Feast and Follow with Knollwood

Jesus: The Prophet

Who is Jesus? Who is he fully? There has been a recent survey that's gone out. 

It's called the State of Theology Survey, where they're asking people, both your average everyday Americans and even your regular churchgoing folk, a series of questions as to what is the Bible? Who is Jesus and this sort of thing. And one of the things that was amazing is when they asked the question, who is Jesus? 

 

Is he just a great teacher? And what we found was that at least, I think it was 20% of even church going folks, would say that yes, he's just a teacher. He's not God. But is meant to give us an example as to what we're to follow. Well, like most lies that are damaging, there is a bit of truth. Yes, Jesus has given us an example. 

 

Yes, he was a great teacher, but that's not all he was either. We can also make the mistake, especially when we come to our seasons of Advent, when we see little manger scenes everywhere that we see Jesus as the baby. The harmless little thing that we've all come to worship and adore. 

And we forget that there is a lot more to this baby as well. In theology, there is a term that's given that Christ occupies three offices, which is just a fancy way of saying that God has the Son of God Jesus, has three titles, three things about him, three jobs that he occupies to help us in our Christian life, to show us the way. And those three offices are prophet, priest, and king. 

Thankful Lives

What do we think about saying, "Thank you"? Is it just something that we are expected to do, or is there more to it than that? As we look at 1 Thess. 5, we will see that thanksgiving is an essential foundation of the Christian life. 

Christian Feasting

The more modern the world gets, the more relevant passages like this are. I know it doesn’t seem that way at first reading, but if you follow along with me, I think you will see that this is a very interesting passage with a critical concept for us to grasp. That concept is regular times of celebration before the Lord.

 

One of the challenges of modern life is a loss of the sense of time. I don’t mean we are all so busy now, I mean that we live as if we aren’t as bound to it anymore. Let me give an example. When our phones could get email, a little over 15 years ago, suddenly we could be working anywhere, anytime. The idea of “office hours” vanished and suddenly all of life could look the same. Any day could became Monday just in the time it takes for your phone to chime. This is just an extension of what has happened in the last 50 or so years when a lot of people’s work stopped being dependent on what time of the year it is. Farming is very dependent on the month of the year. Email works the same whether it is June or January, so many have lost the connection to the natural rhythms of the world.

 

I came across a quote from Dr. Ross, my old Hebrew teacher, that sums up what I’m hoping to preach about today: “Only when worshippers begin to see how creation and redemption inform their use of time will they fully appreciate what it means to enter into the Lord’s rest and enjoy fellowship with the holy God, and with one another in Christ.” (Recalling the Hope of Glory, 240). Let’s unpack that.

 

In this section of Scripture, and in other places in the Old Testament, we see feasts or celebrations to God that correspond to certain seasons of the year, the creation. They were times that called for everyone to stop and remember the past, recognize the present, and rejoice for the future. Each one is filled with meaning not only when it comes to what is happening in the world, but even more so what is happening in redemption.

 

Our main point is to embrace the opportunity to celebrate, knowing that you always have reason to do so.

Epilogue

Today, we look at the final passage in Genesis. It has been quite a journey. We’ve watched God create a world, see Adam ruin it, yet a promise of care in the very same chapter. We’ve watched the world flooded yet out of that a sign of the covenant written in the sky to this day. We’ve seen the rise and fall of Babel, divine blood oaths, and stairways to heaven. Yet we’ve also seen the humdrum waiting. Yet in each one of these chapters, we have been exposed to yet another demonstration of the sovereignty of God.

 

It all wraps up here with yet another reminder of God’s sovereign control of the world. Though here, we have a unique application of that doctrine. It is one thing to flatly say, “God is in control.” That’s good and true, but has been said so often we begin to become overly familiar with it. This passage says, “Since God is in control, there is an obligation on your part: forgiveness.” We will see how this occurs in our passage and our main point: God’s sovereignty requires us not to seek revenge.

Gathered to His People

What do you want the end of your life to be like? Or to put it in a slightly more morbid way, how do you hope you will behave at your death? I know those sound like odd questions, but really of all things that we can prepare for in life, this is the one certain thing. Only the Christian has the answer for how to prepare oneself for such an event. Only the Christian can view death for what it is, a hated friend. What do I mean by that? How can one be a hated friend? Death is hated because it is a result of sin. The reason why we die is because of sin. Yet death can be a friend in its capacity to deliver us to heaven, something only Jesus could accomplish.

 

Today we are going to look at two points today The Christian faces death with hope yet Christians rightly grieve death.

Reformation: The Lord’s Supper

As we celebrate the Reformation, we will take a brief pause on our journey through Genesis to take a look at another hard won recovery of the the doctrine of the Lord's Supper 

Do Jews Worship the Same God as Christians?

This is an important question that a surprising amount of the American church gets incorrect! 

Blessings Suitable for Him

Don’t you wish you could know the future? I think all of us if given the chance would love even a glimpse or a hint of what is to come in our lives. But as many popular stories tell us, how that future gets to us is often very confusing.

Israel is about to die, but before he does, he is going to place his blessing on all of his sons. The last verse of our passage is going to reiterate that each blessing is “suitable” for each one, and we are going to see how that plays out for many of them here this morning. We will see that some of them, like Reuben, are getting “blessings” that are a result of what they have done. Some are getting blessings seemingly despite what they’ve done, like Judah. Others get blessings, but seemingly not the right ones, like Joseph. What are we to make of these things, how did they play out in history, and what does this mean for us today? We will tackle those questions as we look at our main point today: God’s blessings are suitable yet still need to be trusted.

Are Mormons Christian?

In light of recent events, there has been a robust online discussion about whether Mormons are really Christians. In this episode, we examine some of the basic beliefs of the Mormons and see that they are not compatible with Christianity. 

The Passing of the Blessing

How do you think about God's promises? For Christians, they are the central hope of our lives, because God's promises can't be stopped even by death itself. Because of this, we want to be able to pass on these promises to our children, and a big part of our ability to do that is because of this passage right here. Abraham has been promised that there will be a seed that will bless the nations. Ultimately, that is Christ. The promise is going to outlive Jacob, and we will see the transfer of that blessing here.

Now, our passing on of the blessing looks different. In this passage, the blessing comes ultimately from the Lord but only *through* Jacob. As we will see, the blessing is going to be extended to the rest of the nation of Israel with the tribes forming their own contribution to God's plan. Today, the blessing ultimately comes from Christ but is shared through every Christian that opens their mouth for the kingdom.