"Here I am. . . I have come to do your will, O God."

Last Sunday at Southeast Church of the Nazarene, Pastor Steve preached from Hebrews 10:5-10, which was a scripture reading chosen by the universal church for the Sunday before this year's Christmas.  Hebrews 10 has been on my mind lately; I recently wrote a post after hearing another compelling sermon based on that chapter.  Here I want to offer my own meditation on the passage, with thanks to the three preachers who preceded me, the third being the unknown author of Hebrews.

Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:

"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased.
Then I said, 'Here I am--it is written about me in the scroll--
I have come to do your will, O God.'"
verses 5-7, NIV

I am compelled by Christ's words upon entering the world:  "Here I am. . . I have come to do your will, O God."  When I see the words "Here I am," I think of when God called the prophets Samuel and Isaiah to proclaim God's word, and they each responded "Here I am."  I also think of when God tested Abraham.  God called, "Abraham!" and Abraham said, "Here I am" (Gen. 22:1).  Then God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac.  To make a long story short, Abraham was about to kill Isaac when an angel of the Lord called, "Abraham!  Abraham!" and Abraham said again, "Here I am."  God then provided Abraham a ram to sacrifice as a burnt offering instead of Isaac (Gen. 22:11-13).

Each of these people were called to do God's will.  For Samuel and Isaiah, God's will was to proclaim God's word to specific people.  For Abraham, God's will was, as I see it, to trust God to the point of offering Abraham's son, whom Abraham loved and in whom he had a future.  In response to their calls, Samuel, Isaiah, and Abraham said, "Here I am."

So it was with Jesus.  What was God's will for Jesus?  Here is all the author of Hebrews says:  "And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all" (v. 10).  Was it God's will to make us holy?  Or that Jesus sacrifice his body on the cross?  Or something else?  It is not clear.  But what is clear is that as a result of God's will, we have been made whole, rejoined to God, through Jesus' sacrifice forever.  Our offenses against God have been canceled; our relationships with God and one another have been restored to harmony. 

Just as the prophets, Abraham, and Jesus were called, I believe we too are called to do God's will.  What is God's will for us?  Paul says God's will for us in Christ is that we be joyful always, always pray, and give thanks in all situations (1 Thess. 5:16-18).  When Jesus' disciples asked what God required of them, Jesus said that God's work was to believe in the one God had sent (John 6:29).  (What does it mean to believe in Jesus?  That would be fun to explore in a future post.)  The prophet Micah says that what is good and what the Lord requires of us is "to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with [our] God" (Micah 6:8, NRSV).  Those are just some passages that come to mind.  

Does God have a specific will for my life beyond what I said in the previous paragraph and beyond the greatest commandment of loving God and loving my neighbor as I love myself?  Does God call me to something as God called the prophets, Abraham, and Jesus?  Personally, discerning God's will has been an adventure, and I am still learning how to listen and respond.  I have made mistakes, and I have discovered truth thanks to God's whispers in my heart and the help of friends and guides.  I hope that, like the prophets, Abraham, and Jesus, I too respond to God's call with a life which says "Here I am.  I have come to do your will, O God."

God, thank you for Jesus, who has taken away the sin of the world.  Help us to discern your will, and may we follow through on what you have already revealed your will to be.  May your presence, love, joy, and peace come in all their fullness, and may your will be done in the world as it is in your realm.

Waiting for the Coming of Christ (sermon)

Last Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent, I preached the following message, "Waiting for the Coming of Christ," at West Richmond Friends Meeting. 

“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8-9, NIV). 


This passage was written by Peter to Christians and meetings scattered throughout the world.  He writes, “Though you have not seen Jesus, you love him.”  This is a bold statement to make.  How does Peter know these believers love Jesus?

Peter, of course, had seen Jesus, and knew of his own love for Jesus.  Peter had been called by Jesus to leave his job as a fisherman to gather people into God’s reign.  Peter had seen Jesus heal his mother-in-law from a sickness.  Peter had seen Jesus walk on water—and walked on water himself, for a little bit.  Peter knew about Jesus’ death, and was there when Jesus revealed his resurrected self to his disciples.

The believers Peter was writing to, on the other hand, hadn’t seen Jesus.  They had only heard stories about him.  They had come to know God through faith in Jesus, and in Jesus’ name had received power to live as God’s children in the world.  But did they love Jesus, whom they had not seen?  It’s much easier to love someone you have seen than someone you haven’t.  Most of the people I love are people I have actually met.

The same issue arises with the next part of the passage:  “And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him.”  How does Peter know these Christians believe in Jesus?  Did Peter visit each meeting, asking each person what their theological positions or doubts were? 

I think the reason Peter knows that these Christians love and believe in Jesus is because of their very identity as meetings, gathering together to worship God.  They met regularly, maybe once a week, living and sharing life together, serving their communities, loving one another as they had been loved.  It was probably during one of their worship services that they read Peter’s letter.  Also, Jesus had said, “Where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”  So Peter knows and can say confidently that these meetings love and believe in Jesus.

Further, I think loving someone and believing in someone go hand in hand.  You love someone you believe in, and when you believe in someone, you love them.


“You believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

Peter says that they are filled with joy because they are receiving the goal of their faith, the salvation of their souls.  I would here like to explore the word “salvation.”  The root of the word is “save.”  When people are saved, two things happen.  First, they are rescued from some kind of destruction.  Second, as a result of being rescued, they are then able to live their lives as they were meant to be lived.  For instance, if a child is lost in the woods, someone saves that child by finding and guiding the child home, delivering the child from danger.  The child’s being saved implies that the child can now live apart from fear, returning to a whole life. 

I understand “the salvation of your souls” to mean that these believers’ deepest, truest selves are being healed of their wounds, restored to completion, and brought to maturity in their identity as children of God.  Peter says this is the goal of their faith, the very reason they gather to worship God and why they love and believe in Jesus.  This is being given to them as a gift from God, and fills them with “an inexpressible and glorious joy.”

Again, how does Peter know they are filled with joy?  Personally, joy seems to me to come and go based on circumstance.  At the same time, I detect that there is joy dwelling in me even when I do not recognize it.  I believe that that of God is in each of us, and if so, then so does joy, because joy is of God, and perhaps the more we pay attention to God, the more we come in contact with that joy.  I think Peter can confidently say these believers are filled with joy because he has faith in God’s work among them to bring about wholeness among them on their deepest level.  For Peter, their joy comes from knowing that God is cultivating their souls to maturity.

Peter also says that this joy is “inexpressible,” so here is probably a good place for me to stop trying to explain it.


What does this have to do with Advent? 

Advent means “coming,” and is the time when Christians remember and celebrate the coming of Christ in two ways.  First, we remember how the Israelites waited for the Messiah and how Mary and Joseph waited for Jesus to be born.  We look back to how Mary herself was filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy when she was filled with the Son of God.  Second, we wait for the promised coming again of Christ to our world. 

First Peter 1:8-9 comes at the end of a larger passage in which Peter actually writes about this coming again of Christ, although instead of using the word “coming,” he uses the verb “reveal.” 

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.  In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than precious gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.  Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:3-9, NIV

This passage is oriented towards the revealing of Jesus Christ, the coming again of Christ, when the believers will be honored for the genuineness of their faith, which is currently being tested and refined through “all kinds of trials.”  Peter is saying that the suffering they are going through is actually contributing to the goal of their faith because it is making their faith mature. 

As a student, I see a parallel between this time of waiting for the coming of Christ and finals week, which is this week for ESR students.  During finals week, we students go through suffering of one kind as we study, write papers, and take tests in the effort to achieve the goals of our being students:  finishing and passing our classes, and learning and becoming mature, or at least more mature than when we started.  This time of stress contributes to our learning process, because through taking these tests we learn what we are supposed to learn.  In the back of our minds, we know that Christmas break is coming, when we not only find rest, but know that we have finished the work we are here to do, completing our classes and learning all we were supposed to have learned for this period of time.  Knowing that break is coming gives us hope.

Peter is writing to these meetings who are going through their own kind of finals week, during which they are waiting for the coming of Christ, finishing what they are here to do, enduring their trials, and becoming people complete in God’s image.

I believe that Peter’s words to these believers are for us, today.  Though you have not seen Jesus, you love him.  And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

You may wonder if you really love God, and you may have doubts about your faith.  But Peter says that you do love and believe in God and in Jesus.  You are being filled with joy because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the wholeness of your innermost being.  God is faithful, cultivating you into maturity so that you may finish your faith journeys completely.  I do not know why exactly God is doing this, but I do know that God loves you.  The trials you are going through may actually be making your faith genuine so that when Christ comes, not only will Christ be honored, but you too will be honored for the kind of person you have become through your trials and through God’s working in you. 
   

Waiting worship is one of the main ways we love and believe in God.  In our time of waiting, may we wait for the promised coming of Christ into our world, and for the coming of Christ’s presence in our midst in even this hour.  And may we also be filled with the joy of knowing that God is working among us so that just as Christ is coming, we too are coming to be revealed alongside Christ in our full identity as children of God. 

As we enter waiting worship, may we wait for the One who has already been waiting for us, and may we grow in deeper love for the One who first loved us.