Edgefield Church Nashville – Sermons

Still pushing back against self-centered divisiveness in the church, Paul insists there?s only one distinction that really matters: those who love the cross of Jesus and those who reject it. And it?s only by God?s Spirit that any of us come to understand and to love that cross, to see the wisdom of God.

The aim of Paul?s ministry was to see deeper faith in the power of God apart from any substitute. If we share his goal, that means our message must focus always and only on Jesus and his cross. And it means our methods must clarify the power of the cross, not distract from it.

Paul calls the message of the cross foolishness, and there?s no question that?s how it?s always seemed to the powers that be. But what did Paul mean by this description? And why would God choose this foolishness?

In this passage Paul confronts one of the major problems in the church at Corinth and in so many churches since then: the people were divided against each other. Paul points us to where division comes from, why it?s so dangerous, and how the cross helps us overcome it.

Paul writes this letter to a dysfunctional church plant to clarify what defines a healthy church community: Holiness, grace, and love.

Psalm 23 is a dramatic portrayal of trusting God completely. When we read its 6 verses, we are drawn to ask ourselves if we trust God enough to proclaim, ?The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.?

When we place God at the center of our lives, we will experience a deep happiness that is not dependent on our circumstances. By understanding the psalmist?s metaphor?a tree planted by streams of water?we hope to gain a deeper knowledge of who God is and what it looks like to love him most.

This final chapter in Isaiah captures the only suitable response to the message of the book: Worship. And worship that pleases God hinges on the heart posture of the worshiper. God wants worshipers who come desperate and empty handed, who tremble at his word.

Isaiah is full of sweeping promises from God about his plans to redeem his people and remake the world. Many of these promises haven?t been fulfilled yet, so we wait. This text shows us how to wait in faith: we testify to what?s coming and we pray until it gets here.

Genuine trust in God and his promises produces a different way of life. But God isn?t interested in any good works we might offer as a kind of bargaining chip to get what we want from him. God is pleased by good works done for others as an overflow of our joyful security in him.

Isaiah?s beautiful descriptions of God?s plan to redeem sinners are only good news for us if we know that they?re promises to us, and if we know how we?re supposed to respond to his word. This story of King Hezekiah in crisis?one of Isaiah?s only stories?is meant to show us what it looks like to claim God?s promises. It looks like a trust that?s rooted in despair, centered on God and his character...

God?s plan to redeem extends as far as the brokenness of the world. In the new heavens and the new earth, there will be gladness and no sorrow; life and no death; fruitfulness and no futility; peace and no hostility.

Because of the Servant?s work, God offers the only thing that can truly satisfy us?himself. And he offers himself to all who see their need for him?everyone from everywhere.

This chapter unpacks the beautiful reality that?s possible because the Servant has suffered for our sins. God?s grace can reframe your past, and God?s grace can perfectly secure your future.

The resurrection proves Jesus?s death fully accounted for sin and opened up a new world of hope.

God?s promised redeemer, both king and servant, triumphs through suffering. That?s the unexpected message of this famous passage, which explains for us both why he had to suffer and why his suffering is such good news for us. His suffering is substitutionary, voluntary, and obedient.

To his emphasis on the coming King, Isaiah adds an unexpected description of the one who will come to save God?s people and bring justice to the nations. The conquering King is also the Servant; he is humble, gentle, and longsuffering.

Isaiah offers some of the Bible?s most beautiful descriptions of God?s plan to save sinners and heal the brokenness of the world. According to Isaiah 9, those plans center on the coming of a perfect and permanent King.

This passage is a clear and merciless indictment of what happens to the cultures we create when we refuse to trust God to make us secure. Like Israel in Isaiah?s day, we turn each other into threats to be attacked, competitors to be deceived, and resources to be exploited. But this passage also points the way to healing. Honest confession of our own brokenness helps us empathize with the weakness...

Using an image of unmistakeable power, Isaiah shows that idols may draw you in with the promise of control, but in the end you?re left to carry their crushing weight. By contrast, the Holy One of Israel demands submissive trust in a God you can?t control, but he is powerful, wise, and loving enough to carry you.

Isaiah presents idolatry?worshipping and trusting what isn?t God?as one of Israel?s most consistent and most significant problems. And though the symptoms have changed from culture to culture, idolatry is a heart disease we all carry. This chapter helps us understand what idolatry is, why it?s useless, how we?re guilty of it, and how we can be saved from it.

The story of Ahaz illustrates Isaiah?s perspective on what?s wrong with Israel and with us. Then and now, everything rides on a single question: whom will you trust?

The Bible claims that God is love, but in trying to understand what that means we?ve got to be careful to avoid imposing our confused views of what love is onto God. The fact is that God?s love isn?t like any love in our experience, which is to say it?s holy love. In light of Isaiah 40, God?s holy love is preemptive, pardoning, and permanent.

One of the ways in which God is holy, in which he is not like us, is his perfect moral righteousness. We redefine what?s right and justify doing wrong; God is perfectly committed to what?s right and unfailingly judges what?s wrong. This makes God?s holy perfection a severe threat. But his holy perfection also comes to us as a promise: God offers us Jesus?s record of perfect righteousness, and by h...

At the heart of Isaiah?s portrait of God is God?s holy transcendence?the fact that God is beyond us and anything we experience in this world, that he?s not limited by the powers of this world or our ability to understand him. This aspect of what God is like is unavoidably abstract and difficult to connect with, much less enjoy. And that?s why Isaiah 40 is in the Bible?to help us see and enjoy God?...