James Earl Massey Preaching Award Service.

A sermon for Racial Reconciliation Sunday

Being ashamed of my brother or sister is a means of blunting my obligation to them. To be unashamed of the Gospel is to be obligated to my brother and sister.

God came in Christ to take on your story and live it back to you. One thing that does is it removes our shame. You may believe that no one can understand your pain, your hurt, your rejection, your experience of being overlooked, ignored, betrayed, misunderstood, suspected and falsely accused, but your story has been written in heaven, inscribed into the hands and the feet of the Son of God

God came in Christ to take on your story and live it back to you. One thing that does is it removes our shame. You may believe that no one can understand your pain, your hurt, your rejection, your experience of being overlooked, ignored, betrayed, misunderstood, suspected and falsely accused, but your story has been written in heaven, inscribed into the hands and the feet of the Son of God

The hope of Moses that all God’s People would be prophets (Numbers 11:29) becomes a promise Joel 2. Certain things need be in place for the Spirit of God to rest upon His people. The Holy Spirit must dwell in a Holy Temple, so Ezekiel 36 describes a New Covenant were God’s people are called, gathered, cleansed, clothed, and consecrated. This outpouring of the Spirit could not happen until after the Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus.

We are not all equally strong. Our resources wax and wane. We may lose our eyesight, or our legs, or our memory. This is where covenants are at their best- where I am strong, I care for you, where you are strong you care for me. It is never about who has more or who has less. It is not about equality, it is about love and commitment. A contract says, “lets split it down the middle.” A covenant says, “Everything I am and have is to benefit you.”

Like Moses and the people we must choose between the LORD and our idols. When we are confronted by the Presence of God we will either turn against our idols or turn against the LORD. For the religious leaders- Jesus was the presence of God come near. His light revealed our idols. He confronted our worship of security, autonomy, pleasure, and materialism. When we could take it no longer we crucified Him. We were far more committed to idolatry than we were to reality. The disciples’...

As a rule of self-giving love, the Perfect Priest must be willing to be the perfect sacrifice. As in the Law of Sin, to give the best offering, we sinners would first need to love in a way to which we are resistant- or to hate that offering and the threat of It’s perfect goodness.

As a rule of self-giving love, the Perfect Priest must be willing to be the perfect sacrifice. As in the Law of Sin, to give the best offering, we sinners would first need to love in a way to which we are resistant- or to hate that offering and the threat of It’s perfect goodness.