Advent
Date: Nov 12, 2006
Preacher: Rick Mckinley
Passage: Matthew 2:1-18
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Summary:

The gospel is not bound to any given culture. It is a-cultural. It can enter any specific culture and engage with different redemptive windows of that culture. This is our philosophy of ministry at Imago Dei in a nutshell. However, when the gospel enters a culture, in addition to redeeming aspects of it the gospel also critiques pieces of the culture that are opposed the values of God’s Kingdom. This is what it means to live a prophetic life. We see this type of critique in the incarnation itself. Herod’s Kingdom (the culture in which Christ literally showed up) was one driven by the values of mass wealth, power of military force, greed, and personal gain. Christ enters this culture through poverty, weakness, dependency, and sacrifice. This is the biblical picture of advent.

How does our current celebration of Christmas reflect this incarnation? That is, does our experience of the advent season match the biblical values of the gospel? What can our advent season look like this year if we intentionally choose to be a prophetic voice in our culture? The last thing we want to do is be obnoxious about it. But if we choose to reflect the Kingdom values in this season, we probably will be looked at funny. Are you willing to be looked at funny this season for the sake of the gospel? Here are three themes we see in the advent of Christ that we would like to pursue as a congregation:

  • God became poor so that we could be rich.
    What are the social implications of this for us? How can we choose not to waste what we have but give it away in ways that meet significant needs of those around us? Can our gift giving feed hunger instead of greed?
  • God gave himself relationally.
    First and foremost we desire to give gifts to each other this season that are relationally driven. We desire to learn what it means to give of ourselves and not just give stuff. We will be resourcing you with many ideas on how to approach this.
  • When Jesus showed up, people worshipped him.
    What would it look like if Jesus was actually the focus of Advent? Can we respond like the shepherds and Magi, who celebrated the first Advent by praising God and worshipping the Son?
  • When we receive, we receive Jesus, not stuff.
    If Jesus became poor that we may be rich, are we truly receiving the riches that he has given us? Are we receiving Him? How do we as a community ultimately embrace Jesus this Advent season and not be distracted by all the hype around us?

Comments:

On November 15th,Daniel Butler said:

O.K., I'll be the idiot, the Peter who always blurts out the wrong thing. I'm a 55 year old man for crying out loud and I'm standing here in my kitchen crying. I'm crying because I don't want Rick to go. In the last nine months, I've downloaded and listened to every sermon Rick has done since 2004. Most of them several times. And now I'm crying out to God, not again! Every time You bring someone into my life that just cracks open my heart with Your Word and fills me with conviction, brokeness, repentance and joy...You take them away! I know. I know in my head that this leads me directly to You with no Rick in the middle and I know this is no cult of personality, It is all about that little baby who was and is the King of Kings, my Savior, my Big Brother, my Friend, but I would be dishonest if I didn't say that my heart is breaking to see you go, Rick. Then as the Elders prayed for you, I wept because here was a group of human beings who are actually followers of Christ and mature enough in the Lord to let you go, to give you away. You guys will never realize how broad and how wide and how deep the Lord is because you can't imagine how many lives He is touching through you. I'm an old dude in Franklin, Tennessee. In July 2004 I saw a woman reading "Blue Like Jazz" in Central America. I read it that August. I hunted down Miller's church. I found your sermon archive and your podcasts. I have been listening to like a sermon a day for nine months. And yes, I confess, if Rick's name wasn't on the sermon, I skipped it. Then, I think it was Luke (?) did a sermon on Psalm 103 which has always been my favorite. I've had that psalm memorized for twelve years and I listened even though it wasn't Rick. I could not believe that you showed me something new in psalm 103. The psalmist was preaching to his own soul! Duh. I never got that. I had never seen that POV. So, yes, elders and other guest speakers I will continue to listen because God has spoken through you to me. But it would be nice if you could ocassionally throw in a "dude" or a "stoked" just for old times sakes.

Get thee behind me, satan. I'll let you go, Rick. Forgive my hero worship, my american idolness, and even though I feel like my spiritual mentor is taking a hike on me, I know enough of how He has worked in my life to say, "What's next, Papa?"