20140126 - BLC Sermon- That awkward moment when you realize Jesus called you and I
Channel: leigh316
Date: 2014-02-10

Sermon at Bangsar Lutheran Church (www.bangsarlutheran.org) based on Lectionary readings for the 3rd Sunday in Epiphany: Isaiah 9:1-4; 1 Corinthians 1:10-18; and Matthew 4:12-23.  The main idea was to explore the epiphany of how God has chosen us to be His emissaries/ambassadors and what that means for us as a community of faith.

It centers on the realization that the Church -- God's community -- is truly a revelation that could only have come from Him. English writer Dorothy L. Sayers previously described how God went through "three great humiliations" in His pursuit of humanity:
◾The first was the Incarnation, when Jesus took on human flesh and became like us.
◾The second was the Cross, where He died a shameful and painful death.
◾And the third, was the Church, "when God entrusted his reputation to ordinary — sometimes very ordinary — people.

That's the "aha" moment, the epiphany -- that Jesus would call out to us still, "Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people" (Matthew 4:19); in spite of who we are and what we are like, individually and collectively.

Hence, THAT AWKWARD MOMENT: WHEN YOU REALIZE JESUS CALLED YOU AND I (and meant it).