04022015 Maundy Thursday - Knot - Jesus Christ is our connection!

Sermon Audio

April 2, 2015

Jesus Christ is our connection!

Truly humble Lord, You stooped at the feet of the disciples and washed them.  Your demonstration was not about what they could do, but a clear demonstration of Your willingness to seek, serve and save all of mankind.  When we hold our Salvation Bracelet, may we be reminded of Your willingness to insure we are never separated from You, when we hold the last knot of the bracelet.  For Your sacrifice was for all of mankind, including each of us gathered here this Maundy Thursday evening.  AMEN.

As a parent, one of the hardest things for me to undo that Sarah has done is a knot.  Whether in her shoes, her hair or especially her head phones she uses with her Leap Pad or even her Kindle.  Like most kids she has a clear talent to make the knot tight and not easy to separate apart.

Tonight, on this Holy of Nights that we celebrate Jesus Christ institution of the Lord’s Supper, we contemplate the second of two knots on our Salvation Bracelet.  The first knot, was a reminder that we are planned by God and He has a purpose for each of our lives.  And that purpose is for His Glory to be fulfilled by and through our lives.  The second knot in one sense completes the set and the thought.  We through our understanding of the Salvation Bracelet have no separation from God.  Consider Jesus words promised to each of us His children, “I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”  Concisely in this passage Jesus Christ promises that we will not be separated from Him.  In essence Christ is our connection!

Let me unpack “Jesus Christ is our connection!”  If you think about rings and even about the Salvation Bracelet that tells the Story of Salvation, a ring and the bracelet form a circle.  Just as God’s Love has no beginning nor end, we through God’s love of each of us are forever connected to Jesus Christ.  For Jesus Christ in His sacrifice is connected to each of us through our baptism into His life, death and resurrection.  We are forever not just connected, but intertwined into the fabric of salvation history.  The knot we have tonight binds not only the Salvation Bracelet together, but connects each of us in such a specific way for all of us to be brought closer to Jesus Christ.

For the Salvation Bracelet not only tells the story of salvation, but specifically what Jesus Christ came to earth to accomplish on Calvary for all of mankind of His death on the Cross.  And these knots tied for these bracelets are special.  They have the ability to make the bracelet fit for both men and women with small or large wrists.  So to the offer Jesus Christ makes is a one size fits all in our connection with Him.  Jesus Christ is our connection not only with the sacrament we share this evening that He instituted, but also with and for all of mankind for all of time.  Jesus Christ is our connection offered to each of us of life and salvation by His death on the Cross of Calvary.  For the amount nor the depravity of the sin matters for what Jesus Christ offers each of us.  Jesus Christ is our connection and His offer covers all of our sin.

Jesus Christ is our connection and offers us the greatest gifts of grace without cost, without equal and all tied up by the last knot of our salvation bracelet.  For Jesus Christ is freely offering us the greatest gift and show of His love for all of mankind.  This last knot of the salvation bracelet not only ties the bracelet together, but connects and shows the length Jesus Christ is willing to go to offer us salvation.  And this final knot isn’t just tying up a loose end, but it is a poignant reminder of Jesus offer of salvation that brings the conclusion of salvation history.  For Jesus Christ is our connection that binds us and connects us with the events of all of salvation history which point to and find ultimate resolution on the Cross of Calvary for all of mankind.  Including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel tonight that believe we are bound with this last knot of the salvation bracelet that believe “Jesus Christ is our connection!”  AMEN.

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02252015 Wednesday of Lent 1 - Knot

Sermon Audio

February 25, 2015

It’s all in the knot

Creator of Heaven and earth, from the beginning of the universe, You knew what would occur.  From Your divine vantage point, everything You created had a purpose.  May we truly understand that not only are Your hand prints all over creation, but they are all over each of us gathered here during our Lenten Journey exploring the Salvation Bracelet.  For it tells the story of our salvation by Your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ.  AMEN.

Tonight, we encounter, not a bead, but a knot.  Unlike the knots we have in our hair, shoe laces or electrical cords, the knot we encounter tonight has a divine purpose.  God in His infinite wisdom, knowledge and foresight tied a knot in the wrinkle of time in order for each of us to not only enter into creation, but be with Him in His Kingdom.

You see God not only had a divine purpose, but God planned for each and every one of us to be born, live a life and even when we will die.  Paul in Colossians 1:16 says it well, “16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.”  Paul’s words clearly apply to each of us that not only call ourselves human, but especially Christian.  God from the beginning of time not only created the heavens and the earth from nothing, but made each of us gathered here this evening.

We are not only the apple of God’s eye, but that which God created.  Just as the knot serves the purpose to hold the beads together on a length of cord in a circle to form a bracelet, God has a divine plan for each of us gathered here.  Each and every one of us wants to clearly know and understand our purpose in life. For some this is even more of a challenge.  Specifically for those who have lived a full life and their bodies are failing them, whether eye sight, hands, legs and sadly, but especially the mind.  When I visit Good Samaritan or Wheat Ridge, I encounter individuals who are at this point in their lives.  They wonder what God has in store for them?  Do they serve any useful purpose now?  Some are angry for being left in the home by family members, others are troubled because nobody comes and visits them or cares for them in the way they want.  Each of them is in desperate need of hearing the truth from God from not only me the Pastor, but especially we the people of God that God still cares for them.  This message for them and for each of us gathered here tonight is simply in the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In the Gospel of Jesus Christ the salvation story like we can explain from the salvation bracelet is like a loose end that is tied into a perfect knot.  The knot is that God sent His Son Jesus Christ to hold us up and hold us together.  Jesus Christ is the knot that keeps us together and we share this with others through the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  God’s message has a clearly defined purpose to give hope to the downtrodden to uplift those down in the spirit that seem to have no hope and especially for we who gather here tonight as His children.

The salvation bracelet our Lenten series is based upon wouldn’t be a bracelet without a knot.  So to the Gospel of Jesus Christ would not offer salvation nor have the importance or impact without Jesus Christ as the perfect knot that ties it all together.  Just as Jesus Christ came into the world to set the world free, so to Jesus Christ came to be our sacrifice and live the life we could not live.  Just as a knot can hold two strands of cord together, Jesus Christ holds onto us His children, you and me and offers us the gift of eternal life.  Jesus Christ offer is a divine fulfillment of God’s plan and offer made for all of mankind.  It is this offer that God offers us through the plan of salvation fulfilled by Jesus Christ the perfect knot.

This same purpose and plan we are a part of with our baptism into Jesus Christ life, death and resurrection and we are tied into salvation history.  God offers us this out of His great love for us, not for a select few, but for all of mankind.  We who gather here this evening are invited into this special knot and can be tied into the greatest knot of living history, that of Jesus Christ.  For this gift of grace is tied together in the perfect knot for all of mankind, but especially including each and every one of us gathered here tonight to hear about the first knot of the salvation bracelet of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  AMEN.

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