Deliver Us to Believe That Evil Is Crushed (Matt. 6:13) + Sunday, September 16 w/ South End Neighborhood Church

When was the last time you personally felt the need to be delivered from evil? When was the last time you prayed for the world to be delivered from evil?

" ... There's a storm out on life's ocean and it's moving this old way. If your soul's not anchored in Jesus, you will surely drift away. ... " + Liz Vice, "Drift Away"

Homily Scripture | Matthew 6:13

| 1 | The Cry “Deliver Us” is Both a Personal and a Public Cry

If you asked someone at the "Help!" stage of praying what the good news might be, they would probably say, "The only good news I'm interested in is getting out of this mess!" That's perfectly all right. That is how people often begin. Deliver us is often the first prayer of any person. + N.T. Wright, Simply Good News (Praying the Good News of the Lord's Prayer)

If we open the Gospel in the latest edition of the Italian episcopal conference, we read, "do not abandon us to temptation." It is not God who tosses into temptation in order to see how I fall. A father does not do this. A father helps his child get up right away. The meaning of our prayer is, "When Satan leads me into temptation, please God, give me your hand." In a prison parish the biggest temptation with which Satan tries to seduce the heart every morning is to whisper, "Give up. … it's all a waste of time." To despair, for me, means to stop looking at the face of Christ. It is also true, however, that when I am tempted I realize how much grace God has given me in my heart. Perhaps I would not have become aware of this if I had not been tempted. Where I come from, they always say that no on can boast of being chaste if he has never been tempted. Recognize the grace that when we are tempted, we actually know its temptation. + Pope Francis, Our Father (Reflections on the Lord's Prayer)

| 2 | The Cry “Deliver Us” is Heard on the Battlefield of Life

Prayer does not ask that we never experience evil; that would be praying to live in some other world than this world we live in. The prayer is rather that we may be delivered. We pray that we may be upheld by God's presence and power in such a way that those things that would undo us cannot undo us. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou are with me ... " (Psalm 23:4). + Anna Case-Winters, "How Shall We Pray? Ethical Implications of the Lord's Prayer"

| 3 | The Cry “Deliver Us” Will Be Completely Answered “Yes” for Eternity

There is temptation to doubt whether God's reign will come and God's will be done on earth. When will that be? What is the delay? Where is God? What is God waiting for? There is temptation to doubt whether we may really receive the grace of God's forgiveness. There is temptation to withhold forgiveness from others even thought it is incumbent upon us as forgiven sinners. It is a temptation to doubt the presence and power of God to "deliver us from evil." + Anna Case-Winters, "How Shall We Pray? Ethical Implications of the Lord's Prayer"

In the end, in fact, evil will be removed and eliminated. At the time of the harvest, meaning the judgment, the reapers will carry out the master's orders, separating the weeds in order to burn them (Matthew 13:30). On that day of the final harvest the judge will be Jesus, he who sowed the good wheat in the world and himself became a "grain of wheat," died and rose again. + Pope Francis, Our Father (Reflections on the Lord's Prayer)

Homily Christian Practice Questions:

+ Take time to listen to, "Deliver Us," from The Prince of Egypt (video and lyrics included). How does this song resonate with your personal and public cry for deliverance? 

+ What seeds of despair in your life need to die in order that hope can be resurrected in Christ?

+ Would you consider praying regularly the "Our Father" or "Lord's Prayer" as a revolutionary desiring Prince of Peace's Kingdom to break in now? 

Questions as You Consider Jesus

Are you curious? Consider asking someone a question or two about Jesus and Christian spirituality even if you don't believe.

Are you open? Consider your emotional and spiritual needs, and step into asking if Jesus can meet them and help you.

Are you searching? Consider exploring more about Jesus even if you are not sure who He is; example: "If I could ask Jesus one honest question that would help me trust Him, what would I ask?"

Are you beginning to believe? Consider how your life would be transformed if you followed Jesus. Ask God to help you understand the Good News that through Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, He is restoring everything sin has ruined in your life and in the world.

What a Friend We Have in Jesus

Jospeh M. Scriven, 1855 A.D. 

What a Friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Can we find a friend so faithful

Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy-laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge—
Take it to the Lord in prayer;
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer;
In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,
Thou wilt find a solace there.

Reckless Love
Bethel Music, 2017 A.D.

Before I spoke a word,
You were singing over me.
You have been so, so good to me.
Before I took a breath,
You breathed Your life in me.
You have been so, so kind to me.

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending
Reckless love of God!
It chases me down,
Fights 'til I'm found,
Leaves the ninety-nine!
I couldn't earn it, and
I don't deserve it,
Still You give Yourself away!
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending
Reckless love of God!

When I was your foe,
Still Your love fought for me.
You have been so, so good to me.
When I felt no worth,
You paid it all for me.
You have been so, so kind to me.
(Chorus)

There's no shadow You won't light up,
Mountain You won't climb up,
Coming after me!
There's no wall You won't kick down,
Lie You won't tear down,
Coming after me!
(Chorus)

Come Thou Fount
Robert Robinson, 1758. A.D.

Come Thou fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace.
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above.
I'll praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it;
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer
Hither by Thy help I come.
And I hope by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wandering from the fold of God.
He, to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee!
Prone to wander Lord I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love!
Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above!

Benediction 

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. + Ephesians 3:14-21

Next sermon audio and liturgy: Saturate Series | Jesus Christ Is All

Christ is all,

Rev. Mike "Sully" Sullivan

Email Pastor Mike | Website | Visit Us | Support Us | Facebook Us

The Story of God | Sacrifice and Atonement

The Bible Project | Sacrifice and Atonement: A very powerful symbol of God's justice and grace

Recent posts on overviews of the Story of God found in the Bible: 

The Story of God, the World, and You | Our World Belongs to God | Creation, Crisis, Covenant, Christ, Church, (New) Creation | Jesus as the "True and Better" One | The Messiah | The Covenants | Heaven and Earth | God's Holiness | God's Multi-Ethnic Family | Hell 

For this post, I'm including a video and the manuscript for an Animated Explanation of Sacrifice and Atonement by Tim Mackie and Jon Collins via The Bible Project, a wonderful new and free video series on YouTube.

Animated Explanation of Sacrifice and Atonement by The Bible Project

Produced by Tim Mackie and Jon Collins

We all long for the world to be good, for people to live in peace, and act in love and justice. But there's a problem. Something compels us humans to constantly wreak havoc and destruction instead. And we call this, "evil." 

From the Bible's point of view, evil ruins things in two ways: (1) There's a direct effect of our evil. Like when someone steals from another person, they've created injustice. Therefore, they owe something to make it right. (2) But there's another indirect effect of evil because they've also ruined the environment of the relationship, creating a lack of trust. There's emotional damage. It's like vandalism. And they need to make that right, too. 

Now many people believe, hey, God is good. He should be the One to get rid of all the evil in the world. But let's be honest, the evil I see everywhere out there, it's the same evil inside of me. We have all contributed and we keep doing it. So this kind of puts us in a bind. If God is going to rid the world of evil, He'll have to get rid of us. 

And this is what's so remarkable about the story of the Bible. This God is so good that not only is He going to rid the world of evil, He's going to do it without destroying all of humanity. So how is He going to do that? Early in the story of the Bible, we're introduced to this practice of animal sacrifice, which I know, seems weird to us. But for the Israelites, it was a very powerful symbol of God's justice and of His grace. 

So remember, I'm a contributor to the evil that's in the world. I should be removed. But God is allowing this animal's life to be a substitute. It's symbolically dying in my place. The biblical word for this is atonement, which means to cover over someone's debt. 

But there's a second part to this ritual. Remember that evil also causes this relational vandalism. And in the Bible, this idea is described as polluting and defiling the land and making it unclean. So the priest would symbolically wash away the vandalism by sprinkling the animal's blood in different parts of the temple. So the animal's blood is cleaning things? Remember this is a symbol, and it's a symbol we're not used to. The blood represents life. The sprinkling of the blood is the representation of how God is cleaning away these indirect consequences of evil in their community. In the Bible this process is called purification. So the temple and the land now become clean space where God and His people can live together in peace. 

So this ritual makes things right between Israel and God. And more than that, the Israelites experience God's love and His grace through these symbols. And by being forgiven, ideally this would compel them to become people of love and grace, too. That's the ideal, but it wasn't always happening. 

So the prophet Isaiah talks a lot about this. He opens his book by saying that the continual sacrifices of the Israelites have become meaningless because they were also allowing great evil in their midst. Ignoring the poor and the oppressed. Even the Israelite kings were distorting justice. But Isaiah looked forward to the day when a new king in the line of David would come and deal with evil, but in a surprising way. The king would become a servant. And not just serve, but also suffer and die for the evil committed by his own people. And his life would be offered as a sacrifice. 

This is the promise Jesus believed He was fulfilling. He's the king of Israel suffering and dying on a cross. In fact, Jesus Himself used Isaiah's words when He said He came to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. And that word "ransom" refers to a sacrifice of atonement. And so all over the New Testament we hear about how Jesus' death was an atoning sacrifice for us. It covered the debt that humans owe God for contributing to all of the evil and death in His world. But the New Testament authors also talk about Jesus' death providing purification. And so we hear about Jesus' blood as a symbol of His life, having the ability to wash away the vandalism that evil has caused in us and around us so we can now live at peace with God. So that's the meaning behind Jesus' death.

But there's more to the story. The New Testament makes this powerful claim that Jesus' death was not final. He rose from the dead. And so He's the sacrifice who broke the power of death and evil, which means He lives on to offer His life to anyone who will accept it. He is the perfect sacrifice for which all the previous sacrifices were pointing to all along. So because of Jesus, the early Christians stopped participating in the ritual animal sacrifice. They were given new rituals. There were two Jesus' taught His followers to perform. 

The first ritual is called baptism. Just as Jesus died, so going into the water becomes this personal connection you now have to His death. And in coming out of the water, you, so to speak, come back to life with Jesus. The baptism is this sacred ritual that joins your story with Jesus' death and resurrection. 

The second ritual is called the Lord's Supper, which is a reenactment of Jesus' last meal with His disciples. He used bread and wine as a symbol of His coming death and sacrifice. And so now followers of Jesus take the bread and the cup regularly to remember and to participate in the power of Jesus' death and in His life. 

So these rituals remind us of God's love and encourage us to live a life of love and grace. But they do more than that. They connect us to a new life source. The very power that brought Jesus back from the dead is the same power that can deal with the evil in our own lives and transform us into people who lead lives of love and peace. 

Next post: The Story of God | The Law

– Sully

Email Pastor Mike | Facebook Us | Join Us | Support Us