What is Acceptable?

[The following is the manuscript of my sermon delivered on the 26th of October, 2014.]

Many people think of the Old Testament as providing merely a history lesson.  It simply tells of the lives and times of some folks who lived long ago.  But I see it as far more than that.  The Old Testament serves as more than just a backdrop to the New Testament.  Everything in it, in some way, points to Jesus.  Jesus is the fulfillment of all the OT prophecy.  And it contains valuable lessons, straight from the words of God, for us today.  We’re going to look at one of those lessons this morning, as we go back to the beginning.

Follow along as I read the account of the second great dark blot on man’s record, as contained in chapter 4 of Genesis, from the second half of verse 2 through verse 17…

2b Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. 4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, 5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

6 So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”

8 Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?”

He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

10 And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. 11 So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.”

13 And Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! 14 Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.”

15 And the Lord said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.

16 Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. 17 And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son — Enoch.

--Genesis 4:2b-17 (NKJV)

Let us pray...  O God our Father, we come together to worship You, and we pray our worship is pleasing to You.  Lord, use me to speak the words You wish Your people to hear.  Use Your Holy Spirit within us to deliver the message You know we need to receive.  May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of each of our hearts, be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer.  In the beautiful name of Jesus we pray.  Amen.


The Butterball Company set up a Thanksgiving hotline one year to answer questions about cooking turkeys.  One woman called and asked if she could use a turkey that had been in the bottom of her freezer for 23 years.  The Butterball expert (which is in itself an interesting job title and description) told her it would probably be safe if the freezer had been below zero the entire time.  But the expert warned her that even if the turkey was still safe to eat, the flavor would likely have deteriorated and wouldn’t be worth eating.  The woman said, “That’s what I thought.  I’ll just give the turkey to our church.”


While this is an amusing little story, it may hit just a bit too close to home for some Christians in our society today.  Too often, sin first begins to show itself in what we give to God.  And giving to God serves as the focal point in today’s scripture reading, doesn’t it?  Brothers Cain and Abel both made an offering to God.  But what one gave pleased God more than what the other gave.  Did Cain offer the harvest equivalent of a 23 year old frozen turkey?


This really is a sordid little tale that Moses tells.  It records the very first murder – the first instance of one man purposely taking the life of another.  And sadly, it tells of a man killing his own brother in a fit of rage.

But the 4th chapter of Genesis doesn’t start or end this way.  In verses 3 and 4 we see these two brothers worshiping God by bringing Him an offering.  And then in the ending of verse 26, Moses tells us that…

26 … Then men began to call on the name of the Lord.

--Genesis 4:26c (NKJV)

That is a form or worshiping God too, calling on His name.  And I find it interesting that long before God revealed Himself fully to Moses and His chosen people of Israel as the Great I Am, there is a small but growing group of people who grasp the real identity of the One True God.  So while Genesis 4 begins and ends with worshiping God, sandwiched in between is a murder and some serious recriminations.

But why did Cain kill his brother, Abel?  How could this happen?  Let’s look at what caused the anger to answer the question of why.

Cain was a farmer.  Abel was a shepherd.  Both brought an offering to God.  Cain, the farmer, brought an offering of his harvest, of “the fruit of the ground”.  Abel, the shepherd, brought his offering from the firstborn of his flock.  God was pleased with Abel’s gift, but not with Cain’s.  Again, why?

Farmer and shepherd: both of these vocations are honorable and even noble.  One is not better or more highly thought of than the other.  And both brothers bring an offering to the Lord that is in keeping with their vocation.  Yet God “respected” Abel’s offering but not Cain’s.  Why?

Some insist that God did not find favor with Cain’s offering because he did not make a blood sacrifice as Abel did.  We can find instance after instance in the Bible – mainly in the Old Testament but with one very prominent example in the New Testament – where the atonement of sin can only be accomplished by a blood sacrifice.

But is a blood sacrifice always necessary?  If we move a little further into Israel’s history, we see grain and harvest offerings as legitimate forms of worship to God that He not only accepts but also commands in specific circumstances, such as found in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers.

So perhaps it isn’t so much what was offered as how it was offered.  Motives matter to God.  Why we do what we do is important.  Our Lord isn’t so much impressed if we do the right thing for the wrong reasons.

The scripture says that the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but did not respect Cain and his offering.  In each case, the man is listed first and his offering second.  Our good teacher tells us in Proverbs chapter 21 verses 2 and 3 that…

2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes,
But the Lord weighs the hearts.
3 To do righteousness and justice
Is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

--Proverbs 21:2-3 (NKJV)

The Lord weighs our hearts.  To Him, doing what is right in His eyes and upholding justice are more important than any sacrifice.  Since a sacrifice is exactly what Abel offered, we can only surmise that Cain’s heart wasn’t in the right place.  If it had been, if he was righteous and a champion of justice, then God would have seen his offering as acceptable even without a sacrifice.  In Leviticus, chapter 22 verse 20, Moses cautions…

20 Whatever has a defect, you shall not offer, for it shall not be acceptable on your behalf.

--Leviticus 22:20 (NKJV)

I believe it safe to say that what Cain had to offer from his heart was defective, or else God would have found favor with him.  If God weighs our hearts ahead of our giving, then we need to make sure our heart doesn’t have a defect which would, like Cain’s, make us unacceptable to the Lord.


I keep talking about offerings and sacrifices, but what we’re really looking at here is worship - how we worship God.  Remember I said earlier that chapter 4 of Genesis begins and ends with worship of the Lord.  We worship Him with our offerings just as we do when we sing praises to Him, when we call on His name, when we pray to Him, when we give thanks.

So our story of Cain and Abel comes down to whose worship was acceptable to God and whose wasn’t, and why.  Obviously, Abel’s worship was acceptable but Cain’s was not.  And the “why” is because Cain’s heart was not in the right place – his heart just wasn’t in it.

The author of the book of Hebrews has this to say about our brothers in chapter 11 verses 4 and 6…

4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.

6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

--Hebrews 11:4, 6 (NKJV)

Without faith, it is impossible to please God.  Our Lord finds righteousness and faith to be pleasing in His sight.


Look at verses 3 and 4 of our message text again.  Cain simply brought the fruit of the ground, probably grain and other crops of the harvest.  But Abel brought a firstborn sheep of his flock, including the choice portions.  Cain did enough to get by, in his own mind.  Abel went above and beyond.  Cain just gave from part of his harvest.  Abel gave the very best from his flock.

We don’t really know all that much about these two brothers from the little bit of scripture telling their story, but don’t you think that Abel had a better relationship with God than Cain did?  We can almost say that Cain suffered a disconnect from God - a separation from Him.  This shows that a good relationship with our Lord is an essential element of acceptable worship.

So a righteous heart, faith, and a good relationship with our Lord are required for our worship to be pleasing to God.  Another way to look at this is in part of my prayer earlier, which comes from Psalm 19 verse 14…

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.

--Psalm 19:14 (NKJV)

We really do need to watch what we say, as well as what we feel in our hearts and think in our minds, because God hears everything and if we want to please Him, we need to be mindful of the words we choose.

The Apostle Paul has a little more to add regarding what might be acceptable and pleasing to God.  For instance, from the 2nd chapter of his 1st letter to his young friend Timothy, verses 1 through 4, Paul says…

1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

--1 Timothy 2:1-4 (NKJV)

Pray for others.  Anytime we’re talking to God and asking Him for His blessings or to intercede in our lives or when we give Him thanks, we should also pray on behalf of others.  Fact is, if we take to heart what Jesus said and the example He set, we should put the needs of others ahead of ourselves when we pray.  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, to pattern our own lives and behavior after His beloved Son.

And another instruction from Paul, from the 12th chapter of his letter to the Romans, verses 1 and 2…

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

--Romans 12:1-2 (NKJV)

We should present our very bodies to God as a living sacrifice.  Notice the word “living” there. God doesn’t want us to sacrifice our lives for Him, but to live our lives for Him.  Not to live for the world and its earthly pleasures, but to serve God through serving Jesus.  He wants us to live a life that is holy, to be right with Him, to have faith in Him, to give ourselves to Him.

God gave Cain every chance to repent of his sinful act and to live a better life.  He wanted to save Cain, not condemn him.  And He does the same for us – He gives us every chance to repent, He wants to save us.


So what is acceptable?  I believe Jesus summed it up best when He said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

If we do that, everything else will fall into place.

Amen.


Let us pray…  Lord God, we do love You and have faith in You and we want our worship to be acceptable to You.  But Father, we know that sometimes we don’t necessarily do the right things for the right reasons.  Sometimes we might do what the world sees as right just so that the world will see us doing right.  And while our deed may very well be one You would also see as right, You want us to do it not to be seen and thought highly of by others but to do it just because we love You and want to do something good to serve You.  Help us, please Lord, to always remember that righteousness is more important to You than any sacrifice or offering that the world might take note of.

Hear us now, Father, as we pause and speak to You in the silence from our hearts, seeking Your forgiveness for our unrighteousness, repenting of our offerings given for the wrong reasons, praying that our worship might be acceptable and pleasing to You…

Gracious and loving Father, Creator of all there is, we want to please You.  We desire to serve You.  We can never thank You enough for all Your mercies and blessings but we long so much to show You our love by only doing what is acceptable to You.  Help us, O Lord, that our offerings of worship will find favor in Your sight.  In the glorious name of Jesus we pray.  Amen.

Change the World

[The following is the manuscript of my sermon delivered on the 19th of October, 2014.]

Last week we briefly looked at a time after Jesus’ resurrection but before His ascension when He appeared to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.  A short time after this, Jesus appeared to His disciples again, this time by the Sea of Galilee.

The disciples had been fishing all night and caught nothing.  Jesus appeared along the coast, but they didn’t recognize Him yet.  He told them to cast their nets again, on the right side of the boat.  When they did, they caught so many fish they could barely bring in the nets.

After enjoying their morning meal, Jesus had the opportunity to talk to Peter again.  Listen to the exchange between Jesus and Peter, as recorded in the 21st chapter of the Gospel of John, verses 15 through 19…

15 So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?”

He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”

He said to him, “Feed My lambs.”

16 He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?”

He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”

He said to him, “Tend My sheep.”

17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?”

And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”

Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep. 18 Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” 19 This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.”

--John 21:15-19 (NKJV)

Let us pray...  Father in heaven, we are so happy and blessed to be able to come here this morning in the name of Jesus Christ Your Son just to worship You.  Open our hearts, Father, to Your word.  Fill us anew, Jesus, with the Holy Spirit.  Accept our worship as a sweet offering to You.  In the beautiful name of Jesus we pray.  Amen.


The preacher’s five year-old daughter noticed that her father always paused and bowed his head for a moment before starting his sermon.  One day she asked him why?

“Well, Honey,” he began, proud that his daughter was so observant of his messages, “I’m asking the Lord to help me preach a good sermon.”

Then she asked, “How come He doesn’t answer you?”


James DeLoach, associate pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Houston, TX, related the following story to the author, Willard Aldrich, for inclusion in his book, When God Was Taken Captive:

I am not a connoisseur of great art, but from time to time a painting or picture will really speak a clear, strong message to me. Some time ago I saw a picture of an old burned-out mountain shack. All that remained was the chimney... the charred debris of what had been that family's sole possession. In front of this destroyed home stood an old grandfather-looking man dressed only in his underclothes with a small boy clutching a pair of patched overalls. It was evident that the child was crying. Beneath the picture were the words which the artist felt the old man was speaking to the boy. They were simple words, yet they presented a profound theology and philosophy of life. Those words were, "Hush child, God ain't dead!"

That vivid picture of that burned-out mountain shack, that old man, the weeping child, and those words "God ain't dead" keep returning to my mind. Instead of it being a reminder of the despair of life, it has come to be a reminder of hope! I need reminders that there is hope in this world. In the midst of all of life's troubles and failures, I need mental pictures to remind me that all is not lost as long as God is alive and in control of His world.


“God ain’t dead”, the old man in the photo said.  The Newsboys say, “My God’s not dead, He’s surely alive; He’s living on the inside, roaring like a lion.”  Not only is our God not dead, He is still at work in the world.


Think back to just about the last time Jesus and Peter spoke to each other.  It was at their last meal together, the one we commemorated a few weeks ago.  Jesus told His assembled friends that one of them would betray Him that night.  They all shouted, “No!  Who?  Not me!”  And then our Lord told Peter that he would deny Jesus three times before dawn.  Peter said he’d never do such a thing, but of course we know he did exactly that.  And when he realized it, he was crushed - deeply saddened and hurt.

So now, here the two are again - face to face, one on one.  And Jesus asks, “Do you love Me, Peter?”  What must Peter have thought?  Was the Lord testing him, to see if he would deny Jesus again?  Was this a punishment for that earlier denial?

Jesus asked again, and yet again.  Each time Peter replied, “Yes, Lord, You know I love You.”  With each answer, Jesus commanded “Feed My lambs”, “Tend My sheep”, “Feed my sheep”.  And then He said simply, “Follow Me”.

Those two words spoke volumes.  They provided Peter with forgiveness for his actions in denying Christ.  They restored him to a wholeness that had been shattered that night in Jerusalem.  They let him know that Jesus still loved him.  They brought him peace.  With those two words, Jesus changed Peter’s world.


This was not the first time Jesus spoke those two words to Peter: “Follow Me”.  That happened back at the start of Jesus’ ministry.  Matthew recorded the incident in his Gospel account, chapter 4 verses 18 through 22, like this…

18 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

21 Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

--Matthew 4:18-22 (NKJV)

“Follow Me”: two simple words spoken to four men, two sets of brothers.  And each of the four dropped what they were doing, left their families and their livelihood, and followed this Man from Nazareth.

Matthew recorded other episodes of Jesus imploring those He chose to follow Him, including Matthew’s own in chapter 9 verse 9…

9 As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.

--Matthew 9:9 (NKJV)

“Follow Me”, and again, as did Peter and Andrew, John and James, Matthew stopped what he was doing, left everything behind, and followed Jesus.

Of course, not everyone that Jesus asked to follow Him did so.  Do you remember the story of the rich young ruler?  He asked Jesus what he needed to do to be able to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus explained that the young man must love God and follow the commandments brought from God by Moses.  The young man said he’d done that all his life – what else must he do?  Matthew shares the rest of this conversation, and the result, in chapter 19 verses 21 and 22…

21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 

22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

--Matthew 19:21-22 (NKJV)

The rich young man walked away, he did not follow Jesus.  He had too much, in his opinion, to leave it all behind.  Jesus doesn’t ask us to give up everything to follow Him.  Just to be willing to, and without hesitation.  Because if you hold anything back, if you’re not willing to drop everything on a moment’s notice, without a second thought, then you’re not fully and truly committed to Him.

Oh, and Jesus makes it quite clear that there is a price that comes with our commitment.  Again in Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 16 verses 24 and 25, Jesus cautions…

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

--Matthew 16:24-25 (NKJV)

The rich young man was not willing to deny himself of all his wealth and possessions in order to follow Jesus.  He was not willing to deny his self, his ego, his pride.  He was not willing to repent from his sinful ways, to turn from his sin and follow in the same direction that Jesus led.  Peter, Andrew, John, James, Matthew and the rest were, and did.  They denied themselves of everything they had known up to that point in their lives – dropped it all.  And Peter bore a heavy cross of his own, at least until Jesus uttered those two words again and lifted that particular weight from him.


Those commands the resurrected Jesus gave Peter are intended for us all as well.  “Feed My lambs” – who are His lambs if not the most innocent and defenseless of this world?  Children, widows, those who suffer some physical incapacitation, those who have no voice.  “Tend My sheep” – who are His sheep if not His church?.  Sheep follow the shepherd – Christ’s church follows the Good Shepherd.  “Feed My sheep” – there is so much more to the word “feed” than simply providing food for the body.

The word “tend” imparts the responsibility to look after, to see to the needs of, to take care of.  And indeed, we should be mindful of the needs of the body of the church lest it suffer and fall off and die.  The church serves a critical purpose in this world, in God’s great plan, and we must see to it that it survives.  We must feed it and nourish it.  And I’m not talking about the physical bodies of the members of each congregation.  The spiritual needs of the body of Christ must be met.  We must all be fed, preferably daily, with the sweetest bread – the word of God.  And it is up to us – as individuals, as members of the local church, as one member of Christ’s full body on earth – to do just that.  We are to feed Christ’s lambs, to tend His sheep, to feed His sheep.

Jesus invited, over and over, “Follow Me”.  He implores us, each of us, throughout our lives:  “Follow Me.  Lay down the things in this mortal life, the things of this world that are most important to you, pick up your cross, and follow Me.”

Are you willing to commit yourself fully?  If you are, there’s a great reward.  Because implicit in those two words – “Follow Me” – is the promise: “And we will change the world.”  One Man, born in the most humble of surroundings, raised in a family of no great means, praised by some but taunted and persecuted by many everywhere He went, arrested on trumped up charges, sentenced and executed, buried…  This one Man completely changed the world.  Nothing like Him ever walked the face of the earth before, nothing ever will again.  He took the world, turned it upside down, and changed everything.

And now it’s our turn.  We are His church, left behind to do His work here on earth.  We have been charged with loving God and each other.  We have been tasked with spreading the good news of eternal salvation through the grace of God and the belief in His Son, Jesus.  And we have been told to take care of ourselves as well as seeing to the needs of others.

Jesus stretches out His hand to us and says “Follow Me”.  Are we ready to do so?  Are we committed enough to leave everything this world might offer behind and pick up our cross and get in step behind the One we call Master?  Do we even believe that we can change the world?  Our Lord believes we can.  Jesus says we can, through Him.

Follow Him, and change the world.

God ain’t dead.

Amen.


Let us pray…  O Lord our God, we trust in You, we have faith in You, we truly believe that You are still Sovereign over all of creation.  But Father, when we see all the madness around us, when we personally witness the depths of moral decay this society has fallen to, we have to wonder if You still care.  Your followers are being persecuted across the globe to the point of losing their lives.  Your church is under attack, Lord Jesus, just as You warned us it would be.  It is being assaulted from both outside and from within.  Those who would bend Your word to suit their own purpose utilize the laws of man to beat at the very doors of Your body on earth.  But worse than these are those who stand in Your pulpits each Sunday morning, preaching a perversion of Your word to a people who will only believe what is pleasing to them.  Father we pray that You intervene for the sake of Your children who remain righteous and stop this insanity before it can go further!

But then, Father, we hear the words of Your Son as He beckons us, “Follow Me.  Follow Me and together – together - we can change the world.”  Together, we can strengthen the church and each other.  Together, we can teach only the truth of God’s word, disavowing the preachings of those who are hired solely to tickle the ears of their listeners.  Together, we can stand for what is right and holy, in accordance with God’s word.  Together, we can work toward a better tomorrow.  Together, we can further advance God’s kingdom.

Hear us now, Lord Jesus, as we lay bare our innermost being to You, as we seek Your guidance, as we listen for Your call, as we search our hearts for the willingness to accept that call…

Ever faithful Jesus, Lord and Master, You stand at the door knocking, asking to come in.  You extend Your hand and invite us to follow You, so that together we can change the world.  And Lord we do so recognize that this world is in desperate need of being changed.  Give us the courage, dear Jesus, to accept that invitation.  Give us the strength to take up our cross.  Give us the commitment to follow You no matter what we might have to leave behind, no matter what price we may be asked to pay.  We stand ready, Lord, to follow You.  In Your beautiful name, O Jesus we pray.  Amen.

Enduring His Coming

[The following is the manuscript of my sermon delivered on the 12th of October, 2014.]

I know Christmas is a little ways off yet, even though it’s closer than many of us would like to think, but this morning I want to talk about the coming of our Lord Jesus and specifically how people might react to His presence.

Today I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible.  Listen to what God spoke through His prophet Malachi, from chapter 3, verse 1 through the first part of verse 6…

1 “Behold, I send My messenger,
And he will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come to His temple,
Even the Messenger of the covenant,
In whom you delight.
Behold, He is coming,”
Says the Lord of hosts.

2 “But who can endure the day of His coming?
And who can stand when He appears?
For He is like a refiner’s fire
And like launderers’ soap.

3 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;
He will purify the sons of Levi,
And purge them as gold and silver,
That they may offer to the Lord
An offering in righteousness.

4 “Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem
Will be pleasant to the Lord,
As in the days of old,
As in former years.

5 And I will come near you for judgment;
I will be a swift witness
Against sorcerers,
Against adulterers,
Against perjurers,
Against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans,
And against those who turn away an alien—
Because they do not fear Me,”
Says the Lord of hosts.

6 “For I am the Lord, I do not change."

--Malachi 3:1-6a (NKJV)

Let us pray...  Heavenly Father, we come before You this morning in the name of Jesus our Lord to worship You.  Speak to us, Father, through Your Holy Spirit.  Touch our hearts as no one or nothing else can.  Remove any and all distractions from our sight that we may focus only on You.  In the dearest name of Jesus Christ we pray.  Amen.


Five-year old Johnny was in the kitchen as his mother prepared supper.  She asked him to go into the pantry and get her a can of tomato soup, but he didn’t want to go in alone.  “It’s dark in there and I’m scared.”  She asked again, but he persisted.  Finally she said, “It’s OK – Jesus will be in there with you.”  Johnny walked hesitantly to the door and slowly opened it.  He peeked inside, saw it was dark, and started to leave, when all at once an idea came to him and he said, “Jesus, if You’re in there, would You hand me that can of tomato soup?”

Back in the 1960’s, researchers at Johns Hopkins University reported that the greatest fears of grade school children were animals, high places, strangers, loud noises, and, as our little story suggests, being in a dark room.  Thirty years later, in the 1990’s, those greatest fears had changed to the divorce of their parents, nuclear war, pollution, cancer, and being mugged.  I can only wonder what they might report today, but I bet the terrorist threat would be right up there, and maybe Ebola.

We have so many fears, we humans, that we’ve put fancy names on them.  Who can tell me what “peladophobia” is?  It’s a fear of baldness or bald people.  How about “aerophobia”?  A fear of airplanes maybe?  Nope – a fear of drafts.  What about “porphyrophobia”?  That’s a fear of the color purple.  I kid you not.  The list goes on and on, but here’s my favorite.  “Phobophobia” – can you guess what that one is?  It’s the fear of being afraid.


Think about that for a second: to be frightened that you might be frightened.  One aspect of our scripture reading today speaks to being frightened.

God, through Malachi, asks who can endure the day of the coming of the Lord whom we have sought.  That’s a loaded question, isn’t it?  The word “endure” itself carries great significance.  It can mean to hold out against, to bear without resistance, to tolerate, to continue to exist, to last.  The Lord that we have sought after, the promised Messiah that the Jewish people waited so long for, is finally coming.  Who will be able to stand it, to tolerate it, to last when that day arrives?

The song “I Can Only Imagine” by Mercy Me asks what will I do when I finally see Jesus.  “Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel?  Will I dance for You Jesus, or in awe of You be still?  Will I stand in Your presence or to my knees will I fall?  Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all?  I can only imagine.”

What will we do?  Will we bow and worship Him?  Or will we run, scared, terrified by His awesome presence?

I know what some of His own disciples did – His closest friends.  We’ve talked about one instance a couple times now, in slightly different contexts.  The Apostle John tells us in chapter 6 of his Gospel, verses 16 through 20, of one time when Jesus came to His followers in a somewhat unorthodox way…

16 Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them. 18 Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing. 19 So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid. 20 But He said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”

--John 6:16-20 (NKJV)

It was dark, in the early morning hours, when they spotted Jesus walking across the water toward them.  And they were afraid.  They thought they were seeing spirits on the water, a ghost coming toward them.  Jesus had to calm them down.  “Don’t be afraid.  It’s just Me.”

Wouldn’t we have been a little shaken?  If that same set of circumstances happened to us, wouldn’t we be scared, if for no other reason than we’d be afraid we’d gone completely insane!

Our dear physician Luke tells us of another time when Jesus came to the disciples, this time after His resurrection but before His ascension.  After Jesus had been crucified and buried, His disciples hid in Jerusalem for a few days but then started dispersing, leaving town, afraid the same thing might happen to them.  Two of the disciples were on the road to the village of Emmaus when Jesus, unrecognized by them, appeared and walked along beside them.  After they figured out who He was, they ran back to Jerusalem to tell the others.  As they were relating their experience, Jesus appeared among them all.  This is how Luke recorded their reaction, in chapter 24 of his Gospel, verses 36 through 38…

36 Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” 37 But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. 38 And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts?”

--Luke 24:36-38 (NKJV)

They were frightened, terrified.  And if that wasn’t enough, Jesus hit at their very souls when He asked, “Why do doubts arise in your hearts?”

Will that be us, when we come into our Lord’s presence?  Will we be frightened, or worse yet, terrified of Him?  Will doubt cloud our eyes?

There’s one more instance I’d like to look at, of what some folks did when they came into the presence of Jesus, the “Son of the Most High God”.  Again this was saved for us by Luke, and I’m going back a little earlier in time.  I’m sure you’ll remember the story.

Jesus and the disciples had sailed into the country of the Gerasenes, across from Galilee.  No sooner had they set foot upon land when a wild man came rushing up.  He was naked and dirty, he slept in the cemetery among the tombs, and he was so strong in his rage that not even chains could hold him.  He was possessed by not one, but a thousand or more demons, for his name was Legion.  He immediately recognized Jesus and called Him as I mentioned a few seconds ago: Son of the Most High God.  Man didn’t, nor could even His disciples, but the demons within this wild creature immediately knew Jesus for who He truly was: the Son of God.  So Jesus rid the man of his demons and they all entered a herd of swine that immediately rushed head-long into the sea.  The man calmed down, got dressed and all cleaned up, and was completely changed.

But what happened next is very important, when the people in the surrounding towns and farms and villages came out to see just what was going on.  Luke recorded the exchange for us there in chapter 8 of his Gospel, with verses 35 through 37 being the most telling…

35 Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 36 They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed. 37 Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gerasenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. And He got into the boat and returned.

--Luke 8:35-37 (NKJV)

In the first two instances we can almost understand why anyone, even the disciples, would have been afraid.  Seeing a person walking across the surface of the sea at 3 in the morning?!?  That would give anyone the willies.  Or someone just popping into the middle of the room from nowhere, from out of thin air, that could certainly cause a fright.

But what about these people from the towns and villages?  Why would they be afraid?  Jesus had done good here.  He had straightened out a man that had been causing these people some difficulties in the past, or else why would they have tried to chain him down.  Now he was calm and docile and clean.  Why would that scare them?

I believe they recognized what Malachi alluded to.  Let’s look at our message text again for a moment.  In the first verse God says He is sending a messenger to prepare the way for the Lord that we seek.  That messenger would have been none other than John the Baptist.  And we know the Lord we seek is Jesus, who the demons in Legion recognized instantly as the Son of God.

If we look at the story, the people who came out to investigate what had happened between Jesus and Legion didn’t have to endure much.  The swine did, but there wasn’t much for the people to have to stand.  Perhaps they were a little uncomfortable thinking about Jesus in the role of a refiner and purifier of silver that Malachi describes in verse 3.  Maybe the thoughts of spending time in a fire or being in a hot spot didn’t appeal to them.  What if they had to endure that fire for a very long time, like for all eternity?  Now we’re getting closer to the cause of their fear, I think.  And verse 5 seals it:  The people saw in Jesus the judgment that is to come, and they were afraid because they were sinners.

Among them, I’m sure, would have been sorcerers – those who would greedily deceive others through trickery and any means necessary to achieve their own end.  They would have included adulterers and liars and those who think nothing of taking resources from those who are weaker and unable to defend themselves.  And they indeed did just as God, through Malachi, said they would:  They turned away Jesus, an alien – a visitor - in their land.  They turned away the Son of God because they had no respect for God.

They were gripped with great fear because of the judgment that Jesus represented.  They were afraid, because they were not willing to repent and turn from their evil ways.  They were frightened because they would not accept Jesus.  And Jesus and His disciples got back in their boat and left them there.


God says, “I do not change”.  But we do.  We have been those people afraid of judgment.  But we have changed, have accepted Jesus and invited Him into our hearts and our lives.  We still fear judgment but not eternal damnation because we were saved the moment we surrendered ourselves to our Lord and Master Jesus.

But too many people out there haven’t changed.  They’re still afraid of Jesus, afraid of ultimate judgment.  If we try to approach them and talk to them, they might react just like the people in Luke’s story.  They might ask us to leave.  Even though salvation is so close, they might be too afraid to accept it.  They might not be able to endure the presence of Jesus.

Can we?  We came into our Lord’s presence this morning when we gathered in His holy name.  Can we endure it?  Are we ready to face Him again, this time in judgment?  Or are we afraid of what our punishment might be?

When we accepted Jesus, He washed us clean.  When we repent of our sins He forgives us.  We will be judged for how we lived our lives on this earth.  But we will not be damned to the lake of fire for all eternity if we truly believe in Him, follow Him, and repent to Him.  God promised us that, and He does not change.  So we should not fear having to endure His coming.  We need only endure this life, until He comes again.  May the words, “He is coming!” bring joy to your heart, not fear.

Accept the Lord and be saved, for He is coming.

Amen.


Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, just thinking about standing in Your presence brings a little fear to our hearts.  Doubts might creep up – are we really safe? Are we really saved?  Father, we know that those doubts come from our Adversary, from Satan, who would like nothing more than for us to run frightened from Your presence, who wants us to ask Jesus to depart.  Father, You have promised us, through Your Son, that we will be saved if we only believe in Him, repent of our sins and follow Him.  And Father, You assure us that You do not change.  Your word does not change.  Your promise does not change.  Jesus is Your one true Son and in Him we believe.

Hear us now, gracious Father, as we pause for just a moment to open our hearts to You, to repent of our sins to You, to cry out to You those things for which we have no words…

Unchanging God, Lord of all creation, help us endure this life until Jesus comes once again to take His church home.  We accept Him as our Master and are not afraid to be in His holy presence.  If there is anyone present, dear Lord, who does not know Jesus as their personal Savior, please give them the courage and the heart to come speak to me in private so that together we can ask Jesus to take control of their life.  Come, Jesus, Come, for it is in Your holy name we pray.  Amen.

Bread from Heaven

[The following is the manuscript of my sermon delivered on Communion Sunday, the 5th of October, 2014.]

In just a little while, we will be coming to our Lord’s Table to share His last meal on earth with Him.  That night He broke the bread for His disciples and compared it to His own body, soon to be broken for us all.  But before that fateful night, He spoke of Himself as bread, as the elements that sustain life, more than once.

Hear the words of the Apostle John from his Gospel account, chapter 6, verses 26 through 35…

26 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.” 28 Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” 30 So they said to Him, “What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” 34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.” 

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”

--John 6:26-35 (NASB)

Let us pray...  Father God, we gather this morning in the name of Jesus to be fed.  Fed not by the bread and unfermented wine of Holy Communion, not by the hot dogs and hamburgers later on this afternoon, but by Your Word and Your Holy Spirit.  Feed our spirits, O Lord!  Open us now to receive Your message.  In the glorious name of Christ Jesus we pray.  Amen.


It has been recorded that once when the English Duke of Wellington went to the altar to take Communion at his parish church, a very poor old man made his way up the opposite aisle.  Reaching the Communion table, the old man knelt down close by the side of the Duke.  Immediately a commotion began to interrupt the silent and solemn mood of the church.  Someone came and touched the old man on the shoulder and whispered to him to move further away or to stand back up and wait for the Duke to receive the bread and the wine.

But the eagle eye and sharp ear of the great commander caught the meaning of that touch and the whispered words.  He took and clasped the old man’s hand and held him there so he could not stand.  And in a reverential but clearly audible undertone, the Duke said to the man, “Do not move.  We are equal here.”


At our Lord’s Table, we are indeed all equal.  Jesus sees no differences in us like the world sees.  In fact, according to the Apostle John, Jesus put Himself lower than His disciples.  Before this meal we’ll commemorate shortly, He took the servant’s role and washed the feet of His closest followers, His closest friends.

But our scripture this morning tells of an earlier time, one most of us are well familiar with.  Jesus had just fed over 5000 men, not counting all the women and children present who also would have been fed.  He fed them way out in the middle of nowhere, with nothing more than five loaves of bread and two small fishes.  And there was enough left over to fill 12 baskets!  It’s kind of like how Jesus fills us with the Holy Spirit to where He spills over and there is more than enough left to fill everyone else.

Do you remember what came next, after that mass feeding?  We talked about it a few weeks ago.  Jesus walked on the surface of the sea out to the boat the disciples were in.  Peter tried to walk on the water too, but lost focus on the Lord and began to sink, only to be rescued by Jesus reaching out to him.  What follows next brings us to today’s scripture.

When they reached the other side of the sea, the crowds soon gathered as they always did when Jesus was in the area.  Many of the throng had been those that were just miraculously fed the day before.  Others massed there would have heard about how so little food to start with had ended up being shared among so many people and no one went away hungry.  They came - by the hundreds, by the thousands.  They came seeking Jesus…  But they came for the wrong reason.

Jesus says they came because they had been fed from the loaves and were filled.  They had been fed with earthly food and their mortal bodies had been nourished and filled.  But all that perishes – the food and the bodies.  What they should have come seeking was the bread that never perishes, that not only lasts forever, but that provides for eternal life for those who accept it.  They should have come seeking the Bread from heaven, not the bread from the grain of the earth.  The Bread from heaven nourishes the spirit that we might live forever.


Silly mankind.  Of course the people just had to ask what they could do to receive that heavenly Bread, what works they must do to accomplish the works of God.  We always think we have to do something to get something.

Jesus once again tells them, tells us, that all we have to do is believe, believe in the One that God sent.  But the people still have questions.  They’re still hung up with this whole “bread” thing.  They tell Jesus that Moses spoke to God when their fathers were hungry in the wilderness, and He sent manna to feed them, fresh every morning, as in “give us this day our daily bread” fresh.

Jesus then reminds them that it was not Moses who provided that manna from heaven, but God.  God, our Father, gives us the true bread from heaven.  It is the bread of God that comes out of heaven and gives life to a hungry, dying world.

The people’s next response to Jesus reminds me of how the Samaritan woman reacted to Him when He offered her the Living Water.  The people asked for this bread that gives life to the world.  They were still thinking about literal, physical bread, made from crushed grain grown and harvested by the hands of man.

So Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life.  I was sent by God My Father from heaven.  Whoever comes to Me will not hunger.  Everyone who believes in Me will never thirst.”  Jesus wasn’t talking about earthly bread or water.  He wasn’t referring to mortal hunger or thirst.

Jesus is our daily bread, sent from heaven fresh every morning.  He is the bread broken just for us, taking the punishment just for us, dying just so we might live.  He is the wine, poured out for us, His blood shed for us, just so we might be washed clean to stand before God on the day of our judgment.

A little later, on the night He was betrayed, Jesus reminded His followers that through Him they might not hunger, through Him they might not thirst.  Listen as I read from the New Living Translation from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 22, verses 19 through 20… listen to what Jesus told His disciples…

19 He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then He broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is My body, which is given for you. Do this to remember Me.”

20 After supper He took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and His people — an agreement confirmed with My blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.”

--Luke 22:19-20 (NLT)

The bread of God, the bread from heaven, given for us.  The blood of God’s Son that serves as the covenant between God and all of us, the covenant of God’s promise to us, the blood poured out as a sacrifice for us.  May we never forget.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Amen.


Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, thank You for Your true Bread, sent by You out of heaven to feed us so that we might never hunger, to give us life that will last forever.  Help us, Lord, to not focus so much on the things of this earth, but to keep our eyes fixed firmly upon Jesus and the sacrifice He made just for us.  His body was broken for us, His blood was poured out for us, and all so that we will not have to suffer eternal death if only we would believe in Him, repent of our sins, and truly follow Him.

Hear us now, Lord, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You silently, to prepare our hearts to receive Your Bread…

Lord God, Father of all grace and mercy, we come to the table Your Son set for us with bowed heads and humbled hearts.  But Father, we also approach with excitement, in anticipation of the great feast we will one day share with Him and with You when we come home.  Lord Jesus, until that day, may we always eat of this bread and drink of this wine in remembrance of You. In Your holy name, Jesus, we pray.  Amen.

Payback

[The following is the manuscript of my sermon delivered on the 28th of September, 2014.]

At the risk of anyone falling asleep, please close your eyes for a moment.  I want you to think back to a time when you were really suffering, when you hurt possibly the worst you’ve ever hurt in your life, when you hurt physically, emotionally, or both.  You’re probably like me and can remember many such times.  But like me one probably stands out more than the others.

Remember that time for a moment, reflect back specifically on how you felt, the emotions you experienced.  And as you think of that time, hear the account of Luke in Acts 16 verses 22 through 31 as he describes one such time for Paul and Silas…

22 The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. 23 When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; 24 and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; 26 and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. 27 When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!” 29 And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, 30 and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

--Acts 16:22-31 (NASB)

Let us pray...  Father in heaven, we are humbled in Your presence.  We gather this morning in the name of Jesus Christ to worship You.  We assemble near His cross to hear Your word and receive Your message as Your Holy Spirit works among us.  Father, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of each of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.  In the blessed name of Jesus Christ we pray.  Amen.


A man was traveling down the streets of a large city and stopped at a traffic signal.  He happened to glance off to his right and spotted two boys fighting in an alley.  One boy was quite a bit bigger than the other and was consequently knocking the tar out of the little fellow.  He would punch the smaller boy and blood would fly from his nose, but the little guy would get right back up just to wind up on the receiving end of another punch.  The man decided he had to intervene.  He pulled his car over and ran into the alley, yelling for the big boy to quit beating up the smaller one.

But it was the little fellow who responded.  He said, “Hey mister, mind your own business!  I ain’t got my second wind yet, and when I do, I am gonna clobber this guy!”

You can’t lick someone who won’t stay down.  Proverbs 24 says, “A righteous man falls seven times and yet rises up again.”

[From 1001 Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking, “Getting Ready to Win”, #673, p. 257.]


That pretty much describes Paul, except he was knocked down far more than seven times, but he kept getting right back up again.  I asked you to remember a time of great pain, not because I wanted you to suffer but to allow you to better feel what Paul and Silas must have felt in that situation Luke recorded for us.

Once again, the crowd turned against them.  The civil authorities ripped off their robes and had them beaten, severely, with “many blows” as Luke put it.  This type of beating would have been very similar to what we hear about in some Asian countries like Thailand, where caning is used as a punishment.  Not only would Paul’s and Silas’ backs have been extremely sore and bruised, the skin would very likely have been torn open in shallow but long cuts.

Then they were thrown in prison and shackled to the floor.  The front of your bulletin gives you a pretty good idea of how they would have been held.  The jailer was ordered to guard them securely, and this would have fit the bill.  Effectively they’re sitting on the floor, with their legs spread slightly apart and their ankles clamped to the floor where all they can do is wiggle their feet.  If you ever tried sitting on the floor for a while, you know it doesn’t take too long before your rear end and the small of your back get tired and sore.  When Paul and Silas reached that point, and any of the other prisoners for that matter, the only way they could find any relief would be to lie flat - on that cold, damp, dirty stone floor, on their bruised, sliced, bloody backs.

That’s what I wanted you to be better able to feel when I asked you to think back.  Rejected by the very people they were trying to help.  Humiliated, dejected, abused by those in authority.  Their backs burning from the brutal punishment.  Unable to move much except to lie back on those same pain-filled backs.

In your situation of your memory, were you very happy about it?  Did you rejoice in the moment?  Paul and Silas did.  What does it say in our scripture, in verse 25?

About midnight… well, we don’t know exactly when all this transpired, but some amount of time must have passed because the chief jailer had put out the lights and gone off to sleep.  So Luke says that around midnight Paul and Silas could be heard “praying and singing hymns of praise to God”.

Is that what you did, in your time of great pain?  I bet you did some praying, but how about singing God’s praises?  That’s a good description of rejoicing, isn’t it: singing hymns of praise to God?

That isn’t to say that they were very happy about their situation – I don’t see how they could be.  I would have probably been holding a pity party had I been there with them.  “Oh poor me! Chained to this floor!  I hurt so much and can’t get any relief!  Oh God why did You let this happen to me?!!?”

But these two were holding a prayer meeting and praise session!  They were rejoicing!  They were praying and singing praise to God, loud enough that the other prisoners could hear them, around midnight, in that cold dark cell.


Depending on the version you look into, our New Testament uses the words “happy” and “happiness” about 30 times.  Luke sure didn’t use either here in describing Paul and Silas.  Happiness tends to be fleeting and depends on earthly, worldly, external factors – things like fortunate circumstances, other people, or our current station in life.

The words “joy” and “rejoice”, on the other hand, appear in our NT more than 300 times!  Joy is a true sense of contentment that arises from internal factors, like our faith in our Lord Jesus.  True joy is everlasting and not dependent on our circumstances.  Indeed, a deep, abiding joy can come as we persevere through trials, with God’s help, and as our faith matures and is strengthened.

James, the half-brother of Jesus, would agree with this, as can be seen in the first chapter of his book, verses 2 through 4…

2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

--James 1:2-4 (NASB)

Paul certainly exemplifies this, in his actions and his words.  How could he possibly rejoice in this cold cell, in this particular predicament?  He tells us in his letter to the church in Philippi that it’s a mindset, that it becomes something we simply want to do.  He encourages us in Philippians chapter 4 verse 4…

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

--Philippians 4:4 (NASB)

Rejoice always – not some of the time, not just in good times – always!


I need to ask: what’s important to you?  What is your passion?  For you see, whatever is important to us, whatever we are most passionate about, that is where we place our investments.  That’s what we put our time and money and love into.  Whether it’s something like our family or our career, or more tangible like our cars or boats or other toys, we give whatever is most important in our lives the biggest part of our lives.

We do it because we get some form of payback from doing so.  (I bet you were wondering how I was going to work the sermon title in.)  The payback is often a sense of happiness, of satisfaction, or maybe even a sense of accomplishment.  And remember what I said about happiness, and its fleeting nature.

If we’re really blessed, we are able to derive great joy from our investment, from our passion, and that joy transcends happiness.  Well, folks, that was Paul, and Silas too in this instance.  Paul’s passion was serving the Lord.  The most important thing in his life was to preach the Gospel, to spread the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ.  And his payback was what? – pain and suffering, lying on his torn back on a cold cell floor?

Hear what he wrote to the church in Philippi, a little bit before the last part I read a minute ago, this time in the first chapter, verses 12 through 18…

12 Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, 13 so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, 14 and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. 15 Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; 16 the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; 17 the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice.

--Philippians 1:12-18 (NASB)

Paul didn’t care what the cost might be for telling others about Jesus.  He was more interested in the payback, with even his Roman guards hearing about and coming to Jesus.  He didn’t even care if someone else is telling the same story for their own selfish purposes or hidden agenda, as long as they were getting the story right.  He only cared that Jesus Christ be proclaimed.

So even in his cold dark cell, even at midnight, Paul is spreading the Gospel of Jesus in prayer and hymns of praise, and the other prisoners are listening!  When God responds with an earthquake and breaks all the chains and doors in that prison, no one even tries to escape.  They’re too caught up in what Paul is saying!  They want to hear more about Jesus.

There’s something else Paul tells us about enduring tough times.  In his letter to the Romans, chapter 8, verse 28, he assures us…

28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

--Romans 8:28 (NASB)

Now we’d probably think that being able to escape that terrible dungeon would be something good God could create from that mess.  But not Paul, nor even the prisoners.  The good that God made from that horribly bad situation was that many souls were saved that night.

Even the chief jailer, charged with seeing that these two troublemakers be kept secure, under threat of his own death – even he and his entire household came to know Jesus as their Savior that night.  As Christians, could we ask for a better payback than what Paul and Silas received that night?

Let Jesus be your passion.  Your payback will be so wonderful, so eternally joyfully wonderful.


Next week we will again be celebrating our Lord’s last meal on this earth.  Before we do, I would like to read once more from Paul’s words to the church in Corinth, from his first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 11, verses 26 through 28, where he cautions us…

26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. 

27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

--1 Corinthians 11:26-28 (NASB)

Spend this coming week in prayer and repentance.  Examine yourself.  Prepare your heart and your mind to come to the Lord’s Table being right with God our Father.  Spend time in prayer remembering what He did for us, for you.  He took a beating for you.  He died for you.  He took all your sins upon His shoulders and left them in the grave, just so you could stand clean and purified before God.

This is what we will remember and commemorate when we approach the Lord’s Table to take the Holy Sacraments.  And in doing so we will proclaim our Lord, until He comes again.

Amen.


Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, thank You for showing us that if we make You and Your kingdom our top priority, we will know a joy and peace that surpass all understanding.  We can now see that any happiness this world might offer is fleeting – here for a minute then gone.  But the joy that comes from persevering through our trials, with Your help and by our faith, that joy brings true contentment and lasts forever.

Help us, Lord, to make You the most important thing in our lives!  Help us make You our passion.  Allow us, O Lord, to invest everything in You, to go all in for You.  For we know that You make all things good for those who love You, and Lord we love you.  Help us show that love every day in every way.

Hear us now, Lord, as we pause for just a moment and speak to You silently from our hearts and offer ourselves to You…

Lord God, You blessed us with Your Son, who gave of Himself for our salvation.  May we be a blessing to others - showing them the way to salvation, loving them unconditionally, sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.  Amen.