Message: Collins/WH January 3, 2010
Living the Christian Year Wk. 2 of Christmas
2Cor.6:14-18 ANNO DOMINI: In the year of our lord 2010
Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. 2Cor. 6:17
Intro: CRANKSHAFT by Tom Batiuk & Chuck Ayers
After Christmas, there is a need to be different.
- Very quickly do we turn away from Christmas & organize our lives … … … around calendars that forget God!
- It becomes New Year’s Day, Super Bowl Sunday, March Madness, MLB Opening Day, Memorial Day & Labor Day, & the 1st Day of New Sch.Yr.
- Is there any other way to tell time? THERE IS!
I
In a post-Christian culture, there is some advantage, both for personal devotion & our witness in the world, in recapturing the practice, first begun in the ancient church, of telling time and living life around the calendar of the Christian year.
- The Christian Year organizes time around rhythms in the life of Jesus & … His gospel & attaches names to the seasons.
- Instead of simply Winter, Spring, Summer & Fall – It’s Advent, Epiphany … Lent, Easter, & Pentecost – each wither their corresponding days of … … fasting & feasting.
What if … in the midst of communities & cultures telling time according to the Championship game or the next federally mandated day off from work, there was a sub group of people fasting & feasting around a different calendar and living
ANNO DOMINI – IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD, 2010.
It is into that calendar that I invite you to live for the purposes of your soul’s health & our Christian witness in 2010.
II After Christmas, there is/need to be different
- Not different in/way we look … … … necessarily, or in/foods we eat, … or any other superficial manner.
- But different in/ values we live by, … the priorities we measure our lives against; the goals that are worth … … giving our lives for, – for ours is a salvation from sin & from sinning, … according to the name given the child born in Bethlehem i.e. “Jesus”
Out of the general population, Jesus is calling a people “Come follow me” & be different.
- Survey’s reveal that the modern church has trouble being different, not … different in what we say we believe, but in living what we believe, … … but so did the ancient church.
- Paul the Apostle’s correspondence to the Corinthian Christians is full of … commands for the courage to be different: Quoting Script. from OT
2CO 6:17 "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."
2CO 6:18 "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."
- He speaks to Christian believes in Corinth, a city in ancient world with a … culture known for its moral breakdown; Writing in his first … … … … letter/them, he describes the culture of Corinth:
1CO 6:9: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders [10] nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. [11] And that is what some of you were. [How would you like to live in a culture that facilitated that like of living? And once you got out of it,… was a constant threat to pull you back into it whether directly or indirectly? Say: Pastor – we do!
- “Culture” – is the shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that … … characterize a group of people & a whole nation.
- Culture – is shaped by government decisions; Hollywood hits; the … … … seduction of Sports; & the pluralism of the public school system. [Together they shape the attitudes, values, goals and practices that characterize us as a people & nation]
From within the general population & culture, Jesus is calling a people to “Come Follow Me” & be different! How? Live by another set of attitudes, values, goals, & practices & so be a sub-culture of your own within the other culture; Live counter to the culture around you.
BLONDIE BY Dean Young & Sean Drake
How do we realize we’ve been living in the wrong place, working the wrong priorities, been pressed into the mold of a culture/forgets God?
III What shapes/attitudes, values, priorities, & practices of a Christian sub-culture?
- The Commandments of our God summarized in famous list of 10
- The Great Commandment & New Commandment of Jesus, & the ethical … imperatives of His own Sermon on the Mt.
How do we live as a sub-culture within the culture around us?
- We’ll need to pray with passion.
- We’ll need to study Scripture & meet w/God.
- We’ll need to re-gather for worship faithfully.
- We’ll need to share life in a sm. gp. for support.
- We’ll need to live within a different time zone.
In a post-Christian culture, there is some advantage, both for personal devotion & our witness in the world, in recapturing the practice, first begun in the ancient church, of telling time and living life around the calendar of the Christian year.
God has told His-story in time; He stepped into time in the person of His Son, whose story was written & continues to be written, & as people who follow Him, we see the story of our lives within Him & His story.
- The Christian Year organizes time around rhythms in the life of Jesus & … His gospel & attaches names to the seasons.– each wither their … … … corresponding days of fasting & feasting.
Today is the 2nd Sunday of Christmas… [& we have not hurried off to a calendar … … year that forgets God] … & we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Name:
"Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. [31] You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. Lk.1:31
[Y]ou are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. Matt.1:21
Therefore God exalted him …and gave him the name that is above every name,… at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth Phil.2:9-10
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Ps.8:1
The Word who spoke the world into being is assigned a linguistic configuration of sounds and symbols within that world. He is named Jesus. The Word becomes flesh. The divine takes on the human. The ineffable [He who can’t be named] is named. This is the mystery of the incarnation. Bobby Gross. Living the Christian Year. pg. 78
Closing: Paul speaks to the Corinthian Christians in their culture
2CO 6:17 "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."
1CO 6:9: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders [10] nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. [11] And that is what some of you were …
But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Out of the general population they had heard Jesus say “Come Follow Me” & be different, …& thru repentant faith in the Gospel of the one named Jesus who saves people from sinning, … their life story had been caught up in His story.
- Has that happened to you? Do you need to repent & come to a faith in … … Jesus that follows Him? Do so today?
- Do you need to live differently? Do so this year! The Power of God/help … you thru the HS who will live in you.
This year I challenge you to deliberately live … … … … counterculturaly within a different calendar.
This year I challenge you to live:
ANNO DOMINI: IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD – 2010.
Christianity Today 2009 12 pg.52