Blue Lake Presbyterian |
Good morning,
It is great to be back here this morning in Blue Lake.
In the last few months, countless people have asked, what happened to your sermons, we miss them.
Truth be told, it was time for a short break. Sermon preparation is rather time consuming, and in combination with the day job of flower farming and running a not so small organization, a respite was in order. But with the start of a new year, we return with vigor and excitement to spread of word of God.
For those listening online, it is a great pleasure to announce the introduction of the new website “Lane DeVries.com”. All sermons are now posted as podcasts, and the website provides the ability to extend our reach beyond the current listener base around the Country and abroad.
The message this morning is based on John 1 :29-41 and is called “From the wings of the Dove to the Silence of the Lambs” . You may recognize these as titles of some movies from the nineties, and they are, but this morning we will go on a journey from doves to lambs culminating to the ultimate lamb, the Lamb of God, Jesus our Savior.
As a child growing up in Holland, every Saturday morning from late spring to early fall, it was a craziness in the street where we lived, folks from all over the town came to that street as there was of dove club and on Saturday morning all the members of this club would bring their caged doves and they were loaded onto this huge semi-truck.
The truck would drive to a location in France. The next day the doves were released and these birds would fly at speeds nearing 70 miles an hour, finding their way back home, where their owner was anxiously waiting for his doves to return. These dove keepers used a special dove clocking device, to record the exact arrival time. And all members kept score of the fastest doves in each club.
Prior to the Second World War there were an estimated 1.2 million racing doves in Holland alone, but since doves could be used to send messages across battle lines, the Germans ordered for all of them to be killed. Since the war the sport regained much popularity. In countries like Holland and Belgium doves are common place.
Doves are also common in the bible; as they are mentioned 41 times.
Noah sent out a dove to see if the water had receded and if the bird descended on land.
Moses instructed the Israelites in Leviticus, to bring two turtle doves for those who could not afford a lamb, as a sin offering.
David wrote in Psalm 55: If only, I had wings like a dove. I would fly away and find rest.
Doves appear in the New Testament as well. The bible says Mary and Joseph sacrificed two doves at the temple, following the birth of Jesus, as was prescribed in the law. Thirty years later Jesus furiously, drove out all the merchants from the Temple, including those selling doves to worshipers.
But one of the most familiar and significant references to doves come from the baptism of Jesus, by John the Baptist. All four Gospel accounts mention the spirit descending like a dove. And this brings us to today’s scripture reading of John 1:29-42 which can be found in you pew bible on page……………
John 1:29-42
29The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is he, of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ 31I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water, said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.” 35The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, 36and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”
37The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated, means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw, where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. 40One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). 42He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).
Churches around the World follow a schedule of weekly readings. Think of this as the equivalent of the TV guide for a entire year. The gospel readings are on an annual rotation.
Last year was the year of Luke, next year it is Mark’s turn and most of the Gospel readings in 2017 will be from Matthew. But then, there are occasional exceptions where the Gospel of John is used. This week happens to be one of those. You may ask why is John‘s Gospel not part of this yearly rotation? That is a good question. The story that John tells is distinctly different from the other three.
It is like watching the news. On the one hand there are news anchors like: Anderson Cooper or Bill O’Reilly and field reporters and correspondents like Wolf Blitzer. They view the news as it presents itself and they report on it.
But then there are “commentators” the “analysts” like Charles Krauthammer at Fox, or John King, David Gergen or Bill Bennet at CNN:, these are folks that step back and give a more introspective view of the turn of events. It is like that with Mark, Matthew and Luke, they reported on the life of Jesus as they saw and heard it.
So it was with John, who stepped back and gave this unique narrative, he is more reflective. John was an eyewitness in the life of Jesus, but he looks back on it from a historical perspective.
Let me illustrate this with an example. How does the Gospel of John start?: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. And the Word became flesh and lived among us……. Isn’t that an interesting way to start?
John doesn’t mention any of the parables, but he does highlight six miracles that are not mentioned by the other three gospel writers. Some were quite notable, such as the very first miracle, turning water into wine, at the wedding feast in Cana.
Here is his mother Mary, insisting that he do something, because there is wedding feast, a grand party, and all the wine is gone, but Jesus is reluctant, mother get off my back, stop bugging me, I am not ready yet, but she persists and guess what,,, he turns water into wine and the party continues late into the night.
Just weeks prior to this wedding the Baptism in the Jordan river had taken place in the location that is now part of “The West Bank”. John is the only Gospel writer who doesn’t specifically record the baptism of Jesus; however in typical John fashion he gives it an interesting spin.
Twice, he says, in verse 31 and 33: I did not know him…. How is that possible? Here is John the Baptist the cousin of Jesus, they are born only six months apart. In Mediterranean culture, Jewish, Greek, Italian families, they hang together, they are close, and John says, I did not know him? Doesn’t that seem odd? Some may remember Sermon#8 last year, we discussed that the bible doesn’t describe the whereabouts Jesus for eighteen years, and how the folks in England in their favorite hymn “Jerusalem” sing these words:
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk on England’s mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On England’s pleasant pastures seen!
Isn’t it peculiar that if Jesus would have lived in the land of Israel for 18 years, wouldn’t he have been around his family? Then John would have known Jesus by heart, but since this is not the case, it is more likely that they were far away from each other. Therefore this passage in John’s Gospel adds credence to the premise that maybe those folks in England may be on to something.
The other interesting insight is where the Baptist declares, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World!” Wait a minute, the lamb of God??, Why is he calling Jesus the lamb of God??
Jesus is a man walking on two legs not four. This is confusing. In order to understand this a little better we need to go back where it all started.
Some of these things may be hard to follow and understand, and as a flower farmer, not a theologian we can use, all the help there is. For instance I enjoy listening to Christian radio, 89.3 FM and 1400 AM, they are a great resource.
Earlier this week while getting a sandwich, I listened to Mother Miriam on the AM dial, and low and behold she provided the clearest answer to this question of the Lamb of God.
Mankind is created for heaven, but since the days Adam and Eve we are all, born into sin. Moses said in Leviticus: the life of the flesh is in the blood. It was given on an altar to give reparation of our soul.
The Jewish people were taught this sacrificial system of the sinner, substituting an animal like a dove or a lamb, and they were brought before the altar.
The person put his hand on the lamb, symbolic for passing the sin of the individual onto the little lamb, then the lamb was slain and the blood shed on the altar. Millions of lambs were offered as the price for sin.
Why did Jesus our Lord die for us? In the Jordan, John the Baptist called him the Lamb of God, Jesus alone would die on the cross as the lamb of lambs. Our sin, past and future would be put on him, with our sin on him he became our sin offering to God.
Sins of mankind from Adam until today are paid for. But if Jesus would have remained dead, like the four legged lambs, it would have meant nothing. But he arose from the dead on the third day. He is God and he gives life to all who trust in him.
A few weeks ago I heard a story about a women who approached her pastor and she proudly said: I follow all the 10 commandments, I don’t steal, murder, the pastor quickly reminded her what Jesus said: even when you think any of these things, you have sinned. She replied, but then we are all sinners, and that is exactly the point. With the exception of Jesus, nobody that is born is pure.
Here is the moral of the story: There is nothing we can do ourselves, to earn heaven, nothing in the eyes of the Lord will be good enough. But there also no longer is a need for doves or lambs to be offered as sacrifice.
Let me give an illustration, as a fourth generation flower farmer, I have been around Tulips my whole life. As a child I remember my father planting tulips outside in wooden boxes covered with sand and straw to protect them from freezing and during the winter these tulips would be carried into the greenhouse, with a wheelbarrow, box by box, this is how I learned growing tulips.
After 3 weeks those tulips would start flowering, we picked them and then the next batch went in the Greenhouse. Once the outside temperature rose in the spring the season came to an end, typically beginning of April, before the field tulips came into production.
This all changed when tulips were planted in plastic crates and are now grown in coolers up to 20 layers high. These tulips could be held in this condition for up to 10 months, hence the introduction of year round tulips.
Just thinking back on how it was done in the old days, it is hard to imagine anymore.
The old days where the Israelites would bring a lamb or two doves to the temple in Jerusalem as a sacrifice for their sins are gone forever. The lambs have been silent ever since. It all ended with the destruction of the temple in 70 AD.
Jesus predicted that this would happen in Luke 19, when he wept as he came down the Mount of Olives, he told his disciples: this temple will be destroyed.
A few years ago while visiting Israel, I remember standing on the Mount of Olives on a cold rainy morning , on this hill overlooking Jerusalem and the ruins of the temple, with a mosque built on top of it.
Imagine what those disciples must have felt like when Jesus said this. How can this beautiful temple the place of worship of all of Israel be destroyed? But it did, less than 40 years later, when in 70AD the Romans ransacked Jerusalem, killed hundreds of thousands of Jews and tore down the Temple.
Ladies and Gentlemen, just like that old way of growing tulips, we have come full circle from doves to lambs to Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior
The old way is gone because there is a new way, a better way. Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life nobody comes to the father but through me.
He is the light of the world
Let the spirit of God descend upon our heart.
Here is the Good News, we are all sinners and we are all welcome in the Kingdom Of God
Jesus said: If you come to me, I will in no way, turn you away.
Once we surrender and accept him into our life, he will transform us.
Jesus died for our sins, and he gives, life eternal to all who trust in him and accept him as Lord and Savoir
Amen
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