The Power of His Word

Counting Our Blessings

2010-09-19T17:22:00.000-04:00

[The following was delivered at Ridgecrest Presbyterian Church, Locust, NC, on Sunday, September 19, 2010.]

Old Testament reading:

The proverbs of Solomon:
A wise son brings joy to his father,
but a foolish son grief to his mother.

Ill-gotten treasures are of no value,
but righteousness delivers from death.

The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry
but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.

Lazy hands make a man poor,
but diligent hands bring wealth.

He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son,
but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.

Blessings crown the head of the righteous,
but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked.

The memory of the righteous will be a blessing,
but the name of the wicked will rot.

The wise in heart accept commands,
but a chattering fool comes to ruin.

The man of integrity walks securely,
but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.

He who winks maliciously causes grief,
and a chattering fool comes to ruin.

The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life,
but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked.

Hatred stirs up dissension,
but love covers over all wrongs.
-- Proverbs 10:1-12 (New International Version)

New Testament reading and Message scripture:
The Beatitudes

Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him,

and he began to teach them saying:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
-- Matthew 5:1-12 (New International Version)

Back in the 1950's, a little movie came out called “White Christmas”. Have you ever heard of it? It was full of music by Irving Berlin, including the title song, and some pretty good musical talent of the day, namely Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kaye, and Vera Ellen. Bing and Rosemary teamed up to perform a tune that came to mind as I pondered the message to deliver today: “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep”. The song opens with a remedy for insomnia: “When I'm worried and I can't sleep, I count my blessings instead of sheep and I fall asleep counting my blessings.” We've all heard the admonishment, “Count your blessings”, especially if we ever complained about something we think bad happened to us and a parent or favorite aunt or friend wanted to remind us that maybe what befell us wasn't really all that bad in the grand scheme of things. So I thought we could do that today, count a few of our blessings.

First we should probably decide just what constitutes a blessing. Would you think it a blessing if you won the mega bucks lottery and received millions of dollars as a prize? Or perhaps some long forgotten relative passed away and left their house to the third child of their fifth second cousin on their mother's side, and end result of that sequence turned out to be you. Would that be a blessing? How about if the Panthers have a winning season? Would that be a blessing? Some might consider that more in the realm of miracles. But would we really consider any of these events blessings?

Going back to our song for a moment, Bing sings about one blessing as, “When my bankroll is getting small, I think of when I had none at all and I fall asleep counting my blessings.” This little piece of advice may be quite applicable today, nearly sixty years after it debuted. In our current economic environment, with so many out of work and struggling to make ends meet, I am sure a lot of folks suffer through sleepless nights, worrying about their shrinking resources. Could putting their troubles in the hands of Jesus and remembering when they had nothing at all help them fall asleep?

One repeated phrase in the song involves thinking of the nursery and counting the curly heads there, slumbering in their beds. Our children are indeed one of our greatest blessings. Sure, there are times when we consider this particular blessing to be of the mixed variety, like when our little angel throws a tantrum in the middle of the grocery store, or when our teenage son calls and says, “Dad, I've wrecked the car. No one's hurt but the car is totaled.”, or our adult daughter comes through the door sobbing, “Mom, he's left me for some other woman!”. Children are a blessing, even if they are not ours. We learn from them, we grow because of them, we do things because of them we would never dream of doing for ourselves. When we pay taxes, we think about building schools to educate future generations. When we step into the voting booth we consider how our cast ballot may affect those who will follow years down the road. We know how dear and precious children are. And so did Jesus, as He showed when He said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”, as recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

So children are a blessing, but what are some others? I consider each new morning a blessing. We are all blessed to live in this great land of ours, where we are to come in here and worship Jesus Christ as our risen Savior without fear of soldiers rushing through the doors to haul us outside and execute us, like the early Christians suffered. And I see a wonderful blessing in all the beauty in this world God has given us for a home, this beautiful garden we live in. Do we really need color in order to live and see things? Does food need to taste good to nourish our bodies? Do birds have to sing so sweetly just to attract a mate? No, no, and no. These are just a few examples of the beauty all around us, the beauty provided by God's hand, the beauty given to us simply for our enjoyment, the beauty that makes our lives a little easier to live and gives us more meaning. We can turn to our New Testament scripture reading for even more blessings.

When Matthew opens his fifth chapter, Jesus has begun His ministry. Filled with the Holy Spirit at His baptism by His cousin John and having resisted the temptations of Satan, He travels the countryside teaching the people and healing their ills. Crowds follow Him everywhere, forming ahead in hopes of His passing, reaching out for His touch. On this occasion, seeing the crowd awaiting Him, Jesus retreats “up into the hills” and His disciples follow Him. From here He delivers the Sermon on the Mount, recorded only by Matthew. We should look at this as a teaching tool, not a proclamation. In the first section, Christ talks about the citizens of heaven. We call this section The Beatitudes, and it describes the character and the blessings of the citizens of heaven.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Would we consider being poor, whether financially or spiritually, to be a blessing? Jesus does. For when we are poor, in any manner, then we have no other resource to turn to for help but to God. When we turn to Him for our help, then we will receive His blessings. Maybe not in this life, but definitely in the next, when we enter heaven. This is very much like what Paul wrote when talking about his “thorn in the flesh”. He suffered an affliction and asked God to remove it from him. But then he realized when he was weakest, God was strongest. When we have nothing left, nowhere else to turn, God will always be there for us. When we place our dependence on God, He will not let us down.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” When we think of mourning, our thoughts turn to those grieving over the loss of loved ones. In our earlier prayer, we asked for comfort for those suffering that loss today. But we can also mourn the seeming loss of justice in this world ruled over by the Evil One. In Revelation John tells us those who died for the Word of God and their testimony, the martyrs, cry out for judgment and justice. For now, we can expect to be blessed by God's comfort in our losses. When heaven comes to earth, the martyrs will be avenged.

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” It is a bit of a misconception in our society when we equate meekness with cowardice and weakness. To be meek really means to be humble and respectful. These are the people who don't try to have their own way in all situations, who tend to care more about others than about themselves, who are not pushy or flashy or pretentious. Indeed, to be meek pretty much requires also being courageous and strong, because you may have to stand against injustice alone, you may be assailed from all sides, you may suffer at the hands of those who consider God their enemy. But know that God is watching and taking note, and your reward will be great.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled.” Again, it may seem odd to consider hunger and thirst to be blessings. But in this case, just as if our hunger and thirst were for food and water, our needs can drive us to greater lengths to secure what we seek. If we are hungry enough for the Word of God, thirsty enough for the Water of Life, then we will surely be blessed as we seek fulfillment in our Lord and Savior.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.” Finally, we find a blessing that makes sense. If we show mercy to others, God will show mercy to us. And believe me, being born into sin and living sinful lives, we will need this blessing of mercy. In fact, it is by God's grace alone that we are worthy to enter heaven.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Is this even possible? Can a human, a fallible, sinful mortal human being ever attain pureness of heart? No, not on our own. But that is where the blessing comes in. God loves us so much, He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall have everlasting life. By the blood Jesus shed on the cross we are washed clean, our hearts made pure, and by His side we will be allowed to see God. This is the greatest blessing of all.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” Like meekness, don't mistake making peace to be synonymous with not waging war. Sometimes making and keeping the peace requires first waging war. But it does mean not making unnecessary or unjust war. Seeking personal gain by force is an example of unnecessary war. Keeping that from happening, making peace between the combatants in a case like this, would be a peacemaker. Peacemakers are those who have no selfish ambitions, no hidden agendas. How great and humbling a blessing to be called a son of God, a brother of Jesus.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Being righteous describes being morally upright, and can be defined by living a life dedicated to God. Notice that being sinless is not a requirement. We are all sinners, we cannot help but sin. But given that we confess our sin, repent, seek forgiveness, and strive to not repeat that sin, we can live our lives in such a way as to serve as an example to others, by dedicating ourselves to God. Our blessing, our kingdom, will be in heaven.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.” Now, really... Does this sound like a blessing to you? To be insulted, to be lied about, to suffer persecution are not occurrences we would associate as being good and desirable. In fact, we'd rather avoid such if at all possible. But the last three words give all the rest meaning: “Because of Me”. If because of how we live, if because of the example we set, if because of our testimony or our words we show others what it means to be a Christian and the great hope and promise that our Savior holds for us, if because of this we suffer the injustices listed here, then indeed we will be blessed by God in heaven. The last line in our reading confirms this. “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Christ is putting us in the same league as the saints and martyrs when we suffer for Him. And promises us just as great a reward.

So even though we might not consider all of the Beatitudes to describe blessings at first glance, we can see that Jesus will bless us with rewards greater than any physical wealth the world can offer. But each of these blessings comes with a certain cost. Living a life dedicated to Jesus may not be easy or popular. It may not even pay the bills. And there is another price that is implied here and demonstrated elsewhere in our wonderful Bible.

In our Old Testament reading, the wise King Solomon said that “Blessings crown the head of the righteous” and that “The memory of the righteous will be a blessing”. (Proverbs 10:6a and 7a (NIV)) One way to interpret this is that a righteous person lives their life in such a way as to serve as an example to others, to be remembered by others as good and upright, and to make others want to live the same type of life. In other words, just thinking about a righteous person can make us want to be better ourselves. And that is a blessing, both to the righteous person and to us as well.

Paul took his role assigned by Christ very seriously. He suffered possibly more than any other Apostle for his service to the Lord. He endured shipwrecks, beatings, imprisonments, illnesses, and finally execution. Yet all the while he rejoiced in being able to do the Lord's bidding. He considered it a blessing to be able to share the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ, with others. In hist first letter to the Corinthians, chapter nine verses 19 through 24, and here I am reading from The Message, Paul proclaims, “Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized — whoever. I didn't take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ — but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Gospel. I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it! You've all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You're after one that's gold eternally.”

Paul relates that he makes himself to be like a person so he can win that person to Christ, but without becoming as that person is. In a like manner, we do not have to become convicted criminals to be able to go into prison and witness to convicted criminals to bring them to Christ. Paul lives and works within the world, without becoming of the world. He never loses sight of God or of living his life dedicated to God. But just in case you missed it, look again at two sentences near the end. “I did all this because of the Gospel. I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!” He did all this, and suffered all he suffered, because he wanted to share in the blessings the Gospel made evident, the blessings Jesus promises.

John opens his book of Revelation in chapter one verses one through three by teaching us that, “This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him, to show His servants what must soon happen. And Jesus sent His angel to show it to His servant John, who has told everything he has seen. It is the word of God; it is the message from Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads the words of God's message, and blessed are the people who hear this message and do what is written in it. The time is near when all of this will happen.” (New Century Version) More blessings, but they require action on our part. We are blessed if we read the message, but for others to hear the words and be blessed themselves, someone else must repeat the message to them. The message is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The blessing is salvation and eternal life. The messenger is us.

As I said earlier, our greatest blessing is the sacrifice God and Jesus made for us, and the grace of God that gave this blessing to an unworthy world. An unsharpened pencil can describe life without God: it has no point. But when you sharpen that pencil, it can be used for a purpose. God has blessed us, now we need to put that blessing to good use. If we receive a blessing, how can we make use of it but to share it with others? In that regard, winning the lottery could indeed be a blessing from God, if we use the winnings to help others in need. When we receive a blessing, we should use it to bless others.

You have been greatly blessed. You will receive even greater blessings in heaven. Now go from here and be a blessing to others.

Amen.

Every Day Is Father's Day!

2010-06-20T22:28:00.007-04:00

[The following was delivered at Ridgecrest Presbyterian Church, Locust, NC, on Sunday, June 20, 2010.]

Old Testament reading:

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied.

Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you."

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together.

When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied.

"Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."

-- Genesis 22:1-12 (New International Version)

New Testament reading:

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.

--Romans 8:1-4, 12-19 (New Living Translation)

Message scripture:

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.”

“No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”

Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do.

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!

“If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans — I will come to you. Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”

-- John 14:1-21 (New Living Translation)

We all remember the story of Abraham. Originally named Abram, he and his wife Sarai lived out their lives with his extended family, having no children of their own. God speaks to Abram one day, telling him to pack up Sarai and his belonging and go to a place He'll tell them about later. Abram says “Sure thing, Lord.” and they head out for Canaan, accompanied by a nephew by the name of Lot and his wife, who later will become a real pillar of the community. No arguments, no questions, no recorded concerns, this couple in their mid-seventies simply did what God told them. Maybe the promise of a son, and an entire nation for that matter, helped persuade this childless couple. Along the way, God gives them new names and the promised son, Isaac. By that time, Abraham and Sarah had passed the century mark. Could you even imagine being a new parent at a hundred years of age? While Isaac was still a boy, God ordered Abraham to take the lad and sacrifice him as a burnt offering. Again, with no protestations recorded in Genesis, Abraham started out to do as he was told. Just as he raised the knife to take the life of his son, the son he had waited a hundred years for, the angel of the Lord stopped him. “Do not lay a hand on the boy. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

So was Abraham a good father? That he loved Isaac is evident in the Bible. But he was so readily willing to kill his son, seemingly without any questions or protest. How many of us fathers, if we heard a voice say, “Kill your son.”, would reply, “OK”, and go about the business of doing just that, no questions asked? The answer is that Abraham loved God even more than his own son. Just as promised, God rewarded Abraham's love and loyalty, making him the father of his nation, the father of an entire people, for that matter. We call George Washington the father of our nation, but Abraham was the father of a race and a religion.

And that nephew Lot mentioned earlier was also a father, of two daughters whom he obviously loved. Yet he offered these two virgin girls to an unruly mob that demanded to have sex with two visiting angels of the Lord. Lot loved his daughters, but he loved God more and wanted to protect His messengers in any way possible. Was Lot a good father?

Being a father is a tough job, one filled with many dangers and bearing tremendous responsibility. A father is supposed to be a provider, a protector, a leader, a guide, a teacher, a role model, and the Biblical foundation for the family, among other things. But a father must not be prideful or pretentious. His leadership must be one of sacrifice, not of force. He must know when to be gentle and when to be firm. He must be able to deal with small, developing children without being condescending. And like mothers, he must be able to figure all this out on his own because there are no instruction manuals.

The Old Testament relates many stories of men whose paternal skills leave a bit to be desired. Isaac fathered twins and let one fool him into giving his blessing and birthright to the younger rather than the older. That wily son, Jacob, fathered twelve sons of his own. He favored one over the others so much that they turned on the one and sold him into slavery, breaking old Jacob's heart. And a couple of mighty King David's sons tried to take the throne a little early, one by force and the other by trickery.

Fathers fare a little better in the New Testament, where they are often shown trying to get help for their children, taking them to Christ for healing. The little we know about Jesus' own earthly father, Joseph, indicates he was a good father, teaching Jesus the law and the scripture as well as a trade. What we do know about Joseph is that he was an exemplary husband, a very good man. His initial reaction to Mary's declaration of being with child not from a man but from the Holy Spirit was fairly typical: skepticism. But he loved God and relented when an angel came to him and explained the truth of the situation. And he indeed served well as Jesus' surrogate father.

We can all relate to these Biblical fathers, because we have all seen or heard of similar examples in our experiences. We know of great fathers and those that are downright terrible. Some perhaps dote too much over their offspring, others walked out of their child's life at a very early age and never looked back. Sadly, too many children don't even know who their father might be. In his letter to the church in Rome, Paul assures us that whether our earthly father has been present and active in our life or completely absent, we all have a Father in heaven who has willingly adopted us and calls us His children.

In Romans chapter 8 verses 1 through 4, Paul tells us that the law handed down through Moses could not save us from our own sinful nature, so God did what the law could not do. He sent His Son to save us. The Apostle John, in his chapter 3 verse 17, tells us that God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that through Him the world might be saved. He accomplished this by sending Jesus not as an invincible warrior, not as God Himself in all His radiant glory, but as a man, in the fragile, destructible body of a man, a body just like the one that you and I wear. In this way Jesus was one of us. I can only imagine He knew all about growing pains, indigestion, insomnia, even heartbreak. God did this so that His law could still be fulfilled for us, if not by us.

Paul continues in verses 12 through 19 with a truly wonderful message, that of our adoption by God. He assures us that the sacrifice God and Jesus made on our behalf can free us from our sinful nature. We no longer have to give in to the urgings of Satan, we can resist them. For when Christ returned to the Father, He sent down the Holy Spirit to live within us and guide us just as Jesus did while He walked this earth. Paul further says that if we follow the lead of the Holy Spirit, then we are the children of God; the adoption is complete. Now we can call God “Abba, Father”. “Abba” is the familiar form of “father” in the Aramaic language of that day. It is like our endearments Daddy, Pop, Poppa, Dad. I personally have a little trouble calling the Lord of All Creation, the Maker of the universe and everything in it, Daddy, but that is what He wants. Why? He loves us, and wants us to love Him in return. He wants us to be comfortable with Him, to truly understand and realize that He cares for us as His own.

Now if God is our Father, what is Jesus but our Brother! As the Son of God, Jesus followed His role model's example. In John, chapter 5, verses 19b through 20a, our Savior says, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does.” Of course, Jesus took that a little further. Our Brother was beaten and suffered for us. Our Brother died and defeated death for us. Our Brother bodily rose from the grave for us. Our Brother took all our sins upon Himself and washed us clean with His blood so that we might be able to stand beside Him as together we face our Father on our day of judgment.

While it is sadly true that not all fathers care what fate may befall their children, most of us, even if we aren't perfect Dads, only want what is best for our offspring and will make any sacrifice trying to ensure their lives are better than ours. Jesus knew this sentiment even if He never experienced it personally. As we said, by all indications, Joseph was a good father to the young Jesus and probably did everything he could to ensure the lad's success in life. How tough a job would that be, trying to prepare God for the future? Jesus shows us He understands when in Matthew chapter 7 verse 11 He tells us, “Even though you are bad [sinful], you know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more your heavenly Father will give good things to those who ask him!”. So if you think you're a great Dad, just wait until you see what our heavenly Father has in store for us.

A good father will try to give his child what he is asked for, within reason, Jesus tells us our heavenly Father will do just that also. But a really great father will anticipate and plan for his child's needs. He will start a savings fund or a college fund when the child is still a baby. He'll get presents ahead of time for birthdays and Christmas. He will even get the family auto insurance upgraded before the kid gets a drivers license. He'll surprise his child with little things, pleasing things. God is a really great Father. We know if for no other reason than that Jesus tells us so. When He teaches us how to pray to God, He begins by telling us why we should pray. It isn't for the obvious reason, so that God will know what we need. In Matthew chapter 6 verse 8b, Jesus assures us that “Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” No, like any other father, God just wants us to talk to Him, to build a relationship with Him, to spend time with Him, to get to know and understand Him better. God doesn't need us to tell Him anything; He already knows. The need to pray to God isn't His, it is ours. We need to talk to Him, to share our daily lives with Him, to grow in our love for Him. And unlike many earthly fathers, our heavenly Father is never too busy to stop and listen to our problems, our cares, our concerns. We wants nothing more than to hear about our triumphs and our defeats, our gains and our losses, our loves and our heartbreaks.

As for the great things our Father has in store for us, John offers a little insight in his first letter, chapter 3, verses 1 and 2: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” How wonderful to see God as He really is! Even His servant Moses had to hide in the cleft of the rock as He passed. As His children, He will reveal Himself to us in all His glory. Jesus adds to this as related by John in chapter 14 verse 21 of his Gospel: “The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who really loves Me; and whoever really loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love him and will reveal Myself to him. I will let myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to him.” Now this isn't so much a matter of seeing what God and Jesus physically look like, although that in itself would be truly awesome. No, it is more about seeing the inner being of God and His Son, their essence, their thought processes, their reasons for doing what they do. It is all about fully knowing our triune God.

“Don't let your hearts be troubled.”, Jesus comforts us in John 14. “Trust in God, and trust also in Me.” There is more than enough room in our Father's house, in His heart, for all of us, and when all is ready Jesus will come and take us home. We may often note how a child looks or acts just like their father. Jesus remarked on this also. By knowing the Son, we know the Father. And by loving Jesus, we find our way to our Father. There is no other way to our heavenly home than through Him. Christ goes on to say something remarkable: “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” (vs. 10 and 11) In this He says that He is not just following some example His Father set, but that He is actually following the instructions of His Father that is within Him. Now we know that we are children of God and a brother of Jesus, and we know that we have the Holy Spirit within us. So just like Jesus, we have the Father in us and we are in the Father! Praise the Lord, God is within each of us! Anything we ask in His name, He will do it so that the Son can bring Glory to the Father. But this gives us a certain responsibility as well. “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in Me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.” (vs 12) This isn't to imply that Jesus expects more of us than He was able to perform, but that He will do great works through us if we love Him, backed by the extra strength and power of God our Father.

Jesus ends his message to us in John 14 by assuring us He will return to take us home. Unlike earthly fathers may do, our heavenly Father will not abandon us or leave us orphaned. Then He promises His love. “Those who accept My commandments and obey them are the ones who love Me. And because they love Me, My Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal Myself to each of them.”

Every child needs love. Studies have proven how development is delayed and a child may well become emotionally disturbed when they are not given love. Every child longs for the love of their father. Good fathers love their children without reservation, under any and all circumstances, regardless of what the child does or turns out to be. Unconditional love is a mark of a good father. Our heavenly Father is a great father. He loves us even when we ignore him, turn against Him, sin against Him. All He asks is that we love Him, and our brother Jesus, in return. What greater reward than to be loved by God.

There is a church choir tenor I know who, without fail every Mother's Day, when the preacher would proclaim Happy Mother's Day, would remark rather sarcastically, “Every day is Mother's Day”, referring to the special treatment he seemed to think women, and mothers especially, afforded themselves. After many years of this, one Father's Day he took his seat only to see a small hand-lettered sign taped to the back of the chair in front of him that read, “Every Day Is Father's Day!”. When the preacher welcomed us with a hearty Happy Father's Day, the three sopranos in front of my tenor friend turned, smiled sweetly, and intoned in perfect unison “Every day is Father's Day”.

Those words came to me as I considered what message to deliver today, when I wondered what God might want you to hear. “Every day is Father's Day” echoed in my head as clearly as if those lovely ladies were singing it in front of me. When we love our Lord and Savior, when we remember God is our Father and Jesus our Brother, when we hold Their commandments in our hearts and love Them with all that is within us and love our earthly brothers and sisters as much as we love ourselves, then every day is indeed Father's Day. Happy Father's Day, Lord! Happy Father's Day!

Amen.

Who Loves Ya, Baby?

2010-05-16T17:39:00.004-04:00

[The following was delivered at Christ Community Church, Monroe, NC, on Sunday, May 16, 2010.]

Old Testament reading:

O nations of the world, recognize the Lord, recognize that the Lord is glorious and strong. Give to the Lord the glory He deserves! Bring your offering and come into His presence. Worship the Lord in all His holy splendor. Let all the earth tremble before Him. The world stands firm and cannot be shaken.

Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice! Tell all the nations, “The Lord reigns!” Let the sea and everything in it shout His praise! Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy! Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise, for the Lord is coming to judge the earth.

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever.

-- 1 Chronicles 16:28-34 (New Living Translation)

New Testament reading:

Since we have been made right with God by our faith, we have peace with God. This happened through our Lord Jesus Christ, who through our faith has brought us into that
blessing of God's grace that we now enjoy. And we are happy because of the hope we have of sharing God's glory. We also have joy with our troubles, because we know that these troubles produce patience. And patience produces character, and character produces hope. And this hope will never disappoint us, because God has poured out His love to fill our hearts. He gave us His love through the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to us.

When we were unable to help ourselves, at the right time, Christ died for us, although we were living against God. Very few people will die to save the life of someone else. Although perhaps for a good person someone might possibly die. But God shows His great love for us in this way: Christ died for us while we were still sinners. So through Christ we will surely be saved from God's anger, because we have been made right with God by the blood of Christ's death.

While we were God's enemies, He made us His friends through the death of His Son. Surely, now that we are His friends, He will save us through His Son's life. And not only that, but now we are also very happy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we are now God's friends again.

-- Romans 5:1-11 (New Century Version)

Message scripture:

This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

1 John 4:9-11 (New International Version)

In the mid-70s, Telly Savalas starred in the title role in the television crime drama “Kojak”. One of TV's first characters with a completely shaven head, Lt. Theo Kojak had a fondness for lollipops and at least once a show uttered his trademark line, “Who loves ya, baby?”, usually asked of one of his subordinates after solving a case, making an arrest, or doing some other type of favor, and always with the implied answer that Kojak loves you. Someone truly does love us, and it isn't a television character.

Who loves us? God loves us, every one of us. How do we know? Just as it says in the children's hymn: Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. The scripture I just read assures us of God's great love for us, His ever faithful love, His enduring love. One translation of Romans has Paul explaining the depth of this love when he notes that Jesus came to us while we were God's enemies to make us God's friends again. Did we become friends of God because of something we did, something we said, maybe our good deeds and acts of kindness to others? No! John reminds us it isn't that we love God that really matters. It's that God loves us! That is what makes all the difference. God loves us, and He loves us so much He sent His one and only Son so that we might live through Him.

Arguably, the best known and most often recited verse in the Christian Bible is John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” This is what John is referring to in his first letter, this is how God showed His love among us. But how many are familiar with the next verse, John 3:17? This is one of my favorites. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

When talk of a Messiah started spreading out before Jesus as He traveled, preached, taught, healed, performed miracles, the people looked to the prophesies of old and interpreted them to mean a mighty conqueror would come, someone to deliver them from cruel tyranny. Some have conjectured that Judas turned Jesus in to the authorities to get Him to act, to become that great deliverer, the warrior king they anticipated. At any time during His ordeal, Jesus could have called down an overpowering army from heaven, God could have intervened and crushed Rome and all who opposed our Lord. But God did not send a warrior to condemn and conquer the world, He sent a Lamb to love and save the world.

I sometimes worry that we tend to focus too much on punishment, on what happens if we are sinful. Do we usually react to bad behavior with a threat of retribution? Isn't it rather common to hear a parent say, “You just wait until your father gets home!”, or “When I get you home you will regret making a scene in public.”? Sometimes those words come from our own mouths, in one form or another, for one reason or another. It starts when we're young and continues throughout our lives. We don't act up in class so we don't have to sit at our desk during recess. We don't sass our parents to keep from getting grounded. We don't speed so we avoid getting a ticket and having our insurance rates skyrocket. And in his Book of Revelation, John tells us how those who turn their backs on Jesus are punished. We are cautioned about that a lot, aren't we? We are warned to do good and keep God's commandments and obey Christ so we don't end up in that lake of fire for all eternity. The threat of ultimate punishment even comes from the pulpit at times. And that is all well, for sometimes we need those little reminders.

But is that really what God has in mind? I truly feel the main theme running throughout the New Testament is inescapable and is that God loves us! He doesn't want to punish us. He didn't send Jesus to condemn us to eternal damnation. He sent Jesus to save us from just that harsh fate. John 3:16 and 17 say just that, in no uncertain terms. It would take all day to talk about all the verses that reference God's love in the Bible, but let me provide just a few.

From the New International Version, more from John's first letter, chapter three, verses one and two: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” Think about that for a moment, about how great an honor it is to be called a child of the Almighty God. Isn't that a sign of His love, that He would call us His children, and want us to call Him by the familiar endearment “Daddy” (Abba)?

From the New King James Version of Romans 8:28, Paul encourages us with this truth: “And we know that all things work together for the good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” That ties it all together. God loves us and will shower us with His grace and goodness when we love Him in return. No matter how bad a situation seems, God will make something good come out of it for us.

John gives a little more definition to this, in chapter 14, verse 21, this time reading the words of our Christ as rendered in the Amplified Bible: “The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who really loves Me; and whoever really loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love him and will reveal Myself to him. I will let Myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to him.” Is Christ real to you?

And what are Christ's commands? A Pharisee once asked Jesus what is the greatest commandment, an exchange recorded in Matthew chapter 22, verses 34 through 40. Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39 NIV)

What does it mean, this word “love”? Paul gives us a solid guide in scripture often read during wedding ceremonies: 1 Corinthians 13, particularly in verses four through eight. “Love is patient.” Is God patient with us? Certainly! He could have crushed us effortlessly when we persecuted His Son. He could destroy all of humanity more easily than we can squish an ant. His patience is evident throughout the Bible, both for nations of people and for individuals. He gives us chance after chance to do what is right, even when we deserve no chances.

“Love is kind.” Think of the many miracles Jesus performed, all the people He healed and helped. All these represent acts of great kindness. Even as He hung upon the cross, gasping for breath, He extended a loving kindness to a convicted criminal by reassuring him that salvation was his.

“Love does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” What could we possibly have that God, the Creator of all things, could envy us for? What could He want that He could not simply wish into existence? But the point is that God, in the person of Jesus Christ, did not do this. He came as a humble servant, seeing to the needs of others, washing the feet of those who strove to follow Him.

“It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered.” We know from the Bible, and personal experience, that anger is to be expected as a human emotion. For example, Job grew angry at God but God did not hold that against him. He patiently explained that Job was not capable of understanding the reasons for all God did. Even Jesus once showed anger, when He chased the merchants and money changers from the temple, to chastise them for making it a den of thieves. He was not rude, He was direct. And He was not self-seeking, He was doing the work of His Father. So yes, anger can be expected and even understood to a degree. But the point is that it took a great deal to anger Jesus, and He expects us to be patient and cautious, not to let our anger grow too fast or too strong that it overwhelms us and rules our minds. For unbridled anger can destroy lives.

“It keeps no record of wrongs.” This is surely God's love in practice. The Bible instructs us that when we sin, when we go against God's wishes and commands, if we realize what we did was truly bad, if we turn from that behavior and not continue along that path, if we hate that we did it, then we need only confess our sin to God and ask His forgiveness. He will not only forgive, He will forget that it ever happened! One definition of “forget” is to purposely ignore. When we repent and humbly seek God's forgiveness, He will forgive us for acting against Him and deliberately ignore that we did so. He loves us that much.

“Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.” God goes to great lengths to give us the truth, to make sure we have the truth in our hands to use as defense against evil. His word in our Holy Bible is the truth. His Son is the truth in the flesh. God hates evil, and despairs when His children fall to evil ways. But He and all heaven rejoice when we turn back to Him and reject the evil one.

“It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” Jesus called Himself the Good Shepherd in John chapter 10. A shepherd protects his flock, guards it from danger, goes to great lengths to find a sheep when it strays. And a shepherd is on duty as long as he is with his flock. Jesus is with us always, as He promised. The Holy Spirit is with us always, inside us. God is with us always, for He is everywhere and exists forever, even before time itself began and after time ends.

“Love never fails.” And this is the ultimate sign of God's love, that it never fails us. His love endures forever. His faithfulness to us knows no boundary. He offers us the greatest love and the most wonderful rewards if we only believe in Him and love Him in return, following the path and the example of His beloved Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Jesus told us, in John chapter 13 verses 34 and 35: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (New American Standard Bible) By loving one another, by obeying this command, we glorify Jesus and our heavenly Father and give others a reason to look into this Christianity thing to see what it is all about. We can be like God in this one way, by loving one another as He loves us.

One more quality we can give to love is that love hurts. Who hasn't had their heart broken by someone they loved? Who hasn't been hurt or felt betrayed when their love wasn't returned? How horribly Jesus must have hurt, in His heart, when the very people He came to save shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” His heart must have broken when they chose to free Barabbas rather than Him, even though He knew that exact sequence of events must transpire. Yes, love can hurt.

And finally, love means sacrifice. When we truly love someone, we are willing to give anything and everything for them, even our lives. God made this sacrifice for us, giving us His only Son that we might be saved by His love. Jesus made this sacrifice for us, taking a beating for our sins, dying a horrible death in our place, defeating death so that we would have the chance to live forever.

Jesus said, “My command is this: Love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command.” (John 15:12-14 NIV) Jesus did that for us. He laid down His life for us. Why? Because He loves us and considers us His friends.

No matter what happens in our lives, no matter what we may have done in the past, we can awaken every morning and go to bed every night knowing that we are loved, truly loved. Who loves ya, baby? God loves you.

Amen.

In the words of John from Revelation 1:5c-6 (NKJV): “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

Fear!

2010-02-04T09:42:00.001-05:00

[The following formed the basis of the sermon delivered at Christ Community Church, Monroe, NC, on Sunday, January 24, 2010.]

Psalm 23 (King James Version)
1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Psalm 56 (New International Version)
1 Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me; all day long they press their attack.
2 My slanderers pursue me all day long; many are attacking me in their pride.
3 When I am afraid, I will trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?
5 All day long they twist my words; they are always plotting to harm me.
6 They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps, eager to take my life.
7 On no account let them escape; in your anger, O God, bring down the nations.
8 Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll — are they not in your record?
9 Then my enemies will turn back when I call for help. By this I will know that God is for me.
10 In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise-
11 in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
12 I am under vows to you, O God; I will present my thank offerings to you.
13 For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

Ephesians 6:10-18 (New International Version)
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Fear! Who doesn't face fear at some point? Many people live in fear almost constantly. My father, the last few years of his life on earth, worried constantly about the least little thing. Worry is a form of fear, a fear that eats away at you from the inside and shows itself physically in sleepless nights, shaking hands, tear filled eyes. Even the Bible seems preoccupied with fear, its authors using that word, along with others like terror, panic, and being afraid, enough times to almost make us ... well, afraid. But there are even more times when the simple words “no” or “not” are included. Phrases like “Be not afraid”, “Fear not” and “Have no fear” abound in wonderfully encouraging frequency.

Why can we take comfort and assurance in those words? The prophet Elisha may have put it best. When faced with a vast army of men, horses, and chariots, Elisha remarked, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” -- 2 Kings 6:16 (NKJV) And who is always with us? Who is always on our side? God, of course. And God is definitely more than any number that could be arrayed against us. How do we know this? The Apostle Paul told us so, in his letter to the church in Rome, chapter 8, verse 31: “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31b KJV)

Music has always played (pun fully intended) a huge role in my life. So I can personally take solace and delight that many songs address this issue of fear, and how to handle it. Are you familiar with the hymn "Spirit of the Living God"? The third verse goes like this:

Holy presence, love divine, cast out my fear.
Holy presence, love divine, cast out my fear.
Shield me, free me, call me, lead me.
Holy presence, love divine, cast out my fear.

And how about the contemporary Christian song by the Newsboys, with the chorus:

God is watching over you, as always;
You are loved whatever you go though;
He's right beside you.

Even some of our more contemporary leaders have addressed being afraid, although usually taking a more secular approach. In 1933, during the depths of our country's depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted to reassure a worried, fearful nation. In his first inaugural address, he spoke the words that now most are so familiar with: “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”.

Have you enjoyed all the college football bowl games, and the pros in their play-offs? Are you really looking forward to the Super Bowl? How many of you play or have played football? Football is a great sport. I know it's probably a “guy thing”, but where else can you go and beat up on someone for a couple hours, and not end up in jail? It doesn't matter that you are on one team facing another team, when it gets right down to crunch time, it is just you going up against one other person that is determined to stop you from what you are trying to do. Offense or defense, it is one man battling another. If you manage to get past the one, there will be another, usually, to take his place in the fight. If you are really good at what you do, seemingly unstoppable, they may throw two or three or more against you at a time. You get tired, bruised, maybe even bloodied, but still you keep pushing, you keep driving, you keep fighting. For in the end, if you are stronger and better than your opponent, you will win. But the second you begin to feel a little fear of your adversary, he has you where he wants you and you are defeated, you've lost.

Isn't that a great analogy of our mortal life? We constantly battle a horrific foe, a terrible opponent, one who is every bit as determined to stop us as we are to escape his clutches. Satan is our adversary and his minions form the team against us. Our family and close friends, our brothers and sisters in the church, all form our team, and a formidable team it is. But no matter how many we may have standing with us, Satan just always seems to have more coming against us. Still we keep driving, we keep fighting. But we MUST NOT show fear. And we should not fear, for we have a secret weapon on our side, we have a player Satan himself once tried to recruit but failed. We have Jesus Christ, the Son of God, against Whom no one and no thing can stand! We have the best coach imaginable, the Holy Spirit within us. And our owner is none other than God Himself. This, my friends, is an unbeatable team! There is absolutely no reason to fear Satan and his followers because they can never defeat us as long as we play on the same team as our star player Jesus, as long as we listen to our Coach, as long as we heed the words of our Owner. “Fear not, for I am with you!” (Genesis 26:24c ESV)

Some pastors try to motivate us by instilling “the fear of the Lord” in us, by preaching about all the pain and suffering we will receive if we are doomed to hell because we are such horrible sinners or don't believe in Christ. But that isn't really what Jesus told us, is it? Didn't He talk about love all the time? When asked by a Pharisee what is the greatest commandment, our Savior replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40 NIV) So you see, God doesn't necessarily want you to fear Him, He wants you to love Him. He wants you to love Him so much that you want to be with Him, and He with you, forever and ever, through all eternity. This is heaven: to be embraced within the love of God for eternity. So hell must be the opposite: the complete and utter absence of God's love forever.

John, the beloved of Christ, writes in his first letter: “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:16-19 NIV)

Why fear, when you are loved? Why fear, when you can love? In 2 Timothy 1:7, Paul assures us, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (NKJV) And we are reminded by God Himself in Joshua 1:9, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Other scripture that deal with fear and the strength and love of God abound.

From Proverbs, the instructions manual for humans: “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” -- Proverbs 29:25 (NIV)

In the 34th Psalm, verses 19 and 22 (NIV), David assures us: “19 A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all. 22 The Lord redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.” -- Psalm 34:19, 22 (NIV)

Peter, the strong, fiery fisherman, exhorts us: “6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.” -- 1 Peter 5:6-11 (NIV)

Amen.

Of Mercy and Gratitude

2010-01-25T08:53:00.003-05:00

[The following was submitted to the Ordination Board as a sample sermon.]

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do his work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve him, even though I used to blaspheme the name of Christ. In my insolence, I persecuted his people. But God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief. Oh, how generous and gracious our Lord was! He filled me with the faith and love that come from Christ Jesus.

This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. All honor and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God. Amen.

-- 1 Timothy 1:12-17 (NLT)

I find it so easy to relate to Paul, to see my life through his, perhaps because he laid his life completely open for us to read and inspect. He hid nothing from our eyes, exposing all his faults, bringing the skeletons in his closet into plain view in the living room. In his many letters, he listed his weaknesses, his doubts, his failings, his mistakes. And most importantly for all who call themselves Christian, Paul admitted his sins to all the generations to follow who would casually glance through his letters or pore over his words. How many of us would dare to note our transgressions in writing for anyone and everyone to see? Who among us would readily confess to blaspheming the name of our Christ, to persecuting His followers, sending them to prison and even to their deaths? Paul was a courageous man, a man of immeasurable strength of character, a man without fear. Yet you would never know it from his own admissions.

In his Book of the Acts of the Apostles, Luke describes Saul as a young Pharisee, one who watched over the cloaks of those who stoned Stephen. He tells how Saul showed great dedication and zeal while carrying out the plan of stopping this new Way dead in its tracks. Luke puts it quite succinctly: “But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.” (Acts 8:3 NIV) Saul was intent on destroying the Church, with a capital “C”. Not some building somewhere, not one isolated congregation off in the Gentile lands. No, Saul would have liked nothing better than to have been solely responsible for bringing down the Body of Christ left on earth, and trampling it into the dust of history.

But then an amazing thing happened. As Saul headed to Damascus with the goal of taking more Christians prisoner, Jesus came to Him in a blinding flash of light, asking “Why do you persecute Me?” (Acts 9:4b NIV) The next few days proved pivotal for Saul, as he came to know Jesus as the true and trustworthy risen Savior through Christ's words and actions, working through Saul and through others to effect the conversion. Paul emerged from the shattered and broken form of Saul. You might say that Paul was the resurrection of Saul, for through Christ he was reborn, his spiritual life revived from the dead of spirit, his once cold heart softened and revitalized, his closed mind opened to a new truth.

Like many of us today, Paul found it somewhat difficult to accept this beautiful gift of grace. God, in the person of the risen Jesus, could just as easily have struck Saul dead right where he stood on that dirt road to Damascus. The Lord could have ended a major source of persecution with one blow, even making an example of him to his companions. After all, they heard the voice of Jesus even though they could see no one and likely did not really understand the words, like a conversation barely audible from another room. But instead of striking him dead on the spot, Jesus had other plans for Paul, better plans.

Why did God spare him? Haven't we asked ourselves that question at one time or another, maybe in a slightly different form? I certainly have. I can think of at least three definite instances that I should not have survived. One in particular came behind the wheel of an out-of-control truck careening down the highway aimed directly at a flooded section covering about a half-mile over a stream. Each attempt I made to gain control, the rain-slick roadway thwarted. Finally, feeling the weight of my rig shifting to one side and knowing it was about to flip, I gave up. I lifted my hands from the steering wheel, raised them before me, and said “OK, God, it's all yours. There's nothing else I can do.” Since I am still standing you can pretty much assume that I lived through this little event. But you cannot guess what happened next. Did the truck flip and roll down the highway? Did the fuel spill and ignite? Were others injured due to my driving too fast under inclement conditions? Nope. None of the above. As soon as the words left my mouth, the truck righted itself. It stopped sliding and immediately straightened out on the road, slowing to a stop in the middle of the blacktop within yards of where the flooding began. No one was hurt, nothing was damaged. I gave my physical well-being to God and in that instant He spared me. Why?

I wish I could say that I dedicated my life to Jesus that day. Sadly, it just left me with more questions. Paul, though, faced no such indecision. Once he saw the light, figuratively and literally, he fully gave himself to the service of Christ and His Church. How I would like to have been a witness on the day when Paul first faced the Disciples to tell them of his conversion and commitment. Can you even imagine the tension that must have filled that assembly? The hunter of Christians now humbly standing before his prey. But with God's help, Paul convinced the leaders of the early Church of the honesty of his conversion and his commission to spread the Gospel to the Gentiles.

Paul was also a man of unshakable faith. That truth is easily found in his letters. His amazement at God's mercy and grace comes across vividly in his words, in the stirrings of his heart placed on paper. “How generous and gracious our Lord was!”, he exclaims. “God had mercy on me”, he speaks softly, eyes downturn with the thoughts of just how much he had done against this very God who would forgive him. “I am the worst (sinner) of them all”, he admits, with a tear in his eye. I can almost see him shaking in barely contained grief and self-recrimination. Then his heads lifts slowly, a look of surprise and awe growing over his face. “But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me.” Almost as if trying to convince himself that it indeed happened, Paul affirms twice in this short passage that God showed him mercy. Why?

The risen Christ came to Saul on that fateful day, blinded him, and showed him the truth. Once broken, Paul could serve the Lord, just as the two small loaves of bread, once broken, served the Lord in feeding over five thousand people. On that rainy day when God took control of my truck and saved my life, I was shaken, and grateful, but not quite convinced. At that time, I really did not know the extent of my ignorance, did not really understand how Jesus could be my personal savior. That came many years later, when one lonely night, trembling in a darkness of my own making, my life a shambles around me, the light struck me much as it did Paul that day long ago, filling my soul with its radiance, giving me sight rather than blinding me. There on my knees I gave my physical and spiritual life completely to Christ. And suddenly the room seemed to brighten. A tremendous weight lifted from my heart. A moment before, my life had been careening out of control down a slippery highway. I bowed my head and said, “OK, God. I'm all yours.” Immediately the Lord took control and pulled me safely to His side. So like Paul, I stand in awe of our gracious and merciful God who could forgive even the worst of sinners like me. Like Paul, I can affirm to how Christ saved me. Why?

I believe Paul would understand my love for a wonderful Christian hymn, one that so clearly describes how he and I feel when we consider what God has done for us:

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
'Twas blind, but now I see.

God in His mercy looked down and saw me in my wretched state, lost and wandering through life like a sheep without a shepherd. Blinded by the bright lights of the world of man, I could not see the truth of the Light of the Son of Man. Then, by His grace, God spared me. Why?

Paul answers this question I've asked so many times now. Why? “So that Christ Jesus could use me”. Paul believed without a shadow of a doubt that God saved him so that Christ could make use of him. While we know from reading of the many works of Paul in Luke's Book of Acts and can gather even more insight into his efforts for our Lord through his letters, he tells us clearly that the primary purpose he could serve for Jesus is as an “example of His great patience with even the worst sinners”. Like Paul. Like me. And what is the result of such an example? “Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in Him and receive eternal life.” How great is that! Isn't that the very best news we could ever spread? Even the worst sinners can believe in Jesus and receive eternal life! We are all sinners, all subject to the original sin and separation from God. Once we realize that God loves us enough to save even sinners like us, then we can show others by our very example that they too can be saved and receive the most wonderful gift of life eternal with our Savior.

Paul fully understood that serving our Lord would not be easy. In the opening verse of our message text he thanks Jesus for the strength he needs to do Christ's work. In this Paul assures us that Jesus knows just how difficult our assignments may be, so He gives us the endurance to persevere and complete our mission. When discussing the saga of Paul, the Book of Acts reads almost like an adventure novel. He faced the greatest adversities imaginable. Standing before the Disciples and elders for the very first time after his conversion might have left Paul nervous, sweating and shaking as he tried to explain how he could possibly now love and follow the very movement he had sought to destroy, but that may well have been the easiest challenge of his remaining years. He traveled all over the countryside on his missionary trips throughout Asia Minor. He was chased, scorned, beaten, shipwrecked, arrested, imprisoned, and executed. You can hear the exhaustion in his voice as he pens his later letters. Yet he seldom complained. He did note that he asked God three times to take away an affliction, his “thorn in the side”. But even that he considered a blessing, thanking God for allowing it. “Pray without ceasing”, Paul said. “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 NKJV) Yes, Paul needed an endless reservoir of strength to withstand all he faced for Christ's sake, to carry out the mission Jesus assigned him. And he never once forgot just where that strength came from, from what source he gained the courage to rise and face each new day: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)

For all of this, with everything he has been through and seen, Paul praises God for filling him with the faith and love that comes directly from our Savior. He even tells us the reason why, because Jesus considered him trustworthy and appointed him to serve our Lord. Jesus has also appointed each of us, whether we realize it or not, to serve our Lord in some role. At the very least, we all share the responsibility of representing Jesus by loving each other as He loves us. For some, as it did for Paul, Christ's desires and expectations of us go far beyond this starting point. God has given each of us special gifts, certain talents. We can ignore them, we can employ them to our own benefit, or we can use them to advance the Kingdom of God. As in all areas, the choice is ours; free will is at work. Some have the gift of authentically relating to others, giving them comfort and peace in times of turmoil. Some are given the voice of angels, able to lift praises to God with beautiful singing or playing of musical instruments. Some are endowed with a creative flair, able to turn words into great works of art. Some share a gift of communication and can lift the hearts of man with powerful speeches. Some are drawn to the pulpit, answering the call of God to use the gifts they have so graciously been given, combined with the strength from Jesus, all to serve Him.

Everyone is given a gift, not to hold and treasure but to share with the world so that through us others might see the Light of Christ Jesus. We are given the strength to carry that gift even in the face of adversity, even when those with whom we most need to share it oppose us. And even though we are sinners, we have been deemed trustworthy and appointed by Him who came to serve God's will, to fulfill His commission. Oh, how generous and gracious our God is! He fills us with the faith and love that comes from Jesus our Christ. All honor and glory to God, forever and ever. Amen.

Ordination

2009-12-08T14:24:00.003-05:00

Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it you.

-- John 15:15-16 (KJV)

On Sunday, December 6, 2009, I was ordained into the ministry of our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ at St. James Reformed Church in Mount Pleasant, NC. Presiding over the service was the Reverend John H. Bigelow, my sponsor and the Pastor of St. James. Delivering the message was the Reverend Dr. Steve Disher, Pastor of St. Paul's Reformed Church in Newton, NC, and Board member of the Evangelical Association of Reformed and Congregational Christian Churches. The following is a plain text version of the ordination paper I prepared and presented to the Ordination Board.

Ordination Paper Guidelines

The accompanying Ordination Paper should address the following points of discussion:

Introduction: A concise statement of your personal journey, Christian experience, and your call to the ministry. Explain why it is that you are pursuing ordination.

The World to which the Gospel Speaks: Your understanding of creation, nature, humanity, free will, sin and evil.

The Nature of the Gospel: What is the Good News? How do you understand the nature of revelation? How do you understand the authority of both the Old Testament and the New Testament?

How do you articulate the doctrines of the faith: God Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, Providence, covenant, judgment and suffering, grace and salvation, hope and eschatology?

The Movement of the Gospel into the World: What is the mission of the Church? What is your understanding of the Church in its local, denominational, and ecumenical expressions? How do you understand the Lord’s Supper and Baptism? What are the social implications of your own history and beliefs and the Church’s mission? What are your primary religious, moral, and ethical concerns? Be explicit about your beliefs concerning ministry with both individuals and structures.

ORDINATION PAPER

For

Richard R. Moore

Prepared for

St. James Reformed Church

In the Beginning

Perhaps uncharacteristic of those who pursue the calling to enter pastoral ministry, my early childhood was not marked by devout training in nor adherence to a religious life. While my family occasionally attended Sunday services, it never seemed all that important, and would easily become a second option if another activity presented itself. Baptized in the Christian faith, I believed in God and knew about Jesus and heaven and hell, but the finer points eluded my grasp. The lack of emphasis placed upon the Church kept me blissfully ignorant, allowing me to enjoy a carefree childhood, oblivious to the concept of a personal Savior.

I first stepped onto the road I now travel in my early teens. The Pastor of the church I attended took particular notice of me, apparently seeing something in me that spurred him to ask if I would at least consider pursuing my higher education at a Divinity School. The last thing I thought about at that stage of my life was college, but I agreed when he offered to drive me to visit Bob Jones University, at his own expense. To say I felt unmoved would be an understatement. Two years later I chose Bible Studies as an elective in high school. My instructor seemed to see something in me that prompted him to ask if I had ever considered a life in the ministry. Yeah, right, me a minister. I should add at this point that I was somewhat of a handful as a youth, constantly getting myself into some sort of mischief or another. I did not exactly consider myself “preacher material”. I smiled politely at my instructor, grinning on the inside at the absurdity of the question, and finished the course with a solid “A”. During my senior year, my English teacher gave me a funny look, seeing something in me that caused her to wistfully say, “There's just something about you...”, as she tried to ignite my interest in creative writing. Her persuasions fell on deaf ears, for I had no desire to extend my education past high school.

Do you see a pattern in this brief history? It repeated over the years of my young adulthood, in lessening frequency, with other men and women of God seeming to see something within me that I did not see when studying the image in the mirror. I married, started a family, and lost my wife to cancer. I remarried too hastily and divorced nearly as quickly. I remarried once more, gained additions to my family, adopted an adult son, slowly drifted apart, and divorced yet again. Middle age settled in. Though accomplished in my career as a computer engineer, my life lay in ruins at my feet.

Slowly I began to realize that the lessons I failed to learn in childhood now haunted my days and stained my life. I knew of God and the Ten Commandments. I had read the Bible from cover to cover. I knew of Jesus and the straight and narrow path. But I did not know God, I did not know Jesus. I understood then just how far I had strayed from that path Jesus laid for us to follow. The laws of Moses had become nothing more than loose guidelines in my adherence to them. I had replaced God with the wonders of the world, the pleasures of the flesh. My sins were uncountable. And this Godless life I led had cost me dearly.

With this realization came a clarity of purpose, a determination to rebuild my life, but this time with God's help and a greater focus on Him. I prayed and gave my life to Him. I returned to the Bible, now to learn more about this man called Jesus. One night, with God's hand directing me, I finally looked up and saw the truth. I understood and accepted Jesus as the Christ, my Lord and personal Savior, and knew for certain that I could no longer live without Him. That night, now thoroughly humbled, I gave myself completely to Christ, His servant, to do as He might will.

And soon an old familiar pattern reemerged. First one then another and another, good people began to comment about something they could almost see within me, asking about my role in Christ's Church. It began to dawn on me, thanks to my renewed reading of the Scripture, that these seemingly random events all tied together in one source. What could all this be but a request from God, urgings by His Holy Spirit within me, compelling me in a direction He would have me take. He first asked when I was a child, and I ignored Him. Each time He prodded, I refused to budge. One evening with time to kill before a meeting, I picked up a little book from our church library, “The Christian Ministry” by Rev. C. W. Warlick. Reading while standing in front of the bookcase, Rev. Warlick grabbed my attention on page 19 when he asked, “And now, dear reader, this thought, you who have experienced His appearance, doubtless time and again, and who have heard His call to become His follower as a minister and as a witness, why the delay, why the indecision, why have you refused?” This book, written in 1910, spoke directly to me, and I had no answer. Maybe I just never understood the call. A few pages further on, Rev. Warlick continued, “Has Jesus never appeared to you, my reader, with the call to witness for Him behind the pulpit or in whatever sphere a minister may or does work?” Yes, I suppose He has in a way, but I ignored Him. “And if so, was there no motive on the part of Christ for appearing and laying before you the call?” God has a reason for everything, right? “Most assuredly there was, and the motive was simply this, to make you a minister of His salvation to others. What a glorious prospect!” Glorious indeed! I could ignore the call no longer, the time for hesitation long past. A little over two years ago, after our pastor and my own daughter echoed those words spoken so long before, I agreed to follow God's call, and enrolled in seminary classes. Like Moses and the children of Israel, I wandered aimlessly in a wilderness of my own making for over forty years before God led me to His river. In the darkness of my self-made misery, Jesus took pity. When presented with two small loaves of bread and five fishes that had moments before been lunch for a small boy, Jesus took the bread and, thanking the Father, broke it and fed over five thousand people. Just as He could not use the bread until He had broken it, He could not use me until I knelt broken at His feet.

My decision to enter seminary and seek the ministry did not come easily. Is this really what God would have me do? My answer comes from Jesus. He reassures me of this assignment when He says, “You did not choose Me. I chose you and sent you out to produce fruit, the kind of fruit that will last.” (John 15:16a CEV) I know of no greater service I can offer God or my fellow man than to spread the good news, to plant the seed that will bear eternal fruit.

God Created the Heavens and the Earth

When I tired of the nomadic life of driving a truck, I entered college where I studied the sciences and engineering, graduating with honors as an Electrical Engineer. Some ask how I can reconcile my training in the scientific approach with the Biblical story of Creation. For me the answer is simple: science offers no sufficient argument nor plausible explanation as to how the known universe came into being. The Big Bang Theory posits that an infinitesimal point contained all the mass of the universe that was released in an instant to form the ever expanding cosmos. It does not explain, though, from where that mass within that small dot originated, nor what caused the explosion. Such an unlikely event is far less believable than an intelligent, omnipotent Creator breathing life into all that is by uttering the words, “Let there be light.” The very creation of the natural world, by any method, requires the existence of a Creator before the act of creation. Such a Creator existed before time began and will exist after time ends. This Creator is God, the one and only true God.

Mankind is a part of this natural world, another creation of God. He was very careful in the making of man for He loves us as a Father loves His child, creating us in His own image, that of His spiritual being. God created the angels as well, very special creatures whose sole purpose is to worship God and serve Him. Man is also a special being, given the very Spirit of God when He breathes life into us. But God gave us a trait, a feature, denied even to the angels. He gave us free will. He gave us the choice to love Him in return, to worship and serve Him as do the angels, or to not love Him. Why? Because He loves us. And what better way to see if someone truly loves you than to allow them to not love you if that is their choice. Our Father gives us that choice: to love Him or not, to serve Him or not.

Since we are given that choice, it only follows that some will indeed love and follow God while some will not. Those who do not follow God may well be likely to resist His will, even to rebel against Him. An angel named Lucifer once managed to break from his mold and to think that he could be as good, as powerful, as all-knowing as God. He convinced others of his kind to follow him. God expelled these misguided angels from heaven, but decided to use Lucifer to provide mankind with a further choice for our free will. Given reign over the physical world, Satan and his minions prowl the depths of humankind, fomenting trouble, wreaking havoc at every turn, whispering into ears promises of worldly treasures, tempting souls, drawing God's beloved children further and further from the path of righteousness. Evil exists, even in a world created by a loving God. God is outside of the world, not of the world. It was created by Him and given to man as our garden. Lucifer was given rule over this natural world so that man could have a true choice, and by choosing God could show our true devotion and love to our heavenly Father and Creator. A loving parent will teach their child to ride a bicycle, knowing full well that the child will fall off and be injured at some point, because the parent knows that is the only way for the child to learn, to grow. In the same way, our heavenly Father allows us to do things that surely make Him cringe, acts He knows we will be hurt by or use to hurt others, acts including the most horrible evils imaginable, because by experiencing these we can learn, and grow, and better come to love Him. But we need not fear for more than this earthly life. God is in full control. Evil will be punished, and those who love Him will be rewarded. The words of the Revelation to John may frighten some, but they offer encouragement and assurance to those who believe in Jesus.

I Bring You Good News of Great Joy

Satan wasted no time stalking God's most loved creation. The serpent whispered into Eve's ear, promising what he knew not to be true, tempting her to disobey the only thing God asked of them, goading her to take a bite of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, convincing her to give Adam a bite. At that fateful moment, a great chasm opened between God and His creation. Sin entered the world and left a canyon so wide, nothing man could do could ever span the gap. Satan tasted victory. Had he managed to deny this supposed all-powerful God the love of His creation? Did he drive an immovable wedge between God and mankind? Did he pull man from his heavenly Father for all time? No, not at all. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever will believe in Him will have everlasting life.

The original sin of Adam and Eve created a rift between man and God. No longer could man walk freely with God, nor talk with Him as with another man. No longer could they be in physical proximity as they were in the Garden. Man disobeyed God, and alone he could never repair the damage done. Ah, but God had a plan. For thousands of years man wandered through life, living and dying, sometimes steadfast in loving and obeying God's commands, more often not. Over the centuries, prophets of God spoke of a coming Messiah, one who would save us all and provide a way back to God. Then, when man least expected it, God sent His own Son into the world. Conceived by the Holy Spirit Himself and born unto a virgin, Mary, Jesus was both man and God, not a creation but one person of the Triune God.

While Jesus lived among us, He taught by example and by word. He healed those who suffered in body and in mind, performing miracles that would be unbelievable had they not been witnessed. He loved unconditionally. He expanded the boundaries of God's covenant community to include everyone, not just the children of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. He asked only that we know and love God as the one true God, and that we love each other just as we love ourselves, just as He loves us. Love is the common theme of His life, of His teachings. Jesus was and is and ever will be Love. And for His love, Jesus was cursed, beaten, crucified. He died at the hands of those He sought to save.

The message Jesus shared represented a dramatic shift from the status quo of the culture of that day. The laws, He noted, while important, take a secondary role to loving God and loving your fellow man. All those in a position of authority over us should be given due respect, for they were put in those positions by God. Great wealth may be a blessing from God, but He wishes for you to use those riches to help the less fortunate, and to take up the cross alongside Jesus and follow Him. It is more important to serve rather than to be served. The last shall be first, and the first shall be last. Radical ideas such as these could not be allowed to spread any further. This man Jesus must be stopped! And so the Son of Man was put to death.

Had Jesus simply died, our tale would have closed then and there. His followers would have eventually all died off as well. The Way would have disappeared in the fog of time. The word “Christian” would perhaps never have been coined, or would be nothing more than a footnote in history books if it had. But the page bearing “The End” has yet to be written. For although Jesus did indeed die and descend into the depths of Hell, He defeated death and rose from the grave on the third day just as He had promised! His victory is one we can all share in. That is what He intended, that is what He died for, so that death no longer need hold us in its grasp for ever. And He promised to be our Advocate, to stand beside us when we face our heavenly Father and on that Day of Judgment, to attest that we have been washed clean by His precious blood so that we might face God and live at His side for all eternity. Jesus kept His promise to defeat death and rebuild the Temple on the third day, so we can be assured He will also keep His promise to represent us before God. The great chasm opened by the original sin is spanned only by the cross of Jesus Christ, allowing man to again be with God.

But that is still not all of the story. In his old age, our Lord came to John in his exile, to the one Jesus loved, and gave him a message to share with all mankind from that time forward. The main thrust of the message was simple: Jesus would come again, and would take His followers home to live with Him in heaven. But the message carried a dire warning: Be prepared! The Revelation to John can be confusing and seemingly contradictory, yet the important point should not be missed. Those who believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, who follow Him and the path He prepared for us, will be given life eternal and also rewarded for their service to God. Those who have failed to do so by the time Jesus comes again will suffer through seven long years of great tribulations. God is ever faithful and merciful, even at this time for the world, so He still gives man another chance. Those who have not yet fallen into Satan's camp will have seven years to choose sides, seven years of demonstrations of God's power, and His wrath. In the end, Jesus will return to defeat Satan and his followers, both human and spiritual, meting punishments to the purveyors of evil and rewards to those who followed God where and as deserved. This is as God has promised, and God has always kept His promises.

The field of Theology called Christian Apologetics provides a set of rational arguments in defense of the Christian faith and the validity of the Scripture. One such argument addresses the truth of the New Testament by asserting that the people who read the passages recorded by the Gospel writers were alive during that period of time being described in the words, and may well have witnessed the actual events as they occurred. Had these events not been recorded accurately, these witnesses would quickly have exposed the likes of Matthew and Luke as liars, or worse. As we know, that did not happen. The Gospel was not challenged during its day. Also, the translations of the Bible have remained true to form over the centuries, from one handwritten copy to the next. One can find very few errors or changes in translations from the earliest known text of John to the present day massed produced New International Version Bibles. There are many more examples, but all lead to the fact that we can trust the New Testament as presenting a true and accurate history of the events and lives of that time. What we read is real, it all really happened. God came down to earth to save us all. Jesus is that Savior. And when He bodily returned to heaven to be with our Father, He sent His Holy Spirit to dwell within us, to guide us through our lives just as Jesus guided the Disciples through theirs. This is the three persons of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Once we accept the truth of the New Testament, we can know with certainty that the texts of the Old Testament are just as accurate and valid. Jesus and His Disciples were practicing Jews. They knew the laws of Moses, they loved the poetry and prophesy of Isaiah, they understood the importance of the words of Ezra and Jeremiah and the warnings of Habakkuk, they looked ahead to the time described by Daniel. The Gospels often report Jesus quoting from the old texts, using the very words of the Jewish faith to teach them what they should already know. Paul frequently relates to Old Testament scripture in his letters. Since we know the New Testament accounts are accurate and true, and because those accounts attest to the truth of the older texts, we can also be assured of the validity of the Old Testament. All practicing Jews will speak to this truth as well. So the Christian Holy Bible, in both old and new parts, represents the true and inspired Word of God, recorded by man under the direction of God. Of this I have no doubt.

According to Your Faith

Two blind men came to Jesus, seeking to have their sight restored. Jesus asked, “Do you believe I can do this?” They responded, “Yes, Lord”. I imagine a warm smile spreading across His lips as Jesus touched their eyes and replied, “According to your faith, let it be to you.” And their eyes were opened.

Faith is defined in the dictionary as confidence in a person or thing, or a belief for which there is no proof. Paul defines faith as “being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1 NIV) Jesus said if you have faith even as small as a mustard seed, you can cause mountains to be moved (ref. Mark 11:22-24). Both the dictionary and the Bible point to the same conclusion: it is not the size of our faith, not some quantitative measure of how much we believe, all that matters is what we believe in, the subject of our faith. Paul knew our faith in God to be the foundation of our hopes, the certainty of our hearts, the truth of everything around us seen and unseen. Jesus knew that with God all things are possible, if we ground our faith on God.

My faith is rooted in God's Word, the Holy Bible. The best way to come to know God in His three persons is by knowing and studying His Word. This is how we build a relationship with anyone, by talking to them, asking questions, learning more about them. The same is true of God. The very word “theology” translates from the Greek as the study of God (actually, the study of the nature of god, but we know there is only One and He is God). My personal theology is centered upon growing my relationship with God, enriching the friendship between us. Just as God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, He is my Lord, my Savior, and my friend. I might add, He is my very best friend. Always faithful, I can count on Him at all times, for any need. When I am weakest, through Him I am strongest. I have put my life in His hands and I trust Him completely.

But what if there were no Bible, how then could I know God? I would like to take an ages old approach and answer that question with a question of my own. How can someone look at the world around them and not know God? His creative talent is on display twice a day with each sunrise and sunset. His hand paints the leaves in fall, strews shells along the shore, puffs up the clouds in the sky. His breath stirs the gentle, warm evening's breeze or whips up the raging storm. His eyes flash with lightning, or twinkle in the night sky. He set in motion the timeless surf, and created the most fragile, delicate flower that lives but a day. He engineered the absolute wonder of the human eye, and of a baby's hand. Science teaches us that the most likely answer to any question is the one which requires the least assumption, that provides the simplest answer. Did all around us happen by accident, and then continuously evolve to what has been in effect for a few thousand years now? Or did God create it all? Which answer requires the least assumption, which is simpler? God.

Now, having faith rooted firmly in God and believing without a doubt His Word as recorded in the Old and New Testaments to be true and accurate, we can begin to understand why He would love us, and why His will must be carried out as He planned. His love is ever faithful, our ultimate well-being His primary concern. Because of this love He sacrificed His only Son. By His mercy and grace alone we are saved. Nothing we can ever do, nothing we can ever say, nothing we mortals alone can effect will ever pay our way to heaven. God alone is sufficient. It is through His Providence, His caring and guidance, that we can survive this life. It is by His grace and the covenant He forged with us through the blood of the Perfect Lamb, Jesus Christ our Lord, that we might be made clean enough to bow in His presence. We are allowed to suffer so that we might grow strong. We can feel loneliness so that we may never again want to be separated from God. We are broken and left hopeless so that we might realize our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Our good works are worthless without our belief in Jesus as Christ. On Him rests our hope of salvation.

I hold to the Biblical standards of a minister as described by the Apostle Paul in his first letter to Timothy, chapters three through five. With all my heart and being I affirm our statement of faith as recorded in the Constitution and By-Laws of St. James Reformed Church and hold firmly to the mission of our local congregation and the greater Church community. I also affirm my understanding of and belief in the purpose, organization and statement of faith of the Evangelical Association, with which we are affiliated. The Apostles' Creed states my full belief from my heart, while the hymn “Amazing Grace” so clearly reflects my soul's amazement and thanks at the awesome mercy, love, and grace of our Savior, our Lord.

Feed My Lambs, Tend My Sheep

When Jesus ascended into heaven after His resurrection, He left His followers to continue His work as His Church, the body of Christ on earth. And here I draw a distinction between the “Church” as defined as the entire body of Christ and the “church” as an individual congregation or the building in which they worship. I believe that the fundamental role of the Church, as well as one reason I seek ordination, is best summed up in Romans 10:14-15 (here in the NLT): “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, 'How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!'” For people to come to accept Jesus as their personal Savior, they must first know of Him and His life. Paul, the original church planter, focused on this goal of spreading the Gospel, the Good News, of Jesus Christ. Jesus said that just as God the Father had sent Him into the world, so He was sending His Disciples into the world (ref. John 20:21). He also said that He was not sent from heaven to do His will, but the will of the One who sent Him, the will of the Father (ref. John 6:38). Now if Jesus sent His followers, including us, into the world to continue His work, and He Himself was sent to do His Father's will, then the mission of the Church is to do the Father's will, exemplified in the teachings and life of Christ as contained in the Gospels and explained in the many letters recorded in the Bible. This role is the same today as when Jesus first commissioned His Church.

One aspect of this mission is clear: to spread the good news that Jesus has paid the price of our salvation, that through Him and by the grace of our heavenly Father, we may have eternal life. This must be the primary focus, but more can be found in the Scriptures. Jesus described Himself as the Good Shepherd, even at one point instructing Peter, and by extension the entire Church, to “feed My lambs” and “tend My sheep”. Just as sheep without a shepherd, we would be lost without Jesus. (Mark also drew this analogy for us in his sixth chapter verse 34.) In that vein, the Church should also serve as a shepherd, seeking out those who may have strayed from the path and are lost, caring for those unable to care for themselves, standing guard against the inroads of the fiercest predator Satan.

Along those lines, the Church must help see to the needs of widows and orphans, among the most vulnerable of those not fully able to care for themselves. In Matthew 25:31-40, we are charged to feed the hungry, provide drink for the stranger, offer shelter and sustenance to the foreigner and traveler, clothe the naked, visit the sick, visit the imprisoned. “Tend My sheep”, our Lord instructs, “Feed My lambs.” This involves more than seeing after the physical needs, although that is a large part. Their spiritual needs must be seen to as well. Sometimes those two needs combine nicely, such as when someone just really needs a good hug, or a warm blanket. Both offer solace to the body and the soul. And when we tend to the physical needs of others, we are given the opportunity to share with them the Gospel of our Lord and Savior, to witness to them the difference He has made in our lives, even if only silently by our actions, to spread His love as He commissioned us to do. And the truly amazing thing about this is that we, the members of Christ's Church, gain as much if not more from these activities as do those we serve. God, in His awesome wisdom, provides reward for our efforts, and usually immediate reward. We feel good when we serve others, and that is wealth beyond measure.

Of necessity, the early church adhered to these principles. There being no state funded welfare system nor unemployment benefits, the church was expected to see to the needs of those who could not provide for themselves, and of those who spread the Gospel among them. Many of the early churches were small and met in homes or hidden in caves or other less visible locations, again out of need since early Christians were hunted as prey for the pleasure of Nero. So the Church has its roots in small groups. It is in this small group setting that I feel most comfortable and perhaps most effective at sharing God's word, whether through Bible studies with fellow believers or in jail ministries with those who want to believe or any other venue where two or more can gather in our Lord Jesus' name.

In my life I have witnessed lives ravaged by illness and death. I have seen families shattered by addictions to alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex. I have seen hungry children, barefoot, faces without a trace of hope. War and rumors of war walk the earth. We live in the end times, after Christ's resurrection but before the Tribulation and His second coming, as evidenced by Biblical predictions finding life in the world around us. We sit stunned by the latest atrocity on the evening news. Decaying morals, abounding disrespect for life, God's laws broken on all sides. There is so much that the Church can work on, and should be involved with, that we slide into a state of shock, nearly unable to move from the weight of all that needs to be done. With God's help, the Church can stand and tackle these problems. It must, for without the Church the world is lost. Individual churches cannot even contemplate taking on a project of this magnitude. But they can pick an area where they feel they can make an impact and begin there. The Church must leave the safety of the church walls and go into the greater community, where the need lives. That is not to say that it should neglect its own, for needs are great within the Christian community as well. A balance must be determined and met, so that God's hand can touch all those in need. That is the role of the Church: doing God's will.

Within the Christian community we have those who believe, who attend church services regularly, who contribute to the church monetarily. By all outward appearances, these are good Christians, following the Way our Lord set out. But some are missing something, they fail to truly understand what Christ would have them do. They sometimes put other pursuits before God, such as the opportunity to attend an event rather than worship together with their brothers and sisters. They think of themselves and their families first, and others, if at all, much later. They prefer to be served, unless they can receive recognition for serving. Their corporate prayers shake the rafters so that everyone can hear how pious they are. Their hearts do not fully belong to God. Yet it is not our place to judge. We cannot know God's heart other than what He has given us insight to with His Holy Word. If they truly believe, their place in heaven is assured. But if they truly believe, how closely would they try to live their lives as Christ taught, as He lived His? How closely would they listen to what He said and strive to follow His example? I worry that many may find themselves like Bruce Barnes, the fictional assistant pastor of the New Hope Village Church in the “Left Behind” series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. Left behind after the Rapture, Bruce realized that even though he thought all along that he was a good Christian, he just didn't get it, he did not truly understand. How many of our friends sitting in the pew beside us Sunday mornings might be left behind if Christ called us home today? How many of our neighbors might awaken to find their spouse or children missing? How many might the Church miss simply because they aren't our kind of people or don't dress very well or smell funny?

It concerns me when parts of the Church seem to forget what Jesus taught and preached. They fail to remember how He expanded the faith community to include all manner of people. Throughout history the Church has grappled with issues of admission, questioning whether Gentiles, women, people of color, or homosexuals should be allowed in the sanctuary to worship. Why is it alright to greet and welcome the unmarried couple living together to attend worship, but not the African-American? Why are the terminally ill shunned and forgotten after saying a few prayers over them? Where is it written that everyone stepping into a Sunday service must be wearing fancy clothes? Jesus did not command us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves as long as our neighbor is just like us. He did not say to clothe only the working man and his family, to feed only those who are temporarily down on their luck. Jesus put no conditions on who we are to love, no restrictions on how we are to serve. Christ did not seem to expect much real justice in this world, social or otherwise. Look at how He was treated as a clue to that. But He does expect much of us in our interactions with others. Do we live up to those expectations?

I love my Lord and Savior with all my heart and soul. A great passion burns within me to serve Him in any way He leads me. Jesus said “Follow Me”, and I intend to do so for my remaining days.

Grace to All Who Love Our Lord

My being ordained into the ministry of our Lord would serve two purposes. For one, it would show that my brothers and sisters in Christ deem me worthy and competent to represent our Savior as a shepherd of His flock, that I will rise capable to the responsibilities of the position, that I love God and that I love them. This aspect of ordination would be personally satisfying and tremendously humbling. But of greater importance in my mind, ordination will be my signature on a promise I made to God a few years ago. When I gave my life to Jesus, I promised to serve Him to the best of my abilities, in any way He saw fit to use me, for whatever purpose and to what end He desired. Ordination will be the seal on that promise, and will mark my commitment to my personal covenant with our Lord. God made a covenant with mankind, paid for by the sacrifice of His Son, sealed with the blood of Jesus. I cannot begin to fathom so great a love. But I can show God my love for Him. Ordained, I can perform functions in His name to honor Him, to remember His devotion and sacrifice, certain rites not allowed a lay leader. Whether ordained or not, I will keep my promise, for I love my Savior. When I gave my life to Jesus, a deep, calming peace washed over me. When I committed to seeking the pastoral ministry, I sensed a smile upon His face. Maybe it was just wishful thinking. But I fully believe this is the path my Lord wishes and intends for me to walk. Where Jesus leads me, I will follow.

Amen.

Trust in the Lord

2009-10-23T09:56:00.002-04:00

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

-- Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)

I just don't know what's going on here. I don't understand why this is happening. What have we done to deserve this? What could possibly have brought this on? I just don't understand!

I feel pretty safe in saying that almost every person in this wide world has stated words to this effect, uttering them from the darkness of our anguish and despair. "How could this possibly be happening?!", we scream, perhaps silently, perhaps to the wind and rain that hides our tears. Even when we know from the very heart of our faith that Satan has brought this evil event about, not God, we turn to God in our sorrow and seek the answer to that toughest of questions: "Why?"

Solomon, son of David, is portrayed as being exceedingly wise. As King of Israel, he has great wealth and power, but it is his wisdom for which he is best known far and wide, so much so that even the Queen of Sheba visited and brought gifts just for the opportunity of meeting this most wise man. Solomon, like so many prominent figures in the Bible, was not without his faults and his sin ultimately led to the rending of the united kingdom of Israel into two: the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Long before then, though, Solomon realized the tremendous task ahead of him, the daunting responsibility of ruling over all the children of Israel, so he prayed to God and asked for discernment. "'And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted! Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?'” (1 Kings 3:8-9 NLT) In response to this plea for help, one that acknowledges humility from arguably the wealthiest and most powerful man in the land, we are told that "The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom." (1 Kings 3:10 NLT), and so granted the request.

Yet even Solomon, perhaps because of his God-given wisdom, recognized that we cannot depend solely upon our own understanding. One aspect of this is that there are certain things in this life that we simply will not be able to understand, certain events will occur that just make no sense. Some people will seem to reap undeserved rewards while others will suffer needlessly, or so it would seem to us. Crises will come when least expected, as will signs of grace and kindness from strangers. It quite easily may be that most of what goes on in this life will lie well beyond our ability to grasp and understand. Solomon says that's OK, don't depend on being able to understand. But he also warns us not to even try. He not only tells us we will not be able to comprehend the true meaning behind most of what goes on around us, he tells he we should not even try. Instead, we are to trust in God, assured that He knows the meaning behind every event that occurs. We are to turn to God in prayer and ask what He would have us do, how we should respond to whatever happens. And when we do so, He will show us the path to take. How? Jesus explains: "When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'" (John 8:11-13 NIV)

Depending on where you are in your life, that "explanation" may be either confusing or an oversimplification. If you are not sure about this man named Jesus, and certainly not ready to call Him God, then saying that by following Jesus we can find how God would have us react to a given situation might easily come across as being overly simple-minded, an easy way out of explaining a great mystery. Or it might simply confuse you, especially if you question the existence of God in the first place. In that case, this could be considered a circular argument with no true answer. At the other extreme, if you are firmly on the path Jesus laid for us, then you realize that the best way to discern what God would have you do is by prayerfully studying that very path and how Jesus prepared it for us. Since most of us are probably somewhere in the middle, we can strive to determine God's will for us by carefully reading the Bible to see how others have responded when life overtook them.

Take Paul, for instance. Saul was a Pharisee, and a great persecutor of the early church. He sought out Christians and hauled them off to be tried, many to be put to death. Then Jesus came to him on the road to Damascus and turned his life completely around, even gave him a new name. From that point on, Paul began a life of suffering. He was scorned, shipwrecked, beaten, imprisoned, and finally executed, all because of his belief in Jesus Christ. Apparently, Paul could have avoided most, if not all, of this pain had he simply rejected Jesus as the Messiah, the Risen Savior. Instead, he praised God at every turn, even thanking him for the suffering he endured. The best example of this is given in Paul's second letter to the church in Corinth: "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:7-10 NIV) There's one clue to know God's response to our seeking His will: when we are weak, He is strong. His loving grace is all we need to get us through this life and on to the rewards of the next. When we are suffering, the power and might of Jesus Christ are resting upon us, protecting us, strengthening us. Paul relates this as a seeming contradiction, yet when we are at our weakest point, that is when God is with us the most, and that is when we are strongest.

Of course the surest way for us to see what Jesus thinks we should do when circumstances overtake us is to study the lessons He taught in the form of parables. The Parable of the Weeds, as related in Matthew 13:24-30, is not just about agriculture or gardening. It tells us what we can look forward to later on. Consider a follower of Christ to be the wheat in the story. The weeds represent those who do not believe, and those who follow Satan. They grow together, alongside each other. At times, it may even look like the weeds are getting more than their share of the riches of the field. But in the end, after the harvest, the wheat is taken into the Master's barn while the weeds are collected, tied into bundles, and burned. That serves as a vivid picture of what awaits us in heaven, or in the lake of fire. So even though it can at times appear that those who break all the rules, who ridicule God, or who pretend to believe in Christ yet act in ways contrary to how Christ would have us act may be getting the better things in life, their gain is short-lived and their penalty is eternal life in torment and agony. But those who truly believe and follow Christ in their belief will be safe and secure for eternity, sharing a home with God.

Consider the short Parable of the Hidden Treasure in the field, and its twin, the Parable of the Pearl. In both cases, a man found a treasure of immense, incomparable worth. So great and wonderful was the treasure, he went and sold everything he had just so he could purchase it and make it his own. The treasure is heaven, an eternity with God. Jesus wants you to know that your reward for believing in Him and following Him will be so great, you should be willing to give up anything and everything in this life in order to secure it. If you must suffer for your belief, it will well be worth the cost. Sell everything you own? Once a rich man approached Jesus, asking what he could do to gain eternal life. He told Jesus he had always followed all the laws of Moses and believed in God. Jesus responded that there was one thing the man lacked, one thing he needed. He must sell all he owns and give it to the poor, then "take up the cross, and follow Me." (Mark 10:17-22) No matter how great we may think the cost is in this life to take up the cross and follow Jesus, the reward for doing so is beyond our wildest imaginings.

Or the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, as recorded in Matthew 18:21-35. The servant owes the king a large sum of money. He begs for more time, promising to pay the king back. The king, in his mercy and compassion, forgives the servant his debt, wiping the slate clean. On his way out, the servant comes across another servant who owes him some small sum. He demands payment. When the second man falls at the first's feet, begging for more time and promising to repay, the first servant is unforgiving and will hear none of it. He has the second man thrown into prison until he can pay. Others witnessed this little episode and reported it to their king, knowing how merciful he had treated the first servant. Upon hearing this story, the king raged at the one whose debt he had forgiven, wondering why he had not forgiven the small debt owned him. In his anger, he had the man turned over to the jailers to be tortured until he repaid his own debt. With this little tale, Jesus tells us that when we are wronged, we should forgive those who have harmed us, just as our Master and King forgives us. If we fail to follow this example, we can expect to pay a much higher price later.

Or look to the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), that teaches us, among other things, to accept others with open arms when they return to us, no matter what they may have done to us before, just as our Father accepts us with open arms even though we have sinned against him. Or the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), that instructs us to help those in need and to not judge others because of their race or background or heritage or for any outward reason, but to look to their heart and their belief. Or think of what Jesus said at the big party the Pharisee put on and invited Jesus to attend (Luke 14:1-24). Noting people maneuvering for the best seats, He cautioned them to take those further back and the less comfortable seats, so that they not be asked to move by the Lord of the house unless it be to a better place. He also suggested the host not just invite those who would return the favor by inviting him to their feasts, but to also invite those who could never repay. This is a picture of us, of how we can never repay God for the invitation to heaven He offers. It is only through His love and grace and mercy that we may enter His gates. Jesus paid the price for us that we could never be able to pay.

As a final lesson, consider the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16). The landowner needed men to work in his vineyard. He went out early in the morning and hired some, offering one denarius for the day's labors. Three other times during the day, including up to the eleventh hour, or near the end of the work day with but one hour to go, he went out and hired more hands, offering each the same wage of one denarius. When the day was finally done and it came time to pay, those hired first noticed that the landowner paid the last people hired, those who worked merely an hour, the same wage they were being paid! They were upset that they had worked all day for one denarius while others only worked an hour. The landowner replied that he had paid them what he promised, the rate they had agreed to work for. What he paid the other workers was no one's business but his own. Jesus summed this story up by saying, "So the last will be first, and the first will be last." (Matthew 20:16 (NIV)). But there's more to this message, and it is of critical importance that we understand it. Jesus is saying that no matter when in our lives we come to recognize Him as the Son of God and our Redeemer, no matter how late in life we come to believe in Him, we will receive the same gift of salvation and eternal life as everyone else who believes. If we have doubted for so long, if we have questioned whether God exists or that Jesus is His Son, once we accept that Truth we are assured of our promised wage. Heaven is ours.

Please do not ever forget that good works, and good intentions, alone will not give us a pass into heaven. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6 (NKJV)) Jesus paid the price of admission for us. All we need do is believe in Him. But we show our belief by our acts, our deeds. We admit our belief by following His example. We learn to do so by studying His word and how He and those close to Him reacted to events in their lives. Thank God for His wonderful Word, our users manual for those things in life we simply cannot understand.

Amen.

I Don't Want To Do What I Want To Do

2009-09-20T17:47:00.003-04:00

[The following was delivered at St. James Reformed Church, Mt. Pleasant, NC, on Sunday, September 20, 2009.]

"I don't understand why I act the way I do. I don't do what I know is right. I do the things I hate. I know that my selfish desires won't let me do anything that is good. Even when I want to do right, I cannot. Instead of doing what I know is right, I do wrong. And so, if I don't do what I know is right, I am no longer the one doing these evil things. The sin that lives in me is what does them. But in every part of me I discover something fighting against my mind, and it makes me a prisoner of sin that controls everything I do. What a miserable person I am. Who will rescue me from this body that is doomed to die? Thank God! Jesus Christ will rescue me.”

-- Romans 7:15; 18-20; 23-25a (CEV)

Too often I find that I want to do what I really don't want to do. So as it turns out, I don't really want to do what I want to do. Confused? So am I. And so was Paul, when he wrote to the Christians in Rome. "I don't understand why I act the way I do", he said. "I do the things I hate." Does that make sense, to do something we hate? And how could I possibly not want to do something I want to do?

Paul described this as something within every part of his very being fighting against his mind. His words paint a picture of constant conflict: his body in perpetual battle with his brain. He knows what he should do, in his thinking, but his body seems to have a life all its own, a non-thinking mind just trying to do what it wants to do. His body wants to do one thing, but his brain knows it would be better, would be right, to do another.

So while my body, and even my heart, may be screaming, shouting, begging, pleading for something it wants and desires, my head tells me no, that is not for you. What your body asks for is not what it really needs. Trying out those roller blades may look like a lot of fun to your inner child, but your older body will ache and cry tomorrow morning. Your taste buds and salivary glands may be going into overdrive at the sight and smell of that thick juicy steak, but your arteries are already narrowed and you don't really want them completely clogged. What your heart desires today could well lead you on a path leading to the lake of fire come the day of final judgment. And your brain knows that.

What is this affliction that can cause such confusion and ultimate harm? What brings about this combative division between heart and mind? Paul suffered from it, and I admit to being inflicted myself. Have you experienced this? It can be quite painful. What is it? In a word: temptation.

In Genesis we read of the first temptation, as the serpent whispers into Eve's ear. "Go ahead, Dear, eat this fruit. It is so delicious. Besides, the only reason God doesn't want you to eat it is because, if you do, then you will be just like Him, you will know everything He knows, and He couldn't stand to let that happen. Go ahead, take a bite. You'll see." And the serpent deceived Eve, and she ate. She fed some to Adam, and he ate. The knowledge they gained made them feel naked and ashamed. And the chasm between God and His creation opened.

Temptation. Eve and Adam yielded to temptation, and original sin resulted. If we yield, the consequences may not be quite so dire for the entire human race, but they certainly can be for us individually. Each time we give in to a temptation, no matter how small or innocent it may seem, we take a step off the straight and narrow path. The more often we yield, the more difficult it becomes to stay on that path. We make it just a little easier for Satan to tempt us again. We make the next temptation that much easier to rationalize and accept. The further we go, the easier it becomes for the devil to pull us in the direction he wants us to go. Like puppets dancing on the end of strings, he guides our lives further and further from what God would have for us. And somewhere along the line, if we have any free will left, we may realize that we are lost, maybe hopelessly so. We can be drawn so far afield, we may never find our way back.

You need a pen? Take one from work. The company can afford it. Everybody does it. Go ahead, it's just one little pen... mmmmm... Doesn't that huge slice of cake look good! So rich and sweet. You're only a few pounds over your optimal weight, your heart can handle that. Besides, you'll lose that much easily next week. Go ahead, take a bite... Why that so and so! How dare he talk about me like that! I'll just tell everyone how I saw him out drinking and carousing. It's the truth, kind of. They don't have to know I was out with him... I wonder what it would be like to ...

After a while, we can no longer hear the devil's voice in our ear, only our own thoughts posing possibilities and what ifs in our heads. What if I stuffed this sweater in my shopping bag and ran? Would I get caught? What if I kissed that person I have such a crush on, that I know really likes me too? Would my spouse ever know? What if I cheated a little on my taxes and claimed exemptions I don't really have? Would they catch it? What if I eventually turned my back on God? Will it really matter when I die?

Temptation. So easy to fall victim.

Is anyone safe? No, sadly, we are all subject to temptation. Jesus tells us, in Matthew chapter 18 verse 7, "What sorrow awaits the world, because it tempts people to sin. Temptations are inevitable, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting." (Matthew 18:7 (NLT)) In this one verse of scripture, Matthew at least offers a little comfort in that we are not alone. Temptation is inevitable; it cannot be escaped; everyone is subject to it. The world tempts people and the world will pay a price for doing so. Of course, in this regard, the world is ruled by the Evil One and he is the one that will pay. Paul confirms this when he tells the church at Corinth, "The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience." (1 Corinthians 10:13a (NLT)) But Jesus goes on to sternly caution that any person who causes others to fall under temptation's spell will also pay a price in the end; and we can only assume the same cost will be exacted of them as of Satan, and his punishment is to be cast into the lake of fire for eternity. So just a word of warning: while you can expect to be tempted, you had better not be the one found guilty of tempting others!

Much of the temptation we face today is brought about by societal pressure. Our culture has gradually shifted more toward a self-centered attitude, with greater and greater demands upon and expectations of instant gratification. I want it bigger and better and I want it now! Rather than deferring a desire for a time when we can better afford it, and in that regard I don't just mean financially, we seek to receive the coveted prize immediately, whether we can afford it yet or deserve it yet or even if we shouldn't really have it at all. Our older generation knows the value of deferred gratification. It allows us to do things in their proper order, at their proper time. And it gives us the opportunity to stop and think about whether we truly should have what we so desperately want. An underlying attitude of entitled instant gratification provides a fertile ground in which to sew seeds of temptation.

Every Sunday we pray to our Father in heaven, "Lead us not into temptation". But God does not lead us astray. God does not tempt us. If our own common sense did not reassure us of this, the Bible does. In his first chapter, verses 12 through 14, James tells us, "God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him. And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, 'God is tempting me.' God is never tempted to do wrong, and He never tempts anyone else. Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away." (James 1:12-14 (NLT)) Did you notice the deferred gratification there, the reward? "Afterward", James says, after they have endured temptation, "they will receive the crown of life".

Many may remember Flip Wilson, a very funny and very popular comedian back in the 60's and 70's. One of Flip's most loved and most often used lines was "The devil made me do it!". Anything his character did wrong, the devil was to blame. It turns out this is closer to the truth than we may have thought. While Flip's comedic treatment of sin gave us something to laugh at, it can also serve as a warning to us still today.

Temptation comes from Satan, who wishes nothing more than to entice us and drag us away from God. Just as he tempted Eve and Adam and succeeded, he tried to tempt Jesus, but failed. "Turn these stones into bread. Throw Yourself from the heights so the angels will swoop down to save You. Prove you are the Son of God. Better yet, bow down and worship me and I will give You the world!" Such enticements, who could refuse the offer of the world? Jesus could, and did. Three times Satan tempted Jesus, and three times he failed. Matthew reports quite simply that after the third attempt, "Then the devil left Him." We can expect to be tempted far more than three times. Nor should we think the devil will ever leave us alone, not as long as we draw breath.

But there is hope, there is promise. Paul gave us the answer in the same breath as the diagnosis. Jesus is the answer! He will rescue us. The cross upon which He died became the bridge spanning the chasm that opened on that fateful day when Eve and Adam fell prey to temptation. Finishing verse 13 of chapter 10 in his first letter to the church at Corinth, begun above and repeated here, Paul assures us that, "The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure." (1 Corinthians 10:13 (NLT)) What is that way out? Jesus Himself told us, as recorded by Matthew: "'Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.'" (Matthew 26:41 (NLT))

When you hear Satan's voice, stop and pray. If you feel a temptation coming, ask God for strength to resist. God knows we will be tempted, every one of us. Jesus knows that even if our spirit is willing, our flesh is weak. Paul realized that while he knows in his mind what is right, his flesh screams for him to do what is wrong. We know for certain that there are, and that there always will be, times when we just don't want to do what we want to do. Prayer and trust in God will get us through those times.

Thank God! Jesus Christ will rescue us.

Amen.

Hope

2009-08-13T10:04:00.001-04:00

"What strength do I have, that I should hope? And what is my end, that I should prolong my life?”

-- Job 6:11 (NKJV)

Darkness enfolds me like a cold, damp blanket. Despair settles in. I can see no way out, no means of escape. No matter what I try, things only get worse. Injury is heaped upon injury, illness upon illness, disaster follows disaster. Each turn presents a new wall to surmount, each twist a different blocked alley to confuse my way. My strength fails me. No one understands, no one cares. My friends left my side, one by one. I feel betrayed. Lost, cold, alone, I blindly stumble through each day as if walking through a dense fog, simply waiting for the next trip and fall, having forgotten even the sense of dread. Hopelessness overwhelms me as if waves crashing over my head. I awake each morning to the desolate landscape of my spirit. Where is my rest, where is my relief? Why won't the end just hurry up and come?

Job knew this feeling well. Satan pointed to Job as an example of the kind of fair-weather worshipper mankind is. As long as everything was going good for him, as it was for Job at that time, then man would worship God and praise Him. But man is only driven by self-interest, Satan says. Let things suddenly go sour, let him lose all that is important to him, and man will turn from God and curse Him. Satan dared God to let him carry Job off into the darkness of despair and see just how quickly he abandons God. God accepted the challenge, and so began perhaps the most remarkable experiment recorded in the Bible.

Job literally became the battleground for this conflict between God and Satan. Satan started stripping Job of everything he had accumulated over the years. All of his livestock are taken or destroyed in a drawn out series of events. All of his children are killed in one stroke. Job pretty much accepts all of this in stride, knowing he brought nothing into this world and would carry nothing out of it. In Job 1:21 he says that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. This reaction is not what Satan expected, or wanted, so he pressed God to allow him to go further in his torment of Job, inflicting physical pain and suffering to go along with the emotional distress and loss of possessions. Boils cover Job from head to foot. Miserable, confused, Job waits them out, still holding fast to his trust in God. His wife loses her faith finally and asks why doesn't he just go ahead and curse God and die, to get out of the agony. Job now has to stand alone, but remains faithful to God.

Then come three friends, determined to talk some sense into Job. Their intent is to examine and answer the question, "Why do senseless tragedies afflict men?". Most of the book centers on this discourse. They sit back and smugly address Job and his woes, assured that Job's problems all arose because he had committed some awful sin. They compared their own cleanliness to his afflictions. They noted how none of them had lost livestock or children, none of their wives had turned on them. They had not sinned, so God was still good to them. Since God was treating Job so horribly, he must have sinned in some terrible way. They argue that if God is indeed just, then the righteous are always blessed and the wicked always suffer.

Job's despair deepens. He does not know what to think or do, for it seems God no longer hears his pleas, his prayers. Confusion, bewilderment, anger, hurt, frustration all play within him in turn. Yet throughout it all he remains honest, he blurts out what is in him, the truth that he knows. He refuses to admit to what he cannot accept. Even as he feels God has abandoned him, he never loses his faith in God. This is clearly evident in chapter 19, verse 25, when he proclaims, "For I know that my Redeemer lives". He cries out for someone to mediate for him, to go to God on his behalf. In this bitter, blackest hour, Job sees a point of light far off in the unknown future. He has no name for this Light, but we know that Job sees the coming of Jesus Christ (Job 19:25-26). In this he takes his hope and his comfort. Jesus is that Mediator Job pleaded for, the only One who can stand beside us, stand for us, when we face God.

And finally, God answers Job, responds to his prayers. God takes Job on a grand tour of creation, showing Job just how unqualified he is to debate God on any subject, let alone on why God would do this or not do that. As the overwhelming wisdom and power of God becomes more and more evident, Job falls on his face and begs forgiveness. Basically, God is saying that life is far to complicated for simple answers. Man is not capable of dealing with the complex issues that Job is raising. Bluntly, God's message is that only God has the right to use His creation for whatever reason or purpose he desires. Man was created by God, not the other way around. God does not exist for man, man exists for and because of God. Only God has the wisdom necessary to the task of running all of creation, and God is always in control. We must trust God to work out these complicated problems of life, knowing that He will keep all in balance, and in the end our wonderful Savior will mediate our case for us.

And then God did a remarkable thing: He showed Job His grace. First He asked Job to pray for his friends, that their hearts might be softened and opened to the truth. And then God returned to Job twice what was taken from him. God doubled the livestock lost, and gave Job seven more sons and three more daughters to match the seven sons and three daughters now living in heaven. But perhaps the greatest gift was that glimpse into the future, where Job could see his and our Salvation.

So what about that question of why do senseless tragedies befall men? It is answered fairly early in the book of Job. All human suffering can be traced back to Satan constantly challenging the authority of God. God may not always answer our questions, primarily because we may not be able to grasp His response. But He is always in charge, He is always in control. And in the end Satan will no longer be around, but God will remain at our side.

Job asked "What strength do I have, that I should hope?". God answered by showing him the coming of Jesus our Mediator, the One of whom the Apostle Paul speaks when he proclaims, "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13) In Christ we gain strength, in Christ we have hope. Job wonders "What is my end, that I should prolong my life?". He was shown that end: being with God and Christ. It is by God's hands we are brought into this world, it must be by God's hands we are taken from it, not by our own. Glory awaits us.

In the blackest night, in the depths of despair, when strength fails and hope flees, look for that pinpoint of Light gleaming through the darkness. Look to the Lamb who washed you clean of your sins. Reach out for the Mediator who will stand in your defense when you face the ultimate Judge. Look to Christ, and know that our Redeemer lives.

Amen.

Washed in the Blood

2009-07-13T08:58:00.004-04:00

Then one of the elders spoke to me. "Who are these people dressed in white robes?" he asked. "Where did they come from?" I answered, "Sir, you know." He said, "They are the ones who have come out of the time of terrible suffering. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

-- Revelation 7:13-14 (NIRV)

The old hymn swept into my head and played there, filling my mind with vivid imagery, reminding me of why our Lord Savior allowed Himself to be beaten and hung upon a cross...

Would you be whiter, much whiter than snow?
There’s power in the blood, power in the blood;
Sin stains are lost in its life giving flow.
There’s wonderful power in the blood.

There is power, power, wonder working power
In the blood of the Lamb;
There is power, power, wonder working power
In the precious blood of the Lamb.

John experienced vivid imagery also, while exiled there on the isle of Patmos. The Lord came to John and showed him the future, the time when Jesus would come again to claim His church. John saw horrible events and unspeakable creatures tormenting those walking the earth during the days before Christ's return. Earthquakes, fire from the sky, unworldly warriors striking people down left and right. He stood as the stuff of nightmares unfolded around him. As the devastation began and the horsemen were loosed upon the world, he listened as one angel warned others, "Do not harm the land or the sea or trees" until 144,000 that serve God were marked with seals upon their foreheads, 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve sons of Jacob.

But then he looked and in front of him appeared a huge crowd of people, so many that no one could count them, from every nation, tribe, people and language of the earth. They were all wearing white robes, much whiter than snow.

Not just 144,000, not just from the sons of Jacob, not just the children of Abraham, but more people than can be counted and from all corners of the earth they came. All washed white in the blood of the Lamb. All washed clean of their sins by the wonder working power in the blood of the Lamb. You and I, all of us can be part of that mighty throng.

Only one question remains. Our hymn asks it of us all...

Would you do service for Jesus your King?
There’s power in the blood, power in the blood;
Would you live daily His praises to sing?
There’s wonderful power in the blood.

Do we serve Jesus? It seems so little to ask for what we are given, but do we even sing His praises so that others may hear and know how great is our Lord? We serve our Savior by following His teachings, by loving each other as He loves us, as God loves Him. We sing His praises by living our lives as an open example of how He lived, of how He would have us live. We serve and we sing by sharing His word, by spreading the Gospel of our risen King. We serve and we sing by helping others wash their robes in the precious blood of the spotless Lamb.

There is power, power, wonder working power, for you and for me, in the precious blood of the Lamb.

Amen.

We Plead With You

2009-06-30T07:00:00.004-04:00

We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

-- 2 Corinthians 6:1

Paul packed a huge amount of information in that one short sentence. It contains an overall plea not take lightly the wonderful gift God has given us, but also several other messages of equal importance. Let's take this apart and try to get all the goodness out of it we can.

Although this verse comes to us from Second Corinthians, many Bible scholars consider this to actually be Paul's third letter to the church in Corinth, the second being long since lost and not included in the scriptures. Remember that Paul started the church in Corinth and stayed there for nearly two years, eventually turning it over to the young disciple Timothy. The first letter addressed issues Paul saw arise in the church after he left it. The second is suspected to be a scathing reply to the church as they failed to heed Paul's cautionary message in the first letter. Perhaps this message carried a little too much emotion or fire, or maybe it was too narrowly focused so as not to be suited for the universal audience that the Bible was intended, and that is why it has been lost to us. Whatever the reason, the text of Second Corinthians seems to indicate a previous letter was delivered, received, and acted upon by the church members and that they now were following Paul's instructions. This third letter was then to let them know they were doing the right thing but that they should now forgive the offender that caused so much trouble before and allow him back into the church.

In this verse, when Paul uses the word "we", he could be directly referring to himself and Timothy, and possibly including Titus, another disciple who served as messenger in carrying these letters, or he could be implying all of us, the entire body of Christ left on earth, His whole church. In either case, it is clear he considers this message important enough that he shows that others are in agreement with the plea, that others share the concern of the message. We plead with you, not just myself but my friends and colleagues also, and maybe the entire church. We all care about you and want you to be pleasing to God.

And who are we? We are workers, together, with Him. Those four words, workers together with Him, should make everyone who tries to follow Christ's example fall humbled to their knees and swell up with pride both at the same time! We are workers. We don't simply sit on the sidelines watching, we don't lean on a shovel while others toil, we don't sit at the table waiting to be fed while others toil in the field. We are workers. We work together. Two can accomplish more together than they could ever effect alone, and many working together, united as one, with one common goal, can show truly wondrous results from their efforts. We not only work together, friends side by side, but we also work with Him, with Christ, with God. We don't work _for_ Christ, we work _with_ Him. He toils right alongside us. Doesn't that fill you with pride, that the God of all creation would be willing to work right beside you in the fields of humanity to harvest souls? But doesn't that also humble you, to know that our risen Savior would so lower Himself to labor with you?

Paul cared so much about the church in Corinth that it was important to him that they not think he was trying to tell them what to do, even though he was. Too much was at stake for them to turn a deaf ear. Too great was his love for the people, the congregation, that they ignore advice. So what could he do but beg them to listen? When we pray, we should always remember to thank God for all He gives us, but we also almost always ask for something we or our loved ones need. We plead with Him, please Father help us in this trial. It was in this manner that Paul addressed the church in his letter: he wanted them to understand he was praying, that he was pleading with them. By extension, he and the other disciples and all of the church of our Lord are pleading with all of us to heed this message, to pay attention to these words.

And that message is to caution us not to receive the grace of God in vain. How can we receive God's grace in vain? Everyone who has ever given a gift to an unappreciative recipient can answer this. Have you known someone who takes the gift and squanders or wastes it to where they get little or nothing from it in the end? They have received that gift in vain, for it did them no good. God's grace is the most wonderful, beautiful gift anyone could ever receive. It is given freely to everyone, yet deserved by none. Nothing we could possibly do would ever merit such a gift, no amount of gold could ever equal its worth. The price of the gift has already been paid, at horrendous cost: the blood of our pure and living Savior. This is a gift not to be taken lightly, a treasure not to be squandered wastefully, but one to be savored and rejoiced over, one to be shared with everyone we come across, one made perfect on the cross. That gift is our salvation, our freedom from death, a life of eternity spent at the foot of our Lord.

Thank Paul for his insistent warning. Thank God for His grace and faithfulness. Amen.

Your Servant Hears

2009-06-16T13:04:00.005-04:00

Now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant hears.”

-- 1 Samuel 3:10

When Samuel was a young man, he studied under Eli, an established prophet and teacher among the Israelites. God seldom spoke directly to people in this period. In fact, the third chapter of First Samuel starts out by saying that "the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation." (1 Samuel 3:1b) So when God called out to Samuel in the night, he mistook the voice as being that of his teacher Eli summoning him. So he got up and ran to Eli, eagerly saying "Here I am, for you called me." (1 Samuel 3:5b) Of course it was not Eli that called, and he told Samuel so. After repeating this little performance three times, Eli finally realized that it was God calling Samuel, so he instructed the boy in what to say if he should hear the voice again. Sure enough, God called Samuel yet again, and more insistently. This time Samuel knew it was the Lord thanks to Eli and answered "Speak, for Your servant hears." (1 Samuel 3:10c)

We again find ourselves in a period in history where God seldom speaks directly to His people. Since God came down to earth to walk among us as Jesus Christ then ascended once again into heaven, we have little written record of authority of anyone hearing God's voice after the Apostles. Saul clearly heard God when struck blind on the road to Damascus. And John was "in the Spirit" on the Lord's Day while in exile on the island of Patmos when he heard a loud voice that related to him the Revelation of Jesus Christ. But generally we tend to question the sanity of anyone who claims that God had spoken to them, especially if they accompany that claim with some act they were instructed to carry out.

Yet how many of us have not felt as if God indeed talked to us? This sensation comes not necessarily in a voice one can hear with their ears, with sound waves compressing the air and carrying their message to and through our eardrums. Do we not have a fairly common saying in our culture about "our calling", often as regards "fulfilling our calling" or "practicing our calling" or the like? Do we not talk to God each time we pray?

But talking is not quite the same as communicating. Good communication requires that we talk and then listen for a response. When we pray, do we really expect an answer? We should, but we must listen for God's reply. We should remain still and silent so we can sense God's voice, His call. When God speaks to us, He waits for our response, for our answer.

God may not shout our names out loud in the middle of the night (although He certainly might). He may simply whisper to us in the rustle of leaves, the soft murmur of a baby, the constant beat of waves upon the shore. Whenever the time, whatever the purpose, whichever the means, our God and Master will call out to us. Will we ignore His pleadings for our attention, or will we humbly respond as Eli instructed Samuel?

Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.

Amen.

Give Unto the Lord

2009-06-09T08:49:00.002-04:00

"Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones, give unto the Lord glory and strength."

-- Psalm 29:1 (NKJV)

David first came onto the Biblical scene as a young lad who looked after the family's sheep. God looked into his heart and commanded Samuel to anoint him as a chosen of God. Shortly afterwards, God used David and the skill with a sling he learned while watching over the sheep to slay the giant Goliath and free the Israelites from a great threat. David grew, learned many things, increased in power and influence, strayed from the Lord's side, eventually found his way back to God, and eventually became the greatest king of the descendants of Abraham and a direct ancestor of our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Warrior, poet, king. When he penned this chapter in his book of Psalms, none were more mighty than he.

Perhaps it was through his trials and travails, because of his straying from God before realizing his great mistake and returning to bow at our Father's feet, that he came to understand that even the mightiest man is still just that: a man. No matter what he could accomplish, no matter how many armies he could defeat, no matter how eloquent the words he could pass down for the ages, he could never come close to matching the power of God, and he knew this with certainty. He had fallen and only God's wonderful grace and mercy had picked him up and allowed him to stand once again.

David is accustomed to having his commands obeyed without question, but here you can almost hear him beseeching us to listen to his words, to follow his advice. He pleads with us to give to God all glory.

But who does David address this command, this plea? He says it clearly: "O you mighty ones". The meek, the humble, those who are used to having little voice in the matters of the world tend to already heed this call. They understand that God is the greatest power and they readily bow down to Him. They know how good and gracious He is, for without His mercy they would perish. But the mighty ones, the powerful rulers of the earth, too often forget just where their power originates. They credit themselves and their own efforts with their successes. They feel that the might of their arms give them the right of rule. Who should they bow before? No one! David cautions them to think otherwise. His words shout, "Look at me, the mightiest king you have ever known! Yet even I sing praises to our Lord on high. Even I bow before God."

David also tells us to give not only all glory to God, but our strength as well. Again, he directs this primarily to the mighty ones, for the weak of his day, and ours as well, have little strength to share. But the mighty have much strength that they can bring to bear in any given situation. David admonishes them to use that strength in service to our Lord. Rather than use their might in gaining dominion over men, they should turn that power they wield into service to God.

What great things could be accomplished today if the mighty were simply to follow David's command? What if the political and economic rulers all gave God the glory and used their strengths to serve Him? It is easy for us to sit back and think these powerful and rich men should do more. But today, and especially in the free world, many of us have more power and wealth than our counterparts in David's time could have even imagined. How do we use our influence, where do we pour our dollars, on what do we exert our efforts, how do we share our talents?

David assures us that even if we fail to give God what is due Him, he will not fail us. He finishes this Psalm with a promise: "The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace." (Psalm 29:11) God is ever faithful to us no matter what we do, because His love for us is deep and abiding.

To God be all glory and all strength. Amen.

According to Your Faith

2009-04-20T10:28:00.002-04:00

[The following was delivered at St. James Reformed Church, Mt. Pleasant, NC, on Sunday, April 19, 2009.]

So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city. Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you." And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, "This Man blasphemes!" But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" — then He said to the paralytic, "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house." And he arose and departed to his house. Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.

While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live." So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples. And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment. For she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well." But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well." And the woman was made well from that hour. When Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, He said to them, "Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping." And they ridiculed Him. But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. And the report of this went out into all that land.

When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, "Son of David, have mercy on us!" And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to Him, "Yes, Lord." Then He touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith let it be to you." And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, "See that no one knows it." But when they had departed, they spread the news about Him in all that country.

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."

-- Matthew 9:1-8, 18-31, 35-38 [NKJV]

The dictionary defines "faith" as confidence or trust in a person or thing, such as faith in another person's ability; belief that is not based on proof; belief in anything; an obligation of loyalty or fidelity to a person, promise, or engagement and the observance of such an obligation; fidelity to one's promise, oath, or allegiance; the trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved. The Bible also has a definition of faith. In the eleventh chapter of his letter to the Hebrews, verses one through three, Paul wrote, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible." (This last verse is a remarkable sentence. God did not scoop up a double handful of something and use it to bring all of existence into being. No, He simply spoke the word, and the heavens and the earth were created. So everything that is, all that we see, had its origins as a word from God.) In this chapter, Paul was writing a commentary on an even older message, one delivered by Habakkuk in his Chapter 2, verse 4: "Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith." "The just shall live by his faith." It is believed that this short verse lit a fire in the heart of Martin Luther, leading to the great Protestant Reformation. Paul further expanded and amplified it in the books of Romans, which looks at "the just", or the justified, in Ephesians, which takes up "shall live", and here in Hebrews, where Paul addresses the last two words, "by faith".

But just what do we mean by "faith"? I remember from the hippie days of the '60s and '70s, people would say "Keep the faith, man." And in the '80s, one of the slogans in vogue during the United States hockey team's improbable run to an Olympic gold medal was "You gotta have faith." But neither case had any religious overtones. One referred to the fact that the war in Vietnam could be brought to an end and the other gave us hope in a group of men achieving a previously unattainable goal. But I would prefer to talk about that last dictionary definition, and the one Paul gives us in his letter. I want to talk about our faith in God.

I think faith can sometimes be a confusing subject. We hear people say "if I only had enough faith" as they try to explain what they could do if only their faith were stronger. But faith does not come from anything within itself. It isn't some thing that can be amassed and added on to if needed. You can't just run out to the corner store and buy some extra faith if your stock suddenly runs low. As it turns out, that's OK, because the quantity of faith one has is not nearly as important as the quality of faith. Matthew and Luke both recorded an exchange Jesus had with some disciples who were unable to call a demon from a young boy. The father had brought the boy to the disciples saying that he had seizures and often fell into the fire or the water. The father feared for his son's life. But the disciples were unable to help. In Chapter 17, verse 20, Matthew records how Jesus responded when they asked why could they not draw out the demon: "So Jesus said to them, 'Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, "Move from here to there," and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.'" We know from another parable Jesus used just how small a mustard seed is: barely visible. Could faith that small really cause a mountain to move?

Yes, because our strength of faith comes from the very object in which we place it. What you put your faith in makes all the difference in the world. What if we were in a burning building and I pulled out a spool of thread and started tying it around your waist while saying "I'll lower you to safety."? How much faith do you think you would put in that length of thread? Now what if I pulled out a good long length of one-inch diameter rope, and tied that around you? Would you have a little more faith in my being able to lower you safely to the ground? Would you have more faith in the thread being able to support your weight, or the rope?

Since faith is tied directly to belief, we need to frequently ask ourselves what do we believe in. We believe the rope is stronger than the thread, so we put our faith in it. We believe the churchgoing politician so we put our faith in them and give them our vote. We believe our car is safe and sound so we have faith in it to carry ourselves and our loved ones down the highway. In some cases, we have enough faith in some thing or some one to stake our lives on it. But would we stake our eternal lives on any of these, on any material object or any human being or other creature? Anything man makes is subject to fail. The strongest rope can suddenly snap. The best made and maintained car can still malfunction. Our household pet can turn on us and bite us given the right circumstances. Man himself is fallible. We were not created that way. We became flawed of our own will and action. You could say that Adam and Eve did not believe entirely in God when He told them not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil or they would surely die. We humans can and do fail. How many times have you put your faith and trust in someone, only to have them let you down, hurt you, betray your trust?

So we are often quite willing to put our faith, our very lives and the lives of the ones we love most, into something or someone that in all probability may fail us. Sure, we may have no other choice. And we might stack the odds in our favor as much as possible, like keeping good tires on the car all the time. But we are still putting some level of faith into something that can and will fail us given the correct set of conditions. How strong can such a faith truly be?

That leaves but one place where we should place our faith without hesitation and without fear of betrayal: in God. If we freely and fully put our faith in God the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, then our faith will be as large and strong and ample as it could possibly be, for God will not fail us. He never has and never will. He has always kept His every promise. The Bible is full of examples and every time, every single time, God has kept His promise to us, His children. Think about it: He looked down and said "I'm going to clean up this mess but I'm not going to destroy everything", so He told Noah to build a boat. Sure enough, the world was flooded, His creation was cleaned but not destroyed. A promise made, a promise kept. He told Moses "Go back and tell that king in Egypt to let My children go. Don't worry... I'll give you the words to say and some tricks to back it all up", and that He indeed did, including the staff that could turn into a snake and back into a staff again. A promise made, a promise kept. He told the Israelites they had better turn back to Him or there would be a great price to pay. They didn't, and there was. He brought down the armies of Assyria and Babylon to defeat the Jews and carry them off into slavery, dispersing some of the tribes forever. God has also kept His word on the good stuff as well as the warnings. He said He would give us a great gift, the ultimate sacrifice, so that we could believe in Him and have eternal life with Him. And He gave us Jesus Christ. A promise made, a promise kept.

Everywhere you look in the Bible, God has kept His promises to us. In 1 John 1:9, John tells us that God is faithful and just. Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 9 speaks of "the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments". In chapter 9 verse 33, Nehemiah admits that God is "just in all that has befallen us; for You have dealt faithfully, but we have done wickedly." The beautiful Psalms nearly overflow with praises and songs to God's faithfulness. In First Corinthians chapter 1 verse 9, Paul assures us "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." And again in Second Thesalonians chapter 3 verse 3: "But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one." Over and over, again and again, in verse after verse, in Old Testament and New, we are assured of God's faithfulness to us more times than we can number.

In an unattributed quote, Ray Stedman, one of the foremost pastors and biblical expositors of the twentieth century, once said: "Even the weakest believer holds in his hands all that the mightiest saint ever possessed." He was talking about faith, and the faithfulness of God. It gets back to that mustard seed Jesus told us about. The only thing that really matters is what you put your faith in. If you put your faith in God, you can do anything.

And if we want examples from outside the Bible, all we need do is look around us today. Spring marks rebirth of the earth. Flowers blossom, leaves pop out on tree limbs, birds sing, and the world awakens from its winter nap. Just as Christ was resurrected from the grave, the earth is resurrected from the cold of winter and given new life. Summer finds us toiling to coax as much production out of the ground as possible, just in time for the grand harvest in fall before the winter rest. And then the cycle repeats with rebirth in spring. Since God willed it, season has followed season and forever will until He comes again for one final, eternal spring. Day follows night. Birth follows death. The grand cycle of the universe follows God's will as testimony to His faithfulness.

I am reminded of the hymn:

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

But what does God's faithfulness to us mean? It means God has faith in us. He knows we are flawed, but He knows when we are really trying hard not to be. He has faith that we will do the right thing, even when we let him down time after time after time. He has faith in us because we are His children. Just as any parent loves and has faith in their child, God's undying and unconditional love for us translates into an unshakable faith in us.

In Luke chapter 18, verses 7 and 8, Jesus offers yet one more assurance of our Savior's faithfulness, then asks a frightening question. "And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"

We have a Father who loves us, unconditionally and without hesitation. He always has been faithful to us and always will be. He has always kept His promises and provided for all our needs. There is no more powerful force in all of existence than He, nor will there ever be. Place your faith in God, and He will never fail you.

Have faith.

Amen.

Where Is Your Heart?

2008-08-04T16:58:00.005-04:00

[The following was delivered at New Gilead Reformed Church, Concord, NC, on Sunday, August 3, 2008.]

Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.

After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.

Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.
-- Mark 16:9-20 [NKJV]

The scriptures I just read (from Leviticus 20:22-26, 2 Corinthians 6, and Mark 16:9-20 above) may seem contradictory. In Leviticus we are told to stay separated from the people of the land, or the world, and to distinguish between clean and unclean things. In Second Corinthians, Paul cautions us to not be "yoked together" with unbelievers. But then in Mark, we hear Jesus instruct us to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. Second Corinthians Chapter 6 even seems to contradict itself - be ministers of God but stay away from unbelievers, from lawlessness, from darkness.

The last time I was here, I asked the question, "Why are you here?" Today I would like for us to consider the question "Where is your heart"? But before we provide possible answers to that and to the seeming contradictions in our scripture lessons, let's look more closely at this idea of separation, separation from the world our text mentions and see what else the Bible might say about it.

Besides what Paul wrote in Second Corinthians Chapter 6 about being separate from unbelievers, John, in his first epistle, chapter 2, furthers this view and enhances it some:

"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever." -- 1 John 2:15-17

James, in Chapter 4, pretty much draws up sides:

"Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, 'The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously.' But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: 'God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.'

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up." -- James 4:1-10

That is a pretty powerful statement: "Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."

Make no mistake: the world is a very dangerous place. I don't mean physically. We all know the world out there presents many dangers to our health and our bodies. Just watch the evening news. No, I mean that our very souls are in danger of falling prey to the temptations of the world. Paul lost a follower and a friend to temptation and the lures of the world. In his second letter to Timothy, he implores his brother:

"Be diligent to come to me quickly; for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica — Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia." -- 2 Timothy 4:9-10

We read all this and take it to heart and we think one way to stay separate from the world, from those who might ifmperil or tempt us, is to stay away from worldly things. We make lists of things to avoid. Dancing is not allowed, no card playing, no wearing make-up... These seem a little silly to us today, but not that long ago folks held these as dear and sacred. Some still do. We make these lists and call them Christian standards. After a while, we begin to accept our list and the items on it as truths, we pass them on to our children. And we can easily mistake our prejudices for our convictions. We can think that because we hate something, or some ones, that they must be worldly so we put them on our list. Going back to our "no dancing" example, if we really don't like someone and think them worldly, and that person really loves dancing, then we might begin to consider dancing a worldly act since this worldly person dances all the time. And then, by extension, if dancing is evil, then everyone who dances is worldly and should be avoided, even the little ballerina spinning around on the music box I want to give my daughter. But none of this is from God, no matter how we might come by it. The only list of things to do and not do in the Bible, from God's holy word, is the Ten Commandments.

If all we've learned or been taught, if the things on our list, are not in line with the principles clearly given in the Bible, then we'd better revise our standards, edit our lists, and get back in line with the Bible. We need to get an attitude adjustment. There are indeed standards we should follow, but the method we use to determine those standards must be in accordance with God's word.

Now one problem with this method of separating ourselves from people and activities and things that we consider "worldly" is that we can tend to either consciously or unconsciously try to avoid temptation by avoiding other people. We withdraw a little, build our own little worlds of like-minded believers. The ultimate example of where this can lead is a monastery. We go into a remote region and build an enclave with a wall around and a fortress-like structure at its center, and we fill it with people who believe what we believe and do what we do and think what we think and discourage any others from entering. We even tend to separate from other believers seemingly by degrees or levels of worldliness. I know some Baptists who will not associate with Methodists, and Episcopalians from one part of the world shun Episcopalians from another part of the world.

Sadly, rather than teach our youth how to confront and overcome evil, we show them how to avoid it, how to try to hide from it. But how can we teach them to "fight the good fight" when we don't know how ourselves, when we've never been taught?

This separation, this isolation leads to a growing sense of boredom and frustration with life, especially for younger folk. We avoid trouble, we hide from danger, we shun the worldly, we ignore our brothers and sisters in prison, we retreat. There's no challenge, no peril, nothing to keep the blood pumping and the adrenaline flowing for the Lord. Maybe this is why some young Christians seem so lifeless in "traditional" worship services. Maybe this is why people keep drifting away from the church year after year. Maybe they seek out the world for stimulation, wanting to experience its temptations just so they can feel alive.

Another problem with this form of separation is that the more we try to isolate ourselves from the worldly, the more the world creeps in to our lives. We feel safe, here on our island surrounded by our like-minded friends. We follow our lists and know we are doing the right thing. We let our guard down. And the world just sneaks right in, slipping through thousands of cracks in our armor.

For the truth is, worldliness is not a matter of things.

Let me illustrate by example. If you wear a really pretty dress or fine suit to church so other people can see you and admire you and think how nice you look, that's worldly. On the other hand, if you wear a frumpy dress or a threadbare suit so everyone can see how lowly and humble you are, well, that's worldly too. If you buy a big fancy car so everyone will know how well you are doing and important you are, that's worldly. But if you drive an old heap so people will see your humility, that's still worldly. If you are hurt when people fail to notice you, then that is worldly.

For worldliness is all about what is in your heart. Worldliness is all about your attitude. Everything is worldly if your attitude is worldly. And the Lord knows what is in your heart.

We can't just make lists and be safe, but there certainly are things we should and should not do; not because someone else thinks we should or should not do them; not because the church is watching; not for some other reason that originates from outside ourselves: that is worldly. We do or don't do some thing because we know deep down inside that God would want us to do or not to do that thing. What does that sound like - a conscience? Doesn't that sound like the Holy Spirit living within us telling us what we should or should not do?

Reread a bit of our text from First John again. "All that is in the world... is not of the Father". If we exclude God from our considerations of what to do or not do, if we make decisions without turning to God for counsel, then that is worldly thinking, no matter what we do. Always seek our Father's guidance.

Another result of this Christian isolation is a lessening or even outright loss of the sense of sacrifice for our Lord. When we withdraw to our secure little island, safe from all temptation, we can become complacent at best, or smug and insensitive and uncaring at worst. We avidly support missionaries with our dollars as they work in far off lands while ignoring or even shunning someone right next door who might be struggling in spiritual despair. We can lose our will to step outside our own door for fear of facing the devil.

The Lord didn't say "send your people" or "spread your money into the world". In my message scripture from Mark, we heard Jesus say, "Go into all the world and spread the Gospel". The King James Versions keeps in the implied "you" and commands, "Go ye into the world".

There are two ways to look at this phrase, go into the world. First, in order to spread the Gospel, we must tell it to people who have not heard it before or have forgotten it or who have been turned deaf by Satan, to unbelievers, to the worldly. But isn't this a contradiction to Leviticus and Second Corinthians? No, not if we don't become worldly. Remember: it's all in the attitude, it's all about what is in your heart. We cannot spread the Good News throughout the world while staying isolated from the world. We have to leave our island. But if we keep our hearts clean and give full consideration to the Father in all things, we will not become of the world, we will not be worldly.

The second view of going into the world is so that we can learn more about the worldly, to build sympathy for them, to stir us more in our God-given desire to help lead them to Christ. We can learn about the ways of the world, the attitudes of the world, so we can help the wretched, lost souls - those across the world and those right down the street. This is part of our personal responsibilities as Christians: witnessing to others. We should try to imitate Jesus. He gave everything to save us. But we sometimes find it tough to give up an afternoon of golf or a night of television to share God's wonderful grace, or to open our homes for Bible studies or prayer meetings.

Have we already become deaf to the cries around us, numb to all the hands reaching out to us for help from all sides? We are living in the middle of a sea of people who are dying for what we have, unknowingly searching for what we've found or been shown; people who are putting bullets through their heads, jumping of buildings, overdosing on alcohol and drugs... just to end the misery that their lives have become, because they don't have Christ in their lives.

Do we sit on our island, or go into the world?

Now our danger lies in forgetting what we are and our purpose in all this, in losing sight of God and becoming worldly. For if we become worldly ourselves, if we become like the world, then we lose all our power to influence the world. And that is where we need to impose separation. We need to be in the world, but separate ourselves from the attitude of the world. We must keep our clean attitude, focused on God.

Remember the story of Lot? We read of him in Genesis chapters 13, 14, 19 (mostly). God instructed Abraham to take up his household and head out; God would tell him where to go later. Lot, Abraham's nephew, went with him. Eventually, they parted ways and Lot took his household into the land of Sodom. Now in those days this was a green and lush land, a veritable Eden, even though many reports came out of there of evil men and evil activities. So Lot settle in Sodom and tried to do good there. He tried to help God and lead the people back to Him. But he did so by becoming like the people their, by adopting their attitudes, by becoming like their world. And in the end the whole area was destroyed, wiped clean, and Lot was barely able to escape with his life and his daughters, losing even his wife as they fled. This is a very clear warning that we must keep separate from the attitude of the world, and not become of it or like it.

To do the work Jesus commissioned us to do, we must go into the world, make worldly friends, invite them into our homes and visit with them in theirs so that slowly, by example and word and deed, we might bear influence upon them and their thinking and their attitude and their heart, and help them find Jesus. Just remember not to think like the world, for our attitude, our thoughts are different. We have the greatest news in the universe and we just can't wait to share it! That is what our attitude should be.

But isn't all this dangerous, going so deeply into the world where it can reach out and tempt us? Sure. Sure it is, but that's what makes it exciting. That's what makes it thrilling, gripping, vital, challenging, daring... and that can provide tons of motivation to folks who've become bored with island living. In a way, God wants us to face problems so we can learn how to overcome them. How else can we grow? How else can we help others overcome their problems?

So it's our job as Christians to be in the world, but not of it; to identify and sympathize with its suffering, but not with its attitude; to be Christ's representative and help bring His influence to bear on the world's life, but not be corrupted by its ways.

And that brings me back to my question - Where is your heart? Is it in the world? The Bible is correct and true when it says this world is really unimportant and will pass away. If we believe that, truly believe it, then living a Christian life should be the easiest thing in the world, if nothing else matters. But if the world's things really do matter to us -- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, as John put it -- then being a Christian is going to be tough.

As Christians, we know the Truth. We look to things unseen rather than seen, for we know that things seen are here only today and are quickly passing away, but those things unseen are eternal.

Keep your heart's desires away from the world. Keep your heart on things unseen. Keep your heart in heaven.

Amen.

Comes the Harvest

2008-07-27T22:44:00.003-04:00

[The following was delivered at St. James Reformed Church, Mt. Pleasant, NC, on Sunday, July 27, 2008.]

Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.” “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord." Then He said to them, "Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

-- Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 [NKJV]

Do you kind of get the idea that Jesus thought it important that we understand heaven? Let's take a moment to look back over the symbolic descriptions Matthew saved for us:

A mustard seed, something so tiny and small and insignificant seeming, but when planted will grow into a tree that provides shelter and protection.
A small portion of yeast mixed into a much larger measure of dough will react and grow and cause the whole thing to rise, with delicious bread as the end result.
A treasure well worth giving up everything you own, and doing so with joy, in order to possess it.
That one exquisite pearl of greatest value, again worth giving up all you have for it.
All kinds of people gathered together: Jews and Gentiles, men and women, all races, even good and bad.
But at the end of time, the angels will separate the bad from the good and the bad will be tossed into the fiery furnace while the good remain in heaven.
Finally, those who know about heaven and share what they know give a great treasure to others in this knowledge, both to people who already understand about heaven and to those who have never heard Christ's words.

And Jesus asks, do you understand these things? It is very important that we do.

The rewards of heaven are so vast and great they are worth any cost. There will be judgment at the end. Discipleship - following Christ - carries a cost. Those who discover or are taught the truth of the kingdom of heaven willingly forsake all to become a disciple. Through Matthew, by the word of Jesus, the mysteries of heaven are now revealed.

It shouldn't seem too unusual to talk about the upcoming fall harvest in the middle of the summer. The seeds have been planted. The growing crops are cultivated and weeded, so there is still work to do. And Pastor John began a miniseries here with messages on planting seeds and pulling weeds. So I thought I would continue the trend and end the series in this vein, for soon comes the harvest, the time when we can reap the rewards of all our hard work.

Maybe we should first consider where are our rewards. Are they in this life, here on earth? A new car, a big house, adoring fans, celebrity status... Are these some of our rewards? There are many who seem to think so. Some even interpret God's promise to give plentifully to us to mean He will see to it that earthly treasures are bestowed upon us. Maybe He does. Maybe in some cases God does provide us with something we don't really need and didn't really earn, just as a way of saying "Thanks". But David, in his Psalm 17, verses 13 and 14, asks God to strike down those wicked men, men of the world who have their portion in this life, who seek their reward in this life, who are more concerned with what this world has to offer than what God promises us. I believe that David understood what Jesus would say, that our greatest treasure awaits us in heaven.

One way to consider harvesting what was sown can be found in Isaiah, chapter 55, verses 10 and 11. "As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is My word that goes out from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." God scatters His word like seeds and the harvest from them at the end of time will not be empty but will be great, for His harvest will be us, those who believe in and follow His Son. We are also the tools God uses in His earthly garden to scatter His seeds, to sow His words. Jesus will handle the harvest and His angels will take care of any bad crops.

And that brings us to the more obvious idea of harvest in the context of Christian life. This is how Matthew related the message of Jesus when the angels harvest all mankind and separate the good from the wicked. Our reward for bearing the cost of discipleship will be to spend eternity in the loving, glorious presence of God. The evil ones will not have it quite so good. John reinforces Matthew's telling of this when he shares with us what God revealed about the end times. In Revelation, chapter 14, verses 14 through 20, he describes Jesus, the Son of Man, with a sharp sickle in His hand. One by one angels cry to Him to "Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe." Another angel carries a sickle also, and thrusts it into the earth gathering the wicked, the "vine of the earth", and throws them into "the great winepress of the wrath of God".

And long before Jesus walked among us, His ancestor David spoke of this final harvest. In his 96th Psalm, verses 10 through 13, he instructs: "Say among the nations, 'The Lord reigns; the world also is firmly established, it shall not be moved; He shall judge the peoples righteously.' Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and all its fullness; let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord. For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with His truth."

Comes the harvest, which crop will you be? Do you understand the things of heaven Jesus described? The cost of discipleship is high, but the reward is unimaginably great. Comes the harvest, we will spend eternity with our Lord.

Amen.

Why Are You Here Today?

2008-07-06T17:26:00.003-04:00

[The following was delivered at New Gilead Reformed Church in Concord, NC, on July 6, 2008.]

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is the great God, and the King above all gods. In His hands are the deep places of the earth; the heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it; And His hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His land.

-- Psalm 95: 1-7

Thus says the Lord: "Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, And all those things exist," Says the Lord. "But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word."

-- Isaiah 66: 1-2

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

-- Ephesians 2: 19-22

In the early days of the church, Christians suffered persecution and took great risks to gather together to meet and worship Christ. The Apostle Paul is a good example of what befell early followers of The Way -- tortured, beaten, imprisoned, executed. Ten of the original twelve Disciples were put to death for their belief in Christ. (Judas committed suicide and John was exiled to the Isle of Patmos.) We could certainly understand if these early Christians had decided to skip a worship service every now and then. After all, they could be dragged off to prison if caught praising Christ. But they kept their faith and they kept their worship alive because they loved the Lord and they loved the church.

Why are you here today? There can be many answers to that question, but before we look at them let me take a moment to tell you why I am here, and in so doing tell you a little about who I am.

I am here because Brother Ned Weavil asked if I would come. Of course, there's a little more to it that that. One reason I am here is that I need opportunities to address congregations just like yours. While perhaps not your typical student, I am currently in seminary studying to do, in part, what I am doing here right now. There is certainly much more to being a minister than standing in the pulpit each Sunday morning delivering God's word and exhorting the masses, but this may well be the most nerve wracking, at least for me. Fortunately, I trust in God to put the message He wants you to hear into my head and my heart, and to speak His words through my mouth. So that is one reason I am here: in a nutshell, because I need the practice.

But I am also here because I believe you and I walk a common ground. I can relate to where you are as a congregation because I have been there. My understanding is that you have been in a pastoral search for a little over three years now, and just recently parted from the United Church of Christ. My church, St. James Reformed Church in Mt. Pleasant, spent over three years in an introspective study and a following search for the minister to lead us. During that period we looked closely at ourselves, led by a gentleman trained specifically for that task, Rev. Bill Davis. We dug into our collective hearts and determined what we wanted and needed from our church, where we wanted it to go. And after that prolonged study and search, we issued a call to Rev. John Bigelow, who God placed along our path and who has ministered to our needs these seven years since. As a congregation, we left the UCC about two years ago.

During that period we learned a few remarkable things, chief among them that we could manage the affairs of our church quite well on our own. While we needed a shepherd, a pastor in the Biblical sense, we did not need someone to lead us, to do things for us. We could lead ourselves, we could control our church's destiny. From what I know of you and this church, you either knew this all along or have discovered it for yourselves. You are a strong, healthy church, as evidenced by folks taking charge when something needs doing, seeing to it that jobs get done, and by simply being here each and every Sunday keeping the doors open. And I can relate to the level of effort and dedication involved in all this because I served on both the study steering committee and the search committee during our long period without a pastor.

Those are a few reasons why I'm here. Why are you here? Probably not just to hear me. Maybe you're here because your spouse (or mother or father) kept fussing at you to "Get out of bed, we're going to church!" this morning. Or maybe you're here because there is no ball game this afternoon that you need to leave early for so as to get a good seat. Or maybe the fish aren't biting right now because it's been so hot lately. Maybe you're here because you know that people expect you to be here -- that's what good Christians do, go to church on Sundays, and you're a good Christian. Now I'm not saying someone is not a good church member or Christian if they're not here today. There are many legitimate reasons for not being in church on Sundays. I'm not in my church this morning. I'm just giving a few answers some folk might give for being here, whether out loud or in their hearts.

And God is looking into our hearts to see the motives that drive our actions. It isn't so much what we do as why we do it. Do we do this thing because we have to, or because we want to? For instance, do we go to church because we have to, because people expect us to, or because we want to go, because we love God? Does love provide our motivation, or does fear? Do we love God, or fear Him? To me, it is far easier to sing praises out of love, than out of fear. God loves us, so much so that he gave us His Son. How much do we love Him?

Now getting back to those possible reasons I listed for why you might be here today, I don't really believe any of those to be true for anyone in this congregation, simply because of what I said earlier. If you did not have the true desire within you to keep this church open and functioning, the doors would be locked and this beautiful sanctuary would be quiet and still. You realize you have to be here for as many service events as humanly possible, and you have to pitch in and help accomplish as many jobs as you can, for your church to survive. So you're here today because you love God, and because you love your church and care about it and its future.

And that begs the question, what is the church? I'm sure this will come as no great surprise to you, but this glorious building is not the church. Some people call this the House of God, but this structure could no more house God than a water glass could contain the ocean. No, the building merely provides shelter from the elements for the church. I think Paul said it best, in his first letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 3, verses 16 and 17: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are." There you have it: you are the church. You, me, your brothers and sisters sitting beside you and those not with us today, we are the church, we are the body of Jesus Christ left on earth to carry out His great commission.

Later, in Chapter 12 of the same letter, verses 4 through 7, Paul adds, "There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free — and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually." In those few short lines Paul lets us know that (1) it is the same God who works everything in all of us, (2) we are to use however God chooses to make Himself known in us to the betterment of all of us, (3) the many individual members, you and me and everyone else, are just parts of the one body of Christ even while being individuals, (4) Gentiles as well as Jews are included in the body of Christ, and (5) again, unequivocally, we make up the body of Christ.

Think about that for just a second... God, the Creator of all, the infinite God over the finite universe, whose being is without limits or boundaries, who could not be contained in a million million buildings like this one... God chooses to live within us, within our hearts, because we are the body of Christ. We are the church. We are the House of God. Go back and read today's scripture from Paul's letter to the Ephesians: "in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." Of course, our hearts cannot completely contain God either, for He fills us to overflowing and spills out from us to fill others! Through our actions and interactions with other people, God can fill them with His Spirit.

Do you remember the old movie, "Caddyshack"? Bill Murray played a dubious golf pro trying to train a young man enough about the game to win a contest. He wants the young man to visualize the ball leaving the club's head, lofting through the air, and rolling into the hole. He closes his eyes and holds out his hand and instructs the young man, "Be the ball. Be the ball...".

Be the church. Paul tells us we already are, we just need to understand and believe it. Be the church. We are encouraged to spend our time together with other Christians, to congregate with other believers as much as possible. This helps us keep our heads and our hearts in the right place. Be the church. Are you a disciple of Jesus Christ? The dictionary defines a disciple as a follower, a student, someone who believes and helps to spread the doctrine of another. Be the church.

If we are the church, if we are the temple of God, then church is never over as long as we take breath. When we leave this building today, church is still in session. As you go about your normal daily business during the week, try to remember that you are in church as you deal with other folks. They are sitting in the pew right beside you. God is preaching the sermon. The choir is in excellent voice. Bright smiling faces all around. Visualize that scene with everyone you come in contact, and you cannot help but act in a manner pleasing to Jesus our Savior.

Be the church.
Amen.

The Way

2008-05-30T21:24:00.000-04:00

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

-- John 14:6 (NKJV)

In chapter fourteen of his Gospel, the Apostle John continues his recounting of the last meal Jesus shares with His disciples before His crucifixion. Up to this point during what we call the Last Supper, through John's thirteenth chapter, Jesus has gathered His beloved followers together, washed their feet, identified Judas Iscariot as His betrayer, given His new commandment, that we love one another as we love ourselves, and predicted Peter's upcoming denial of Him.

Now as John continues, Jesus reassures His disciples that they know where He is going soon, and, of greater import to this section, they know the way to where He is going. Thomas questions this, saying that they do not know where Jesus is going so how could they possibly know the way. And here Jesus makes it very clear, to Thomas and those assembled that day so long ago, and to us today. Here He does not relate a parable as He so often does when trying to get across a complex point. Here He states exactly what we and they and all His followers need to be assured of, need to understand clearly and without question or doubt. Jesus Himself is the way.

Jesus lets His disciples know that He is soon to return to His Father, to God. He assures them that He is going ahead to prepare a place for them in His Father's many-mansioned house, and if He is doing that for them then surely He will return and take them back with Him. But to go with Him they must know the way, and that way is Jesus.

The message is clear for us today as well: If we wish to live eternity with our heavenly Father, we must follow Jesus, for He is the way, He is the correct and only path that leads to the Father. He is the truth of all of existence, and in Him we can trust, in His word we can believe. And He is the life, for only through Him can we find eternal life. But make no mistake: no one -- NO ONE can come before God, our Father in heaven, except that they go through Jesus Christ our risen Lord and Savior!

So many times the Gospel writers included the words of Jesus that indicate what we need to do to gain eternal life. And Jesus tried teaching that lesson in so many ways. John 3:16 is a great example: whoever believes in the Son of God will not perish but have everlasting life. But here, in chapter 14 verse 6, Jesus, through the hand of John His beloved, tells us in no uncertain terms that through Him and only through Him may we reach that goal. He is the way. His word is the truth. His death, and defeat of death, leads to our life. And only through Him will we live that life for ever and ever.

Jesus is the way. Amen.

Partake of Christ's Sufferings

2008-02-23T08:01:00.000-05:00

"Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy."

-- 1 Peter 4:12-13

I have many times heard asked, "How can a loving God allow so much pain and suffering in this world?", or some variation thereof. In fact, a dear friend, strong in her faith, admitted her own doubts as to how a loving Father could stand by while His children suffered so much. She knew that parents do everything they can to shield their children from hurt and pain. Why cannot God, Who can do literally anything, not shield His believers, His children from all suffering?

I thought on this for a very long while before I came up with an answer that satisfied us both. Granted, parents do try to protect their children from unavoidable harm, and try their best to keep their children innocent for as long as they can. But do not we, even as the most loving and doting parents, teach our children how to ride a bicycle, remove the training wheels or other intermediary aids, and give them that first shove to independence on two wheels? And do we not do this knowing full well that our child will at some point fall and scrape a knee or elbow? Do we not do this with the full knowledge that by this very action our child will be hurt, to some extent or another? By this simple act, we knowingly send our children on a path that will result in pain and suffering. But we also know that sometimes, this is the only way to learn. We know if we do not give the child a chance to fall, they will never try to stand.

The Apostle Peter, in his first epistle "to the pilgrims of the Dispersion", adds much to this thought when he notes that we should not think it strange or out of the ordinary that we may suffer some affliction, some trial. The underlying implication is that everyone will face trials. Instead, he encourages us to rejoice in the face of these hard times, because we are being allowed to share in the sufferings that our Christ and Risen Savior endured! We should rejoice as we partake of Christ's sufferings. There are two interesting points about that simple sentence we should examine more closely.

First, take note that Peter said "Christ's sufferings". He used the plural, more than one instance of suffering, more than one pain, more than one trial. We need to remember as we read Peter's words that he personally knew Jesus, walked the dusty roads with Him, saw how badly He suffered at the hands of His persecutors, and knew even of the suffering Christ must have felt at Peter's own denial of Him. Our Lord suffered many times, and to a horrendously great extent. It has been said that no more cruel a method of putting a man to death has been created by the minds of humankind than crucifixion. Yet our Lord Christ not only suffered this horrible death, but He was beaten, humiliated, and abused in every conceivable manner before finally being nailed to the cross to die. Sufferings, indeed. If the Son of God experienced sufferings, plural, why should we expect to not also bear the pain of multiple sufferings?

And again Peter's choice of words provides further insight into his message. Generally, when the phrase "partake of" is used, it carries along with it the idea of pleasure or enjoyment, even relish. For instance, while one may simply eat a meal, taking in the nourishment our bodies need, our minds add no embellishment to the words and we imagine only the near mechanical action of fork to mouth. On the other hand, when we partake of a meal, we now seem to be participating in an event, enjoying a social gathering with others who are likewise enjoying themselves. Our mind's eye can picture us savoring each morsel, chatting amiably between bites with our hosts and other guests. This is how I believe Peter meant the words, that we should not only go through the act of suffering our afflictions, but that we should almost relish each trial because in it we are in some small way sharing in the suffering our Lord Jesus experienced during His walk on earth as a man. This suffering gives us a common ground to walk upon with the Son of Man. We cannot literally carry the cross for Christ, but in our suffering we can know some small measure of what He suffered for our sake.

Starting the fourth passage of this letter, Peter said: "Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God." (1 Peter 4:1-2) This to me is a very interesting passage from which I myself gain two messages. First, I believe Peter is telling us that we can expect to suffer. Suffering is a foregone conclusion. We will face afflictions and trials, if for no other reason than because Christ Himself suffered while in the flesh. And if the Son of God suffered we can expect to do no less ourselves. So this part of the message, to me, confirms the discussion above.

But then the second part of these two verses, beginning with "for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin", seems to convey a deeper meaning, going beyond the fact of suffering to perhaps the cause of suffering. Throughout the New Testament we are cautioned that Satan has been given rule over this world of man for a time, so that he might tempt as many souls as he can from God's loving embrace. God allows this because He wants us to truly love Him, and not what He might be able to give us during our mortal lives. So Satan takes every opportunity to tempt us while in the flesh, offering all manner of physical pleasures and riches. He wants nothing more than for us to sin, and thus to draw us further and further from God until we are lost. If we, in our love for God, resist Satan's temptations, he will increase the pressure. At some point, he will even cause us great pain, with the implied promise that the pain will cease if we just accept him as our lord and turn away from God. I believe Peter is trying to tell us that if we are suffering, it is a sign that we are not sinning but are doing the will of God. If we are doing that which is acceptable in God's sight, we are certainly not doing what Satan wants, so he causes us to suffer. Whether all suffering is caused by Satan or because we are trying our best not to sin, I cannot say. But I do believe Peter is trying to reassure us that our suffering may indeed indicate we are doing the will of God.

One final note, and a personal one at that, is how often Peter begins a discourse using the endearment "Beloved". Remember how the Gospel writers generally described Peter? He was a fisherman, a strong man, what we might call a man's man. His face was surely weathered by many hours upon the sea, facing the wind and sea spray. I see hands rough and calloused from wooden oars and coarse nets, shoulders and chest broadened and strengthened from constantly dragging heavy nets filled with the catch. I watch as this brawny man pulls a sword and strikes at the servant of one who comes to take his Lord and Master away. I hear his frightened yet angry denials of his Christ, three times as foretold. But here is this strong man, this man of action and few words, speaking so softly to his brothers and sisters in far off lands. He immediately lets them know just how much he cherishes them by calling them "Beloved". And as I read his words, in my heart he speaks directly to me and I know I am also his beloved. And by extension, as his words were inspired by Jesus and by God, I know I am beloved of Christ as well.

Rejoice as you partake of our Christ's sufferings. Amen.

Giving Up

2008-02-07T18:05:00.000-05:00

"From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life."

-- Matthew 16:21 (NIV)

Jesus knew exactly what the future held for Him. He was keenly aware of what was expected of Him. Each step of His journey was closely planned out, every move carefully choreographed, every action precisely orchestrated for His arrival at the cross in time for the salvation of mankind.

But His followers just could not quite grasp this concept. All the ancient prophesy, which He had filled up to this point, clearly depicted Jesus as the Messiah, the One who would deliver the people of Israel from slavery, save them from their enemies, defeat any who stood before them. The people expected a warrior king, not this humble servant. And certainly not One destined to die at the hands of their own kind without so much as lifting a finger in defense.

So Jesus took the time to carefully explain what the immediate future held for Him and for them. He repeated the lesson often, and still they did not truly grasp what He was saying, not until they witnessed the risen Lord in all His glory.

We enter into the sacred Christian season celebrating the death and resurrection of our Christ by observing Lent, the time of sacrifice. As Matthew describes in the verse above, Jesus knew he was to die at the hands of the very children God so loved. God made the greatest of sacrifices when He placed His only Son upon the altar of man. Jesus gave up His life, sacrificed His blood that our sins might be washed away. After Christ's resurrection and ascension, the Disciples also suffered greatly for their belief in our Lord and their willingness to do as He instructed, even when it greatly displeased the powers and leaders of the time. They also sacrificed on our behalf as they established and nurtured the early church. Stephen was martyred, Paul suffered many beatings and imprisonments, an exiled John died alone.

God gave up His only Son. Jesus gave up His body and life. The Disciples gave up everything. Since the day Christ ascended into heaven and the Holy Spirit descended upon us to live within us, men and women have faced harsh decisions for their beliefs and have made great sacrifices to follow the word of God and the teachings of Christ. They clearly understood the meaning of Lent.

But what of us today, in our comfortable homes? What of we who have so much, who know little or no want, whose needs are easily met? What do we sacrifice for our Lord? What have we given up to follow Jesus? What hardships, real or contrived, do we face because of our belief in and support of our Lord Christ?

It is very important to note that we do not gain our way into heaven by observing Lent nor any other religious season or ritual, for works alone will not avail us. The work has already been done for us. During Lent, we recognize and give thanks for those sacrifices made so long ago. Many do so by giving up some small comfort for the forty days leading up to Easter, commemorating the forty days Jesus fasted in the wilderness and prayed, before completing His journey to the cross. Maybe we will give up sweets or going out to movies. But to be meaningful, we should give up something that is really important to us, just as those we recognize did. If you've wanted to quit smoking for years, now is a great time to do it. If alcohol has a grip on you, give it up for Lent and you may find you can live without it for life. Sacrifice large meals in favor of smaller portions. Double your gifts to your church or charity. Give something that causes you a little pain. Your rewards will be great! Improved health, longer life, and more stars in your heavenly crown will surely follow.

You may also want to add something new into your life. If you don't already, make time each day for prayer and devotions, listening carefully for God's response. Teach a Sunday School class at church, sing in the choir, or assist with a service. Step out of your comfort zone for a bit and enrich your relationship with Jesus.

Take advantage of Lent by giving up! Give up a pleasure that you feel you want more than anything. Give up a comfort that makes life bearable. Give up a bad habit you think you can't live without. And give up your heart and life to Jesus -- not just for forty days, but for ever. Amen.

Unto Us

2008-01-02T19:32:00.000-05:00

"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder: and His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

-- Isaiah 9:6

Isaiah was the greatest of the prophets and his poetic writings provide the best picture and the richest revelation of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. To understand the full impact of just how closely he described the life and times of Jesus, you need to understand that Isaiah lived about 740 years before Christ! His ministry to the people of Judah, the southern kingdom of the Jews, began when the ten tribes that made up the northern kingdom of Israel were being carried away into captivity by the invading Assyrians and ended some fifty years later, about the time Judah was taken captive into Babylon. That he was able to so accurately and beautifully predict how our Christ would come to us, live with us, and die by us is nothing short of amazing, and clearly indicates just how God-inspired are his words.

As I write this message, the hustle and bustle of the holiday season is beginning to subside and we can take a few moments to stop and think about what Christmas really means to us. Over the last few weeks we had many opportunities to celebrate the birth of our Savior, to reflect on how God with us impacts our lives. We had church services we could attend and concerts of special Christmas music and Nativity scenes our children depicted for us. But now all that crashing wave has passed and we can think about the message Isaiah and others gave us.

That Isaiah lived so long before Christ yet was able to so clearly describe His life is a sure indication that God spoke through Isaiah, and that the promises He makes are true and trustworthy. The passages from the Old Testament that relate directly to New Testament scripture and the Gospel can be used to corroborate one another, giving validity to both for those who need more "proof" than faith alone can offer them. It is not just that what Isaiah predicted came true, it is that he so accurately described what would come to life over 700 years later that gives perfect credence to his words.

But for myself, when I read this particular verse of Isaiah, I not only feel wonder in his prophesy, but I take great comfort in his choice of words. "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given." Not just to you, not just to me, not just to those scattered tribes of Israel or to the people of Judah who were slipping into idolatry, but to all of us did Jesus come. He was born for all our sakes. This makes it personal, this birth of the Christ, this giving of a Son. He was given for all of us, this greatest gift, and all the rule of heaven was placed upon His shoulder.

And note that Isaiah did not say that a Child will be born, or that a Child was born, but that a Child is born. Even though Isaiah knew that he and everyone that lived during his days would be dead long before this Child would be born, he realized that the Savior would be for him and all the people of his time, just as He would be for those alive when Jesus walked the earth. And that also means He came for us who were born long after Jesus rose from the grave, and for all of those who will come after us until the end of time when Jesus comes again as Judge.

Unto us a Child is born, the Prince of Peace, the Son of God.

Amen.

What Is Good

2007-11-20T16:56:00.000-05:00

"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

-- Micah 6:8

In Chapter 6, Micah is trying to present God's case against the people of Israel. He begins, almost sounding like a frustrated parent: "Just what have I done to you? Why won't you listen to me?" Can't you just feel the Lord's anguish? You likely may have heard the same words from your mother or father, and perhaps have expressed them to your own child. To think that even God could become so exasperated gives us a better image of the level of exasperation Micah is trying to paint when dealing with God's chosen people. He is saying, "What has God done to you that you can ignore Him like this?". And he is reaching back through time to ask us the very question today.

But not only does he ask the question, he provides an answer. Like a parent might say, "I'm the one who clothes you and feeds you and keeps a roof over your head.", Micah reminds the people that God delivered them from slavery and led them out of the land of Egypt, of all the good the Lord has done for them.

And then he ponders the question of how to thank God for all this, how should the people come before God to show their appreciation. Should they bow down before Him? Should they bring burnt offerings or year-old calves? Would the Lord be pleased with ten thousand rams or ten thousand rivers of oil? Would our firstborn children, the fruit of our own bodies, be sufficient to offset our transgressions, our sins? Just what does God want, what does He deem good in His sight?

And then Micah tells us. All God requires is that we act justly, that we love mercy, and that we walk humbly with God.

There are two aspects to this simple request that I would like to examine more closely. First, we are instructed to walk humbly with God. We are not to parade before His throne showing off our spiritual finery. We are not even to come to Him on bowed knee. Both of those actions, on the surface, appear to be something you would do once, or maybe every now and then. Like a visit you would make, just dropping in to see God. No, we are to walk humbly with God. We are to be with Him every moment we live, with every breath we take. When you walk along with someone you are intent on their company. You talk together as you walk. You share with them the things you see around you and what is going on with your life. This is what God wants. He desires that you walk with Him, that you be intent upon Him, and that you share with Him every little detail of your life. And He wants you to be humble in your walk, not prideful or boastful of all the wonderful deeds you do. He wants you to help others to the best of your ability and capability, for your good as well as theirs; not so that others can think how great you are but that you can take comfort in knowing you can help make a difference. Be humble, but more importantly, be constantly and ever with God as you walk through this life.

The second aspect I would like to ponder comes especially to mind with the upcoming Advent and Christmas season. Micah, being an Old Testament prophet, spoke these words before the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Shortly after the birth of Jesus, wise men appeared from the east, following a star and a promise, and laid wonderful gifts before the heavenly baby. While many believe this set the precedent for gift giving at Christmas, it also served as making an offering to God, as He appeared in the flesh. Micah is telling us that while sharing gifts is indeed a wonderful thing, God does not require it. God would rather see that we treat each other with true justice, mercy, and love. And isn't this also exactly what Jesus asked? Isn't this the foundation for His new covenant with us, that we love one another even as we love ourselves, even as we love our God? For if we do so, we will also act justly and show mercy at all times.

As you wrap your bright gifts this holiday season, please remember to add justice and mercy to your list of gifts to give, and all of God's children as a recipient. Be humble and be gracious as you walk through life with God ever at your side. By this you will give to God what is good. Amen.

I Believe

2007-09-23T17:39:00.000-04:00

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.-- Hebrews 11:1

Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, 'May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you've received it, it will be yours.”-- Mark 11:22-24 (NLT)

The Apostle John, in the eighteenth chapter of his Gospel, recounts for us a conversation between Jesus and Pontius Pilate, after Jesus' capture, during His so-called trial. Jesus had just spoken of His kingdom not being of this world, and Pilate, in his best “Ah-hah! Gotcha!” voice exclaimed, “You are a king then!”. The rest of verse 37 is the response Jesus gave: “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” Pilate, refusing to cede the argument, countered with the cynical “What is truth?” before turning away and leaving the room. Jesus used two key words in His response: fact and truth.

We basically have three ways of expressing what we perceive as a fact or the truth. Generally, if we can verify something with one of our senses – if we can see it or touch it or smell it or taste it or hear it – if we can somehow prove it exists, we say we know it to be true. This could also include the variations of “I'd bet the farm on it”, or maybe not being 100% sure since we are aware of optical illusions or other phenomena that may fool our senses, so we may hedge our answer just a bit. And there are those cases where we cannot fully rely on our five senses, nor provide sufficient proof, to verify the truth of their existence. Those times we may say “I think it is so”, or “I'm pretty sure”, or “Well, yeah, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it”. These could also be used for what I will call comparative facts, where your opinion and mine may differ. Like, “I think it's hot in here, but I'm wearing this suit and standing up here in front of all of you and more nervous than a long tailed cat in a retirement home so it may not seem hot at all to you.”

And then there are those times when you know something beyond even the glimmer of a doubt, even though you have no proof for it whatsoever. It is then that we exhibit true faith, and we say “I believe it to be true”. In the Letter to the Hebrews, usually attributed to the Apostle Paul, we learn that faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see. The author then goes on to say that the ancients were commended for their faith. He gives Abraham as an example, citing that purely by faith, when called to to go to some place he would only later learn the location of, Abraham did just that. He obediently followed God's instructions because he had faith in God. In other words, Abraham believed.

Every week we stand here and recite what has become known as the Apostle's Creed. While tradition has it that the creed was written on the day of, or shortly after, Pentecost by the Apostles themselves, most Biblical authorities today believe the authors to have been a group of close followers of the Apostles, sometime within the first few centuries after Pentecost, or during the Apostolic age. So it is safe to say that these statements of belief have been around a while, and have well stood the test of time. But is this creed so old, and so often used, that we take it for granted, that we no longer listen to the words as we speak them, but instead chant them as a ritual, as a solemn duty? Today, I asked us to join hands as we joined voices, to interject something new into the ritual, so that maybe we would pay more attention to the words leaving our lips. And now, if you will indulge me, I would like to look a little more closely into this list of brief statements that together form the fundamental tenets of Christian belief.

I believe. I am sure of what I hope for, and, in this case, sure of what I cannot see. I have faith. And by faith I know. By faith I believe.

I believe in God. Every time I see the sun set, or a baby's fingers, I believe. When I hear a bird's song, or a breeze fluffing dry leaves, I believe. I touch a snowflake, it melts in my hand, and I believe. I smell the ocean's life, breathe in the earth following a rain, and I believe. I can sip from a cool mountain spring, or bite into an apple right off the tree, and I believe. All five of my senses offer proof of the existence of a living God Who ordered and controlled every thing. I can neither see nor hear nor touch nor smell nor taste God, no more than I can experience the wind itself except by its passing. (No, we do not smell the wind, but only the scents it carries. Neither can we feel it, but only its effect on our skin as it passes.) Yet I know He exists by the effects He creates.

The Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. I also believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, and that what it tells me I can accept as truth. Jesus Himself spoke of God as His Father, and even instructed us to address God and consider Him as our heavenly Father also. And since the Bible tells us that God is the one God, the only God, we can know He is all mighty, all powerful. There is nothing God cannot do, nothing that is beyond His power, no force that can prevent Him from accomplishing His great plan. Not only did He create this earth upon which we live, us, and the plants and animals we share earth with, He created the sun that warms us and all the stars and planets and moons that speckle our night sky. He created the angels to worship and serve Him, and heaven where they all reside. He even created Lucifer, who turned on God and now torments us all with his misguided and self-destructive desire to be greater than God. I believe that all that there is, God created.

And in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord. It is sometimes a little difficult to think of this all powerful God as a small human baby, but this is exactly how He came into our world in the flesh. God knows that many have trouble believing in something they cannot see or touch. He has witnessed how easily we fall into idol worship. So He knew that for us to more easily believe, He would need to give us something physical. Because He loves us so much, He came to us in the flesh, as His only Son, to walk among us, live with us, suffer our pains, dream our dreams, and ultimately die at our hands. This is our one true Lord, Jesus Christ.

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary. For God to become flesh, to take the physical form of a man, it was necessary to be born of a human woman but fathered by God Himself. So the third form of God, the third member of the Holy Trinity, entered Mary and planted the seed within her that would grow to be our Lord and Savior. But even the Son of God needed an earthly father, and Joseph humbly obeyed God's angels and accepted the special circumstances of the birth of Jesus, and raised Him as his own, teaching Him the ways of the world, while allowing Him a religious upbringing as well.

Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. As Jesus grew into a young man, He also grew into the role He was born to, just as He later told Pilate as related in the Scripture of John. He shared the truth with the world of man. He taught the true way of life. He promised eternal life to those who would only believe. And He made enemies, great and powerful enemies who sought to silence Him, no matter what it took. So they arrested Jesus and handed Him over to the governor assigned by Rome, for the Jews had no authority to put a man to death but the Romans indeed did. It is significant that we can, through this article of faith, pinpoint with great certainty the time when Jesus suffered and was put to death, because we can determine when Pilate ruled over the Jews by researching independent, non-Biblical documents and records. This places His death as an event in earthly time, not something that simply happened “long ago”. While in Roman hands, Jesus was beaten mercilessly, the flesh literally ripped from His body, was ridiculed and derided, was spat on and jeered, and was nailed to a rough-hewn cross, upon which His earthly body died. His corpse was taken from the cross, cleaned, wrapped in funeral cloths, and interred in a new tomb, the entrance of which was blocked and sealed by a huge boulder.

He descended into hell. Jesus went to the place of the dead. Jesus was really dead. His mortal body ceased all functions. There was no illusion, no slight of hand. Jesus went to where all people who die goes, for He was dead. For those who think death is final, as most did during the time of His walk on earth and many still do today, this would be the end of the story of the Man of Nazareth. Jesus went where the dead all go, never to return or be seen again.

The third day He rose again from the dead. Now this is the one article that makes every Christian heart sing! Even death could not hold our Christ! Through Jesus, God showed us that He can conquer death, that anything is within His power. Jesus did return, he was seen again, in the flesh and by many people, hundreds of people. His wounds could be seen and touched, His voice heard. This was no mere apparition, no illusion. This was the living, walking, talking Jesus Christ once again. The boulder was pushed from the tomb and the once-dead Jesus walked back out. Had our Lord not risen from the grave, there would be no Christian faith today. We would perhaps have an interesting story of a man from somewhere around the Sea of Galilee who preached a little here and there. But no, that is not the case. Now we know for sure that our God lives! He defeated death and rose from the grave and walked among us once again!

He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty. Once His work upon earth was done, once doubtful man was assured of His defeat over death, Jesus bodily arose into heaven. We know that there He has joined God His Father and sits at His right hand. The Son and the Father, both part of God, equals with the Holy Spirit in the form of the Holy Trinity.

From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. In his book of Revelation, Jesus revealed through John that He would come again some day, and would at that time sit in judgment of all mankind, both those who had died and gone on before and those still living on that day, both the quick and the dead. It won't matter if you are dead or alive at that time, or when you died. You will stand before Jesus. Your name will be searched for in the Book of Life. You will be separated, either to Christ's right to enjoy eternal life with Him and His Father, or to His left where you will be cast into the lake of fire, there to spend an eternity in torment. Matthew assures us of this in the twenty-fifth chapter of his Gospel.

I believe in the Holy Ghost. This is the third aspect of God. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit, share equal power and authority in the Holy Trinity, yet each has specific functions or roles as directed by God to assist mankind. The Holy Ghost is that aspect of God which was sent after Christ's ascension to fill man and become part of him. Its role is to guide us, to speak God's word into our hearts, to give us courage and strength, to console us and comfort us. The Holy Spirit is God's gift to us, to continue Christ's mission of teaching us the true way.

The holy catholic church. Many people are confused by this phrase, and some even take offense at it. But this is not what some think. This does not refer to the Christian sect known as the Catholic Church, capital “C”, or any of its variations. The word “catholic” has as a general meaning of universal in extent, involving all, of interest to all. In this sense, in this phrase, it means pertaining to the whole Christian body or church. So when I say I believe in the holy catholic church, I mean that I truly believe in the entire church of Christ, serving as the body of Christ left on earth to fulfill His commission to us. It means that I believe that Christ intended God's word to be available to us all, His plan to be intended for us all, and not just some select few. I believe in the complete and universal love of God.

The communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins. Here, the saints are all those who suffered, were persecuted, were put to death for their belief in God and in Jesus Christ our Lord. Throughout time, even to this day, people of God, brothers and sisters of Christ, have suffered great physical and emotional pain, even death, simply because of their beliefs. The forces of Satan cannot stand such faith, and torture those who will not be deterred from God. At the time of final judgment, these saints will be granted life eternal by Jesus. And we all can be forgiven of our sins, just as Jesus forgave so many as He walked among us. If we believe in Him, admit our sins, and truly repent of them, He will forgive us and stand for us before God at our judgment. Again, forgiveness is not for some select few, but for all who believe and who repent.

The resurrection of the body. Just as Jesus bodily rose from the dead and walked among us again before ascending into heaven, He promises we will also be resurrected in the flesh, that the graves and the seas will give up the bodies of the dead and they will stand before the loving Judge. He promises death will not hold us captive, just as it did not hold Him. Just as He walked from the grave, so will we. We were created in the image of God, and in His image will we live forever.

And the life everlasting. This is what Christians live for, what we long for. Eternal life. But we usually mean eternal life with Jesus, life after death, living in the new heaven and the new earth. But the final judgment also promises eternal life for those who do not believe, who did not repent. This is a life of everlasting fire and torment, the punishment promised for the beast, his false prophet, and Lucifer himself as well as all their agents of evil both alive at that time and dead. I believe in the life everlasting, so I understand that I can choose to suffer eternal torment, or live forever with my Lord and Savior. I choose Christ.

I believe.

Amen.

Freed!

2007-09-12T20:56:00.000-04:00

Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

-- John 8:31-32 (RSV)

Before leaving the region of his home near the Sea of Galilee, before beginning His fateful journey to the cross, Jesus and His followers stopped for a while at the Mount of Olives. He knew His time had not yet come, so He avoided Judea and Jerusalem. Still the people, and especially the Pharisees, came to Him, crowding around to hear His words. For the religious leaders, the interest was more sinister. They sought to trap Jesus, to find in His words and deeds justification for bringing the rule of the law against Him. It was at this point where they took a woman before Him, one they caught in the act of adultery, and challenged Him to obey the law of Moses and declare she must be stoned. They did this to test Him, in hopes that they might now have some charge to bring against Him. To the amazement of all, He uttered the words we know so well: "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." (John 8:7b, RSV) One by one, the Pharisees dropped their stones and walked away.

But they returned after Jesus sent the woman away, forgiven and with instructions to sin no more, and once again questioned Him and His motives. He tried to explain to them just who He was and by what authority He serves mankind. Yet these leaders did not understand, nor did they want to. They could not grasp that Jesus spoke of God as the One who speaks through Him, the Father through the Son. So He turned to those who did truly believe in Him and assured them that the knowledge of that simple truth, that Jesus serves us by the authority of God, would indeed set them all free.

Still the Pharisees could not understand this concept, the idea behind the words. They rebuffed Jesus that they were the children of Abraham and had never been in bondage, so how could they be made free if they were never bound? What they failed to realize, as Jesus tried to explain, is that "Every one who commits sin is a slave to sin." (John 8:34b, RSV) By sinning, mankind is bound in slavery to sin. But by believing in Christ, by following His teachings, we will know the truth, and this truth will free us from the chains of sin forever.

Through John and the eighth chapter of his Gospel, Jesus promises us that sin will not last forever, but that God the Father will. His love will endure for eternity. And we, by His grace and the sacrifice of His Son upon the cross, will be freed from sin and death and will live in our Father's house for ever and ever. When we have savored our final breath upon this earth, the binds of this world will loosen and slip from around us. We will be made free by our belief in our risen Savior. What a blessed day that will be!

Freed! Thank you dear Jesus for freeing me!

Then They Sang

2007-07-14T21:12:00.000-04:00

Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.

-- Matthew 26:30 (CEV)

In his recording of the last days of Jesus' mortal life on earth, the Apostle Matthew preserved for us the events of our Lord's last meal with His disciples. Through these verses we learn that one of the twelve will betray Jesus, one will deny Him, and all will reject Him, even if only briefly. In his own terse way, Matthew also saved for us the acts and words that play the major role in our observation of Holy Communion. But Matthew gave us one more detail, and a wondrous one at that!

Before I get to that, we need to understand that Matthew was not given to flowery language or hyperbole in his writings. Before his conversion, before the Christ bade him "Follow Me" (please see Follow Me), Matthew was a tax collector. As such, he was used to recording names and numbers, amounts of taxes levied and to whom, in the books he would keep for the officials and rulers of the land. This is pretty dry stuff, and not really the type of writing one could call creative, nor that lends itself to much expression. But it did require great attention to detail. Preciseness would be far more important than ease of reading. So it is understandable if Matthew provides a simpler, more straightforward account of Jesus' life than Mark, Luke or John might have given. It isn't so much that Matthew was unimaginative, but that his style was to record what happened in simple words that all could understand while still capturing the details surrounding the events.

Now Jesus knew His remaining time as a man was rapidly approaching a close. He had ridden into Jerusalem, not as a conqueror but as a servant upon the back of a donkey, accompanied by the adoring throngs lifting joyful shouts of "Hosanna" into the air. He knew those shouts would soon turn to "Crucify him!". Judas, the betrayer, had already run from the room. The meal was finished and they prepared to depart from the room, after which Jesus and the remaining disciples would go to Gethsemane. A more solemn time I can barely imagine. Especially in the heart and mind of Jesus, who knew exactly how the coming times would play out.

And yet, in the midst of all this confusion and anger and sadness and deepening sense of coming loss, Matthew, the one not prone to emotionalize or exaggerate and event he recorded, tells us that after Jesus and the disciples finished their meal and before they left for the Mount of Olives, they sang. They sang. With all that was going on, with all that was about to happen, Jesus and His closest followers stopped, lifted their eyes to heaven, and sang a hymn to God the Father!

In this one short verse, Matthew shows us just how truly human the Son of Man was. He sang! We know he preached and taught and questioned the religious leaders and answered questions from everyone and shouted at demons and otherwise opened His mouth and spoke words on many occasions for a great variety of reasons. And now we know He also sang! He sang to God, His own Father! Singing is so much more than some expression of thought as directed by the brain. It is the expression of the joy or sorrow held within the heart and soul. Singing gives voice to our innermost feelings, laying bare our longings and desires.

I chose the Contemporary English Version (CEV) of this verse for a reason. Most other translations give the key phrase as "When they had sung the hymn". Do you notice the subtle difference - "they had sung" versus "they sang"? To me, saying "they had sung" implies that the act had little meaning other than it happened. It's an afterthought, not important enough to play even a major role in the sentence. With that phrase pushed aside, "they went out to the Mount of Olives" takes the center of attention. But the way this is given in the CEV, that they sang now shares equal importance and attention to going to the Mount. More importantly, it shows more humanity in the participants, makes them more like us. Because when we think about a church service we may think that we sang a hymn, just like Jesus and His disciples did that night so long ago. We sang, and they sang. We're not so different after all.

Jesus sang! Can't you just see it? Everyone finished eating, put their forks and napkins down, took their last sip of drink, stood up, maybe joined hands, and broke out into a song of praise to God. Eleven men and the Son of Man lifted their voices in love and prayer. Matthew does not note any hesitation or embarrassment, just that they sang.

Jesus sang. Let's all join Him on the next hymn.

Declare God's Glory!!!

2007-06-21T22:10:00.000-04:00

Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples.

-- 1 Chronicles 16:24

"Declare God's Glory!!!" Those words took residence in a prominent location on the front of my refrigerator many months ago, emblazoned upon an index card. I see them every time I prepare dinner. I read them whenever I reach for my pitcher of cold sweet tea (a true Southern tradition). I repeat them, sometimes silently, sometimes boldly in full voice, with each grasp of the door handle. Those three words stand etched in stone before my mind's eye.

Many of us poor mortals trudge through life wondering why we are here, what we're supposed to do. We even question what life itself is all about, what is its meaning and purpose. We pose the questions in songs, in literature, in private musings, and even in public conversations. After years of this futility, many give up questioning. Some adopt an egocentric attitude and decide to take for themselves what they can while they can. Others choose a hedonistic approach, and do it if it feels good, not matter what "it" is or who else might be affected by their actions. Still others resign themselves to never knowing the answers, and thus have no outlook on life other than to get through it.

But countless numbers of us figured it out long ago. Someone introduced us to God, our parents or a pastor or a good friend, and we built a growing, loving relationship with Him. We read His word as recorded in the Holy Bible and understand our relationship with Him, and within that relationship our purpose in life -- to declare the glory of God!

I say "countless numbers" because in Revalation 7:9 (NIV), John tells us: "After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands." These were those whose names appear in the Book of Life, the saved. Now in other verses John reported the number of angels around the throne as ten thousand times ten thousand, and that those sealed numbered one hundred and forty-four thousand, and that the army of the horsemen numbered two hundred million. So just how large a throng must John have encountered that "no one could count"? Much larger than two hundred million, or ten thousand times ten thousand. A countless multitude of saved souls.

God created us that we might worship Him. He gave us free will that we might choose to worship Him, or we might choose one of the approaches mentioned above, taking the path of the lost. Angels have no choice but to worship God. They were created by the Maker to do just that and only that, to serve the Lord with all their being. But God gave us a choice. He loves us so dearly that He was willing to take a chance that we might not love Him in return. But by taking that risk, He is so greatly rewarded and pleased when we do choose to love Him, to worship Him as our Lord, not because we have to, but because we WANT to!

Those of us who are parents know the risk God takes here. We bring children into this world, care for them, nurture them, provide for their needs, teach them as best we can. We love them. And we hope and pray that they will love us in return. How woeful we become, how filled with sorrow, when they rebel against our authority, as teens are wont to do. But oh how great is the feeling, how wonderful, when as adults they show us they indeed do love us and understand what we tried to do for them.

That is how it must feel for God when we choose to love and worship Him. He created us. He loves us enough to give His only Son up as the ultimate sacrifice, giving us eternal life at His side if we only believe in His Son as our Savior, if we only choose to worship and love the Lord.

How then do we repay that love God showers upon us? By worshipping Him. And how better to worship God than by declaring His glory to all the nations, his wonders to all His people! So grab a sheet of paper and write down those three words. Stick it on your refrigerator, your front door, your bathroom mirror, or all three! Repeat the words as often as you see them. Soon you will see them, as do I, emblazoned across the very skies before you.

Declare God's Glory!!! Amen.

I Will Show You

2007-05-31T18:59:00.000-04:00

"Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know."

-- Jeremiah 33:3

The Holy Bible records many instances of the direct works of God before men. The Old Testament, especially, bears frequent witness to people having contacts with angels, conversations with God, God's handiwork in the world. Whether from a burning bush or a cloud overhead, people sometimes heard the voice of God in answer to their pleas or giving them direction.

Today, those who do not believe in God, or who struggle with their belief, often express their disbelief by pointing to these instances of direct divine intervention in Biblical times and asking why not today? They smugly note that if God indeed existed, why does He not show Himself today like He did then?

The simple answer also comes from the Bible, this time from the New Testament. God gave His own Son to the world, that through Him we might be saved. Once the ultimate sacrifice was given, and we became washed clean of our sins by the blood of the Lamb, salvation is within our grasp if we only believe. God made the final direct intervention to mankind through Jesus Christ.

The answer that unbelievers or those weak in their faith may find a little more difficult to accept is that God still speaks to us, directly. He still shows Himself to us so that we might glorify Him. All we have to do is call to Him, and He will answer. Not that we can expect to hear a voice say "Yes?" when we shout "Lord!". We need not stand on the mountain heights and scream at the top of our lungs for God to listen to our pleas. No, we need only stop, be still, be silent, and listen with our hearts for the soft whispers of our Father's comforting voice. If we do shout for His attention, He may answer simply with birdsong, or a baby's laughter. If we scream out our needs, He may answer years later, silently giving us what we truly needed.

And if we stand upon the mountain and lift our eyes to the heavens, He may show us the wonders of His rising or setting sun, of His beautifully painted landscape, of lightning crackling through the air. On the palette of a cloudless night sky, He displays for our viewing pleasure the vast infinity of the universe He made come into being. He gives us glimpses into the very nature of life which He designed.

We sit in our laboratories doing all manner of scientific endeavor, splitting atoms and mapping the human genome, and we think we are so clever. Yet we sometimes forget that God created the very atoms we study, He laid out the human map we decipher. All we have seen, all we know, He showed us in His own due time. All great and mighty things are the result of God's loving hands, and He presents His majestic works for our wonderment, our awe, and sometimes just to show us things which we do not know.

Stop for a moment. Be silent and listen. Look around you. Pay attention: God is talking to you.

Create In Me

2007-05-06T23:52:00.000-04:00

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

-- Psalm 51:10

"Lord, send a revival.
Lord, send a revival.
Lord, send a revival,
and let it begin in me."

-- from the movie "Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit"

I love the two "Sister Act" movies because I love music and the way music is used in those wonderful little films to glorify our Lord. At first the church choir struggles with poor pitch, bad timing, and many sour notes. But they make dramatic improvements when a Vegas show girl, hiding out from her gangster former boyfriend and impersonating a nun, leads them, using modern, even secular pieces to sing to God. They don't just sing God's praises, they sing to Him. Church choirs everywhere, yours most definitely included, delight in lifting a joyful song unto the Lord. We sing to our Father, and by doing so, praise Him.

The lyrics above were not performed by that little choir, instead sung by a high school choir in competition, and though only a short piece included mainly to give the primary teen actors in the second film something to admire and talk about before taking the stage themselves, it nonetheless struck a chord within me (if you will pardon the pun) and stayed with me over the years. Today those words seem to resonate even more clearly within my heart, for our dear Lord has most certainly sent a revival that began in me.

Spring is the traditional time of renewal, of life emerging once again from its winter slumbers. Easter personifies this with the resurrection of our Lord and Savior and His ascension to His throne and dominion over all the universe. Renewal, rebirth, revival. We all feel it to some degree. I am experiencing it first hand.

While perhaps not completely lost, I had certainly been hiking further and further off the straight and narrow path Jesus teaches us to follow. But the Good Shepherd knew I was in peril, so He came looking for me. He sent some earthly angels to take my hand and bring me back to the safety of the fold. I am still a sinner, and there may be times when you think that, like the character in the movie, I am impersonating something I most certainly am not. I am just so filled with the Holy Spirit that I fear it often overflows and comes flooding out of my mouth (or fingers, as the case may often be). My prayer is to excite everyone I touch with just how much our Savior loves us and how much He offers.

I would like to encourage everyone to not only attend your regular Sunday morning worship services, but to also join a Sunday School classes if you do not already attend one regularly. Jesus taught that one of the best ways to keep Him in our hearts and to stay on His path is to spend as much time as possible with others who seek the same goal, so that we provide support to each other and reinforce positive Christian beliefs. Sunday School offers not only an opportunity to learn something new, but also the chance of teaching others, of helping them, of sharing insights. In this way we all benefit and build a closer relationship to Jesus. By discussing confusing passages or even controversial subjects that Christians are faced with today, we can gain a better understanding of our own goals, our own purpose in life, and the ideals we should strive for. Please, join us. Please take advantage of every opportunity each week to unite with your friends in worship, inspiration and prayer. Take advantage, and take a closer walk with God.

The Lord sent a revival. Now let it continue in us.

What Does It Mean to be a Christian?

2007-04-22T19:13:00.000-04:00

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."
-- John 3:16-17

John 3:16 - probably the best known of all verses in the Christian Bible. While it could just as easily speak of the greatest love that mankind could ever be shown, it also gives testimony to what it means to be a Christian.

As I began preparing this message, I immediately thought of the "You might be a redneck" comedy routine made famous by Jeff Foxworthy. You know how it goes... "If your hound dog gets the queen-size bed all to himself while you and the wife share the pullout sofa, you might be a redneck." Here's what I had in mind:

If you help feed the hungry, you might be a Christian. Jesus Himself said this, as recorded in Chapter 25 of Matthew, verse 35: "for I was hungry and you gave Me food".

If you give a glass of water to someone thirsting, you might be a Christian. That's from Jesus again: "I was thirsty and you gave Me drink".

If you take in a stranger in need and provide shelter for them, you might be a Christian. Are you starting to see a pattern here? Jesus yet again: "I was a stranger and you took Me in".

If you offer clothing to the needy, visit the sick, homebound, and infirm, or give hope and inspiration to those incarcerated in jail or in prison, you just might be a Christian. Why do I say this? Matthew saved for us the words of the Christ as He related to His disciples some of the events that will occur at the end of days, when Jesus shall serve as Judge of man:

"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.'
"Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'" -- Matthew 25:31-40

Christ is telling us right there that He fully expects us take care of all of mankind to the best of our ability and capability to do so. Those hungry, those thirsty, those poor, those ill, those incarcerated. None are beneath us. None are any less deserving of our compassion and caring and love. For how we treat even the very least of these our brothers and sisters, that is how our wonderful Savior sees us treating Him. For we are all His children, all of us. Those of us more able to help others less capable are called upon to do so. And you'll notice that Matthew did not quote Jesus as making exceptions for those who may have had it coming to them, or those who brought it all upon themselves, or those who deserved whatever they got. When you care about even those some might consider the worst of human trash and filth, you care about your Savior.

And that is why I say you might be a Christian if you do these things. I would tell you that there are many people in this world who do great works for their fellow man, who feed the hungry and clothe the naked and give aid and comfort to the neediest of mankind. Yet they are not Christians, and they will not take their place at the throne of glory Jesus spoke of. Why not? Simply put, they do not accept John 3:16.

The Gospel as recorded for us by John, perhaps more so than any other book, overflows with examples of God's love for His children. And in verse 16 of chapter 3, he gives us the best expression of this: "God so loved the world". Can you even begin to imagine how terrible it would be to watch as your only child, tried in a farce of a court of law, found guilty without benefit of defense, humiliated, tortured, beaten, and finally put to death in a horrible, most painful manner? How would you feel? What would you do? And what if, all the time this was happening, you had the power to stop it, but knew in your heart that you must allow these events to transpire for the good of all those you love? This is God's love, that He would offer up His only Son as the ultimate sacrifice, place all the sins of the world upon the One without sin.

So, what does it take to be a Christian? There are a few things we must understand. First, we must remember what Jesus instructed us while He still walked among us. John, in the 34th verse of his 13th chapter, relays this instruction to us, telling us Jesus said: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." So there is the first phrase of the definition of a Christian: that we love others the way that Jesus loves us. Of course, simply loving others is not a sure sign of a Christian, but it is definitely a requisite.

A more important requirement is to understand that we are sinners. All of us. We are born into sin because of our heritage, as the offspring of Adam and Eve. We sin when we knowingly and willfully do others harm. We sin when we think ourselves better than others, and by doing so think we know more than God, who created us all and loves us all. We carry the original sin with us as baggage through the airport. Unfortunately, we collect and amass even more baggage as we walk along through life. We Christians know we are sinners. But we also know how to get rid of all that unsightly luggage.

We must understand that Jesus was persecuted, beaten, nailed to a cross, and died so that His blood could wash away our sins, so that we might stand pure and clean before the throne of God on the day we are judged. This is the crux of John 3:16, that we believe, truly believe that Christ died for us, that He sacrificed Himself that we might live forever in His Father's house in heaven. If we only believe. Jesus did all of this for you and for me. He gave completely of Himself, for you and for me. Believe it.

Next we must realize that our Savior defeated death, rose from the depths of hell, and lives to this day. Not only did He die for us, but He came back from death to prove to all who would see that we too can live forever! He told us that we need not fear death, for a greater life awaits us. He showed us that this is not all there is, that the grave is not permanent. All the promises He made while walking among us were immediately and thoroughly authenticated by the act of His fulfilling just this one of them. The very fact that He rose from the dead, just like He said He would, proves that we can trust everything else He told us. In His Father's house are many rooms, and He has already prepared one for us, where we will dwell with Him forever.

And finally, we have been charged by Jesus to spread the good word. Mark, in chapter 1 verse 17, and Matthew, in chapter 4 verse 19, both recorded the words of Christ as He directed them: "Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." The emphasis and importance of being repeated in two Gospels clearly marks our Lord's expectations, that His followers help bring in the greatest catch of all - His children back to His arms. Of course, He did not mean for them to cast nets over the heads of people and drag them off to church. No, their task was to go out into the world, sharing Christ's message with all they contact. Mark confirms this in the 15th verse of his 16th chapter, quoting Jesus as directing "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." John puts a slightly different spin on this in chapter 17, verse 18, as Jesus prayed to His Father: "Just as You sent Me into the world, I am sending them into the world." And John reports on Jesus speaking to the disciples in chapter 20 verse 21: "As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you." And in chapter 1 verse 8 of the Acts of the Apostles, Paul relates Jesus saying "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

In the Greek language, the word "martyr" is derived from the word for "witness". During the first century AD, those who dared serve as witnesses to the risen Christ were persecuted, jailed, and often killed for their beliefs. Jesus calls each of us to be His witness. He knows there are potentially deadly ramifications to doing so, but He promises great rewards. Today, for most of us here in Mt. Pleasant, we will never have to face death for our belief in the Lord. The worst we may experience is embarrassment from facing a group of people, or ridicule from those who serve Satan. But being a witness is more than just seeing, in it also reporting what has been seen. Being a Christian means you have seen the truth, that Jesus is your risen Savior. Now complete the task and report to others what you have seen.

Christ has risen! Jesus lives! Hallelujah!! Amen.

A New Creation

2007-04-11T20:28:00.000-04:00

If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new.

-- 2 Corinthians 5:17

When writing his second letter to the people of the church in Corinth, Paul tried to explain the permanence of the next life that awaits us as compared to the fragility of this life on earth. He wants to assure them that even "if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made by hands, eternal in the heavens." (2 Corinthians 5:1) He wants to comfort them, to help them understand that no matter what happens in this life, that what is to come will be all new, not formed by human hands, not subject to rot or decay or erosion. All we have to do is believe in Christ as our Savior and follow His commandment to love each other, and we will be recreated anew! We don't even have to wait for the next life, it happens as soon as we become one in Christ.

Think about that a moment. Let me repeat this simple sentence. When we are in Christ, when we know Him as our Savior, the true Messiah, then we become a new creation. The old us is gone and a new person stands in our place. Now, of course, this does not mean that we change dramatically physically, although we will be prone to smile more often, to weep more often, to show care and feelings on our faces more often. No, the change occurs within us. We are new, no longer created by hands, but formed of heaven. Our souls are no longer subject to the rot and decay that is the domain of Lucifer, but can better resist his attempts to erode our faith in the Lord.

This eloquent verse carries even more beauty in other translations. The New Living Translation of the Bible gives it as "This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" This tells us that our old life, our old ways, are over. What we did in the past is long gone. We have begun a new life, and with it come new ways of dealing with life, of treating our brothers and sisters in this walk upon the earth. When we are filled with Jesus, when we follow His commandment, we must look upon others with a new heart. We feel the blessings of our Lord, and the urge to share those blessings grows ever stronger with our love of Christ, with our new life in Him.

The Contemporary English Version offers blessed assurance when it presents this verse as "Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new." This carries the addition, and most wonderful message that all our past sins are not only forgiven once we truly proclaim our faith in Jesus, but they are also forgotten! Jesus has stood for us and God will now not even remember our past failures! By our Savior's grace we are made clean, fresh, and new before His Father.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for making of me a new creation! Amen!

Up To Jerusalem

2007-04-02T20:41:00.000-04:00

Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again."

-- Luke 18:31-33

In the first chapter of his book of Revelation, John speaks of Jesus as "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." (Revelation 1:8b) In previous books, by other authors, God is often referred to in this manner, as being the beginning and the end and all in between. But John makes the definite correlation between God and His Son, describing Christ in the same words as those used to describe God. By this, then, we are made aware that Jesus knew everything that was to happen to Him long before it occurred. He knew of His capture, torture, and death, and why events had to unfold as they did.

In our reference scripture, Luke gives further evidence that Jesus knew exactly what He was doing, and the consequences His actions would bring. This exchange took place after He and the disciples left the area of Samaria and Galilee, after He had healed the ten lepers yet only one returned to give thanks. He taught with the parable of the persistent widow and the humble tax collector. He rebuked His followers to let the small children come to Him, He admonished the wealthy man to sell all he had and give it to the poor so that he might find treasure in heaven. He assured all who listened that with God all things are possible. And then He took the twelve aside, and gave them a glimpse of the future.

Jesus, ever the Teacher, spent His last days on His journey to Jerusalem and His fate trying to give His disciples the understanding they needed so that they could continue His works, teach His word, start and nourish His church. As usual, they could not fully comprehend the full extent of what the Son of Man planned for Himself and for them. No mortal could, as Christ knew. Yet just as He could foretell what Jerusalem held in store for Him, He was also aware that His followers would indeed understand their role, and His, once He returned to His Father and they were left to tend His fields and see to His flock.

Our Christ knew. Before the first hand raised the first palm branch, before the first Hosanna lifted into the sky, Jesus knew how this trip to Jerusalem would end. Before the crowd could even begin to think that the Son of Man would free them from the hands of the Romans, He understood that He must die at the hands of man to free them from death. He knew the heartbreak and humiliation and suffering that lay at the end of this dusty path. But on He continued. His feet never once shuffled, His step never once showed a moment of hesitation, He never evinced a second thought as He and His beloved disciples strode through the gates of Jerusalem. Only He realized this triumphant entry into the city could only truly be deemed a victory when viewed from the cross.

And still He came. With holy men and leaders just waiting to take Him captive and make an example of Him, still He came. Even as a man of flesh that can be torn and bones that can be crushed and muscle that can be strained beyond endurance, even with the absolute knowledge of just how much this would hurt, physically and emotionally, still He came. Our Savior loves us so much, just as His Father loves us. He understood only the greatest sacrifice would be worthy before God to redeem us of our lives of sin. Only the blood of the Lamb could prove sufficient to wash us clean enough to stand before the throne of His Father.

So still He came. Up to Jerusalem He came, to die so we may live.

Hosannas to our Savior! Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!

Thank you, sweet Jesus! Amen.

The Good Shepherd

2007-03-25T21:39:00.000-04:00

"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me."-- John 10:14

In the tenth chapter of his Gospel, John relates how Jesus described Himself as the good shepherd. His audience would have been very receptive to this analogy since tending to and caring for sheep were very critical to the lives and livelihoods of many Israelis of this time period. They understood the examples Jesus used when comparing Himself to a shepherd. He took advantage of this so they would also understand when He spoke of sheep while actually describing the people. For just as a shepherd loves and cares for his flock, so Jesus loves and cares for the children of God.

Jesus chose a number of comparisons to assure His listeners. He noted that anyone who enters the sheep pen other than through the gate is not to be trusted, but that the shepherd enters through the gate, calls his sheep by name, and they follow him. One can easily see here a reference to Lucifer and his minions, to false prophets and others who would lie or steal while doing Lucifer's bidding. Yet when our Lord enters, He will call us by our true names and we will follow.

Our opening verse above also assures us. Jesus quite clearly states that He knows us, He knows our name. And by this He also states that His true followers know Him. Christ knows you, He knew you before you were even born. He knows your real name that He will tell you when you sit by His side. And if you fully believe and follow Him, if you have a real and good relationship with Him, then you know Him too.

Jesus provides reassurance to those of us not born descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when He says, "I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd." (John 10:16) If the flock in His sheep pen are the chosen of God, the Israelis, then the other sheep he seeks to bring into the pen are the rest of us, the Gentiles. Although we may not be part of God's original chosen people, Jesus still wants us in His fold. He longs to bring us all together into one flock, one people, with Him as the one shepherd.

I purposely used the word "seeks", for in His parable of the lost sheep, Jesus notes that the good shepherd would leave his flock to go in search of one lost sheep so that he can find it and return it to the safety of the fold. And so it is with Christ. He knows His followers are safe in Him, so He can leave them to go seek out those who are lost. He will find them and lift them carefully upon His shoulders and carry them back to the full flock, the one flock.

The good shepherd knows each of his sheep by name. He loves them and cares for them. If one goes astray, he will search until he finds the lost one and bring it back to the fold. And when the wolves attack, he will fight to defend his sheep, even laying down his own life if necessary for the survival of his flock.

Jesus is our Good Shepherd. He knows each of us by our true name. He loves us, just as His Father loves us, and He cares about our immortal souls. When we stray, He guides us back to His way and path through the Holy Spirit within us. And if we become lost, He searches until He finds us, lovingly takes us in His arms, and brings us back to dwell with Him.

And the greatest assurance our Good Shepherd gives us through John is that He has already given His life so that we need not fear the wolves of the world, so that we might forever be saved. He laid down His life, and in so doing defeated the wolf. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, our Shepherd. Forever and ever. Amen.

By One Offering

2007-03-18T22:59:00.000-04:00

For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

-- Hebrews 10:14

When writing to the Hebrews, Paul explained how once, priests made sacrifices of living animals as offerings to God. Lambs and calves were often slain and placed upon the altar, as well as fruits and crops from the harvest, all to seek the pleasure of God that He might take away their sins. Sacrifices and offerings served as rituals of cleansing, the blood intended to wash away the sins of man.

Yet when Jesus came and walked among us, He became God's sacrifice on our behalf by the will of God the Father. Paul writes: "By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God." (Hebrews 10:10-12)

What had once been commonplace and, according to the scripture quoted above, ineffectual became obsolete and unneeded with the one sacrifice Jesus made of Himself. The blood of this purest Lamb washed us all clean, with one stroke brushed clean to stand before God. The One who bore no sin of His own took upon Himself the sins of the world so that we would be free of sin when we approach the throne of our King. One death, that death would be defeated forever. One bloody sacrifice so that no more must die.

The one perfect being this world has ever known perfected forever those who He sanctified by His suffering and sacrifice. We, who are so imperfect, so riddled with worldly woes, so lost and separated from God, are made clean and perfect in the eyes of God by this one great and awesome and wonderful act, that the Son of God gave His life for our salvation.

As Easter approaches, we remember the final days of Jesus upon this earth. We honor the sacrifice He made for us. And we rejoice in the promise of our salvation in the fact of His resurrection. Share the news with those who may not know, or who may have forgotten.

Christ has risen! Jesus lives! All praise be to God! Amen.

Stand Against the Devil

2007-03-06T21:57:00.000-05:00

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

-- Ephesians 6:11

The pages of the Bible abound with images of battle, including the imagery of the ultimate war between the armies of God and the forces of Satan. Paul makes good use of one such visualization to encourage us to take up the armor of God so that we might withstand the advances of the devil.

Satan is the greatest schemer this world has ever known. Created by God, he chose to defy his Creator rather than worship Him. Cast out of heaven, he took up residence in our mortal world, intending to draw as many of God's children away from their Father as he could, and in that way defy God. By pulling us away from God's side, the devil hurts the very One who created him. God loves us so much that He feels pain each time we turn away from Him. So each of those turns becomes a small victory for Satan, another tweak of his Master's cheek, another slap at the Lord's face. And that gives the devil pleasure.

Satan is very good at luring us away from our heavenly Father. He offers us wanton pleasures, frees us from personal responsibility, opens doors to our material dreams, sets buffets for our earthly lusts. And all we need do in return for such largesse is to enjoy it, to forget about tomorrow, to ignore the Holy Spirit within us until we become adept at no longer hearing God's voice in our hearts. It all sounds too good to be true. Because it is. For if we succumb to Satan's wiles, if we accept the devil's gifts, if we turn our backs on God and follow the path of the Evil One instead, we pay the ultimate price of eternal damnation; a high price indeed.

The devil usually takes small steps when luring us to his side. It isn't like in an old movie, where he promises us wonderful riches, anything our hearts desire, if we simply sign a contract giving him our souls when we die. No, he works more skillfully than that, more secretly and seemingly innocently. He whispers that there is really nothing wrong with taking home some office supplies, the company will never even miss them. It's understandable that you refuse to give more of your hard-earned money to the needy, nobody ever gave you anything. Go ahead and flip off that driver that just cut you off, he was rude first and deserves to be shown he can't get away with it. It isn't really lying if you don't tell your spouse about that little kiss with an old flame. Little things - sharp words, sudden spurts of unwarranted anger, small inhumanities shown to others. Small baby steps, leading to ever larger acts, increasing your pace along the path to the lake of fire at the end of days. This is how Satan works. Slowly, slyly, constantly. He is stronger than you. But he is not stronger than God. He cannot get to you when you wear the armor of God.

When Satan tempts you, when he whispers in your ear or offers a glimpse of earthly paradise, turn instead to the Lord. Don the full power of God as your protection against the devil's schemes and lures.

Your Labor Is Not In Vain

2007-02-12T20:13:00.000-05:00

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

-- 1 Corinthians 15:58

Earlier, we looked at how we are granted entrance into heaven only through the grace of Jesus Christ our Savior, only through His blood shed upon the cross to wash away our sins and make us pure so we may stand before the throne and kneel at God's feet (see Paid In Full from September 11, 2006). We, and the scripture of Paul, noted that our good works here on earth would not pay our way, but that Christ had already paid for us. Yet lest there be any confusion, the knowledge that we defeat death solely through the grace of our Savior should not deter us from performing those good works even if our efforts here will not get us into heaven. Why? Simple: We will be judged based on those very works!

These two concepts may seem contradictory on the face of it. First, we are granted salvation only by the blood of Christ, and our belief in Him as the Messiah. Second, we will be judged according to what we did on earth. If we are passed through into heaven because of our belief, why do we need worry about being judged?

The easy answer is that we need not worry. Heaven is our ultimate goal, and to reach it we need only believe in Christ. But as we discussed before, if you truly believe in Christ, truly know Him as your Savior, you will want to follow His path, you will feel a compulsion to live your life as He lived His, and as He directed in the Gospel. In effect, you will want to do good deeds, to help others, and especially to try to help others find their way to Christ.

The scripture is replete with evidence of admonitions for us to do good. In his 25th chapter, Matthew provides us with the words Jesus spoke, listing many ways the Lord will view our actions, including these:

"I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me."

-- Matthew 25:35-36

He further explained these words by saying:

"Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me."

-- Matthew 25:40

We should take these words as a cautionary warning, a directive, and a blessing in that our Lord gives us a clear set of guidelines to follow.

In his Revelation of Jesus Christ, John provides us with a view of the end of time, when Christ shall again come, and come into His Kingdom. In the 4th verse of chapter 20, John assures us Jesus will come as a judge:

And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshipped the beastor his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

-- Revelation 20:4

And by what are we judged, even those that have believed in Jesus as their Savior and followed His teachings? John tells us:

And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.

-- Revelation 20:12-13

"I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil."

-- Revelation 2:2

So if we are judged, and found worthy in our Lord's eyes, what then? We received entry to heaven for our belief in Christ and adherence to His way, so what do we gain from this final judgment? Again, the scriptures answer:

And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

-- Colossians 3:23-24

"The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth."

-- Revelation 11:18

"Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.

-- Matthew 5:12

As those trying our utmost to live our lives for Christ, to follow the path He laid, we can only study so as to learn from His teachings and the words of His disciples, and await His return to take His Kingdom and redeem His children. But in the meantime, we can follow His directives to go into the world and repeat His message, to bring others to His throne, and to do good works.

"And behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work."

-- Revelation 22:12

Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad.

He Strengthens Me

2007-01-30T16:27:00.000-05:00

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
-- Philippians 4:13

Sometimes life just gets us down. Many of us go through periods when the troubles and woes of the world weigh so heavily upon our shoulders that we wonder how much more we can stand, not knowing where we might find that little extra courage to face another day, that little boost to get over the next hump. During those stretches, that can go for weeks, months, or even years without a true break, it is all we can do just to climb out of bed every morning. In the past during such lows, I always took some small measure of relief from the words of the Psalmist:

I will lift up my eyes to the hills --
From whence comes my help?
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
-- Psalm 121:1-2

This passage always comforted me, for it does not say that I go to the Lord for help. No, it says that my help comes from the Lord. My gracious Savior comes to me in my time of need and helps me. I only have to go to Him in prayer, then He comes to my aid. How moving is this thought, that the Creator of all would come to me, one of His many children, a sinner, a small sheep lost and confused? My help comes from the Lord. This became my mantra, an oft repeated phrase, when times got roughest.

Until recently, when my dearest friend presented me with a most wonderful gift - a lovingly used New Testament Bible. This pocket Bible had been presented to her earthly father many years ago, shortly before he departed this life to go be with his heavenly Father. This was a man who I happen to share a good bit in common with, including love of our Father and a deep compelling drive to learn more about Him and our own purposes in life. My friend could give me no better gift than this precious piece of her father, one which he carefully annotated with notes, thoughts, and the highlighting of meaningful verses. His favorite is the subject of this particular missive -- "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." I now cherish this small Bible and this verse, which I have also adopted as my own.

So now, during the darkest of days when the world crushes me with each turn, I can take comfort in knowing that my Lord and Savior not only comes to me and brings me help, He also strengthens me when I have no strength left. Through Him, I can survive. Through Him, I can rise from my bed and face another day. Through Him, I can do all things, for He gives me strength.

When I think I can go no further I look to heaven, for my help comes from the Lord who strengthens me.

Learn, Share, Teach

2007-01-19T19:44:00.000-05:00

Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.
-- 2 Timothy 2:7

As we close out 2006, many of us make resolutions for the coming year, usually to improve some aspect of our physical appearance, our general conduct, or our behavior. Our good brother and Pastor John has given my fellow congregants a challenge: to attend Sunday School as well as the regular worship service as many Sundays as we possibly can. This correspondent has accepted his challenge and hopes all of you, my kind readers, will join me if you don't already attend as many worship and learning services as possible, including any held weekday evenings, such as Bible studies and prayer and inspiration sessions.

Our longing to be reunited with God often compels us to want to learn more and more, as much as humanly possible, about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and His Father. The Bible is the best source of knowledge and history, but we can also gain helpful insights from our fellow sojourners in this life. You may be surprised at how much someone you share a pew with each Sunday morning knows about certain events during those times Christ walked among us, or the interesting angle and background they can provide. We can all gain more information, and we all have something we can impart for others.

The old saying, "You learn something new every day!", still holds true. How many times have you heard someone say, or said yourself, "I never knew that" or "I didn't realize that" or "I never looked at it quite that way"? We've heard those words, or similar phrases, a number of times the last few weeks in my Sunday School class, and we aren't exactly spring chickens any more. No matter the subject, there is always someone more knowledgeable than ourselves, there is always someone with a slightly different viewpoint, there is always someone with an experience we have not had. We learn from each of these, and by sharing, we help others learn.

So join us Sundays and Wednesdays and any other day some opportunity presents itself to gain a better understanding of our Savior and thus build a more fulfilling relationship with God. Come to learn, come to share, and come to teach.

Rejoice and Pray

2007-01-03T23:27:00.000-05:00

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
-- I Thessalonians 5:16-18

As I write this, we recently celebrated the birth of Jesus. But first we observed the annual Advent season, where we anxiously awaited that wonderful day when our Savior came down to earth to walk among us. Some of us may look at the weeks leading up to Christmas as a mere formality, another season of observance on the Christian calendar, simply a prelude to what is to come. We know how the story goes: how the angel appeared to Mary, and later to Joseph; how they traveled to Bethlehem for the census; how they could find no room at the inn and were forced to seek shelter in a lowly stable; how the heavenly Babe was born, wrapped in cloths, and laid in a cattle manger; how the shepherds and then the wise men visited and paid homage; how the angels sang. We know the story, and celebrate the joyous day each year.

One of the meanings of the word Advent (with a capital "A") is "the coming of Christ into the world", and that is why we observe the season of Advent. But there is another chapter of the story, and we know it as well although we have not yet celebrated it. For there will be one more Advent, one more time when Jesus Christ will come to earth and walk among us. The first Advent heralded the Messiah, come to offer mankind a path to salvation. This time He will come as our King. He will reward His faithful and punish evil. This second coming, this second Advent, is the one we look forward to with all that is within us. For it will usher in the thousand year reign of Christ the King, a millennium of true and lasting peace on earth. We long to see the face of Jesus; we feel we know Him from the witnesses of the Gospels. We truly anxiously await the second Advent.

Paul, in his letter to the Thessalonians, offers us instruction on what to do while we wait. In other writings, he admonished us, all of us, to be steadfast in our faith, and to grow our faith. He tells us to become even closer to Christ, to seek out the company of other believers and draw strength and support from them, to encourage others to know and believe in the one true God and his risen Son. Here he provides insight into a few activities we can participate in to gain a closer relationship with Jesus. While we await His coming, we should rejoice in Christ our Savior. We should pray to Him and His Father with every breath we take. We should give thanks to God for everything that He gives to us, for our Salvation, for His Son, for everything. Paul tells us this is what Jesus want us to do. And how would Paul know? Because Paul knew Jesus personally, he spent three years with Him, following Him, listening to Him, learning from Him. And Paul blessed us by recording everything he knew about Jesus, so that we can know Him as well. Through God's great grace through His servant Paul, we know the rest of the story, and we know what we must do while we wait to see the face of our Christ.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and in all things give thanks. For Christ is coming to earth again. Amen.

And on Earth Peace

2006-12-26T08:32:00.000-05:00

And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.

Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace,
goodwill toward men!”

-- Luke 2:1-14

God With Us

2006-12-14T20:33:00.000-05:00

"Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”
-- Matthew 1:23

How do you show someone you really love them? How do you tell them that they mean everything to you? Not with words, for words are easy to utter and can be used to hide true meaning. We give them something that shows great consideration and care in picking out the gift. We make great personal sacrifices, do for them what others would not even think of. We give of ourselves to them.

That the Creator of the universe and all within it would love us, part of His creation, is incredible enough. That He would go to such great lengths to show us His love would be unbelievable had we not the very evidence of the birth of Jesus. First He chose a young, devout couple, engaged but not yet married, that He trusted enough to raise His own Son. Then He sent His emissaries, the angels, to convince them of His intent, to ensure them of their part. The teenage girl, so clean and pure, would bear His seed and bring forth into this world the Son of God, the Son of man, the Word made flesh. The young man, devout in his love of God, would take the girl as his wife, shelter and support her and her child. Together they would raise the boy as their own, preparing him for the greatest role ever played on the stage of life. And God allowed His Spirit made flesh to be born into lowly squalor, a food trough for cattle serving as his bed, a few simple shepherds watching over him and his parent as he slept.

God gave us Himself, made His Spirit to walk among us, born of woman in the most humble of settings. Emmanuel, God with us. God chose to walk among us, as one of us. He chose to suffer and sacrifice for us, that we might be washed clean by the blood of the Lamb so as to be pure in the presence of God, forgiven of the very sin we were born into. The greatest gift imaginable, only to show us God's love.

Emmanuel. God with us. Then, now, and for ever and ever. Amen.

Come, Jesus, Come

2006-11-29T11:11:00.000-05:00

"And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
-- Matthew 1:21

When they learned that Mary was with child, Joseph did not wish for her to be made a public example, and so considered hiding her away until the child was born. But an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. The angel told him to not be afraid to take Mary as his wife, for the baby within her was conceived by the Holy Ghost, not by man. He assured Joseph that Mary would bear a Son, who would be the Savior of mankind.

What a glorious message! What a wonderful dream! Can you imagine how the weight suddenly lifted from Joseph's shoulders, how the burden left his heart? Can you imagine the joy he must have felt? The woman about to become his wife would bear God's own Child, Whom he would raise as his own for the Lord! What a marvelous thought!

And what a wonderful time of year for Christians the world round. We know the story, we know the history, the beginning, even the ending. More importantly, we know the story actually has no end, for our Savior defeated death, arose from His grave, and rules in heaven forever. But that is getting a little ahead of the story, the wondrous story of Christ's birth. We await that birth, anxious, yet filled with hope and praise and glorious expectation because we do indeed know how the story goes.

We await the advent of our Savior. We walk alongside the burro that Mary rides to Bethlehem, keeping pace with Joseph. We plead with Joseph's voice for some small room for her to rest within. We fill the stable manger with the softest, freshest hay we can find, covering it with clean rags for the One whose birth was heralded by angelic host. We hold Mary's hand, grip Joseph's arms, as she delivers the small Child. We look in awe upon the Messiah, the Christ, the One named Jesus. We bow, with the oxen and lambs, and honor Him. We greet the shepherds who have heard of His birth, the wise kings from far off lands who have followed a star. We watch as Mary lovingly coos and comforts the small, precious baby that is our King, God in human flesh, our Lord.

For now, we simply wait. It is all we can do to patiently sit by, for we know how the story goes. Come, Holy Spirit, come. We welcome you into our hearts. Come, baby Jesus. We await you.

Fear Not

2006-11-21T08:50:00.000-05:00

"Fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
-- Isaiah 41:10

All of us have fears, some minor, some very major. Some fears are of physical things, like spiders or snakes. Some arise because of our dread, our not being prepared for what may come. We may know something difficult lies ahead in our day and all we want to do is crawl back in bed and hide under the covers.

Our fears grow as we age. As children, we were afraid of monsters in our closet or under our bed, or the upcoming math test in school. As teens we felt dread and near panic on our first date, our first kiss. Later our fears arose from more intangible sources: our jobs, our futures, our own abilities. Will we be able to reach retirement, and will we be able to live on what we retire with? Can we protect our loved ones when the need arises? Will the boss like our proposal? Will my spouse still love me when I tell them what I did?

Questions. Fears. Dreads. Our heartbeat quickens, our breath comes in ragged gasps, our hands tremble, our spirits flag and grow weary.

Many of us fear death, for the unknown that it carries. Even those prepared in every possible way still wonder and worry about their last breath, for they fear the pain that may come with it. Yet there are some who walk among us that are not afraid of death, they may even welcome it. No, they fear life, and living one more day. Their fear is of the known, for each and every day for them is filled with pain, with suffering, with loss. They find no rest and little joy, their worlds closely resembling the trials of Job. They fear that each tomorrow may offer simply more of the same, and that becomes unbearable.

We all have fears, we are all afraid of something. But God tells us not to be afraid, that He will hold us, help us. Don't be afraid, don't despair, for He will lift us up and uphold us by His mighty and righteous hand. When we are weak, he will strengthen us. That is His promise, as relayed to us and recorded for all time by His servant Isaiah. Our Lord is there, all the time. We need only reach out to Him when we are afraid. Trust in Him when our fears threaten to overcome us. Relax and rest in His loving hands, protected from worldly woes. How can we fear death, when Jesus our Christ conquered death by His sacrifice for us? How can we fear life, when our Savior went before us to prepare a place for us beside Him for eternity? What fear or dread can life or death hold over us, when our glorious and awesome God holds us in His loving hands?

When our child awakens in the night, frightened from some nightmare, we rush to their side, hold them in our arms, and say "Hush, don't be afraid. I am here with you. I will protect you." God is saying the same thing to His frightened children. "Don't be afraid. I am here." Reach out, take His hand, trust in His strength and righteousness and grace, and fear no more.

Doing Good Pays Afterall

2006-11-09T09:21:00.000-05:00

"Treasures of wickedness profit nothing.
But righteousness delivers from death."
-- Proverbs 10:2

How many times have you looked around you and wondered just how life works? How can some people appear to reap such great rewards, to own so many things, to have so much going for them in life, yet you know they have hurt other people along the away, you think they have lied to their own benefit, you have watched as they climbed to greater heights only by standing on the backs of others around them. And then you see someone who has done no wrong in their life, has inflicted no harm on others, yet they seem to have nothing at all to show for their lives; no grand mansions or fancy cars or remote island vacation homes. Have you even asked the Lord why this could be, where is the justice in allowing one who has wronged others to possess so much while one who stands blameless has nothing to show for it, no material rewards for goodness and doing good?

We're used to being rewarded for doing good. From an early age, some form of payment has been used to reward us for doing the right thing, and to encourage us to keep doing the right thing. Maybe our mother complimented us for cleaning our plate, or gave us a nickel for helping to set and clear the table. We got higher grades in school, and maybe a bit of cash, for studying hard and doing all our homework. We get promotions on the job, and subsequent pay raises, for working hard and helping the company stay profitable. If we do good, we expect some form of reward. So why do some who surely do good in the eyes of God not also benefit in earthly rewards?

In Proverbs, the wise king Solomon tells us that our reward for doing the right thing will be our delivery from death, that our righteousness will deliver us. This is not mortal death Solomon speaks of, but the eternal death reserved for those who do not receive God's grace, the same death that Jesus defeated after three days in the tomb. King David reiterates this message, giving additional weight to Solomon's words, when he sang, "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer." (2 Samuel 22:2) God and only God, through His grace and the sacrifice of His Son Jesus the Christ, can deliver us from eternal death and allow us to live by His side in heaven for ever and ever.

Solomon tells us that the one who compromised the commandments of the Lord, who hurt others on his climb to earthly wealth, will profit nothing from the treasures he amassed. He may enjoy them on earth, during this fleeting mortal life, but his wickedness will be revealed and he will suffer death for eternity. But the humble one, the righteous one who seems to have nothing, instead has gained everything, and will live with our Lord and Master forever.

What greater reward could we ask?

Find Stillness and Pray

2006-10-22T18:14:00.000-04:00

"So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed."
-- Luke 5:16

Luke was reporting on yet another busy time for Jesus. He had just healed a man of leprosy. Jesus charged the man to tell no one, but to show himself to the priests and make an offering for his healing in their honor. But somehow the news spread throughout the area and the word grew and the people flocked to Him. Luke notes that "great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities". (Luke 5:14)

So Jesus once again found Himself surrounded by people, engulfed by the very ones He strove to teach. He knew He needed to talk with God, to seek counsel from His Father. Yet how could He do so when so many crowded around? How could He even hear Himself speak over the noise of the throngs around Him? He could find a quiet place in the wilderness, away from the mass and the sounds of humanity, in the stillness of being by Himself. And there He prayed. He lifted His voice to God, and quietly listened for His Father's reply.

It isn't that Jesus didn't love the people and want them around Him. Just the opposite is true, for He truly loved them, and still loves us today. And He needed them around to hear His word, to learn His way. But He needed the solitude He could find only when away from the crowd, He needed the stillness of being by Himself so He could hear His Father's reply.

When we pray, we need to find our own place of stillness. We must stop for a moment and listen for God's answer. We should strive for open communications with God, and that requires listening to Him as well as talking. So stop what you are doing, find some place of stillness and pray. God wants to answer.

Where Were You?

2006-10-15T22:18:00.000-04:00

"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding."
-- Job 38:4

Job lost everything, and could not understand why. He sought counsel from his friends and leaders of the temple. How could so many bad things befall a believer such as he. He even questioned God, that He could allow this to happen to him, of all people. Job knew he did not deserve such a fate. When seeking counsel of the wise religious men, in his arrogance he counted off all the good he had done. And he spoke as if astounded that the Almighty did not listen to his pleas for help, did not hear his cries, would not answer his prayers.

After many tried to chastise him for such questioning of God, it is recorded that "the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind" (Job 38:1). And the Lord held nothing back, pulled no punches, in quickly putting Job in his place. I can almost hear that thunderous voice now: "Who are you to question Me? Who are you to doubt My intentions, to second-guess my promises, to call Me to task for what you think I do or don't do? Who are you to think himself smarter or more capable than the Master of Creation?"

There are a few instances recorded in the Old Testament where we can see God angry at the behavior of His children. While anger is certainly a human emotion, we can surely understand how even He could suffer it, considering how frustrating it must be for the Almighty, the Omnipotent, the Ever Present to have to deal with we silly humans. This is surely one of those times when God was just downright mad. How dare Job think he knows better! And in His frustration he finally answers, saying "Where were you when I created everything you see? If you know so much, tell me: Where were you and what did you have to do with any of it?"

Sometimes I hear God asking me "Where were you?", usually when I start to question Him, wondering why so many good people seem to suffer so much. In my heart I can see Him shaking His head and saying "If you know so much, tell Me where you were when I created the world you live in. Don't question Me, child. Just do those things you know you are supposed to do and leave the world to Me." And of course, being the intelligent adult male that I am, I don't much appreciate being told what to do. But I eventually open my heart and listen and obey, realizing how little I truly understand about the known universe. There is so much I can see with my eyes that I cannot fully understand. How could I even hope to grasp all the marvels that my God has created?

But other times I hear God speak those words, "Where were you?", when I have forgotten to do just those things His Son instructed. When I miss the opportunity to speak up for Him, when I pass by someone I know desperately needs my help, when I can't take time to get involved and make a difference in this world, I hear those words. They start as a whisper, barely audible above the breeze. Then they grow, in strength and intensity, until they thunder throughout my very being, echoing in every corner of my soul. "Where were you?", He shouts, His frustration with me building. I know God loves me, and I also know He can be disappointed in me when I do not choose the right course. "Where were you?", He accuses! "Where were you!?!"

Sometimes it takes me a while, for I am human, but I finally do get it, I finally understand my own lack of understanding. And I put my trust in God. I am here, Lord. Right here. Use me as You will.

That We Might Have Hope

2006-10-08T22:49:00.000-04:00

"For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope."
-- Romans 15:4

So many of the passages in the Bible carry great meaning, including this one which, in essence, tells us why the Books themselves were written - so that we might have hope. And this one sentence conveys many impressions. Paul wrote these words within his ministry to the Gentiles, where he taught of the wonders of Christ, the basis of the church, and even the reason for the scriptures recorded through time. He taught as if his students knew little of the subject, and in that manner covered the material thoroughly. And we benefit from its reading.

Paul starts out by assuring us that everything was written for our learning. It is easy to consider that when he says "our learning", he is talking about us, you and I and all that try to follow the teachings of Jesus, that try to walk His path. But Paul was not speaking to Jews or converted Jews. He was writing to Gentiles and referring to himself and them as "our", to a group that could have included as its majority those who merely showed curiosity in this Jesus of Nazareth and wanted to learn more. So by this pronouncement, Paul lets us know right off that the Bible, the inspired word of God, was written for all mankind, not just some subset known as "believers" or another called "God's chosen people". No, it is provided for all of us mortal humans, so that we may read and learn.

Separating the second half of the sentence two pieces, Paul next uses a rather curious phrase: "through the patience and comfort of the scriptures". Patience is a trait normally attributed to a living being, usually a person. So is Paul saying we should be patient while reading the scriptures? Perhaps. But more likely, Paul is applying the word patience to the living word of God as recorded in the scriptures. As we learned earlier, the Word is God, so here we see yet another example of God's steadfast patience with us and love of us. His word offers us patience and comforts us even as we read it. As we read, we learn and are comforted by the word through God's own patience and love.

Finally, we come to the answer to the unspoken question: Why was all of this done? Why did so many people take the time, the trouble, even the risk, to record all the scriptures, to preserve the word of God? What other benefit comes from our learning? That we might have hope. We learn that God loves us, that He is ever patient with us, that He will comfort us when our hearts are heavy. We find hope in His words through the darkest night. He provides refuge from the storm. And He prepares a place for us at His table, so that if we only believe in Jesus the Christ as our Savior and Lord, we shall live forever in the glorious presence of God. What more could any of us hope for? What more could be given?

God gives us so much, while asking for so little of us in return. Yet even though He offers us Heaven, He knows how weak we truly are. And thus he provides us with one more wonder. He gives us His word, that we may learn the truth of life and understand the price He paid for our salvation. And that we might have hope; hope that will drive us onward when the path grows difficult, hope that will light our way when darkness falls, hope that can make us push one step further, hope that can sustain us when others turn against us, hope that we will see His face, His glorious face, and sit by His side forever.

That we might have hope, God give us His all.

Follow Me

2006-09-29T12:14:00.000-04:00

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

I remember, from my carefree youth, times when a bunch of us grade school buddies would gather. Someone would invariably shout out "C'mon, guys! Follow me!", and off we'd go. Whether to the playground swings, into town for a movie, or through the woods for some wondrous adventure, we would gleefully follow the leader with expectations of great fun and new discoveries. We seldom worried about hidden risks, associated costs, future demands, or even our own worthiness to follow along with the gang. We joyfully fell in line for we knew great things lay ahead.

During a very busy span of days, Jesus went from place to place healing the ill and infirm, driving out demons, and teaching and preaching to those who needed to hear His word, He happened by a tax collector's office. He spoke to the man sitting behind the counter and said simply, "Follow me.", and the man arose and followed his new leader. Matthew joyfully fell in line behind Jesus, for he somehow knew that great things lay ahead.

The records of the Gospel hold no shorter command given by our Savior. Two simple words, ones we once jumped at the chance to obey. "Follow me." Why do we find it so difficult to do so now that we are older? Because we have a better understanding of the risks, the costs, the demands of being a Christian? Members of the early church suffered greatly at the hands of those who would not believe. Even today, Christians worldwide face persecution and death for their belief. But Matthew recorded the words Jesus spoke when he gathered His disciples by His side and taught them: "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (Matthew 5:11-12) So as rational, thinking adults, we should easily be able to do a quick mental calculation and see that the rewards, namely eternal life in heaven, far outweigh the risks of insult, persecution, injury, or even the end of this life on earth. For great is our reward in heaven, if we only follow.

Perhaps we don't feel worthy to even attempt to follow in Christ's footsteps. We don't have a couple of hundred Bible verses memorized and ready to employ when the occasion arises. We fail to tithe on a regular basis, or even attend church each and every Sunday. We don't understand everything we've read and been told about God. We don't even know how to pray correctly. There are any number of excuses we could come up with, but excuses they would still be regardless of quantity. Jesus walked up to a tax collector, one of the most reviled class of people during those times. He did not ask Matthew to recite verses, to donate a portion of his wealth, or even to lead a prayer. He asked for no credentials at all! He looked the man in the heart and said "Follow me", and he arose and followed Christ. If Matthew felt himself unworthy, it certainly did not slow him down. The Gospel makes no mention of hesitation or deliberation or of Matthew questioning Jesus or saying "Why me, Lord?". He merely rose, and followed.

Jesus knows we are sinners. He sees into our hearts and our thoughts. He understands better than we our imperfection. Yet He also knows that great things lay ahead. He still stands before us and beckons us. His words still ring in the air... "Follow Me."

C'mon, folks! Let's follow Jesus!

Help Wanted: Laborers

2006-09-19T07:50:00.000-04:00

"Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.'"
-- Matthew 9:37-38

This passage comes at the end of this particular chapter, after Matthew related five miracles Jesus performed: healing a paralytic, curing a woman who had hemorrhaged for twelve years, restoring the sight of two blind men, raising the daughter of a ruler from the dead, and casting out a demon from a mute so that he might speak. This short, but action-packed chapter also included discussions with a group of Pharisees and another with some disciples of John the Baptist, as well as Matthew's conversion. In other words, it was a very busy time for Jesus, during which he encountered throngs of people needing His mercy, and even more questioning His words and deeds.

Matthew recounts that as Jesus traveled through the cities and villages, He came upon so many people in real need of His teaching, so many longing to hear Him preach, so many so desperately seeking His healing touch. And just as the woman who sought merely to touch the hem of His garment, whose faith made her well, all that believed in the power of Jesus, and that His power came from God, were made whole once again. All that needed to hear His word were made or allowed to listen. But there were so many of them, so very many, more than one man could attend to, more than even the mortal Son of God could see to in the time He knew He had remaining. The harvest of souls needing God's loving touch indeed was plentiful. But at that point, only one laborer worked the fields - Jesus Himself.

In the first verse of the next chapter, Matthew tells us that Jesus spoke to his disciples and "gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease." (Matthew 10:1) Jesus recruited His twelve trusted and faithful followers to go out and labor in the fields alongside Him. He knew that His time with them grew shorter with each passing day, and He wanted to ensure His work would go on long after His ascension and return to the Father. And He instructed them to pray that more follow in their path, that even more laborers join them.

The greatest, most wonderful harvest we can imagine is our loving Father gathering His children back to Him so that they may live with Him for eternity in heaven. He is still in the business of harvesting souls, and He still enjoins us to pray that more laborers help in the great effort. Just as the twelve disciples were simple men before laying aside their past to follow Christ and to join Him in the harvest, so may we mere men and women also take up the cross and clothe ourselves with His word and help with His harvest. We may not see the direct effects of cast-out demons or illnesses slowly cured. But if someone sets aside the temptations of the devil and accepts Jesus as their true and only Savior, then we have indeed been empowered by Christ's own words and have rid that person of their personal demon that had otherwise bound them for hell. What more glorious gift could we give our Father, our Lord and Savior, than to help bring one of His children home?

Make no mistake... If we should prove successful in helping to turn even one soul back to Jesus, it is not by our acts or deeds, but by the power of God working through us as His tools. We are just laborers, working in the bountiful fields of the Lord, helping to bring in His harvest.

The harvest truly is plentiful. Pray that you may be a laborer for the Lord of the harvest.

Paid In Full

2006-09-11T17:54:00.000-04:00

"By grace you have been saved through faith,
and this is not your own doing;
it is the gift of God -- not the results of works,
so that no one may boast."
-- Ephesians 2:8-9

Some people just seem to always exhibit the type of behavior we consider as being Christ-like. They always smile, always have a kind word for everyone, always try to help others, always stoop to serve. Everything they do, every act they make, every word they utter, we attribute to their passionate following of the teachings of Jesus, and we are sure they are bound for heaven.

Some folks are boisterous in their religious life, always giving the loudest amens and never afraid to affirm their belief in public, vigorously exhorting all around them to be born again to a life with Jesus. Some are more quiet in their faith, never lifting their heads or hands in worship, but ever meek and humble in service to the Lord. Yet as different as these two groups may seem, they also appear to be assured of their seats beside the Father's throne.

Many of us think doing good works will earn us a pass to heaven. We feel that performing good deeds, being kind to everyone we interact with, helping others, attending church on a regular basis, tithing, and all other such acts of goodness will help pave our way to God's right hand. We just know that although we may stumble and trip up at times -- maybe we have a big sin we're hiding or a list of small transgressions we feel shame for -- altogether we do more good deeds than harbor bad thoughts or acts, so God will understand and let us into His kingdom.

And if we think like that, then we do not truly understand why Jesus Christ walked the face of this earth as a man. Only He has the power to grant us passage to heaven. Only He can intercede with God on our behalf. Jesus paid the ultimate price to assure us of our place in glory, and nothing we can do in this world could ever equal that cost. We are sinners, all of us, and not worthy of heaven. Yet God gave the world His Son, and Jesus suffered, was crucified, and died so that we might gain our place at God's side. The price of our admission has been paid, and paid in full. No amount of good works, no percentage of our possessions, no whispers or shouts can repay what we were so freely given. God's grace alone, through Jesus Christ His Son, can open the gates of heaven before us.

All that is required is that we believe. We must realize that we are sinners, unworthy of the salvation already paid for us. We need only ask God's forgiveness, and mean it. We may be able to convince others that we are something we are not. We may even be able to effectively lie to ourselves, for a time. But we cannot fool God. He sees us as we are, not as we would have others think of us, nor even as we think of ourselves. God truly and surely sees into and knows our very hearts. We must completely and fully believe in God, and in Jesus Christ as our Savior. We must ask forgiveness and pray for our salvation. But that is all we must do. The full cost of our salvation has already been covered. Chances are, though, that by this simple admission and by complete acceptance of Christ, we will strive to more closely follow His example while He Himself trod this earth, and by doing so we will want to do good works. But remember: Good works alone will not buy our way into heaven.

"By grace you have been saved through faith." Those beautiful words assure us, comfort us, yet remind us to keep that faith. By God's grace we have been given what we could never afford to pay. As long as we believe, our bill for salvation is marked "Paid in full".

Follow the Signs

2006-09-02T21:50:00.000-04:00

"Oh, that You would rend the heavens!
That You would come down!
That the mountains might shake
at Your presence..."
-- Isaiah 64:1

"Lord, please just give me some sign. Show me what You want me to do. Prove that You really exist." At some point in our lives, we've all probably uttered those words, or something very similar. Usually in moments of desperation, when the weight of the world rests squarely on our shoulders, when our need is greatest. We beseech God to talk to us, to point us in the right direction, to make Himself and His plan known to us, to let us know that He does indeed exist and all our efforts are not in vain. Where is the burning bush, the spinning wheel, the manna from heaven, or even the angels appearing before us? Why can't You split the heavens wide open, cause the hills and the hearts of men to tremble, walk among us once again and remove any shred of doubt from all naysayers and nonbelievers?

Before our Father sent His Son to live and walk beside us, books in the Old Testament tell us that He spoke to people in a voice they could hear, gave them signs they could see, made known His power through acts unimaginable. While Jesus walked with us, and after His ascension while His closest followers still took breath, God showed His love and majesty through the Son and His workings of great and wonderful miracles. Christ also became teacher, with His instructions to all mankind recorded in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The God of power and the God of love, made known to man through various ways.

But what of today, how does God appear to us now? Some say God does not exist, or at least no longer cares, since He does not show Himself to modern man. But is it true that God does not appear to us or talk to us, or could it simply be that we don't stop long enough to see Him, to hear Him? Our modern world is such a busy place, our lives seemingly in constant turmoil. Our Father speaks to us softly, in the sound of a sleeping baby's breath, happily, in a songbird's trill, powerfully, in the roar of the crashing surf. He appears to us daily, in the face of the nursing home resident, the rainbow after a torrential storm, the very talents we ourselves possess. God is all around us, if we but use our heart's eyes to see and ears to hear.

Perhaps the most visible evidence of God in our day-to-day lives can be found in the acts of our fellow man, those we interact with frequently as well as those we may see once and never notice again. Oftentimes God works His wonders through us, His children, allowing us to help each other, letting His angels direct us to do His bidding. Please do not discount the tremendous comfort received from a friend as simply an act of kindness, but consider that it may very well be aid provided by the grace of our Father. Perhaps that tip your neighbor gave you about a home for sale when you were house hunting may have been whispered in her ear by an angel. Or maybe that raise you finally received at work was not entirely gained by your good work, but by the mercy of a loving Father who knew you needed help paying the bills.

If you have prayed and prayed for some form of relief - someone to complete your life and make you whole, a job to fulfill you, the health of your mother - and it one day comes to pass, please do not forget the One who was listening and who answered your prayers. It is usually too easy to think that kind acts come from people, or that our good works are recognized and rewarded by others, or that our talents are somehow a product of our abilities, when the truth is that all these come from God.

There will always come moments when our frustrations with ourselves and our fellows comes to a head and we scream to God to show Himself, to rend the heavens and cause the mountains to tremble before Him, just so we can show others His power, just to convince ourselves He still speaks and acts on our behalf, or, as Isaiah put it, "To make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your presence!" (Isaiah 64:2) But He need not go to such ostentatious extremes. He still speaks to us. He still shows us His presence. The signs are all around us, if we but stop long enough to see them. Follow the signs, and find God.

The Light At the End of the Tunnel

2006-08-22T12:37:00.000-04:00

"Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying,
'I am the light of the world. He who follows Me
shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.'"
-- John 8:12

How many of us have uttered the words: "I finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel, but it turned out to be an oncoming train."? I know I have, and more than just once or twice. There have been times when I have plodded and trudged in darkness, thinking I was nearing the end of the tunnel, just to turn a corner and see no break in the endless night ahead. And I am not only speaking of seemingly interminable projects, but also those experiences with inner endless nights, emotional darkness stretching on and on. I have known of many who suffered the ordeal of long term sickness or terminal illness, or those who could never seem to catch a breath in a torrent of bad breaks befalling them, who must surely have felt themselves trapped in a tunnel stretching further behind into the past and further ahead into the future than they could see. How sweet, how relieving to finally see the long-sought light before them.

But what if your tunnel appears unending? What do you do when there seems no relief in sight, when darkness threatens to overwhelm you, to engulf you body, spirit, and soul?

There are but two choices we can make when we find ourselves in this kind of situation. We can continue to grope around in the dark, plodding on endlessly, lost for eternity. Or we can choose to follow the One who brings light to the world, who shows us the correct path to take so we will never be lost again. The second option does require a great amount of effort on our part. We must first admit we are lost, walking the wrong path, and only He can lead us. We must study and pray and ask forgiveness. And most importantly, we must willingly accept that which is so lovingly and freely given, eternal salvation through God's grace.

When we feel like we're hopelessly lost, don't we hope for someone or something to guide us? Don't we really just want to know, need to know, that the light at the end of our tunnel will actually appear?

Our final destination is our Father's house where we will reside forever. In the Bible, John assures us that: "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." (John 1:4) Jesus promised us we would not walk in darkness if we would follow Him while we dwell on earth. As difficult as it may be to believe at times, if we make the choice to take God's hand, His compassionate love will light our way until we reach that long sought goal.

Walk into the light.

An Introduction to...

2006-08-16T14:57:00.000-04:00

The Power of His Word

The Christian Bible is often described as the inspired word of God, that while it was indeed penned by mortal men, they labored under divine guidance and influence. The text of the Bible also provides a good history of the region it covers, much of which has been borne out by artifacts and other discoveries throughout the Middle Eastern lands during modern times. In this blog we will examine both, using the history of the region to make the text relevant to today, and drawing inspiration from His word.

I am merely a layman, a sojourner through this earthly life. My analyses of scripture should be considered as merely my opinion. I offer it here, not so much in attempts to sway or inspire others, and certainly not to cause anger or grief to anyone. No, my intent is simpler... My hope and prayer is that this exercise will allow me to study more closely the words my Father and my Teacher spoke so many centuries ago, to help me walk truer to the path my Savior laid out for me. If anyone else joins me along this lane and gains insight from my discussions, then I will be humbled and will feel blessed indeed.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God."
-- John 1:1

Before anything we can comprehend, there stood God, Who always was and always will be. There is no greater power than His words, by which all existence began with the simple phrase: "Let there be light." (Genesis 1:3). John goes on to say:

"He was in the beginning with God. All things were made
through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life,
and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness did not overcome it."
-- John 1:2-5

From this passage we can see that the Word of God is also the Son of God, Jesus, our Savior. With this simple phrase, these few sentences, John tells us that Jesus has been with God since before time, and indeed is God. We learn that through Him all things are made, and that not even the darkness can overcome His light. And what greater darkness is there than the ultimate evil manifest in Lucifer? So John assures us that Jesus will overcome the Dark One.

There is great power in the Word of God; to create, to heal, to inspire, to console. This will be our journey, one verse at a time, toward a destination far more wonderful than any may imagine. Join us in this exploration of the Power of His Word.