 In God’s timing, Jesus allowed himself to be arrested and crucified (Matt. 16:21; 20:18, 19). Because of the humiliation and brutality, the Romans rarely crucified other Romans except for treason or rebellion, and almost never women. After Jesus was whipped, beaten, and tortured he was nailed to a cross and hung there for six hours before he died. Before taking him down, a guard pierced his rib cage and heart to make sure he was dead (John 19:33, 34). God allowed a crucifixion, so death was certain to everyone. Joseph and Nicodemus took Jesus down from the cross, washed his bloody body, wrapped him in linen, put fragrant oils and spices on him and laid him in the tomb. Because Jesus was buried on Friday at sundown before the Jewish Passover (Saturday), no Jews were allowed to deal with dead bodies until sunup on Sunday. Sometimes, God allows the impossible to show what He can make possible! 

OrchardChurch.Life: Sermons

WHATEVER!

 1400 years earlier, the Israelites were delivered from Egypt by God putting to death the first-born of Egypt. To celebrate the deliverance, Israel held the Passover festival, which remembered when the angel of death ‘passed over’ Israelite houses covered by the blood of a lamb (Ex. 12:21-23). On his way to the festival, Jesus stopped with his disciples at the house of Lazarus in Bethany, about two miles east of Jerusalem. This was where he had previously raised him from the dead showing his power over life and death (John 11:25, 26, 38-44). Jesus has compassion as a man but has the power as God! From Bethany, Jesus sent his disciples to get a donkey at Bethphage to ride into Jerusalem to fulfill prophecy and display himself as Messiah-king (Zech. 9:9). God orchestrates history; it’s up to believers if they are going to participate! 

Palm Sunday—The King Enters His Kingdom

 In north Jerusalem, above the Temple, there was a pool called Bethesda, meaning ‘house of mercy’. The pool was possibly stirred by an angel who may have used the natural mineral properties to heal people or may have caused a miracle of healing. Sometimes healing is from natural processes and sometimes supernatural—God can use both. People laid under five covered porches waiting for the ‘stirring’ to occur. A man had been going there for 38 years with his infirmity (Gr. astheneia, ‘feeble, weak’). Passing by, Jesus goes to the pool to disrupt the man’s disability with mercy. God cares for us in our suffering. Both human ability and disability have a purpose. God’s desire is to be loving and merciful to us in our pain and to show us who we are through our pain (2 Cor. 12:6-10). 

DISRUPTED; pt. 23—Disruptions of Mercy

 After the nation of Israel split in two after Solomon’s reign, the Assyrians invaded the north in 722 BC (2 Kings 17:1-6). They exiled most of the Jews to Assyria and sent Assyrians to rule the land. As they intermarried with the Jews, their ‘half-breed’ children, known as ‘Samaritans’, were hated by southern kingdom Jews. As Jerusalem and the temple was in the south, the Samaritans were rejected, so they made a place of worship up north at Mt. Gerizim. The gospel fixes cultural prejudice (Gal. 3:27, 28). By Jesus’ day, three routes went north to Galilee; two went around and one went through Samaria. Jesus took the rarely travelled one and had to stop from thirst at a well near Sychar. Without anything to draw water, he waited for help. Even the limitless God had limits as a man. 

DISRUPTED; pt. 22—The Finder Disrupts the Lost

Peter grew up in a small town in northern Israel called Bethsaida and was named Simon at birth (John 1:44). Eventually, the family moved to Capernaum on the coast of Galilee and ran a fishing business. Like most young men, he got married and continued working in the same line of work as his father to support his family. A plan gives flesh to a purpose (Prov. 15:22; 16:3; 21:5). Simon was probably the oldest son and a strong, brash, outdoorsy man who often spoke before he thought. He was a hard worker and natural-born leader who was confident and aggressive. Better to have a direction to change than no direction at all!

DISRUPTED; pt. 20—Peter’s Life Gets Disrupted

Though God allowed the Philistines to rule over Israel from the south, Samson was raised up at Zorah, a town on the border, to thwart their oppression. Being an unkillable, one-man army, God used him in miraculous ways to show God’s strength. However, over the 20 years he was a Nazirite judge, he made foolish, arrogant choices like touching a dead animal, drinking wine, marrying a Philistine, having illicit sex with a prostitute and living with Delilah. Sometimes God’s choices can make stupid choices! After Delilah was bribed to learn the secret of his strength, he falls asleep on her lap and his head is shaved. After God leaves him, he is arrested, blinded, and put in prison in Gaza to be mocked and ridiculed (Judg. 16:20, 21). When our will isn’t God’s will, our will gives us ill!

DISRUPTED; pt. 19—The Mighty Falls

After judging Israel 20 years, Samson was now around 40 years old. Being unmarried, undisciplined, and unwise, he risks his life by visiting a Philistine prostitute in the fortified city of Gaza. Trying to trap him, the men lock the massive gate. But after leaving the prostitute late at night, Samson tears off the city gates and drags them nearly 40 miles away to Hebron. Don’t let disappointments lead to flirting with disaster. Later, he starts living with Delilah, a Philistine woman in the Sorek Valley. While there, five Philistine rulers offer her 1100 pieces of silver each to betray Samson (5500 pieces probably worth over $3,000,000—10 pieces/year’s wage; Judg. 17:10). The toxic mixture of loneliness and feeling invincible led Samson to the edge of obedience. Instead of guarding his heart, he remained in a vulnerable situation (Prov. 4:23; 7:4-27; 2 Tim. 2:22). Small cracks in character can lead to catastrophic failure.

DISRUPTED; pt. 18—Samson’s Femme Fatale

Because the nation of Israel continued to disobey God, He let them be ruled by the neighboring Philistines to the south. Samson, who lived at a border town called Zorah, crossed over to Timnah and married a Philistine woman. At the wedding feast, the guests threatened his wife to get the answer to Samson’s riddle and, in a rage, he went and killed 30 men to satisfy his part of the deal (Judg. 14:19, 20). Rather than returning to his wife, Samson returned to his father’s house to cool down. Consequently, his wife was given to his best man by her father. Bad decisions are often made worse by anger at bad outcomes (Ps. 37:8: Prov. 14:29; 19:11; James 1:19, 20)! Regretting embarrassing his family and for what he did to his wife, Samson returns to Timnah with a peace offering. At the house, Samson attempts to go have sex with his wife to consummate their marriage but is stopped by her father. Hearing she is his friend’s wife now, Samson leaves in a rage to go home. Restraint reduces regret!

DISRUPTED; pt. 17—Samson and the Foxes of Fire

Because of disobedience, much of Israel c. 1100 B.C. was controlled by the Philistines. As a teenager in the village of Zorah, Samson walked four miles to Timnah on the Israel-Philistine border and was attracted to a Philistine woman. Be careful where you walk as your location affects your options (Eph. 5:15)! Because parents arranged marriages, when Samson tells them about her, they counsel against it. While Philistines weren’t a banned group to marry from, it was unwise as they didn’t have similar values (Deut. 7:1-4). Those that are closest influence the most (1 Cor. 15:33; 2 Cor. 6:14, 15).

DISRUPTED; pt. 16—Samson Gets a Wife

Because of Israel’s disobedience, the Philistines ruled them for 40 years. Instead of appreciating what He did and continuing to follow and love the true God, the Israelites drifted away spiritually over time. Israel replaced the God who wanted their faith with gods they could feel. You will drift away from whatever you are not focused on! Seeing them abandon the God who loved and cared for them, God gave them over to trusting in the nonexistent gods they worshiped. To punish them, the Philistines were allowed to overtake them and disrupt their lives. Cultural disruption isn’t a sign of God’s non-existence or ineptitude but is often His method of spiritual awakening. Disruption isn’t a lack of presence or power but rather a plan with purpose. When God decided to rescue them, He appeared to Manoah’s wife and prophesied she would have a son to rescue the people. Even with this news, it would be 20 years before he would be ready. God’s plan can take time, but it always arrives on time!

DISRUPTED; pt. 15—Samson is Born into Disruption

When a massive Midianite army invaded Israel, God called Gideon to lead a battle against them. Not being particularly skilled or brave, God gave him a mission then encouraged him with people and circumstances to complete it. Recognizing God’s hand was on his life, the people ask Gideon and his sons to rule as their king. As God had made allowance in the law for an eventual king, their desire for a man of God to rule was a good one (Deut. 17:14-17). Acknowledge who God is using and go with them! While called to lead a war, Gideon doesn’t feel qualified to lead as a king and declines for his sons and himself. Possibly feeling disqualified because of his many wives or character issues, Gideon reiterates the rule of God and is blessed. High quality decisions produce high quality results!

DISRUPTED; pt. 14—Gideon’s Decisions

Gideon was called by God to defeat the massive Midianite army that had invaded their land. He devised a plan with 300 men that God chose, to surround the army at night and cause panic with pitchers, torches, and horns. When part of the army started to flee south, Gideon called the tribe of the Ephraimites to help, and they captured two Midianite leaders. It’s good to be on mission with the like-minded! Being further from the battle, the Ephraimites were called out later as the army fled south toward them. As they were fellow Israelites and relatives to Gideon, they were offended they weren’t called to the original battle. Though it was God who chose the original 300 men, Gideon soothed the perceived disrespect with words of appreciation and humility. Most of personal peace or chaos originates from the mouth (Prov. 12:18; 15:1; 18:21; Eph. 4:29).

DISRUPTED; pt. 13—Gideon Finishes the Mission

As the Israelite nation included worship of false gods (Baal and Asherah) with their worship of the true God, God disrupted them with foreign invaders (Midianites). God then chose to rescue His people by raising up Gideon to lead the battle. The future God has for believers often has challenges and blessings! Being afraid, God sent him down at night to hear a Midianite soldier describing a dream of their defeat to another soldier. This moment gave Gideon encouragement and he worshipped God for already having gone ahead of him. What God has called you to, He is already at!

DISRUPTED; pt. 12—Gideon’s Victory Over Disruption

To establish Himself as the strength of Israel, God required every firstborn male—which was considered the ‘strength’ of the herd or family—to be presented to Him (Ex. 13:2). As the firstborn son was set apart for God, the parents had to redeem or ‘buy back’ their son from service to the Lord with 5 shekels of silver (Num. 3:12; 18:15, 16). God set a precedent that the future leaders of the families and clans would belong to Him from the day they were born. God expects men to lead with humility and love for others. This presentation would be a perpetual reminder that the nation belonged to God and they would find peace in trusting Him not their own strength. Human peace comes through submission to God (John 16:33; 2 Thess. 3:16). As lovers of God, Joseph and Mary came from Bethlehem to Jerusalem forty-one days after Jesus’ birth to redeem him from service to the Lord at the Temple. Being poor, instead of a lamb, Mary gave two turtledoves; one for her purification and one for her sin offering (Lev. 12:6-8; Luke 1:47). While Joseph gave Jesus as his son of peace, as God’s Son, Jesus would become the Prince of Peace for the whole world (Is. 9:6; John 3:16)!

Advent 2020, Pt. 4 -- The Peace of Simeon

Weekly sermon podcast of Orchard Church in Southern California: orchardchurch.life