Mosaic Boston

Are you a tolerant person? It’s a questions we’ve all either asked, or been asked. If you’ve asked that question, you were probably curious to know if the person, or people, you were addressing could love you if they really knew your beliefs or lifestyle. If you’ve been asked that question, you may have worried that you were about to be ambushed. Sometimes the real question behind the question is, “do you agree with me, because if not then I’m not going to tolerate you!” Part of our struggle with this popular question, is that our culture has redefined tolerance, and forgotten why it could be good in the first place. I say “could” be good, because the Bible assumes there are times when tolerance is actually not good. It’s possible for tolerance to be unloving. It’s even possible for tolerance to be a facade to a subtle form of hatred, a cover up for indifference. Today we will be looking at Jesus letter to the church in Thyatira. The letter is perplexing, but also enlightening because we see Jesus commendi

A.W. Tozer once said: "A new Decalogue has been adopted by the neo-christians of our day, 'Thou shalt not disagree,' and a new set of Beatitudes too, 'Blessed are they that tolerate everything for they shall not be made accountable.'" These words seem to be truer than ever. Our culture appears to be putting more and more pressure on the Church to conform to the prevailing culture's values. To conform to the culture, the Church is pressured to compromise both theologically and morally. In a seemingly noble desire to accommodate the culture, the church begins to compromise the truth. Once the truth is compromised, morality follows suit. Idolatry and sexual immorality always go hand in hand--spiritual infidelity and sexual infidelity are bedmates. Eventually, compromise renders the witness of the Church null and void. Though the pressure comes from outside the church, the decision to compromise always comes from within. One small compromise here and one small compromise there, and before you know it, a church

Throughout church history, Christians have been persecuted for simply remaining faithful to Jesus Christ. Though we enjoy relative religious freedom, Christians worldwide are continuing to suffer for their faith. Several watchdog organizations have published papers saying that "2015 was the worst year in modern history for Christian persecution." With North Korea leading the way, and militant radical Islam rapidly expanding, today is one of the most dangerous times ever to be a Christian. The Christian persecution watchdog "Open Doors" has released a statistic recently stating that, today, a Christian is martyred for their faith every 5 minutes. More Christians have been martyred in the 20th and 21st centuries, than all the previous 19 combined. Though we might not be martyred for our faith in this country, the political and cultural landscape is certainly making it more difficult to publicly proclaim the name of Christ and his teachings. Our culture seems to be tolerant toward everyone, except Christians.

Today we begin a new sermon series at Mosaic through Jesus' seven letters to the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. The incredible unvoiced assumption behind these letters, is that just as much as Jesus Christ loves and cares for the universal Church, he loves and cares for particular churches. As the Apostle John gazes at the glorious Christ in Revelation 1, Jesus turns John's gaze to seven individual churches. The more we love Jesus, the more we love what Jesus loves, and Jesus loves his churches. The deeper our commitment to Jesus, the deeper our commitment to what he's committed to: his Church. Each letter, addressed to each of the individual churches, begins with the phrase: "I know...". Jesus writes, "I know your works..."; "I know you are enduring patiently..."; "I know your tribulation..."; "I know where you dwell..."; "I know your love and your faith...". Jesus is paying incredibly close attention to his churches. This is simultaneously a great comfort when we feel that no one notices

When you hear the parable of the good Samaritan, where do you cast yourself within the story? On a particularly good day, we may feel like the good Samaritan. Or, at least, if we just tried a little harder, or we were at the right place at the right time, we could be like him. We're inspired by how Jesus describes his acts of compassion, and we get pumped up to "Go, and do likewise" in a broken world. And we should--- we understand more of the heart of God when we enter into the midst of suffering. Other times, when we've turned up our headphones to ignore that person on the T, or directly avoided that person in the office who is having a bad day, we feel like the Priest or the Levite. And we should--- we hear "Go, and do likewise", and excuses flood our mind. "What about my time and my schedule?" "What if it's unsafe?" "Is it right to give money out like that?" "I don't think I'm gifted to do that." Some may be valid, some maybe not so much. But how many of us would cast ourselves as the guy beaten a

What is the most important thing about you? And, not just the thing you really want someone to know about you when you first meet them. I'm not talking about what you do for work, how much you make/have, where you went to school, your athletic prowess, or social connections. What's the thing, if you lose it, you lose everything? A.W. Tozer once said, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.... The most portentous fact about any person is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like... The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthy of Him." What's most important about us isn't what we passively believe about God, but what we actively think about God today, because this impacts absolutely everything else. As our thoughts about God align with the true God, our perception of reality aligns with ultimate reality, which lea

Have you noticed the recent trend in Hollywood to make movies and shows about the end of the world? The future of our planet is always being threatened, by aliens, asteroids, floods, freezing, killer viruses, robots, mutants, nuclear weapons, and of course, zombies. Ours is a culture full of existential angst and Hollywood (and Politicians!) are cashing in on it. We're past the question, "Is the world going to when?" Not "is" but "when?" This is the perfect time to study the biblical apocalyptic literature in the Book of Daniel. The visions Daniel sees reveal a grim future full of chaos, conflict, and rebellion against God. However, Daniel assures us, salvation will come from the "Son of Man" to whom will be given "dominion, and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages" will serve him and "his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed." No matter the chaos in the world around us, King Jesus is on His throne and in cont

Preaching famous texts is always challenging, because people think they know the story, and as the saying goes, "familiarity breeds contempt." We're so familiar with the story, it's lost all relevance in our lives. The story of Daniel and the lions comes with an additional challenge: though famous, it has been famously misinterpreted! The usual interpretation goes like this: "Look at Daniel, he's so good! He trusts God. He's uncompromising. He's incorruptible. He's absolutely moral. Be like him and God will take care of you by protecting you and prospering you. He won't let anything bad happen to you. Despite all the dangerous metaphorical lions in your life, you won't have a scratch on you. Guaranteed. Just trust and obey." That's all fine and well, except that's not the point of the story and, it just isn't true! Many of us have been taught this false moralistic interpretation, and if you've been good, and bad things have happened, you're disillusioned. Or you read the story, and say, "I could never be th

Have you heard these phrases before? "Your days are numbered." "The writing is on the wall." "You have been weighed and found wanting." All three phrases come from Daniel 5. All three have made their way into the public imagination of our culture. All three pack a powerful emotional punch. These phrases are deeply moving because they communicate some of the most profound, self-evident truths about our existence. Our days are truly numbered (but by whom?), The writing is on the wall (but what does it mean?). Deep down inside, if we're honest, we know we are being weighed (by whom?) and we don't measure up (to what?). So what do we do with these truths? Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die? That's what the king does in Daniel 5, and we see how foolish it ultimately is. He sees the writing on the wall and continues boozing to blind himself to the more uncomfortable facts of reality. How then shall we live? Join us as we look at the powerful story in Daniel 5.

Do you ever feel like your own worst enemy? We’ve been walking through the book of Daniel, and we’ve seen how God is able to deliver us from our enemies and the trials of life. We’ve also seen how, at times, God chooses to not deliver us from our trials, but to deliver us by walking with us through our trials. Before any of this, however, God first needs to deliver us from the greatest enemy of all. Ourselves. The danger facing Daniel and his friends threatened their bodies, but the danger facing Nebuchadnezzar threatened his very soul. The threat of his own pride. Our culture sees pride as a virtue, but scripture tells us it is the deadliest sin. Pride is what made the devil the devil, and it led to the fall of mankind. Pride is at the root of every sin, every vice, and every evil the world has ever seen. It is also ironically humiliating. The great irony of pride is that while attempting to make ourselves into something more than human, we inevitably make ourselves into something less than human. Pride de

Today we have the blessing of studying one of the most famous and beloved stories in all of Scripture: the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego thrown into the fiery pit. It's a phenomenal testimony of the unwavering, ironclad, immovable faith of three young men, in the face of the most dire of circumstances. This text is chock-ful of faith-building and live-giving lessons. A primary question the text poses before us today is: am I going to declare the Lord to be my God, my primary allegiance, come what my, or will I bow to the multitude of glittering idols that the world present to me? The same battle these men fought, is actually waged daily in our hearts over much lesser issues. Furthermore, so many questions arise from the text: ~How can Nebuchadnezzar force everyone to worship this image he's built, immediately after he just proclaimed to Daniel, "Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings." ~Couldn't Shadrach, Meshach, and Abelnego have bowed down to this image in public, but still worshi

You ever feel like living a faithful Christian life is an uphill battle? Like the deck is stacked against you? Like you're Sisyphus, pushing a massive boulder uphill, and when you're almost at the top, you gas out and the stone comes tumbling down the hill, almost crushing you in the process? There are so many temptations in this world, and so many more in the city. How in the world can you remain faithful and flourishing, instead of faithless and languishing? You ever feel like you're the absolutely only Christian in your circles of influence? Maybe one of the only Christians in your whole school, company, and or community? Perhaps in your whole city? Well, you feel like that, because in Boston, it's statistically true. Sometimes, the Christian life feels like you're living in a den with lions, who are ready to devour you alive. Sometimes, it feels like there are lions on the outside, and lions of the heart on the inside. Join us as we start a study through the epic book of Daniel and learn some timel

Corporately, we'll celebrate the triumph of Christ over Satan, Sin, and Death on our behalf! As the Scriptures say: "Death is swallowed up in victory! O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"

This Sunday, we are finishing our "Hard Sayings of Jesus" series with a look at Matthew 21:1-22, where Jesus rides in to Jerusalem on the occasion we have come to know as "Palm Sunday." We've chosen to include this passage in our series reflecting on the most perplexing teachings/actions of Jesus, because there's so much in this text that really seems out of place. Why does Jesus tell his disciples to just take some random person's donkeys? Further, why in the world does Jesus ride a donkey in to Jerusalem, especially if He's the Messianic King? What's up with people throwing their shirts on the ground? Palm tree branches? What's Hosanna mean (we sing it all the time, but what in the world does it mean)? Immediately after this pleasant, idyllic scene, Jesus goes to the Temple and goes berserk on the money-changers and sellers of pigeons. What?! Why are pigeons being sold in the Temple? And why such an intense reaction from Jesus? What's going on? The very next paragraph is also puzzling. Hungry/hangry Jes

A Canaanite woman begs Jesus to heal her sick daughter, and he responds by saying "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." What?! Did Jesus just call her a dog? What just happened? This text seems utterly incompatible with the character of Jesus. It seems shockingly intolerant. Are we missing something? However, the woman isn't offended and actually responds in such a way, that Jesus says "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire," and the woman's daughter was instantly healed. Jesus was impressed with this woman's humble chutzpah. She accepts Jesus' words with humility, but it's not a weak humility, it's a chutzpy humility. She exhibits an audacious, confident, brassy humility. It's extremely paradoxical, but humble chutzpah is the key to a great faith that unleashes the great power of God in our lives.

I don't know about you, but I think I've had my fill of the mosh-pit morass that this presidential election has become (and we've got 8 more months of it!!). As election season fatigue sets in, it's helpful to remind ourselves of who is really in charge: King Jesus! We all long for a leader who can bring true, lasting, meaningful change. We all long for a leader who is good, kind, benevolent (and honest!). Jesus is a King who has promised to usher in His Kingdom. However, his Kingdom is full of paradox and surprise. Today, we'll continue our series in the "Hard Sayings of Jesus" series, by looking at Matthew 11:1-19. The text begins with John the Baptizer, who is in prison for preaching the truth, sending his disciples to Jesus to ask: "Are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another?" This question comes as an absolute shock, because John, as a prophet of God and the cousin of Jesus, knew exactly who Jesus was. John knew that Jesus was the King come to usher in his Kingdom. Yet, John couldn't u

One of the cardinal rules of public speaking is: "Don't be boring!" I remember a preaching professor in seminary used to say, "Preaching a boring sermon is a deadly sin!" Why? Because the Gospel is anything but boring. Jesus is the most interesting man in the world (sorry Dos Equis guy). As the most interesting man in the world, Jesus' words are the most riveting words in the history of the world. His words are so interesting because they are so scandalous! Over and over in the Gospel accounts, crowds are amazed, astonished, shocked! They marvel, they tremble, they worship. Our culture needs to be shocked by Jesus. We need to be constantly re-shocked by Jesus. We are the most entertained and pleasured society in the history of the world, and still, we're the most bored. We've grown numb to God and to each other. We need to be tased by God's shocking truth and grace.