True Identity - 01/31/2021
Call to worship:
L: The works of God endure forever!
P: Great are they, and greatly to be praised.
L: Our God is the God of quail and manna,
P: Our God is the God of the fiery pillar,
L: Our God is the God of the prophet’s mountain,
P: Our God is the God of the promised land.
A: Faithful and just ate the works of heaven! Come, let our praise endure forever! Come, let us sing to the Lord our God!
Opening Hymn: God Hath Spoken by the Prophets #108
1 God hath spoken by the prophets,
spoken the unchanging Word,
each from age to age proclaiming,
God the One, the righteous Lord!
'Mid the world's despair and turmoil,
one firm anchor holdeth fast:
God eternal reigns forever,
God the first, and God the last.
2 God hath spoken by Christ Jesus,
Christ, the everlasting Son;
brightness of the Father's glory,
with the Father ever one;
spoken by the Word incarnate,
God of God, ere time was born;
Light of Light, to earth descending,
Christ, as God in human form.
3 God yet speaketh by the Spirit,
speaketh to our hearts again;
in the agelong Word expounding
God's own message, now as then.
Thru the rise and fall of nations,
one sure faith yet standing fast,
God abides, the Word unchanging,
God the first, and God the last.
God the first, and God the last.
Opening Prayer:
O God, whose essence is greater than anything we can sense, know us. Know us not in the way that a fact is known, but in the way that we are known by a beloved.
Know us, O God, and we shall know you. In our neighbors we shall see you; in our neighbors we shall love you. We shall love and see and come to know that you are no idol whose life must be manufactured for the many. Rather, you are the One God, through whose life the many are made, through whose life the many are made one.
Epistle Reading: 1 Corinthians 8: 1-13
Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2 Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; 3 but anyone who loves God is known by him.
4 Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “no idol in the world really exists,” and that “there is no God but one.” 5 Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords— 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
7 It is not everyone, however, who has this knowledge. Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 “Food will not bring us close to God.” We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. 9 But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols? 11 So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed. 12 But when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall.
Children's Sermon (video)
Hymn: Christ is the World’s Light #188
1 Christ is the world's light, Christ and none other;
born in our darkness, he became our brother.
If we have seen him, we have seen the Father:
Glory to God on high!
2 Christ is the world's peace, Christ and none other;
no one can serve him and despise another.
Who else unites us, one in God the Father?
Glory to God on high!
3 Christ is the world's life, Christ and none other;
sold once for silver, murdered here, our brother;
he, who redeems us, reigns with God the Father:
Glory to God on high!
4 Give God the glory, God and none other;
give God the glory, Spirit, Son, and Father;
give God the glory, God with us, my brother:
Glory to God on high!
Prayer of Dedication:
Source and Sovereign, Rock and Cloud, Fortress, Fountain, Shelter, Light, Judge, Defender, Mercy, Might, Life whose life all life endowed: May the church at prayer recall that no single name but the truth behind them all is the God whom we proclaim.
O God, you are what we call you, yet you are beyond what mere words can say. Let us be ever mindful of you in all contexts and name you above all names. Amen.
Gospel Reading: Mark 1: 21-28
21 They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. 22 They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23 Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24 and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28 At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.
Sermon Title: True identity (video)
“There are some men who become proud and insolent because they ride a fine horse, wear a feather in their hat, or are dressed in a fine suit of clothes. Who does not see the folly of this? If there be any glory in such things, the glory belongs to the horse, the bird and the tailor.”
This quote from Saint Francis de Sales has struck a chord in me every time I have the opportunity to read it. But I always want to add to it by saying that the glory really belongs to God who designed the horse and made the bird and gave the talent to the tailor.
In the passage that we read from Mark today, we are hearing about Jesus as he hits the ground running in his ministry. He has come to the Synagogue to teach and to teach with authority, because He not only knows the scriptures, He has quite literally lived them. And the people are amazed at the wisdom with which Jesus teaches. The authority in how He teaches is not arrogant, but has true power behind it. It has the true power of true identity.
Jesus is the Messiah, He is God, He is the Holy Spirit. And thusly, He not only teaches, but also acts. When the man with the “unclean spirit” comes in and challenges Jesus, He confronts the demon within the man and demanded that it obey and come out of the man.
Part of this was because Jesus was endeavoring to silence the demon as well. The demon knew exactly who and what Jesus was and called Him out. But because it was not yet time for Jesus’ true identity to be revealed to the whole world, He silenced the demon and forced it to exit the man, which it did, kicking and screaming of course.
Now imagine if this scene played out in our church today. Joe, from down the street, walks into the church as the minister is talking and says that he knows who the minister is, that he or she is the Holy One of God, and then challenges them. Then the minister, without missing a beat, tells Joe and whatever is inside of him to be silent and to exit, and then Joe kind of falls to the floor after some sort of seizure. Needless to say, it wouldn’t be your average worship service.
I can assure you that it wasn’t the regular at that time either. So after all of this happens, people talk. Some are afraid, others are amazed, all are wondering just exactly what was it that they just witnessed and they are thinking, “wow, this guy can give orders to demons and they obey. Is he or she God or the devil?”
And then Jesus, despite his instructions for the demon to be silent, is instantly famous, and His fame spreads throughout the surrounding region.
One possible theory for the “wish to maintain secrecy in the Gospel of Mark is to counter any claim that Jesus was seeking to be famous. Fame comes to Him despite His best efforts at anonymity, not because He encourages others to talk about His deeds.
Whatever meaning we may place on it, it was not time for Jesus to be completely out in the open about His true identity quite yet and so He did what needed to be done without tooting His own horn.
Jesus’ true identity was with Him in everything He did and everywhere He went. There was no denying it. The lesson that we can take away from this is that while we go out and spread the Good News of Jesus Christ, we don’t have to throw it in people’s faces and demand that we are somehow better because we know the secret. Rather, we should share the message with kind words and loving gestures so that all the world can know that we are followers of Jesus because of our love. So go out and show your true identity of being a Christian.
Amen.
Closing Hymn: Blest Be the Tie That Binds #5571. Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love; the fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above. 2. Before our Father's throne we pour our ardent prayers; our fears, our hopes, our aims are one, our comforts and our cares.
3. We share each other's woes, our mutual burdens bear; and often for each other flows the sympathizing tear.
4. When we asunder part, it gives us inward pain; but we shall still be joined in heart, and hope to meet again.
