VRC Sermons

Bad Religion - Week 3

We live in a world where good and evil grow side by side, and this reality can leave us feeling exhausted and confused. The parable of the wheat and weeds from Matthew 13 speaks directly into this tension, offering us profound wisdom about why God allows darkness to persist alongside light. The story reveals three crucial truths about evil: it has a real origin in a spiritual enemy who actively works against God's purposes, it grows and spreads in ways that can feel overwhelming, and it becomes deeply entangled with the good in ways we cannot always separate on our own. What makes this parable so relevant is its honest acknowledgment that we cannot purify the world by force or eliminate evil through our own efforts. Instead, we are called to focus on knowing our roots in Christ, bearing fruit that reflects our true identity as children of God, and keeping the final harvest in mind. This perspective shifts our energy from outrage at the darkness around us to intentional cultivation of goodness in our own sphere of influence. The story is not over yet, and the Author promises an ending worth waiting for.

Bad Religion - Week 2

In Matthew 12, we encounter a powerful confrontation between rigid religious rules and radical restoration. The Pharisees had taken the beautiful principle of Sabbath rest—a gift meant to remind us that God provides and sustains even when we're inactive—and weaponized it with thousands of additional laws designed for power and control. But Jesus steps into their synagogue and reframes everything. When we see a man with a withered right hand, the hand of favor now broken by life's circumstances, we witness Jesus asking a penetrating question: Is it lawful, or is it loving? The religious leaders prioritized rules over relief, watching to ridicule rather than restore. Yet Jesus sees this hurting man sitting in the back, perhaps planted there as a trap, and declares Himself Lord of the Sabbath. He asks the impossible—stretch out your hand—and in that moment of obedient faith, complete restoration happens. This challenges us profoundly: Are we busy because we're called or because we're uncomfortable with stillness? Have we created our own house rules that block people from encountering Jesus? The message is clear—Jesus gives us rest not as rigid regulation, but as restoring relationship. Legalism protects rules, but lordship restores people. We're invited to examine what withered places in our lives need stretching toward Jesus, trusting that He sees us, stretches us, and strengthens us.

Bad Religion - Week 1

We all know what it feels like to be bone-tired—mentally drained from endless decisions, physically exhausted from the demands of life, emotionally spent from the same conversations on repeat. But there's something deeper than all of these: soul exhaustion. It's that restlessness St. Augustine described when he said our souls are restless until they rest in God. In Matthew 11:28, we find Jesus offering the antidote to this universal human condition: “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” This simple verse contains three transformative words—me, all, and rest—that reveal the essence of true religion versus bad religion. Bad religion centers on charismatic leaders, popular opinion, or, worst of all, ourselves. It adds requirements and burdens, piling rules onto an already exhausted soul. But Jesus' religion centers on Him alone, extends an invitation to everyone regardless of their past or present condition, and offers genuine rest—not the absence of work, but a shared yoke where Jesus carries the weight with us. The challenge we face is recognizing our own “me-ligion,” where we've made ourselves the center, chasing happiness through self-pursuit while neglecting the only source of true fulfillment. The solution isn't to clean ourselves up first; it's to collapse into honest acknowledgment that we never will, and come to Jesus exactly as we are. This isn't just a one-time decision but a daily return to the One who offers what our souls desperately need.

Grace for Outsiders - Week 2

What if the very animals we'd never choose as teachers hold the most crucial lessons for our spiritual journey? This message takes us deep into Matthew 10:16, where Jesus uses four startling creatures—sheep, wolves, serpents, and doves—to prepare us for life on mission. We discover that being sent as sheep among wolves isn't about weakness, but about having a Shepherd who defends us. The call to be shrewd as serpents challenges us to develop spiritual discernment in a world where truth is constantly being reframed and reinterpreted. Meanwhile, the innocence of doves reminds us that wisdom without purity becomes manipulation, and purity without wisdom becomes naivety. This isn't comfortable Christianity—it's clarity about the tension we must hold: being both gracious and truthful, both aware of danger and refusing to live in fear. The mission is real, the dangers are present, but we're neither abandoned nor naive. We're called to live with eyes wide open to both the wolves around us and the lost sheep who desperately need the Shepherd we know. This message confronts our tendency to either seek conflict or avoid all discomfort, calling us instead to a balanced life that moves with purpose through a broken world.

The King Has Come - Week 7

When we face illness, pain, or physical suffering, we're confronted with profound questions about God's power and compassion. Through three healing accounts from Matthew 8 and 9, we discover a transformative truth: the answer to our suffering isn't found by staring at sickness, but by observing the healer. We encounter Jesus healing a man with an isolating skin disease, Peter's mother-in-law with a fever, and a paralyzed man—representing the temporary, the ordinary, and the permanent spectrum of human affliction. What stands out isn't a formula for healing, but three essential realities: Jesus heals, Jesus cares, and Jesus forgives. The man with leprosy hadn't experienced human touch in weeks or months, yet Jesus reached out and touched him—a profound reminder that Jesus doesn't keep his distance from our pain. When we doubt whether God truly cares about us personally, we must remember that Jesus is close enough to touch, willing to wrap his arms around us in our darkest moments. The most powerful revelation comes when Jesus tells the paralyzed man that his sins are forgiven before commanding him to walk, revealing that spiritual sickness is even more deadly than physical disease. Sin is the terminal condition of the soul, and while Jesus may or may not heal our bodies according to his perfect will, he absolutely will heal our souls when we trust him. Our frailty reminds us of our mortality and our desperate need for a healer who isn't infected by the same disease. So what do we do with sick? We bring it to Jesus—both our physical pain and our spiritual brokenness—trusting that he cares deeply, can possibly heal our bodies, but will definitely heal our souls.