I Am the Resurrection

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Boger Reformed Church in Cabarrus County on Sunday afternoon, the 6th of April, 2025, the fifth Sunday in Lent.  This was the second of three combined services of Boger Reformed, Paul's Chapel Reformed, and Pilgrim Reformed Churches.

Good afternoon family, my brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.  Thank you all for coming out to this, our second joint Lenten service.  As some of you heard last week, Rev. Long, Rev. Brantley, and I decided to do these services around a common theme, basing our messages on the “I am” statements Jesus made during His ministry.  Rev. Brantley started us off with “I Am the Good Shepherd”, and he began by reminding us that “am” is the present tense of the verb “to be” – I am, you are, he/she/it is.  It’s not that Jesus was the Good Shepherd while He lived, it’s that He is the Good Shepherd, from before the world was formed to after it becomes new.  Then, now, and forever – Jesus is the Good Shepherd.

Once Rev. Long chose the powerful message contained within the words, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”, I jumped at the chance to speak on the wonderful promise of assurance Jesus provided when He said, “I am the resurrection”.  Now, borrowing from Rev. Brantley’s comments, notice that Jesus did not use the verb form of the word.  He did not say, “I will be resurrected”, or “Someday you will be resurrected”.  He said, “I am the resurrection”.  But I’m getting a little ahead of myself.

I’m going to be using a lot of scripture this afternoon, because God’s word speaks so much better than I can.  To start, please listen to a remarkable event during the life and ministry of Jesus.  This was witnessed and recorded by the Apostle John in the 11th chapter of his Gospel account, in verses 1 through 45, and I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible this afternoon…

1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”

4 When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. 7 Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”

8 The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?”

9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” 11 These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”

12 Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” 13 However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.

14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.”

16 Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”

17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. 19 And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.

20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. 21 Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”

23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

28 And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, “The Teacher has come and is calling for you.” 29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him. 31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.”

32 Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

33 Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. 34 And He said, “Where have you laid him?”

They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”

35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”

37 And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?”

38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”

Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”

45 Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him.

--John 11:1-45 (NKJV)

The word of God for the children of God – thanks be to God.  Let us pray… Father God, thank You for sending Your Son Jesus to redeem us.  He is our Good Shepherd, He is our Resurrection.  Without Him, we would be doomed by our sin.  Father, we know we don’t always follow Your Son as we should.  We don’t always represent His name well.  Please help us be better servants.  Help us love as Jesus loves.  Help us fulfill the mission He left us.

Speak to us now, Father, directly to our hearts, that we might better understand the message You have for us this day, that we might better discern Your will for our lives.  In the blessed name of Jesus we pray.  Amen.

The Library of Congress has it on record that, "A young Benjamin Franklin wrote this doggerel verse in 1728 to serve as his epitaph. Franklin, who loved to write humorous and satirical verses as well as essays, made copies of this verse for friends at various times in his life. This version, not in Franklin's hand, was among the papers owned by Franklin's grandson, William Temple Franklin.

"'The Body of B. Franklin, Printer; like the Cover of an old Book, Its Contents torn out, And stript of its Lettering and Gilding, Lies here, Food for Worms. But the Work shall not be wholly lost; For it will, as he believ'd, appear once more, In a new & more perfect Edition, Corrected and amended By the Author.'"

Apparently old Ben Franklin did more than fly a kite in a thunder storm.  In his younger days, he was quite a prolific author of humorous, and often satirical, writings.  So it is fitting that he might speak of himself as a book and his physical body the cover, with God being the ultimate Editor, who will someday restore that book to an even greater glory.

This is our hope, that some sweet day, after our time on this earth has come to a close, we shall be restored into a new body, better than before.  And when I use the word “hope”, I use it in the biblical sense, not in a world sense of wishing for something that may or may not happen.  Our hope is an expectation of what will definitely happen, as assured by God’s promises.  We believers will be restored, better than ever, to a life that has no end.

Our scripture reading says a lot, doesn’t it.  The Apostle John tells us of Lazarus and his sisters, Martha and Mary.  We learn more about these three in John’s Gospel account, and the Apostle Luke tells us of another incident between Jesus and the sisters.  But I think we should note that the three were not strangers to Jesus.  He knew them.  In fact, John says that Jesus loved Lazarus and Martha and Mary.  Which makes it rather ironic that, when He heard Lazarus was sick, He decided to wait two more days before heading out to see His good friend.  Of course, He knew that Lazarus had already passed from his illness.  And we know the whole story, so we know Jesus delayed His visit so that He could show God’s glory in its fullness.  But no one else knew that at the point, so I bet they were all more than a little confused when He didn’t immediately go to His friend.

So Jesus and His disciples head out and arrive in Bethany, but not until Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.  Sister Martha met them on the way in and pretty much gave voice to her faith, saying that Jesus could have saved Lazarus if He’d come earlier, but also acknowledging that God would give Him anything He asked for.  And after a brief exchange regarding the timing of the resurrection, Jesus responded with that wonderful proclamation: “I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me shall never die.”  And just a short time later, He proved the truth of His statement and put the glory of God on full display by raising Lazarus from the dead.

“I am the resurrection and the life.”  “I am.”  That’s what God said to Moses from the burning bush, when Moses asked God His name.  “I am who I am.”  The great I am.  With those first two words Jesus could proclaim His Godship.  But here He adds clarity to the moment by adding resurrection and life to the equation.  Jesus could raise Lazarus from the dead, resurrect him, because He is the resurrection.  He could give Lazarus life again because He is the life.  In the opening of his Gospel account, John describes the nature of Jesus by saying, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”  Jesus is the resurrection.  Jesus is the life, the light of us all.

Now, there are two earlier recorded instances of Jesus raising someone from the dead in our bible’s New Testament.  The first was in the city of Nain, when the only son of a widow was being carried out of the city for burial.  Please listen to the more pertinent point of this event as reported by the Apostle Luke in chapter 7 of his Gospel account, verses 13 through 15…

13 When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” 14 Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” 15 So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother.

--Luke 7:13-15 (NKJV)

We might wonder why Jesus had compassion for this one woman, when so many others had also lost loved ones.  In those days, a woman was pretty much dependent on her father and later her husband for her livelihood.  A widow would then depend on her son or sons for provision.  In this case, the woman had lost not only her husband, but also her only son.  We aren’t told about any other family she could call on for help, but her future was looking very bleak.  So Jesus raised the son back to life, giving the mother new life as well.

And then there is the second instance, which occurred in Capernaum, when the 12 year old daughter of a ruler of the synagogue became ill, and died before the Healer could get to her.  The Apostle Mark recorded the details in the 5th chapter of his Gospel account, and I’d like to share verses 22 through 24 and 41 and 42 with you, leaving out the part about the woman cured of her ailment of bleeding for 12 years, and where the group was told the daughter had died...

22 And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name. And when he saw Jesus, he fell at His feet 23 and begged Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live.” 24 So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him.

41 Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, “Talitha, cumi,” which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” 42 Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were overcome with great amazement.

--Mark 5:22-24, 41-42 (NKJV)

“I am the resurrection and the life.”  Jesus brought these three people back to life, and He healed hundreds, maybe thousands, during His short, three year ministry, giving them a new chance at life.  Now hang with me for just a bit, because I believe that a resurrection doesn’t have to just be bringing a physical body back to life.  I think that we have been spiritually resurrected by Jesus, we who believe in Him as the Christ, the Son of God.  When we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Master, He raised us from the death of sin, giving us new life in Him.  Yes, we will be resurrected at His return, and given a new body if we’ve already passed on.  But Jesus has already resurrected us… from sin… and given us life eternal, just as He promised.  Jesus is our resurrection and our life.  

We’ve got a bit more to do this afternoon, but when we get to our closing hymn, I’d like to ask my brother Pastors to join me down front as we sing.  If you haven’t yet and you want to accept Jesus as your Master and Savior, if you want to rededicate your life to Him, if you want to offer yourself as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, if you just want us to pray with you, then please come down and join us at the foot of our Lord’s cross.  Let Jesus renew your spirit and your life.  In the glorious name of the one true Son of God, Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, we are poor sinners, redeemed only by Your love and the sacrifice of Your only Son Jesus, who gave His life on the cross to resurrect us from our death in sin, whose blood washed us clean.  Please hear us now, Lord God, as we pause for just a moment and come to you in the silence, repenting of our sin, seeking Your forgiveness, praying straight from our hearts…

Lord Jesus, You are our Good Shepherd.  You are our resurrection.  You are our way, our truth, and our life.  You called us by name and we followed You.  You resurrected us from our death of sin and raised us to new life in You.  By following You, we know the way.  By listening to You, we know the truth.  Lord, please help us share this vital message with the unbelieving world, this Gospel of salvation, of resurrection and eternal life available only through You.  Strengthen us to carry out the mission You gave us.  This we pray in Your righteous name, Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Fellowship

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 6th of April, 2025, the fifth Sunday in Lent.  Today's service also included the sacrament of Holy Communion.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

Family, each week – with very few exceptions – we come to this beautiful house to worship our Father God, to hear His word and sing praises to His name.  But there is another very important reason for gathering together.

The author of the Letter to the Hebrews encourages us to continue meeting together so that we can help each other stay strong in our faith.  Together we support each other, we strengthen each other, we provide accountability to each other.  God never meant for us to be alone.  At the very beginning of our creation, He gave us the family unit.  And this is the extension of the family, this church family, because we are all brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, through Christ Jesus.

This is what fellowship is all about – coming together, sharing together, crying and laughing together, working together toward a common goal.  And family, joining together in Christian fellowship is more and more important as the time for our Lord’s return draws ever closer.

It probably won’t surprise you that the passage from the Book of Hebrews isn’t the only one in our bible that speaks of fellowship.  And it isn’t only fellowship with each other, here in this family, that matters.  There’s also fellowship with other Christians, other families of believers.  And there’s an even higher fellowship than these.

Please listen and follow along to the opening of the 1st letter the Apostle John wrote to the early church, and I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life — 2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us — 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

--1 John 1 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, from the very first days of Your creation, You gave us a family to be a part of, to support us and care for us and help us in our times of need.  You gave us fellowship.  Thank You, Father, for caring that much about our physical and emotional well-being.  But Father, we admit that sometimes, for whatever reason, we just don’t gather together with our fellow believers, not even our chosen church family.  Sometimes other things take priority in our thinking, when we basically ignore Your plan.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  Help us put aside what we might think is important if it conflicts with what You have told us, what You have given us.  And help us all constantly support each other in our faith and in our ministries as You intended from the start.

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 time.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

In his book, Your Father Loves You, James Packer provides this commentary, which speaks to our scripture reading: 

“What is meant by fellowship in this verse? Gossip? Cups of tea? Tours? No. What is being referred to is something of a quite different order and on a quite different level.  [Here is the passage Mr. Parker is referencing, from Acts chapter 2, verses 42 through 47 in the New English Bible:]  ‘They met constantly to hear the apostles teach, and to share the common life, and break bread and to pray. A sense of awe was everywhere. All whose faith had drawn them together held everything in common. With one mind they kept up their daily attendance at the temple, and, breaking bread in private houses, shared their meals with unaffected joy as they praised God.’ That is fellowship as the new Testament understands it, and there is clearly a world of difference between that and mere social activities.

“The Greek word for fellowship comes from a root meaning common or shared. So fellowship means common participation in something either by giving what you have to the other person or receiving what he or she has. Give and take is the essence of fellowship, and give and take must be the way of fellowship in the common life of the body of Christ.

“Christian fellowship is two-dimensional, and it has to be vertical before it can be horizontal. We must know the reality of fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ before we can know the reality of fellowship with each other in our common relationship to God (as we see in 1 John 1:3). The person who is not in fellowship with the Father and the Son is no Christian at all, and so cannot share with Christians the realities of their fellowship.”

One of the definitions of “fellowship” is a community of interests, an association of persons having similar tastes and interests.  Have you ever noticed how certain groups seem to only closely associate with others in their group?  They are part of the larger society, but they only really relate to one another.  They're only truly comfortable and open around one another.  They understand each other.  They enjoy a unique fellowship by virtue of their profession or affiliation.  Law enforcement officers are like that, and fire fighters, and even doctors.  Why can't we Christians be more like that?

In our scripture reading this morning, the Apostle John opens his letter by attesting to his credibility as a witness of all that Jesus did during His ministry.  He wants to share all he has seen and heard with other believers so that they too may have the joy of knowing Jesus and of being in fellowship with Him and with our Father God.

This is that greater fellowship I spoke of.  This is the fellowship that means the most to us.  But there’s a catch.

Since God is all light, and no darkness is in Him, if we continue to walk in darkness, in our sin, then we have no fellowship with God.  But if we do walk in the light and do enjoy fellowship with God, then the blood of His Son Jesus washes us clean of our sin.  And we need this, for we are a sinful people.

Which is why it is so important that we also fellowship with one another, with our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.  We can help keep each other in the light, keep each other in true fellowship with God.  Worshiping together, singing together, eating together, working together keeps us strong – strong in our faith and strong as a family.

And fellowship can help us grow.  On the day of Pentecost, after the Holy Spirit settled on all the disciples, Peter gave an impassioned sermon to those gathered together in that place.  Hear the words the Apostle Luke reported of this milestone event in the early church, in the 2nd chapter of his Book of the Acts of the Apostles, from verses 38 through 47…

38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” 41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teachings and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. 44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and would sell their possessions and goods, and distributed them among all, as anyone had need.

46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

--Acts 2:38-47 (NKJV)

On the day of Pentecost, around 3000 people found salvation in Jesus Christ.  But they didn’t just go back home to life as before.  No, they took the apostles’ words and teachings to heart, breaking bread together, praying together, fellowshipping together.  They were now a group with a common interest - one of those definitions of fellowship.  And the Lord added daily to the church and to those being saved.

Family, there are many reasons why we might not always be able to come together.  Life happens, and sometimes we just have to do other things with our limited time and energy.  Injury, illness, inclement weather, natural disasters, work, planned trips and vacations…  Any of these can keep us from Christian fellowship.  The pandemic wreaked havoc on the church and church attendance in general.  But attendance across all Christian churches had been falling long before 2019.

This is a trend we need to break.  The church as a whole needs to put more emphasis back on fellowship – fellowship with one another, and fellowship with God and His Son Jesus.  And then the church can grow again and reclaim its important role in the greater community.

Another definition of “fellowship” is communion, as between members of the same church.  In just a few moments, we will be coming together at our Lord’s table to take of the elements of His body and blood.  The Apostle Paul cautions us not to come to this table until we are right with God.  So if any of us is harboring a personal sin that we know displeases our Father God, or a grudge against a brother or sister, let us take the next few minutes to lay our sin at the feet of our Lord and seek forgiveness.

In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, who gave His all for us.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for choosing us to believe in Your Son Jesus, and thank You for calling us to serve Him as we walk through this life.  You gave us the faith to believe, and by our fellowship with one another, we share that faith and encourage that belief.  Father, we admit that sometimes we just have trouble finding common ground.  Sometimes we’re just too cautious, too suspicious of the motives of others, even other believers.  Please forgive us those times, dear Father.  Please help us be more like Jesus.  Help us show Your love to others by giving of ourselves, giving of our love freely, unconditionally, sacrificially, just as Jesus gave of Himself for us.  And please help us share our Lord Jesus with others so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.  

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, You set the example for us to follow by choosing twelve men and bringing them into fellowship with You and with each other.  It couldn’t have been easy for them to accept each other, even with You as the common factor.  They mostly came from different walks of life, different strata in society, different attitudes, thoughts, and objectives.  Yet You brought them together and built Your church starting with them, the church that stands even today.  And now it’s up to us to work together to ensure Your church will endure until You return to call it home.  Please help us fellowship more and get along better.  Help us be more like You.  Help us love all others, even those who hate us and wish us harm.  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.

And Jesus, 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.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

Sing, O Sing

 

[The following is a manuscript of my short devotional message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 30th of March, 2025, the fourth Sunday in Lent and the fifth Sunday of the month, when we usually do a sing-along service.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

Please listen and follow along as a now unknown psalmist exhorts us to praise our God, who is coming someday to judge the world.  I’ll be reading Psalm 96 from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible…

1 Oh, sing to the Lord a new song!

Sing to the Lord, all the earth.

2 Sing to the Lord, bless His name;

Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.

3 Declare His glory among the nations,

His wonders among all peoples.

4 For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised;

He is to be feared above all gods.

5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols,

But the Lord made the heavens.

6 Honor and majesty are before Him;

Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.

7 Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples,

Give to the Lord glory and strength.

8 Give to the Lord the glory due His name;

Bring an offering, and come into His courts.

9 Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!

Tremble before Him, all the earth.

10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns;

The world also is firmly established,

It shall not be moved;

He shall judge the peoples righteously.”

11 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;

Let the sea roar, and all its fullness;

12 Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it.

Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice

13     before the Lord.

For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth.

He shall judge the world with righteousness,

And the peoples with His truth.

--Psalm 96 (NKJV)

Family, today we’ll be celebrating the fifth Sunday of the month by singing to our Lord.  But the psalmist encourages us to sing a new song.  I’m not sure we know any new songs, or even any new to us songs.

I wonder if the psalmist meant for us to literally come up with a new song, or rather to sing to the Lord with a new song in our heart, with a new attitude, a renewed spirit.  We are to bless the Lord’s name, to declare His glory and wonders among all the people.  And most importantly, to proclaim the good news of His salvation, the Gospel, from day to day – not just for an hour Sunday mornings.

Sadly, though, I think that too many Christians have been silent for a long time now.  Too many don’t sing the Lord’s praises.  They don’t acknowledge His hand at work in their lives, not in an open, public way.  Are they ashamed of their faith and belief?  Are they afraid of what their friends might think, or of how the non-believers might react?

Our Lord is great, and greatly to be praised.  He created the heavens and the earth and all that dwells herein.  We need to honor Him in all we do, for all the world to see and hear.  And the main thing the world needs to hear is that our Lord is coming to this earth again some day.  The first time He came was to redeem us of our sin and offer us salvation.  The next time He will come to judge, judge us all with righteousness and truth, and all those who have refused Him will pay a horrible price.

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.

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.

The Word of God

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 23rd of March, 2025, the third Sunday in Lent.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

Family, today is our third Sunday in this year’s season of Lent, commemorating the 40 days and 40 nights Jesus spent in the wilderness praying, fasting, and being tempted by the devil.  It is a time for us to also be more prayerful, and to turn our focus inward to see if we are living as God wants us to live.

Jesus gave His all for us.  He even laid down His earthly, mortal life for us, that we could be redeemed and seen as sinless when we stand before God.  What have we given up for Him?  What will we give up?  What can we give up?

If nothing more, I would suggest we give more of our time - in worship, in prayer, and in service.  For many, time is their most precious resource.  For others, time is all they have left to give.  Let’s spend more time this Lenten season in renewing and growing our relationship with our Lord Jesus, spending more time with Him and our Father God.

Time is an interesting commodity.  We’ve developed many “time saving” devices and schemes to give us more time to do other things.  But for some reason there just never seems to be enough time to do all we want or need to do.

If we apply this trend of thinking to Jesus, it may seem that while He had less things to do in a day, He still had less time to do them.  He didn’t have an eight-hour job, nor countless meetings, nor doctor’s or dentist’s appointments, or any of the issues that fill our days.  But then again, anywhere He went He had to walk, which takes more time to get where you’re going.  I bet He spent a lot of time praying to His Father and teaching His followers during those walks.  Oh, and He knew His time to accomplish His Father’s will was short, very short.

And so Jesus walked.  He walked from city to city, village to village, preaching the word of God, accompanied by the twelve and usually some women, including Mary Magdalene.  And everywhere He went, people would gather around Him, some wanting to be healed, some wishing just to hear His word - the word of God.

Please listen and follow as the Apostle Luke reports on one such visit to a city, and the message Jesus gave there about God’s word.  This comes from the 8th chapter of Luke’s Gospel account, verses 4 through 15, and I’ll be reading from the Modern English Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

4 When a large crowd had gathered together and people were coming to Him from every city, He told this parable: 5 "A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 Some fell on a rock. And as soon as it sprang up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. 7 Yet some fell among thorns. And the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. 8 And other seed fell on good ground and sprang up and yielded a hundred times the amount sown."

When He had said these things, He cried out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

9 His disciples asked Him, "What might this parable mean?" 10 He said, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but to others they are in parables, so that

'seeing they may not see,

and hearing they may not understand.'

11 "Now the parable means this: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those along the path are those who hear. Then comes the devil, who takes away the word from their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rock are the ones who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root, for they believe for a while, then in the time of temptation fall away. 14 That which fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity. 15 But the seed on the good ground are those who, having heard the word, keep it in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with patience."

--Luke 8:4-15 (MEV)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us Your word.  Thank You for sharing with us the insights of the men and women You inspired over the ages.  And thank You so much for all the instructions, warnings, and examples You provided through them and that are contained within our Bible.  That all of this has been maintained and alive for thousands of years just so we can have it today is only possible through You and Your hand at work.  Sometimes, Father, we do find it too easy to just try to get by with what the world tells us rather than immerse ourselves in Your word to learn more about You and heaven, and to build a closer relationship with our Lord Jesus.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  Inspire us through Your Spirit to spend more time in Your word.

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 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 time.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   

And now may the words of my mouth and the meditations of each of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord our strength and our redeemer.  Amen.

The source and the date of the article is unknown, but I saw it reported that of the 800,000 words in the English language, 300,000 of them are technical terms.  It went on to say that the average person knows 10,000 words and uses 5,000 in everyday speech and communications, while an average journalist knows 15,000 words and uses 10,000.

Of those 5,000 words we use in our normal conversations, how many help spread the word of God?  How many speak of the wonders of Jesus, of the joy in knowing Him as our friend and Savior?  How many times do we even talk with our friends and other known believers about our Lord and what He has done for us?  How often do we ask Him for help, or praise Him for the help He has given?  How often do we glorify His name, even when we’re all alone?  Let’s use our words more wisely, and spend more of them sharing our Lord with others.

Our scripture reading relates one of the more familiar stories Jesus shared with the people, and one that is sometimes more difficult to understand until He explains it to us.  This is the Parable of the Sower, which we could easily also call the parable of God’s word.

Jesus tells of a farmer sowing his seed.  Some fall by the wayside as he walks and throws them out, some in the rocks, and some among the thorns.  None of these result in a healthy crop.  Only the seed that made it to good, fertile soil sprouted and grew, producing a hundredfold yield.

We’re not told how the people reacted, but we do know His disciples were clearly confused by this parable.  “What do You mean?”, they asked.  “It’s all about the word of God”, He explained.

The seed that fell on the path represents God’s word that everyone can hear, but the devil keeps many from holding it in their hearts so they won’t be saved.  The seed that fell in the rocks are those folks who, when they hear the word, are filled with joy, but the word doesn’t take root, they believe for only a while but then quickly fall prey to temptation and forget what they heard.  And what fell in the thorns are the folks who, after hearing the word, go back into the world and live as the world lives, paying no heed to the word.  In these cases, the word produces no positive results.  But God’s word never returns empty, for the seed that falls on good ground - on those souls who keep the word and hold it in their hearts and cherish the message His word brings - they share it with others, and so the word grows and multiplies and more people hear it.

Let’s hear what God Himself says about His word, as spoken through His prophet Isaiah, in the 55th chapter, verses 10 through 13 of the book of Isaiah…

10 For as the rain comes down,

and the snow from heaven,

and do not return there

but water the earth

and make it bring forth and bud

that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

11 so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;

it shall not return to Me void,

but it shall accomplish that which I please,

and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

12 For you shall go out with joy,

and be led out with peace;

the mountains and the hills

shall break forth into singing before you,

and all the trees of the field

shall clap their hands.

13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree,

and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree;

and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial,

for an everlasting sign

that shall not be cut off.

--Isaiah 55:10-13 (MEV)

The rain and the snows fall from heaven and don’t return there, but provide nourishment to the earth and its inhabitants.  So it is with God’s word.  It does not return to Him, but instead provides spiritual nourishment for those who will hear and heed it.  God’s word will accomplish what He intends for it and sent it to do.  His word can bring us joy and comfort and peace, if we just hold it in our hearts.  And it can multiply a hundredfold if we share it with others, spreading it around as we go, sowing the seed.

I’d like to leave you with one more note about God’s word, and this comes from the opening of the Apostle John’s Gospel.  From the first 5 verses and verse 14 of the first chapter of John’s account of Jesus’ life and ministry…

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were created through Him, and without Him nothing was created that was created. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. 5 The light shines in darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it.

14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.

--John 1:1-5; 14 (MEV)

Jesus is God’s Word.  God spoke and the universe came into being.  Jesus, with God, created order out of chaos.  He gave life to the world; He gave light to the world.  Jesus shines His light into our darkness, showing us the truth and the way.  And the darkness will never overcome it.

Let’s be good earth, Family.  Let’s allow God’s word to take root in our hearts, spout in the light of Jesus, and grow within us.  But let’s not keep it inside, instead sharing it everywhere we go, glorifying God, letting His word multiply and spread.

Jesus is God’s Word!  Share Him with the world.  In the precious name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, who will come again to judge us all.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for Your word, and Your Word.  Thank You for preserving Your word for us to read and learn and live by today.  But Father, we struggle to make the time to spend in Your word.  Too often life gets in our way, or at least that’s an excuse we use.  Sometimes we have trouble understanding what we read and don’t want to ask for help.  Please, loving Father, forgive us for not cherishing Your word.  Please help us take full advantage of this wonderful gift.

Strengthen us, Father, to reach out to others and show them Your love by giving of ourselves in their service, in Your service, just as Jesus did.  And please help us share Your Word, our Lord Jesus, with others so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.  Help us pave the way for Your Spirit to do His work on them.

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, You are our Father God’s Word.  You came from heaven and You did not return until You had accomplished His will.  You gave Your all for us, asking only that we believe in You as God’s Son and accept You as our Lord.  But Jesus, we know that we don’t always behave in a way that pleases You.  We don’t always follow Your example or learn from Your teachings.  We can easily let the demands of life get in the way of strengthening our relationship with You.  Please forgive us our failures, Lord.  Keep reminding us to spend more time with You.

Holy Spirit, please help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message, showing God’s love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us the deeds to bring more followers to Jesus.

And Jesus, 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.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

Repentance

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 16th of March, 2025, the second Sunday in Lent.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

We are now in the second week of our season of Lent, our time to remember the sacrifice Jesus made for us and to look deep within ourselves to see if we are living the way God wants us to live.  And if we see something we know is not pleasing to God, if the Holy Spirit convicts us of some bad behavior, or even some bad feelings, we need to repent of that sin.  We need to stop dwelling on whatever it is that takes our focus away from God and the things of heaven.

Turning our mindset away from the world and worldly things and solely toward God is not easy.  We live in the world and deal with the world every day.  But we must not let the world mold us into its image, for we were created in the image of God in His three persons.  True repentance allows us to keep that image intact.

Now being stubborn and unrepentant can carry a risk of dire consequences.  Our bible has a number of examples of what might happen if we fail, and especially if we refuse, to repent of our disobedience to God.

I’m sure you remember the story of Jonah.  God told him to go to Nineveh and warn the people there that He – God – would destroy them if they did not turn from their evil ways.  Well, as it turns out, Jonah hated the Ninevites.  He hated them so much that he wanted God to destroy them all.  So rather than go warn them to repent, he went in the opposite direction, trying to get away from doing what God commanded.

We know that God knows all and sees all, and He saw Jonah’s heart.  So to give Jonah time to cool down and think over his rebellious nature, God had him swallowed up by a huge fish, where he sat for three days.

Let’s let Jonah finish the story.  Please listen and follow along to a part we sometimes overlook, the effects of his work in Nineveh, as told by the reluctant prophet himself in the 3rd chapter of the book bearing his name, and I’ll be reading from the Living Bible version of our Holy Bible this morning…

1-2 Then the Lord spoke to Jonah again: “Go to that great city, Nineveh,” he said, “and warn them of their doom, as I told you to before!”

3 So Jonah obeyed and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city with many villages around it — so large that it would take three days to walk through it.

4-5 But the very first day when Jonah entered the city and began to preach, the people repented. Jonah shouted to the crowds that gathered around him, “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” And they believed him and declared a fast; from the king on down, everyone put on sackcloth — the rough, coarse garments worn at times of mourning.

6 For when the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne, laid aside his royal robes, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And the king and his nobles sent this message throughout the city: “Let no one, not even the animals, eat anything at all, nor even drink any water. 8 Everyone must wear sackcloth and cry mightily to God, and let everyone turn from his evil ways, from his violence and robbing. 9 Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will decide to let us live and will hold back His fierce anger from destroying us.”

10 And when God saw that they had put a stop to their evil ways, He abandoned His plan to destroy them and didn’t carry it through.

--Jonah 3 (TLB)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us the time and opportunity to consider our disobedient ways and turn from them, giving You our focus.  Thank You for the many opportunities You give us to repent.  And thank You so much for all the examples warning us if we become too set in our ways, to comfortable in our sin to repent.  Sometimes, Father, we do find it too easy to just do what the world wants us to do, ignoring Your many blessings, depending more on ourselves than on You and the guidance of Your Spirit within us.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  Strengthen us to turn away from the ways of the world and back fully to You.

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 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 time.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   

And now may the words of my mouth and the meditations of each of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord our strength and our redeemer.  Amen.

Someone once stated that, "If we put off repentance another day, we have a day more to repent of, and a day less to repent in."  This makes sense when we consider that all of us are sinners, all of us have something to repent of.  And some sins are easier to turn from than others.  A gentleman by the name of Josh Billings wisely noted that, "It is much easier to repent of sins that we have committed than to repent of those we intend to commit."  And then there's the unknown wit who remarked that, "Many people use mighty thin thread when mending their ways."  Thread can be easily broken, just as our resolve to be a better person can be easily broken.

This is why we need this season of Lent, to reflect on what we are doing wrong in God’s eyes, and to strengthen our resolve to do better.  We don’t have to put on sackcloth and sit in ashes.  We just need to stop doing whatever the Spirit convicts us of, and start doing more of what God commands.

In our scripture reading, Jonah finally relented and carried out God’s will, for himself and the Ninevites.  I bet being in the belly of a fish for three days would help cure any of us of our stubbornness.  You might even say that he was resurrected after his time in the fish, his three day period of reflection.  So he set about carrying God’s warning to the people, that in forty days they would be utterly destroyed.

Now, pay attention to those numbers.  Jonah was released from the fish on the third day, just as Jesus left the tomb on the third day.  In numerology, three is the number of God – God in His three persons.  When we see three mentioned, we know it is a divine event, something done according to God’s will.  Four is the number associated with man – the physical creation of God.  God gave Nineveh forty days – ten times four – to get their act together.  Nineveh was a large city, so large it would take three days to walk all around it.  Three and four again.

But as it turns our, the people of Nineveh didn’t need God’s three days to heed His servant’s message.  They began repenting on the very first day of Jonah shouting out God’s warning.  Even the king humbled himself before God and repented of his disobedience.  So God stayed His hand and the people of Nineveh were spared.

But the story of Jonah didn’t end there in the Old Testament pages of history.  Jesus reminded the people of His day of the miraculous event causing Jonah to repent, and of the prophet’s impact on the people of Nineveh.

On one of those occasions after ridding a man possessed of an evil spirit, a mute demon, some in the crowd accused Him of working under the power and authority of the devil while some praised Him.  Listen to the response Jesus gave them, as reported by the Apostle Luke in the 11th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 29 through 32…

29-30 As the crowd pressed in upon Him, He preached them this sermon: "These are evil times, with evil people. They keep asking for some strange happening in the skies to prove I am the Messiah, but the only proof I will give them is a miracle like that of Jonah, whose experiences proved to the people of Nineveh that God had sent him. My similar experience will prove that God has sent Me to these people.

31 "And at the Judgment Day the queen of Sheba shall arise and point her finger at this generation, condemning it, for she went on a long, hard journey to listen to the wisdom of Solomon; but one far greater than Solomon is here and few pay any attention.

32 "The men of Nineveh, too, shall arise and condemn this nation, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and someone far greater than Jonah is here, but this nation won’t listen."

--Luke 11:29-32 (TLB)

Just as God showed He had sent Jonah as His messenger by first having him swallowed up and then released from the big fish, so God showed He had sent Jesus as His Messiah by all the signs and wonders He did, including freeing this man from a demon’s grasp.  Those who condemned Jesus for this will themselves be condemned by the people Jonah helped save – the Ninevites.

The Ninevites were spared destruction because they repented.  And we will be spared destruction – eternal destruction – if we too turn from our sin and turn fully to God.  This is the power of repentance, and the reward for turning from our evil ways and disobedience.  This is the warning of Jonah and the promise of Jesus.  Oh, and this is also the warning Jesus gave, echoing the words of John the Baptist when He commanded us to, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

Family, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and the earth’s day of reckoning is nearing closer and closer.  Lent is the perfect and appropriate time for us to repent, to turn from our sinful ways, to stop disobeying God and Jesus, to rid ourselves of hateful thoughts and cruel deeds, and turn our full attention to pleasing God.  Let us repent now, while there is still time, before we have a day more to repent of, and a day less to do it in.  In the precious name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, who will come again to judge us all.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for forgiving us of our sin through the sacrifice of Your Son Jesus.  Thank You for this great and wholly undeserved gift.  But Father, we struggle to completely turn from our sinful, worldly ways.  We have those sins that we’re just too comfortable with, that we can’t seem to shake loose.  Too often we let the world tell us what to do, dictate to us how we should live.  Please, loving Father, forgive us for our unrepentant, stubborn attitude.  Please help us set the worldly ways aside and turn fully toward You and the things of heaven.

Strengthen us, Father, to reach out to others and show them Your love by giving of ourselves in their service, in Your service, just as Jesus did.  And please help us share our Lord Jesus with others so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.  Help us pave the way for Your Spirit to do His work on them.

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, You reminded us of how the stubborn, disobedient Ninevites repented of their evil ways and were spared God’s destruction.  And You warned us to follow their example, and not that of those who refuse to listen and repent.  But Jesus, we know that we don’t always behave in a way that pleases God.  We know we too can be stubborn.  We can easily get too hung up on how the world acts and reacts, not living as God wills us to live.  Please forgive us our failures, Lord.  Keep reminding us that we need repentance to freshen our spirits and our souls.  Help us please our heavenly Father.

Holy Spirit, please help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message, showing God’s love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us the deeds to bring more followers to Jesus.

And Jesus, 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.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

Reconciled

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 9th of March, 2025, the first Sunday in Lent.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

Wednesday afternoon we entered the season of Lent with our Ash Wednesday service, and we noted this is our time to remember the sacrifice Jesus made for us and to look deep within ourselves to see if we are living the way God wants us to live.  I said that Lent is the 40-day period that recognizes the 40 days and 40 nights that Jesus spent in the wilderness fasting, praying, and being tempted by the devil.

Our season of Lent is actually 46 days long, but the six Sundays before Easter Sunday are not included in the count, and so we have the 40 day period.  Today is the first of those Sundays, and I’d like to look at one of the many things Jesus did for us through His life and His mortal death, by His great sacrifice.

First though, let me remind you of Saul, who we also know as Paul.  Saul was a Pharisee who did everything he could to stop Christianity before it could get a foothold.  He traveled far and wide to hunt down believers and bring them back to Jerusalem for trial.  It was on one of these trips that Jesus struck him blind with a light from heaven for three days.  After the three days, Jesus sent a follower named Ananias to restore Saul’s sight.

During those three days, Jesus must have given the man we now call the Apostle Paul special insight into Himself and God’s heaven, because even though Paul never knew Jesus nor followed Him while He walked this earth, he had a profound knowledge of Jesus and the things He had taught.  Paul went on to form many new churches in the known world and to write letters that form a goodly portion of our New Testament.

Sometimes Jesus gives someone a special insight, giving them knowledge they have no reason to know, so that they can carry out the work He gives them.  Paul was one such person, assigned the task of apostle to the Gentiles, to us.  Please listen and follow along as the Apostle shares with us a little of that special insight as regards God’s love for us, as he wrote in verses 15 through 23 of the 1st chapter of his letter to the Colossians, and I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible this morning…

15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.

He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,

16 for through Him God created everything

in the heavenly realms and on earth.

He made the things we can see

and the things we can’t see —

such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.

Everything was created through Him and for Him.

17 He existed before anything else,

and He holds all creation together.

18 Christ is also the head of the church,

which is His body.

He is the beginning,

supreme over all who rise from the dead.

So He is first in everything.

19 For God in all His fullness

was pleased to live in Christ,

20 and through Him God reconciled

everything to Himself.

He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth

by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

21 This includes you who were once far away from God. You were His enemies, separated from Him by your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet now He has reconciled you to Himself through the death of Christ in His physical body. As a result, He has brought you into His own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before Him without a single fault.

23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it.

--Colossians 1:15-23 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us a physical, visible representation of Yourself and Your Holy Spirit, who are both invisible, spiritual.  Jesus is the visible manifestation of Your love for mankind.  Thank You for sending Him to walk among us, to teach us, to show us how we should live by how He lived.  And thank You so much for inspiring Paul to tell us so much about Jesus and what He has done for us.  Sometimes, Father, this world and our modern society pound on us and wear us down to the point that our spirits weaken and our faith waivers.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  Strengthen us to face whatever the world sends our way.

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 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 time.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   

And now may the words of my mouth and the meditations of each of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord our strength and our redeemer.  Amen.

One New Year's Eve long ago at London's Garrick Club, British dramatist Frederick Lonsdale was asked by Seymour Hicks to reconcile with a fellow member.  The two had quarreled in the past and never restored their friendship.  “You must,” Hicks said to Lonsdale.  “It is very unkind to be unfriendly at such a time.  Go over now and wish him a happy New Year.”  So Lonsdale crossed the room and spoke to his enemy. “I wish you a happy New Year,” he said, “but only one.”

That’s not much of a reconciliation, is it.  But this is what God asks of us, that we be reconciled with those we consider our enemy.  After all, we were reconciled to Him by the blood of His own Son.  God lived in Christ Jesus and through Him, this physical manifestation, God reconciled us to Himself.

And Family, this is all about love.  God loves us and doesn’t want us to die without being born again and saved, so He reconciled us to Himself through Jesus.  Jesus commands us to love others, all others, including our enemies.  We can show our love to any and all, and especially those who we have issues with, by reconciling our differences with them.

In our scripture reading, Paul begins by kind of echoing the opening to the Apostle John’s Gospel account.  Christ Jesus, in His own invisible, spiritual form, existed before anything was created.  It was through Him that God created all there is, in the heavenly realms and on earth.  He made the things we can see, and the things we can’t see – He made everything.

And through Him, God reconciled everything to Himself, including us, who were once far away from God.  In our rebellious, sinful ways, we distanced ourselves from our heavenly Father.  We turned our backs on Him, but He never abandoned us, He never left our side.  Instead, He sent His Son Jesus, in His physical form, to die on the cross to reconcile us to God.  And by our faith and belief and this reconciliation, we can stand before God when our time on earth is finished, and He will see us as faultless, blameless, and holy.  But we must continue to believe the truth and stand firm in our faith.  We must not waiver, not loose grip of the assurance we are given by the Gospel message of salvation through Christ Jesus.

Staying with Paul’s special insight as revealed in his letters, I’d also like to look at the second epistle he sent to the church in Corinth.  Paul wrote two letters to this gathering of believers, and this second one addressed some doubts and misinformation that had crept into the church.  In the opening to this 2nd letter, Paul says it is from himself and Timothy, his young protege.  We have no idea if Timothy was an actual co-author, or if he simply accompanied Paul at the time of its writing, but I don’t think it really matters.

Please listen to what Paul wrote in verses 13 through 21 of the 5th chapter of his 2nd letter to the Corinthians…

13 If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. 14 Either way, Christ’s love urges us on. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. 15 He died for everyone so that those who receive His new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know Him now! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

--2 Corinthians 5:13-21 (NLT)

I love that opening: “If it seems we are crazy…”.  A lot of people think we Christians are crazy.  First we believe in the existence of some invisible, unprovable God who supposedly created everything there is.  And then, we believe that this man named Jesus who lived 2000 years ago is the Son of God, who is also God, and who died but walked out of the grave and still lives to this day.  That’s just crazy, right?

Well, if it seems we’re crazy, it’s all to bring glory to God.  But we are indeed in our right minds, and because of our belief, we know that we have been reborn into a new creation, a new person.  And we now live for Christ who gave us this new life.

But now comes the hard part.  Paul affirms that he and Timothy have stopped evaluating other people from a human point of view.  From what we can read in our bible, this is how Jesus looked at folks, not from a human point of view but looking more at their spiritual self, at their heart.  Paul and Timothy adopted this practice, and Family, so should we.

But it’s hard, I know.  It’s tough to let go of our old, judgmental ways, to look deeper than the skin when evaluating a person.  Paul did it, Timothy did it, and so can we.  We just need to make a concentrated effort to try to find some spark of goodness in everyone, to maybe find some common ground.  For this will allow us to be reconciled with them.

God has given us the task of reconciling people to Him, bringing them to Him, showing them His love and mercy, sharing the Good News of salvation.  We can’t do that if we judge someone from a human point of view rather than looking into their heart.  We can’t carry out our mission if we aren’t willing to forgive someone who has wronged us, just as God forgives us.

We carry the name of our Christ, we are His ambassadors, His representatives.  So let’s share the wonderful message of reconciliation and salvation, pleading “Come back to God” to all who have gone astray, and “Come to God” to those who do not believe.  Let’s help others get right with God.  In the glorious name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, our Master and our Savior.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for reconciling us back to You through Your Son Jesus.  You have brought us into harmony with Yourself, a feat we could never accomplish on our own.  Thank You for having mercy on us.  Father, we admit that we sometimes struggle with not evaluating other people from a human point of view.  Too often we judge people on silly things, like skin color or accent.  Please forgive us our lapses, loving Father.  Please help us be more like Jesus in how we look at others and how we react to the world, in living out our love and in giving our love to those who need love the most.

Strengthen us, Father, to reach out to others and show them Your love by giving of ourselves in their service, in Your service, just as Jesus did.  And please help us share our Lord Jesus with others so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.  Help us pave the way for Your Spirit to do His work on them.

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, by Your selfless sacrifice, we have been redeemed and reconciled to God.  We have been washed clean and brought back into harmony and righteousness in our heavenly Father’s eyes.  But Jesus, we know that we don’t always act as we should.  We still judge others rather than trying to see them through Your eyes.  Please forgive us our failures, Lord.  Remind us that we are Your representatives and that we’ve been assigned the task of sharing the message of reconciliation and salvation.  Help us see others as You see them.

Holy Spirit, please help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message, showing God’s love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us the deeds to bring more followers to Jesus.

And Jesus, 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.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

In the Wilderness

 

[The following is a manuscript of my meditation delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Wednesday afternoon, the 5th of March, 2025 - Ash Wednesday.  A recording of our service may be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

Today we enter into the Lenten Season, which commemorates the 40 days and 40 nights that Jesus spent in the wilderness fasting, praying, and being tempted by Satan.  We are challenged to use this time for self-examination and introspection, to see if we are living as God would have us live.  It’s a great time to dig deeper into our Bibles, studying the Gospels, listening to Jesus, witnessing what He did while He walked among us.  And we can read the letters His closest friends and followers wrote to help the early church.  For by watching Jesus and studying the letters, through the eyes and the words of those who walked alongside Him, we can see how we, too, should live and act.  And while we may think we can’t do miracles like He did, and perhaps some are above our pay grade, what to us may seem a simple act of kindness may, to the recipient, be a miracle indeed.

This afternoon, I’d like to step back to the end of Jesus’ 40-day wilderness experience, and listen in on the most enticing temptations Satan held out to our Lord.  Please listen and follow along to what the Apostle Matthew recorded for us in the 4th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 1 through 11, and I’ll be reading from the New King James version of our Holy Bible this afternoon…

1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”

5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:

‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’

and,

‘In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”

7 Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not test the Lord your God.’”

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

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

11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

--Matthew 4:1-11 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, one of the most useful features of our Bible is that it provides us with a view into the life of Jesus.  You inspired four of His apostles to leave records of His life, some very detailed, allowing us to witness important events of His ministry.  Thank You for so wonderful a gift.  Father, please help us follow the examples Jesus set for us.  Help us remember all that He told us, including the warnings, so that we don’t perish in sin.  Please stop us when we begin to wander off into the wilderness, tempted by the devil to disobey You.  Forgive us when we deny Your Son by our actions and reactions that mimic the world rather than show us as separate from the world.  This we pray in the name of Jesus, Your Christ and our Lord.  Amen.

Each year, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent and is always 46 days before Easter Sunday.  Lent is a 40-day season (not counting the six Sundays) marked by repentance, fasting, reflection, and ultimately celebration.  The 40-day period represents Christ’s time of temptation in the wilderness, where he fasted and where Satan tempted him.

Lent asks believers to set aside a time each year for similar fasting, marking an intentional season of focus on Christ’s life, His ministry, His sacrifice, and His resurrection.  And, of course, the best way to focus on Jesus’ life and ministry is to read and study our Bible.  So let’s look a little closer at our scripture reading.

We join this event immediately after Jesus is baptized in the River Jordan by John, whom we call the Baptist of the Baptizer.  You may recall that when Jesus came up from the water, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove.  And this was also the first time God declared Jesus to be His “beloved Son”, in whom He is well pleased.  So right there we know that God’s Holy Spirit was with Jesus and in Jesus.  This is important to note.

Now in the Apostle Luke's account of this event, he opens with, "Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.  And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry."  (Luke 4:1-2 (NKJV))  While this sounds a lot like what Matthew recorded, Luke added the reminder that Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Why am I harping on this?  Because in both reports, we see that Jesus was led into the wilderness by none other than the indwelling Spirit of God, there to be tempted by the devil!  Jesus was led into temptation.  When we pray our Lord’s Prayer, we plead, “Lead us not into temptation”.  Why?  Because we know we cannot resist all of Satan’s charms and deceptions like Jesus did.  We can’t even find our own way out of the wilderness.

The next interesting point is that Matthew noted that Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights.  Now traditional fasting was between sunup and sundown – you could eat before sunrise and after sunset.  But Jesus fasted both day and night.  Even Luke reported that Jesus ate nothing during this time.

And that set up the first temptation:  “I know You’re hungry, so turn some of these rocks into bread and eat.”  And Jesus replied with the line we know so well – “Man does not live by bread alone.”  We need more than bread, more than just physical sustenance.  We need spiritual sustenance, too.

So then the devil counters with a challenge.  “Jump off this pinnacle and we’ll see if the angels swoop in to save You.”  And Jesus simply responded, “You must not test God.”  I wonder just how many times we do test God.  We test Him by our disobedience, by our rebellious nature, by doing whatever it is we want to do without giving any thought to whether it might not please Him.

And then we have the final temptation: “I will give You anything and everything this world has to offer if You will just bow down and worship me.”  Jesus snubbed this offer by saying that we are to worship and serve God, and only God.  How many folks do you know could resist that last temptation?  For that matter, how often have we heard something similar spoken by our fellow man?  “If you’ll just vote for me, I’ll make sure you get everything you ask for.”  Or how about, “This new car is everything you need; just buy it now before they’re all gone.”  Some temptations are very difficult to resist, and they’re not all related to material things.

So in our eyes, these temptations that Jesus faced would be tough to turn our back on.  And we know from reading the Gospel accounts that Jesus had it pretty tough overall during His short ministry, His last three years or so on earth.

Well, the Jewish people's experience was not very pleasant either.  But theirs was of their own doing.  Their wilderness was of their own making.  Listen to how Moses described the beginning of their little hike, in verse 13 of the 32nd chapter of his Book of Numbers…

13 So the Lord’s anger was aroused against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone.

--Numbers 32:13 (NKJV)

The people did evil in the sight of God.  They rebelled, they disobeyed Him and His servant Moses.  They did what Jesus told us not to do – they tested God.  And God punished them until the last had perished in the wilderness.

But even with that, Moses still reminded them - and us - that God never abandoned them.  He took care of them even during their rebellious times, despite their complaining, even though they tested Him.  Hear what Moses added in the 7th verse of the 2nd chapter of his Book of Deuteronomy…

7 “The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your trudging through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.”

--Deuteronomy 2:7 (NKJV)

This is how much God loves us, that He still provides for our needs even when we are acting against His will.  He still loves us even when we certainly don’t deserve His love.  He looked down on us as we wandered in a wilderness of sin, had mercy on us, and sent His own Son to lead us out of the darkness and into the light.

We must be careful not to stray off the path of righteousness and back into that wilderness.  We must repent, turn from our sinful ways and turn fully to God.  Jesus, while fully man was also fully God and could resist the devil’s temptations.  We are not God, but we do have God's Holy Spirit living within us, and with His help, we too can resist the devil's temptations.  Trust in God, obey Jesus, let the Holy Spirit guide us, and we can avoid ever stepping back into a wilderness of our own making, the wilderness of our sin.

We begin this holy season of Lent by acknowledging our need for repentance and our need for the love and forgiveness shown to us in Jesus Christ.  I invite you, therefore, in the name of Christ, to observe a Holy Lent, by self-examination and penitence, by prayer and fasting, by practicing works of love, and by reading and reflecting on God's Holy Word.

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

Let us pray…  Father God, You sent Your Son Jesus to redeem us of our sin, to save us from ourselves.  He gave everything for us, asking only that we follow Him and love one another.  Thank You, Father, for loving us this much.  Please help us avoid wandering off into the wilderness, through this Lenten season and all the days ahead.  May we never forget or take for granted the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf.  Please help us share the Good News, the Gospel message, everywhere we go so that non-believers might also be saved.  In the beautiful name of Jesus we pray.  Amen.