Greater Love

[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 28th of May, 2017, Memorial Day weekend.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Tomorrow is Memorial Day, the one day each year we set aside to commemorate and remember all those people who died while serving in our country’s armed forces throughout her history.  At its heart, we might say that Memorial Day is really all about love – love of country, love of freedom, love of others above self – and about sacrifice - putting the needs of other folk ahead of one’s own.

Our Lord knew all about love and sacrifice.  Listen and follow along to what Jesus tells us in the Gospel accounts of the Apostles Mark and John, first from Mark’s chapter 12 verses 28 through 31, and then from John’s chapter 15, verses 9 through 17, and I’ll be reading both from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible.…

28 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”

29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

--Mark 12:28-31 (NKJV)

9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another.”

--John 15:9-17 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, Your Son Jesus tried so hard to get Your people to hear Your message, the same message He repeats to us in Your holy word.  Speak to us now, Father, through Your Holy Spirit directly into our hearts, that we might receive, understand, and obey Your message this morning.  Help us to not let religion interfere with our worship.  In the blessed name of Jesus we pray.   Amen.


While watching the Memorial Day parade, little Johnny turned to his mother and asked, "Mamma, don't soldiers ever go to heaven?"  "Of course they do!", his surprised mother exclaimed.  "What makes you ask?" "Well, there are so many soldiers with beards, but I never saw any pictures of angels with beards", little Johnny explained.  The mother thought for a moment and replied, "Oh, that's because most vets who go to heaven get there by a close shave."


I think there may be many who get to heaven by a close shave.  After all, it is only by the grace of God, by virtue of the selfless act of Jesus our Lord, that we sinners are granted access to heaven.  That’s as close a shave as anyone will ever get.


Memorial Day - a time to remember great sacrifice.  Nowadays, though, I think most people simply consider it an extra day off, the beginning of summer, a time for picnics and grilling out and playing games.  They might give a passing thought to those who gave their lives in service for our freedom… before heading off for a day of fun in the sun.

There really should be more to Memorial Day than family picnics and a day at the lake.  We should remember and honor the men and women who died so that each one of us might live free.  We should remember the sacrifice they made for us.  And for those of us who call ourselves Christian, this day should also bring to mind another sacrifice that was made on our behalf, just so we might live free.  Our Lord Jesus gave His mortal life in service to His Father God so that we might be set free from our sin and gain eternal life in heaven.


When we think of love, John 3:16 usually comes quickly to mind - God’s great love, shown by sending His only Son into the world, that we might be saved from eternal damnation if we only believe in Him.  Or we think of Jesus telling us to love one another, just like we love ourselves.  In our scripture reading from Mark’s Gospel account, Jesus reminds us that we should also love God, with all our heart and all our soul and all our mind and all our strength.  God commands us to love Him – this is His very first commandment – but we should also love God because He loved us first, and He still loves us, no matter what foolishness we get ourselves into.

Then Jesus reminds us that the part about loving our neighbor came from God too, that it is actually the second commandment.  It’s something He repeats so often in our Bible, in one form or another, that we think it came from Jesus, but our heavenly Father issued this command to us through Moses, long before Jesus came to earth.

When we move into our reading from John’s Gospel account, Jesus clarifies why all this stuff about love is so important.  Just as His Father God loves Him, Jesus loves us.  And He wants us to abide in His love!

To abide in something means to live in it, right?  So Jesus wants us to live in His love!  To me, that carries two meanings.  First is to be enfolded in and surrounded by the warm love that Jesus has for us, the love that is Jesus, the same love that God feels for Him.  To walk each and every day in that great love, to go to sleep in it and wake in it.  To know love and to be loved.  To live within the love that is Jesus.  The second aspect of this is to love like Jesus loves.  And that’s pretty much the objective behind the second commandment He keeps reminding us of.


In his first letter to the far-flung Christian church, the Apostle John adds even more to this discussion of how God’s love affects us.  Listen to what John says in his 1st letter, chapter 5, verses 1 through 3, as written in the Contemporary English Bible…

1 If we believe that Jesus is truly Christ, we are God’s children. Everyone who loves the Father will also love his children. 2 If we love and obey God, we know that we will love his children. 3 We show our love for God by obeying his commandments, and they are not hard to follow.

--1 John 5:1-3 (CEV)

When we believe in Jesus as God’s Son and accept Him as our Lord, then God adopts us into His great family and we become one of His own children.  If we love God as our heavenly Father and obey Him, we should also love His children – all of His children.  We show Him our love by obeying Him, and we obey Him by loving others, by showing others His love.


It’s all about love: God’s love for us, our love for God, His and our love for all others.  If love isn’t important, why is it repeated so many times in our Bible?  Why did Jesus tell us over and over to love one another?  What could be any clearer than His words in verse 12 that this is His commandment, to love one another as He loves us?  It’s not a suggestion, it’s a command!  If Jesus Christ is indeed our Lord and Master as we claim He is, then we must obey His commands!

Today we honor those who did obey that commandment, who loved others, even people they would never know.  They loved so much, they lay down their mortal lives for us all.  They gave everything so that we might be free.  Theirs was the greater love Jesus spoke of in verse 13:  “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

Those we commemorate today did just that, and Jesus did, too.  He gave everything for us, because we’re His friends.  But to remain His friends, we need to obey Him.  In case we should forget, Jesus explains that the choice wasn’t ours.  We didn’t choose Him – He chose us.  He chose us and anointed us that we might bear fruit that lasts.  And that fruit is our love shared with others.


These things Jesus commands us, that we love one another.  And that we love one another with the same selfless, unconditional, sacrificial love with which He loves us.  A greater love.

So very many men and women in our armed forces and many others that serve, like our police and firefighters, have shown that greater love.  Many are willing to do so in the future.  Our veterans put themselves in a position to when they served.

Now it is fairly unlikely that any of us will ever be required to lay down our lives for any others, but we should be willing in our hearts to do so.  For greater love has no one than this.  This Jesus commands us: that we love one another.

In the glorious name of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, everything You do, You do out of love.  Even when we are unlovable, even when we seem incapable of love, even when we don’t love ourselves, You love us.  Father, You are love, and You showed Your love by sending Your only Son into the world to save us from ourselves.  You love us and want us to love You, and to show our love by loving all Your children.  Forgive us, Father, when we fail to do so, when we feel we can’t love, when we refuse to even try.  Help us obey Your commands to love.

Please hear us now, Father, as we silently speak to You from our hearts, acknowledging our belief in Your Son Jesus and our acceptance of Him as our Master, rededicating ourselves to Your service, promising to repent of our disobedience and sin, seeking Your forgiveness, listening for Your voice…

Lord Jesus, over and over You gave the same command:  love one another, love others as you love yourself, love as I love you.  Lord, we find it easy to love those who love us.  And it’s not too hard to love those who at least don’t try to hurt us.  But Lord, when it comes to loving those who hate us, who mean us harm, who want nothing but our destruction, then we often fail to obey Your commandment.  Being willing to lay down our life for a friend is easy compared to thinking about giving our life for one who hates us this much.  Forgive us, Lord, when we struggle to obey You.  Help us understand and show a greater love.

This we pray in Your glorious name, Lord Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior, the one true Son of God, in whom we place all our hope, all our trust, all our faith.  Amen.

Traditions

[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 21st of May, 2017.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

In Bible Study the last few weeks, we’ve been working through some of Jesus’ teachings as recorded by the Apostles Matthew and Luke in their Gospel accounts.  We noticed that a lot of what Jesus tried to impart was that the letter of the Law is not more important than its intent.

The Jewish religious leaders of His time focused more on what the words given to Moses by God said, while pushing aside what God meant in those words.  This may have been due to their reliance on the scribes, the professionals on the Law, who best knew and supposedly understood God’s law enough to quote it and interpret it for the Pharisees and Sadducees.  Since Jesus kept telling the people that what God meant in His commandments was more important than what the leaders ascribed the Law to be, this just gave the Pharisees even more reason to work against Him.

Listen and follow along to an exchange between Jesus and some Pharisees regarding the dangers of putting man’s traditions ahead of God’s commandments, from the Gospel account of the Apostle Mark, chapter 7 verses 1 through 16, and I’ll be reading both from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible.…

1 Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Him, having come from Jerusalem. 2 Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault. 3 For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches.

5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?”

6 He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
7 And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

8 For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men — the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.”

9 He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban” — ’ (that is, a gift to God), 12 then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, 13 making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

14 When He had called all the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear Me, everyone, and understand: 15 There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man. 16 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”

--Mark 7:1-16 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, Your Son Jesus met with so much resistance and hostility from the religious leadership of His day, yet He never wavered in speaking Your message to the people who needed to hear it.  Speak to us now, Father, through Your Holy Spirit directly into our hearts, that we might receive, understand, and obey Your message this morning.  Help us to not let religion interfere with our worship.  In the blessed name of Jesus we pray.   Amen.


During a service at an old synagogue in Eastern Europe, when the Shema prayer was said, half the congregants stood up and half remained sitting.  The half that was seated started yelling at those standing to sit down, and the ones standing yelled at the ones sitting to stand up.  The rabbi, learned as he was in the Law and the commentaries, didn’t know what to do.  Some in his congregation suggested that he consult a home-bound 98 year old man who was one of the original founders of their temple.  Perhaps the elderly gentleman would be able to tell him what the actual temple tradition was.

So the rabbi went to the nursing home with a representative of each faction of the congregation.  The one whose followers stood during Shema said to the old man, “Is the tradition to stand during this prayer?”  The old man answered, “No, that is not the tradition.”  The one whose followers sat asked, “Is the tradition to sit during Shema?”  The old man answered, “No, that is not the tradition.”

Then somewhat confused and more than a little frustrated, the rabbi said to the old man, “The congregants fight all the time, yelling at each other about whether they should sit or stand…”  The old man interrupted, exclaiming, “Yes! THAT is the tradition!”


Now that would be a tradition to be proud of, wouldn’t it – fussing and fighting and shouting all the time.  We all have traditions of some kind, though.  As individuals, as separate and extended families, as church families – we all have traditions that we keep, even if we’ve forgotten why.  Often times the reason behind a tradition is a muddled memory at best, if not entirely lost to history.

Our dictionary defines a tradition as a long-established way of thinking or acting.  It is the statements, beliefs, legends, and customs handed down from generation to generation, usually only by word of mouth.  Among Jews, tradition can be seen as the body of laws and doctrines, or any one of them, that is considered to have been received from Moses and originally passed down orally through the generations.  But when we pass something along simply by word of mouth, the meaning can easily change or get completely lost.


Since Jesus is one with God, He would know what God had intended when He gave the Ten Commandments and His Laws to Moses.  But by the time Jesus began His ministry on earth, over 1400 years had passed from that day when Moses carried two stone tablets to the people!  For more than 1400 years, God’s words were repeated over and over, from father to son, mother to daughter.  For 1400 years, laws were added, doctrines modified, meanings changed.

After 1400 years, God’s original intent was muddied by man and his interpretations, ignored and forgotten.  After 1400 years, traditions formed, grew, and became firmly established.  Is it any wonder Jesus tried to set folks straight?!


One of those traditions had to do with washing one’s hands before eating.  Yes, cleanliness is important and God did not want His children to contaminate what they ate with dirty hands.  But what the Pharisees complained about here was that Jesus’ disciples did not observe the ceremonial washing that had little to do with cleanliness.  They would barely dip their hands in a bowl of water and let it run down to their elbows before drying with a towel that usually was quite soiled from repeated use.  It was just a ceremony the religious observed, a ritual washing, a tradition that long ago lost touch with its intended purpose.  So of course they complained to Jesus that His followers were not walking in their tradition.

Jesus begins His reply by quoting Isaiah, whose works the Pharisees would be well familiar with.  Listen to how Isaiah put it, from chapter 29 verse 13 of his prophesy, and I’ll read from the Contemporary English Version for clarity…

13 The Lord has said:

“These people praise Me
with their words,
but they never really
think about Me.
They worship Me by repeating
rules
made up by humans."

--Isaiah 29:13 (CEV)

Jesus knew that the people, especially the religious leaders, praised God with their words, but then never really gave Him full consideration.  They thought they were sufficiently worshiping God by simply repeating the rules and doctrines they themselves had made up through their traditions.

Jesus accused the Pharisees of setting aside the commandments of God so that they could be free to hold onto and practice their long-standing traditions.  He even went so far as to say that they rejected God’s commandments just so they could keep doing what they’d always done.  Their adherence to their traditions rendered God’s word ineffective and nearly meaningless.


These were the religious leaders Jesus just took to task: leaders in the synagogue and the community.  In the 1400 years since Moses brought them God’s law, the people built a complex and demanding religion around God’s words.  This religion almost took on a life of its own, bending to the agendas of the men who led it.  Their religion was, in effect, their tradition.

And because they held fast to the rules and doctrines they created based on God’s original commands, they considered themselves to be religious and pious.  James, the half-brother of Jesus, would later speak to men like these, and in a tone that I think Jesus would well have approved.  In the 1st chapter of his letter, verse 26, James writes…

26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.

--James 1:26 (NKJV)

James is saying if we let our traditions, even our religion, deceive our hearts, then that tradition, or religion, is useless.  The Apostle Paul carries this concept a step further.  He warns that deception of this nature can be a risk to our very salvation.  In his letter to the Colossians, chapter 2, verse 8 and verses 20 through 23, Paul speaks to the problem of deceit and tradition…

8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

20 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— 21 “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” 22 which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

--Colossians 2:8, 20-23 (NKJV)

We must not let anyone deceive us into thinking that traditions are always what’s best to follow.  For the traditions of man are all founded on the basic principles of the world, and not according to Jesus.  The world hates Jesus, so any doctrines based on its principles, even though they may have an appearance of wisdom, they can be ruinous to our eternal lives.


Traditions can’t help us, traditions can’t save us.  Jesus tried to explain that.  He concluded His discussion with the Pharisees by telling us all that what goes into us does not make us unclean or desecrate us.  Nothing that enters a person from the outside will dirty them.  It’s what comes out of us that defiles us, soils us, desecrates us.

What’s in our hearts ultimately defines us, and will eventually come out – in our words and our actions.  It’s not our traditions, it’s not our religions that make us what we are.  It’s what is in our heart.

We are Christians because Christ is in us, and we are in Him.  We have His love in our hearts and we share that love with others.  That is what makes us Christians, and not any traditions that we observe here at Pilgrim.

Love unites us, love defines us, not traditions.  And as Jesus said, if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.  In the glorious name of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, You gave mankind a set of laws to live by.  Each one has a specific purpose.  Each one is something we need to follow for our own health and well-being.  You gave us these rules for our welfare, not to punish us or to keep us from enjoying this beautiful garden You provided for us to live in.  But we took those laws and changed them and added to them and kept the ones we thought were easy enough to obey and tossed out or disregarded the tougher one.  Your laws eventually became nearly unrecognizable with all we did to them, until they became more like rules we created than commandments You gave.  Please forgive us for making tradition of Your Law.  Forgive us for losing the intent You originally held, and instead holding fast to the letter of the law as we rewrote it.  Forgive us for letting tradition interfere with worshiping You.

Please hear us now, Father, as we silently speak to You from our hearts, acknowledging our belief in Your Son Jesus and our acceptance of Him as our Master, rededicating ourselves to Your service, promising to repent of our disobedience and sin, seeking Your forgiveness, listening for Your voice…

Lord Jesus, time after time during Your ministry, You tried to get us to understand that what God originally intended with His Law as handed down to Moses is far more important that the letter of the law as we tried to interpret it over the centuries.  Even when You spoke to us of God’s intent, we ignored You and continued to place a greater emphasis on what for us had become deeply rooted tradition.  Forgive us, Jesus for not listening.  Forgive us for not hearing.  Whenever we try to put tradition ahead of God’s will, please remind us yet again of His intent.

This we pray in Your glorious name, Lord Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior, the one true Son of God, in whom we place all our hope, all our trust, all our faith.  Amen.

Love

[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Mother's Day, Sunday morning, the 14th of May, 2017.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Mother’s Day – the day set aside each year to honor all our mothers, to remember what they’ve done for us, to pay tribute to their love for us, and our love for them.  And those two words – mother and love – just go together hand-in-hand.  We can’t think of our mother without thinking of love.

This morning I chose two passages from our Holy Bible that speak of love.  They’re from two different books, recorded in two different times, covering two different events or instances.  So they usually aren’t read together.  But I think you’ll see why they speak so much to us on Mother’s Day.

Listen and follow along, first to an explanation the Apostle Paul gives of love in his 1st letter to the Corinthians, chapter 13, verses 4 through 7 and verse 13, and then to a brief exchange the Apostle John recorded while Jesus hung on the cross, from chapter 19 of John’s Gospel account, verses 25 through 27, and I’ll be reading both from the New Living Translation.…

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

13 Three things will last forever — faith, hope, and love — and the greatest of these is love.

--1 Corinthians 13:4-7,13 (NLT)

25 Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw His mother standing there beside the disciple He loved, He said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.” 27 And He said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home.

--John 19:25-27 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Father God, in Your holy word, You tell us how to love, who to love, and why to love.  But sometimes we still fail to carry out Your command to love one another.  Speak to us now, Father, through Your Holy Spirit directly into our hearts, that we might receive, understand, and obey Your message this morning.  In the blessed name of Jesus we pray.   Amen.


A mother was shopping at a mall with her three-year-old daughter, who was growing weary of the outing.  To renew her interest in shopping, the mother asked if she would like to visit the toy store that was just ahead.  The daughter enthusiastically responded “Yes!” and took off toward the toy store as fast as her little feet could carry her.  To keep up with her child, the mother broke into a trot.  As the mother approached the racing child, she said, “I’m going to beat you to the store!”  The little girl looked around and screamed, “Don’t beat me, Mommy!  Don’t beat me!”  The startled mother looked around and realized that everyone in the mall was now watching closely with shock and fear for this poor child!


Art Linkletter used to have a show called “Kids Say the Darnedest Things”.  This little girl would have been a star.  Has anything like this ever happened to one of you mothers?

I remember when my daughter was about the age of the little girl in our story.  We were shopping one day when she blurted out in a very loud voice, “Look, Mommy!  That man is fat!”  I think that’s the only time we ever left a buggy full of stuff for some poor store clerk to have to put back on the shelves as we hastily beat a retreat.


In our scripture reading, the Apostle Paul first defines true love as being patient and kind, not jealous or boastful or proud.  Like I mentioned to the kids, real love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, always endures every and all circumstances.

And notice that Paul also says that love does not keep a record of being wronged.  What does that remind us of?  How about forgive and forget?  Just like our Father God forgives us our sins and forgets they ever happened, love forgets all wrongs.

Then the Apostle John tells us that as He hung from the cross, His last breaths labored and painful, Jesus recognized that very love standing nearby.  He saw His mother, Mary, and His disciple, John.  He loved His mother and wanted to be sure she would be taken care of after He returned to heaven, so He instructed the disciple who He also loved to treat Mary as if she were John’s own mother.  And John did just that, from that day forth, and as far as we know, for the rest of her life on earth.


A mother’s love is true love – it clearly exemplifies just what Paul meant.  And it was a love King Solomon understood as well.  Listen to verses 25 through 31 of Proverbs 31 and see if this describes your mother…

25 Strength and honor are her clothing;
She shall rejoice in time to come.
26 She opens her mouth with wisdom,
And on her tongue is the law of kindness.
27 She watches over the ways of her household,
And does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children rise up and call her blessed;
Her husband also, and he praises her:
29 “Many daughters have done well,
But you excel them all.”
30 Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing,
But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.
31 Give her of the fruit of her hands,
And let her own works praise her in the gates.

--Proverbs 31:25-31 (NKJV)

Now granted, that passage describes the perfect mother and wife, an ideal few could hope to attain to.  But when we think of our mothers, isn’t this how we see them?  Strong and honorable, always kind.  She always has words of wisdom for us, like, “Be careful with that thing or you’ll poke your eye out!”  In our minds, and especially in the warm reflections of our memories of childhood, our mothers are perfect.

Now I am obviously not a mother, but there was a stretch of time when I had to try being both father and mother, and I’ll tell all you men out there that being a mother is one very tough job!  But our mothers seemed to do it all so well.

Of course, as children, we had our own responsibilities in the family.  In his letter to the Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 1 through 3, Paul reminds us of our role…

1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: 3 “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”

--Ephesians 6:1-3 (NKJV)

Paul is simply reminding us of what God commands, as recorded by Moses in both Exodus chapter 20 and Deuteronomy chapter 5.  And like Paul points out, if we do always honor our mother and father, God will see that we are rewarded.

But God didn’t say anything about our in-laws, did He?  Well, yes, He did.  You remember the story of Ruth, who married a son of Naomi and traveled with them back to their homeland, only to be widowed at a very young age?  Naomi is heartbroken at her own loss but still tries to get Ruth to go back to her home and people so they can take care of her.  Naomi loves Ruth and wants what she thinks is best for the girl.

Listen to chapter 1, verses 16 and 17 of the Book of Ruth for what happens next…

16 But Ruth said:

“Entreat me not to leave you,
Or to turn back from following after you;
For wherever you go, I will go;
And wherever you lodge, I will lodge;
Your people shall be my people,
And your God, my God.
17 Where you die, I will die,
And there will I be buried.
The Lord do so to me, and more also,
If anything but death parts you and me.”

--Ruth 1:16-17 (NKJV)

Anyone who has ever thought or spoken poorly of their in-laws needs to memorize this passage.  Naomi loved her daughter-in-law and Ruth loved her mother-in-law with the kind of true love Paul described and God commands.

“Wherever you go I will go, and where you die I will die.  Your people will be my people and your God my God.”  Ruth did just that - staying by Naomi’s side and seeing to her well-being after marrying Boaz.  A mother’s love for her child and a child’s love for her mother, even though they were not of the same blood.

This also speaks to those women who may have never borne children, yet who love others as well as any mother ever could.  We’ve all known someone who mothered us, even though they were not of our own flesh and blood.  Motherly love: unselfish, unconditional, sacrificial love.


In closing, I’d like to go back to Paul once more, and the advice he gave the church in Philippi, in his letter to the Philippians, chapter 4, verse 8…

8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

--Philippians 4:8 (NKJV)

Doesn’t it sound like Paul could be talking about a mother’s love in that verse?  A mother’s love is true, noble, just, and pure.  Our mother is lovely, of good report, virtuous, and definitely praiseworthy.  If there is any doubt, we should meditate on these things, and on the beautiful words of Ruth, the explanation of love Paul provides, and the example Jesus Himself set in repaying the love His mother gave Him.

God is love.  Our mother is love.  Love others as our mother loves us, as Jesus loves us, as God loves us.  In the glorious name of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, You love us so much that You gave us Your only begotten Son, that we might have eternal life if we would only believe in Him, repent of our disobedience, and follow Him.  He reminds us of Your commandment that we love others as we love ourselves, as Jesus loves us.  Father, we can see that kind of love in the love our mothers give to us.  Just like You, Father God, our earthly mothers love us no matter what.  Please forgive us when we fail to show unconditional, sacrificial love to all others.

Please hear us now, Father, as we silently speak to You from our hearts, acknowledging our belief in Your Son Jesus and our acceptance of Him as our Master, rededicating ourselves to Your service, promising to repent of our disobedience and sin, seeking Your forgiveness, listening for Your voice…

Lord Jesus, as You hung on the cross, in the final seconds of Your earthly life, You looked and saw Your mother standing nearby.  At that moment, did You remember all she had done for You as You grew and matured?  Did You recall the sacrifices she made, the chances she took, the tears she shed for You?  Or did You just feel the love of a son for his mother?  Your love for her is obvious, for You made sure she would be taken care of by Your disciple John after You were gone from this world.  A mother’s love for her child, a child’s love for their mother…  This is a beautiful gift our Father God has given us all.  May we always treasure it, and share the same kind of love with all others.

This we pray in Your glorious name, Lord Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior, the one true Son of God, in whom we place all our hope, all our trust, all our faith.  Amen.

A Fire Within

[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 7th of May, 2017.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

We are still in the Easter season, leading up to Pentecost in early June.  In His day, this was the span of time when our resurrected Jesus appeared to around 500 people before ascending back into heaven.  This was not just a one-day event, like could very easily be accomplished in our time.  No, it occurred over weeks, and during multiple instances.

One such appearance was recorded by the Apostle Luke in his Gospel account.  The outlook for those who had followed Jesus in His ministry was dark and foreboding.  Facing an uncertain future and fearing for their lives, many of Jesus’ disciples fled Jerusalem, seeking safety away from the Jewish religious leaders.  They had heard reports that He had risen from the grave just as He said He would, but only a handful had actually claimed to have seen Him, only the Mary’s and the original eleven disciples.  The rest were scared and they scattered, like sheep without a shepherd.

Luke tells us of two in particular, and what they experienced as they walked away from Jerusalem.  Listen and follow along to how the Apostle describes this heart-warming incident, in chapter 24 of his Gospel account, verses 13 through 25, and I’ll be reading from the Living Bible…

13 That same day, Sunday, two of Jesus’ followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles out of Jerusalem. 14 As they walked along they were talking of Jesus’ death, 15 when suddenly Jesus Himself came along and joined them and began walking beside them. 16 But they didn’t recognize Him, for God kept them from it.

17 “You seem to be in a deep discussion about something,” He said. “What are you so concerned about?” They stopped short, sadness written across their faces. 18 And one of them, Cleopas, replied, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about the terrible things that happened there last week.”

19 “What things?” Jesus asked.

“The things that happened to Jesus, the Man from Nazareth,” they said. “He was a Prophet who did incredible miracles and was a mighty Teacher, highly regarded by both God and man. 20 But the chief priests and our religious leaders arrested Him and handed Him over to the Roman government to be condemned to death, and they crucified Him. 21 We had thought He was the glorious Messiah and that He had come to rescue Israel.

“And now, besides all this — which happened three days ago — 22-23 some women from our group of His followers were at His tomb early this morning and came back with an amazing report that His body was missing, and that they had seen some angels there who told them Jesus is alive! 24 Some of our men ran out to see, and sure enough, Jesus’ body was gone, just as the women had said.”

25 Then Jesus said to them, “You are such foolish, foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures! 26 Wasn’t it clearly predicted by the prophets that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering His time of glory?”

27 Then Jesus quoted them passage after passage from the writings of the prophets, beginning with the book of Genesis and going right on through the Scriptures, explaining what the passages meant and what they said about Himself.

28 By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey. Jesus would have gone on, 29 but they begged Him to stay the night with them, as it was getting late. So He went home with them. 30 As they sat down to eat, He asked God’s blessing on the food and then took a small loaf of bread and broke it and was passing it over to them, 31 when suddenly — it was as though their eyes were opened — they recognized Him! And at that moment He disappeared!

32 They began telling each other how their hearts had felt strangely warm as He talked with them and explained the Scriptures during the walk down the road. 33-34 Within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem, where the eleven disciples and the other followers of Jesus greeted them with these words, “The Lord has really risen! He appeared to Peter!”

35 Then the two from Emmaus told their story of how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along the road and how they had recognized Him as He was breaking the bread.

--Luke 24:13-35 (TLB)

Let us pray…  Father God, it truly warms our hearts when You let us know You are near, when we can feel Your presence in our lives.  Speak to us now, Father, through Your Holy Spirit directly into our hearts, that we might receive, understand, and obey Your message this morning.  In the blessed name of Jesus we pray.   Amen.


A couple bought an old farm and were tearing down a three-seater outhouse when their new neighbor asked if she could have the single-plank, three-hole outhouse seat.  The couple said sure and she left happily carrying off that well-worn board.

Six months later, the neighbor invited the couple
to her home.  There she proudly showed off her newly re-designed family room, complete with a single-plank, three-hole picture frame featuring her three grandchildren.


Sometimes it can be downright funny, and not a little ironic, at just what might warm someone’s heart.  I remember one time when I just suddenly burst into song during a sermon to illustrate a point.  When I finished I asked the organist, “What key did I sing that in?”  She replied, “Most of them.”


What makes us all warm inside?  What sets our heart racing?  What lights our inner fire?  In verse 32 of our scripture reading, the two disciples noted that listening to Jesus as He explained all the Messianic passages to them warmed their hearts.  I believe the New King James Version of verse 32 makes what really happened to them more understandable and more meaningful to us today…

32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

--Luke 24:32 (NKJV)

“Did not our heart burn within us?”  If our heart is burning within us for something, it would certainly be warm, wouldn’t it?  The prophet Jeremiah was also familiar with this concept of a heart set on fire.  Listen to what he says of his own personal relationship with God, in chapter 20 and verse 9 of his prophecy…

9 Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him,
Nor speak anymore in His name.”
But His word was in my heart like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
I was weary of holding it back,
And I could not.

--Jeremiah 20:9 (NKJV)

God’s word was in his heart like a burning fire!  And did you notice that Jeremiah said he was weary of holding back that fire, and indeed could not hold it back!  If our heart is really on fire for something, can we successfully hold it back?  Can we for very long constrain a raging fire!?

Haven’t we all experienced a desire so strong, so deeply embedded within us, that we had no choice but to follow it as far as we could?  That fire inside cannot be quenched or restrained.  For Jeremiah, that fire came from God’s word.

And this is pretty much the same as for the two disciples on that dusty road to Emmaus.  Jesus lit a fire within them as they walked together, chatting with them and reminding them of what the scriptures said about the Messiah and what must happen to Him.  Jesus filled them with the word of God.  And while Jesus might no longer physically join us in the flesh in our walk, He can still light a fire within us.  He can still remind us of what the scriptures say about Him, but only if we take the time to stop and read our Bible.

The two disciples did not recognize Jesus until He broke the bread, just as He had done a few days before at their last meal together.  When do we recognize Jesus?  What does it take to open our eyes to who He really is?  We say we believe in Him as the Son of God, but do we spend enough time in God’s word for it to fill us and set our hearts afire?

The author of Psalm 10 tells us how we can better put ourselves into a position to receive the message Jesus brings us.  His wise counsel to us comes in a statement he makes to God, in the first part of verse 17…

17 Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble;
You will prepare their heart...

--Psalm 10:17a (NKJV)

If we humble ourselves and ask God for His help, He will prepare our hearts to receive His word and understand what Jesus tells us.  Jesus will explain the scriptures to us, through God’s Holy Spirit.  And our hearts will be warmed by the fire that He sets deep within us, a fire we simply will not be able to hold back or constrain.


As a church family, we have a lot going on and a lot more planned.  We’re trying to carry on the work Jesus started, to continue the mission He gave us to go into the world sharing the Gospel and making disciples.  There will come times when we grow tired, when frustration sets in, when we can’t see that we’re making any head-way at all.  To press on, we all need to have our hearts on fire for serving our Lord Jesus.  We need to humble ourselves before God and ask for strength and courage.  We need to trust in our Lord, remembering that Paul assures us we can do all things though Christ Jesus who strengthens us.  We need that fire raging within us that we simply cannot hold back!  Stoke that fire within!

In the glorious name of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, Your holy word, our Bible, contains everything we need to know, if we could just understand it all.  Even Your Son’s disciples couldn’t quite grasp everything, and Jesus had to explain it to them, including those passages that told of His life, His death, and His resurrection.  Help us, Father, to set You as our number one priority each day.  Show us how to set aside time to study Your word, no matter the busyness that engulfs us.  For Father, we cannot begin to understand Your word if we don’t spend time in it.  We cannot build a closer relationship to Your Son Jesus without looking at His life and all He tried to teach us.  Thank You, Father, for giving us Your wisdom in Your word.  Please help us gain more from it by spending more time in it, that our hearts might be set afire as was Jeremiah’s.

Please hear us now, Father, as we silently speak to You from our hearts, acknowledging our belief in Your Son Jesus and our acceptance of Him as our Master, rededicating ourselves to Your service, promising to repent of our disobedience and sin, seeking Your forgiveness, listening for Your voice…

Lord Jesus, You walked alongside Your disciples and reminded them of what they already knew, but did not seem to understand.  You repeated the passages of scripture to them that spoke of the Messiah’s fate, Your fate.  You helped them grasp the significance of what had happened, and Your words and actions, Your very presence, lit a fire in their hearts.  Come to us now, Lord Jesus.  Walk along with us as we set about the task You gave us.  Show us in God’s holy word what is to come and how we can deal with it.  Fill us with Your presence, encourage us with Your strength, equip us fully for the journey ahead.

This we pray in Your glorious name, Lord Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior, the one true Son of God, in whom we place all our hope, all our trust, all our faith.  Amen.