Dear friends, We continue in our homes with lockdown 4.0 with the nation’s leaders trying to kick start the economy. The question is of lives and livelihood. On one side we see lives being lost because of this pandemic, while on the other we see livelihoods being lost as migrant workers desperately want to go home as they have run out of all their resources and have begun to starve. Thousands of migrant workers are seen on the road with little children trying to trek 1500 to 2000 km by walk and many have lost their lives in the process. It is a tragic scene to see when children as young as 5 or 6 years old who are taking this journey. Sometimes, we see women who are pregnant and in their last months or even toddlers being carried on their hips. What do we do under such circumstances? We seem to be helpless as we see this migration happening all around us. No one seems to be taking up their cause seriously. God’s heart must be grieving seeing the plight and misery of the migrants. It is in this kind of a context that the Holy Spirit of God helps us. Our theme for this morning’s meditation is ‘The Promise of the Holy Spirit’ and we will be working through John 14:15-21. Jesus promises that he will ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit upon his people. The Father will send the Holy Spirit in Christ’s name and the Holy Spirit will be given by the Father at the Son’s request. This morning we will look at a few aspects of the Holy Spirit. The Greek word used is “Paraclete” - the word meaning ‘Legal Assistant’ or ‘Advocate’. So, the first thing we see about the Holy Spirit is that he is an ‘Advocate’. Advocates plead the cause of their client before the judges. Similarly, Holy Spirit pleads our cause before God. Secondly, the Holy Spirit is also a helper or a comforter. He always helps us in our time of need, whether its an emergency or otherwise, he is always there. In times like this when we don’t know what to do, he is the helper. He is the one who comforts us in our sorrow. He is the one who gives peace in our difficult situation. So, as we face this pandemic, we can take comfort in knowing that the Holy Spirit will help us and comfort us and also plead humanity’s cause before God. Thirdly, the Holy Spirit is also our intercessor and our mediator. Paul writing to the Romans says, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans (Romans 8:26).” So, when we feel weak and vulnerable the Holy Spirit sustains us. He is the one who is interceding for us. When we see the plight of migrant laborers, we can ask the Holy Spirit to intercede for them. Fourthly, the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of truth. The Spirit of truth will lead the disciples into all truth by reminding them about all that Jesus had said and done. Above all, it leads us into the truth of God. Only through Jesus can we understand who God is. The character of God is the same as the character of Jesus. And so, the Holy Spirit removes the veils of our hearts and eyes to see Jesus as God in human flesh. Jesus also reminds the disciples that the ‘World’ in contrast to the believer will neither see him nor know him. Knowledge and experience of the Holy Spirit will not be available for those who do not know Jesus. They will reject the Holy Spirit. Since the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of truth, truth is important for the followers of Christ. We live in a world of deceit, lies and falsehood. It is in this context that God calls us to be the followers of truth. The Holy Spirit was promised by Jesus and was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. The Spirit continues to be available to every believer, when we receive Christ. Finally, we see that Jesus reminds his disciples that true love for him is marked by obedience to his commands. We know all the commands but God expects us to be obedient to them. Obedience is a mark of true love. May God sustain us during this period of lockdown through the empowering presence of Holy Spirit who resides with us forever. May we be comforted in knowing that the Holy Spirit pleads our cause before God and comforts us. May we always walk in the ways of truth through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Shalom Paul Swarup Video - Sermon (Hindi) Video - Sermon (English) Download English Version Download Hindi Version Greetings to all of you! Today is Mother’s Day and we give thanks to God for all our mothers who have shown us something about the love of God. May God continue to bless all the mothers and use them for his glory.
We are now in lockdown 3.0 and we don’t know as yet how many more versions there are yet to come after the 17th of May. Many of us are still under great anxiety either about the Corona Virus or the fear of death that just in case we get the virus whether we would survive or not. Others may be frustrated that they have not been able to get out of the house or that they have not been able to go for a close friend’s funeral because of the lockdown. Many others who had planned their weddings months ago have had to cancel their bookings with almost not knowing when they can plan to hold their wedding. Our hearts are troubled and anxious in these uncertain times. We don’t know what the future holds for us. It is in this kind of a context that God’s word speaks to us to encourage us and to give us direction. Today is the fourth Sunday after Easter and the theme for our meditation is, ‘Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We will be working through the Gospel of John Chapter 14:1-14. I want us to look at this section under four headings: 1) Jesus gives comfort in a troubled world; 2) Jesus gives direction in a lost world; 3) Jesus reveals truth in a world of relativism, ignorance and deceit; and 4) Jesus gives life to a dying world. Jesus gives comfort in a troubled world. Jesus addresses his disciples saying ‘Do not let not your hearts be troubled’ – Believe in God, Believe in Me- Belief is the key criteria in knowing Jesus as the way to eternal life. Jesus was going back to the Father and he was preparing his disciples by reassuring them that they would be with him. Jesus knew that the disciples would feel lost without his physical presence in the near future and therefore assures them of what lay ahead for them. Jesus is reassuring them that his death would not be the last step but there was eternal life in the Father’s presence. Jesus proved this by defeating death and rising again on the third day. Death has been defeated. Therefore, the fear of death due to this Corona pandemic should not engulf us. God’s word reassures us. Do not Let your hearts be troubled. Secondly, Jesus is the Way. We don’t know where we are going in this journey of life. We don’t know our destination. What happens when we die? What am I doing on this earth? Jesus claims that he is the Way. He is the way to God because he has gone through the paths of suffering, the horrific death on the cross and the experience of the resurrection. Through his suffering and death, he has paved the way for us to go to the Father. The way to the place where we will be if we believe in him as our Lord and Saviour. Jesus is the way to salvation. Jesus is the way to forgiveness. Jesus is the only way to reach the Father. The Father’s conditions for entry into his kingdom is that we believe in his Son Jesus. We are called to get on to this Way by faith in Chirst and continue on it through obedience. Thirdly Jesus is the Truth. We live in a post-modern world where everything is relative. In a world of relativism there is something known as truth. Pilate asked ‘What is truth?’ when questioning Jesus. Jesus is the truth of God. We all cannot have a Jesus according to our liking. We need to look at the truth of scriptures and see what they reveal to us. Jesus reveals the truth about the Father. He is the mediator of the revelation of God. Seeing God means to have fellowship with Jesus. Because Jesus is the means of access to God who is the source of all truth and life, he himself is the source of all truth and life for people. Jesus himself is the truth – the truth of God. Only through Jesus can we understand who God is. The character of God is the same as the character of Jesus. We know that God is a loving Father, a compassionate and caring God, one who heals, one who cares for the poor and the oppressed and one who can forgive sins through what Jesus did and revealed. If we are followers of Jesus then truth should be important for us. We live in a world where truth is a casualty. Right from the Fall where Satan questions the integrity of God by saying, ‘Did God really say that you should not eat from the fruit of the garden?’ Till today we see that the lack of truth and integrity are the very fingerprints of Satan. Wherever we go we see lies and half-truths. Finally, Jesus is the Life. Jesus is the one who is the author of life – both in Creation and in New Creation. In Jesus we find life in the context of death whether it is of guilt or addiction, or birth or lineage or fear or death itself. Though we were created in the image and likeness of God, we all have the propensity to sin because of the entry of sin through the Fall. Good and bad exist in us and so does strength and weakness. Many of us think that we are nice people because we don’t rob banks, or murder or rape or commit other such heinous crimes. But when we look at our lives in contrast to the life of Jesus then we realise how much we have fallen short of God’s standards. C.S. Lewis wrote: ‘For the first time I examined myself with a seriously practical purpose. And there I found what appalled me; a zoo of lusts, a bedlam of ambitions, a nursery of fears, a harem of fondled hatreds. My name was Legion.’We need to die to our sinful selves and take on this new life which God is offering us in and through Jesus. So as we see Jesus as the Comforter in a troubled world, and as the Way the Truth and the Life, may we truly find his comfort in the midst of anxiety and chaos; follow the Way that he has set before us to enter his Kingdom; to know the truth of God as revealed to us through Jesus and enjoy the life abundant here and now and life eternal in the world to come. Shalom Paul Swarup Video - Sermon (Hindi) Video - Sermon (Hindi - 2) Video - Sermon (English) Download English Version Download Hindi Version We continue in our lockdown for another week after which we will get to know whether the lockdown will be extended or not. Meanwhile we are all in our own homes, not being able to venture out unless we are an essential services worker. Many of us are still filled with fear and anxiety as we hear of friends and neighbours suffering from this Covid Virus. The disciples too were in a similar situation after the death of Jesus. They too were filled with fear and anxiety. The disciples had hoped that Jesus would lead them into a new kingdom where they will be free from Roman rule. They never expected the crucifixion of Jesus despite Jesus repeatedly teaching them that the Son of Man had to suffer and to die and then be raised again on the third day. The death on the cross seemed to be irreversible. The disciples themselves were filled with fear that they had locked themselves for fear of the Jews on the evening of the first day of the week. The threat was too real for them. Their leader had been crucified and now they were like sheep without a shepherd, frightened and scared. They were also terribly depressed that their leader who had promised them a kingdom, was now cruelly snatched out by the cross. However, the resurrection of Jesus radically altered human history. The disciples who were scared a lot were filled with boldness and confidence. They were transformed because they were witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus. This morning, the theme for our meditation is ‘Witnesses to Christ’s Resurrection.’ On the first day of the week when the women, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and other women went to the tomb, they found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb and when they entered they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. Matthew records an earthquake and then the presence of an angel who tells them that he is risen and has gone ahead of them to Galilee. So also does Mark record an angel. Luke records two men who ask them ‘Why do you seek the living among the dead?’ The reaction of the women in all the accounts is the same. They were terrified on one side but they were also filled with joy and so they run back to inform the disciples about what they had seen. The disciples think that they are uttering nonsense. In fact the word that is used in the Greek is the word leros which means ‘nonsense’ or ‘idle talk a term used in medical settings of delirious talk of sick people. Here again we notice Luke the Physician with his medical terminology. Peter and John then rushing off to the tomb and finding it exactly as the women had informed them. John records that they still did not understand from scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead. As the women were returning Jesus meets them and greets them. In John’s Gospel Mary Magdalene is crying outside the tomb when Jesus himself asks her, 'Woman why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?’ Mary thinking he was the gardener says, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.’ Jesus addresses her by name ‘Mary’ and she immediately recognizes who it is and holds on to Jesus responding to him as Rabboni! On the same day of the resurrection two disciples had set off to a village called Emmaus which was about 11 km from Jerusalem. The two disciples were talking with each other about all that happened as they could not get their head around it. They were so caught up in their conversation they did not even see Jesus joining them. They were probably going to Emmaus for the remaining part of the Feast of the Unleavened bread, as the main Passover celebrations were over. Even though they were leaving Jerusalem, the events that had happened in the last three days dominated their discussions. Jesus asks them what they were discussing about and they retort by saying whether he was the only one who was oblivious to all that had happened in Jerusalem. Jesus then explains to them beginning with a rebuke. They were foolish and slow to believe all that the prophets had spoken. The disciples were slow to understand what the OT scriptures had foretold about the Messiah. Jesus himself kept on teaching them that it was necessary for the Son of Man to suffer and die and then be raised again on the third day (Mk 8:31, 9:31, 10:33-34). The disciples did not understand the witness of the OT Scriptures. The Suffering Servant in Isa 53 should have shown them that glory would be reached only through suffering. Jesus would be taken up into heaven where he would receive his glory. Jesus will return also as the glorious Son of Man. The disciples on the other hand were looking forward to an earthly king and kingdom who would uproot the Romans and give them political freedom. Luke basically records that Jesus used all of the OT scriptures to explain that the Messiah had to suffer and die and then be raised again on the third day. The disciples’ minds were informed and their hearts were touched. The irony of it all was they were seeking empirical evidence of the resurrection when the risen Jesus himself was in their midst. The disciples are keen that Jesus stays with them and joins in the meal. Even though Jesus is actually the guest of the two disciples he plays the role of the host and breaks the bread. And as Jesus broke the bread their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus. It is not a communion service that Jesus is enacted here; rather, Luke wants to make the point that the Christians of his day were able to have the living Lord made known to them in their “breaking of bread” in a manner that was at least similar to the experience of the Emmaus disciples. The hospitality of the disciples was well rewarded! Christ’s absence turns into presence. Their eyes were opened. When we encounter Jesus our eyes will be opened too and our hearts will be warmed. The disciples were transformed because of the resurrection and they were witnesses to it. Because of their witness the Church exists today. We too are called to be witnesses to the risen Christ. May we too encounter the risen Christ and be his witnesses. Shalom Paul Swarup Video - Sermon (Hindi) Video - Sermon (English) Download English Version The Lord is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!! Alleluia!!! Let me first and foremost wish each one of you a happy and blessed Easter. May the risen Lord sustain you through the power of the Holy Spirit in the days to come. We live at a time when the Corona Virus Pandemic has hit the world around. The globe has seen over 16 lakhs of people affected by this pandemic and almost a lakh of people have died. Our own country has crossed the 7500 mark with over 250 people who have died. America has had over 4 lakh cases and close to 16000 people have died. Italy, Spain, UK, Germany and other parts of Europe have been badly affected by this pandemic. Death seems to be all around us and the fear of death seems to have gripped the hearts and minds of people. People are anxious and afraid what will happen to them if they are infected by this virus. This has also affected the lives of millions of daily wagers who had to flee to their villages because of the plague. There is no work to do in the cities and there is no money and therefore they tried to get back to their villages. Some managed to get to their villages and some were stopped on the way. Some of them also died undertaking this arduous journey by foot. What we see all around us is death, fear, anxiety, fear of death, anxiety about the lockdown and how long it will be? Everything seems to be like the end of the world. The death of Christ on Good Friday seemed to be like the end of the road for the Messiah and his disciples. Jesus repeatedly taught his disciples that the Son of Man had to suffer and to die and then be raised again on the third day. Somehow, the death on the cross seemed to be irreversible and final. The final nail was struck when they saw Jesus being crucified. There was no going back on the fact of his death. The disciples themselves were so scared that they locked themselves up for fear of the Jews on the evening of the first day of the week. The threat of death was too real for them. Their leader had been crucified and now it could be the turn of anyone of them. They were also terribly depressed that their leader who had promised them a kingdom was now cruelly snatched by the cross. What happened on that first Easter morning had radically altered human history ever since? Mary came back as the first apostle with a message, “The Lord is risen!” The implications of the resurrection are that the death has been destroyed; sin has been removed; Satan has been defeated; and the Holy Spirit has been freely given to all of us. We are no more to be worried about death as the last and final step because of the resurrection of Jesus. We are also assured of the forgiveness of sins because Jesus took our place, died for us and rose again on the third day. The resurrection also clearly indicates that the Satan has been defeated as all the powers of Satan tried to keep Jesus down but were unable to do so. Finally, since the day of Pentecost till today, the Holy Spirit is freely given to every believer. The empty tomb gives us a future hope. If Christ has defeated Satan and death and sin then the new creation has begun and we are called to make it happen in our own world. We are ushering in the new creation when we give people hope for people in the midst of death, when we reach out to the migrant workers who are starving for food under this lockdown, when we show our love for our fellow citizens especially for the poor and the needy, when we care for all those in the medical fraternity. We are to have a new vision where we see our nations without corruption and without power struggles. We see a new world where there is a just distribution of wealth. We are called to be the Easter people. We are called to take the scripture in one hand and the power of God through the Holy Spirit on the other. We are to take a deep breath of the new creation which blows through the air this Easter and find out what we can do to make the new creation happen. The power of death and hell will oppose you for doing so and you will face many battles on the way. We are to go back again and again to the fact of Easter; the enemies are a beaten rabble. God’s new creation should also take place in our individual life. Paul says, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil, desires and greed which is idolatry”. He also says that we should rid ourselves of anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language. As we go out into the world filled with the power of the resurrection, may we truly bring God’s new creation to our world, and may we ourselves be transformed into a new creation by the help of the Holy Spirit. May we pass on the hope of the resurrection to all our people who are in lock down assuring them that God is a God of life who has overcome death and he will give us the victory over this deadly corona virus. Shalom Paul Swarup Song - Aaj Jee uta hai Hymn - Jesus Christ is risen today ______________________ Video - Sermon (English) Video - Sermon (Hindi) Download Hindi Version Download English Version Today is Palm Sunday and the churches around the world celebrate Christ’s triumphal entry into his own city, Jerusalem, to complete his work as the saviour of the world, to suffer and die and to rise again. In ancient times, palm branches symbolised goodness and victory. They were often depicted on coins and important buildings. King Solomon had palm branches carved into the walls and doors of the temples (1 King 6:29). At the end of the bible, in the book of Revelation, people from every nation and every tongue raise palm branches to honour Jesus (Rev. 7:9). Palm Sunday commemorates the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem when he was welcomed with palm branches spread on his path. This then led to his arrest on Maundy Thursday and his crucifixion on Good Friday. Therefore, Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week and the final week of lent. Jesus goes into Jerusalem from Bethphage and Bethany riding on a colt, the foal of donkey. It was a colt on which no one had ever ridden and the disciples brought it to Jesus. Jesus sat on the colt and entered into Jerusalem. As he went along, the people spread their clothes on the road, others spread palm branches which they cut from the fields and shouted, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” The crowd honoured him as the king and Messiah. However, the crowd didn’t expect a suffering Messiah who would die on the cross. They were expecting a deliverer who would deliver them from Roman rule and grant them, freedom. However, Jesus had come to give true freedom – freedom from our sins and life eternal. The people were praising him for all the good things that he had said and done. The Pharisees however, were not amused and asked Jesus to rebuke his disciples so that they would not utter such blasphemies and shouts of acclamation. However, Jesus tells them that the stones will cry out if they were asked to stop. So, what is the role of this Messiah? Zechariah reminds us that he is righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt – the foal of a donkey (Zech. 9:9). The prophet is reminding us that the Messiah is different from the other kings of Israel or other nations who were flawed and reflected only very imperfectly the character of God. But the Messiah is the perfect representation of God. He is the agent through whom God’s salvation is made available. He is gentle and humble as shown by his mode of transport. He brings peace and is not one who proclaims war. The Messiah therefore is God’s final offer to us and it would be perilous indeed to spurn it. On Palm Sunday we are reminded once again that Jesus has come into this world to enable us to make peace with God. However, his own people didn’t recognise Jesus. They didn’t know the day of God’s coming to them and ended up crucifying him. However, God in his providence brought about salvation through this which is made available to the whole world. Not all rejected him, and around that crucified king gathered a new people of God who were destined to herald the good news of his kingdom to the ends of the earth. This morning as we too enter into Jerusalem with Jesus may we truly appropriate the salvation and the forgiveness of sins that he offers to us. Video - Sermon (English) Video - Sermon (Hindi) Download English Version Download Hindi Version We live in a time of severe trials. The entire nation has been in lockdown over the past one week and we have another two weeks to go at least for the present. The Corona virus is unleashing its deadly sting on all of humanity. Thousands have died in Italy, China, Spain, USA. Many other countries are reeling under this attack as the enormity of the infection has put the medical services under severe stress. We in India are just now in stage 3 and the infection is slowly but surely spreading. The Government is making every effort to slow down its spread if not to contain it. There is a deep sense of fear and insecurity about what the future holds. This virus brings home the truth about the mortality of human beings. We flourish like the flowers of the field and then we are no more. It is in this context that we are called to make sense of the death of Christ and what it means for us. The death of Christ actually gives meaning to our lives. Our theme for this morning is the Meaning of the Death of Christ.’ What does the death of Christ mean to us? What does it indicate? What sense can we make out of a man who was crucified two thousand years ago? Does his death alter our lives in any way? – are all questions that run through our mind when we think about the death of Christ. What does the bible have to tell us about the death of Christ? In the letter to the Romans, Paul shows that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But he goes on to say, ‘they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith’ (Rom 3:23-24).Paul shows that through the death of Christ there is redemption available to all who believe in this provision. God put forward Jesus to die for our sins so that we can make peace with God. We will be looking at the second epistle of Paul to the Corinthians chapter 5:11-21. The death of Christ makes Paul persuade others to believe in the good news. Paul is not worried about what others think of him. He has experienced the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life in Christ. His life has been turned inside out from being persecutor to being one who proclaims the faith. Therefore, now he out to persuade others to believe in Christ. He is not concerned about what others think of him. They may consider him to be a madman but he says that will not alter his way of life because his conscience was clear and was doing out of love for God and for his people. Similarly, the challenge for us is also to persuade others to understand the meaning of the death of Christ. How there is the forgiveness of sins and the hope of eternal life through him. Secondly, the compelling love of Christ shown to us through his death on the cross makes us live our lives for him. Paul is now telling the Corinthians that Jesus died in their place taking the penalty of their sins. Paul reminds us that the wages of sin is death and that we all had to die because of our sins. But instead Christ took our place on the cross so that we might live. Therefore, when we live our lives we are to live it for Jesus. Finally, the death of Christ reminds us that the new creation has come. We are all made new through the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. The new creation itself is not something of our own doing but it is a gift from God. If we are a new creation in Christ then we will be different. We will not be like the world. We will walk in the paths of truth. Truth and integrity will be part of our lives. Lies and deceit will have to go. The old habits have to go. The self has to die. Power and Pride, Popularity and success, wealth and greed all have to go. Instead we are called to lead lives of humility, integrity and simplicity because we cannot serve God and mammon. May God help us to understand the meaning of the death of Jesus and pass on this good news to others while we ourselves are being transformed by it. Shalom Paul Swarup Video - Sermon (English) Video - Sermon (Hindi) Download English version Download Hindi version |
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