Forty Days

 

[The following is a manuscript of my meditation delivered on Ash Wednesday, the 2nd of March, 2022, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

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

The number 40 is seen quite often in our Bible.  It rained for 40 days and 40 nights as God washed the earth clean in the days of Noah.  Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah as his wife, and his brother Esau was 40 when he took Judith and Basemath as his wives.  The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, during which Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights on the mountain with God.  Nineveh was given 40 days to repent or be destroyed.

And there are many more, but today we’ll look at another important 40.  For today is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the 40 days and 40 nights that Jesus spent in the wilderness praying and being tempted by Satan.  We don’t know all that went on during this time period, but we do know a little of how it began, of what Jesus did, and how it ended.

Please listen and follow along to what the Apostles Matthew and Luke saved for us of this event, beginning with Matthew’s Gospel account in chapter 4, verses 1 through 11, and ending with Luke’s account, also in chapter 4, verses 14 and 15, and I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible…

M4:1 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 tempt 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.

L4:14 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. 15 And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

--Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:14-15 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, one of the most useful features of our Bible is that it provides us with a wealth of examples of what to do and what not to do.  If we carefully follow these examples, we can be seen as righteous in Your eyes.  This is especially true if we try our best to do as Jesus did.  Father, please help us follow the examples Your Son set for us.  Help us come to You for advice and assistance.  Help us spend more time with You in prayer and devotion.  Forgive us our disobedience and save us from ourselves, please, O merciful God.  In the name of Your Son Jesus we pray.  Amen.

Our scripture reading begins right after Jesus is baptized by John in the River Jordan.  So immediately following the voice of God from heaven declaring that, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”, God’s Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness for the sole purpose of being tempted by the devil.  Jesus didn’t just up and take a stroll into the desert.  He didn’t just happen to meet up with Satan there.  No, it was all planned by God.

And I believe it’s purpose was three-fold.  I think one purpose is provided in the verses from Luke’s account.  News of Jesus went out through the surrounding region and the people glorified Him.  This gave Him the opening, so to speak, the start of His ministry, the spark that first brought the people in to hear His teachings.

And then I believe we are given a clue to another purpose in the last verse of Matthew’s account.  Once Jesus had resisted all that Satan had to throw at Him, the devil left Him alone and did not directly try to tempt Him again.

But I feel that the most important purpose of this event, for us today, is in the lesson it provides and the example Jesus set for us.  A good piece of that lesson is to understand that God does not always make things easy for us.  Sometimes He will lead us into situations we would have preferred to avoid, so that we can either learn from them or to perform a task He needs us to do.  And sometimes He lets us get into those situations on our own, so that maybe we won’t keep making the same mistakes over and over.  Should we blame God for this, for allowing us to be uncomfortable or be put on the spot?  No, because this is the only way some of us hard-headed people can learn.

And that leaves us with how Jesus handled the situation He was placed in.  Matthew, Luke, and the Apostle Mark all reported the incident in their Gospel accounts.  Luke and Mark make it very clear that Jesus was being subjected to the devil’s temptations for the entire 40 days, even though only the last of these are recorded for us.

Now I think we all know that none of us could have survived this without giving in.  After all, Eve was given only one temptation, with a few extra urgings, before she gave in and took a bite of the fruit that was forbidden to her and Adam.  If we’re honest with ourselves, I believe each of us could find at least one little temptation that we just can’t resist.  We each have our own vice that we cannot give up, one sin that we cannot turn from, our own personal irresistible temptation.  Some of us have many, and I’m talking believers and non-believers alike.  So no, we cannot resist all of the devils shiny, sparkling offers like Jesus did, because we are not God like Jesus is.  But we can still follow His example.

How did Jesus respond to Satan’s offers?  In each of the three separate temptations as recorded by both Matthew and Luke, Jesus answered the devil by quoting scripture.  Jesus rebuked Satan by repeating God’s own word.  How could He quote scripture?  By reading it and learning it, by spending time with God’s word until it became familiar.

This is something we should do.  We should spend more time studying God’s word that has been faithfully recorded and saved for us in our Holy Bible.  Would it be realistic to say that most Christians watch TV more than they read their Bible?  In other words, we’d rather be entertained than to make the effort to learn what God wants us to know and understand.  How many of us could quote scripture, or even just paraphrase a passage, if we were put in a position of needing to defend our faith?

There is one last point I would like to address, and it is one that this particular passage does not mention, but it is frequently reported in our Bible.  Besides fasting and being tempted over a 40 day span, I am willing to bet that Jesus spent a lot of time in prayer.

We can find instance after instance of Jesus praying to His Father God.  Prayer was so important to Him that He even gave us a model of how we can pray, too.  He, even though being God Himself, prayed more than any man.  As the cross loomed on the horizon, His spirit racked with anguish by what He knew was about to occur, Jesus prayed for strength, for protection over us, and that God’s will be done.  Isn’t it reasonable to think that He also prayed as He faced Satan head on?  And isn’t it reasonable that we should spend more time in prayer, too?

Today we enter into the season of Lent.  The cross stands just ahead, a stark reminder that we have been forgiven and shown mercy by God, even though we’ve done nothing, nor can we ever do anything, to deserve it.  And our Father commands that we be forgiving and merciful, too, in our dealings with others.

The cross also serves as a sign of God’s love.  God made a covenant with us and signed it with the blood of His own Son.  We acknowledge our end of that covenant by our baptism and our service to our Lord Jesus.  Part of that service is to repent, to turn from our sin, for Jesus called us to repentance while announcing that the kingdom of God is at hand.

To help us resist the temptation to sin, we can spend more time with God, both in prayer and by studying His word.  In a moment we will receive a symbolic imposition of ashes that I hope will be useful meeting both these goals.  My prayer is that this will last far longer than ashes on the forehead, and have a far greater effect on ourselves and others we encounter.

But first we will offer a confession of our sins and receive an assurance that we’ve been washed clean by the precious blood of Jesus.  In the name of our Redeemer, the Son of God, Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Speak Peace

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday, the 27th of February, 2022, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

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

Have you ever heard of someone “waging a war of words”?  That seems a little odd, doesn’t it - going to war with words as the weapons.  How effective can that be?  After all, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”.

But actually, words do hurt.  They can cut deeply.  Back in 1839, English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton coined the phrase, "The pen is mightier than the sword", hinting that the written word is more effective than violent acts for getting a point across.  I think it also indicates just how powerful our words can be.

So just as we need to keep a close check on our use of weapons of violence, we also need to rein in our words, so that we don’t go off and do irreparable harm.  The Apostle James, the brother of Jesus, had a lot to say along these lines.  Please listen and follow along to the wise words that James left for us in chapter 3 of his letter to the early church, and I’ll be reading this from the New Revised Standard Version of our Holy Bible…

1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2 For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. 3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. 4 Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.

How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. 7 For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, 8 but no one can tame the tongue — a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. 15 Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. 16 For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

--James 3 (NRSV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for imparting Your wisdom upon the men and women who penned the words in our Bible.  Words are powerful tools, and those wielded by these authors provide us with the instructions we need to get through this life and be seen as righteous in Your eyes.  Please help us understand what has been saved for us by James and the rest.  Help us follow what they tell us, and help us resist the urge to use our words as weapons of hate rather than blankets of love.  Father, please protect us from Satan and from those who do his bidding.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Show us how to choose our words carefully so as not to hurt others.  Teach us how to speak peace.  This we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Aesop, the ancient storyteller, tells us that once upon a time, a donkey found a lion's skin.  He tried it on, strutted around, and frightened many animals.  Soon a fox came along, and the donkey tried to scare him, too.  But the fox, hearing the donkey's voice, said, "If you want to terrify me, you'll have to disguise your bray."  Aesop's moral to this story is that clothes may disguise a fool, but his words will give him away.

That reminds me of something Mark Twain was credited with saying:  “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”  There’ve been times when I was around someone who went on and on about a subject that I happened to know much about, where it quickly became obvious they knew little of what they spoke.  They were just trying to impress everyone, but really only showed themselves to be a braying donkey.

And then there was philosopher Will Durant who once noted that, "Talk is cheap because the supply always exceeds the demand.  One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say."

But sometimes we’re not very clever, are we.  Sometimes we just can’t keep our mouth shut.  I think that’s one of the most difficult temptations we face on a daily basis.  When someone says something we disagree with or that stings us a bit, our first thought is to throw out a snappy comeback.  When we’re hurt, we too often tend to lash out and hurt others, much like a wounded animal.  We don’t stop to think; we just react.  We throw words out like darts and arrows.

James says that this kind of “wisdom” is earthly, devilish, not from above.  Because spiritual wisdom, from our Father above, is first pure, and then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.  Being willing to yield reinforces what Durant pointed out, that saying nothing might very well be the best response.

James chose his words well and put them to very effective use in the examples he gave of just how powerful our words can be.  Of course he referred to our mouths and tongues in these examples, for they are the physical means by which we utter our words aloud.  Just a small bit in the mouth of a horse can make that mighty beast go where we want it to go.  And the same with a small rudder attached to a huge ship.  In this case, the size of the tool doesn’t matter – only how it is employed.

That’s the way it is with our tongue.  Though small, it can have a great effect on ourselves and others, working for good or for evil.  Just as one tiny spark can set an entire forest on fire, one small word, uttered at the wrong time or with the wrong intent, can cause great harm.  And once spoken, our words cannot be brought back without consequence, just like a bell cannot be un-rung, nor toothpaste put back in the tube.  But if we do choose our words carefully, prayerfully, they can do great good.  They can give comfort and make peace.

In verse 18 of our scripture reading, James says that, “a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.”  This verse could also be read as, "a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."  So when we speak words of peace, we sow a harvest of righteousness for ourselves and for those we speak to.  And as with any planting, we may not experience the harvest immediately, but it will come.

James had a little more to say about how we use our words.  Back in the 1st chapter of this letter, he warns us that…

26 If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.

--James 1:26 (NRSV)

The Living Bible version puts it a little more bluntly:  “Anyone who says he is a Christian but doesn’t control his sharp tongue is just fooling himself, and his religion isn’t worth much.”  Remember that part about leading a horse?  If we don’t properly control the bridle, we can’t control the horse.  James says if we are not able or not willing to control our tongues, to control what we say, then we’re just fooling ourselves thinking we’re truly being Christian.

Let’s face it… if we lose control of the words coming out of our mouth and let forth with a stream of hurtful invective, are we really showing much love?  Isn’t that what Jesus commands, that we love one another?  Isn’t the Golden Rule founded on love, treating someone the way we would want them to treat us?  

When the Apostle Paul was trying to address some issues with the church in Corinth, he gave them a choice, so to speak.  Hear what Paul wrote in his 1st letter to the Corinthians, in chapter 4, verse 21…

21 What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?

--1 Corinthians 4:21 (NKJV)

I know which of those options I’d prefer.

A little later on in that letter, in chapter 16 verse 14, Paul reminds the Corinthians and us to…

14 Let all that you do be done with love.

--1 Corinthians 16:14 (NKJV)

Let all that you do be done with love, and that includes choosing the words we say.  Speaking is an action, and we should put some thought into it before we even open our mouth.

Is what I am about to say constructive or destructive?  Will it build the listener up, or knock them down a bit?  Would it be better for me to just count to 10 and say nothing?  More importantly, would Jesus approve of what I am about to say?  Would it be said with love?

This is where a short little prayer might come in handy:  Lord, give me the right words.  Help me to speak words of peace and not of war.  May my words offer healing and comfort, not hurt or shame.  Help me bridle my tongue, Lord Jesus, that I may only speak peace.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You yet again for giving us the precious gift of Your thoughts, wisdom, and guidance that are contained within the pages of our Bible.  Thank You for inspiring the men and women who penned these invaluable words.  Thank You for speaking the right and righteous words into their hearts.  Father, too often we don’t take the time to read and study Your word.  Sometimes the busyness of life prevents us, but sometimes we just find other things to do that we think are more important or fun.   Forgive us those times, Father.  Forgive us for ignoring Your guidance, for not paying full heed to Your word.  But please love us still, Father, and help us remain strong, faithful, and true until the end.

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, for You, it’s all about love.  You made it clear so many times that we are to love one another, and that we are to show Your love in all we do.  Too often, though, Lord, we just seem incapable of loving others, especially when it comes to telling them what we think.  We don’t take the time to consider what we are about to say, so that we can speak words of healing and not hurt.  Please, Lord, help us speak peace.  Help us show love in all we do.  Forgive us, Jesus, when we let our emotions get the best of us.  Help us control our tongue so we can control our words.  And Jesus, please strengthen us through these very difficult times.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us.  Help us remain trusting and obedient no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on what this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

To Live Again

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday, the 20th of February, 2022, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

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

Family, what if we’re wrong?  What if everything we’ve been taught, everything we believe in regarding God and His kingdom, is all just a fabrication, a myth?  What if Jesus really was just a man, a normal human like you and I?  What if we’re wrong and the doubters and non-believers are right?  What if at the end of our life we just die, and then there’s nothing else: no heaven, no hell?

Have you ever had doubts, or asked yourself those questions?  I bet most if not all of us have at some time asked something like, “Why would a loving God let that happen?”, when the obvious answer could simply be, “Because there is no God.”

I wonder if the Apostle Paul was ever asked questions like these, or encountered people who pondered over these possibilities.  Paul himself seemed absolutely certain of the basis of his theology, as indicated by all he wrote in his letters and from what the Apostle Luke recorded in his Book of the Acts of the Apostles.  But he must have come across some in his travels and teachings who had deep, heartfelt doubts, for he gives us a very good answer to all these concerns.

Please listen and follow along to the words the Apostle Paul left us in chapter 15 of his 1st letter to the Corinthians, verses 1 through 20, and I’ll be reading from the English Standard Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you — unless you believed in vain.

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

--1 Corinthians 15:1-20 (ESV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for raising Your Son Jesus from the dead, giving Him new life.  By this we believe in the resurrection of the body and know that we too will be raised to new life.  Please help us maintain this belief even in the face of those who doubt and who question our belief.  And help us tell others all about Jesus and why we believe.  Father, please protect us from Satan and from those who do his bidding.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Renew our spirit.  Breathe new life into our hearts and into our will to serve.  This we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Columnist Erma Bombeck once wrote, “Seize the moment!  Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart.”

And comedian Flip Wilson is quoted as having said, “If I had my whole life to live over again, I don't think I'd have the strength.”

Don’t pass up the chance for dessert!  There’s a lot of truth in what Ms. Bombeck wrote.  We don’t know when our ship will sink, when we’ll breathe our last in this life, so we shouldn’t pass up the chance to serve our Lord when an opportunity arises.  And go ahead and grab that dessert, too.  Because it does seem to take a lot of strength just to get through each day, and a good dessert might strengthen us a little.

What Flip said reminds me of that old saw, “Getting old ain’t for sissies.”  These bodies aren’t made to last forever.  They break down over time, and the older we get, the tougher it becomes to do anything.

But family, we have been promised a new body once this life is over; a body that will not break down or give out on us.  We will live again, forever.  Until that day, let’s do all we can to serve our Lord, and grab an extra dessert every now and then.

Did you notice in our scripture reading how Paul answered our query, “What if we’re wrong?”  In particular, he is addressing the question of the resurrection of Jesus, and I think we need to understand why this even came up.  There was nothing in their Greek background that would lead the Corinthian people, these Gentile converts, to believe in the resurrection of the dead.  They did believe in the immortality of the soul, that the soul never dies, but not in the resurrection of the body.

Paul is arguing that if the resurrection of the dead is not possible, then Jesus was not resurrected.  And if Jesus was not resurrected, then everything they have been told about Him might also be a lie.  If it’s a lie, then our belief is in vain, pointless, a waste of time and effort.  In fact, if this one point were not true, then Paul and the other believers were misrepresenting God by saying it happened.

But, Paul continues, it is true, it did happen, and there are over 500 people who witnessed the risen Jesus and can attest to it.  And not only that, Jesus was only the firstfruits of those to be raised from the dead.  For in Christ, we have hope not only in this life, but in the next as well.

Of course, Jesus was not the first person to be raised from the dead.  He Himself brought a few back to life.  The Apostle Luke tells of a time when Jesus came upon the funeral procession for a widow’s son.  He took pity on the woman and brought the son back to life.  And the Apostles Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell of the synagogue ruler’s daughter who had died but was given life again by the word and touch of Jesus.

But there is another resurrection we are perhaps more familiar with.  The event was saved for us by the Apostle John, in chapter 11 of his Gospel account, where he recorded this in verses 21 through 27 and 38 through 44…

21 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 from 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 on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who 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 coming into the world.”

38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, 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 the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 I knew that You always hear Me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

--John 11:21-27, 38-44 (ESV)

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.”  This is the promise to us all, to all who believe.  This is what Paul alluded to when he spoke of Jesus being the firstfruits, who died and are given life again.  But this new life will be eternal.  We will never die again.

So let me ask once more, what if we are wrong?  What if our belief is wrong?  What if there is no heaven or hell?  Have we wasted all this time and thrown away chances for great pleasures in this life, all for nothing?

No, I don’t think so, for studies show that believers are usually the happiest, most content of all people.  So if we are wrong, we really haven’t lost anything.  But on the other hand, if the non-believers are wrong, they will pay the ultimate price for their pleasure in this life: an eternity of damnation, suffering, and pain.

Like Paul said, though, if we trust in Christ only for what He can do for us in this life, we are to be pitied most of all.  Fortunately, we know better.  Our hope is in the Lord, and the promise that through His sacrifice and our belief, we will be allowed to live again and never die, this time in paradise.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for bodily raising Jesus from the dead, so that others could see and witness to His resurrection.  Thank You for the promise that we too will be brought forth in new bodies to live again.  Thank You for giving us the faith to believe in Jesus as Your Son and to follow Him.  But Father, sometimes we encounter people who don’t believe.  Sometimes they ridicule us or try to make life more difficult for us.  We worry about them and their eternal life, but we also worry about ourselves and getting through this life.  Forgive us, Father, when we hesitate to try to help them.  Help us approach them with love and tell them of Jesus.  Give us the words to say.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true until that time You call us to live again.

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 brought people back to life again, and by Your own resurrection we know that we too will be given new life.  We believe in You and all that is written about You in our Bible.  And for this, we will live again and will never die.  Please, Lord, help us get through the days we have left here on earth.  Forgive us, Jesus, when we falter and stumble, when we are too timid or afraid to do as You command us.  Help us be good servants while we still live this life.  And Jesus, please strengthen us through these troubling times.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us.  Help us remain trusting and obedient no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on what this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

Called As Disciples

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday, the 13th of February, 2022, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

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

Viewing our Christian calendar, we see we’ve left the Christmas season and are now approaching Lent and Easter, all in a matter of three or four months.  From a Biblical standpoint, this covers the time from the birth of Jesus to just before His death on the cross – a period of around 33 years.  The last few weeks, we’ve been looking at the beginning stages of Jesus’ ministry.  Today we’re going to examine a moment in His early ministry that I feel is very important for us to grasp.  

We are probably more familiar with the Apostle Matthew’s account of Jesus calling His first disciples by simply saying, “Follow Me”.  But I’d like to look at how the Apostle Luke described the event, for I feel there are three critical points to understand and remember.  So please listen and follow along to what Luke reported in chapter 5 of his Gospel account, verses 1 through 11, and I’ll be reading this from the English Standard Version of our Holy Bible…

1 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on Him to hear the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and He saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, He asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at Your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

--Luke 5:1-11 (ESV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for filling Jesus with the great power of Your Holy Spirit so that He could perform miraculous signs.  These were needed to show a doubting people that He was truly sent by You.  Please help us believe even though we have not seen those signs and wonders with our own eyes, but depend upon the witness of those early followers.  And help us share our belief, our witness, with others.  Father, please protect us from Satan and from those who do his bidding.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit and better understand the message You have for us this day.  May Your Spirit guide us to better discipleship.  And if there is someone we can help today, please point them to us, or us to them.  This we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Theologian and philosopher Søren Kierkegaard is quoted as saying, "I went into church and sat on the velvet pew.  I watched as the sun came shining through the stained glass windows.  The minister, dressed in a velvet robe, opened the golden gilded Bible, marked it with a silk bookmark and said, 'If any man will be my disciple,’ said Jesus, ‘let him deny himself, take up his cross, sell what he has, give it to the poor, and follow me.'"

From where we stand here at Pilgrim, we may say that Kierkegaard speaks of the hypocrisy of some organized religions – holding riches unto themselves while preaching about personal sacrifice.  I think that too often we let religion get in the way of serving our Lord.  The best Biblical example we have of this comes from the Pharisees, who took great pride in dressing up in all their priestly finery, sitting at places of honor, being recognized everywhere they would go.

But this is not an example we should follow.  Jesus never enjoyed great opulence, and neither should we.  Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell everything he had and give it to the poor.  It wasn’t that Jesus was against wealth, but the love of wealth, the overwhelming desire for things.

Like Jesus, we should focus less on the things of this world, and more on the things of heaven.  Following Jesus involves true sacrifice, not lip service.

Now, I mentioned that there were three points in Luke’s account we need to grasp, but first I’d like to focus just a little more on discipleship.  By the end of His ministry, Jesus had hundreds of followers.  But His closest disciples bore an additional responsibility.

Please listen as I read from the 6th chapter of Luke’s Gospel account, verses 12 through 19…

12 Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. 13 And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles: 14 Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; 15 Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; 16 Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor.

17 And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, 18 as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed. 19 And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.

--Luke 6:12-19 (NKJV)

A few pertinent points here are that Jesus prayed all night, possibly for guidance from His Father God.  And then He called His twelve closest followers to Himself as His apostles – those sent out by God.  We also see that Luke singled out Judas Iscariot as a traitor, the one who would betray Jesus.

And then we are told that the power within Jesus, the power of God’s Holy Spirit, the healing power, could be felt by all present that day, and all were healed.  This healing power was one way, one tool, Jesus used to call His followers.

Family, we may not have witnessed these mighty acts in person, nor physically felt that healing power, but we have none the less been chosen to follow Jesus.  We have been called as disciples.  And more than that, we have been called to Him as apostles, for He has sent us out to do His work.

You know the passage – you’ve heard me read it many times, you heard it just a little while ago in our responsive reading.  From chapter 28 of the Apostle Matthew’s Gospel account, verses 18 through 20…

18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  Amen.

--Matthew 28:18-20 (NKJV)

This isn’t a request, it’s a direct order.  We are to make disciples of all people.  And we’re to do this not by sitting here in this beautiful building waiting for them to come to us.  We are to go – go to them, go out to them where they are.  In other words, we are to put our faith into action, calling others to discipleship.

So getting back to our scripture reading, we can see that Luke’s version of Jesus calling Simon, Andrew, John, and James to discipleship is a little different from how Matthew recorded it.  But sometimes the differences in our Gospel accounts make them even more interesting.

In this case, I found three points that were very telling, and important for us to grasp.  The first comes in verse 8 when Peter acknowledges himself to be a sinful man.  Many think they cannot serve or even follow Jesus because of their sin.  But we are all sinful.  And Jesus came for sinners, that we might be saved.  Jesus washes us of our sin so we can be used by Him.

The next point comes in verse 10 and answers the concern of sin when Jesus responded, “Do not be afraid”.  We don’t need to be afraid, neither of our sin preventing us from serving Him, nor of being able to do the job He gives us.  From now on we will be catching men, we’ll be fishers of men, and God’s Holy Spirit will give us what we need to do the job.  Oh, and as Matthew quoted, Jesus will be with us, right there beside us the whole time, until the very end.

And the final point comes in verse 11.  These men, these newly called disciples, left everything and followed Jesus.  They walked away from their homes, their families, their professions – they left everything behind to follow Jesus.

In my little story at the start, the preacher read that Jesus said that His disciples must deny themselves, take up their cross, sell what they have and give it to the poor, and follow Him.  Now I don’t think that Jesus wants any of us to go around naked, hungry, or penniless, but He does want us to give up our hunger for things.  He wants us to deny ourselves those earthly pleasures.  He wants us to leave the world and all its glitter behind as we follow Him.  And then He wants us to be apostles, to go out and help even more people become disciples, help them become followers, so that they, too, can be saved.

Just as were Peter and Andrew, James and John, and all the rest, we are called as disciples.  Let’s live up to our calling.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, our Master whom we follow.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for giving us the faith to believe in Your Son Jesus and to accept Him as our Lord.  Thank You for sending Him to offer us salvation by Your loving grace, by the cleansing of His precious blood.  Thank You, Father, for showing us mercy.  But Father, sometimes we fail to do as Jesus commands.  Sometimes we are not very good apostles.  We are too timid, too shy, too fearful of being ridiculed, too scared of saying the wrong thing.  Forgive us, Father, when we let anything hold us back from doing as Jesus commands us.  Help us be more obedient.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to the very end.

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 gave everything for us, and You expect us to show the same attitude and behavior toward others.  You want us to crave serving You by being a good servant, and not to crave the things this world might offer.  Please, Lord, help us be better servants, truer disciples, fervent apostles.  Forgive us, Jesus, when we let fear stand in our way from doing as You command.  Help us carry out our mission of bringing more followers to You.  And Jesus, please strengthen us through these troubling times.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us.  Help us remain trusting and obedient no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on what this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

Scripture Fulfilled

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday, the 6th of February, 2022, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

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

You could probably tell by our responsive reading this morning that I am a little behind in my calendar.  The week we had to cancel services due to the snow and ice threw my schedule off a bit.

Our reading told the story of the wise men from the east who followed a star to visit the Christ child.  Thursday, January the 6th, was the Epiphany, when we celebrate the Messiah being revealed to the Gentiles by this visit of the Magi.  And then, January 9th, the first Sunday after Epiphany, marked our observance of Jesus being baptized by John in the River Jordan.  Immediately after His baptism, Jesus was led by God’s Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Today’s reading relates the events that came next, when Jesus reveals Himself to be the fulfillment of Messianic scripture.  Please listen and follow along to what the Apostle Luke recorded for us in verses 14 through 21 of chapter 4 of his Gospel account, and I’ll be reading this from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible…

14 Then Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spirit’s power. Reports about Him spread quickly through the whole region. 15 He taught regularly in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

16 When He came to the village of Nazareth, His boyhood home, He went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. 17 The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to Him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,

for He has anointed Me to bring Good News to the poor.

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released,

that the blind will see,

that the oppressed will be set free,

19     and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

20 He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at Him intently. 21 Then He began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

--Luke 4:14-21 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for filling Jesus with the power of Your Holy Spirit so He could carry out the work You assigned Him.  And thank You for sending Your Spirit to us, to live within us and be our constant Companion and guide, and to give us the power to serve You, too.  Please help us take full advantage of this great gift.  Help us use Your Spirit’s power to help others as Jesus did, and so fulfill the prophecy Jesus gave when He said that we could do even greater things than He.  And please, Father, protect us from all the traps and schemes the devil employs to trick us into disobedience.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit and better understand the message You have for us this day.  May we truly know and recognize Jesus as Your Son and our Lord, and may we share that truth with others.  This we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Biblical prophecy provides some of the greatest encouragement and hope available to us today.  Just as the Old Testament is saturated with prophecies concerning Christ's first advent, so both testaments are filled with references to the second coming of Christ.  One scholar has estimated that there are 1,845 references to Christ's second coming in the Old Testament, where 17 books give it prominence.  In the 260 chapters of the New Testament, there are 318 references to the second advent of Christ - an amazing one out of every 30 verses.  23 of the 27 New Testament books refer to this great event.  For every prophecy in the Bible concerning Christ's first advent, there are eight which look forward to His second!

In our responsive reading about the visit of the wise men, we saw prophecy fulfilled.  Herod’s own advisers mentioned what had been spoken by the prophets.  And the wise men themselves were following prophecy as they followed the star.

As believers, we know that all of those prophecies in scripture predicting the first coming of the Christ were fulfilled.  They came to pass in the birth and life of Jesus.  Isn’t it reasonable, then, to say that the chances of those scriptural prophecies concerning His second coming will also be fulfilled?  And if we follow that scholar’s estimate, maybe we could say that the chances are eight times greater.

By just looking at the numbers, we can see that our Bible, both Old and New Testaments, places greater emphasis on Jesus’ return than on His birth and His short ministry on earth.  Yes, He came to teach us the truth of God’s kingdom.  Yes, He came to die for us, so that our sin can be washed away by His blood.  But He came quietly, with very little notice.  He came innocently, vulnerably, as a little babe.

Yet when He returns, He will come in all His glory and all the world will see Him, as the truth is fully revealed.  He will set the world aright, and judge us all, both good and bad.  When Jesus comes again, God’s great plan will be fulfilled.

Not everyone, though, wants us to understand this.  Not everyone wants us to hear the truth of the Good News of salvation through Christ Jesus.  There are governments and powers, even preachers in pulpits, that would try to keep the true and truthful Gospel from their people.

Jesus warned us about them.  Please listen as I read from the 12th chapter of Luke’s Gospel account, verses 1 through 3…

1 Meanwhile, the crowds grew until thousands were milling about and stepping on each other. Jesus turned first to His disciples and warned them, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees — their hypocrisy. 2 The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all. 3 Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear!"

--Luke 12:1-3 (NLT)

The revelation Jesus spoke of has been occurring since even before His time on the cross.  First by His signs and miracles, the mighty works He performed.  Then the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy, even on the cross.  Mostly, by His resurrection in the body, witnessed by hundreds.  And let’s not forget all that He revealed to John as to what is yet to come.  After all this, though, so many people refuse to believe.  When Jesus does return, they will be horribly shocked, for the truth, His true self, will be revealed and shown to all.

When will that day come?  We don’t know; we’re not supposed to know.  Here’s what Jesus tells us, from chapter 17 or Luke’s Gospel account, verses 20 through 30…

20 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”

22 Then He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’ Do not go after them or follow them. 24 For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. 25 But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: 27 They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; 29 but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.”

--Luke 17:20-30 (NKJV)

Life goes on.  Days pass one after another.  We eat, we drink, we marry, just as in the days of Noah before the waters washed the earth clean.  We buy and sell, we plant and build, just as they did in Sodom before it rained fire and brimstone and destroyed them all.

And so it will be when the Son of Man - the Son of God – returns.  Everyone will be going about their daily business when the trumpet sounds and the heavens open to reveal Jesus in all His glory.  For believers, this will be a great blessing.  For the non-believers, the refusers, it will be the worst day they could ever imagine, for they will suddenly realize just how wrong they were.  And on that day, more scripture will be fulfilled.

Like I said, we don’t know when this will happen.  And really, all we can do to prepare for that day is to be sure we are doing what Jesus told us to do.  We’ve got to keep believing, continue obeying His word, do as He commanded to love one another and make more disciples, help save more of the lost.  And when Jesus returns, He’ll take us home to live with Him in God’s great heaven for ever and ever.

In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, who is coming back for us… someday soon.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for devising such a great plan to allow us to be reconciled to You and reunited with You.  And it all required that Your Son Jesus fulfill what was foretold by Your prophets.  Thank You, Father, for showing us such great mercy.  But Father, sometimes the pressures of this life occupy all our thoughts and we don’t make enough time for You.  Sometimes we forget what the scriptures tell us.  Forgive us, Father, when we fail to obey and serve You.  Please help us patiently and faithfully await Your Son’s return.  Help us remain strong in this cold and dark world in which we live.

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 knew what You would face when You came to this world as one of us.  All our aches and pains, our needs and requirements, our joys and our sorrows, You shared it all.  All but our sin, that is.  You came and remained sinless, just so that You could take our sin to Yourself and set us free.  Please, Lord, help us remember Your great sacrifice.  Forgive us, Jesus, when we don't spend as much time in our Bibles as we should so that we can better understand the scripture and how You did fulfill and will continue to fulfill what it promises.  Help us not only see the truth, but share it with others so that they too might be saved.  And Jesus, please strengthen us through these harsh and scary times.  Heal those hurts that separate and divide us.  Help us remain true and obedient no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on what this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

Believe In Him

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

--John 10:22-42 (NKJV)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chosen to Serve

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

--Acts 6:1-8 (NRSV)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

--Matthew 4:8-10 (NKJV)

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

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

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

--Romans 16:17-19 (NKJV)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I Resolve

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

and every tongue shall give praise to God.”

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

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

--Romans 14 (NRSV)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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