of Communion
 
“If Melanchthon were alive today, he might not weep because of controversies that surround the Lord’s Supper, but he might well sorrow because of our indifference to its meaning and importance.”

~Erwin Lutzer, Canadian minister and radio broadcaster
 
“In the presence of Christ the Lord’s Supper joins the past and the future. History and eschatology in a unique way, and becomes the token of liberating grace…Understood as a eucharist in this sense, the feast of Christ’s fellowship is the great thanksgiving to the Father for everything he has made in creation and has achieved in the reconciliation of the world, and has promised to accomplish in its redemption.”

~Jürgen Moltmann. 20th century German theologian
 
“As two pieces of wax fused together make one so he who receives holy communion is so united with Christ that Christ is in him and he is in Christ.”

~Cyril of Alexandria, 5th century Egyptian theologian
 
“The purpose of the Lord’s Supper is to receive from Christ the nourishment and strength and hope and joy that come from feasting our souls on all that He purchased for us on the cross, especially His own fellowship.”

~John Piper, American pastor and author

SERMON PASSAGE

1 Corinthians 10:14-17, 11:23-33 Mark 14:12-24 (NIV)

1 Corinthians 10

14 Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.
 
1 Corinthians 11

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. 32 Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.

33 So then, my brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, you should all eat together.

Mark 14

12 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “W

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION
 
“…the more I examine the universe and the details of its architecture, the more evidence I find that the universe in some sense must have known we were coming.”

~Freeman John Dyson (1923-2020), theoretical physicist and mathematician
 
“If the experience of science teaches anything, it’s that the world is very strange and surprising. The many revolutions in science have certainly shown that.”
 
“[The] destinies of human beings and of the whole universe lie together in the world of God’s new creation…. In Christian thinking, the seed event from which this new creation has already begun to grow is the resurrection of Christ. His tomb was empty because the matter of his corpse had been transmuted into the ‘matter’ of the new creation, to become his risen and glorified body in which he appeared to the first witnesses.”

~John Polkinghorne (1930-2021), theoretical physicist and theologian
 
“For the sake of suffering humanity [Christ] came down from heaven to earth, clothed himself in that humanity in the Virgin’s womb, and was born a man. Having then a body capable of suffering, he took the pain of fallen man upon himself; he triumphed over the diseases of soul and body that were its cause, and by his Spirit, which was incapable of dying, he dealt man’s destroyer, death, a fatal blow.”

~Melito of Sardis in his “Apology to Marcus Aurelius” (c. 169-170)
 
“Faith is not just a question of abstract knowledge…. I can’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God and was raised from the dead without it affecting my life. It isn’t just a question of ticking the boxes: it is a question of how you orient your whole existence.”

~John Polkinghorne (1930-2021), theoretical physicist and theologian
 
“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”

~Julian of Norwich (c.1343-after 1416), medieval mystic
 
“Christians, at their best, are the fools who dare believe in God’s power to call dead things to life.”

~Esau MacCaulley, professor, author, opinion writer for the New York Times

SERMON PASSAGE

Galatians 1:1-5 & 6:14-15 (ESV)

Galatians 1

1 Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers who are with me,

To the churches of Galatia:

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
 
Galatians 6

14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
 
Revelation 21

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

Isaiah 24

4 The earth mourns and withers;
  the world languishes and withers;
  the highest people of the earth languish.
5 The earth lies defiled
  under its inhabitants;
  for they have transgressed the laws,
  violated the statutes,
  broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore a curse

SERMON PASSAGE

John 13:1-17, 31-35 (ESV)

1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them…”

31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“When Christ entered into Jerusalem the people spread garments in the way: when He enters into our hearts, we pull off our own righteousness, and not only lay it under Christ’s feet but even trample upon it ourselves.”

~Augustus Toplady 18th Century British Minister and Hymn Writer
 
“We are often like the worshippers on Palm Sunday: eager for the party, not quite ready for the cross.”

~Kevin DeYoung American Pastor and Author
 
“‘Hosanna in the highest!’
that ancient song we sing,
for Christ is our Redeemer,
the Lord of heaven our King.
O may we ever praise Him,
with heart and life and voice,
and in His blissful presence
eternally rejoice.”

~“Hosanna, Loud Hosanna” by Jeannette Threlfall
 
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

~Zechariah 9:9 (ESV)
 
“Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord we pray, give us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

~Psalm 118:25-26 (ESV)

SERMON PASSAGE

John 12:12-19 (ESV)

12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” 14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,
15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion;
   behold, your king is coming,
    sitting on a donkey's colt!”
16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. 17 The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. 18 The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”