A Promise for a New Day

Februarry 25, 2018 Modern Promises of God Romans 4:13-25 Second Sunday of Lent Children’s time Getting Stronger Every Day Romans 4:1-25 Exegetical Aim: We grow strong in our faith as we give glory to God. Props: A feather, a rock, a dictionary, a chair, and a heavy table. Have the objects placed on the table, except for the chair. Lesson: Which one of you is the strongest? (response) Let’s see who is the strongest. I’ve got some things for us to lift. I’m going to start us off with this. Who thinks that they can lift this feather? (response) Choose the smallest child. So you think you can lift this feather? Let’s see you do it. Be careful! Don’t hurt yourself. As the child picks up the feather: That’s great! Okay, you can lift a feather! But I don’t believe any of you can lift this rock. (response) Repeat the challenge with the appropriately sized children for the dictionary and the chair. After the chair, proceed to the table. We do have some strong people here. You even lifted the chair. Not everyone can do that. But there’s one more thing. Who thinks that they can lift this table? (response) Choose the strongest child and instruct him or her to lift one leg of the table off the ground. Wow! That’s a heavy table. To lift that table leg takes a lot of strength. How did you get to be so strong? (response) Eating right, exercising, working hard, and playing are all ways to make our muscles real strong. Application: We now know that you have strong bodies. Let me ask: Are you strong in faith? (response) The Bible says that there was a man named Abraham who always believed God no matter what happened. That means he had a lot of faith. And do you know how he became strong in faith? (response)In the book of Romans it says that Abraham became strong in faith, as he believed God. In other words, the more he trusted what God told him the stronger he became in faith. Eat right and exercise so your bodies will be strong, but remember to trust in God so that your faith might grow strong. Let’s Pray: Dear Father, we praise you today and ask you to make our faith stronger. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., Children's Sermons, by Brett Blair Romans 4:13-25 Common English Bible (CEB) Abraham’s promise is received through faith 13 The promise to Abraham and to his descendants, that he would inherit the world, didn’t come through the Law but through the righteousness that comes from faith. 14 If they inherit because of the Law, then faith has no effect and the promise has been canceled. 15 The Law brings about wrath. But when there isn’t any law, there isn’t any violation of the law. 16 That’s why the inheritance comes through faith, so that it will be on the basis of God’s grace. In that way, the promise is secure for all of Abraham’s descendants, not just for those who are related by Law but also for those who are related by the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all of us. 17 As it is written: I have appointed you to be the father of many nations.[a] So Abraham is our father in the eyes of God in whom he had faith, the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that don’t exist into existence. 18 When it was beyond hope, he had faith in the hope that he would become the father of many nations, in keeping with the promise God spoke to him: That’s how many descendants you will have.[b] 19 Without losing faith, Abraham, who was nearly 100 years old, took into account his own body, which was as good as dead, and Sarah’s womb, which was dead. 20 He didn’t hesitate with a lack of faith in God’s promise, but he grew strong in faith and gave glory to God.21 He was fully convinced that God was able to do what he promised.22 Therefore, it was credited to him as righteousness. 23 But the scripture that says it was credited to him[c] wasn’t written only for Abraham’s sake. 24 It was written also for our sake, because it is going to be credited to us too. It will be credited to those of us who have faith in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was handed over because of our mistakes, and he was raised to meet the requirements of righteousness for us. Footnotes: a. Romans 4:17 Gen 17:5 b. Romans 4:18 Gen 15:5 c. Romans 4:23 Gen 15:6 Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible Lent is the time for us to look at our lives and our relationship with God. So I wanted to pass out a special gift to remember our relationship with God. All of our scriptures are important this week. Mark says for us to take up our cross and follow Jesus. So I wanted to make sure everyone had a cross to keep in your pocket, wallet, or somewhere where it will remind you daily of the gift of Jesus. As we enter into lent, I want to tell you about the importance of a very special word – a word that we have all heard, but today I want us to think about what it really means. That word is Hallelujah – praise God. During the season of lent, many churches honor the tradition of hiding the hallelujah’s until Easter. True Lenten music, which we don’t really hear lot because it is so slow and depressing. And you will never hear a hallelujah. Until Easter – Easter music is very upbeat, loud and fast and uplifting- and the way to tell a true Easter song is that it will have lots of hallelujah in it. When I was in Oak Park, I would argue with my music director who was raised catholic. She would insist that we had to hide the hallelujah for lent, and I would tell her that we couldn’t take away the hallelujah during a recession, because some people needed their hallelujahs. You see there is a difference between a jewish hallelujah and a Christian Hallelujah. Hallelujah - hallelu means praise and jah means God. I don’t know if you all are familiar with the popular song by Leonard Cohen – hallelujah. There is a line in there where he is talking about Samuel – and he says she tied you to the kitchen chair, she cut your hair and you said the hallelujah. In the jewish understanding – hallelujah is what you say when you are at the end of your rope, you have lost everything, and you have nothing else to say or do – but say hallelujah. Or praise God anyhow. The Lord giveth, the lord taketh away – blessed be the name of the Lord. A muslim would say allahu akbar meaning God is greater. Allahu means praise God Akbar means greater. You see Hallelujah is a victory cry in the midst of battle. For the Jews and the Muslims, You cry hallelujah before giving up, to show that you may have lost – but God always wins. - Our victory is always in God, because of God and the name of God is to be lifted up in the midst of all circumstances. That is why as Christians we save our hallelujahs for Easter. Our victory is in the resurrection of Christ. Christ overcame all of our troubles by overcoming death. Hallelujah – praise God. If you look in the hymnal there is a song from India called Jaya Ho - it is a victory song. Claiming victory in God. Even they used the name of Jah – God. During lent we praise God in spite of our problems, when Easter comes we will claim victory over our circumstances I want to point out one thing in our scripture today – it is about Abraham and Sarah. God made a promise to them that they would have descendants as numerous as the sun. considering the fact that sarah was 90 years old when God made that promise – she was faithful, but not very confident it would happen. When the victory in God happens and they become parents both she and Abraham changed their names to show their new roles in life. What we may not realize is that God also changed God’s name as God’s role changed amongst the people. Early Israelites would have known God as Elohim. Mothers named their children after attributes of God such as Israel, Michael, Gabriel. But as the Israelites became unified as a people, and became aware of other people and other gods, and wanted others to know that their God was stronger and kept them together. God changed God’s name to Jehovah – or Jah. That is why Mary named her baby Jah shua – meaning Jah saves instead of Elisha meaning El saves. Jesus is the latin derivative of Joshua. Elijah ‘s mom thought she would cover both bases and give her baby both names of God. So when we say Hallelu Jah – we give praises to Jah. So when Easter comes – we will all be running up and down the isles shouting hallelujah! Or maybe not, we are still Methodist. But I wanted you to know what we mean when we say hallelujah. We praise God – we claim victory in the resurrection of Christ. But in the meantime, on this second Sunday of lent let us remember the promises of God. God will make a way out of no way, God will open doors that are closed, God can bring life out of death. There was a lady who lived in a nursing home, and at 80 years old she kept telling her nurse that she was expecting a baby. Of course the nurse dismissed her and paid her no mind, there was no way a woman that old could have a baby. One day her granddaughter came to visit with her newborn daughter. The woman asked to be taken in her wheelchair throughout the halls with the baby. She wanted to tell everyone that she had had her baby – that god has kept god’s promise. God made the impossible possible. God did it for her, God did it for Abraham and Sarah, God did it for Christ, surely God will do it for us. And when that day comes – we can shout hallelujah – praise God. Amen. Hiding the Hallelujah Many of the white churches have a tradition, that for lent, you are supposed to hide the alleluia for lent. Alleluia is just the Greek version of hallelujah, since they don’t pronounce an H at the beginning of a word, and there is no y, so Jah is spelled with an I. Alleluia is a victory cry- when we cry alleluia or hallelujah – we are saying that Jesus Christ is our victory over sin and death. The thought is, that in lent, there is no victory, and there is no triumphant Christ. So we are supposed to hide the alleluias until Easter, and then fervently bring them back again on Easter morning. Lenten music is naturally slow and sad, and liturgical music – music that is intentionally written for the season – has no alleluia’s in it, and churches go through this elaborate rituals on the first Sunday of lent in order to put the alleluia in a box and bury them so that they won’t be said in church. Interestingly, I have never been in a church that formally hid their alleluias. In my last church, my church musician and I used to fight constantly every lent, being that she was raised in the Catholic Church she would insist that I had to hide the alleluia’s. And I would tell her that during a recession, we can’t take hallelujah from people. What is the use of asking people who are already suffering, to suffer more by suppressing their alleluias? The Difference between a lent hallelujah and a easter hallelujah Besides, there is a big difference between a lent hallelujah and a Easter hallelujah. There is a big difference between a Jewish hallelujah and an Easter alleluia. (I ended up firing my musician, but that was because she was the church accountant- not because of our differences, we fought about everything). Hallelujah – I just think that is a wonderful song, all by itself. What a beautiful word. But why did the Israelites say that word – hallelu jah – praise God? The Jehovah names of God Lately, we have been talking about the names of God. Your English bible will intentionally make it easy for you, and anywhere God’s name is mentioned – they will refer to God as God. But in the original Hebrew bible, God had many names, coming from many traditions. The name I have focused on is Jehovah. Jehovah is a Christian pronunciation of the sacred 4 letters of God’s name. A Jewish person would never say Jehovah, because they believe that it is not man’s place to call God by name. But I am using Jehovah because there is a tradition of using the names of Jehovah. I counted about 50 different Jehovah names for God in the Old Testament. Examples of some: in Gen. 22 – Jehovah Jireh – God my provider – psalm 3:3 Jehovah kabodhi – The Lord is my glory, in 1 Chronicles 29 – Jehovah Nissi – the lord is my banner; in psalm 19 – Jehovah Tsori – the lord is my strength. Isaiah 5:3 Jehovah Rophe – God is a healer, Isaiah 9:6 – Jehovah shalom – the lord is my peace. God is all of those things to us. But here is the thing, the reality is that in a world of sin there are no provisions, people are hungry. There is no glory- people are struggle, there is no strength, no healing, and no peace. So you can’t use those names. All that you have is jah – just plain God. No attributes, no names. Just God in his most basic plain form. And yet still worthy to be praised. When life has stripped you of everything, when you have lost your peace, your strength, your shield, your armor – the one thing that no one can take away from you, not even the devil – is your praise God, your hallelujah. Hallelujah is your battle cry in times of despair. A Muslim would say – allahu Akbar – God is greater! They say it for many reasons, but we hear it when they are protesting – or killing someone on behalf of God. It is as if they have given up all hope of peace in a sinful world – and they praise God as they give up the ghost. Except our god says that thou salt not kill, and that there is never a reason to kill yourself if indeed God is greater. Hallelujah is your cry – which I may be defeated, that in a sinful world I may pass away – but God will never fail. And as a child of God – my life, my victory, my well being is centered around God – and not me. If you look at the Methodist hymnal – there is a song Jaya Ho – from India. Even the Hindus use praise God as a victory cry. Even the rocks will cry out You see, my thing is, even if the Catholics, and the Lutherans, the Methodist and the Presbyterians refuse to say hallelujah, it really doesn’t matter – because my Pentecostal cousins are always going to say praise the Lord. They may not say it to me, but every time they great one another they say praise the lord – so that is every day – even in lent. And it really doesn’t matter, because if the Pentecostal forget one day to day praise the lord – the bible says that God doesn’t need man to say hallelujah, because if we forget, that even the rocks will cry out – and say hallelujah. God is the creator of all things – and worthy to be praised. Even in a sinful world. But for Christians – our great victory cry comes on Easter morning – When Christ rose from the dead – he conquered all of our enemies – the devil, sin, death, sickness, disease, hunger, hatred. On Easter morning, we won’t have to cry hallelujah in a time of despair – but in a time of joy and celebration. When Jesus wins, if my life, my hope, my faith is centered in God – I win. We win. Invitation to christ I want to pass out these nails for us to keep with us during lent. The nail is a reminder that we still live in a world of sin. But it is also a reminder that the Jesus went to the cross for us once and for all – so that sin, our sin and others does not have to bury us alive. God is always with us, and whatever stands in the way can be nailed to the cross. The rest of scripture reminds us that in baptism we die with Christ, in baptism we rise with Christ. In our commitment to Christ- we share in Christ victory. This is your chance to claim the victory.