Word of Life Church Podcast

If there’s a secret to making progress as a Christian pilgrim, it’s this: When following Jesus gets hard and discouraging and confusing—and it will!—just don’t quit, but keep on pressing on.

The modern adage goes, "I'm not religious, but I'm spiritual." But what does that mean and where does it come from? The modern contempt for religion doesn't come from Jesus and the Apostles, it comes from the likes of Voltaire and Nietzsche. Jesus was religious. Throughout his life Jesus engaged in religious practices. Religion is essential to spiritual formation. If we hope to be formed as Christian people we can't leave it up to vague notions of abstract spirituality, instead we need the practices and disciplines that belong to the received wisdom of the Christian religion.

The Christian life is a journey, a pilgrimage. It's not a static state of being, but a call to follow Jesus. The point of the journey is not so much where we're going, but what we're becoming. Jesus didn't say, "Follow me and I will take you..." Jesus said, "Follow me and I will make you..."

In the fifth century BC Ezra led Jerusalem in a revival of fidelity to the Torah by exhorting those who had married Samaritan women to divorce them and send them away along with their children. But what happens if we invite Jesus into the story? Things change. Jesus never used the word grace, but his whole life was an embodiment of grace. Jesus embodied the grace of God by always making room at the table for the excluded other.

Zechariah is the prophet of the comeback. Israel had been on a long losing streak. A divided kingdom, a civil war, corrupt kings and priests, Israel conquered by Assyria, Judah conquered by Babylon, and worst of all, the Temple of God destroyed. It's under these bleak conditions that Zechariah dares to prophesy of a comeback for Israel. Not only will the Temple be rebuilt, but Israel's true king will come to Jerusalem. This king won't ride the warhorse; he'll enter Jerusalem on the peace donkey. But Zechariah also prophesies that the Peaceable King will be the Pierced King.

God's people were living in exile in Babylon. The world around them had grown dark. No light. No temple. No Sabbath. No God. No hope. Into this dark cloud of despair comes a word from elsewhere from Isaiah of the Exile. He brings a word of comfort, a word of encouragement -- the God of Israel was coming to rescue and save.Isaiah poetic word of prophecy was filled with seven themes:1. God is creator. (Is. 40:28-31)2. Israel is God’s servant. (Is. 43:10-11)3. Idolatry is stupid. (Is. 44:9, 14-19) 4. Israel has sinned and thus suffered. (Is. 48:3-5) 5. God is compassionate. (Is. 49:13-18)6. God’s messenger is coming. (Is. 52:7-8, 13-15; 53:1-9)7. New creation awaits. (Is. 65:17-25)In this we see the gospel in miniature.

We live in a secular age with this consensus, the way things are is the way things will be. In this secular age, there is little room for dreaming. Dreams are seen as the practice of children, but what if we could learn to dream again? What new possibilities might open up before us as we embrace this sacred practice of the imagination. From the dreams of Isaiah to the visions of John the Revelator, we are invited to join in the long history of sacred dreaming.

The story of Jeremiah is a tragedy -- a tragedy that foreshadows the tragedy and suffering of Christ. Jeremiah, like Jesus, lived and preached in a tragic time as Jerusalem hurdled toward destruction. Like Jesus, Jeremiah protested the Temple, was arrested, and publicly scourged. Jeremiah described himself as a lamb led to the slaughter. But Jeremiah also prophesied of a better day built upon a New Covenant. In the life of Jeremiah we see the tragic elements of the gospel story, but we also find echoes of hope, because in Christ no story is left as a tragedy.

Tucked away in the middle of the often bleak and sometimes scathing Minor Prophets we find a comedy: The book of Jonah. This reluctant prophet turns out to be the most successful evangelist in the Old Testament. But how it happened is funny. When God calls Jonah to travel five hundred miles East and preach to Israel’s despised enemies the Ninevites, Jonah buys a ticket on a ship sailing two thousand miles West! In his flight from God, Jonah accidentally converts a ship full of heathen sailors, is swallowed by a whale, and is finally spit out on the shores of Nineveh. After Jonah’s bleak doomsday sermon everyone in the great city of Nineveh repents. Even the animals repent and don garments of mourning. Imagine cats and dogs, cows and pigs wearing burlap to show sorrow for their sin. Yes, this is a comedy. What we find in the dramatic comedy of Jonah is an Old Testament theology of mercy — a theology that will eventually find full expression in the life and teaching of Jesus.

Isaiah of Jerusalem gave us three of the most important Messianic songs of salvation -- The Immanuel Song, The Prince of Peace Song, The Lion and Lamb Song. These songs all find their fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth as he brings God's presence, God's peace, and God's kingdom.