The next subject in our series, The Seven Deadly Sins, is LUST.

The Bible text is from Matthew five:

 ²⁷ You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ²⁸ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹ If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.

From the sermon:

The disciple of Jesus doesn’t disconnect the body from the mind. We realize, as taught in our text that what we allow to filter in and settle in the contours and crevices of the psyche eventually affects our bodies. In Matthew, Jesus radically re-defines adultery and gives much stricter dimensions to lustful thinking. Christ teaches it isn’t enough to refrain from the overt act but that the battle begins in the imagination. As someone said, “It isn’t a sin to look once, it is to look twice”. Or in other words, to let the dangerous thoughts multiply. Frederick Beuchner describes it this way, “after a while, x-rated titillations tend to turn tawdry and tedious, even days later, they keep flickering away somewhere in the back of the mind to a captive audience of one.”

Title: The Seven Deadly Sins: Lust

                    Bible Passage: Matthew 5:27-30

Nowhere is the seriousness of this catalog of vices more questioned than with today’s focus; GLUTTONY. Certainly, Gluttony is dangerous in the sense of being unhealthy but deadly? A capital sin? A root sin? Anger can lead to murder. Greed can lead to theft. Envy can lead to despair. But what’s the worst thing gluttony can lead to? High cholesterol… Extra pounds… Premature death…? These are all pretty bad but driving too fast can also kill us before our time. Of all the things that can destroy the soul, we want to focus on overeating? Even Jesus was charged with feasting too much and called a glutton in Luke’s gospel.

Title:   The Seven Deadly Sins: Gluttony

           Bible Passage:   Matthew 5:6

This Sunday is July 4th. We’ll take a break from our sermon series on the Seven Deadly Sins to consider how the formation of the Church can find parallels in the birth of our nation. Both institutions can trace their origins to a revolution which sounds noble but can be riddled with challenges.

From the sermon:

What a radical word “revolution” is. It’s revolt against the established rule, whether good or bad. It’s an invitation to chaos and uncertainty. Revolutionaries are by definition troublemakers who stir the pot of unrest. They are despised by the established powers. Our nation was formed when rabble rousers of all sorts decided to overthrow the government of King George III.  It was audacious, a bit foolish, and doomed to failure. It was a dwarf picking a fight with a giant.

Sermon Title:     Revolution, Constitution, Institution

   Bible Passage:    Galatians 5:1

Last week we started a series of sermons on the seven deadly sins. The desert fathers were the first to teach on the deadly sins, also known as capital sins, or “root sins.” It was felt that if you dug down past everything else, all other forms of transgression, you were left with these seven vices. Today we consider envy. Like most of the seven sins, there is no one here unfamiliar with envy. As a child someone else had a toy we wanted. As a teenager someone else received the scholarship we wanted. As a twenty something someone else got the job we wanted. Somewhere along the line someone else has possessed or received recognition, attention, or possessions we felt we needed, deserved or simply desired.

Title: The Seven Deadly Sins: ENVY
Bible Passage: GENESIS 4:1-16

Sunday is Communion which is always a good time to think about the mysteries of God. We keep with our series on Moses as we consider the series of plagues brought on Egypt and Pharaoh. Here’s a thought from the sermon:

The question we always ask is how did the Egyptian wise men duplicate the things Moses did? After all they replicated turning the Nile to blood, calling up hoards of frogs, etc..  Wondering how they did such things is the wrong approach. I think the Bible’s point is how can Moses and Aaron, slaves from slaves , do such a thing?  In Exodus 7:11 we’re told the King, “summoned the wise men and the sorcerers; and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same by their secret arts.” This is the ancient equivalent of pitting the faculty of Harvard against two nobodies who know nothing. But what makes these men who they are is the Lord who stands with them.

Sunday we consider what happens when hope and despair share the same boat. The context is Moses’ return to Egypt. He tells his people God has heard their cries. What a wonderful thing it is when we know the Lord has let His eye rest on us. From the sermon:

What would it be to know that God had seen your misery? Think about that. If somehow I could convince you that wherever you find yourself today God has noticed. What would it be if I could go down to the Gulf Coast this morning, assemble the residents who are watching oil roll up on their beaches with no end in sight and say to them, “God has taken notice of you and has promised He’s getting ready to do something.” What do you think that would do to their collective psyche?  If you’ve ever had a parent, a boss, a friend, step in at a difficult time and say, “let me help” you know to a degree what Israel felt when Moses and Aaron fed them sweet morsels of hope that day. That’s what Israel heard—God has seen your misery. And they worshipped. Wouldn’t you? Don’t you? When hope flows in your veins don’t you whisper prayers of gratitude?

Sunday is Pentecost on the Church Calendar. Our Old Testament text is Moses and the burning bush which we’ll compare with Acts chapter two and the story of the coming of the Holy Spirit. From the sermon:

As I prepared the sermon this week I wondered what can I say on Pentecost Sunday about the descent of the Spirit? What good news do I have for Ridge Road about the fire of God? It is still burning? Is it still changing lives in unmistakable ways? Is it still empowering and enriching believers? The word Pentecost means “first fruits” which implies other fruit follows. And then it hit me—the fire of god—the gift of the Holy Spirit—the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Paul said something about that remember? The Galatians5:22: “The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,23 gentleness, and self-control.”

Our text Sunday is Exodus 2:11-22. Moses has fled to Midian, a group of nomads and desert dwellers. Here’s a snippet from the sermon:

This is a story of hardship: Moses cannot find acceptance. He’s not “one of them” nor “one of us.” He’s not lord and master nor slave and servant. He must flee and find safety but Pharaoh’s reach is almost unlimited so he hides with a moving caravan, the last place you would expect to “settle.” But the writer’s intent is to show a man at peace: he has a wife, a son, a larger family, a future. His last statement is “my son is Gershom” and then he gives the meaning: “I have been an alien residing in a foreign land.” This is probably a cry of relief. If I may expand and paraphrase: “I was a stranger in the land I was born and raised but now among strangers I have found a home.”

Sunday we begin a series of sermons on the life of Moses beginning with his birth and placement in the Nile River. This week will be a bit unusual in that we’ll break the sermon down into three sections interspersed throughout the service. Here is a snippet from the first “scene” where Pharaoh is anxious over the presence of so many Hebrews in Egypt.

It’s interesting that the first person to speak in Exodus is the king (Exodus 1:9) and he’s giving an outline for a new national policy concerning this huge population of aliens in their midst. The temptation here is to draw a connection between Pharaoh’s fear of foreigners and our own. With immigration such a hot issue and the new laws in Arizona so much in the news, we could use this text to jump into the debate because Pharaoh’s fear is our fear. However, while a legitimate issue to consider it’s not exactly tailor made for our situation. There’s one very big difference. In Exodus the king is afraid they’ll escape—leave the land. He wants them to stay. He struggles to keep them in, not shut them out. Of course, this isn’t out of kindness or hospitality. He needs laborers, slaves and these folks are it.

Our text for Sunday is John 21:1-19 and our title is, “What Makes A Good Shepherd?” This is from the sermon:

In a sense this image of shepherd is lost on us in 2010. I’ve yet to run across a shepherd in Raleigh or any other place I’ve lived. The profession and image is of another world not ours. So over time the Church has pressed other images into service to describe the job of feeding the flock. High, liturgical churches tend to use the image of priest. The Lutherans prefer pastor. The Reformed Congregations lean to minister and Evangelicals like preacher. Yet despite the fact that we no longer herd sheep, nothing captures beauty, simplicity, and humility like shepherd. And nothing captures the essence of the shepherd’s calling like those three words, “feed my sheep.”