Liberti Church Carrara Sermons

If Jesus is God, then He must be treasured above all else. And yet, if Jesus is God–in–the–flesh, He can be trusted above anyone else. He is not disconnected from our humanity. He is not a stranger to our suffering. He is near. This is the miracle of Christmas: Jesus is God with us.

Everyone is looking for salvation somewhere. Everyone is building their identity on something. To be a Christian, is to live in the freedom of no longer being defined by our best day or our worst, what we do or what we've done, what we've achieved or what we have. Christmas is the celebration of the Almighty God coming into human history in the person of Jesus Christ to adopt us into His family. To restore us to our true identity: children of God. To know God as 'Father.' As Aloysius of Gonzaga said, "It is better to be a child of God than king of the whole world!”

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” The more we feel the weight of the darkness in our world and in our hearts, the more we will rejoice in the life and light that Jesus shines into the darkness. This is the hope that we have this Christmas Season.

Reading the Word is not an optional additive for the Christian, it must be the cause of our delight! We see in Psalm 1 that the blessed life is found in delighting in the law of the Lord and meditating on it day and night; not to empty the mind, but to fill it with God’s truths. The Rhythm of dwelling in God’s Word is critical for understanding what Jesus has already accomplished for us.

The New Testament knows nothing of a ‘personal-Christianity’ that is not also a ‘participational-Christianity.’ While Jesus saves His people from sin, He also saves us into His family. The shared life of God’s people under God’s Word serves as an assault on our self-centredness, a guard against sin’s deceitfulness, a fuel for the long haul, and a demonstration of the gospel.

Christians are a ‘sent’ people. Jesus did not give His followers a ‘Great Suggestion,’ but the Great Commission. Gossiping the gospel and making disciples are the normal rhythms of life for every local church and every follower of Jesus. Because God is a missionary-God, His people share in His missionary-nature.

Generosity is the normal, worshipful overflow of people who have received the grace of God. To the degree we see Christ losing His life for us, money and possessions will lose their grip on our hearts. When the gospel informs our worldview, our attitude changes from “What can I spare?” to “What will it take?”

Jesus modelled a pattern of life where he withdrew from the noise of the crowds, to be alone with His Father. The rhythms of silence and solitude are essential to living fruitfully as a Christian. Solitude is not merely being alone; it is being alone with God. Silence is not merely the absence of speaking; it is listening to God. In our frenetic, busy world we need to heed God’s gracious invitation to be still, and know that He is God.

The weekly worship gathering is a gift to the local church. God’s people are called to gather together in worship of Him. In this regular rhythm we enter the story of the gospel as we are captured by God’s mighty works and marvellous worth. As we rehearse the gospel regularly and personally, we find that our affections and actions are reformed into the image of Christ. This is a rhythm our souls need in order to weather the rival liturgies we are exposed to weekly. Worship really matters. It’s about ascribing worth to God; it’s a whole life posture towards glorifying God as utmost in our life. If we don’t get worship right, we slip into sin and idolatry.

While most of us know that fasting is in the bible, not many of us know if Christians should practice it today. Throughout the Old and New testament we find that fasting was a common practice among God’s people. While fasting is not commanded in the New Testament, it is expected, based on Jesus' words in Matthew. Through fasting we seek intimacy with him, humility before him, and eager expectation for his return. Fasting helps us overcome our self-dependence and love of comfort as we learn that our food is to do the will of God.

Right now at this present moment, every single Christian is as close to God as they want to be. God has given His people rhythms of grace (also known as spiritual disciplines), through which they grow in holiness, strengthen their faith, and deepen their joy in Him. God has called His people to a life of prayer, where they enjoy His presence and receive His power. Through Jesus, we have the Father’s ear. And He loves to hear our voice.

Self-righteousness is an enemy of the gospel and compassionate mission. While self-righteousness isolates us into comfortable religious ghettos, compassion propels us toward the mess and brokenness of our world. As the story of Jonah comes to an intriguing close, we see God’s surprising grace visit both the rebellious and the religious alike. We will only ever enjoy God and become compassionate like Him, to the extent we remember His compassion toward us through Jesus.

Jonah might potentially be the worst missionary in history. Yet he finally (and reluctantly) surrenders to God’s call, and an entire city experiences revival. Christians are not called to live safe, but to live sent. To be effective witnesses in our own generation, we need to hold two truths in tension: 1) Salvation belongs to the Lord, and 2) God will accomplish His plan through the participation of His people.

Jonah is the story of a merciful God to a merciless man. Chapter 2 is marked less by comedy and more by humility. Jonah’s experience in the water brings him to the end of himself, and it’s in this dilemma that he calls out to God for deliverance. We learn that God’s grace not only humbles us but also rescues us, as it brings us low in order to lift us up.

Jonah is the story of a merciful God to a merciless man; a tale of God’s surprising grace on the backdrop of a rather amusing story. We find our anti-hero Jonah not only running from God but also from his calling. Throughout the comedy that we read in Jonah 1, we find that Jonah is in fact reading us; revealing in us the ways that we withhold mercy from others. God not only deals with the wickedness out there, but also within us, and He does this with His relentless pursuing grace.

In times of prosperity, God’s people often are tempted toward spiritual apathy. And spiritual apathy often ends in spiritual adultery. God turns the life of Hosea into a living parable to show us His side of the story when it comes to the ugliness of our sin and the relentlessness of His love. At it’s essence, the story of Hosea shows us that Christianity is not primarily about our pursuit of God, but God’s pursuit of us through Jesus Christ.

While Samson might be best known for his strength, he was fatally flawed in many ways. His path was to become a judge and deliver Israel, yet he often found himself drifting off track. He found love in all the wrong places, often being led by his heart instead of the Lord; and his life culminated with a final act of sacrifice to avenge the Philistines. It turns out that Samson’s greatest strength also proved to be his greatest weakness. This story invites us to see God’s faithfulness to a flawed person, and a word of caution for us to remain on track.

In the life of Joshua, we see remarkable courage for God and trust in God, both of which were grounded in God’s promises to be with him. In the presence of God we discover how small we truly are, as well as the strength we most deeply need. Jesus is not our co-pilot. He is our Captain. And He is with us.

God loves to accomplish His perfect work, through imperfect people who put their trust in Him. In the story of Joseph we meet a man who was able to persevere through hardships, disappointments, and injustices, because he knew God was with him; despite what his circumstances said. Suffering is never wanted, but it doesn’t have to be wasted. How differently would you approach life, if you knew with absolute certainty that God was right in the middle of the mess with you, providentially leveraging every trial for your good?

The church was afforded a brief moment of peace with the conversion of Saul. Rather than coasting through this time, they continued to walk in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit. The relative peace we experience today often leads to fearing the wrong things and looking for comfort in the wrong places. Our response is to learn to walk in the fear of the Lord and lean into the comfort of the Spirit. By God’s grace we will not only see the church built up but also built out, edified and multiplied.