Soma Spokane Sermons

Jesus uses an officials desire to have his son healed in order to meet the true need of his soul.

Jesus strategically travels through Samaria to find a lone Samaritan woman at an isolated well. Their small talk quickly moves from physical thirst to shameful sins and deep desires. Jesus unflinchingly dismantles her sin, as he did Nicodemus’ self-righteousness, in order to heal her heart, call her into his Kingdom, and at the same time sets the record straight in regards to locations and cultural preferences for worship. This woman, the bad samaritan, is paradoxically sought out by Jesus and becomes one of the first evangelists, leading many Samaritans to proclaim Jesus as Savior of the World.

John 2.23-25 tells us that Jesus “knew what was in man” and therefore he didn’t “entrust himself to them.” Jesus’ encounters over the next few chapters - Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, a Gentile official, the lame man at Bethesda - all make clear Jesus’ penetrating insight into human motivations. In John 3, Nicodemus, a Pharisee and ruler of the Jews, comes to Jesus at night, and gets his world flipped upside down. Jesus challenges his narrow understanding of God’s kingdom, reveals the evil of his religious striving, and proclaims a way of salvation so simple that it utterly baffles Nicodemus. But it is in this context of rebuke and challenge that Jesus gives us the most timeless summation of his mission: In deep affection for the world, God gave his Son, opening the kingdom of God for all who believe, now and forevermore. How will we respond?

John continues to paint a picture of the extraordinary and unpredictable ministry of the Messiah. Jesus lived most of his life in a place of poor reputation, quiet until he steps into focus, calls some unlikely disciples, and begins to minister in unconventional ways in offbeat places. In our text this week, Jesus gives a small-town wedding a miraculous abundance of really good wine and in a fit or holy zeal cleanses the temple of an unjust marketplace. He sets the tone for his ministry & kingdom: finding the lost and disrupting the religious, offering belief in his name to everyone without partiality, putting his glory on display for the excluded.

John begins his eyewitness account of the life and ministry of Jesus with a massive claim: in Jesus of Nazareth, the uncreated Creator, the God who formed all things and holds them together, showed the world what he is really like. It is a massive claim! And his first move, his first step toward revealing himself, is to gather a group of followers - unlikely and unpromising! - and invite them to “come and see” who he is and what he came to do. Here is a basic description of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus: to submit to him, learn who he is, and believe what he came to do, together.

What is the object of our belief? Is it the same as the readers of John? How do we grow the weight of our belief? John presents us with an object of belief that is different than we currently have. If our belief is in this God that is presented here, we will get to watch our lives and world change.

As we wrap up our 5-part series on having a sustained hope in hard times, we look at Habakkuk's resolve to rejoice in the Lord, come what may. Hope isn't something we accidentally fall into; it must be fought for and cultivated. This is especially true of our 5th key to hope, rejoicing. In the bible, joy is not an emotion that comes and goes based on circumstances; it is a moral imperative, a command we must obey in all circumstances. How can we fight for hope-filled joy when life is hard?

As we continue to move through this time of uncertainty, filled with many reasons for sorrow and despair, we're looking to the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk for keys on how to live with hope. In chapter 3, Habakkuk crafts a poetic prayer which he intends for corporate worship. In worship we recount God's faithfulness in the past and his power to save his people, and we bring it into our current moment. Key 4 to hope in hard times is worshiping - remembering, singing, and praying.

We have found ourselves in a season of uncertainty, and it is difficult to discern what is ahead of us in the coming weeks - we could be in a season of hardships of various capacities for some time (or not!). So we're looking at Habakkuk and asking, How can we have hope in these hard times? After voicing his complaints to God, and then waiting on him in silence, Habakkuk hears God speak. God sees the evil of the world, and he is fully intent on bringing justice, renewing the world, and restoring all that has been lost, and these words are meant to reorient us to God's sovereignty over the unfolding of history. And though all this may not happen for some time, we are called to trust God's promise, turn from our idols, and live by faith. The third key to Hope in Hard Times is Anchoring - putting our hope fully in God and his Story of Justice and Glory.

After laying his complaints before God, Habakkuk grows quiet. He's not satisfied with God's answer, but he's not using that as an excuse to give up on God. Instead, he chooses to continue to seek God, carving out time and space to wait on God, listen for him to speak, and linger in his presence. Key to Hope #2 is to learn to Wait on God, shifting attention away from our circumstances and uncertainties to the God who is both present and speaking.

Before we move to Habakkuk 2, we're pausing for a morning of lament. Lament is a biblical category of prayer which acknowledges the distance between what God intended the world to be and what it is now, pleading with God to intervene. The classic formulation of lament is, "How long, O Lord," and we see Habakkuk doing this in chapter 1. In light of a number of current injustices in our nation and the way Covid-19 is exacerbating them, we join with the faithful saints throughout the ages and across the globe in praying, "How long, O Lord?!"

Hope is about having solid ground to stand on when your world is crumbling. Hope is what gives us strength to weather the storms, an inner sturdiness that acts as an anchor for our soul. What we need in hard times is a true hope, a real hope - not wishful thinking or blind faith - but real, solid, sturdy hope. Ironically, the first Key to Hope in Hard Times is Questioning God, learning to express the difficulties, trials, and hardships, and wrestling with the God of grace.

animation in this video is from "Overview: Habakkuk", copyright 2016 by BibleProject and is visible at www.bibleproject.com.

For your sake the Holy Spirit was given. Fight to want that Holy Spirit.