🔊 The Reality of Jesus

Welcome to AnchorCast, a weekly podcast of homilies and sermons from Christ our anchor Anglican Mission in Nashville Tennessee.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.

Amen.

It’s hard to be where we’re at and listen to Micah.

Some 2,500 years after Micah recorded his vision from the Lord, it is still a far-off dream.

Wars are all around us.

Nations fight against each other.

Russia, Iran, and Palestine.

People are in active civil war in Haiti and any other places.

Across the world there are no signs of peace suddenly breaking out.

Here in Nashville the rich still have, the powerful keep and protect their own.

Our brothers and sisters lack while luxury apartments sit empty.

I say all of this because it is true.

But I also say it because Micah was totally aware of this.

He saw the world as it is too.

Not only that, God sees our world.

He knows the reality.

He knows how far-fetched this vision sounds.

To be a Christian is to look sinful humanity in the eye and not to flinch.

It is to see the filth and dirt and pain around us and to nonetheless cling to the hope found in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

We give no answer to suffering other than Christ.

We give no solution to sin other than Christ.

Christ is all.

He is truly all we have.

It would be easy to stand up here and spout happy lies.

Believe in God and your problems will go away.

Stop sinning and you’ll get a job.

Be nicer and God will give you an apartment.

These all sound nice but they are lies.

Even if they could be made true, the God who proclaimed them would be a monster.

He would be a God who required our cooperation to accomplish good in the world.

He would be a God with no mercy.

We do not serve a God like this though.

Our God does not weigh our merits.

He does not look at what we can do for Him.

He looks at our heart.

He forgives those that come to Him.

He steps into this mess alongside us and makes a way.

God is not a magic genie.

God does not wipe away all of our troubles.

Trusting in Him will not make your bank account suddenly overflow.

Trusting Him as your Lord will not result in a move to Brentwood.

Trusting in Him is more than all of these things.

Looking into His face is a greater security and comfort than words are able to describe.

Jesus is more than a hope.

Jesus is more than a wish.

Jesus is more than a fun idea.

Jesus is the very reality we live in.

Jesus is real.

Seeing Jesus, we can see the world around us for the first time.

Without Jesus, we are merely looking at a giant lie, an illusion, a world of tricks.

Jesus sees each and every one of us.

He knows the desires of this community.

He knows our friends who don’t have a place to sleep.

He knows our friends who have nothing to eat.

He knows our desire for medical attention, for stable jobs, for housing.

The time will come when all will have what God desires for them.

Each of us will sit in our vineyard, safe and content.

We’ll look out into a world much like our own, but more spectacular than we can imagine.

This is God’s will for us.

This is His desire for us.

This is why He died for us.

This is the desire that caused Him to sweat blood.

While the world sees suffering and thinks the answer of Jesus is insufficient, I answer Jesus knowing that nothing else makes sense.

I answer Jesus because knowing Him is the only truth that brings any light into this dark world.

What the Lord has spoken will be done.

His desire for each of us is good.

Continue, my friends, walking in the name of the Lord.

He is good and He will never leave us nor look away.

In the name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen.

Christ Our Anchor is an Anglican mission in East Nashville that meets on Wednesday evenings for prayer and fellowship.

And join us on Wednesday evenings at 530 as we live into what Jesus has called His church to be.

Everyone is welcome.