First Presbyterian Church Of Baton Rouge

We the people formed anew in Christ are the new creation spreading throughout the old creation. We are citizens of heaven invading the earth with Christ’s love. He sends us now, as renewed people to be ambassadors with his message of reconciliation. So, the triune God continues to create new life as his church, his body, his people flow into the weary old world.

There is peril in unforgiveness. Refusing to forgive someone is equated with asking to have back the entire debt of all your own mistakes, neglects, transgressions and sins. The king in the parable tossed that unforgiving servant back into prison until the last penny would be paid. In conclusion, Jesus speaks devastatingly clear words as he drops the mike, “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”  

The astounding love of the Father works. Because Jesus has fulfilled all mercy and all justice. He left heaven to go to the far country of the rebellious world and seek prodigals. While here, Jesus has lived perfectly the righteousness the elder brother could only pretend to have. In his Father’s name, Jesus paid for all the wasteful squandering of all the prodigals.

That’s the news today. This is our God. The Father of prodigals who yearns down the road for our return. The heart of the universe is not indifference. The path to life is not our little candle of self-light. The truth is not a God who is out to get us. No, it is here. In the father who gathered his son to himself with relief and joy.

Jesus takes the public stage of his redeeming ministry as the guest rabbi in his hometown of Nazareth. He will now beat back the darkness, still the madness in our brains, overcome the disease unravelling our bodies, forgive the sins that destroy our relationships, and gather home the lost sheep and wandering children. Before his Father calls the whole thing to a halt, there is this season of mercy that Jesus has begun. But will the people of his hometown agree that they need spiritual salvation even more than they need political liberation? Will they accept such mercy from the man who grew up as the carpenter’s son in their midst?As the preacher, he gets to choose the Scripture for the lesson. He picks a passage from Isaiah and then gives his message. There are some things you just don’t do if you want to be a faithful and successful expositor of God’s Word.

How do you face temptation and the devil? With the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. We go to work, every day, to learn the signs, so that when everything is swirling, we can still see what’s going on. The commandments of God are not for the times that are easy, when we know what to do. His Word is precisely for the times when things are not clear.