Built Together, A Holy Temple

 8th Sunday after Pentecost
July 18, 2021
Fr. Phil Eberhart

 

Isa 57:14-21 

Ps 22:23-31

Eph 2:11-22 

Mark 6:30-44

 

Welcome this morning, to a special Sunday in a string of Sundays!!  We have special guests here this morning as the first in about a month of speakers and friends who we pray for and support as partners in ministry around the world.

 

The readings this morning, once again, are providential for the timing of our life together and the work that is being completed around us.  I’m sure you noticed the new stone, and see the new windows behind me.  It’s amazing that our readings refer to being built stone on stone as a Temple for the Holy Spirit this morning!  Don’t know if you caught that reference in the Ephesians reading.  I’ll come back to it.

 

Just about 4 years ago, Lawrence and Jody came and saw this place for the very first time and God planted in them a vision that has come, stone by stone, to fruition!  To our confounded amazement, the money has come in, from a myriad of ways and means both natural and supernatural, but always from God’s gracious hand and through the sacrifice of this family of God together to move forward into God’s destiny for REZ.

 

Now, as we near, the completion of the renovations of the land, we turn our attentions more fully to the inside of the building and to the work of God that this building and property enable for us all to do together!

 

We are planted in the midst of a large Jewish community, three doors west of an Orthodox Synagogue named Aish, “fire” in Hebrew!  God’s sense of humor is unending! 

 

We believe that God has placed us here on this Holy Hill to be a light to the city, Greenwood Village, to Denver Metro, to the State, the Nation and even to the world.  I self describe us as a HOBBIT Church, small in stature but with a big, hairy foot print!  4 other churches currently meet and use this facility, which is a bit of a dance in itself.  

 

We are back in “start up” mode, after the effects of the pandemic, the flood, the “fall” and God-knows all the other things that happened in 2020 and so far in 2021!  By His Grace and Favor we have come through because as the stone on our property says, “Thus far the Lord has helped us!”

Turn to your Ephesians 2 reading…  at the end of it:

19  So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God,  20  built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.  21  In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord;  22  in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

 

From The Passion…

^“21 This entire building is under construction and is continually growing under his supervision until it rises up completed as the holy temple of the Lord himself. ²² This means that God is transforming each one of you into the Holy of Holies, his dwelling place, through the power of the Holy Spirit living in you!”

 

Friends,  God is the architect and the builder here!  Lawrence will tell you as will I and Jody and all the others who have been intimately involved with the processes of this work over the past 4 years:  God’s Fingerprints are everywhere!  His direction and His direct intervention have paved the way for us to be sitting here; for us to be worshipping together today in this house of God; for us to be poised to reach our Jerusalem, our Judea, our Samaria and the ends of the Earth!

 

As one of the videos on our website used to say, “WE are God’s plan!”  And God doesn’t have a plan B!  And God continues to work in us and through us day after day!  I laughed to myself when I saw the Gospel story today of the feeding of the 5000.  OF COURSE, that would be the reading today.   The schoolboy’s lunch of 5 loaves and 2 fish – measely!  In the face of a 1.89 MILLION DOLLAR pricetag!

We had less than 10% of that in the bank, in,  are you ready for it …  wait for it … wait for it … The LOAVES AND FISHES fund!  There was also the FUTURE AND HOPE FUND from the early days of dreaming about a property of our own.  Frankly, the dream had died, in me. 

 

BUT GOD.   God had to resurrect the dream.

 

And so here we are today, the story is yet to be fully written.  I believe that God has commissioned me to “finish His work” in this place.  Not sure all that that means, but we are seeking hard after His face and His voice as He is the Head of this Church and is the Director of this Orchestra!

 

Thus far the Lord has been our helper!  And we continue to move with Him, cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, as His presence moves us forward, as our Archbishop quoted some years back:

FORWARD, 

        ALWAYS FORWARD, 

                EVERYWHERE FORWARD!

 

Just one final thought:  In Isaiah 57, we are encouraged, even commanded:

“Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstacle from my people’s way.”

 

A few years ago this land was known as “the abandoned church on the hill.”  Today, let it be said, “We are no longer abandoned!"  

From The Passion Translation...

Isaiah 62 For Zion’s sake, how can I keep silent?

    For Jerusalem’s sake, how can I remain quiet?
    I will keep interceding until her righteousness
    breaks forth like the blazing light of dawn
    and her salvation like a burning torch!
² Nations will see your victory-vindication,
    and every king will witness your blinding radiance!
    You will be called by a brand-new name,^[a]
    given to you from the mouth of Yahweh himself.
³ You will be a beautiful crown held high in the hand of Yahweh,
    a royal crown^[b] of splendor
    held in the open palm of your God!
⁴ You will never again be called the Abandoned One,
    nor will your land be called Deserted.
    But you will be called My Delight Is in You,^[c]
    and your land My Beloved Wife,^[d]
    for Yahweh finds his delight in you
    and he married your land.

 

Let us pray:

Almighty God, you have built your church upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone:. Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen 

God... Bless America!!?? July 4th, 2021

 

Sixth Sunday of Pentecost

July 4, 2021

Fr. Phil Eberhart

 

God … Bless America?

 

 

Welcome to the 4^th of July!  I hope that you are planning to celebrate America today somehow.  I want to take these moments this morning to urge you to do more than have beer and brats this afternoon or watch fireworks tonight.

 

 I think that many today feel that we are a nation on the brink – we are in a moment of decision; a moment of destiny in many ways.  I guess the question for me is, ‘What are we on the brink of?

 

The service this morning is a strange mix of patriotism in the music for the 4^th and the amazingly appropriate words from Scripture that were just read.  I felt it was almost a set up!  As I often do, when the lections; the readings match so amazingly, what we actually NEED to hear that day!

 

Turn in you bulletin to Ezekiel.  He was being called as a prophet to Israel – called to stand and listen and then to speak what he heard.  The prophet’s job was not easy in Israel – just as it isn’t easy today.   Jesus discovered opposition in his own hometown in our gospel;  Ezekiel found it in the very nature of the calling and in the place to which he was called!  Paul found the difficulties that accompanied his calling had a purpose:  “to keep me from being too elated.”  We’re never sure what Paul’s thorn was, but his life was never an easy one, as he brought the Words of Life and Light to the Gentiles.

 

If you have Ezekiel in hand, look with me at his call:

1.  Stand up…  in other words ATTENTION!!

2. Listen!! … for God’s Words, not yours.

3. Speak only what you hear God say, not what you think should be said…

4. Brace yourself !!  They’re not going to like it !!

 

If we hear one message through our readings this morning it’s STAND / LISTEN / SPEAK.

 

 

 

STAND

 

In our day, perhaps as much as at the beginning of our nations history, we are being called on to STAND FOR SOMETHING.

 

This nation was not founded as a White Supremacist Experiment.  In fact just the opposite is true.  It was an experiment in freedom – it IS an experiment in FREEDOM!  But freedom isn’t free.  It’s never been free!

 

Our founders had to STAND.  They had to put an end to tyranny by standing for freedom and defending it with their very lives.

 

But what they stood for wasn’t some selfish, individualistic goal of personal gain or profit at the expense of others – it was standing FOR the OTHERS.

 

Just listen:  "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  …  [and at the very end:]  And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

 

We are being called to STAND.

 

LISTEN

 

There was a group of leaders in the days before the revolutionary war and before the declaration of independence, and the bill of rights and the constitution that came to be called THE BLACK ROBED REGIMENT.

 

These men were the pastors and leaders of the colonies at that time.  They were the ones who spoke of freedom and the necessity of a revolution in their day.  The name was given them by the British, in recognition of their strong opposition to the crown and their eloquent influence on both people and leaders in the days coming up to the war of independence.

 

The Black Robed Regiment were not speaking their opinions – they were speaking the Word of God.  And their words made their way into these documents we celebrate on this day. 

 

Like them, today we must LISTEN to the Word of God and speak accordingly to the seats of power in our land.  For far too long the American Church has been asleep, lulled into a stupor by luxury, apathy and greed.  We must Stand again, Listen to God and speak His truth into our culture today…

 

SPEAK

 

The time for silence has gone!  The Church and the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only hope that we have as a nation today.  The Church is God’s Plan A, and there is no Plan B!! 

 

Ezekiel, Paul and Jesus all had opposition to their messages and ministry in their days – and we are promised the same!  Do Not Fear!  

 

On this 4^th of July, as we celebrate our past and the founding of this nation, we must remember where we have come from and look carefully to where we are going! 

 

Silence is no longer an option – it’s really never been one! 

 

In the words of the Psalmist this morning we pray:

           Unto you I lift up my eyes, * you who are enthroned in the heavens.

Even so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, * until he show us his favor.

 

 

And with Paul’s confession:

 

“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 

 

There is a destiny appointed to our nation, and today that destiny depends on us, “We The People”.  We must Stand, Listen and Speak.

 

May God help us, and May God Bless America, Again.

 

Let us pray:

 

God… bless America, land that I love. 

Stand beside her and guide her,

through the night with a light from above. 

 

From the mountains to the prairies,

to the oceans white with foam…

 

God… bless America, my home sweet home,

Oh God… bless America, our home sweet home.

 

In the Name of Jesus the Christ and for His glory.

Amen

1...2...3: WILLINGNESS ... AVAILABILITY ... OBEDIENCE

 Sermon for Eastertide
5^th Sunday – May 2, 2021
Fr. Philip Eberhart+

 

Acts 8:26-40 

Ps 66:1-11

1 John 3:11-24 

John 14:15-21

  

WILLINGNESS… AVAILABILITY … OBEDIENCE !!   1 … 2… 3

 

Have you ever had someone around you that was like a broken record? 

I’m going to be that person today!

For almost a decade, I think, we’ve heard talk of the three steps of THE GREAT ADVENTURE of Christian living as fully formed disciples…

WILLINGNESS … AVAILABILITY … OBEDIENCE

 

Paul the Apostle said to the Thessalonians (1 Thess 4:1-2, 9-10):

4 And now, beloved brothers and sisters, since you have been mentored by us with respect to living for God and pleasing him, I appeal to you in the name of the Lord Jesus with this request: keep faithfully growing through our teachings even more and more. ² For you already know the instructions we’ve shared with you through the Lord Jesus.

⁹ There’s no need for anyone to say much to you about loving your fellow believers, for God is continually teaching you to unselfishly love one another.^[d] 10 Indeed, your love is what you’re known for throughout Macedonia. We urge you, beloved ones, to let this unselfish love increase and flow through you more and more.

 

This is the purpose of this morning’s sermon, is to encourage you to do what you are already doing, even MORE AND MORE!

Our scripture passages all collude this morning – they converge into an example and a message of encouragement for this kind of Adventurous Christian living!

Philip, the Evangelist, likely the one named among the deacons in Acts 6, versus the Apostle Philip, is our example of the BIG 3:  Willingness, Availability & Obedience:

Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go … so he got up and went!

All three are captured in these few words!  Philip was in a state of constant willingness, that is where he lived.  It was the foundation of his life.  King David prayed, “UPHOLD ME WITH A WILLING SPIRIT.” (Ps 51:12)  All of this always comes from the Spirit of God within us – none of it is from ourselves!  As Paul says, “we have this treasure in a jar of clay!” (2 Cor 5:7)

Philip was ready to hear and respond.  “Get up and go … so he got up and went!”  Was Philip planning his day?  Did he know WHY he was being sent?  NO.

The journey to Gaza was about 60-70 miles, two or three days journey, through the Negev Desert Wilderness – no water, no provisions, no hotels along the way.  And there were no questions from Philip!  No, “But Lord!” or “But what about…?”

On the foundation of WILLINGNESS or YIELDEDNESS Philip was immediately AVAILABLE.  There was no hesitation – no second guessing – no explanation needed – no planning the day.  “Get up and go … so he got up and went!”

Philip knew that WILLINGNESS AND AVAILABILITY LEAD TO ASSIGNMENT!

But how do we know what the assignment is?  You probably won’t!  Until you obey.  Philip had no idea what was planned before he went on his walk.  He wasn’t the One planning his day!  God was.

But Philip was obedient to be ON THE WAY.  To actually GO!  All of this happens AS YOU GO!  When Jesus called and sent the disciples he said to them, “AS YOU GO, PROCLAIM, ‘THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN HAS COME NEAR.’ ”
(Mt 10:4)

 Nothing happens while we are sitting still, especially after God has said, GO!   “Get up and go … so he got up and went!” 

WILLINGNESS… AVAILABILITY … OBEDIENCE.    GET IT?

SORRY, BROKEN RECORD.

And the rest of the story is just the stuff of the ADVENTURE!  A great series of coincidences!! …

Just so happens he meets up with a chariot. 

Just so happens that it has a high government official in it, a Jew from Ethiopia.  An advisor and servant to the Queen!

Just so happens he is reading aloud as he rides along, from the very verses that speak of the Messiah as the suffering servant, and substitutionary sacrifice for our sins and the sins of the whole world!  Just so happens…

 

AVAILABILITY means showing up!  Showing up at the place God has assigned you, day by day, moment by moment – it means living in a place where your “eyes are wide open to God’s mercies” (Rom 12:1 JB Phillips) and your “ears are open for His voice” (Jn 10) to speak to you, through what you overhear… through coming along side to walk with someone … SHOW UP.  When I was instituted as the Rector of St. George’s Parish, 25 years ago, the sermon by Canon Burt Womack was “90% of the Lord’s work in the parish is accomplished by our just “showing up.” 

 

At the end of the day, and the end of the sermon, OBEDIENCE is the goal.  Without OBEDIENCE its all just water flowing under the bridge!   What if Philip hadn’t asked the question – opened his mouth and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”   Conversations that matter, like this one, often start with simple questions!  Questions and parables were Jesus’ primary method of engagement.  Jesus didn’t make pronouncements, He asked questions.

 

And all of it – let me say it again:  ALL OF IT is motivated by love.  We are not out getting spiritual notches on our gun – brownie points or merit badges for all the good we have done.  ALL OF IT is motivated by love, for God and for people.

”If you love me, you will OBEY my commandments!”  OBEDIENCE IS THE OUTCOME OF LOVE FOR GOD.  Obedience is not a way to gain God’s love! 

God’s love preceeds our response of obedience and our response of obedience proceeds from our love for God.  Can you see the difference?  When Jesus said what He said in our readings today from John’s gospel and first letter, He is saying this fact.  John tells us that “we love because He first loved us!”  Everything arises out of that love and of our experience of it – our comprehension of our apprehension by God’s Love! 

Paul prayed it this way:

I pray that He (Jesus) would unveil within you the unlimited riches of His glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with His divine might and explosive power.

¹⁷ Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life.

^18–19 Then you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences—the great magnitude^[f] of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is his love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding—this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God! (Eph 3:16-19 TPT)

Jesus promised us this relationship and this infusion of love.  Here is your assignment verse this morning – assignment to memorize this:

^{Jn 14:20} On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹ They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”

Friends, the means of God’s personal self-revelation to us in the intimacy of our relationship with Him, is in the context of our willingness, of our availability to Him and of our obedience to His voice and his direction, moment by moment and day by day.

A friend once said to me, “What if I’m not always willing?  Jonah didn’t seem particularly willing to go to Nineveh!”  “True,” I said, “but God made Jonah willing!”  Sometimes we just have to pray to be made willing!  Anyone else ever have that experience?  Yesterday?   This morning?

Let me end with Jonah’s prayer in the belly of the whale:

² Then Jonah prayed to Adonai his God from the belly of the fish, ³ saying:

“From my distress I cried to Adonai and He answered me. 
From the belly of Sheol I cried for help and you heard my voice.^[c]

⁸ As my soul was fading from me,
    I remembered Adonai
    and my prayer came to You,
        toward Your holy Temple.
⁹ Those who watch worthless empty things
    forsake their mercy.
¹⁰ But I, with a voice of thanks
        will sacrifice to you.
    What I vowed, I will pay.
    Salvation is from Adonai.”

Help us Lord, never to “forsake our mercy… Your mercy!”   Give us open eyes and ears to hear You and to follow your direction for our days and hours.  Open our eyes, Lord, to see Your hand at work in the world around us, and use us, as instruments of Your peace to those we encounter in Your Name.  As we go, help us to proclaim Your Kingdom and to demonstrate Your love to all we meet along the way.

When we hear You say, “Get up and go … “ HELP US to be the ones who “got up and went.”

In Jesus Name and for the sake of His Kingdom we pray.

Amen.

 

Easter 2021: He is not here. He is risen!

 Easter Sermon
April 4, 2021
Fr. Philip Eberhart

 

HE IS NOT HERE.  HE IS RISEN!

 

Come, Holy Spirit, come among us here.  Open our eyes, Lord, to your REAL PRESENCE here today …  Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.  Help us, Lord, to see you … take the veil away from our eyes.  Touch us and let us touch you, as your disciples did so long ago on that first Easter morning.  Be among us this day and forever more.  Come, Lord Jesus.         AMEN.

 

HE IS NOT HERE!   HE IS RISEN!

 

Seven words that changed the world!  The women that morning came expecting one thing, wondering how they would be able to get into the tomb to do their religious duty for their friend and Master.  They were on a mission of mercy.

 

The resurrection of Jesus Christ, no matter what anyone says to you, is one of the most well attested facts of history – there is no other explanation for these events.  The four gospels tell the story from various points of view, with the witness to particular groups of people in mind:   Matthew as a witness to the Jews, Luke to the Gentiles, Mark is the “JOE FRIDAY” gospel (Just the facts, ma’am!) and John, as he refers to himself, “the one who Jesus loved”, the one and only disciple at the foot of the cross, tells a very spiritual and personal story of these events.

 

Today we are still, like the women and the disciples, trying to do our best to wrap our minds around the events and their implications for our day to day life!  2000 years on, and we will take the rest of eternity, as we say in the Holy Week services, “contemplating these mighty acts, by which God has wrought our full salvation.”

 

He Is NOT Here.  HE IS RISEN!  Seven words that enfold the central kernel of truth for the universe.  It all comes back to these words.  The resurrection of Jesus from the dead, … “turned the world upside down.”  Those are not my words, but the words of the leaders of the known world, only 4 or 5 decades after this event! 

 

Have you had your world turned upside down?  The fact is the resurrection of Jesus – the living Christ turns our world back upside right!!  We are like the pilot who crashed the jet he was flying when he “pulled up” and flew into the ground, because he had lost his bearings- his horizon- and was flying upside down at night!  We are flying upside down at night!

The resurrection reorients our lives, just as it did the women and the disciples that day and the subsequent days as Jesus appeared to them in various ways and places.  He met Mary Magdalene in the garden, to disciples on the road to Emmaus, then he showed us at the Upper Room, behind a locked door:  “Peace!  Do not be afraid!” 

After the days of Jesus appearances, his ascension to heaven, which they witnessed, and the empowering of the Holy Spirit for witness at Pentecost, these men and women were different, to say the least.  They were a force for the reconciliation of the world, cooperating with the Spirit of God to share the word of His resurrection.  

They were different people!  Different than they were before;  different from the world around them; different from anything the world expected.

And Jesus final words, before He ascended are the most promising in the whole story… “And behold, I am with you even to the end of the age.”

 

 

 

HE IS RISEN!

 

This event didn’t just have an impact on the world back then, it has impact and influence in our own lives today.  He is still today, “with us.”  He is still alive!  That is the meaning of today! 

I want to just remind you of something that Peter wrote.

It’s not in our readings but it should be:

Born Again to a Living Hope                                        1 Peter 1:3-9  esv

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷ so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, ⁹ obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

As OAK McEachren could be heard to say, “There it is!”

If you want to ask the question, “SO WHAAT?” here it is.

 

Seven outcomes of those seven words:

1.    [You are] born again to a living hope…

2.   [You have an] imperishable, undefiled, and unfading inheritance…

3.   [You are receiving] a salvation ready to be revealed…

4.   [You experience the] tested genuineness of your faith…

5.   [Your life is] to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ…

6.   [You have a] joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,

7.   [Because you are] obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls

 

He is not here.  He is risen!

 

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in you that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.