Robert T. Young - "The Gusto of the Gospel" (October 19, 1975)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
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- | It is an awesome thing | 11:59 |
to come into the presence of the living God | 12:01 | |
who is holy love. | 12:06 | |
Therefore, it behooves us to recognize | 12:09 | |
that we are creatures and sinners, | 12:12 | |
and to acknowledge the same with penitence and lowliness | 12:16 | |
to the end that we may be forgiven. | 12:23 | |
For I ask you who are here present | 12:29 | |
to accompany me with sincerity and humility | 12:32 | |
unto the throne of grace in the unison prayer of confession. | 12:36 | |
Let us pray. | 12:44 | |
Almighty and eternal God | 12:46 | |
- | who searches the hearts of all people | 12:49 |
with sorrow we acknowledged before you | 12:53 | |
the faults and failures which haunt our memories. | 12:56 | |
We acknowledge our failure to be true, | 13:00 | |
even to our own accepted standards. | 13:04 | |
Our self deception in the face of temptation, | 13:08 | |
our choosing of the worst when we know the better. | 13:12 | |
We acknowledge our failure | 13:17 | |
to apply to ourselves the standards of conduct | 13:19 | |
we demand of others, our complacence toward wrongs | 13:23 | |
that do not touch our own case, | 13:28 | |
and our over sensitiveness to those that do. | 13:32 | |
Our hardness of heart towards our neighbors faults, | 13:36 | |
and our readiness to make allowance for our own. | 13:41 | |
In your holy presence, | 13:45 | |
we confess our faults and our failures, | 13:48 | |
knowing that they are our sins. | 13:52 | |
Forgive us Lord. | 13:55 | |
- | Amen. And now in quietness, | 13:58 |
let offer unto God personal confession | 14:01 | |
for the sins of commission, anger, dislike, malice, | 14:06 | |
meanness, for the sin of our mission, | 14:14 | |
the good we have forgotten to do. | 14:19 | |
This is the sin which worry Jesus more than any other. | 14:23 | |
And now hear the good news. | 14:42 | |
This statement is completely reliable | 14:45 | |
and should be universally accepted. | 14:48 | |
Christ Jesus entered the waddled to rescue sinners. | 14:52 | |
So, let it be for us. | 15:00 | |
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- | The Old Testament lesson | 20:30 |
is taken from the book of Amos, chapter five, | 20:32 | |
"Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord. | 20:38 | |
Why would you have the day of the Lord? | 20:41 | |
It is darkness and not light | 20:45 | |
as if a man fled from a lion and a bear met him, | 20:48 | |
or went into the house | 20:53 | |
and leaned with his hand against the wall | 20:54 | |
and a serpent bit him. | 20:57 | |
Is not the day of the Lord darkness and not light? | 21:00 | |
And gloom with no brightness in it? | 21:04 | |
I hate I despise your feasts | 21:08 | |
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. | 21:11 | |
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings | 21:15 | |
and cereal offerings, I will not accept them. | 21:18 | |
And the peace offerings of your fatted beasts, | 21:22 | |
I will not look upon. | 21:26 | |
Take away from me the noise of your songs | 21:28 | |
to the melody of your harps, I will not listen, | 21:32 | |
but let justice roll down like waters | 21:35 | |
and righteousness like an ever flowing stream." | 21:39 | |
The New Testament lesson is taken from the second chapter | 21:46 | |
of the gospel of John. (clears throat) | 21:50 | |
"On the third day, there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, | 21:54 | |
and the mother of Jesus was there. | 21:58 | |
Jesus also was invited to the marriage with his disciples. | 22:01 | |
When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, | 22:07 | |
'They have no wine.' | 22:11 | |
And Jesus said to her, | 22:13 | |
"Oh, woman, what have you to do with me? | 22:15 | |
My hour has not yet come.' | 22:19 | |
His mother said to the servants, 'Do whatever he tells you.' | 22:22 | |
Now six stone jars were standing there | 22:27 | |
for the Jewish rights of purification. | 22:30 | |
Each holding 20 or 30 gallon. | 22:33 | |
Jesus said to them, 'Fill the jars with water.' | 22:37 | |
And they filled them up to the brim. | 22:41 | |
He said to them, | 22:44 | |
'Now draw some out and take it to the steward of the feast.' | 22:46 | |
So they took it. | 22:50 | |
When the steward of the feast tasted the water | 22:52 | |
now become wine and did not know where it came from | 22:55 | |
though the servants who had drawn the water knew, | 22:59 | |
the steward of the feast called the bridegroom | 23:03 | |
and said to him, 'Every man serves the good wine first | 23:06 | |
and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine, | 23:11 | |
but you have kept the good wine until now.' | 23:15 | |
This the first of his signs Jesus did at Cana in Galilee | 23:19 | |
and manifested his glory. | 23:25 | |
And his disciples believed in him." | 23:28 | |
May God bless this reading of his holy scripture. | 23:32 | |
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♪ Amen ♪ | 24:10 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 24:12 | |
- | Let us affirm our faith in unison. | 24:19 |
- | We are not alone. | 24:24 |
We live in God's world. | 24:26 | |
We believe in God who has created and is creating, | 24:29 | |
who has come in the truly human Jesus | 24:35 | |
to reconcile and make new, | 24:38 | |
who works in us and others through the spirit. | 24:42 | |
We trust God who calls us to be the church | 24:46 | |
to celebrate life and its fullness, | 24:51 | |
to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil, | 24:55 | |
to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen our judge and our hope | 25:01 | |
in life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us. | 25:08 | |
We are not alone. | 25:16 | |
Thanks be to God. | 25:18 | |
- | The Lord be with you. | 25:21 |
(congregation speaking faintly) | 25:24 | |
Let us pray. | 25:25 | |
And our first prayer be one of thanksgiving and homecoming. | 25:35 | |
Almighty God whose blessing son, Jesus | 25:42 | |
did sit lowly in the midst of the doctors, | 25:46 | |
both hearing them and asking them questions. | 25:50 | |
We give the thanks for our university, | 25:55 | |
for it's honorable history | 26:00 | |
and for the unbounded promise of it's future. | 26:03 | |
Especially on this day, | 26:09 | |
do we remember its sons and daughters | 26:10 | |
who have come home to renew old memories, | 26:14 | |
to revive old loyalties. | 26:19 | |
We give the thanks for their interest in us, students, | 26:23 | |
administration, faculty, for their faith in the college, | 26:28 | |
in the graduate and professional schools | 26:35 | |
and for their confidence that the glory of the university | 26:39 | |
has begun to appear. | 26:44 | |
Keep ever before them and before us, | 26:48 | |
the vision of the pass | 26:51 | |
of an education in partnership with religion, | 26:54 | |
which will be an instrument in thy hands ooh, God, | 27:00 | |
for our good and for a benediction to our fellows. | 27:04 | |
We commend our alumni to thee, | 27:10 | |
as they scatter and return to their accustomed places, | 27:12 | |
praying that thy will keep in their heart | 27:17 | |
the memory of this Chapel as a symbol of thy presence | 27:19 | |
in the university yesterday, today, and forever. | 27:25 | |
And let us offer a prayer of intercession. | 27:34 | |
Oh God, the creator and sustainer of all mankind, | 27:38 | |
we pray for all thy family upon earth | 27:41 | |
and for every agency of world cooperation. | 27:45 | |
(speaks faintly) grow in usefulness and power | 27:50 | |
for the universal church, | 27:55 | |
for the world organization of nations, | 27:58 | |
for international federations | 28:02 | |
of labor industry and commerce. | 28:04 | |
We beseech thee for the departments of state, | 28:07 | |
for all ambassadors, ministers, diplomats, | 28:12 | |
for all prophets and pioneers | 28:17 | |
who have seen the promised land (speaks faintly) far off | 28:19 | |
and dedicated their lives to it's service. | 28:23 | |
For the common folk in every land | 28:27 | |
who long to live in peace and quietness. | 28:31 | |
We beseech thee. | 28:35 | |
Hasten the day when all shall dwell together | 28:38 | |
in mutual helpfulness and love, for thine is the world, | 28:40 | |
and thine is the kingdom through Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 28:46 | |
And let us offer a short prayer of supplication | 28:54 | |
for ourselves. | 28:57 | |
Lord, temper with tranquility, our manifold activity, | 28:59 | |
that we may do our work for thee, | 29:09 | |
with very great simplicity. | 29:12 | |
And the prayer of dedication, | 29:16 | |
our father God, by whom we live | 29:19 | |
and on whom our hopes are built, | 29:22 | |
grant us ears to hear, eyes to see, wills to obey, | 29:25 | |
hearts to love. | 29:31 | |
Then declare what thy will, | 29:34 | |
reveal what thy will, command what thy will, | 29:38 | |
demand what thy will, and let each one of us answer. | 29:44 | |
Speak Lord for thy servant here. | 29:52 | |
And now, let us sum up our prayers | 29:59 | |
in the prayer which Jesus taught his disciples, | 30:01 | |
saying, "Our Father | 30:04 | |
- | who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, | 30:08 |
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. | 30:15 | |
Give us this day our daily bread | 30:19 | |
and forgive us our trespasses | 30:22 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 30:25 | |
And lead us, not into temptation, | 30:29 | |
but deliver us from evil. | 30:31 | |
For thine is the kingdom and the power | 30:34 | |
and the glory forever. Amen. | 30:37 | |
- | The minister to the university | 30:45 |
has asked me to draw your attention | 30:48 | |
to the little slip about choir robes project. | 30:52 | |
It's 25 years since the choir had new robes cutter. | 30:59 | |
Worse than that, the other Sunday, | 31:06 | |
when we were number 180 in the choir, | 31:08 | |
we could give them a cutter or a robe, not both. | 31:10 | |
(speaks faintly) like giving a shirt or a pair of trousers. | 31:13 | |
(congregation laughing) | 31:16 | |
You would think that the university would pay for the robes | 31:19 | |
just as they pay football uniforms, but not yet. | 31:22 | |
(congregation laughing) | 31:26 | |
However, we have a distinguished and friendly member | 31:31 | |
from Allen floor, the second floor, | 31:34 | |
and maybe he'll take our desire to them | 31:37 | |
and tell them we think we should be robed by them | 31:39 | |
to the glory of God. | 31:42 | |
See what happens? | 31:44 | |
But in case they don't, will you send us $50 per robe? | 31:45 | |
If you can't give it today, send it in latter. | 31:50 | |
And then come and see them dressed properly | 31:54 | |
and singing as gloriously as ever. | 31:57 | |
Thank you. | 32:00 | |
- | It is good to see you here this morning, | 32:11 |
homecoming weekend. | 32:15 | |
And I greet you in the name and in the spirit of our Lord | 32:17 | |
and savior Jesus Christ. | 32:20 | |
Grace and peace to you. | 32:22 | |
John writes, "Now six stone jars were standing there | 32:29 | |
for the Jewish rights of purification. | 32:33 | |
Each holding 20 or 30 gallons. | 32:37 | |
Jesus said to them, 'Fill the jars with water.' | 32:41 | |
And they failed them up to the brim. | 32:45 | |
He said to them, 'Now draw some of it out | 32:49 | |
and take it to the steward of the feast.' | 32:51 | |
So, they took it. | 32:55 | |
When the steward of the feast | 32:57 | |
tasted the water now become wine | 32:58 | |
and did not know where it came from | 33:01 | |
though the servants who had drawn the water knew, | 33:03 | |
the steward called the bride groom and said, | 33:07 | |
'You have kept the good wine until now?' | 33:09 | |
This the first of his signs Jesus did at Cana of Galilee | 33:14 | |
and the disciples believe." | 33:19 | |
Gusto is a word defined by the dictionary | 33:23 | |
as meaning taste, keen enjoyment, or zest. | 33:27 | |
And my friends, that's what I want us to see today. | 33:34 | |
The taste, the keen enjoyment, | 33:38 | |
the zest of the gospel of Jesus, the Christ. | 33:41 | |
The flavor, the deep pleasure. | 33:45 | |
The vitality of God's love given to us through Jesus Christ. | 33:48 | |
Now, Gusto is a word quite familiar to you, | 33:54 | |
to us who watch television. | 33:58 | |
You get real Gusto in a great light beverage | 34:00 | |
advertised frequently and tantalizingly. | 34:05 | |
If you listened to that, | 34:10 | |
there's a theological psychological appeal | 34:10 | |
to this particular commercial, but there's even more | 34:13 | |
of this psychological theological religious appeal | 34:17 | |
to this same product's latest jingle | 34:21 | |
which goes something like. | 34:24 | |
♪ You only come round this way once in life ♪ | 34:25 | |
Oh. | 34:29 | |
♪ Grab all you can as you go ♪ | 34:30 | |
And so, Gusto has the kind of ring to it | 34:34 | |
that I want you to hear and to experience this morning. | 34:38 | |
The Gusto, not of slits, | 34:41 | |
but the Gusto of the gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord | 34:43 | |
and our savior. | 34:47 | |
There is Gusto in the gospel for you and for me. | 34:48 | |
Let's see if we can see. | 34:54 | |
William Barclay tells us in writing about this passage, | 34:56 | |
that the rabbis of Jesus' day had a saying | 35:00 | |
that was accepted as true by all good Hebrew families. | 35:03 | |
The saying went, "Without wine, there is no joy." | 35:07 | |
"Without wine, there is no joy." | 35:11 | |
So, they had run out of wine, therefore, no joy. | 35:15 | |
Now, you began to see the important role | 35:20 | |
that Jesus was to play at this wedding feast | 35:22 | |
for He was the one who was called by his mother | 35:25 | |
to bring joy back again to the wedding feast that Cana. | 35:28 | |
But wait a minute. | 35:34 | |
Wait just a minute, if you will. | 35:37 | |
Well, I want us to become conscious | 35:40 | |
of how important John evidently feels | 35:43 | |
that this little story is. | 35:46 | |
John has written up to this point only 50 verses | 35:48 | |
before he writes the first word of this story. | 35:51 | |
Only one chapter so far | 35:53 | |
and what a magnificent chapter it is. | 35:55 | |
His awesome, all inspiring prologue on Jesus as the logos, | 35:58 | |
the word become flesh and dwelling among us. | 36:04 | |
The powerful testimony of John the Baptist, | 36:07 | |
as he tells the inquisitive Pharisees | 36:10 | |
that he, John, is to prepare the way of the Lord. | 36:12 | |
The glorious affirmation of John | 36:15 | |
when he looks up and sees Jesus and says, | 36:18 | |
"Behold the lamb of God | 36:20 | |
who takes away the sins of the world" | 36:22 | |
And then John writes of Jesus' first experiences with Andrew | 36:25 | |
and Peter and Phillip and Nathaniel. | 36:29 | |
And then these words on the third day, | 36:31 | |
there was a wedding feast at Cana of Galilee | 36:34 | |
and God in Christ was there. | 36:37 | |
This God who called the universe into being, | 36:41 | |
this God who called Abraham to go into a land unknown, | 36:44 | |
this God who brought down the 10 commandments | 36:48 | |
at Mount Sinai, | 36:50 | |
this God who touched Isaiah in the glory of the temple, | 36:51 | |
this God who lifted the deceitful king David | 36:55 | |
and made him whole again, | 36:58 | |
this God who called Amos and Micah and Jonah, | 37:00 | |
the God of all people, all places, all times | 37:03 | |
here at a wedding feast saying, | 37:06 | |
"Fill the pots with water." | 37:09 | |
Here He is, Jesus, at a party, at a wedding party. | 37:11 | |
And here we see the place | 37:18 | |
that the man Jesus of Nazareth field | 37:20 | |
in his family and community life. | 37:23 | |
Jesus was invited to a party. | 37:27 | |
Not only Jesus, | 37:31 | |
but all of the disciples were invited also at a party | 37:32 | |
where wine was being served. | 37:35 | |
Can you imagine that? No? | 37:38 | |
That probably doesn't fit into our picture of Jesus | 37:45 | |
or at least many of us have a hard time imagining that, | 37:49 | |
because if you're going to have a party | 37:52 | |
where there may be real exuberance and loudness and joy | 37:55 | |
and celebration, the very last person | 37:59 | |
that you would think of inviting would be someone | 38:02 | |
who most of us would think of as the real true blue, | 38:04 | |
honest to goodness Christian. | 38:07 | |
And for Pete's sake, you'd never invite a preacher. | 38:09 | |
We'd spoil the whole of faith, but not Jesus. | 38:14 | |
Jesus was right there. | 38:22 | |
And so, were all of his first disciples | 38:23 | |
and the wine was being drunk by all. | 38:26 | |
Wine was not only present and consumed at the wedding feast | 38:28 | |
when they read out Jesus changed six pots full of water | 38:31 | |
into wine so they could drink | 38:34 | |
and the wedding party could continue. | 38:37 | |
And my friends do you know what the first thing | 38:41 | |
that this humble human little incident tells me? | 38:43 | |
It is that Almighty God is concerned about us | 38:48 | |
and our common everyday activities and affairs | 38:53 | |
like wedding feasts. | 38:56 | |
Here he comes, God Almighty in Jesus, the Christ | 38:59 | |
with time to spare for going to a wedding feast | 39:03 | |
and with power to spare, to make water become wine | 39:07 | |
so the guests could continue to have a good time. | 39:13 | |
This one little incident alone | 39:16 | |
makes a mockery of much of our long faced somber, solemn, | 39:19 | |
sad, sour puss behavior, | 39:24 | |
which many of us piously and poorly pass off | 39:26 | |
as the way Christians are to be. | 39:30 | |
Now, we can behave this way if we want to, | 39:33 | |
but let's not demean the majesty and the glory of Christ, | 39:36 | |
joy and his happiness by calling our behavior | 39:40 | |
if it's that the kind of behavior that is Christ life. No. | 39:43 | |
Sadness and salvation are not one and the same . | 39:48 | |
Stiff-necked living was not the way of life for Jesus | 39:52 | |
or his family or his disciple. | 39:56 | |
John has just told us of the eternal logos, | 40:02 | |
the word which has become flesh in Jesus. | 40:06 | |
He has just told us of the lamb of God | 40:11 | |
who takes away the sin of the world. | 40:13 | |
And now John links this eternal word, | 40:17 | |
the savior of all persons with the joy of a wedding feast. | 40:19 | |
Oh, if we could only do that. | 40:24 | |
Oh, if we could only do that. | 40:28 | |
If we could only link together the sacred and the secular, | 40:29 | |
if we could only combine the eternal with the everyday, | 40:35 | |
if we could only connect the happiness of life | 40:39 | |
with the joys of Christ, but no, not many of us anyhow. | 40:42 | |
We would go to parties, to clubs, to movies, to dances, | 40:50 | |
or to place for a good time. | 40:57 | |
And we think we're to go to church to be somber, | 41:00 | |
and serious, and sad. | 41:02 | |
We think that Jesus spirit is here | 41:03 | |
and not at the movie or the party or the nightclub. | 41:06 | |
One of the most important things John says | 41:09 | |
in his entire gospel, | 41:12 | |
he says, "Right here in this little story | 41:13 | |
that God is present everywhere. | 41:16 | |
That God's concern is in every place. | 41:19 | |
That God's power is available to all persons | 41:22 | |
in all circumstances." | 41:25 | |
I'm hearing John say that God is having a good time, | 41:27 | |
that Jesus had good time | 41:32 | |
and that God wants us to have a good time too | 41:33 | |
that he wants us to live life to it's fullest. | 41:36 | |
I'm hearing John say that God's love is present everywhere, | 41:39 | |
at a party, at a brawl, at a bar, at a jail, | 41:42 | |
at a house of prostitution, at a homosexual bar, | 41:46 | |
at a nightclub or a beer joint. | 41:49 | |
Just the same as God's love is present in this Chapel | 41:51 | |
or in a church, or in a prayer meeting, | 41:54 | |
or in a Bible study group. | 41:56 | |
I hear John saying this coming of God | 41:59 | |
is in all of life, to all of life, for all of life. | 42:03 | |
This Jesus, the eternal word | 42:09 | |
at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. | 42:13 | |
Do you hear him? | 42:20 | |
Do you really hear what John is saying to us here? | 42:23 | |
I think it was Eric (speaks faintly) who once said, | 42:30 | |
"Many people die before they ever begin to leave." | 42:32 | |
God does not want that to happen to you or to me, | 42:41 | |
God does not want any child to die | 42:46 | |
before he or she begins really to live. | 42:50 | |
It was Meister Eckhart who lived in road | 42:56 | |
in the 13th and 14th centuries who once wrote, | 42:58 | |
"To get at the core of God at his greatest, | 43:02 | |
one must get into the core of himself at his least | 43:06 | |
for no one can know God who has not first known himself. | 43:11 | |
Go to the depths of the soul, | 43:16 | |
the secret place of the most high, | 43:19 | |
to the roots, to the heights | 43:22 | |
for all that God can do is focused there." | 43:24 | |
That's how important you are. | 43:31 | |
God wants you to live before you die. | 43:35 | |
God has focused his all on you. | 43:41 | |
All that God can do has been made available | 43:46 | |
in Jesus, the Christ. | 43:49 | |
Here is love in its fullest | 43:52 | |
as lifeless and inert, | 43:59 | |
and powerless as H2O as water you and I are, | 44:04 | |
but wonder of all wonders... | 44:12 | |
And as Hugh Anderson used to say in this Chapel, | 44:15 | |
"And every wonder true | 44:17 | |
the grace of God can take this water and make it into wine, | 44:21 | |
God's grace can take your life and mine empty, weak, | 44:29 | |
and hurt, powerless, lifeless, joyless, | 44:33 | |
and make it full of zest and meaning, radiant and joyful." | 44:35 | |
The Gusto of the gospel is yours and mine for the asking. | 44:40 | |
How do I know that? | 44:46 | |
How dare I to make such a statement as that? | 44:47 | |
Well, I think that's exactly what this story | 44:50 | |
in the gospel of John is trying to say to us. | 44:52 | |
He says, "You take six large jars of water. | 44:56 | |
Each of these big jars holding 20 to 30 gallons of water. | 44:59 | |
Fill these jars up to the very brim. | 45:03 | |
Add the power of Jesus, the Christ, | 45:06 | |
and you have 120 to 180 gallons of wine." | 45:08 | |
Now, what in the world will all those folks do | 45:13 | |
with 120 or 180 gallons of wine? | 45:17 | |
There's no wedding feast around either now | 45:22 | |
or surely even then | 45:24 | |
that would consume 120 or 180 gallons of wine. | 45:26 | |
That's not the absurd. | 45:30 | |
Is this what John really wants us to hear and to understand? | 45:32 | |
I don't think so. | 45:38 | |
How about this? | 45:40 | |
You use water because water is as plain and ordinary | 45:43 | |
and powerless as any element you can find. | 45:46 | |
You feel the jars up to the very brim | 45:50 | |
to be sure that no other substance is present, | 45:52 | |
but water and the power of Jesus. | 45:54 | |
No hanky-panky going on. | 45:56 | |
You make 120 to 180 gallons of wine available | 46:01 | |
not to overload the wedding host, | 46:04 | |
but to show that God's grace is limitless | 46:07 | |
and boundless and overflowing. | 46:10 | |
No need on earth can exhaust the grace of God. | 46:13 | |
There is a glorious, super abundance to the grace of God. | 46:18 | |
If we read this story, | 46:25 | |
as if it tells us only of water and wine, | 46:27 | |
we may miss the personal message that it has for us. | 46:32 | |
Sure John talks about water and wine, | 46:36 | |
but he's also telling us about life and living. | 46:39 | |
Sure he tells us what happened then | 46:44 | |
even 40 years before he actually wrote, | 46:46 | |
but he's saying that this is for now. | 46:50 | |
And I believe that what happened then | 46:53 | |
if that is not also for now, then it's for no time at all. | 46:55 | |
Or it's the present that counts to you and me. | 47:00 | |
I could not care less, | 47:04 | |
really whether or not Jesus actually turned water into wine. | 47:06 | |
John says he did. | 47:11 | |
Okay, I believe it. | 47:12 | |
But my whole life is at stake when I hear John telling us | 47:15 | |
not about Jesus changing water into wine, | 47:20 | |
but about Jesus life changing power. | 47:22 | |
Changing water is nothing at all, changing your lives, | 47:25 | |
your life and mine is everything. | 47:29 | |
Here is the message that John is trying to get us to hear. | 47:34 | |
And then I have this final word. | 47:41 | |
The only reason that this story of Jesus | 47:46 | |
at the wedding feast is important. | 47:49 | |
Only reason at all, | 47:52 | |
is that that same Jesus who rejoiced that Cina | 47:55 | |
also showed us how to love ultimately | 47:59 | |
and totally on Calvary. | 48:02 | |
The same Jesus who was at Cana also was at Calvary. | 48:06 | |
This story would have been lost long ago. | 48:11 | |
It would have been told as so much fun and games | 48:14 | |
and faded from the scene, as it tells about the love of God, | 48:17 | |
humanly revealed at Cana. | 48:21 | |
If it had not been for the love of God, | 48:23 | |
supremely revealed at Calvary. | 48:25 | |
Edmund Steimle, professor of preaching | 48:29 | |
at Union Seminary in New York writes in one of his books, | 48:31 | |
"Some words which end the sermon as I want it to end, | 48:35 | |
and I invite you to listen. | 48:39 | |
What is its timely rights that attracts you to Christ? | 48:42 | |
What draws you to Christ in curiosity and wonder? | 48:47 | |
Perhaps it is his gentleness with the outcasts | 48:53 | |
and the unlovely that draws you to him at first. | 48:56 | |
Or perhaps it is his courage in the face of opposition | 49:00 | |
and betrayal and death. | 49:03 | |
Or perhaps it is his impatience with rules and regulations | 49:07 | |
and the (speaks faintly) integrity of the spirit. | 49:12 | |
Or perhaps it's the disturbing, probing, presence of love | 49:15 | |
broken on a cross. | 49:23 | |
The haunting notion that here is the clue | 49:26 | |
to ultimate reality, | 49:30 | |
to what's at the center of this baffling existence of hours | 49:32 | |
to give it purpose and meaning. | 49:36 | |
"Your (speaks faintly)," he says the painter | 49:39 | |
who has never been inside the doors of a church | 49:43 | |
has yet painted the crucifixion | 49:46 | |
over and over and over again, | 49:48 | |
and violent even brutal color and form. | 49:50 | |
And he probes is reported to have said, | 49:54 | |
"I don't know what the crucifixion means, | 49:57 | |
but if there is meaning anywhere at all, | 50:02 | |
I suspect it is there." | 50:06 | |
The Gusto of the gospel runs from Cana to Calvary | 50:13 | |
for you and for me. | 50:21 | |
Meaning I, suspect if it is anywhere at all, it is there. | 50:25 | |
And may the Gusto of the gospel be yours. | 50:35 | |
Amen. Amen. | 50:43 | |
(soft pipe organ music) | 50:53 | |
(bright pipe organ music) | 51:04 | |
(bright pipe organ music) | 51:27 | |
(choir singing faintly) | ||
(bright pipe organ music) | 52:03 | |
(choir singing faintly) | ||
(gentle pipe organ music) | 53:14 | |
(choir singing faintly) | ||
(gentle pipe organ music) | 53:26 | |
(gentle pipe organ music) | 55:45 | |
(choir singing faintly) | ||
(bright pipe organ music) | 56:07 | |
(choir singing faintly) | ||
(gentle pipe organ music) | 56:29 | |
(choir singing faintly) | ||
(bright pipe organ music) | 56:41 | |
(choir singing faintly) | ||
(gentle pipe organ music) | 57:04 | |
(choir singing faintly) | ||
(gentle pipe organ music) | 57:27 | |
(choir singing faintly) | ||
(gentle pipe organ music) | 57:51 | |
(choir singing faintly) | ||
(bright pipe organ music) | 58:02 | |
(choir singing faintly) | ||
(gentle pipe organ music) | 58:27 | |
(bright pipe organ music) | 58:34 | |
(bright pipe organ music) | 58:54 | |
(choir singing faintly) | ||
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 59:08 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 59:11 | |
(gentle pipe organ music) | 59:16 | |
(choir singing faintly) | ||
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 59:29 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 59:32 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 59:35 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 59:39 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 59:43 | |
(bright pipe organ music) | 59:51 | |
(choir singing faintly) | ||
- | All things come of thee ooh, God | 1:00:04 |
and of thy known have we given thee, amen. | 1:00:08 | |
(bright pipe organ music) | 1:00:19 | |
(gentle pipe organ music) | 1:00:28 | |
(gentle pipe organ music) | 1:00:58 | |
(choir singing faintly) | ||
(gentle pipe organ music) | 1:02:19 | |
(choir singing faintly) | ||
(gentle pipe organ music) | 1:03:01 | |
(choir singing faintly) | ||
(bright pipe organ music) | 1:03:42 | |
(choir singing faintly) | ||
(bright pipe organ music) | 1:04:25 | |
- | Unto God's gracious mercy, and protection | 1:05:00 |
do I commit you. | 1:05:06 | |
May the blessing of God come upon you abundantly, | 1:05:08 | |
may it keep you strong and tranquil | 1:05:13 | |
in the truth of his promises through Jesus Christ our Lord. | 1:05:17 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:05:26 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:05:35 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:05:46 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:06:01 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:06:13 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:06:28 | |
(bell ringing) | 1:06:48 | |
(bell ringing) | 1:06:52 | |
(bell ringing) | 1:06:56 | |
(bright pipe organ music) | 1:07:03 | |
(gentle pipe organ music) | 1:07:34 |
Item Info
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