Living Stones

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Pentecost Sunday, the 28th of May, 2023, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

Family, last week we listened as the Apostle Peter encouraged us to be holy because God is holy, and God chose us to be holy.  We also looked at a few ways we live a more holy life, be more righteous in God’s eyes.

And then Peter ended chapter 1 of his 1st letter by telling us that we have been born again.  We were not born to a life that will quickly end like this one, but to a new life that will last forever, a new life that comes from the eternal, living word of God.  Peter quotes the great prophet Isaiah, relating that we mortals are like grass that withers.  Our beauty is like the flower’s, that always fades away.  But the word of God remains forever, His promises are for all eternity, and from His eternal word comes our Good News, our Gospel message of salvation.

So continuing from last week and staying with Peter's 1st letter, we move into the 2nd chapter.  Here, the Apostle gives us a little more insight into just what God chose us to do.  Or maybe it’s why we were chosen to be holy.  I think Peter was practicing speaking in parables here.

Please listen and follow along as Peter tells us to be a living stone just like Jesus, as we continue with the 1st 10 verses of the 2nd chapter of the Apostle’s 1st letter, and I’ll be reading from the New English Translation of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 So get rid of all evil and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 And yearn like newborn infants for pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up to salvation, 3 if you have experienced the Lord’s kindness.

4 So as you come to Him, a living stone rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight, 5 you yourselves, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood and to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it says in scripture, “Look, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and whoever believes in Him will never be put to shame.” 7 So you who believe see His value, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, 8 and a stumbling-stone and a rock to trip over. They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of His own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. 10 You once were not a people, but now you are God’s people. You were shown no mercy, but now you have received mercy.

--1 Peter 2:1-10 (NET)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for choosing us to believe in Your Son.  Thank You for choosing us to be Your children.  Thank You, Father, for choosing us to be holy, just as You are holy.  Sadly, though, Father, we don’t always feel very holy.  There are just too many times when we know we have failed You, when we have willfully disobeyed You, when we have let the world get the best of us.  Please forgive us our lapses, Father, these times of insecurity and hopelessness that weaken our faith.  Forgive us when we open the door and let Satan stick his nose into our lives.  Remind us that we are Yours, bought at a great price, adopted into Your holy family.  And Father, please protect us from Satan, who deceives us and tries to pull us away from You.  Please shield us from those who are so willing to follow his commands.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe in the days ahead.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Please direct Your Spirit to show us more clearly the path of righteousness.  Help us avoid the stumbling blocks along the way.  And help us be living stones in Your glorious spiritual house.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy is going to fall.  Scientists travel yearly to the site to measure the building's slow descent.  They report that the 179-foot tower tilts about one-twentieth of an inch a year, and was approximately 16-1/2 feet out of plumb in 2022.  Someday, the 850-year old tower will have crossed the line and leaned too far, and will collapse onto the nearby ristorante, where all those scientists now gather to discuss their findings.

Quite significantly, the word "pisa" means "marshy land," which gives some clue as to why the tower began to lean even before it was completed.  Also, its foundation is only 10 feet deep!

I’m reminded of the words to the hymn, “on Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand”.  We could insert “marshy land” for “sinking sand”.  But this little story also begs us to ask the question of ourselves:  How deep is our foundation?  How strong is our faith?  Are we truly committed to obeying Jesus, or just giving Him lip service.

There’s more to believing in Jesus than just acknowledging His existence, and even more than believing Him to be the Son of God.  The devil knows Jesus all too well.  And our Bible recounts a number of instances where Jesus encountered a demon, an evil spirit, and the demon knew Jesus to be God’s Son.  Does that mean they were saved?  No, of course not!

We have to accept Him as our Master and do what He tells us to do.  God built a mighty, unshakeable structure and set His own Son as the foundation, the cornerstone.  Let’s add ourselves as living stones, deeply rooted in Jesus, acceptable in God’s eyes.

In our scripture reading, Peter once again quotes the prophet Isaiah when God spoke through him say, “I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone”.  This is Jesus, the Christ.  He is the stone the builders – the Jews – rejected, that is now the cornerstone, a living stone.  He is a stone to trip over, a stumbling block for those who disobey the word, but salvation to those who believe.  And He is precious to God.

Do you remember from previous Sunday discussions that there were two times God spoke from heaven to tell us about Jesus?  The first was at Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan, and the second was at His transfiguration on the mountainside.

And what did God say both times?  “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”  “My beloved Son, My precious Son.”  God made Jesus the cornerstone in the foundation of His spiritual house, a living cornerstone, and He want us to be living stones alongside Jesus.

Now those two words – “living” and “stone” – don’t seem to go together very well.  A stone, a rock, is an inanimate object.  It isn’t alive by any standards – it doesn’t breathe or eat or drink or react in any way to the world around it.  Yet here we are told to be living stones, just as Christ is the living cornerstone.  We are to be living building blocks in God’s spiritual house, linked together in love and by God’s Holy Spirit, withstanding anything that comes against us.

But we are not intended to just stand still, to be set in place and never move again.  That’s where the “living” part comes in.  And if we are to be as living stones, then we should be willing to make of ourselves living sacrifices, as the Apostle Paul encourages us to do in the 1st two verses of the 12th chapter of his Letter to the Romans…

1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice — alive, holy, and pleasing to God — which is your reasonable service. 2 Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God — what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.

--Romans 12:1-2 (NET)

This is our reasonable service, to put ourselves out there to please God by giving up of our time and efforts and resources.  A living sacrifice is one where we don’t die.  Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us, but we’re not being asked to do that, although it certainly may come to it someday.  No, we’re asked to sacrifice what may be precious to us – just as Jesus is precious to God.  And for some, time is our most precious possession.  For us mortals, time is a one way street, and once it’s gone, we can never get it back.

There are other things we can give up in our service to God, but giving up whatever is most precious to us is most pleasing to God.  For whatever we give up in this life, in service to our Lord, we will be much more than compensated for in the next.  The “things” of this world just don’t matter, not really.  Nothing of the world lasts forever.  So we need to get our mindset off the world and onto the things of heaven, doing what is good and well-pleasing and perfect in our Lord’s eyes.

Just so we don’t have to guess and surmise what might constitute sacrifices we can make, Jesus comes right out and gives us some great examples.  Listen to what our Lord told His disciples, including us, as recorded by the Apostle Matthew in the 25th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 31 through 46…

31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be assembled before Him, and He will separate people one from another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, 36 I was naked and you gave Me clothing, I was sick and you took care of Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.’

41 “Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels! 42 For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink. 43 I was a stranger and you did not receive Me as a guest, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ 44 Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not give You whatever You needed?’ 45 Then He will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for Me.’ 46 And these will depart into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

--Matthew 25:31-46 (NET)

Jesus and God commanded us to love one another.  And these are just a few ways to manifest our love, to give action to our love.

Feed the hungry, and give drink to the thirsty.  We alone cannot feed all the hungry of the world, but we can feed some, and we can support those groups that work hard to fight hunger.  Likewise, we can support those who dig wells in dry lands, and who teach people simple ways to purify water, so that none may thirst.  And of course, we can share the food, our daily bread, that is God’s word and the Living Water that is Jesus with everyone we meet.

Welcome the stranger, and clothe the naked.  There are none more homeless nor naked than the lost, who are not clothed in righteousness, who will never inherit an eternal home in heaven unless they repent and turn to the Lord.

Take care of the sick, and visit those in prison.  There are many kinds of sicknesses, but perhaps the most tragic and ultimately deadly of all is a sickness of spirit.  Helping heal a hurting spirit doesn’t take all that much – a quiet hug, a soft smile, a kind word, a listening ear.  And there are all kinds of prisons, one of the worst being the prison of loneliness.  Too many people out there are prisoners of Satan, stumbling around hopeless and lost.  Tell them about Jesus, who can break their chains and free them.

Family, Jesus is precious in God's sight, and so are we.  We believers are the stones that God uses to build His Son's church, with Jesus as the cornerstone.  To non-believers, Jesus is a stumbling block, a rock to trip over.  But to us, He is our hope, and our Head.

We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation unto ourselves.  We are His.  So let us teach others all we know about Jesus, for He called us out of the darkness and into His marvelous light.  We are God’s people, saved by His mercy.  Let us be living stones, making living sacrifices in His service.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You choosing us to be living stones in Your spiritual house.  Jesus is precious to You and You made Him the cornerstone.  Upon Him, everything else is built.  Build us into a mighty fortress, Father.  Please help us be more holy in Your eyes.  Help us serve You by giving of ourselves, of our time and resources.  Please forgive us when we watch as opportunities to serve slip by.  Forgive us those times when we hesitate to do what we should.  Forgive us our disobediences.  Please, loving Father, help us be better servants.  Help us be good representatives of You to the world.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what the world throws at us or holds out before us.

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

Lord Jesus, You are our very foundation, the cornerstone upon which all else is built.  We have been chosen by our Father God and gathered around You.  We are the building blocks of Your church, and nothing can tear it down.  Thank You, Jesus, for giving Your all for us.  Thank You for standing at our side at the end of the age.  Please help us as we step out of our comfort zone and do as You commanded us.  Help us teach others all about You, so that more or the lost might be found and saved.  And help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You.  

And Jesus, please heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

Live a Holy Life

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday, the 21st of May, 2023, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

When we speak of our risen Lord or say that Jesus has risen, we’re usually talking about when Jesus rose from the grave and defeated death by His resurrection.  But remember that just a short time after that remarkable and wonderful event, Jesus rose again.  While His disciples stood around Him, Jesus rose from this earth and ascended into heaven, to sit at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

Today is the first Sunday after Ascension Day, which was last Thursday, the day when Jesus our Redeemer, alive and in the flesh, went back to heaven.  So when we say our Lord has risen, we can also mean that Jesus still lives, in heaven, after leaving us here to carry on His work for Him.  And someday we too will be raised, from death and into heaven, alive again and in the flesh, to live with Him there.

The Lord is risen!  Praise to the risen Son!  Amen!

The Apostle Peter also mentions our risen Lord, in his letters to the early Christians who had scattered throughout the known world.  I’m returning back to those letters after our break last week to celebrate mothers everywhere.  By the time Peter wrote these letters, Jesus had already both risen from the grave and risen from the earth, now seated comfortably in heaven.

We began this study with Peter assuring us that our only reason for hope is in Jesus, and we left off with him telling us that the message about our Christ was meant only for us, even though the angels wanted to know more about it, too.  Please listen and follow along as Peter explains to us and those early Christians why we should live a holy life, continuing with the 1st chapter of the Apostle’s 1st letter, verses 13 through 25, and I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible this morning…

13 So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 14 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

17 And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of Him during your time here as “temporary residents.” 18 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. 20 God chose Him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days He has been revealed for your sake.

21 Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because He raised Christ from the dead and gave Him great glory.

22 You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.

23 For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. 24 As the Scriptures say,

“People are like grass;

their beauty is like a flower in the field.

The grass withers and the flower fades.

25     But the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.

--1 Peter 1:13-25 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for giving the message of Your Christ Jesus to the prophets of old.  Thank You for reserving that message just for us poor sinners.  Your word remains forever, unchanged and living.  You have given new birth, new life, to those of us who believe in Jesus as Your Son, Your Christ, and accept Him as our Lord.  Thank You, Father, for the wonderful gifts You bestow on us.  Thank You for the Gospel that has been preached to us.  Sadly, though, Father, there are still too many times when we are anything but holy.  Our acts, our inaction, our words, our thoughts, the feelings of our hearts too often betray our profession of faith and displease You and disappoint You greatly.  Please forgive us these lapses, Father.  Forgive us when we don’t put all our trust in You, putting too much trust in human wisdom instead.  Remind us that You are still in control, no matter what it may look like in the world around us.  And Father, please protect us from Satan, who deceives us in his attempts to pull us away from You.  Please shield us from those who are so willing to follow his commands.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe in the days ahead.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Remind us that we are Yours, bought at a great price.  Help us to live a holy life, just as You and Your Son are holy.  This we pray in the precious name of Christ Jesus, our risen Lord.   Amen.

When we think of living a holy life, do we mentally picture monks in a monastery or nuns in an abbey?  Is it a boring life, filled only with prayer and contemplation?  

Renowned author and lay theologian C. S. Lewis adds, "How little people know who think that holiness is dull.  When one meets the real thing, it is irresistible."  Evangelist D. L. Moody tells us, "A holy life will make the deepest impression.  Lighthouses blow no horns, they just shine."  And then we have the insight given by the 19th-century Scottish theologian John Brown, who noted that, "Holiness does not consist in mystic speculations, enthusiastic fervours, or uncommanded austerities; it consists in thinking as God thinks, and willing as God wills."

Holiness isn’t about living a dull, austere life.  Not at all, or at least it doesn’t have to be.  In fact, if we are living a dull, austere life, then maybe we’re not living a holy life at all, because we’re not out there doing what Jesus commanded us to do.  We’re supposed to shine out into the darkness like a lighthouse, shine with the reflected radiance of God, warning those traveling in the dark of the danger that lies ahead.

Living a holy life is nothing more than thinking as God thinks, and willing as God wills.  He wills us to go into the world spreading the Gospel message, increasing His kingdom across the earth.  Jesus is our best example for holiness.  Look to how He lived, how He acted, and we can see how we should live to be seen as holy in God’s eyes.

Peter opens this morning’s passage by telling us to prepare our minds for action and exercise self-control.  In other words, we should think before we act.  And since speaking is a form of action, we should think before we speak.  We need to carefully, thoughtfully consider any consequences of our actions.  We should ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do, or say, in this situation?”.

We should live as God’s obedient children.  Think about that a second…  As small children growing up, for the most part we obey our parents and do what they tell us to do.  Why?  Because if they’re good parents, they’ll likely punish us in some way for any disobedience and reward us for good and proper behavior.

God is the very best Father.  The punishment He holds out for total disobedience is horribly severe, and the rewards He offers holy behavior are greater than we can even imagine.  And both are everlasting.  So the choice should be simple: be obedient and enjoy His rewards, or be rebellious and reap His punishment.

Living as God’s obedient child means staying holy in His eyes, not slipping back into our old, sinful ways where we are more concerned with satisfying our own desires rather than serving God.  We must be holy in everything we do because God is holy, and we are His.  He will judge each and every person by what we do, or don’t do, in this life, this temporary residence before moving on to our permanent, eternal home.  God paid a great price to save us from sin: the blood of His own Son Jesus.  So we should thank Him by living a holy life as He wills for us.

The author of the letter to the early Hebrew converts echoes Peter’s urgings to live a holy life and he stresses that we can do so by listening to God.  Now we don’t need to go up on a mountainside or look for a burning bush for God to speak to us through.  We can simply be still and pray, waiting silently, patiently for His reply.  He won’t speak into our ears, but into our hearts, through His Holy Spirit.  And we can listen to God’s voice by reading our Bible, His holy word saved through the centuries just for us.

Please listen to what the author of the letter to the Hebrews has to say about living a holy life, as written in chapter 12, verses 14 through 17 and 25 through 29…

14 Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. 15 Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many. 16 Make sure that no one is immoral or godless like Esau, who traded his birthright as the firstborn son for a single meal. 17 You know that afterward, when he wanted his father’s blessing, he was rejected. It was too late for repentance, even though he begged with bitter tears.

25 Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven! 26 When God spoke from Mount Sinai His voice shook the earth, but now He makes another promise: “Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also.” 27 This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain.

28 Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping Him with holy fear and awe. 29 For our God is a devouring fire.

--Hebrews 12:14-17, 25-29 (NLT)

Work at living at peace with everyone.  That’s a tough one for us, isn’t it.  We try to get along with other folk, but then someone comes along and sticks a pin in our balloon and we just go ballistic.  God wants us to live peacefully, and He will bless us for doing so, just as Jesus promised when He said, “Blessed are the peacemakers”.

And while we’re working on our peaceful approach to others, we should also be working at living a holy life, just like Peter told us.  But our author gives us the reason why: because those who are not holy will not see the Lord.  Now we need to understand that the word “see” in this text means to see our Lord forever, to live with Him in paradise.  Everyone will physically see the Lord at the end of the age when He stands in judgment of us all, good and bad, but not everyone will enjoy the sight.

Our author continues with ways that we can be holy in our day-to-day life.  As Christians, we can look after each other, encourage and strengthen each other so that we all receive God’s grace.  We must keep watch over how we react to life and the devil’s temptations, letting nothing grow and fester inside us that can strangle our faith.  Here we see the example of Esau, who gave up his birthright to Jacob for nothing more than his favorite meal, and then regretted it once it was too late to repent and gain his father’s blessing.

And then we get to the part about listening to God, who is still speaking to us, even to this day.  He speaks with that still, small voice in our hearts.  He speaks with the thunderous roar of the storm.  He speaks through His Holy Spirit, and He speaks through the words of our Holy Bible.

Listen carefully, for someday soon, the heavens and the earth will be shaken and all of creation removed and replaced.  Only the unshaken will remain, the Kingdom that God has reserved for His children.

Let us obey and worship our God by living a holy life.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for ransoming our souls at the great price of sacrificing Your Son on man’s cross so that we might be washed clean of our sin by His blood.  How can we truly thank You other than by living a life that is holy in Your eyes?  Like so much else in this life, Father, this is easier said than done.  Thank You for instructions, examples, and encouragement in how to be holy.  Please help us as we strive to do what is right.  Please forgive us when we slip and fail.  Forgive us those times when we act as rebellious children.  Forgive us of our acts of disobedience, when we outright ignore what You’ve told us to do.  Please, loving Father, help us remember that we are Yours and that we owe everything to You.  Help us listen to You and do as You will.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what the world throws at us or holds out before us.

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

Lord Jesus, while You walked this earth, You were the perfect example of an obedient child doing everything our Father willed.  You gave Your all for us, just so that we might be spared eternal death and punishment.  Thank You, Lord Jesus, for showing us how to live a holy life.  Please help us live as You lived.  Help us think as God thinks, and will as God wills.  And help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You.  

And Jesus, please heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us remain as obedient children no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

A Mother's Faith

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Mother's Day, Sunday, the 14th of May, 2023, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

I’ll return to our letters from the Apostle Peter next week, but today is a very special day that celebrates very special people so I’d like to talk about a very special kind of faith – a mother’s faith.

That word “faith” plays so many roles in any person’s life, but especially in that of a mother who is also a follower of Christ Jesus.  She is given faith by God to believe in Jesus.  She has faith in God and Jesus, and is faithful to them.  She has faith in her child, that the child will grow and flourish, and will also follow the path Jesus laid for us.  And perhaps most of all, she is faithful to her child, providing for their needs, helping them learn what they must know, giving them nourishment for both body and spirit, preparing them for this life and the next.

All of us have or have had a mother, even Jesus.  She may not have been with us for very long, she may not have been what some would consider the greatest mother, she may not even have been the woman who gave birth to us, but each mother has a definite and strong impact and influence on her child’s life.

I also consider mothers to be a gift of God.  They are the foundation of the human race, after all, for without mothers, there’d be no children and no children means no more people after a while.  Either that, or God would have to keep making us out of dirt and spit.

Fathers may be great protectors and providers, traditionally speaking, but it’s our mothers who bring us to life and nourish us.  And in some cases, our mothers can be pretty good protectors, too.

There was this one mother, long ago, doing everything she could to protect her daughter.  She even went so far as to approach someone she shouldn’t have, desperate for help.  Please listen and follow along to a time when Jesus may have tested this mother’s faith, as recounted in the 7th chapter of the Apostle Mark’s Gospel account, in verses 24 through 30, and I’ll be reading from The Living Bible this morning…

24 Then Jesus left Galilee and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon, and tried to keep it a secret that He was there, but couldn’t. For as usual the news of His arrival spread fast.

25 Right away a woman came to Him whose little girl was possessed by a demon. She had heard about Jesus and now she came and fell at His feet, 26 and pled with Him to release her child from the demon’s control. (But she was Syrophoenician — a “despised Gentile”!)

27 Jesus told her, “First I should help My own family — the Jews. It isn’t right to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”

28 She replied, “That’s true, Sir, but even the puppies under the table are given some scraps from the children’s plates.”

29 “Good!” He said. “You have answered well — so well that I have healed your little girl. Go on home, for the demon has left her!”

30 And when she arrived home, her little girl was lying quietly in bed, and the demon was gone.

--Mark 7:24-30 (TLB)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for our mothers.  You created the family unit so that we could be nourished and protected as we grow.  You gave us a place to belong, a place where we are loved.  Thank You, Father, for loving us this much and caring about our welfare.  Thank You for touching mothers with Your love so they can share it with us.  Sadly, though, Father, there are some mothers who probably shouldn’t be, who aren’t capable of taking on the huge responsibility of motherhood.  And there are some of us children who rebel against our families, even our mothers, turning our backs on the one place we should feel loved.  Please forgive us these lapses, Father.  Forgive us when we don’t accept and cherish the gift you have given us.  Show us what family really means, to You and to us.  Remind us that You chose us to be part of Your family, too.  And Father, please protect us from Satan, who tries to turn us from our families and rob us of our faith.  Please shield us from those who are so willing to help him in this endeavor.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe in the days ahead.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Watch over all mothers that still live with us in this life, and smile on those who are with You now, in heaven.  Help us to always feel their love in our hearts.  This we pray in the precious name of Christ Jesus, our risen Lord.   Amen.

I can't take credit for this, and sadly I don't know who to give credit to, but this came to light on Mother's Day in 1989:

This is a Mother's Day sermon.  I’m preaching without apology and with appreciation for that time-honored institution without the benefit of which we wouldn’t be here!  As ministers, we’re reminded not to get too sentimental about motherhood because for some, motherhood is an accident, and not always a welcome one; for some, biological motherhood isn’t possible; for some, mothers weren’t all that nice; and for some, motherhood under the very best of circumstances is still less than a bed of roses and a primrose path.  If I can take some liberties with poet Wilhelm Busch’s words, I’d have to say: “To become a mother is not so difficult; on the other hand, being a mother is very much so!"

So, with all those qualifications, why bother with Mothers’ Day at all?  I’ll tell you why — because for all its stumbling blocks, pitfalls and broken dreams, for all the soiled diapers, soiled wallpaper, and spoiled plans, we’re talking about a beautiful ideal, a natural part of God’s creative plan to bring love and caring to light.  Motherhood is a constant demand for the gift of love and caring.

That preacher made some very good points, right?  It can be quite tricky to celebrate Mother’s Day, and maybe especially in a Sunday message.  Not all mothers are good at the role.  Not all wanted it in the first place.  Some left us all too soon and raising the subject once a year only brings the pain to the surface yet again.  And then we have the current culture, which is working against God to make it easier and more attractive for a mother to reject her role entirely, and for children to ignore their mothers.

But without mothers, we wouldn’t be here.  And case studies through the years have shown that without the touch of a mother, or a mother-figure, a child can not properly develop.  We need that love, that loving touch, that loving presence.

And this is why God gave us mothers.  Yes, the job is tough and comes with great demands.  But the good ones carry on and do whatever it takes.

Now, I think we can all agree that Jesus knew what God had in mind when He created motherhood.  And I’m sure He knew what this particular mother was all about when she approached Him.  Maybe He was just tired – He was human, and we do grow weary at times.  And after all, He had come to this region of Tyre and Sidon in secret, hoping maybe to get away from it all and rest up some.

Of course that didn’t work, since He was followed everywhere He went.  Word quickly spread anytime He and His disciples went from one place to another.  His reputation as a great healer was well known, even outside the traditionally Jewish lands, even among the Gentiles.

This woman was proof of that.  She was a Gentile – a “despised” Gentile according to Mark – and yet she had already heard about Jesus and learned He was entering her village.  Her daughter was sick.

We aren’t told what was wrong other than that she was possessed by a demon, an evil spirit.  Nor do we know what the demon was doing to the little girl, or what it was making her do.  We don’t even know if there was a father in the picture anywhere.  All we know is that this mother was very deeply concerned about her daughter’s well-being.  She cared enough to risk approaching this Jewish healer to plead with Him to release the girl from the demon’s control, to rid her of the evil spirit.

But Jesus’ response seems quite out of character for Him, sounding a bit harsh and uncaring.  “My first duty is to helping the Jews, not to give what they need to people who are no more than dogs to them.”  Immediately, this conjures up the vision of taking a well-prepared meal and tossing it out the door to the dogs.  I’m sure a cartoonist of our day would have drawn it up like that.

To her credit, the woman didn’t appear to take offense at this, what to us would be an obvious insult.  Instead she countered that, yes, it’s true one shouldn’t give the children’s meal to the dogs.  But it’s also true that the dogs scamper around under the table licking up the crumbs that drop to the floor, and are often given the uneaten scraps from the children’s plates.  This is all she’s asking for – just a little morsel, a crumb, a scrap of Jesus’ healing power for the sake of her daughter.

What Jesus says next is why I think He was testing her faith just a bit.  “Good!  You answered well.”

It would have been easy for her to smart off at Jesus for effectively calling her and her daughter dogs.  She could have gotten mad and screamed and raised a fuss.  Or she could have simply taken the insult as befitting her place in His society, turned around, and walked away.  But instead, she showed her faith – the faith in Jesus that He could heal her daughter, and faithfulness to her daughter to do whatever it might take to make her better.  And immediately the little girl was healed and the demon vanquished.

There are many more instances in our Gospel accounts where Jesus interacted with mothers, including His own.  One of my favorites was at the wedding feast in Cana, when Mary told Jesus that the feast manager had run out of wine and needed help.  Jesus replied, “What has that got to do with Me?”, and she quickly set him straight on that point.

It didn’t matter that Jesus was the Almighty God in human flesh – His mother had the last word, and she made it His business.  So He did what she wanted Him to do without another word.

There’s one other time when some mothers tried to approach Jesus, even when they were told not to, and again they did it for their children’s sake.  This comes a little further into Mark’s Gospel account, from verses 13 through 16 in chapter 10…

13 Once when some mothers were bringing their children to Jesus to bless them, the disciples shooed them away, telling them not to bother Him.

14 But when Jesus saw what was happening He was very much displeased with His disciples and said to them, “Let the children come to Me, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as they. Don’t send them away! 15 I tell you as seriously as I know how that anyone who refuses to come to God as a little child will never be allowed into His Kingdom.”

16 Then He took the children into His arms and placed His hands on their heads and He blessed them.

--Mark 10:13-16 (TLB)

We are to come to God as if we were innocent children, cleaned of our sin by the blood of Jesus, empty of pride and self-importance, filled with the Holy Spirit.  Just as the woman in our reading had the faith to approach Jesus, we have the faith to approach God through Jesus.  And like that mother and these other mothers, we should let nothing stop us, let nothing get in our way.

We are God’s children and He loves us and wants us to come to Him as children.  And He loves us so much that He gave us mothers, who love us with His love during our life on earth.  So let us celebrate our mothers today.  Let us thank those still with us for giving of themselves for us.  And those who have already gone home before us, let us hold them close in our hearts.  Let’s show them all our love, today and every day.  For they are a gift from God.

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

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You again for our mothers.  Only a mother knows exactly how much they do for us, how much of themselves they give for us.  Like You, Father, they love us even when we are unlovable.  Thank You, Father, for infusing Your love in them.  Thank You most of all for letting us feel Your love through them.  Forgive us, please Father, when we are rebellious children.  Forgive us when we do what we know we should not do, and for when we don’t do what we should.  Forgive us of our times of disobedience to our mothers; forgive us of our times of disobedience to You.  Please, loving Father, help us remember to honor and respect our mothers while they live, and to honor their memory after they have departed this life.  Help us hold them in our hearts.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what the world throws at us or holds out before us.

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

Lord Jesus, a mother came to You seeking help for her child, and You tested her faith and her faithfulness.  She was persistent and passed Your test, and You rid her daughter of the evil spirit.  I wonder, Jesus, how often do You test us?  How often do we pass, or fail?  Thank You for Your faithfulness to us, Lord Jesus.  Thank You for healing us where we need it the most – in our spirits.  Lord, please rid us of the demons that wreck our lives.  Please help us be ever faithful to You.  And help us be faithful to our mothers, or to their memory.  Remind us of the great sacrifice You made, and the sacrifices they made just for us.  

And Jesus, please heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us remain trusting and obedient no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

Our Reason for Hope

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday, the 7th of May, 2023, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

Family, today I’d like to begin looking at the letters the Apostle Peter wrote to the early church that was quickly spreading out over the known world.  As I do, let’s keep in mind that Simon Peter was a fisherman by trade when Jesus first approached him and his brother Andrew along the shore of the Sea of Galilee.  Their entire life and livelihood revolved around fishing – going out in small boats, casting their nets into the deep waters of the sea, bringing in and selling what fish they could catch.  A higher education was not nearly as important as a strong back.

Fishing is what Peter knew; fishing is what Peter did.  And then Jesus came along and offered to make him a fisher of men.  Peter, and Andrew, gave up everything, left everything behind, just to follow Jesus, as did two other brothers – James and John – who were also fishermen.  They put all their trust, all their hope in Jesus.

Peter may not have been well educated, but you’d never know it from reading his letters.  Most of us can take a handful of words and form them into some semblance of a meaningful sentence, but the structure of that sentence, and the weight the words in it carry, very often reflect the education level of the author.

Peter’s letters buck that trend.  His words are powerful, his sentences flow smoothly like the waters of a calm stream.  This is a man of God, inspired by God, powered by God’s Holy Spirit to deliver God’s message to God’s people.  Just as we can hear our Lord’s voice in Peter’s sermons recorded for us in the Apostle Luke’s Book of Acts, we can see His hand at work in these two letters.

So let’s begin right at the beginning.  Please listen and follow along to the words of encouragement Peter wrote in the 1st 12 verses of the 1st chapter of his 1st letter to the far-flung early church, and I’ll be reading from the Contemporary English Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 From Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.

To God's people who are scattered like foreigners in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

2 God the Father decided to choose you as His people, and His Spirit has made you holy. You have obeyed Jesus Christ and are sprinkled with His blood.

I pray that God will be kind to you and will keep on giving you peace!

3 Praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is so good, and by raising Jesus from death, He has given us new life and a hope that lives on. 4  God has something stored up for you in heaven, where it will never decay or be ruined or disappear.

5 You have faith in God, whose power will protect you until the last day. Then He will save you, just as He has always planned to do. 6 On that day you will be glad, even if you have to go through many hard trials for a while. 7  Your faith will be like gold that has been tested in a fire. And these trials will prove that your faith is worth much more than gold that can be destroyed. They will show that you will be given praise and honor and glory when Jesus Christ returns.

8 You have never seen Jesus, and you don't see Him now. But still you love Him and have faith in Him, and no words can tell how glad and happy 9 you are to be saved. This is why you have faith.

10 Some prophets told how God would treat you with undeserved grace, and they searched hard to find out more about the way you would be saved. 11 The Spirit of Christ was in them and was telling them how Christ would suffer and would then be given great honor. So they searched to find out exactly who Christ would be and when this would happen. 12 But they were told that they were serving you and not themselves. They preached to you by the power of the Holy Spirit, who was sent from heaven. And their message was only for you, even though angels would like to know more about it.

--1 Peter 1:1-12 (CEV)

Let us pray…  Father God, those people who first followed Your Son Jesus feared for their lives after His crucifixion, and they fled from Jerusalem.  But as they ran, the church spread and grew as they testified of our risen Lord.  Thank You, Father, for blessing the early church and keeping it alive and thriving.  Thank You for protecting the church through the ages, even as it faced persecution.  Father, please forgive us when we fail to do our part in helping the church grow.  Forgive us when we are slow to rise in defense of the church and of Your word.  Show us how we can better serve the body of our Lord Jesus.  Remind us of our role in spreading Your kingdom.  And Father, please protect us from Satan, who seeks to destroy the church, and shield us from those who are so willing to carry out his evil works.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe in the days ahead.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Your Son Jesus is the foundation of our hope, the reason for our hope.  Help us share that hope with a world without hope.  This we pray in the precious name of Christ Jesus, our risen Lord.   Amen.

The school system in a large city had a program to help children keep up with their school work during stays in the city's hospitals. One day a teacher who was assigned to the program received a routine call asking her to visit a particular child. She took the child's name and room number and talked briefly with the child's regular class teacher. "We're studying nouns and adverbs in his class now," the regular teacher said, "and I'd be grateful if you could help him understand them so he doesn't fall too far behind." 

The hospital program teacher went to see the boy that afternoon. No one had mentioned to her that the boy had been badly burned and was in great pain. Upset at the sight of the boy, she stammered as she told him, "I've been sent by your school to help you with nouns and adverbs." When she left she felt she hadn't accomplished much. 

But the next day, a nurse asked her, "What did you do to that boy?" The teacher felt she must have done something wrong and began to apologize. "No, no," said the nurse. "You don't know what I mean. We've been worried about that little boy, but ever since yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He's fighting back, responding to treatment. It's as though he's decided to live." 

Two weeks later the boy explained that he had completely given up hope until the teacher arrived. Everything changed when he came to a simple realization. He expressed it this way: "They wouldn't send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?"

It didn’t matter that the teacher was so shocked at the boy’s physical appearance and obvious pain that she stumbled and fumbled trying to help him understand a few simple parts of speech.  It didn’t matter that she thought she failed miserably at what she had gone there to do, missing out on the whole purpose of her mission, her assignment from the school to teach this boy.  The only thing that mattered was that she came.  She came to a boy in a hopeless situation.  She came, and without knowing it, she gave him hope.

This had nothing to do with what the teacher did that day.  This is what God did, through the teacher, to give the will to live back to that boy.  We may never know the huge impact some small act we perform will have on another unless we just do it.  We may never know what God can do through us unless we let Him.

Peter opens his first letter by reminding us that we are God’s people – chosen by God, made holy by His Holy Spirit, washed clean of our sin by the blood of Jesus.  I wonder if sometimes we forget this.  Or maybe we just don’t understand how He could have chosen us – you and me – to be His children, chosen us back before time began.

Why would He choose me, and leave someone else behind?  Why would He give me the faith to believe in His Son Jesus enough to follow Him?  How could He love me, the sinner that I am, so much that He wants me with Him for all eternity?

Peter tells us why.  Because God is so good.  And by raising Jesus from the grave, God has given us a hope that lives on, within us, the expectation of new life, just as He gave His Son - a new life that will never decay or be ruined or disappear.  Christ Jesus is our reason for hope.

But what does this mean, that Jesus is the foundation of our hope?  What does it mean to put all our trust in Him, in God?

Jesus told us many things while He ministered to us on this earth.  He told us that on the third day after His death, He would rise from the grave and live again before returning home to be with His Father in heaven.  And He promised that we too – we believers – would also rise from the dead and live forever with Him in paradise.  And because everything He ever predicted, everything He ever promised, came true, we can put our faith in Him that this promise will also come true.

Our faith is what helps us get through this life.  Our trust and our hope are our lifelines to the next life.  We trust that, in the last day, God will save us, because Jesus said He will.  This is what gets us through the tough times, the trials we face each day.  Our trust is solid, based on all that Jesus said and did.  Our hope is solid, based on the resurrection of Jesus.

Now our hope is not as the world views hope.  In the world’s perspective, hope is little more than a wish, a dream that most likely will not come true.  I hope it doesn’t rain today and spoil our picnic.  I hope I’ll win the lottery soon.  I hope my car will hold out another five years.

No, our hope is an expectation of receiving what we have been promised by the One who keeps all promises.  Our hope is an assurance that springs from our faith.  Our hope – our only hope – is in Jesus.

It is understandably difficult for some folks to grasp the three persons of God, and particularly that of Jesus.  We believers know that Jesus is God, but He is also the one true Son of God, and He is the first and foremost Servant of God, at least according to Isaiah.

Please listen as I read the 1st seven verses of the 42nd chapter of the Book of Isaiah, as God first speaks through the prophet to us, telling us about His Servant Jesus, and then speaks directly to His Servant…

1 Here is My Servant!

I have made Him strong.

He is My Chosen One;

I am pleased with Him.

I have given Him My Spirit,

and He will bring justice

to the nations.

2 He won't shout or yell

or call out in the streets.

3 He won't break off a bent reed

or put out a dying flame,

but He will make sure

that justice is done.

4 He won't quit or give up

until He brings justice

everywhere on earth,

and people in foreign nations

long for His teaching.

5 I am the Lord God.

I created the heavens

like an open tent above.

I made the earth and everything

that grows on it.

I am the source of life

for all who live on this earth,

so listen to what I say.

6 I chose You to bring justice,

and I am here at Your side.

I selected You and sent You

to bring light

and My promise of hope

to the nations.

7 You will give sight

to the blind;

You will set prisoners free

from dark dungeons.

--Isaiah 42:1-7 (CEV)

We’ve seen before where God tells us how pleased He is with Jesus, and here is yet another such time.  Jesus is strong, chosen by God and given the Holy Spirit to bring justice to all peoples of the world.  Justice is important to God, mentioned four times in these seven short verses.  And this justice has nothing to do with the laws of man, but with the law of God, for God is just and He expects righteousness.  Jesus was chosen by God to bring justice, selected by God and sent to bring light to a dark world, sent to bring hope to a world without hope.

Family, in this life we will have trials.  That’s another promise Jesus made us, and it has sure come true.  And some situations we find ourselves in may seem hopeless, but only if we see hope as an expectation for something to get us out of that situation.  Instead, if we see hope as the saving grace that God gives us in His Son, His Servant, Jesus, then we can take rest and find peace in knowing that no situation is hopeless for those in Christ.

No matter the outcome of any event in this life, we are assured of our future in the next once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Redeemer.  He is our reason for hope, our only hope.  In the glorious name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for choosing us to be Your holy people.  And thank You for choosing Jesus to be Your Servant, who brings justice and light and hope to this lost world.  Thank You, Father, for being so very kind and gracious to us.  Thank You most of all for giving us the faith to believe in Jesus and accept Him as our Lord, for we know He is our only hope.  Forgive us, please Father, when we take Your love and Your mercy for granted.  Forgive us when we slip back into our old, sinful ways, even if only for a moment, a thought that quickly passes.  Forgive us when we hesitate to share with others why we are filled with hope, even when things seem hopeless.  Please, loving Father, help us remember nothing is ever truly hopeless as long as we trust in our Lord.  Help us hold fast to Your word and Your promises.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what the world throws at us or holds out before us.

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

Lord Jesus, You are our reason for hope.  Everything You ever said would happen, did happen.  Everything You ever promised came true.  So we are assured that what You have promised us will be fulfilled.  By Your resurrection from death and new life, we know that we will also be given new life after our own death, new life with You and God for all eternity.  Thank You, Jesus, for showing us how to live.  Thank You for showing us the way to glory, for bringing us light and justice and hope.  Lord, please help us share this message of hope with others.  Remind us that it is our job, our mission, to make more disciples for You, to help the lost avoid eternal death.  Help us testify for You and be Your witnesses.  And Jesus, please heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us remain trusting and obedient no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.