Be True

[The following is the manuscript of my sermon delivered on the 27th of September, 2015.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel, http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

I want to pick up today’s scripture reading right where we left off last Sunday.  Peter and John had healed a lame man by calling on the name of Jesus.  The Sadducees and high priests commanded them to stopped doing any more healing or teaching in the name of Jesus - the name these priests despised.

So Peter and John and all the disciples and a group of believers got together and prayed to God for the strength and courage to continue preaching and teaching in the name of Jesus.  And they promised to speak God’s word with boldness.

Listen and follow along to what happened next, while they were still together, as I read from Luke’s Book of the Acts of the Apostles, from chapter 4 verse 32 through chapter 5 verse 11, reading from the New King James Version of our Bible…

4:32 Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. 33  And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.  And great grace was upon them all. 34  Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, 35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need. 

36 And Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus, 37 having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 

5:1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. 2  And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? 4  While it remained, was it not your own?  And after it was sold, was it not in your own control?  Why have you conceived this thing in your heart?  You have not lied to men but to God.” 

5 Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last.  So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. 6  And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him. 

7 Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8  And Peter answered her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?” 

She said, “Yes, for so much.” 

9 Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord?  Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10  Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last.  And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband. 11  So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.

--Acts 4:32-5:11 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we come before You this morning to worship You and to hear what You would tell us.  Speak to us through Your Holy Spirit and help us discern Your will for each of us.  In the blessed name of our Lord Jesus we pray.  Amen.


A minister in a small town was having trouble with his collections.  So one Sunday he announced from the pulpit: “Before we pass the collection plate, I would like to request that the person who stole the chickens from Brother Harvey’s henhouse please refrain from giving any money to the Lord.  The Lord doesn’t want money from a thief.”

The collection plate was passed around, and for the first time in many months, everybody gave.

[* From 1001 Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking, “Thieves Don’t Give”, #564, page 218. *]



A man called the church and asked if he could speak to “the Head Hog at the Trough”.  The secretary asked, “Who?”.  The man repeated, “I want to speak to the Head Hog at the Trough”.

Now sure that she had heard correctly, the secretary replied, “Sir, if you mean our pastor, you will need to treat him with more respect and ask for ‘the reverend’ or ‘the pastor’.  But certainly you cannot refer to him as ‘the Head Hog at the Trough’”!

At this, the man responded, “Oh, I see.  Well, I have $10,000 I was thinking about donating to the church building fund…”

The secretary quickly exclaimed, “Hold the line – I think I hear the big pig walking in the door right now!”

[* From 1001 Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking, “Pastor Pig”, #666, page 255. *]



Yes, we’re going to talk a little today about church giving.  And yes, it can be a touchy subject, one most preachers try to avoid as much as possible.  But giving and supporting the church are necessities.

And while there are some ministers who may indeed think of themselves as the head hog at the trough, most are more concerned with the welfare of their church family.  They’re more worried about keeping the lights on and paying the bills than about padding their own coffers.  They’re more interested in making ends meet than adding to the church’s bank account.

But I don’t ever want us to fall into the trap of giving so that others won’t think badly of us, like in the first little story.  Now I know it was just meant to be funny.  And the preacher probably made up the part about hens being stolen.  But if whoever had stolen some chickens gave to the church after the pastor told them not to, because God would not accept their offering from stolen gain, then that person would be trying to deceive God just so they would look good - or at least not guilty - in front of their peers.  And our scripture reading tells us what might happen when we try to deceive God.


Today’s scripture coupled with last week’s really looks at four separate instances that are all joined together, scripturally and intrinsically.  First, the disciples and the believers all gathered together, as one body, and prayed to God for guidance and strength.  Second, as one body they reached an agreement and came to one accord.  Third, they began sharing, in all things, so that none would do without.  And fourth, they received a very dramatic demonstration showing why we cannot lie to God.

The first actually comes from last week’s scripture, when God made vegetable soup.  Just taking Peter and John as examples, you could hardly find two men more unalike.  Where Peter was more fiery and impulsive, John was more reflective and reverent.  Now add in the rest of the disciples remaining in Jerusalem along with a heaping serving of other believers and you end up with a pile of vastly different flavors.

But they got together and prayed to God and He blended them all until, as today’s verse 32 says, they all were of one heart and one soul.  They came to an agreement on what needed to be done, which is our second point.  Anyone who has ever served on any kind of board or committee knows that getting everyone to come to an agreement on any action is nearly impossible.  There is always at least one person who wants to impose their will on everyone else.  Not in this case, unless you consider that God imposed His will.  This is part of what they prayed for - that God show them His will.

If you have ever felt the Holy Spirit moving as you prayed, then you know the great and awesome power that lives within you.  The same power that in verse 33 gave voice to the apostles and the boldness to witness to the resurrection of Jesus, and to His authority.  That same power moved them into agreement that none should lack as long as any had resources.  That same power brought grace unto them all.

And the third point of the scripture came to pass as they began sharing all they had so that none would be lacking in the basic necessities.  Barnabas, who later would travel with Paul and help spread the Gospel, was one of those who sold land that he possessed and gave all the money to this effort.


Most of us, when we think about giving to the church, the words “tithe” and “tithing” usually come to mind.  The practice of tithing has Old Testament roots and is represented many times in our Bible as paying proper and appropriate tribute to God.  After all…  God gives us everything, so we should give a portion back to Him.

Moses let the children of Israel know that tithing was just a nice thing to do to honor the Lord, but was a requirement.  One such instruction comes from the Book of Leviticus, chapter 27, verses 30 and 32…

30 And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s.  It is holy to the Lord. 

32 And concerning the tithe of the herd or the flock, of whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord.

--Leviticus 27:30, 32 (NKJV)

Moses said that the tithe, one tenth - whether it is of the seed of the land, the fruit of the tree, or the animals of the herd or flock – that one tenth is holy to the Lord.  It is His, it belongs to Him, it should be returned to Him for His use and His purposes.

Many of the early believers in Jesus, such as Barnabas, carried this a lot further and gave far more than a tithe to the church.  And they set the example for the rest of us that a tithe should only be considered as the beginning of our giving, the bare minimum for returning to God what He has given us.

Now in today’s church there are all ranges of thought regarding tithing and giving to the church.  Do we tithe on net or gross income?  Does it all need to go to the church or does it “count” if we give to other charitable organizations?  Do we even really need to tithe at all?  What if we can’t pay the bills as is, let alone give ten percent of our meager paycheck to the church?

That brings us to the fourth point of today’s message, but it may not exactly be the point you think.  At the end of chapter 4, Barnabas sold some land and gave all the proceeds to the apostles for use for the church.  Chapter 5 opens with a man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira who also sold a possession.  But they decided to hold back part of the proceeds and gave the rest to the apostles.

From Peter’s response, and from what he asked Sapphira, we can tell that the two lied about how much they had sold their land for.  They told the apostles that the amount they were giving to the church was the full sale value, but they both knew that they had sold it for more and were holding back a portion for themselves.

Was this action wrong?  Was it wrong of them to keep a portion of the proceeds for themselves?

No!  Absolutely not!  Peter even said as much, in verse 4, when he said that the couple had full control of the property before the sale and the proceeds afterwards and could do anything with it they liked.  And they did just that, but then they lied about it.

As Peter noted in verses 4 and 9, we cannot get away with lying to God or His Holy Spirit.  We cannot deceive God.  Ananias and Sapphira were punished, to the full extent of God’s law, not for holding back a portion of their offering, but for lying about it before God.


We don’t know how much Ananias and Sapphira gave of the proceeds from the sale of their land.  Luke only tells us that they withheld a portion, but not how large a portion.  I think it safe to say that, all things considered, they had probably given over ten percent, more than a tithe of their gain.  Why can I make that claim?  Because neither Peter nor God accused them of robbing God or the church.  Their sin was in trying to lie to God, not take from Him what is His.  Otherwise the accusation against them would have been more in line with what our Father said through his prophet Malachi in chapter 3 verse 8 of his book…

8 “Will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say,
‘In what way have we robbed You?’
In tithes and offerings.”

--Malachi 3:8 (NKJV)

Do we ever think of it in that way, that we rob God of what is due Him when we do not tithe?

The Old Testament tells us our tithe should be based on our increase, whether it be from our salary or retirement benefits or gifts or interest received from bank accounts or the like.  If we receive gain in any form from any source, we should return at least ten percent of it to God as His rightful due and tribute.  That’s why Higher Site is so faithful to return a tithe of the love offering we share with them for performing here, and they return it here to our local church.

I’m not going to get into whether that gain is based on gross income or net, or whether we should give only to our local church, or those questions I posed earlier.  I feel the answer to those can be found by examining your own heart.  Just be sure not to try to deceive God or the Holy Spirit within you!  My only concern is that we give the Lord what is rightfully due Him.

But does that only involve money?  Is God only due a tenth from our financial gains?  Not according to Jesus.  Listen to what He says as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 23 verse 23…

23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.  These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.”

--Matthew 23:23 (NKJV)

If we get all caught up in trying to figure out how much money we should give the church, do we even stop to consider the many other blessings God bestows on us that are not of a monetary nature?

Justice, mercy, faith…  Are we just in our treatment of others or are we judgmental?  Do we truly seek justice, or vengeance?  Are we even ten percent as merciful to others as God is toward us?

We deserve nothing but punishment for our sins against Him, yet God in His great mercy pardons us our sin and gives us chance after chance if we only believe in His Son.  His faith is infinite!  He never fails us!  How close do we come to returning that faith to Him, to Jesus, to the Holy Spirit?

Yes, we need to return a tithe portion of any financial gain we receive from God.  But we also need to give Him of our time, our faith, our mercy toward His children.


Family, there are great needs in this world, even here in our own community.  We cannot come close to meeting them all.  But God does not expect us to, nor does He ask us to try.  He does not ask for all we have gained, as Barnabas so generously responded when the early church was in need.  He asks only for what is His due.  And not only in coin but also in time and mercy and faith and love.

If all of us who call Jesus Lord, all of His church here on earth, would return to God His due, all these needs could be met today just as they were in the days of Peter and Barnabas.  This is all part of God’s great plan for us – that we not only share in His bountiful blessings, but that we help meet the needs of all those He loves so much.

Amen.


Let us pray…  Father, You are so very generous with Your blessing.  You give us so much, and in so many different forms.  You have blessed this nation to where even the poorest among us are richer than many throughout the world.  And You bless us with far more than just money and all it can buy.  Your greatest blessing is Your mercy and Your grace – a mercy that does not give us what we deserve and a grace that gives us what we could never deserve.  You forgive our sins and offer us eternal life and all you ask in return is that we believe in Jesus as Your Son and obey His commands.

Lord Jesus, You and our Father both tell us to tithe, and not only of our financial gain but of the other many blessings poured over our heads each day.  Forgive us Lord when we quibble over what constitutes a tithe, when we forget about God’s great mercy and faith, when we even subconsciously try to withhold a portion of what is due and should be returned to God.

Hear us now, Lord, as we give thanks for the bounty we receive, as we repent of our sin, as we seek forgiveness, as we speak to You silently from our hearts…

Father God, we pray that Your blessings will never cease, that Your mercy and grace will continue to know no bounds, even if we fail to return a proper portion to You for the use of Your church and the advancement of Your kingdom throughout all the earth.  Forgive us when we are selfish.  Forgive us when we doubt that You will see us through any tight times that our giving may seem to cause.  Help us to give all of our offering not only out of respect to You and our responsibility to obey Your command, but also out of love, for You and for Your creation.  And please, dear Father, know that we are thankful for all You give us, even when we neglect to tell You so.  This we pray in the name of Him who gave His all for us, the precious name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

Speaking God's Word

[The following is the manuscript of my sermon delivered on the 20th of September, 2015, concluding our revival series at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel, http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

At some point not too long after Jesus had ascended into heaven, His Apostles Peter and John went up to the Temple in Jerusalem at the time of prayer.  Entering through the “Beautiful Gate”, they came upon a lame man who had been placed there by his family or friends so he could beg.  The man had been crippled since his birth 40 years earlier, and had no other means of earning a living.  Seeing Peter and John, he asked for any money they might could spare, just as he asked everyone entering the Temple by that gate.  After gaining the beggar’s full attention, Peter responded as recorded by Luke in the Book of Acts, chapter 3 verse 6…

6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”

--Acts 3:6 (NKJV)

And the man got up and walked - for the first time in his life, he walked!  Peter performed a miracle of healing by invoking the name of Jesus.  When the religious leaders of the day - the Sadducees and the high priests – caught word of this, they had Peter and John arrested and brought before them.  Listen and follow along to how this story plays out, as I read from Luke’s Book of the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 4, verses 18 through 31, from the New King James Version of our Bible…

18 So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. 20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” 21 So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done. 22 For the man was over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed. 

23 And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 24 So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, 25 who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: 

‘Why did the nations rage,
And the people plot vain things?
26 The kings of the earth took their stand,
And the rulers were gathered together
Against the Lord and against His Christ.’ 

27 “For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. 29 Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, 30 by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.” 

31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

--Acts 4:18-31 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we come before You this morning to worship You and to learn from what You would tell us.  Speak to us through Your Holy Spirit and show us what You would will for our lives.  In the blessed name of our Lord Jesus we pray.  Amen.


When he was the pastor of the Methodist church in Scarborough, England, William Sangster had a rather eccentric member who tried to be a zealous Christian.  Unfortunately, the man often had problems communicating his ideas and usually did the wrong thing.  While working as a barber the man lathered up a customer for a shave one day, came at him with the poised razor, and asked, "Are you prepared to meet your God?"  The frightened man fled with the lather still on his face!


I believe this little story points out that sometimes we need to be as concerned with how we say something as with what we say.  This misguided member obviously wanted to share his relationship with Jesus with his customer, but his approach could stand a little improvement.  He was definitely bold, which Peter and John would surely have approved of, but he probably should have spoken without the razor in his hand.


In a similar vein, have you ever heard someone make a comment and then afterwards say, “I just tell it like I see it”?  Many times I hear this right after the person said something that was… well… hurtful, either to me or to someone else, and more than likely about someone or some group of people not even present.

“He’s a really nice person but he needs to lose weight!  I just tell it like I see it.”  “This country would be a lot better off without all these illegal immigrants running around all over the place taking our jobs.  I’m just telling it like I see it.”

Now, these and others like them might be true and accurate statements, but couldn’t they be expressed in a more loving way?  It isn’t always what we say, as how we say it.


Today I wanted to wrap up our revival series with some thoughts about what comes next.  If we have indeed been revived and refreshed, if the Holy Spirit is dancing around inside of us, giving us renewed vigor and strength, what do we do with it?

The cornerstone of today’s scripture comes at the very end, the last phrase of the last verse, the 31st.  “…and they spoke the word of God with boldness.”

To put this text into proper perspective, just a short time before this little prayer meeting, the disciples were practically cowering in fear.  Their Teacher, their Master, the One they had been following for three years had been arrested on trumped-up charges, beaten, abused, and nailed to a cross where He died.  Sure, by this time Jesus had risen from the grave, appeared to them again, and ascended into heaven.  But if the Son of Man could be treated like this, what chance did they have?  Many fled Jerusalem altogether, fearing for their lives.  The rest hid behind locked doors for days on end.

But then came the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  And Peter found his voice – loudly, strongly, confidently proclaiming Jesus as the true Son of God.  He and others of Jesus’ closest followers soon began healing the sick and the infirm and performing other miracles, all in the name of Jesus.

And that leads us to the events of today’s scripture.  Peter and John and their brothers and companions gathered together and prayed to God for the strength to continue speaking for Jesus in the face of adversity and under threat of arrest and persecution.  And all of them spoke the word of God with boldness.


Interestingly, some of the fruits of this boldness can be seen just a little before their prayer.  Still in Acts chapter 4, but earlier, in verse 4, we can see the results of Peter’s boldness…

4 But many of the people who heard their message believed it, so the number of believers now totaled about 5,000 men, not counting women and children.

--Acts 4:4 (NLT)

Remember: this is not long after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension, in an age without instantaneous communications and round the clock news coverage.  Yet the number of believers in Jesus as the Christ had risen to around 5000 men, and we don’t know how many women and children.  I believe that is more the effect of God’s will at work than of Peter’s eloquence, but we can be sure that the impact of Peter’s bold approach in speaking God’s word had a tremendous effect.


What about today?  We don’t have to worry about the threat of arrest or persecution here in the good ol’ U. S. of A., do we?  We have freedom of religion written right into our Constitution, right?

Yes, but all across the US, the people – American citizens – normal folks that make up boards and groups and organizations associated in any way with a governmental body are told they cannot speak the name of Jesus or pray in His name.  So kids can’t pray in school.  We can’t have a prayer before a high school football game.  Our town councils and county commissions can’t open their meetings with prayer before deliberating issues that directly impact their constituents.  They are not allowed to speak God’s Word.

And this all started with a few people speaking with boldness against the word of God!  Small groups get together and bring lawsuits against anyone who tries to speak the name of Jesus outside their church or their homes, lawsuits that most believers simply cannot afford to fight.

Good ordinary Christian men and women who happen to be serving in a public capacity must leave Jesus on the doorstep when they enter the public arena!  If not, then they face the threat of arrest and persecution, just like Peter and John and those original followers of Jesus faced.


Sometimes what we don’t say speaks more clearly than what we do say.  Jesus put it like this, in Luke’s Gospel account, chapter 6, verses 45 and 46…

45 “Good people do good things because of the good in their hearts. Bad people do bad things because of the evil in their hearts. Your words show what is in your heart. 

46 Why do you keep on saying that I am your Lord, when you refuse to do what I say?”

--Luke 6:45-46 (CEV)

Ouch!  That stings, doesn’t it?  Do our words show what is in our heart?  Do we speak out for Jesus with boldness, or are we too afraid of hurting someone else’s feelings?  As a society, we seem more concerned with not wanting to upset the Muslims or the Hindus or the Buddhist’s, and especially not the agnostics and atheists.

How can we continue to call Jesus our Lord when we refuse to do what He tells us to do?  What does He tell us to do?  Well, first off, to love God and to love each other.  But then we have our commission: to go into the world making disciples and spreading the Gospel.

It’s easier to sit here in this beautiful building and wait for the world to come to us.  It’s safer to make a disciple of someone who comes to us and shows an interest in following Jesus.  It’s more comfortable to spread the Gospel among ourselves and other believers.

Of course, I feel a huge part of our hesitation in reaching out to others is that we just don’t know what to say to them.  We don’t know how to approach someone that may not want to hear what we might say.  And we especially don’t know how we could ever possibly face a challenge from someone openly and forcefully opposed to anything to do with Jesus.

Those are natural concerns.  But do they form a sufficient basis for our refusal to do as Jesus tells us?  In the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 10, verses 18 through 20, Jesus tells us not to worry about what to say in any of these situations…

18 “You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; 20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.”

--Matthew 10:18-20 (NKJV)

Look again in today’s scripture at verse 31… “and they were filled with the Holy Spirit”.  Peter was an uneducated fisherman, not some eloquent orator.  Yet the message he delivered struck a chord with the people and the ranks of believers swelled each day.  Why?

Because he was filled with the Holy Spirit who gave him the words to say!  Just as Jesus said, the Spirit of our Father spoke in and through Peter, and He will speak in and through us as well!  We just need to let Him work within us as He did within Peter.  We need to trust the words of Jesus and obey His commands.  We need to ask God for boldness in the face of opposition.  We need to be speaking God’s word to a world that desperately needs to hear it.


Don’t hesitate.  Don’t be timid or shy or afraid.  Our Father’s Holy Spirit will give us the words to say.  Speak the word of God… with boldness.

Amen.


Let us pray…  Lord, You are God.  You made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them.  And just as Your servant David prophesied for You, the rulers of this world are gathered against You and Your Christ.  The people plot against Jesus and His followers, using the courts to silence His Gospel.  Hear us now, Lord God, as we pray to You!  Look at these mounting threats we face and please grant to us the boldness of our personal convictions, that we may speak Your word.  Use us, Lord, to do Your will, to manifest Your great plan for all of mankind, all through the name of Your Son Jesus.

Lord Jesus, we come up with a multitude of excuses for not doing what You tell us to do.  Rather than go into the world, we invite the world to come to us.  Rather than spread Your Gospel to all nations, we wait for them to ask us about You.  And Lord, a lot of our hesitation and inaction is a direct result of fear.  We are afraid of legal action that may be taken against us, whether warranted or not.  We are afraid of how others will react to what we might say.  We are afraid we won’t be able to come up with the right words to say to them, words to sway them rather than send them away in disgust.

Hear us now, Lord, as we seek Your forgiveness and Your help, silently from our hearts…

Father God, we pray that this place where we have assembled be shaken and that we all be filled with Your Holy Spirit!  Grant us the courage and strength of conviction that You gave Peter and John.  Reward our efforts by enlarging the body of believers, the church of our Savior Jesus, more and more every day.  Use us, Lord, to carry out Your will on this earth, and to speak Your word with boldness.  This we pray in the name of Him who gave His all for us, the precious name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

Revive Us Again

[The following is the manuscript of my sermon delivered on the 13th of September, 2015 - Homecoming Sunday at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel, http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Today is our homecoming Sunday – a time when folks traditionally return to the church they grew up in if they moved away.  For them and for those who didn’t move away, it’s still a time to get back to our Christian roots, and to remember what is truly most important in our lives.  So it is very appropriate that tonight we also kick off our annual revival series.  We’ll come together and listen to some beautiful music and hear a great speaker bring God’s message to us and we’ll pray that our gracious Father in heaven work His mighty power throughout all the land that a great revival might begin!

But family, this act of revival is not passive on our parts.  We can’t just sit here and wait and hope or even pray to God that it happens.  We have a very active role to play in this as well.  There are things we should be doing, characteristics we should be cultivating, attributes we should be showing in our daily lives.  Revival is an ongoing event.  Renewal begins and increases each day.  Let’s hear what the Apostle Paul has to say regarding this whole process in chapter 3, verses 1 through 17 of his letter to the Colossians, reading from the New Living Translation of our Bible…

1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all His glory.

5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. 6 Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. 7 You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. 8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. 9 Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. 10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like Him. 11 In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and He lives in all of us.

12 Since God chose you to be the holy people He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom He gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

--Colossians 3:1-17 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Father God, we call today homecoming, and we’ve come to be with You and our church family, but we know this is not truly our home.  That wonderful place yet awaits us.  But as we wait for You to call us home, Father, please renew us with Your message, refresh us with Your word, revive us with Your most Holy Spirit.  In the blessed name of our Lord Jesus we pray.  Amen.


A man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten The red light by accelerating through the intersection.

The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup.

As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, finger printed, photographed, and placed in a holding cell. After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.

He said, "I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker, the 'Choose Life' license plate holder, the 'Follow Me to Sunday School' bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. Naturally... I assumed you had stolen the car."


I’m reminded of the expression, “actions speak louder than words”.  This lady’s “words”, as “spoken” by her bumper stickers and license plate frame and Christian fish emblem, are in direct conflict with her actions of blasting the guy in front of her who had simply obeyed traffic laws.

We could assume that at one point in her life she really had tried to follow Jesus and honor him, but had just strayed from Him over time.  That or all the stuff on her car was just for show and her actions more closely matched her true character.  Either way, if she ever truly was a Christian, she desperately needed a revival of her spirit, a refreshening of her promise to follow and obey Jesus.


Revive us, refresh us, renew us…  That’s what we ask of God at least once a year – more often if we’re truly honest with ourselves and our personal needs.  And we ask this not only for ourselves on an individual level, but for our nation and even our world, that all of mankind’s hearts might be turned to Jesus.

But family, I think we need to add another request, and that is one for rededication.  And this takes us back to the active role of revival.  We need to rededicate ourselves to Jesus, recommit ourselves to serving Him, reexamine just where we are in our walk in life.

This should be an ongoing practice for us, even on a daily basis.  The Apostle Paul put it this way, in his letter to the Romans, chapter 12 verses 1 and 2…

12 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)

Paul says it is our duty – our “reasonable service” – to serve God using our physical bodies, not just through prayer, and to allow Him to transform us into that new person by renewing us constantly, until we attain what He has willed for us.  This is an ongoing process, not instantaneous.

Paul reinforces this in his letter to his colleague Titus, in chapter 3 verses 4 through 6…

4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.

--Titus 3:4-6 (NKJV)

Isn’t that a beautiful passage?  God grants us salvation, not based on anything we might ever do ourselves, but only by the blood of Jesus shed for us on that cross.  But Paul again notes that we are being constantly renewed by the Holy Spirit that dwells within us, that Jesus sent us when He returned to be with His Father in heaven.  Not that we were renewed, but that we are being renewed.

And oh what marvelous things we can do when we allow ourselves to be renewed, when we do our part.  Do you remember when Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai the stone tablets on which God had etched the Ten Commandments?  He shattered them against the ground because the people had been worshiping a golden calf while he was on the mountain with God.  So he had to go back up later on and seek God’s forgiveness for the people and to receive two new tablets.  Hear what he said to God, and God’s reply, from the Book of the Exodus, chapter 34, verses 8 through 10…

8 So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. 9 Then he said, “If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.” 

10 And He said: “Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord. For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you."

--Exodus 34:8-10 (NKJV)

God promised He will do awesome things with us, through us, in us, so that all the people around us can see the work of the Lord.  He made a new covenant with His chosen people, the children of Israel.  And He made a newer covenant with His most precious creation, with all of mankind, when He sent His Son Jesus into the world with His offer of salvation.

If we let Him, if we do our part, He does awesome things with us, and through us, and in is.  Some of the fruit of that promise can be seen in the words of the prophet Isaiah, in chapter 40 of his book, verse 31…

31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.

--Isaiah 40:31 (NLT)

Trust in the Lord.  That’s our first step, the first part of our role in all this revival business.  Trust in the Lord and in His word and His promise.  But there’s a little more to it than that.

Let’s look again at our scripture reading for this morning.  Right off the bat, in the opening verses, Paul instructs us that since Jesus brought us back to life spiritually, we must focus on the things of heaven and not the things of earth.

What are the most important things in this world?  Watch TV for a while and the commercials will tell you.  You can’t be happy or satisfied or complete if you don’t have the newest car or the latest phone or the sexiest clothing.  Those are things of the earth, the stuff Paul tells us to ignore.  Instead, focus on our Father in heaven, on His word in our Bible, on the great and wonderful things Jesus has done and is doing for us.  We must not allow ourselves to be conformed to this world, to fit into its mold.  We must put this worldly life behind us, put it to death as Paul says.  This is our active role, this is the part we must take in revival.

Look at verse 5: have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires.  If there is anything Satan and this world, this current age, promotes, it would be sexual immorality.  Put it behind you.  Don’t be greedy, because greed is lusting after things, things of this world, putting those things ahead of God and that is a form of idol worship.

Verses 8 and 9: get rid of anger, of rage, of malicious behavior and feelings toward others.  Don’t slander others, and don’t let profane speech define you.  And please, don’t lie to each other.

Paul understands us – he’s been there.  He shows it in verse 7 when he says we all used to do these things when we were part of this world, when we let our lives be ruled by the ways of the world and not the ways of God.  But we’re supposed to be through with that, we who have accepted Jesus, the Son of God, as Lord and Master and Savior.  Instead, we’re to let our new nature show through.

We all know what that should look like, and if we don’t then Paul gives us some good hints in the latter verses.  Be tenderhearted, humble, and merciful.  Treat others – all others – with kindness, gentleness, and patience.  Make allowances for the faults of others because we ourselves certainly have our own faults!  Forgive anyone who offends us.  And above all, be loving.  We are to love all others as we love ourselves, as Jesus loves us.  Let the peace of Christ Jesus rule us and dictate our actions.  And finally, always be thankful to God, in all things.  We don’t have to look very far - no matter where we might be standing at the moment, no matter what condition we may find ourselves in – to find something we can thank our God for, through Jesus Christ our Lord.


When we take all this to heart and strive to follow Paul’s lead, the revival begins and grows.  As we continue the process, as we distance ourselves from the ways of this world and set our focus on the things of our heavenly Father and His one true Son, the Holy Spirit renews and refreshes us constantly.  And with each passing day, that renewal grows and becomes more evident to those around us, and soon begins to spread to them as well.

The revival that begins within you can spark a flame that becomes a wildfire fanning out in all directions and igniting many to come to Jesus.  That’s how revival works.

But it takes work.  We have a part to play.  Let’s begin that work by first rededicating ourselves to Jesus.  And let the revival begin within us.

Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, homecoming Sunday is special to us because we get to see folks we haven’t been with for a while.  And no matter where we go, it’s always so good to be home again.  And Father we so anxiously await that time when You call us to our ultimate home, our true home, and we can come back to You.

But until that glorious day, Lord, please begin a revival within us.  Touch our hearts and help us recommit ourselves to serving Your Son Jesus.  Help us follow the instructions Paul gave so that Your Holy Spirit will renew and refresh us more and more each day.  Show us Your will for us and then help us live our lives according to that will, not focused on the things of this earth but on the things of heaven.  Help us resist the temptations that Satan constantly throws in our faces, his continuous barrage attacking our convictions and our resolve.  Strengthen us to stand, and in standing to become renewed.

Hear us now, merciful Father, as we silently repent of our sins and recommit our lives to You…

Lord God, we rededicate our lives and our service to Your Son Jesus Christ, beginning right now.  Give us the strength and the courage to do justice in an unjust world, to have mercy in a merciless society, to shun material things in a materialistic age, to love others when all around us are loveless.  Renew us, revive us, refresh us, O Lord Jesus, as we rededicate ourselves to You.  This we pray in the name of Him who gave His all for us, the precious name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

Help Wanted

[The following is the manuscript of my sermon delivered on the 6th of September, 2015 - Labor Day weekend.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel, http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Tomorrow is Labor Day - the traditional end of summer vacation.  It’s the last little break before school kicks into a higher gear and work gets back to the normal grind.

Labor Day is a public holiday that honors the American labor movement and the contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of this country.  While most folks have the day off from work or school, many still labor, even on Labor Day.  For some, work is never done.

I think it safe to say that Jesus never took a day off.  During His ministry, He always willingly and lovingly did His Father’s work here on earth.  But even He could not get it all done.  Even He needed help to reach all the masses of people.  Listen and follow along as I read to you of just one of those times when Jesus was hard at work during His ministry on earth, as recorded by the Apostle Matthew in his Gospel account, chapter 9, verses 35 through 38, from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible…

35 Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And He healed every kind of disease and illness. 36 When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 He said to His disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. 38 So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to send more workers into His fields.”

--Matthew 9:35-38 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Father God, speak to us this morning the message You would have us hear.  Touch our hearts with Your Holy Spirit and etch Your word there.  Move us to do Your will and our Lord’s work on earth.  In the blessed name of our Lord Jesus we pray.  Amen.  Amen.


Have you ever felt over-worked and under-appreciated?  “Bits & Pieces” magazine, in a 1994 issue, carried a notice found in the ruins of a London office building.  The office memo, dated 1852, included the following:

• This firm has reduced the hours of work, and the clerical staff will now only have to be present between the hours of 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. weekdays.
• Clothing must be of a sober nature. The clerical staff will not disport themselves in raiment of bright colors, nor will they wear hose unless in good repair.
• A stove is provided for the benefit of the clerical staff. Coal and wood must be kept in the locker. It is recommended that each member of the clerical staff bring four pounds of coal each day during the cold weather.
• No member of the clerical staff may leave the room without permission from the supervisor.
• No talking is allowed during business hours.
• Now that the hours of business have been drastically reduced, the partaking of food is allowed between 11:30 and noon, but work will not on any account cease.
• The supervisor will nominate a senior clerk to be responsible for the cleanliness of the main office and the private office. All boys and juniors will report to him 40 minutes before prayers and will remain after closing hours for similar work. Brushes, brooms, scrubber, and soap are provided by the owners.
• The owners recognize the generosity of the new labor laws, but will expect a great rise in output of work to compensate for these near Utopian conditions.

When I was employed by corporate America, we always used to joke that the company would soon start charging us for the electricity to run our computers to do our work on.  Some things stay the same, but a lot has changed over the years, and while we still complain, the plight of the worker is much lessened today than ever before.  Time and labor saving devices abound, and are usually available at affordable prices.

And advances in information technology give us near instantaneous communications with almost any location on the globe.  Do you remember all those wallet-sized photos of our kids and grandkids that we’d show to anybody and everybody we could?  Today we simply post high resolution images taken with our phone on Facebook for thousands to view.

Whether we realize it or not, we have more time to play and enjoy ourselves than ever before in history.  So what do we do with all that time when we’re not laboring?


In our scripture reading this morning, we see Jesus hard at work.  He has been traveling from town to town and village to village, and not in a nice air-conditioned RV driven by one of His disciples.  No, our Lord Jesus and all His followers walked pretty much everywhere they went, along dusty roads and paths.  That alone would be more than enough work for most of us.

Close your eyes and imagine walking from here to say Welcome, and talking to folks there.  Then head out to Midway, and on up to Winston-Salem, and then back down through High Point and Archdale.  Swing around to Thomasville then head off to Denton.  These were the kind of distances Jesus and His followers walked – all the time.

But walking was just their means of travel, not their job.  Verse 35 of our scripture indicates that once they got to a town or village, the real work began.  There, Jesus would spend time in the local synagogue, teaching and sharing the Good News about the Kingdom of God.  He would heal the people of every kind of disease, illness, and infirmity.  In fact, He was usually mobbed everywhere He went just for His healing power.

But notice what Matthew says next, in verse 36.  Everywhere He went, when Jesus saw the throngs of people clamoring all around Him, He had compassion on them.  He cared about them because they all seemed so confused and helpless.  Just like sheep wandering around without a shepherd to lead them.  When I read that verse, I sense a note of sadness on our Lord’s part, that He felt so sorry for the people.

Verse 37 seems to confirm that there are just too many people with too many needs for even Him to be able to help them all.  “The harvest is great, but there just aren’t enough workers to bring it in.  There are all these souls to be saved, all these poor lost sheep to be returned to our Father’s loving arms, and I just can’t get to them all.”  Then Jesus instructed His disciples to pray to God that more workers be made available for this effort.

Jesus often used word pictures to convey His messages to Hs followers and the people in general.  This imagery of workers bringing a harvest in from the field is one He painted often, especially in parables, for it is one the people of that time could relate to and understand.

The field is the world, this world, this age.  The harvest is all those souls that can be saved, all those who might believe in Jesus as the Son of God, who would follow Him as their Master and Savior.  And the Lord who is in charge of the harvest is, of course, God.  So we are to pray to God that He provide us with more followers of Jesus who are willing to help make new disciples and to refresh those who may be going astray.

In chapter 10, verses 1 and 2 of his Gospel account, the Apostle Luke uses the same request from our Lord to relate a time slightly later when Jesus sent His disciples on a mission…

10 After this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them two by two ahead of Him into every city and place where He Himself was about to come. 2 He said to them, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

--Luke 10:1-2 (MEV)

In Luke’s telling, Jesus picked 70 of His disciples and sent them out in pairs ahead of His travels.  The Rev. Billy Graham followed this example for his great revival crusades.  He would send out advance teams into cities where he planned a crusade as much as a year ahead of time, to make all the preparations and get everything in order.

The number 70, though, is Biblically significant and easily lost if you just quickly read the passage.  Some versions report this as 70 while others say 72, but this figure refers back to Genesis chapter 10 and the numbering of all the nations on earth following the great flood.  The old Hebrew text lists 70 names while the Greek lists 72.

The number being 70 or 72 isn’t as noteworthy as the significance of the number.  Jesus sent the same number of disciples into the world to “help with the harvest” as the number of nations that God placed back into the world right after the flood.  In Genesis, God was preparing the world to come alive again after its watery destruction.  Here, Jesus is trying to prepare the world so it can live again after He returns and the earth is remade.

But even 70 or 72 additional workers is not nearly enough to bring the harvest in that Jesus has planned.  We need far more workers in the field than that today!


As we contemplate joining this work force, we could use some tips, such as why someone else would be interested in following Jesus.  During His ministry on earth, He attracted great throngs to Him by His healing powers and the other miracles He could perform.  That was just to get their attention.  Once He had their focus, then He would preach and teach.  Because He wanted them to understand that His miracles were not why they should follow Him, that there was something much more important involved.

For example, listen to this exchange the Apostle John recorded in his Gospel, chapter 6, verses 26 and 27, not long after Jesus fed the 5000…

26 Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”

--John 6:26-27 (NKJV)

In effect, Jesus said, “You come looking for Me because of the miracles I can perform, but what I truly offer you is far greater and more enduring than any food or healing I might provide for your physical body.”

Why do we come looking for Him today?  Why would others, especially those who don’t yet know Him, come looking for Jesus?  He told us right there – everlasting life.  Too many people are hung up only on the here and now.  They don’t want to think about tomorrow, much less what happens after their life on this earth is ended.  We may need to offer them food for today before we can show them Jesus’ offer of the food that endures for all eternity.  We may need to help provide healing for their minds and hearts and bodies before they will accept the Lord’s promise of salvation and a new body after their resurrection.

We can’t perform miracles.  We can’t feed 5000 men with just a couple small fishes and loaves of bread.  We can’t heal the lame or give sight to the blind just by touching them.  But God can, through us, if that is His will.  And we can definitely feed the 50 or 60 at the homeless shelter with a few pounds of ham and potatoes and a bunch of deviled eggs.  We can help heal a heart that’s hurting, a spirit that’s weak, or even bones that are broken by providing medical assistance.  And most of all, we can show God’s love and mercy through the love and mercy we ourselves freely give.  We can show the comfort and hope that is in Jesus.  And we can show all this by our labors, and by the manner in which we labor.

In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 11, verses 28 through 30, our Lord Jesus says…

28 “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

--Matthew 11:28-30 (NKJV)

And that goes not only for those Jesus seeks to save, but also for them who would help Him do the seeking -for those workers in the field helping to bring in the harvest.

Do you feel heavily loaded down and overburdened?  Come to Jesus and He will give you rest.  Are you afraid to strike out and try to help save souls while there is still time, while there is still a remedy?  Take our Lord’s yoke, learn from His word and His example, work like He did.  He’ll be there in the trenches right beside you.  He’ll help carry your load when it gets too heavy.  He’ll even give you the words to say and the actions to take when you get stalled or stumped.  Simply go to Him in prayer and ask Him to.


Family, there are so many people out there in the world that have never had the opportunity to learn about Jesus and the offer of salvation, of comfort, of rest, of peace He gives.  The harvest yet to be brought in numbers in the billions!  And that is a staggering number!  How could we possibly bring that much harvest in?

A little at a time.  The Gideons are great at working this particular field, bringing thousands to Jesus each year.  We help with that harvest by providing them with financial support and with our prayers.

But even here, in Lexington and Davidson County, there are so many souls that need to be reached and saved.  Here, close to home, we can made a difference.  We can stride into this field and begin the harvest.  And we can do so by using the tools of love and caring and compassion, by employing the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus sent to dwell within us, by giving of ourselves as Jesus gave to us all.

Jesus will do the saving.  We just need to help people come to Him.  And we can do that by showing them why we came to Him and how He has changed us.


Family, the harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  Pray to the Lord of the harvest that He might send more workers into the field.  And that He empower each of us with the strength and courage to help with the harvest ourselves.

This Labor Day, and every day, be a worker for Jesus.

Amen.


Let us pray…  Father in heaven, Your Son Jesus instructed us to pray to You and ask that You might send more workers into this field because there is yet so much more work to do.  There are so many souls in this world to reach, so many that have never heard Your word, so many to spread the Good News of salvation to.  Please anoint more of Your servants to help with this task.

Father, we know that You have also called us to this service.  Jesus commanded us to go into the world making disciples of all peoples.  But Father, we are timid in our testimony.  We are bashful, almost ashamed, to bear witness of the great wonders Jesus has done in our lives to a scoffing, scornful, mocking world.  We fear how they might treat us because of our faith.  We ask for Your forgiveness, Lord, for our hesitation, and for courage to stand up for our convictions.

Hear us now, loving Father, listen to our hearts as we silently cry out to You when the words just will not come…

Lord God, we know Jesus needs us to work Your fields, for the harvest is ripe for the picking.  Embolden us, Father, with the strength of will to approach all we encounter and share how Jesus loves us with them.  Empower us to carry out the great commission our Master and Savior left us with.  And may our labors for You not be in vain, but may we bring a rich harvest to You.  This we pray in the name of Him who gave His all for us, the precious name of Your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  Amen.