Brian's Sermons

When I was a little boy growing up in church, we learned the steps to becoming a Christian. We learned that we first had to realize that we were sinners, confess our sin, repent of our sin, get baptized, and live-the-Christian-life. The last step was always said as almost an afterthought; the focus was to get us in the door. I left children’s church thinking that it would be easy to live the Christian life. If you’ve been here for long, especially if you attend our 11 service, you have doubtlessly heard Jesus’ words repeated: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ” (Matthew 11:28). These are words from Jesus himself, and they are true, and they go hand in hand with my early understanding that it was easy for adults to live the Christian life. Some of you are new along this journey and you might still be under the illusion that it’s easy for the rest of us. After all, you might only know us all from Sunday mornings, when we all look our best and wh...

Over the past few weeks, we have been asking the question “Why?” We first tackled the little question of the meaning of life: we were made to bring God glory.   Everything about us is meant for that purpose, to extend to God the central position in everything.   We revolve around God, not the other way around.   So last week, when we asked the question, “Why the church?” we have to remember that the church’s purpose is to bring God glory.   Everything we do should bring God glory.   Anything else is missing the mark. This comes in handy when we consider this week’s question: Why did Jesus have to die?   This is a very good question, and it gets to the heart of our entire belief system.   One way of putting this question is this: If God is so good, why doesn’t he just forgive?   To ask God to simply look the other way, like a kindly grandfather tsking “boys will be boys” would be to ask God to be someone who he is not.   God is just.   ...

Last week we asked the big question “Why?” and came to the conclusion that the reason for everything is to bring God glory.   Remember that glory means weight, weightiness, or gravity.   We revolve around God, not the other way around. When the Apostle Paul writes to the church in Corinth, he tells them whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31).   So when we look at the church, we have to realize that the reason for our existence as an institution is to bring God glory.   The church is never about us. Our ultimate goal isn’t fellowship or even growth or learning or worship – these are all means to the same end; to bring God glory.   It reminds me of a business where I saw a sign that says “Safety is our top priority.” Or another that claimed something similar about customer service.   Those aren’t really true. Making money is their top priority, and they realize that if they keep safe and serve their customers, they will make ...

It started on his third birthday.   He immediately went from regular conversations to asking “why?” Everything was “why?” Many of us promised ourselves we would never use those old lines our parents used, but it didn’t take long until one of my mom’s favorites popped into my head: “because I’m the Mom and I said so.”   It can be frustrating to constantly answer the “why” question, especially as the parent of a toddler or when the question is simply a means to undermine authority (asking the police officer why the speed limit isn’t 75 in the school zone where you were pulled over is hardly profitable).   But in all honesty, it’s our job to ask why.   If we don’t evaluate, asking the “why?” questions behind what’s going on, we’re in bad shape. In the 1960s Yale psychologist Stanley Millgram conducted a famous series of experiments.   In these experiments, volunteers were instructed to give shocks when the test subjects got answers wrong.   In reality, the ...