SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good morning. As I said, my name is Vernon, and we're in the middle of a series called that I'm calling Behold the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God. Gazing at the beauty of Jesus through the Gospel of John. And if you remember from last week, does anybody remember what beauty is? How I defined beauty. Pulling it out. Beauty. I like the way that Thomas Aquinas defines it. It's that which causes joy or happiness or satisfaction. It's something that stirs within us when we see it. When we see it. It's what, and in Jesus in particular, we're gazing at the beauty of Jesus. So for this next 10 weeks, that's really what we're focusing on. Who is Jesus? The beauty of Jesus. What does he look like? And what does he do? And in that, the hope is that it stirs joy, satisfaction, and happiness. But before we get into the sermon today, I just wanted to kind of walk through where the where the where are we at as a church and what's our vision going forward? What is our vision? Where are we going for? Been here two and a half months, and I feel like we're slowly getting things situated, settled, and we have kind of a vision. But I just wanted to kind of diagram what that looks like, where we're at, where I hope we go, just to kind of as an as a way of an intro, just to get everybody on the same page where we're at, where we're going. I mean, there's really three pillars that as a church I'm I'm hoping that we press into. And it's that we would be a committed people committed in worship. Committed in worship. Committed in worship. I can see it perfectly. Formed into the character of Christ. This is harder than it's hard to write from top down. Formed into the character of Christ, sent in the power of the Spirit. So really there's three kind of components of what I'm hoping for. One is that we would be a people of worship. Two, we would be a people formed, and three, we would be a people sent. And they're all a little bit overwhelm overlapping. But just starting with the worship and from the message last week that beauty is what causes us joy, satisfaction, or enjoyment when seen. And sin is confusing or misconstruing beauty. Remember, we talked about, we looked at Satan. What was his sin? He misconstrued beauty. What we talked about from Romans. What was the beginning of sin? We misconstrued beauty. We began to worship worship the creature instead of the creation or creator. So losing sight of God. And Jesus is the source and summation of all beauty. So when we see the beauty of God, the beauty of Jesus, our response is worship. The joy, pleasure, satisfaction, and love and longing that we internally experience. When we see the true beauty of God, we worship. And I consider the worship part just our Sunday mornings. Well, same color. Sunday mornings. Worship part is Sunday mornings. And so we're slowly kind of organizing and getting a little bit more situated in that Sunday mornings will just be a moment of worship where we can we can reflect on Jesus, the beauty of Jesus, proclaim Jesus, celebrate his salvation, his goodness, his grace, his mercy, his kindness, here's nearness. Sunday mornings, and we're focusing on worship. Formation is really where I see all these different groups that are forming. People do groups in a lot of different ways in church. For us, we want to be formed into the like-mindedness of Christ, the like-mindedness of Christ. If you remember from Philippians, right, Paul says he only has Timothy who's like-minded, which is a bizarre statement. Only has Timothy who's like-minded, potentially referring back to calling us all to be exactly like mind-minded to Christ. That we would think exactly like he did in all of his humility, and that his humility is actually our standard of maturity, nothing less. Our standard of maturity is his true humility. And the groups that we're forming, I'm really just hoping that they will be for our formation into the like-mindedness of Christ. A lot of people churches do groups in a lot of different ways. For us, in doing men's groups, regeneration, um, any other group that we do, the young adults group, the hope is that we're forming into the like-mindedness of Christ. And the third part is that we would be a sent people or mobilized and mobilized into our community. And we I kind of mentioned it last week. If there's currently on a Sunday morning, 5% of the community, maybe 3% in a church, that's a whole lot of people out there. That's a whole lot of people out there, and we're currently hoping and waiting, and we're inviting for Easter and other times, but we're generally as a church waiting. Maybe some one of them will come one day. We might get one. Really, for us as a church, I just hope and I prayer the vision is that we would be mobilized, we would be sent, we would go into the community where the people are. The people aren't here, the people are there. And so going into the community, we're not going to sit here and only wait for them to come. We are going to go to them. And this is the whole idea of the community center. And center. The reason I bring it up is the hope again for we'll we'll talk about it after the service, but you know, I've I've had several questions. Of one, why are we doing all these groups? Two, why are we kind of structuring Sunday mornings the way we are? And three, why would we have this community center? Like, what is the point of that? And really the whole vision of that, the whole idea of that, which we'll explain more later after the service, is that we are going out to where the people are. We want to go to where the people are and live out incarnationally the love of God that He has changed us, He has transformed us. So we're gonna go to the people. It's kind of a preview of after the service 10 minutes. We'll kind of go through this in more detail as well as the budget. And but but that's just the general kind of gist of what we're going for. We want to be a people of worship, a people formed into the likeness of Christ. We're not just doing group groups just to have like friendships. We want to be formed in the likeness of Christ, and we're gonna be sent into the community with the power of God where the people are. We want to go to the people, we want to interact with the people. And with that, I will pray and then we will get started. But I read this quote this last week, and I felt like it summarized well what the hope is. Jonathan Wesley. Jon Wesley, do all the good you can by all the means you can, and all the ways you can, at all the times that you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can. That's what we're going for. Jonathan, what do we say our motto was last week? At the beginning of the service. We want to downhill. Think downhill. Send it. We want to send it, right? And I said every book I've ever read of people that I want to be like, like a John Wesley, they all live the same way. They sent it. This is basically John Wesley saying this that we that we should send it. The cost is too high, the opportunity in Christ too great to sit at home. So we're gonna send it. With that, I'll pray and then we will get started. But Lord Jesus, we do just thank you, God, for this community here. Lord, we thank you that you form us into just a people of worship. Lord, just um give us the clarity and the vision this morning that, Lord, we would know your beauty. We would celebrate your beauty, we would see your beauty, we would just enjoy, and our hearts would be full of happiness and gladness. Um, that you are truly good. It is amazing who you are, Lord. It's we worship you because you're worthy of our worship. So just give us a glimpse this morning of who you are and all your beauty. And Lord, that we would just be enthralled in that and sent in that, Lord, just to the community to this town, to Gunnison. We just thank you, Lord. Amen. Well, today we're in John chapter two and three, and we're talking about how Jesus is holy and approachable. He is holy and approachable. And we'll start with the second part that Jesus is approachable. Jesus is approachable, and we'll be in John chapter 2, verses 1 and 3, or 1 through 3, and I will read. On the third day, a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, They have no more wine. They have no more wine. Mary approached Jesus in faith with a simple need, and it wasn't even her direct need, and it doesn't even seem all that important of a need. It's hard to wrap our minds that this could potentially be remotely, eternally significant. The party is going good, right? And they run out of wine. They're drinking the wine they have no more. It's hard to imagine that this is not just an everyday request in ordinary life. Mary presented Jesus with an ordinary need in an ordinary life, and he responded, Jesus said to the servants, verse seven, fill the jars with water. So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet. They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine, and he did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, Everyone brings out the choice wine first, and then the cheap wine, after the guests have had too much to drink, but you have saved the best until now. When I say Jesus is approachable, it is shocking to me. I think it should be shocking to all of us. He lived in the midst of an ordinary people, operating in an ordinary life of work, learning, and obedience. And the amazing thing about Jesus, here in this situation of a normal wedding, and in a need that doesn't seem all that eternally significant, he responds to meet the need in the ordinary. Jesus is approachable and he meets us in the ordinary. There's a quote from Tim Chester that I read this last week. I really liked. Meals, journeys, homes, these are the places where Jesus conducted his ministry. Weddings. The Spirit of God has been given to us so that the routine is filled with God's presence. We can pray without ceasing, not by being always on our knees, but by living in each moment for God in the presence of God. We live in the ordinary, and Jesus meets us in the ordinary. And reflecting on it, I that that the quote kind of struck me, because I'm one of those who does chase the extraordinary. I want to be moved by some new quote, by some new book, by some new song, that something in me I'm like incredibly moved and awakened and excited. And I was reflecting, well, why do I miss God in the ordinary? Of just the situations of gathering around last night, of round a table, talking to ordinary people, yesterday having coffee with a guy, just having ordinary conversation. Why do I tend to sometimes miss God in the ordinary? And I kind of came to two conclusions. I think sometimes God is too big for our big boring, or we think God is too big for our boring. In Matthew chapter 10, the little kids were being brought to Jesus. People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. But the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant, he was mad, he was upset. He said to them, No, let the little children come to me. Do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. And just reflecting, I felt like I'm mostly often just like the disciples, thinking that we have much more important matters to deal with. We don't have time for the children. We need to plan big gatherings, we need to get bigger crowds, we need to meet with more important people. For us, it's maybe advancing our life or career or even our legacy, right? We're moving towards the extraordinary, the important things. We relate to the disciples, we're envisioning the bigger and bolder at all times. But Jesus is welcoming the children, never too busy for the ordinary and the simple. In fact, we only come to him as children. Because the only one who is going to be waking a king at three in the morning, much less the king of the universe, is a child. I know that sometimes for parents, this is probably what life feels like, right? Mom and dad, they're like, you know, worn out, passed out, baby's still there. Let's play, let's play time, right? Like, wake up, I got the toy. You know, and I I feel like in in some sense, you know, that there's a there's a quote that goes around that the days are long and the years are short. The days are long and the years are short, and it's this idea that we barely make it through the day. It's so busy, but the the the year is short and that that years go have to go by quickly, and we we can't really keep up, we can't keep track. Um, I feel like in some ways it's it's similar with God, where we just the days can be long, the years can be short, and we're less missing just the ordinary moments in between. So, why do we miss God? I think sometimes, one time we sometimes we think God is too big for our boring. Um, and secondly, we don't pause in the present. On Wednesday, um, Wednesday night, this verse came up of Psalm 46 to be still or cease striving, to stop what you are doing and know that I am God, and then He will be exalted among the nations, he will be exalted in the earth, in the busyness of life. This is often very difficult to stop, to be still, to cease striving, to stop talking. It's very hard, I think, for all of us to stop. So, how do we miss God in the ordinary? We don't, we're not stopping, but we also think God is too big for our boring. Do you miss God in the ordinary? Do you pause in the present? There's a quote from G.K. Chesterton that circles around sermons all the time, but it's one of his better quotes. It says, Grown up people are not strong enough to exalt in monotony. Those of us who are grown up, we none of us really have the ability to exalt in monotony. He's he's correct. But perhaps God is strong enough to exalt in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, do it again to the sun. And every evening, do it again to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all the daisies alike. It may be that God makes every daisy separately, but he has never gotten tired of making them. It may be that he has the eternal appetite of infancy of a child, the eternal appetite of a child, full of wonder continually. But we have sinned and grown old, and our father is younger than we. The repetition in nature may not be just a mere re-occurrence, it may actually be a theatrical encore. Do it again, do it again. Be remaining the wonder of a child where the ordinary or the mundane is still exciting, it's still joyful, it's still profound. We are the bore God is not too big for our boring, and we are pausing, stopping, ceasing in the moment to appreciate his goodness. Jesus is approachable, so he meets us in the ordinary, not generally in the extraordinary, in the ordinary of life. He is meeting us. Secondly, he reveals himself in the day-to-day. Verse 11. What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him. The first miracle is the is the lowest need of the needs that are throughout the New Testament, right? They just ran out of wine at this big party. The first miracle is Jesus converting water into wine, but it revealed his glory. And those who were paying attention in the ordinary, in the everyday, believed in him. They saw his glory, they knew his beauty. I like Lindsay's story of just, you know, she was in a shop yesterday talking to a lady, and in the conversation of the lady, it God's glory was being revealed of her of God speaking to her, of encouraging her, convincing her of like the joy of Jesus is her strength. Sometimes I think we can just miss what God is doing in the ordinary of our conversation, but Jesus will reveal his beauty in the day today if we're just paying attention. Secondly, Jesus is holy. I think sometimes it's easy to see Jesus is only approachable, he's only humble, he's only weak and meek, but he is also holy. When we call Jesus holy, it means primarily that he is completely otherly, he is infinitely superior. God's holiness is not just one of his attributes among many. His holiness informs all of his attributes. He is holy in his goodness, he is holy in his love, he is holy in his perfection, he is holy in his justice, in his righteousness, in his humility, and his beauty. I like the quote that I think we said it in prayer that no one truly ever encounters the holiness of God and remains unchanged. It's not possible to encounter the holiness of God and remain unchanged. Why? Because he is supremely superior. And when we see his beauty, his holiness in all of his attributes, we are moved to wonder. What does it mean that Jesus is holy? And we can't act our way back to God. Continuing John chapter 2. In the temple courts, he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. This is in the temple. They're selling cattle, sheep, and doves. Why? Because they needed the animals for the sacrifices, right? Others sitting at tables exchanging money, why? Because people are coming from around the world, right? And they're needing to buy the animals for the sacrifice. You can't travel with animals, it seems very practical. So he made a whip out of cords and drove all that drove all from the temple courts, both the sheep and the cattle. He scattered the coins and the money changers and overturned their tables. And to those who sold doves, he said, Get these out of here. Stop turning my father's house into a market. In Matthew, he said it's translated, My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a Den of robbers. I think sometimes this scene, at least for me, can feel harsh. You know, it feels unsympathetic. It feels the exact opposite of this approachable Jesus. It feels unrealistic, unreasonable, right? People are coming from the around the world to bring their sacrifices, and they need to buy the animals so they can so they can fulfill their sacrifices. They're trying hard and sacrificing their money, and it's costing them something to gain God's approval. Then there are others, this whole industry of people at the temple who they think they're actually serving the good cause, trying to help these travelers by providing the source of their sacrifice, and Jesus condemned it all aggressively. Again, it feels very the opposite of approachable, it feels very intense. I think what Jesus is getting at, we can't act our way back to a right place with God. When I was Isaiah saw Jesus, and the year King Uzziah died, he saw the seraphim. They're calling to one another, holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory. And at the sound of their voices, the doorposts and thresholds of the temple shook, and the temple was filled with smoke. Woe is me, I cried. I am ruined, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty. When Isaiah saw the Lord, he did not congratulate himself. I saw God. What was his response? He cried out, Woe is me. We tend to think of sin as small, but against an infinitely holy God, there is no small sin. The slightest sin is an act of defiance against the authority of God. It is cosmic treason because the Lord is holy. Jesus is holy. We can't act back toward God. And secondly, our behavior matters. In the temple, Jesus is aggressively recorrecting and rebuking, and he's not letting their waywardness go under the rug. Our behaviors matter. And James he writes, Submit yourself then to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. The first two instructions: submitting, subjecting ourselves, or really it's ordering ourselves rightly to God and coming near to him, they are actions concerning our relationship with God. Yes, God is approachable, but we submit and draw near. We seek after him, to love and long for him, to pursue him, we desire him. And just because he is approachable doesn't mean we automatically do. We enter through the narrow gate. The second two instructions address behavior. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Our hands being our actions and our hearts being our thoughts, we must be holy because he is holy. Our behavior matters. But though Jesus is perfectly holy, he is also infinitely approachable. He invites you, he invites me today to come to him. He invites us to come. Continuing chapter 3. Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council, the Sanhedrin. He came to Jesus at night and said, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him. Nicodemus, if you remember through John, in this case, he's coming in the middle of the night. Doesn't want anybody to know. He's coming with a question. First, he appears as a questioner to Jesus. Jesus answers his questions. Later in John, we see him as a defender. And then finally in John, at the end of after Jesus' death, we see him as a follower. In John chapter 7, Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier, which is what we just read, who is one of their own number, at some point he became a follower. Asked, Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing? He became a defender. After Jesus' death, he was accompanied by Nicodemus. This was Joseph of Arimathea, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night from John chapter 2. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds. He finally is declaring he is a genuine follower of Jesus, and Jesus invites us all to come. Those of us who come to him will not remain in hiding. Jesus is approachable, but will you come to him? Will you pause in the present to see him in the everyday life? Will you reproach, will you approach him today just in your ordinary experiences? This holy God is inviting us to come. And in closing, I just kind of I started with a vision for the church that we wanted to be consumed in worship of the beauty of God, formed into the like-mindness of the fullness of Christ, and mobilized into the community in the power of God. And that that this moment is urgent. As John John Wesley wrote, right? Everything we can do, we want to do. Why? Because the cost is too great. Eternity is too long. The opportunity is too amazing for them to know and live with God eternally. The holiness of God helps us bring it all into perspective. Bring this into perspective. I think a part of what does it mean that Jesus is holy? We read from John chapter 3, the world is condemned. I was in a Bible study with a group of guys at one point, and we were reading through John. We came to this conclusion. There's the John 3.16 Christian, the John 3.17 Christian, and the John 3.18 Christian. John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life, eternal life. The verse that's it's probably the most well-known verse in the world, really. And it that it's true. God loves us. God loves the world. And there's John 3.16, Christians. God loves us, He loves the world, He loves you. And there's a lot of us that that's where we stop. John 3.16. We're John 3.16, Christian. John 3.17, for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3.17, Christians, is that he did not come to condemn, but to save us. That it's not that he just loves the world, but he came to save the world. He came to save the world. There's an urgency, there's a desire, there's a hope that salvation is available, right? John 3.17, Christians. We want to go out, we want to see the world saved for Christ. There's John 3.18, Christians. Whoever believes in him is not condemned. Praise God. But whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. That is deeply profound. They're already condemned because God is holy. Now that will mobilize us with an urgency, an expectation, with the fervency of John Wesley, because it's such a serious moment, right? The world is already condemned. But there is opportunity in Jesus that though whoever believes in him is not condemned. It's somewhat troubling, but it is the truth. It is the world that we are surrounded by, our friends, neighbors, coworkers, baristas. The world is already condemned because he is holy. But he is made away. But whoever believes in him will not be condemned. William Booth was the founder of Salvation Army, which is still active today. He's another one of those guys. He sent it. Like, read his biography. He went for it with everything he was. He has this famous quote, too. He's just screaming, do something, do something, do something. While societies and governments are considering and resolving, the people are dying. The people are dying. I feel like in churches, he could have said the same thing. While we are considering and resolving, planning and predicting and holding back and trying to figure it out, and we are afraid or we're nervous or we're gonna we're gonna fail, we're gonna who knows what's gonna happen. William Booth is the types, the send it guy. He's jumping up and down. Hey guy, just do something. Just do something. Do something. The cost is too great. The world is already condemned. But those who believe in him will never be condemned. The opportunity for the world is profound in Christ, who is holy and approachable. The world is waiting to know, the world is yearning, wanting to know him. Beauty causes us joy or happiness or satisfaction when we see it. And Jesus, as we talked about last night, is the source and summation of all beauty. The source and summation of all beauty is Jesus. Our sin is us dislocating true beauty, right? And so throughout the next 10 weeks, we just want to continue to look at Jesus, that He is beautiful, worthy of our worship. And with that, I will pray. Well, Lord God, we do just thank you. Lord, for Lord, that you are beautiful. Lord, you are worthy of our worship. That Lord, you are incredibly approachable. Lord, you you're operating in the ordinary and the mundane. And Lord, you you give us this childlike faith to see and know just your beauty and our our basic everyday life, our ordinary conversations, Lord. I just pray that, Lord, we would feel that and see that. We would see you that this day, Lord, that you're present, you're active, you are near, Lord. It's not just in some just grand healing of some kind, but Lord, you operate in the in in the everyday, Lord. And at the same time, Lord, you are incredibly holy, Lord, that Lord, you are supremely um higher. And Lord, that just in that holiness, Lord, there's a a seriousness to to life. God, I just pray that Lord, we would just yeah, be faithful and follow in in James, Lord, that we would just yeah, purify and and more heart our hearts and our our hands, God, that um we walk faithfully just because you are faithful, Lord. We just thank you, Lord. Amen.