Sermon Tone Analysis

Lunch Food

Advent season - another word for Christmas - church calendar - a season of anticipation.

And in Advent - as we anticipate celebrating the birth of Jesus - we consider the anticipation the people felt for Jesus to come, not just as a savior, but as the Messiah - the Jewish King.

Lunch Food

[picture of me at Kempner HS]

High school lunch room, a brutal 30-45 minutes of feasting.

For our school, there were 3 lines you could choose from - the first 2 lines were identical - serving the same food - and it was where us kids with free and reduced lunch would go to get our subsidized meals.

When I grew up, I qualified for free and reduced lunch.

There

[picture of the food tray]

We got trays, and they’d give us the option between a soy burger kept warm in a plastic bag, which was consistently mediocre, but with enough ketchup, it was delicious.

You could usually choose between the burger and some sort of meat with brown gravy.

Then you could choose between krinkle cut fries or a side of canned vegetables.

We got trays, and they’d give us the option between a soy burger kept warm in a plastic bag, which was consistently mediocre, but with enough ketchup, it was delicious.

You could usually choose between the burger and some sort of meat with brown gravy.

Then you could choose between krinkle cut fries or a side of canned vegetables.

Then i’d grab a carton of chocolate milk and slide my well balanced meal to the keypad that held my credits - 379001 - that was my code - i’d give the lunch lady $2 dollars and i’d have lunch for a week.

0.40 cents a day.

Sometimes it was hard to stomach those meals.

379001 - that was my code - i’d give the lunch lady $2 dollars and i’d have lunch for a week.

0.40 cents a day.

Advent Intro

Advent season - another word for Christmas - church calendar - a season of anticipation.

And in Advent - as we anticipate celebrating the birth of Jesus - we consider the anticipation the people felt for Jesus to come, not just as a savior, but as the Messiah - the Jewish King.

And we have this knowledge from the Old testament.

[Transition] What does any of this have to do with the Bible?

It was the meal I could afford.

It was the meal I had prepared for me, a meal with many restrictions but it would nourish nonetheless.

[Transition] What does any of this have to do with the Bible?

This

I know, without even having real green beans, that these soggy, 1 inch flattened green rectangles were once a crisp growing green bean processed in a factory to ensure that it could be preserved in a can.

Like this will do - but it’s somewhat of a shadow of the fullness of a thanksgiving meal.

When I

It’s a shadow of the meal that megan prepared for me over thanksgiving.

[picture of thanksgiving meal]

Now, when I compare my reduced lunch meal to a robust thanksgiving meal - i mean, it’s not even fair.

Cafeteria lunch is like a shadow of the meal that many of us ate over thanksgiving.

But this provisional meal

[Transition] What does any of this have to do with the Bible?

But nutritionally, it was probably fine, but if i didn’t like the taste, i’d go without it.

I would pick and choose

I generally ate sumtuasly

The kids who had money, $20 dollars a week instead of $2, they’d always have chicken tenders, curly fries, and a soft drink.

We didn’t have that hand made meal,

Then there were those kids who packed their lunch - with sandwiches that had multi-colored lettuce, and chips.

Or those kids who had the lunchable pizzas - that were always so good, but never that good.

What I am going to say will likely rub some of you the wrong way,

Difficulty with the OT

Well, for one, i think

hard time stomaching the old testament.

Well, I think some of us have difficulty making sense of parts of the Old testament.

Well, I think some of us have difficulty stomaching or making sense of parts of the Old testament - I have often heard that the Old Testament is where God was mean and the New Testament is where God lightens up.

At a quick glance, the Old Testament seems to be where God is tempermental, reactive, and acting like a early parent dealing with kids in their terrible twos.

He would then give them laws to hem them in, touching every facet of life, from laundry to diet.

I have heard some even say that the Old Testament is where God required law keeping in order for salvation, and the New testament did away with that.

And if that’s kind of how you feel, even though you may not feel like a qualified Bible scholar, it’s how a lot of people feel - and I am glad you’re here, to hear something that may give you a more generous view of the Old Testament.

If that’s where you are - I am glad you are here, I hope to cast a new light on a few parts of the Old Testament.

Continuity Between Testaments

Now some of you feel that the Old testament and the covenant / law given through Moses is the same covenant as the New Testament covenant in Jesus.

This connection is most apparently seen in how baptism and circumcision function in the same ways.

There are some who emphasize the continuity between the New and Old covenants, which I believe to be true, but the new testament has more to say than connecting the covenants.

So if I am able to do what i hope - I hope to shine new light on each of these perspectives and hopefully come away with deeper confidence when reading our Bibles.

And in Advent - as we anticipate celebrating the birth of Jesus - His arrival on earth as a babe makes little sense without a view of the old testament law and covenant he came to fulfill.

And in Advent - as we anticipate celebrating the birth of Jesus - I think we have a more full, beautiful picture if we recognize the new and old covenant.

One story, where new and bigger things develop over time.

The word covenant in every day life is mostly used in the context of In marriage.

Someone promises their life to be joined with the other - where we often understand the marriage covenant to be someone who promises to someone else thieir

[transition] and I am going to seek to frame all of this by .

And I am going to seek to all of this framed by the words of .

(6:39 min)

NIV: grace in place of grace

Exegesis: Fullness

For three and a half years I worked for a company, that in many sense, understood itself in a sort of divine way.

The banks have money - deposits - your deposits - and the banks decide how to invest

John has just finished describing that the Word - the Word can be simply understood as the Son of God who makes God known - theological terms would describe this as God’s self-revelation of God - Jesus, the son of God, became flesh and dwelt among us, and made God known to us.

John, the author, states that he has seen Jesus’ glory - and verses 16-17 are how he describes what he sees.

[slide of John 1:16-17]

Actually - quite a bit -

walked into an office at JPMorgan Chase, and I’d check to ensure that

I am going to try to do 2 things today -

Be grateful for the Old Testament and old covenant.

I am going to try to help us gain an appreciation for the Old Testament - which is probably best understood as the First Testament.

In the Old Testament we are introduced to the importance relationship with God through covenants - which I’ll go into more detail later.

Second, I am going to try to help paint a picture of the beauty of the new covenant.

And address some of the scriptures that we grapple with in how the New Testament describes the Old Covenant.

And I am going to seek to all of this framed by the words of .

When you hear the word covenant - what first comes to mind?

There is something in christian theology called “Covenant Theology.”

When you hear the word covenant - what first comes to mind?

In speaking of Jesus, the Word become flesh, from His fullness - I love the idea of Jesus being the fullness - but what is he the fullness of?

I have heard it said that if you cut the new testament, it bleeds the old testament.

Read the 10 commandments, read the curses,

Read the 10 commandments, read the curses,

In judaism, the law became an end in itself, something that could be separated from Moses through whom it was given.

In judaism, the law became an end in itself, something that could be separated from Moses through whom it was given.

So whatever we have, we only receive because Jesus overflowed with this.

Remember you cannot give what you do not have, and the way you give without resentment is by giving out of the overflow.

Jesus does not give out his love, forgiveness, by pouring out of a cup.

[slide] Buckingham Fountain

Jesus is like a fountain overflows with this stuff.