Believe In Him

 

[For Sunday, January 30th, 2022, we enjoyed our traditional 5th Sunday service at Pilgrim Reformed Church when we sang our favorite hymns.  But before the singing, we held the following short devotional - "Believe In Him".  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIz4WuP8igQstkEOq1AMTg.  Look for the video of our recorded services on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Today is the 5th Sunday of the month, when traditionally we enjoy a sing-along service of our favorite hymns.  And today is no exception.  But first I’d like to share a little scripture with you, scripture about belief, about believing in something that may seem unbelievable.  

Please listen and follow along as I read from the Apostle John’s Gospel account, chapter 10 verses 22 through 42, and I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible...

22 Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. 23 And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. 24 Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. 26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. 27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 30 I and My Father are one.”

31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?”

33 The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”

34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods” ’? 35 If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), 36 do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? 37 If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; 38 but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” 39 Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand.

40 And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed. 41 Then many came to Him and said, “John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true.” 42 And many believed in Him there.

--John 10:22-42 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, we are here to worship You.  May the words and songs from our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.  Amen.

We’ve all heard of or read about things that are just hard to believe, haven’t we?  Things that just seem unbelievable.  Robert Ripley built a franchise based on the unbelievable.  Maybe you’ve visited one of his “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!” exhibits.  Sometimes our brains can be tricked by our senses into believing something may be true, and sometimes what we’re sensing is just too far-fetched to be believable.

Many of the Jews in Jesus’ day were in that position.  They saw the signs and works He performed, yet they simply could not believe He was the Son of God, sent as their Messiah, our Savior.  And many today still cannot believe, Jews and Gentiles.  Even after all that has been written by eyewitnesses about what He did, they still cannot believe in Him, or accept Him as Lord.

There is one group who may truly believe that Jesus is just who He said He is, but it’s the Gospel message they can’t believe.  Have you ever been talking to someone about Jesus and they end up saying they just can’t believe in Him?  And the reason they give for this disbelief is something to the effect, “I can’t believe anyone could ever love me that much.”

Well, as we who do believe know, Jesus is not just anyone.  God loves us so much that He sent His only Son into the world that we might be saved from eternal damnation just by believing in Him.  And Jesus loves us so much that He came, knowing full well how it would all play out, and He allowed Himself to be sacrificed, so His blood could wash us clean of our sin.  Yes, Jesus loves us.  Of that we can rest assured.

One last point on belief…  When the risen Jesus appeared before the disciples, still in the flesh, His hands and side scarred from the execution, Thomas had trouble believing that this was truly Jesus again.  When he finally did believe, “Jesus said to him, ‘Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’”  (John 20:29 (NKJV))

We may not have seen Jesus with our eyes, we may not have witnessed His many miracles, but we believe.  We believe because we know He loves us.  We believe because we have felt His hand on our lives.  We believe because He has healed us, maybe not in body but in spirit.  We believe, and so we are saved.

Believe in Him, and live again.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for sending Your Son to save us.  Thank You for shining Your light into the darkness of this world, the darkness of our sin.  Please, Father, help us make our belief effective by obeying Your word and by doing as Jesus commands us.  Help us put our belief in action in our service to others.  And give us the strength and courage to share Your word with everyone we meet.  All this we pray in the blessed name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

Chosen to Serve

 

[Our service of Sunday, January 16th, 2022, was canceled due to the snow and icy conditions.  The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday, the 23rd of January, 2022, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Today's service also included the ordination of two Deacons and the installation of church officers.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIz4WuP8igQstkEOq1AMTg.  Look for the video of our recorded services on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

In my invocation, I read where Jesus said that He came to serve, not to be served.  He also said that if we want to be among the greatest, we must be as a servant to all others.

This morning we ordained two people to the service of our Lord and then installed them and two others to the service of our church.  But Jesus didn’t mean just church leaders when He told us to be servants; He meant all of us.

The practice of ordaining and installing church leaders and servants had its start in the early church, not too long after Jesus returned home to heaven.  Please listen and follow along to what the Apostle Luke recorded for us in verses 1 through 8 of chapter 6 of his Book of the Acts of the Apostles, and I’ll be reading this from the New Revised Standard Version of our Holy Bible…

1 Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. 2 And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, 4 while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.” 5 What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

7 The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.

--Acts 6:1-8 (NRSV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for the example of service the early church gives us.  Thank You for showing us, through our Bible scriptures, needs within our community that we can fill, such as feeding the hungry, providing drink and clothing and shelter for the needy, nurturing those who would come to know Jesus as Lord.  Please help us be good servants, and to be humble in our service.  And please, Father, protect us from all of Satan’s tricks and schemes.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit and better understand the message You have for us this day.  May we serve You by our service to others.  This we pray in the blessed name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

In his book Celebration of Discipline, in the chapter titled “The Discipline of Service”, theologian Richard Foster distinguishes between self-righteous service and true service.  In it he writes:

Self-righteous service comes through human effort.  True service comes from a relationship with the divine Other deep inside.

Self-righteous service is impressed with the "big deal".  True service finds it almost impossible to distinguish the small from the large service.

Self-righteous service requires external rewards.  True service rests contented in hiddenness.

Self-righteous service is highly concerned about results.  True service is free of the need to calculate results.

Self-righteous service picks and chooses whom to serve.  True service is indiscriminate in its ministry.

Self-righteous service is affected by moods and whims.  True service ministers simply and faithfully because there is a need.

Self-righteous service is temporary.  True service is a life-style.

Self-righteous service is without sensitivity. It insists on meeting the need even when to do so would be destructive.  True service can withhold the service as freely as perform it.

Self-righteous service fractures community.  True service, on the other hand, builds community.

I think we all have a good feel for what it means to be self-righteous, but you may find the dictionary definition to be interesting.  To be self-righteous is to be confident of one's own righteousness, especially when smugly moralistic and intolerant of the opinions and behavior of others.  I imagine we’re all a little guilty of that at one time or another.  Maybe we’ve sometime gotten up on our high horse and pointed our finger at others, accusing them of the same thing we ourselves have done?

Self-righteous service is smug, moralistic, and mostly self-serving.  It’s helping out in the soup line or with Meals-On-Wheels once a year - or once every four years - so we can get our name and photo in the papers or on TV.

True service, though, the kind of service God expects of us, is self-less.  It is giving, even when it hurts to give.  It is putting others ahead of self.  It is given freely, without expectations of payback or reward.  It is love, and the sharing of the love of Jesus.

From our scripture reading this morning, we should be able to see that our office of Deacon came from the early church’s decision to send certain of the disciples out into the community to see to the needs of the community.  And God blessed the church and these early Deacons for their efforts, for we see that the number of followers and believers increased and that Stephen performed great wonders and works among the people.

So, when we are told to be servants, who is it we are supposed to serve?  The implication that we’ve seen so far is that we serve other people, those whose needs are great.  But let’s go back a little and look at the time shortly after His baptism when Jesus is being tempted by Satan in the wilderness.  Please listen as I read from the 4th chapter of the Apostle Matthew’s Gospel account, verses 8 through 10…

8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”

10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”

--Matthew 4:8-10 (NKJV)

“You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.”  If we are to only serve God, what about those needy people?  And how does this reconcile with what we earlier read about self-righteous versus true service?

Let me read something to you that the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome, from chapter 16, verses 17 through 19 of his letter to the Romans…

17 Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. 18 For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. 19 For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and innocent concerning evil.

--Romans 16:17-19 (NKJV)

Now Paul is talking about what is going on in that church in Rome, and how there are some causing division and discord within the family.  Since they are serving their own bellies, as Paul puts it, deceiving the hearts of the less informed with smooth words and flattering speech, I think we can say their service is self-righteous.  And they are not serving our Lord Jesus.  Paul uses this example to educate us, so that we might be wise in what is good, and innocent concerning what is evil.

So that is two examples of our Bible scripture directing us to serve our Lord God, and our Lord Jesus who is God.  True service, not the self-righteous variety.

But family, here’s the kicker.  When we serve other people, when we see to the needs of those less fortunate, of those more helpless, then we are indeed serving God.  For this is His commandment, to love others as we love ourselves, as Jesus loves us.  We serve God by following His command, by loving others.  And when we truly love others, we will exercise that love through our service to them.  Jesus came to serve rather than to be served, and He served God the Father by loving us more than even His own mortal life.

Family, we have chosen a few people from among ourselves to serve our church family.  But let’s not forget that we have all been chosen, by our Lord Jesus, to serve our community as well.  Let’s all be good servants.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, who gave His all for us.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for loving us so much that You sent Your own Son to serve us by redeeming our sin.  Through Him and the examples of the early church, You show us what true service is.  Thank You, Father, for Your instruction and examples.  But Father, sometimes we serve for the wrong reasons.  Sometimes we become more concerned about being served that about serving.  Forgive us those times, Father, and remind us of why Jesus came to us.  Please help us show Your love to others through our love and service.  Help us be better, truer servants, to You and to our fellow man.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, when You gave us the command to love others as You love us, this was to show us how to serve.  We serve You by serving others, and we serve them through our love.  Please, Lord, help us be more loving, more forgiving, so that we can be better servants.  Forgive us, Jesus, when we fail to love and serve because of all the strains of life.  Help us remember all You went through just for us, and how You never stopped loving, never stopped serving others.  And Jesus, please strengthen us through these very difficult times.  Heal those hurts that separate and divide us, in our communities and even within Your church family.  Help us remain true and obedient no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on what this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

I Resolve

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on the first Sunday after Epiphany, the 9th of January, 2022, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Today's service also included the observance of Holy Communion.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIz4WuP8igQstkEOq1AMTg.  Look for the video of our recorded services on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

2021 was sort of a strange year.  It opened with a ray of hope, the sun shining through dark clouds.  2020 and the year of the pandemic was behind us and we seemed on the brink of normalcy.

And then the Delta variant started wreaking havoc, and more mask and vaccine mandates went into effect.  Our people became even more divided as the masked and the unmasked went at each other, as the vaccine supporters faced off against the vaccine opponents, with each side accusing the other of doing more harm than good.  We were judging each other more than ever before.  What began with so much promise ended with a whimper and a new threat: the Omicron variant.

The thing is, we have been warned of all of this in our Bibles.  We have been told that as the end of the age nears, nation with rise up against nation, family against family, brother against brother.  And like most wars, we start out with verbal jabbing, with one side accusing the other of some misdeed or wrongful behavior.  So we end up judging each other, even though in the same Bible that gave us this warning, our Lord Jesus tells us to “Judge not, that you be not judged.”

The Apostle Paul often emphasized this critical message from Jesus.  Please listen and follow along to what Paul wrote in the 14th chapter of his letter to the church in Rome, and I’ll be reading from the New Revised Standard Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. 2 Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. 3 Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

5 Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. 6 Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God.

7 We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11 For it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me,

and every tongue shall give praise to God.”

12 So then, each of us will be accountable to God.

13 Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another. 14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. 15 If your brother or sister is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. 16 So do not let your good be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 The one who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and has human approval. 19 Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. 20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for you to make others fall by what you eat; 21 it is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble. 22 The faith that you have, have as your own conviction before God. Blessed are those who have no reason to condemn themselves because of what they approve. 23 But those who have doubts are condemned if they eat, because they do not act from faith; for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

--Romans 14 (NRSV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for giving us a new year, another year to live for Jesus.  Thank You for giving us new life, another chance to get things right.  Please help us to keep this “newness” in our spirit by truly following Jesus and serving only Him.  And please, Father, protect us from all of Satan’s evil work in this world.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and purpose in our love and worship, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Stop us when we begin to judge another because of what they do or say, reminding us that we too will be judged just as critically as we judge others.  This we pray in the blessed name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

In his book, Christian Theology in Plain Language, Bruce Shelley states:

Our lives are fields that primarily contain weeds. We cannot produce strawberries. We can mow the weeds, but that effort alone will never produce acceptable fruit. If we really want that fruit we will have to go deeper. We must plow up the whole field and start again with new plants.

I think the beauty of this little homily is that it is speaking directly to each of us as individuals.  It isn’t talking about someone else, blaming the other guy for his failings, judging others while leaving me blameless and clean.  No, it is pointing its finger directly at me!  My life is a field of weeds.  The only way I can ever make anything of it is to dig it all up and start over again.

And that is exactly what we do when we truly accept Jesus as our Lord and obey His voice.  We’re given a fresh start, a new life, a chance to begin all over again.  But we have to be very careful not to let the weeds come up again.  We need to watch ourselves and do as Jesus says.  For some day we will be judged, all of us, and not by our peers, but by the Creator of all there is and ever was, by the Almighty God.

In a nutshell, this is what Paul is telling us.  We shouldn’t pass judgment on one another.  It’s not our job, it’s above our pay scale.  We are all – each and every one of us – accountable to God, our ultimate Judge.  So we need to resolve to stop judging others.  We need to stop putting stumbling blocks or any other hindrances in their way.  We need to stop causing them injury and harm by our words or actions or even our thoughts.

Paul gives an example of eating meat or drinking wine around someone who in their own heart finds that to be wrong or hurtful.  He warns that this could cause that person to stumble, perhaps upsetting the work of God in that person, even causing the ruin of one for whom Christ died, as Paul puts it.

Let me give you a little more timely example, and one that I am terribly guilty of myself.  When I am around someone who thinks mask wearing is essential to our health and safety as a people, then I should be willing to wear a mask in their presence.  Otherwise, I may be guilty of upsetting the work of God in that person, of causing the ruin of one for whom Christ died.

Family, we may think that there is little we can do to make this world better.  We don’t have the answers to life’s many problems.  We don’t even seem to have full control of our own lives any more, much less how someone else may fare.

With all the warnings and all the mandates, with vaccines and tests available, people are still getting sick from COVID-19 and its variants, even those who are vaccinated and wear masks.  If the experts are struggling to find the silver bullet, what chance do I have?  I’m just one person, and a rather simple person at that.

Again I’d like to turn to what Paul has already told us, this time to his 1st letter to the Corinthians, chapter 1 verse 26 through chapter 2 verse 5…

1:26 Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, 29 so that no one might boast in the presence of God. 30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

2:1 When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3 And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

--1 Corinthians 1:26-2:5 (NSRV)

Our faith should not rest on human knowledge or wisdom, but on the power of God.  God’s power is clearly demonstrated throughout our Bible.  His strength is shown in that His words, recorded so long ago, warn us of what is happening today.  Our faith must rest solely on God’s power, and God’s word.

Let us resolve to trust in the Lord, who created the heavens and the earth.  And let us resolve not to upset His great work by placing a stumbling block in the path of another.  Let’s keep the weeds out of our fields.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the one true Son of God.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for all the information You have provided us in our Bible.  In Your word, we can see what is going on around us, and through its writers, You instruct us on how to react.  Thank You, Father, for the warnings and instruction You give.  But Father, sometimes we fail to follow Your instruction.  Sometimes we simply can’t help ourselves and we do things that cause harm and hurt.  We just can’t seem to stop judging others when we really need to pay more attention to our own lives.  Please help us be more obedient to Your word.  Help us be better servants, to You and to our fellow man.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be better, more faithful servants, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You died to free us of our sins.  And then You were given new life so that we too could enjoy new life.  You dug up our fields so that we could produce good fruit.  Please, Lord, help us keep the weeds out.  May we do as our Father wills us.  Help us resolve to stop putting stumbling blocks in the way of other people.  Forgive us, Jesus, when we judge others while ignoring our own flaws.  Forgive us when we can’t release our hatreds and pride, our anger and greed, our distrust for those not like us.  Help us let go of our worldly thoughts so that people can see Your love through our love and service.  And Jesus, please strengthen us through these very difficult times.  Heal those hurts that separate and divide us, even within Your church family.  Help us remain true and obedient no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on what this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.