Welcome Home

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Homecoming Sunday morning, the 14th of September, 2025.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

Homecoming.  For many, the word brings up memories of afternoons at the church, with bowls of fried chicken and mashed potatoes, and all sorts of cakes and pies.  Kids playing, adults chatting, forks and spoons clanking, homemade ice cream churns cranking.  And all the ice-cold watermelon you can eat.  Sadly, that kind of day only lives in memory now, as most folks are too busy anymore to spend an afternoon just enjoying fellowshipping with their church family, even for those who still attend a church.

Homecoming also applies to high school football games and dances after, with a king and queen crowned, and lots of former students filling the stands.  We still have those, although these days they may crown a king and king or queen and queen.  Not matter, they’re still loads of fun and its great to see old friends again.

There’s another type of homecoming I’d like to look at this morning.  It may or may not have actually taken place, but if it did, it was a long time ago.  And I bet it has been repeated for one reason or another many, many times over the years.

After a rather eventful meal at a Pharisee's house, a multitude of people, including "sinners and tax collectors", followed Jesus.  He decided to take the opportunity to teach them by telling parables.  Please listen and follow along to one of the parables Jesus told, about a homecoming, one that should be familiar to all of us, from verses 11 through 32 of the 15th chapter of the Apostle Luke’s Gospel account, and I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

11 Then Jesus said: “A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. 13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. 14 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’

20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

25 “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’

28 “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. 30 But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’

31 “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. 32 It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’”

--Luke 15:11-32 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we thank You for ensuring that we would have at least some of the things that Your Son Jesus did and said during His short, three year ministry.  Our bible contains so many important lessons for us.  Thank You for it, and thank You for all You give us, especially for the faith to believe in Jesus and the desire to learn from Him.  Father, we know that we should be more faithful in obeying Your commands, especially when it comes to loving others and sharing our witness with them.  But there is just so much evil all around, so much violence and violent reactions to people’s words, that we have trouble trusting others, let alone loving them.  Please forgive us our failures, Father.  Help us be more obedient to Your will, more open and caring, more compassionate, showing Your love to others so that they too might find salvation through Jesus.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better grasp the message You have for us this day.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, our worship, and our service.  And please keep us healthy and safe through these trying times.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

When I think about homecoming here at Pilgrim, realizing that most of us are getting a bit on in the years, I found some new hymn titles for us to try:

Give Me That Old Timers Religion

Precious Lord, Take My Hand, And Help Me Up

Just a Slower Walk with Thee

Go Tell It on the Mountain, But Speak Up

Nobody Knows the Trouble I Have Seeing

Guide Me, O, Thou Great Jehovah, I’ve Forgotten Where I’ve Parked The Car

Count Your Many Birthdays, Count Them One By One

Blessed Insurance

It Is Well With My Soul, But My Knees Hurt 

Maybe those come a little too close to home, even if this is homecoming.

OK, looking at our scripture, the father had two sons, and upon his death, they would inherit all he owned, all he had worked for his entire life.  But the younger son had other ideas.  He couldn’t wait; he wanted his share now.  Once he received it, he went off and blew threw it all rather quickly.

This is a common theme, even today, with those who come into sudden wealth, such as through inheritance or lottery winnings.  When there’s money burning a hole in our pocket, we just have to get rid of it, and now!

The son comes to his senses and heads for the only place he thinks will take him in and feed him: home.  And of course his father welcomes him back.  What loving father wouldn’t?  The father proclaims that his son was dead but now is alive again; he was lost, but is now found.

Jesus spoke of what it means to be found after being lost, and He did so just a few minutes before telling the parable of our scripture reading.  You see, this all started, the parable and what I’m about to relate to you, because the Pharisees and scribes had once again complained about something Jesus did.  Please hear this earlier exchange, as recorded by the Luke in the first seven verses of chapter 15 in his Gospel account…

1 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3 So He spoke this parable to them, saying:

4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine upright persons who need no repentance.”

--Luke 15:1-7 (NKJV)

Just as did the father when his prodigal son came home, so will all of heaven rejoice when one lost sinner is found and comes home.

We often think of the prodigal son parable being about a lost son, especially since the father in the story describes his younger son as having been lost.  But the word “prodigal” means wasteful.  The younger son asked for something he did not yet deserve, and when he received it, he wasted it all away on a short but lavish lifestyle spree.  He wasted everything he had been freely given.  Did he deserve a second chance from his father, who he turned to when there was nowhere left to go?  No, but one was given - given out of love and mercy.

Is there any one of us who can’t see ourselves, at least a little bit, in this story, and I mean from the son’s perspective?  Whether it was given to us or whether we earned it, haven’t we all – or at least some of us - wasted something at some time in our lives?  I can only speak for myself, but I know that for a long time I wasted the precious gift of faith that my heavenly Father gave me.  I tried to run away from God, but He waited patiently for me to come home after I’d run out of options.

God wants us all to come home, figuratively and literally.  He has a home all prepared for us, with Him, once our time on this earth is at an end.  Jesus knew His time as a mortal was approaching its end when He kept trying to prepare His disciples for the day He would no longer be with them.  Please listen to this discussion as recorded by the Apostle John in chapter 14, verses 19 through 24 of his Gospel account…

19 “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”

22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”

23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me."

--John 14:19-24 (NKJV)

If we truly love Jesus, we will keep His word, we will do as He commands us, and He and the Father will love us.  And they will come to us and make Their home with us.

We can look at this in two ways, both of which are correct.  When we accept Jesus as Lord, God’s Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us.  The Holy Spirit makes His home in us.  The Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are all God, so God has made His home with us.

And as I said, when our time on earth has come to its end, God has a home ready for us in heaven, and we will make our home with Him.  We just need to keep on following Jesus and doing as He commands, and we’ll be a part of that great reunion in the sky, the most magnificent homecoming of all.  And our heavenly Father will welcome us home with open arms.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for loving us so much that You want us to be with You always.  So You have a home all ready for us when we leave this earth.  We just need to keep our faith strong, to keep following Your Son Jesus, to obey Your Spirit within us, and to love all of You.  And thank You for calling us to be by Your side.  But sadly, Father, we don’t always live each day like we know we should.  We don’t always behave very well or play nicely with others.  We try, but we don’t always love others as You love us.  We try to be more obedient, but we need Your help, Father.  Please remind us of the welcome we will receive when we come home, even though we have wasted parts of our life, some of our opportunities to serve You.  Remove all distractions that pull us away from what we know we should do, and forgive us those times we fail to please You.  Please help us reach out to others and share with them all You teach us through Your word.  Help us lead them to Jesus so they too may be saved. 

Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith, trying to make us his own.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what comes our way.

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, thank You for all the stories You told that teach us invaluable lessons, both about our heavenly Father and His realm, and about how we should interact with other people.  We love You, Jesus, and want to be with You forever.  Please forgive us, Lord, when we struggle to love others like You want us to.  We know we disappoint You when we let our fears and prejudices get in the way of showing Your love as we walk this path.  Please help us be more like You in how we live and behave.  Help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message, showing Your love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us the deeds to do to lead the lost to You.

Holy Spirit, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this world might offer.  All this we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Are You Weary?

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 7th of September, 2025.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

A couple weeks ago, we looked at the gift of the Sabbath, that one day each week to rest and worship.  God set the example for this when He “rested” for one day after creating the universe in six days, not that He needed rest but to show us that we need rest.  And more importantly, that we need to take time, to purposely set aside the time, to spend with Him, to worship Him.  This is why He gave us the Sabbath.

Today we look at the rest God has ready for us, a rest He has promised us, and what we need to be mindful of in order to secure that rest.  Please listen and follow along as the now uncertain author of the Letter to the Hebrews tells us about heeding God’s word to gain His promise of rest, from verse 16 of the 3rd chapter of that book through the 16th verse of chapter 4, and I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible this morning…

3:16 And who was it who rebelled against God, even though they heard His voice? Wasn’t it the people Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it the people who sinned, whose corpses lay in the wilderness? 18 And to whom was God speaking when He took an oath that they would never enter His rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed Him? 19 So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter His rest.

4:1 God’s promise of entering His rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. 2 For this good news — that God has prepared this rest — has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. 3 For only we who believe can enter His rest. As for the others, God said,

“In My anger I took an oath:

‘They will never enter My place of rest,’”

even though this rest has been ready since He made the world. 4 We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God rested from all His work.” 5 But in the other passage God said, “They will never enter My place of rest.”

6 So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. 7 So God set another time for entering His rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted:

“Today when you hear His voice,

don’t harden your hearts.”

8 Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. 9 So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. 10 For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. 11 So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.

12 For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes, and He is the One to whom we are accountable.

14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do, yet He did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

--Hebrews 3:16-4:16 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we thank You for offering us rest, in this life and in the next.  And thank You for letting us know how we can attain that rest.  In this life, You give us rest through Your peace, an inner peace even as the storm rages around us.  And when these days on earth are finished, You will give us an everlasting peace and rest if we live this life in a manner that pleases You.  We know that we should be more obedient, especially when it comes to showing our love to others and sharing our witness with them.  But, Father, we’ve seen so much evil all around that we have trouble trusting others, let alone loving them.  Please forgive us our failures, Father.  Help us be more obedient to Your will, more open and caring, more compassionate, showing Your love to others so that they too might find salvation through Jesus.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better grasp the message You have for us this day.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, our worship, and our service.  And please keep us healthy and safe through these trying times.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

The sign in the store window read: "NO HELP WANTED".  As two men passed by, one said to the other, “You should apply -- you'd be great.”  There's an old traditional saying that, “God gives the birds their food, but He doesn't throw it into their nests.”  In a 1994 issue of Bits & Pieces magazine, a farmer observed that, “The hardest thing about milking cows is that they never stay milked.”

Some labors seem never-ending.  Prolific authors Robert A. Heinlein and Isaac Asimov helped popularize the expression “TANSTAAFL”, an acronym of “There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.”  Someone has to pay for it.  Someone has to work for it, and that someone is usually us.  Even the birds have to leave their nest to go search out their food.

Nothing comes completely free of charge – it is earned by someone’s or something’s labors.  When it comes to telling all about Jesus and making disciples, there's a lot of work to be done.  But we can still take time to rest a bit.

Our author of this great letter to the Hebrews quotes scripture often, at least three times in our relatively short passage.  He doesn’t give a citation for any of those quotes, but he probably didn’t need to.  Each quoted scripture comes from what we now call the Old Testament, but back then it was the only testament, the only scripture for the Jews.  And after all, that was his audience: the Jews, the Hebrews, fairly recent converts to Christianity who would have been familiar with the scripture the author quoted.  For us, though, not so much.  But if you’re interested and want to dig a little, there are three quotes in chapter 4 verses 3, 4, 5, and 7 that come from verses 7 through 8 and 11 in the 95th Psalm and from verse 2 of chapter 2 of Genesis.

The whole point of this, though, is that those who refuse to heed God’s commands, who fail to obey Him, will not gain that eternal rest I mentioned earlier.  And for those who do hear God’s voice, we are warned not to let our hearts harden, but to remain compassionate, merciful, and loving, to keep our faith intact and strong.  God has not hardened His heart against us all.  His offer of rest still stands, His peace is still ours for the taking.  For we have a great High Priest in Jesus who intercedes for us because He understands our weaknesses.  He is our example.  He suffered trials and tribulations like us, even worse than us, yet He never sinned.  And He gave His life to cleanse us of our sin, but we need to stay clean.  This is how we please God - by repenting of our sin, keeping our faith strong, and loving as Jesus loves us.

Speaking of Jesus’ love, our Gospel writers saved so many instances of Jesus showing His love, in His deeds and His words.  The obvious, of course, was when He gave up His life for us, that we might be freed from the chains of sin.  But there is another time, much earlier in His ministry, when Jesus took pity on us and covered us with His mercy, all with a promise.  You’re probably familiar with this.  Please hear the loving, compassionate words Jesus spoke, as recorded by the Apostle Matthew in verses 28 and 29 of the 11th chapter of his Gospel account…

28 Then Jesus said, “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

--Matthew 11:28-29 (NLT)

Are you weary?  Do you feel heavy laden and overwhelmed?  Then come to Jesus and lay your burdens at His feet.  What He requires of us is so little, only that we love others in the way He loves us.

Even though He is our Lord, even though He is God, He doesn’t Lord His authority over us.  He is humble, and asks that we be humble, too, and in our humility, to show His love to all we meet.  For we are His church, we are His arms and legs and mouth, we are His representatives here on earth.  And when we represent Him well, when we do the simple things He asks of us, He will give us rest, in this life and in the next.  He will calm the storms within us, and He will welcome us into heaven when that time comes.

No matter what we labor in, no matter what we’re weary from, Jesus offers rest.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for loving us enough to send Your Son, who in turn loved us enough to give His mortal life for us, that we might be seen as clean of our sin in Your eyes.  And thank You for offering us rest in this world of constant unrest.  But sadly, Father, we don’t always do what we need to do to gain this rest.  We don’t always behave in a manner that pleases You.  But we do try to not keep living our old lives, following our sinful ways.  We try to be more obedient, but we need Your help, Father.  Please remind us of our debt to You and our need to follow Your commands.  Remove all distractions that pull us away from spending more time with You, and forgive us those times we fail to live and behave righteously.  Please help us reach out to others and share with them all You teach us through Your word.  Help us lead them to Jesus so they too may be saved. 

Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith, trying to make us his own.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what comes our way.

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, thank You for offering us Your peace and rest when we are weary, when our burdens become more than we can bear.  We love You, Jesus, and thank You for all You have done and continue to do for us.  Please forgive us, Lord, when we struggle to love others like You want us to.  We know we disappoint You when we let our hatreds and prejudices get in the way of showing Your love as we walk through each day.  Please help us be more like You in how we live and behave.  Help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message, showing Your love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us the deeds to do to lead the lost to You.

Holy Spirit, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this world might offer.  All this we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Rejoice!

 

[The following is a manuscript of my short devotional message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 31st of August, 2025, the fifth Sunday of the month, when we usually do a sing-along service.  A recording of our service may be available on our YouTube streaming channel, if everything goes right: 

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

In verses 11 and 12 of the 5th chapter of his Gospel account, the Apostle Matthew recorded Jesus speaking to the multitude in His Sermon on the Mount when our Lord promised us that…

11 “Blessed are you when people revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” 

--Matthew 5:11-12 (NKJV)

But Jesus also assures us that any sufferings we bear now will be short-lived.  The Apostle John recorded this for us in verse 33 of the 16th chapter of his Gospel account when Jesus said…

33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” 

--John 16:33 (NKJV)

We know all about tribulation, don’t we.  But Jesus tells us not to fret over it, because He has already fought and won the battle with everything associated with the world and this earthly life.  Our time on this earth is short, but our next life, the life that Jesus won for us, will last forever.  For this, we should be joyful, because it shows how much God and Jesus love us.  So we should let love be the foundation of our joy, as the Apostle Paul notes in verses 9 through 15 of the 12th chapter of his letter to the Romans…

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 

--Romans 12:9-15 (NKJV)

Jesus said we will suffer tribulations in this life and Paul tells us to rejoice in the hope Jesus gives and to be patient in those times of tribulation.  But we must not allow our love to suffer as we suffer.  We must not let our love diminish, even in the face of persecution.  The prophet Habakkuk, in verses 17 and 18 of the 3rd chapter of his book of prophecy, instructs us that no matter what we face, no matter what we go through, let us remember the reward that awaits us: our salvation…

17 Though the fig tree may not blossom,

Nor fruit be on the vines;

Though the labor of the olive may fail,

And the fields yield no food;

Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,

And there be no herd in the stalls —

18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

I will joy in the God of my salvation. 

--Habakkuk 3:17-18 (NKJV)

The world is in a constant state of turmoil.  There’s violence and madness and evil all around.  Yet no matter what happens, I will rejoice in the Lord.  I will joy in the God of my salvation.

So let’s sing to our Lord with a new song, a new heart, a new sense of mission, giving Him all praise and glory.  And right now, right here this morning, let’s start by making a joyful noise to our Lord!  For God is good all the time.  And all the time, God is good!

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

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for choosing us to follow Your Christ, Your Son Jesus.  Thank You for giving us faith that we can be made right in Your sight.  Father, because of our faith and Your promises, we look forward to the day when Jesus returns to set the world right.  We don’t relish the thought of being judged for the bad we have done in our lives, but we know we are saved from eternal damnation by our belief in Jesus as Your Son and our acceptance of Him as Lord.  By His blood, we are redeemed.  Please help us be more merciful and kind, more humble and gentle, more giving and forgiving in our daily walk, so that we might show the world Your love through our love.  May we always sing Your praises, glorifying You in all we do.  This we pray in the blessed name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

Respect the Sabbath

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 24th of August, 2025.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

The word “genesis” means an origin, a beginning, or creation.  The first book in our Holy Bible, authored by Moses, is aptly named “Genesis”, for it tells of the origin, the beginning, the creation of everything there is out of nothing, all accomplished simply by the word of God.  In the Book of Genesis we read that God created the world and all that is in it in six days.  And as we humans are an inquisitive lot, that statement alone has generated much thought and scholarly debate.

First off, would it really take God six days to effect this massive work?  Well, no, because God is God and God can do anything in the blink of an eye.  And then there’s the question of whether those six days were really 24-hour human days, or actually six thousand years, or some other amount of passing time.  I tend to believe they were human-type days.

At first, there was nothing, just complete darkness.  After God said, “Let there be light”, He separated the light from the darkness, calling the light “Day” and the darkness “Night”.  And Moses states, “Evening came, then morning — that was the first day.”  Ok, so maybe that stretch of light and darkness could have been a thousand human years long.  But does it really matter if it was 24 hours or ten thousand years?

Time was created for us, to enable change and the unfolding of divine purpose, to provide a foundation for God’s relationship with us.  God Himself is outside of time, so He can call a “day” whatever span of human time He wants to call it.  At any rate, in six days God created everything that needed to be created, and then He rested.

After all that exertion, God was tired and needed to take a day off.  Uhhh, NO!  God does not get tired nor does He need a rest break.  But man does, so God set the example of taking a brief respite from labor.  In this case, it’s one day out of seven, or a one to seven ratio.  This, by the way, also works well in agriculture, allow a field to go fallow, to rest, one year every seven years.  God blessed this seventh day, and sanctified it, setting it aside for rest and worship.  Now in the days of Moses, as in our present age, Sunday was the first day of the week and Saturday the seventh.  So Saturday became that day of rest, the Sabbath day.  

By Jesus’ day, the religious leaders had taken God’s sanctification of the Sabbath to extremes, to where the people weren’t allowed any form of labor, not even to cook a meal during the Sabbath.  If God didn’t work on the seventh day, then neither should they.  To do otherwise would be disrespectful to God, or so the leaders said.

There are a number of instances in our New Testament where Jesus countered this belief, this overexertion of authority the Pharisees held over the people.  Please listen and follow along to one such event that occurred on a Sabbath day, and the various reactions to that event, as recorded by the Apostle Luke in verses 10 through 17 of the 13th chapter of his Gospel account, and I’ll be reading from the Contemporary English Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

10 One Sabbath, Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by an evil spirit for 18 years. She was completely bent over and could not straighten up. 12 When Jesus saw the woman, He called her over and said, “You are now well.” 13 He placed His hands on her, and at once she stood up straight and praised God.

14 The man in charge of the synagogue was angry because Jesus had healed someone on the Sabbath. So he said to the people, “Each week has six days when we can work. Come and be healed on one of those days, but not on the Sabbath.”

15 The Lord replied, “Are you trying to fool someone? Won't any one of you untie your ox or donkey and lead it out to drink on a Sabbath? 16 This woman belongs to the family of Abraham, but Satan has kept her bound for 18 years. Isn't it right to set her free on the Sabbath?” 17 Jesus' words made His enemies ashamed. But everyone else in the crowd was happy about the wonderful things He was doing.

--Luke 13:10-17 (CEV)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us rules to live by so that we can be seen as righteous in Your eye.  And thank You for showing us that we need to take a break every now and then, that we need to rest on a schedule.  It’s for our own health and well-being, both physical and mental.  And we know that we should spend that day of rest to stop long enough in our daily pursuits to worship and praise You.  But, Father, we don’t always take that time, make that time for worship.  We get too caught up in fun things to do while we’re not having to work.  We might only worship You for one hour out of the 24.  And then, with everything going on each day and all the hate and uncertainty in the world, we too often hesitate to share our faith with others, trying to lead them to Jesus.  Please forgive us our failures, Father.  Help us be more obedient to Your will, respecting the Sabbath and showing Your love to others so that they too might find salvation through Jesus.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better grasp the message You have for us this day.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, our worship, and our service.  And please keep us healthy and safe through these trying times.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

J. Vernon McGee tells this story about a man who wanted to argue about the Sabbath. The man said, “I’ll give you $100 if you will show me where the Sabbath day has been changed.” McGee answered, “I don't think it has been changed. Saturday is Saturday, it is the seventh say of the week, and it is the Sabbath day. I realize our calendar has been adjusted, and can be off a few days, but we won't even consider that point. The seventh day is still Saturday, and it is still the Sabbath day.” The man got a gleam in his eye and said, “Then why don't you keep the Sabbath day if it hasn't been changed?” McGee answered, “The DAY hasn't changed, but I have been changed. I've been given a new nature now, I am joined to Christ; I am a part of the new creation. We celebrate the first day because that is the day He rose from the grave.”

Yes, the Sabbath is indeed Saturdays - always has been, always will be.  But Christians have celebrated and observed Sundays as our day of worship since the early days of the church.  Of course, not everyone looks fondly on Sundays, not even those who consider themselves Christians.

Author and co-director of Mainstay Ministries, Karen Burton Mains, steps on a few toes when she asks, “Do you rush, push, shout and become generally unpleasant on Sunday mornings?  Do you complain about church?  Are you irregular in your attendance?  Are you over-conscientious about matters that are not really important?  Do you always criticize the pastor, the choir, the length of services and the usher crew?  Then don't be surprised if your children grow up to look at Sundays as the worst day of the week.”

In a sense, Sunday can be looked at as the Christian Sabbath.  It is our day to worship God and celebrate His Son’s day of resurrection.  But in our modern culture, Sunday has become anything but a day of rest and worship.

In my youth, not that long ago in the grand scheme of things, we had Blue Laws that prevented most stores and businesses from being open and kept some items from being sold on Sundays, at least until after normal church hours.  There wasn’t as much going on so folks could spend more time together at church and church gatherings.  All that has changed over the years, and now many people have to work on Sundays, and you can buy anything on a Sunday that you can buy any other day of the week.

But the greater sadness in all this is that fewer and fewer people attend any kind of church service, on Sunday or any other day.  For those who do, worship is only an hour, maybe two, before going about other activities.  And those other activities have increased in quantity and variety, becoming more attractive than spending time in worship.  Many of our kids’ events, especially sports games and tournaments, now are held on weekends, taking up all of Saturdays and Sundays.  It seems we’ve either forgotten what God meant by giving us a day of rest, or we simply choose to ignore it.

The Sabbath was one of the first gifts God gave us, right from the very beginning, and it has endured throughout the history of man.  It holds high honor in both Old and New Testaments.  Let me give another example of respecting the Sabbath, as the great prophet Isaiah tells us how we should live and behave every day, beginning with the Sabbath.  Please hear the words of Isaiah from verse 9 through the first part of verse 14 of chapter 58 of the book bearing his name…

9 When you beg the Lord for help,

He will answer, “Here I am!”

Don't mistreat others

or falsely accuse them

or say something cruel.

10 Give your food to the hungry

and care for the homeless.

Then your light will shine

in the dark;

your darkest hour will be

like the noonday sun.

11 The Lord will always guide you

and provide good things to eat

when you are in the desert.

He will make you healthy.

You will be like a garden

that has plenty of water

or like a stream

that never runs dry.

12 You will rebuild those houses

left in ruins for years;

you will be known

as a builder and repairer

of city walls and streets.

13 But first, you must start

respecting the Sabbath

as a joyful day of worship.

You must stop doing and saying

whatever you please

on this special day.

14 Then you will truly enjoy

knowing the Lord.

--Isaiah 58:9-14a (CEV)

If we look at what Jesus said in our morning reading with what God says here through Isaiah, do they seem to be in conflict, contradicting each other?  No, not really.  We are to treat the Sabbath as the day for worshiping God and doing good in His name.  It is ok to do things on the Sabbath if it is in some way serving God and Jesus.  This is how we respect the Sabbath.

Jesus reminded the Pharisees that the Sabbath was created for man’s benefit, not that man was created for the Sabbath.  He also told them that He is the Lord of the Sabbath, and by His own acts He showed that doing good on the Sabbath was OK in God’s eyes, even if it meant having to labor to do it.  So yes, it is indeed ok if we do other things on our day of rest and worship, as long as we keep that worship aspect in the forefront.

We worship God best by doing what He commands, and what He commands is all based on love.  He loves us, and wants us to love others.  Like Isaiah points out, while we’re going about our Sunday activities (or on any day for that matter), we must not mistreat others, or falsely accuse them, or say something cruel.  We must remember to help others when we can, letting the Light that is Jesus shine through us.  We respect the Sabbath not by what we do or not do, but by how we love.

So once we walk out these doors to continue our version of the Sabbath, let’s make an extra effort to show God’s love through our love, to everyone we encounter.  And let that Sabbath love extend throughout the days and weeks to come.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for instituting the Sabbath for us, giving us the time and opportunity to rest.  And thank You for sending Your Son as the Lord of the Sabbath, who explained what the day is really about.  But sadly, Father, we don’t always observe this beautiful day, this offering to our well-being, in the way we should.  We don’t really stop and rest, nor do we spend more of the time in worship.  But we do try to usually gather together and worship You here in our church family.  Remind us, please Father, why You set the example of rest.  Remove our attraction to all those activities that pull us away from spending more time with You, and forgive us those times we fail to live and behave righteously.  Please help us reach out to others and share with them all You teach us through Your word.  Help us lead them to Jesus so they too may be saved. 

Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith, trying to make us his own.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what comes our way.

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, thank You for teaching us about the Sabbath by example and by word.  You emphasized that the Sabbath was instituted for us, for our own good, so that we can rest and build a stronger relationship with our Father God.  Please forgive us, Lord, when we don’t respect the Sabbath as we should.  We know we disappoint You when we rush out of our worship service, or avoid it altogether, just to enjoy other activities.  Please help us be more like You in how we live and behave.  Help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message, showing Your love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us the deeds to do to lead the lost to You.

Holy Spirit, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this world might offer.  All this we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

By Faith

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 17th of August, 2025.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

A few weeks back, I mentioned that we don’t really know who wrote the Letter to the Hebrews.  For the longest time, we attributed this letter to Paul, a very prolific letter writer himself.  But in latter years, in careful examination and comparisons to the letters we know Paul wrote, most scholars now believe Paul did not write this letter.  It just doesn’t match his style of writing.  So we don’t know for sure who wrote it.  We’re not even sure when it was written, but references within the letter itself puts its authorship in the late 60s, or a little more than 30 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The primary theme of the letter is the superiority of Christ Jesus - in His person, His priesthood, and His power - and therefore the superiority of Christianity itself, of being Christian.  And when we look at Christ’s power, we get into the subject most commonly associated to this letter: the power of faith in Jesus.  We’re familiar with the opening line of the 11th chapter when our author assures us that, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”, as the New King James Version puts it.

Now, we acknowledge that faith is a gift from God.  Each one is given some measure of faith.  It then falls to us what to do with that faith, whether to use it and exercise it, or let it lie fallow and slowly wither and die.  Another very important consideration is what – or who - to put that faith in.

This morning I’d like to dig a little deeper into what it means to have faith, to put it to use, to live by faith.  Please listen and follow along to a slightly different version of the Letter to the Hebrews, starting with verses 1 and 3 of chapter 11, then skipping down to verse 29 and going through to the 2nd verse of chapter 12, and I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible this morning…

11:1 Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see. 

3 By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.

29 It was by faith that the people of Israel went right through the Red Sea as though they were on dry ground. But when the Egyptians tried to follow, they were all drowned.

30 It was by faith that the people of Israel marched around Jericho for seven days, and the walls came crashing down.

31 It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God. For she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

32 How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. 33 By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. 35 Women received their loved ones back again from death.

But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. 36 Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. 37 Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. 38 They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.

39 All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. 40 For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.

12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now He is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

--Hebrews 11:1, 3, 29-12:2 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we wish we knew who it was, but thank You for inspiring the author of this great letter.  Thank You for leading them to write it in the first place, and then ensuring that it would survive through all these years so we would have it to read and study today.  You gave us faith, and we chose to put it in Jesus.  But we don’t always put that faith to good use.  With all the busyness of life, we sometimes struggle to make the time and effort to share our faith with others, trying to lead them to Jesus.  Please forgive us our failures, Father.  Help us be more obedient to Your will, showing Your love to others so that they too might find salvation through Jesus.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better grasp the message You have for us this day.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, our worship, and our service.  And please keep us healthy and safe through these trying times.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Author and lay theologian C. S. Lewis, in his book A Grief Observed, noted that, “You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death.  It is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong as long as you are merely using it to cord a box.  But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice.  Wouldn't you then first discover how much you really trusted it?”

Mr. Lewis makes a very good point, although it goes unstated.  It isn’t a matter of believing or not believing, but of what we believe in.  We believe that rope is strong enough to tie up a box, but would we trust our life and limb to it?  It’s not a matter of having faith, but of what we have faith in, where we place our faith.  Is our faith in the rope, or the hands holding the other end of the rope?

Chapter 11 of our letter gives all kinds of examples of the good things that can come, even in this life, from living by faith.  Faith gives us a clearer understanding of how the universe came to be, even though nothing existed before.  Faith saw the people of Israel through some very dangerous times, even destroying their enemies more than once.  Faith saved a sinner who obeyed God when all around her refused to.  Faith powered mighty men who overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and escaped death by the edge of the sword.  Faith shut the mouths of lions and quenched the flames of furnace fire.  Faith turns weakness to strength.

Yes, some who had faith were treated poorly by life while others enjoyed success, but God has even more, ever better, in store for all who have faith.  So chapter 12 encourages us to rip away anything that impacts our faith, any weight that slows us down in our pursuit of righteous, faithful living.  Let us keep our eyes on Jesus, who perfects our faith.

One day Jesus was teaching His disciples about temptations to sin, about forgiveness, and about faith.  Hear what the Apostle Luke reported of part of the conversation that followed this lesson, in verses 5 and 6 of the 17th chapter of his Gospel account…

5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.”

6 The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you!”

--Luke 17:5-6 (NLT)

“Show us how to increase our faith.”  In my mind, that begs the question, can we actually increase our faith?  I believe the answer is “yes”, depending on how we define “increase”.

In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul clearly states that, “God has dealt to each one a measure of faith”, meaning we’ve all been given some amount of faith, whatever amount God saw fit to give us.  To me, this says we are given that specific amount of faith and its size, the amount, cannot be increased.  But then, in his 2nd Letter to the Corinthians, Paul notes that as that church family’s faith is increased, he and Timothy are encouraged to continue spreading the Gospel message.

Now – and again, this is just my interpretation – I believe that in this Paul means an increase in the strength and vigor of the faith given, an increase in its use, not its size.  So the unspoken gist of this lesson is that the size of faith, the amount of faith, is not nearly as important as what we have faith in.  If our faith is truly and fully in God, He can do amazing things through us as we exercise and use that faith.

A little later on, after His triumphal entry into Jerusalem and clearing the Temple of the money changers and sellers, Jesus comes right out and says where we should put our faith, as reported by the Apostle Mark in verses 22 through 25 of the 11th chapter of his Gospel account…

22 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. 23 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. 24 I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. 25 But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.”

--Mark 11:22-25 (NLT)

Have faith in God and even a mountain will move at our command.  But we’ve got to fully, completely, without a shadow of a doubt believe that it will happen, otherwise it won’t.  In fact, we must believe that it has already happened.  Jesus says we can pray for anything and if we believe we have received it, it will be ours.

But for some things we might ask, it can be very difficult to believe we’ll receive them.  That’s what faith is all about, believing in what may seem impossible.  Oh, and from previous lessons, we know that what we ask for, and our reason for asking, must both be seen as right in God’s eyes.

Family, we need to carefully consider where our faith lies?  In what or in who is our faith?  Is it in the rope, or the hands that hold the other end of the rope, in God’s hands?

If we put our faith in other men, or in man-made things, we will be greatly disappointed, for man and man’s things will fail us.  But God will never fail us, nor disappoint us.  We just need to believe, to trust, to have full faith in God.  And let Him do great things through us.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for giving us the faith to believe in and follow Your Son Jesus as our Lord and Master.  And thank You for all the important and useful information contained within the pages of our Holy Bible.  We just need to spend more time with it, studying it, to learn more of Your great plan and Your will for us, building a closer relationship with You as we grow in our faith.  Father, we know that we don’t always do what is right in Your eyes.  We’re not always very obedient, not always.  But we do try to be better servants.  Remind us that You want us to grow to be more and more like Your Son.  Remove our moments of hesitation and stubbornness, please God, and forgive us those times we fail to live and behave righteously.  Please help us reach out to others and share with them all You teach us through Your word.  Help us lead them to Jesus so they too may be saved. 

Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith, trying to make us his own.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what comes our way.

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, thank You for giving us insight into that wonderful gift of faith.  With faith, we can believe in You and trust fully in our Father God.  Please forgive us, Lord, when we don’t fully exercise and strengthen our faith.  We know it disappoints You when we hesitate to witness for You to others.  Please help us be more like You in how we live and behave.  Help us serve You by telling more people all about You and what You taught.  Help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message, showing Your love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us the deeds to do to lead the lost to You.

Holy Spirit, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this world might offer.  All this we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

What Sorrow Awaits

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 10th of August, 2025.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

Family, most believers aren’t too worried about dying.  Granted, we don’t usually want to hurry the event, mainly because we don’t want to leave our loved ones; we just aren’t ready to let go of this world.  But we’re not worried about what will come next, because we are confident our next life has been guaranteed by Jesus.

And I guess there are a lot of non-believers who aren’t worried about dying because they think nothing comes next – you just die and that’s the end of it.  They want to wring everything out of this life they can because there’ll be nothing to follow.  Oh, but what sorrow awaits them when they learn the truth, when Jesus separates them off to the left and says, “Get away from Me!  I never knew You!”

I’m sure you’ve heard someone say, at one time or another, that there are two types of people, and then go on and try to lump the whole world into those two types.  Well, I say there are at least two types of hypocrites.  First are those folks who only show us one side.  They hide the truth behind a façade.  Most of what they say and present to the public is a lie.  And when they practice their hypocrisy enough, they start to believe it themselves.  These are the wolves in sheep’s clothing, who sometimes try to hoodoo and scam gullible folk.  Generally speaking, when you see through their fake front, you dislike them and avoid them when possible.

The second group are those who we know are hypocrites, they know they are hypocrites, and we all accept it and even pay them to be hypocrites.  These are our actors, movie stars, TV stars, who pretend to be someone or something they are most certainly not, but do so for our entertainment so society says it’s all OK.  I always loved the commercial from years back of a man standing there in a white lab coat with a stethoscope slung around his neck and he says, “I’m not a real doctor, but I play one on TV”, and then proceeds to try to sell us some kind of health stuff.  He was an actor playing an actor.

Our word “hypocrite” come from the ancient Greek word that translates to “actor”.  In the times of the early church, “actors” who converted to Christianity were pretty much expected to change professions, mainly because of how much Jesus spoke out against hypocrisy.  Take for instance the day when Jesus had His fill of the religious leaders of His day.  Please listen and follow along to how Jesus spoke out against them, as recorded for us in the 23rd chapter of the Apostle Matthew’s Gospel account, verses 1 through 36, and I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples, 2 “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. 3 So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. 4 They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.

5 “Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels. 6 And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. 7 They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi.’

8 “Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. 9 And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your Father. 10 And don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you must be a servant. 12 But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

13 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either. 14 What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! You shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this, you will be severely punished.

15 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are!

16 “Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! For you say that it means nothing to swear ‘by God’s Temple,’ but that it is binding to swear ‘by the gold in the Temple.’ 17 Blind fools! Which is more important — the gold or the Temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 And you say that to swear ‘by the altar’ is not binding, but to swear ‘by the gifts on the altar’ is binding. 19 How blind! For which is more important — the gift on the altar or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 When you swear ‘by the altar,’ you are swearing by it and by everything on it. 21 And when you swear ‘by the Temple,’ you are swearing by it and by God, who lives in it. 22 And when you swear ‘by heaven,’ you are swearing by the throne of God and by God, who sits on the throne.

23 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law — justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. 24 Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel!

25 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy — full of greed and self-indulgence! 26 You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.

27 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs — beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. 28 Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.

29 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed, and you decorate the monuments of the godly people your ancestors destroyed. 30 Then you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would never have joined them in killing the prophets.’

31 “But in saying that, you testify against yourselves that you are indeed the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead and finish what your ancestors started. 33 Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?

34 “Therefore, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers of religious law. But you will kill some by crucifixion, and you will flog others with whips in your synagogues, chasing them from city to city. 35 As a result, you will be held responsible for the murder of all godly people of all time — from the murder of righteous Abel to the murder of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you killed in the Temple between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 I tell you the truth, this judgment will fall on this very generation.”

--Matthew 23:1-36 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, thank You for making sure that we would still have Your Son’s words to study and live by even after all these many years.  You inspired the men and women who authored the books of our Holy Bible.  But with all the challenges in life, we sometimes struggle to make the effort to spend more time reading their works, Your words.  It just seems like we’re always too busy with life to make the time for this.  Please forgive us our failures, Father.  Help us make the time to study our bible so we will be more confident sharing Your word, and Your Son, with others so that they too might find salvation through Jesus.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better grasp the message You have for us this day.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, our worship, and our service.  And please keep us healthy and safe through these trying times.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

I wish I knew the originator of this little story.  While trying to deliver a lesson, a rather pompous-looking deacon was endeavoring to impress upon a class of boys the importance of living the Christian life.  “Why do people call me a Christian?”, the man asked.  After a somewhat awkward silence, one youngster said, “Maybe it's because they don't know you.”

Mark Twain once quipped, “We're all like the moon - we have a dark side we don't want anyone to see.”

And then there was an article in a 1992 issue of the little Daily Bread periodical that asked, “Have you checked the labels on your grocery items lately?  You may be getting less than you thought.  According to U.S. News & World Report, some manufacturers are selling us the same size packages we are accustomed to, but they are putting less of the product in the box.  For example, a box of well-known detergent that once held 61 ounces now contains only 55. Same size box, less soap.”

Sound familiar?  They noticed this back in 1992.  Today, we call it shrinkflation – the price may have stayed the same, or gone up some, but the quantity we receive has lessened, sometimes dramatically.

The article continued, “How something is wrapped doesn't always show us what's on the inside. That's true with people as well. We can wrap ourselves up in the same packaging every day -- nice clothes, big smile, friendly demeanor -- yet still be less than what we appear to be.”  We have a word for this – Jesus spoke it often: hypocrite.

There’s an old expression that you can’t tell a book by its cover, but that is exactly what a hypocrite expects us to do.  They want us to see the cover they present us as being their true make-up.  Be wary of these.

Thinking about our scripture reading, we’re probably more familiar with Jesus saying, “Woe to you” when berating the Pharisees.  But I really like how the New Living Translation puts it: “What sorrow awaits you”.  Jesus knew that the Pharisees – the hypocrites – that He was addressing and describing in this passage would never accept Him as Lord.  They condemned themselves by their actions and disbelief.  He knew what fate, what great sorrow awaited them.  And family, great sorrow also awaits all who refuse to follow Jesus.

All that Jesus accused the Pharisees of had less to do with obedience to the Law handed down by Moses as it did with obeying God’s intent.  They may have followed the letter of the Law, and forced others to do so, too, but they miserably misunderstood the intent behind God’s words in the Law.  Jesus tried to remind them of what they already knew.  God, through His prophet Hosea, has told us what He wants of us, as Hosea notes in the 6th verse of the 6th chapter of his book of prophecy, when God says…

6 I want you to show mercy,

not offer sacrifices.

I want you to know Me

more than I want burnt offerings.

--Hosea 6:6 (NLT)

And our heavenly Father reiterated this when He spoke through His prophet Micah, who announced God’s words in the 8th verse of the 6th chapter of his book of prophecy…

8 No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good,

and this is what He requires of you:

to do what is right, to love mercy,

and to walk humbly with your God.

--Micah 6:8 (NLT)

Do what is right – be righteous.  Love mercy, show mercy - have mercy on others and forgive them their slights and offences.  Walk humbly with God – be humble, be honest with ourselves and with others.  If we know God, and understand His intent for our lives, we will follow these simple instructions.  But oh what sorrow awaits those that fail.

Be wary of hypocrites.  Trust in the Lord and follow Him.  And all our sorrows will end with our last breath.  For God’s wonderful rewards await us.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for giving us the faith to believe in and follow Your Son Jesus as our Lord and Master.  You gave us the choice to accept Jesus or refuse Him.  We chose acceptance.  Father, we know that we don’t always do what is right or show mercy.  But we do try to know You better, to build a closer relationship with You.  Remind us, Father, of what You expect of us.  Remove our moments of hesitation and stubbornness, please God, and forgive us those times we fail to live and behave righteously.  Please help us reach out to others and share with them what Jesus said and did and taught.  Help us lead them to Jesus so they too may be saved. 

Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith, trying to make us his own.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what comes our way.

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, thank You for telling it like it is.  You pointed out the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees, and by how You described them, we can see them in some of our leaders and others today.  Please forgive us, Lord, when we fail to heed Your words of warning.  We know it disappoints You when we don’t do as You command and instruct.  Please help us be more like You in how we live and behave.  Help us serve You by telling more people all about You and what You taught.  Help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message, showing Your love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us the deeds to do to lead the lost to You.

Holy Spirit, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this world might offer.  All this we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Foolish Greed

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 3rd of August, 2025.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

The bible is often misquoted when people say that money is the root of all evil.  The actual phrase comes from the Apostle Paul’s 1st letter to his young protégé Timothy when he states that, “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.”  Paul goes on to add that, “some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.”

Money itself isn’t a bad thing.  It’s the love of money – the love of what money can do – that corrupts people.  And we actually have a couple of instances in our bible of rich people who are OK with God as long as they are honest and their hearts are clean.  But we also have a couple examples of some whose wealth only makes them greedier for more.

One such instance occurred when Jesus was speaking to a crowd that just kept growing and growing, to the point that the people were stepping on each other.  He warned the people to be wary of the Pharisees and their hypocrisy.  He promised that anyone who acknowledges Him publicly, He will acknowledge in heaven, but anyone who denies Him, He will deny in heaven.  And He told us not to worry about how to defend ourselves if brought to trial over our faith, for the Holy Spirit will give us the words.

But that’s not all He said.  Please listen and follow along as Jesus continues His lesson as recorded for us in chapter 12 of the Apostle Luke’s Gospel account, verses 13 through 21, and I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible this morning…

13 Then someone called from the crowd, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.”

14 Jesus replied, “Friend, who made Me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” 15 Then He said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”

16 Then He told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. 17 He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ 18 Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. 19 And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’

21 “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”

--Luke 12:13-21 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, thank You for sending us a great Teacher, who shared Your will with us and demonstrated the ways of heaven by how He lived and interacted with others.  He used every opportunity as a teaching moment, trying to help Your children see and understand the truth.  And You gave us this mission of reconciliation, too, Father.  But with all the challenges in life, we sometimes struggle to summon up the will to do as You command.  If we truly loved all others as You command us, we would be more than happy to help reconcile all people to You by sharing Jesus with them.  Please forgive us our failures, Father.  Help us more closely follow Your command so that others may also find salvation through Jesus.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better grasp the message You have for us this day.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, our worship, and our service.  And please keep us healthy and safe through these trying times.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Leo Tolstoy once wrote a story about a successful peasant farmer who was not satisfied with his lot.  He wanted more of everything.  One day he received a novel offer.  For 1000 rubles, he could buy all the land he could walk around in a day.  The only catch in the deal was that he had to be back at his starting point by sundown.  Early the next morning he started out walking at a fast pace.  By midday he was very tired, but he kept going, covering more and more ground.  Well into the afternoon he realized that his greed had taken him far from the starting point.  He quickened his pace and as the sun began to sink low in the sky, he began to run, knowing that if he did not make it back by sundown the opportunity to become an even bigger landholder would be lost.  As the sun began to sink below the horizon he came within sight of the finish line.  Gasping for breath, his heart pounding, he called upon every bit of strength left in his body and staggered across the line just before the sun disappeared.  He immediately collapsed, blood streaming from his mouth.  In a few minutes he was dead.  Afterwards, his servants dug a grave.  It was not much over six feet long and three feet wide.  The title of Tolstoy's story was, “How Much Land Does a Man Need?”

Our insatiable appetite for more and more will only lead to our downfall.  There really is only so much we need to get through this life.  It's not how much we have, but how we use what we have, that will matter in the end.

You could say it’s only coincidence that both Jesus and Tolstoy told stories about greedy farmers.  After all, farmers aren’t the only type of folk who can be greedy, who are tempted by more and more.  But then again, I personally define “coincidence” as “the hand of God”.

I believe the Spirit led me to both the parable and the story, not because the spotlight was on a farmer, but because both make the point in simplistic terms that we can all understand and relate to.  In both stories, God did not fault the farmer for being rich and successful.  It was only when their riches – what God had already granted them - didn’t satisfy them and they wanted more and more.  More and bigger barns, more land, more wealth.  And in the end they lost it all.  If they had enjoyed a rich relationship with God, they would have been delighted with what they had been given and not wanted more.

Jesus said that life is not measured by how much we own, nor by how great our worldly wealth.  Our desire for material things leads us in the wrong direction.

There was a day when the Pharisees admonished the disciples for not following the traditional hand-washing ritual before eating.  Jesus rebuked the Pharisees, using this as another teaching moment.  The Apostle Mark saved for us what Jesus said to them and the crowd that gathered, in the 7th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 20 through 23…

20 And then He added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. 21 For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”

--Mark 7:20-23 (NLT)

It’s not what we have that corrupts us.  It’s not what we eat or drink that fills us with foolishness, that fuels our evil ways.  It’s what is in our heart that makes the difference in how we act.  And if we don’t have that rich relationship with God, then our hearts are filled with lust and desire.  Greed takes over and we want more, no matter what we might have to do to get it.  But how much more do we really need?  How much land, how much money, how much wealth is enough?

Remember, it’s not money or wealth that causes us problems, that makes us evil in God’s eyes.  It’s the love of material, earthly wealth that drives our greed and desire, that becomes our idol replacing God in our lives.  All those defining traits Jesus mentioned in Mark’s account reflect the things of the earth, our desire for earthly things, the hold this world has over us.  The Apostle Paul tells us we need to shift our focus, in the first two verses of the 3rd chapter of his Letter to the Colossians when he writes…

1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.

--Colossians 3:1-2 (NLT)

Think about the things of heaven rather than worldly things.  Turn our focus to God, and enrich our relationship with Him.  Don’t covet what someone else has; be happy for them that they have it.

Trust in God to provide for all we need, and He will give us even more.  As Habakkuk said, wealth is treacherous, but our faithfulness to God, our trust in Him, is never misplaced.  Trust in God, and be happy and content with all He gives, for He is all we need.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for providing for all our needs and then giving us even more.  Father, we know that sometimes we think we need something more.  We see something we want, maybe something someone else has, and we think we need it to make our life complete.  Remind us, Father, that You give us all we truly need.  We know that this world is full of greedy people, people who will do anything to get more and more.  Greed is a horrible tool the devil employs, and it ruins lives of both the guilty and the innocent.  Remove greed from our hearts, please God, and forgive us those times we want more.  Please help us reach out to others and share with them what Jesus teaches.  Help us lead them to Jesus so they too may be saved. 

Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith, trying to make us his own.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what comes our way.

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, thank You for taking every possible opportunity to provide us with a life lesson, a teaching moment, so that we can learn more about the ways and will of God.  We know that we receive all we need to get by, but sometimes we long for more.  Sometimes we just think that some thing will make our life better.  Please forgive us, Lord.  We know it disappoints You when we let greed get the better of us, even if only for a moment.  Please help us be more like You, focusing more on the things of heaven, on what You have taught us.  Help us serve You by telling more people all about You and what You taught.  Help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message, showing Your love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us the deeds to do to lead the lost to You.

Holy Spirit, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this world might offer.  All this we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.