Do As God Does

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 11th of August, 2024.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

There’s a saying that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”.  In other words, if we copy something for our own use, it’s because we like that thing or find it useful.  And in effect, we are complimenting the person or thing that we copied from, implying that we liked it so much we wanted it, too.

The same holds true for following someone’s example.  We can learn a lot that way.  In fact, the practice of shadowing is quite often employed as a teaching tool.  This is when an inexperienced person is tasked with simply following along with a more experienced person to just watch how they do things, how they handle certain situations, how they interact with others.  And isn’t that how the disciples learned from Jesus?

Of course, there’s a flip side of following someone else’s example that can best be summed up by “do as I say, not as I do”.  I think we all know how this one goes, since we don’t always do what say should be done, and too often do what shouldn’t be done.  The Apostle Paul admitted to this one.  He confessed in his letter to the Romans that “instead of doing what I know is right, I do wrong”.  He knew how hard it was to always do what is right, even when we have a good model to follow.

Now the other apostles actually had the experience of shadowing Jesus during His ministry on earth, while Paul only came to know Jesus personally after our Lord’s death and resurrection.  Still, Paul did know Jesus quite intimately, for Jesus gave him a special insight into Himself and God.  Paul was called to serve Christ, being first sent to the Jews only, but then later to the Gentiles when the Jews rejected his message.  He was given the task to help the Gentiles come to Jesus, to encourage the people to be worthy of God’s calling, to live as He would have them live – as He would have us live.

Please listen and follow along to the instructions the Apostle Paul gives us in his Letter to the Ephesians, from chapter 4 verse 17 through chapter 5 verse 2, and I’ll be reading from the Contemporary English Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

4:17 As a follower of the Lord, I order you to stop living like stupid, godless people. 18 Their minds are in the dark, and they are stubborn and ignorant and have missed out on the life that comes from God. They no longer have any feelings about what is right, 19 and they are so greedy they do all kinds of indecent things.

20-21 But this isn't what you were taught about Jesus Christ. He is the truth, and you heard about Him and learned about Him. 22  You were told that your foolish desires will destroy you and that you must give up your old way of life with all its bad habits. 23 Let the Spirit change your way of thinking 24  and make you into a new person. You were created to be like God, and so you must please Him and be truly holy.

25  We are part of the same body. Stop lying and start telling each other the truth. 26  Don't get so angry that you sin. Don't go to bed angry 27 and don't give the devil a chance.

28 If you are a thief, quit stealing. Be honest and work hard, so you will have something to give to people in need.

29 Stop all your dirty talk. Say the right thing at the right time and help others by what you say.

30 Don't make God's Spirit sad. The Spirit makes you sure that someday you will be free from your sins.

31 Stop being bitter and angry and mad at others. Don't yell at one another or curse each other or ever be rude. 32  Instead, be kind and merciful, and forgive others, just as God forgave you because of Christ.

5:1 Do as God does. After all, you are His dear children. 2  Let love be your guide. Christ loved us and offered His life for us as a sacrifice that pleases God.

--Ephesians 4:17-5:2 (CEV)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we thank You for all the insights and instructions the Apostle Paul saved for us in our Bible.  We can greatly benefit from his experiences while he served You.  Sadly though, Father, like Paul, sometimes we don’t do what we should do.  And sometimes we do what we shouldn’t.  Please help us live as You would have us live, dear Father.  Help us better follow the example Your Son Jesus set for us.  Help us as we step out into the world, offering aid where we can and witnessing to the non-believers, sharing the Good News and showing Your love.  And please forgive us when we hesitate to witness for You and our Lord Jesus out of fear or anxiety.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand Your message today.  Thank You for forgiving and forgetting our sin.  Help us share the Good News of everlasting life in our daily walk.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

The early church leader Augustine was once accosted by a heathen who showed him his idol and said, "Here is my god; where is thine?"  Augustine replied, "I cannot show you my God; not because there is no God to show but because you have no eyes to see Him."

I read of a study that concluded that how we see God as our heavenly Father depends to an extent on how we see our earthly father.  If our father was distant, impersonal, uncaring, someone who would not intervene for us in any situation, we may see God as being distant and uncaring.  If our father was pushy and inconsiderate, we might think that we are worthless in God's eyes.  If our father was demanding and intolerant of mistakes, we may feel that God will never accept us for our flaws.  If our father was weak, we may think we can't depend on God to help us.  But if our father was patient and kind, we are likely to see God in that light also, being patient and forgiving of our faults, our sins.  If our father accepted us and supported us no matter what, we probably see God loving us and helping us in any situation, accepting us even when we sin.  Which Father do we see in heaven?  Which God do we want to be like?

My father was a human being, and by that I mean he had many flaws, just like the rest of us.  But he was a hard worker, an honest man, and I never doubted that he loved me dearly.  He couldn’t always give us what we wanted, but we never went without.

I guess that does color how I see God as my heavenly Father.  He doesn’t always – or even usually - give me what I want, but always what I need.  And I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that He loves me dearly, and calls me His own.  And quite frankly, I don’t see how anyone can think otherwise.  For God is good, all the time.  He goes beyond seeing to our needs to providing us with the things that make this life worth the living.  This is the Father, the image of God, that I want to be like: the loving one who helps bring joy to the joyless, love to the unloved, hope to the hopeless.  What God do you want to copy?

“Do as God does”, Paul says, right there in the opening verse of chapter 5.  Since we are God’s dear children, we should do as God does.  That’s a pretty tall order, isn’t it?  Can we create a universe and everything in it?  No, not like He did.  In truth, we cannot create anything material.

I’m reminded of the old joke where a man is challenging God and he says, “I can do anything You can do.”  God responds that, “I created man from a handful of dirt and My spit.”  The man says, “I can do that”, and reaches down and grabs up a handful of dirt.  But God stops him and says, “Wait a minute!  That’s My dirt.  Make your own.”

So, no, we should never even think that we’re God nor anywhere close to His awesome power.  But Paul means that we should try to imitate God in what He does, rather than the world and how it handles things.  We should live as God would have us live rather than as the world lives.

Paul tells us to be like God so as to please Him, to please God, to do as He does.  But that doesn't mean life will be easy for us.  Life was certainly not easy for His own Son Jesus, nor for His apostles.  Nor was life easy for King David, the man that God said was after His own heart.  But like David, we all have hope.  Hear what David wrote in the first five verses of his 130th Psalm…

1 From a sea of troubles

I cry out to You, Lord.

2 Won't You please listen

as I beg for mercy?

3 If You kept record of our sins,

no one could last long.

4 But You forgive us,

and so we will worship You.

5 With all my heart,

I am waiting, Lord, for You!

I trust Your promises.

--Psalm 130:1-5 (CEV)

We don’t always do what we should do, and too often do what we shouldn’t.  But God doesn’t keep a record of our sins.  Instead He forgets them.  He erases them from His memory and forgives us, otherwise we would be lost.  So it is right that we should worship Him.

Do as God does and don’t give the devil a chance.  These are very sound words of advice Paul delivers.  When we vary from what God has shown us through His Son, we are giving the devil a chance.  When we, as Christians, don’t shadow Jesus, don’t follow His example, we are giving Satan a chance to come back into our lives on a full-time basis, where he will try to steal our souls away from God.

Jesus showed us how to live.  Paul tells us what we should do.  Don’t be stubborn or greedy.  Discern what is right and what is wrong, and do what is right.  Stop lying, even about little things, and start telling each other the truth.  Don’t get so angry that we sin, and don’t go to bed angry.  Be honest and work hard so we can help others.  Don’t be bitter and angry and mad, yelling at one another and cursing each other and being rude.  Instead be kind, merciful, and forgiving of each other.  Don’t make God’s Spirit sad.

We are God’s dear children.  Let love be our guide, just as Jesus loves us.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the one true Son of God, who set the perfect example for us to follow.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for sharing Your word with the Apostle Paul and the other men and women who penned the contents of our Bible.  And thank You for saving these words throughout the centuries.  Our Bible contains all the examples and instructions we need to live a righteous life and be pleasing in Your sight.  Sometimes, though, dear Father, like Paul, we don’t always do what we know we should do, what is right to do.  Even though we might not want to, we do what is wrong knowing it’s wrong the whole time.  Please forgive us these failures, Father.  Forgive us when we vary from the way You have shown us to live.  Please help us reach out more into the world, serving You by serving others.  Help us be more like Your Son Jesus, being more forgiving and merciful in our dealings with others.  Guide us around any pitfalls in this life and strengthen our spirits to do Your will.  And please help us do a better job of sharing 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 the world throws at us or holds out before us.

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

Lord Jesus, You set the perfect example for how we should live, and especially for how we should treat others.  Sometimes, Lord, we fail to follow Your example, going off on our own impulses and desires, ignoring how it might impact others around us.  Please help us be more considerate, more caring.  Help us as we go about spreading the Gospel message.  Help us share Your love by being more understanding, more merciful, more giving and forgiving of others, offering aid when we can.  Not everyone believes in You, so it is our job to help them see the truth and believe.  Give us the words to say, show us what to do to help bring the lost to You.

Lord 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 and all the false teachings.  Help us fend off his attacks.  Please help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

Are We Losing Flavor?

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 4th of August, 2024.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

Our responsive reading this morning came from the Good News Bible version of what many consider to be the most important and most earth-shaking sermon Jesus ever gave.  This sermon included some of the best-known sayings of Jesus, including the Beatitudes – our responsive reading – and what we call the Lord’s Prayer.  It also contains the central tenets of discipleship, giving us a road map of how we should live.  Jesus had so much to say, it took the Apostle Matthew three chapters to record it all.

Now, this sermon came fairly early in Jesus’ ministry.  After calling Simon and Andrew and James and John to follow Him, there on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus went all through the region around Galilee, teaching in the synagogues, preaching the Gospel, and healing folks of all manner of illnesses and infirmities.  His fame spread and the people came from all over, just to hear Him, to be touched by Him, following Him.

One day He went up onto a mountainside to preach to the multitudes and His disciples.  Please listen and follow along to the beginning of our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount as recorded by the Apostle Matthew in the 5th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 1 through 14, and I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. 2 Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are those who mourn,

For they shall be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek,

For they shall inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

For they shall be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful,

For they shall obtain mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart,

For they shall see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers,

For they shall be called sons of God.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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

13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.”

--Matthew 5:1-14 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we thank You for the faith to believe in Your Christ, Your Son, Jesus our Lord.  We exercise that faith by following Your and His commands, by loving others and doing Your will.  Sadly though, Father, we sometimes hesitate or even fail in those efforts.  Sometimes our faith becomes lukewarm, neither hot nor cold.  Please help us retain our flavor, our saltiness.  Help us as we step out into the world, offering aid where we can and witnessing to the non-believers, sharing the Good News and showing Your love.  Help us shine the light of truth everywhere we go.  And please forgive us when we hesitate to witness for You and our Lord Jesus out of fear or anxiety.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand Your message today.  Thank You for forgiving and forgetting our sin.  Help us share the Good News of everlasting life in our daily walk.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

A gentleman by the name of David H. Johnson notes that,  “Sodium is an extremely active element found naturally only in combined form; it always links itself to another element.  Chlorine, on the other hand, is the poisonous gas that gives bleach its offensive odor.  When sodium and chlorine are combined, the result is sodium chloride -- common table salt -- the substance we use to preserve meat and bring out its flavor.  Love and truth can be like sodium and chlorine.  Love without truth is flighty, sometimes blind, willing to combine with various doctrines.  On the other hand, truth by itself can be offensive, sometimes even poisonous.  Spoken without love, it can turn people away from the gospel.  When truth and love are combined in an individual - or in a church - then we have what Jesus called 'the salt of the earth', and we're able to preserve and bring out the beauty of our faith.”

My mother – God bless her – was bad about speaking her feelings with giving thought to the impact her words might have.  “But it’s the truth!”, was her usual defense when someone was shocked by her bluntness.  Truth without love.

Then there’s puppy love, a love so flighty it can change in a week or less.  Or a couple who proclaim love for each other, but are really only interested in staying together, maybe for financial reasons.  In either case, they don’t really mean it when they say, “I love you”.  Love without truth.

Jesus tells us to speak the truth, especially when we may be trying to offer advice to someone, but to do so in love.  We are to think about what we are about to say, think about the impact our words might have, treat the other person with love, just like we would want to be treated.  Sodium and chlorine, love and truth – combined, they flavor our Christian walk.

Jesus says we believers are the salt of the earth.  I’ve heard that expression used many times to describe someone who is a good person.  “They’re the salt of the earth!”, someone might say.  But did you know that salt is mentioned throughout our Bible, in both Testaments?

For instance, our Bible speaks of salt covenants, covenants that are permanent, eternal, such as when God spoke to Moses' brother Aaron.  Listen to the promise God made to Aaron as recorded by Moses in the 19th verse of the 18th chapter of his Book of Numbers…

19 “All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to the Lord, I have given to you and your sons and daughters with you as an ordinance forever; it is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord with you and your descendants with you.”

--Numbers 18:19 (NKJV)

A covenant of salt, a covenant forever between God and Aaron and all his descendants, forever.  Where did they get this idea of permanence, of eternity, from salt?  Well, salt acts as a preservative – it is used to preserve food so that it will last longer.  So in our Bible, salt is used to signify permanence, loyalty, durability, fidelity.  It was also used practically for purification purposes.  Salt was so important to the Jewish people, they were supposed to include it in any tithing to the Lord, as described by Moses in the 2nd chapter his Book of Leviticus, verses 12 and 13…

12 As for the offering of the firstfruits, you shall offer them to the Lord, but they shall not be burned on the altar for a sweet aroma. 13 And every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt; you shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt. 

--Leviticus 2:12-13 (NKJV)

Nowadays, our offerings are pretty much strictly financial – paper money or a check or a bank draft.  We don’t pour a little salt on our cash before dropping it in the collection plate.  But the idea of permanence and fidelity, of forever giving to the Lord out of our Love for Him, should indeed flavor our offering.

Jesus called us the salt of the earth, but He also included a warning.  Now I don’t know if the Apostle Mark was reporting on the same sermon as did Matthew, but he did capture a remark Jesus made that sounds very similar.  After His transfiguration, Jesus issues some warnings to His disciples, including us, that Mark quoted in the 9th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 49 and 50, when Jesus said…

49 “For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt. 50 Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.”

--Mark 9:49-50 (NKJV)

That last bit is a good lesson for us.  We should have salt within ourselves and peace with one another.  Love and truth, fidelity, loyalty.  Yes, we will be seasoned with fire, tested by trials, but we have also been seasoned with salt, by the eternal Holy Spirit living within us.

And salt is good, unless it loses its flavor.  If that happens, how can it be seasoned?  This is the warning Jesus gives us, not to lose our saltiness, for we cannot be made salty again.

Salt is a preservative that can make food remain edible longer.  Salt enhances the flavor of our food.  And salt is a healing agent, helping wounds to heal.

We Christians, as a preservative, are to hold back the evil of the world, its corruption and decay.  As a flavor enhancer, we are to be part of the world's renewal and redemption.  And as a healing agent, we are to be part of the world's healing, not its destruction.  In this way we can retain our flavor, our saltiness, and always be pleasing to God.

In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, who came to free us from sin, and who is coming again to judge us all.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for our wonderful gift of faith and for Your Holy Spirit living within us.  He is our covenant of salt, sealed by the blood of our Lord Jesus.  He will be with us as long as we draw breath.  Sometimes, though, dear Father, we run the risk of our faith wavering, or losing our flavor.  We hesitate to do what we know You would have us do, more concerned with carrying out our will than Yours.  Please forgive us those times, Father.  Forgive us when we don’t let the light of truth shine out for all to see.  Please help us reach out more into the world, serving others in our service to You.  Help us be more forgiving, more merciful in our dealings with others.  Guide us around any pitfalls in this life and strengthen our spirits to do Your will.  And please help us do a better job of sharing 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 the world throws at us or holds out before us.

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

Lord Jesus, You call us – Your church - to be the salt of the earth.  We are to hold back the evil of the world and slow its decay, to be an integral part of its redemption, and to aid in its healing, not its destruction.  Sometimes, Lord, we fail in these tasks and we risk losing our saltiness.  Please help us carry out our mission.  Help us sprinkle the world with salt by spreading the Gospel message.  Help us share Your love by being more understanding, more merciful, more giving and forgiving of others, offering aid when we can.  Not everyone believes in You, so it is our job to help them see the truth and believe.  Give us the words to say, show us what to do to help bring the lost to You.

Lord 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 and all the false teachings.  Help us fend off his attacks.  Please help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

Is It Really That Simple?

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 28th of July, 2024.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

There is a growing belief among Americans that church has become irrelevant, that it no longer matters.  Many people have been turned off by organized religion of any kind.  We’ve seen it in our society, even among those who still call themselves Christians.  They’ve just quit attending church services and many church functions.  And not because they are physically unable to, but simply because they don’t want to.  Some have replaced church attendance with watching a service on TV or over the internet.  But that cannot substitute for the love and encouragement and confirmation we receive when we come together as the body of Christ.  So these are the believers who have basically given up on the church.

There are also those who don’t exactly believe in Jesus or even profess to be Christian, but who nonetheless expect to spend their future life in heaven, or at least a heaven-like place.  They consider themselves good people, who do good in their communities, who help others, who aren’t in it for themselves.  They may even think themselves better than most Christians, and indeed they may be, as far as acting out of love for others rather than any personal gain.  And since they are good people, and since God loves everyone, they fully expect to go to heaven.

But then there is a group of folks who want to believe, but just can’t seem to do so.  They can’t bring themselves to accept that their belief is all that is needed.  Can that really be all there is to it?  Just believe in God, and in Jesus as His Son, and be spared an eternity in hell?  There’s got to be more to it than that.

Well, family, it’s all a matter of faith, of exercising and practicing the faith we’ve been given.  When it comes to adhering to religious beliefs and practices, few can rival that of the Jewish people, the Chosen of God.  But throughout their history, their collective faith has often faltered.

I want to look back at a time when the Israelites were in their 40 year trek through the wilderness after having been led out of Egypt by Moses.  Along the way they began to run out of food and started fussing at Moses for taking them from their comfortable homes just to starve in the desert.  So Moses prayed and God began feeding the people with manna, bread from heaven, sent fresh each day.  After a while they even resented the manna, their daily bread, and complained about that, too.  It’s almost like Moses was having to deal with a million teenagers on a road trip.

Please listen and follow along to what Moses recorded in the 21st chapter of the Book of Numbers, verses 4 through 9, and I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible this morning…

4 Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient with the long journey, 5 and they began to speak against God and Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!”

6 So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died. 7 Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people.

8 Then the Lord told him, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!” 9 So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!

--Numbers 21:4-9 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we thank You for both Testaments of our Holy Bible.  Taken together, they serve as our user’s manual to get through this life.  They help us better understand Your will in all things.  Sadly though, Father, some folks think that the Old Testament is just a history lesson.  While it does contain the history of the world and its beginning, it also points to Jesus, as does our reading this morning.  Jesus has been with You since before time began and will remain with You long after time ends.  And we know You will always be with us.  Please help us exercise the faith You have given us.  Help us as we step out into the world, offering aid where we can and witnessing to the non-believers, sharing the Good News and showing Your love.  Help us spread the message that all anyone has to do is to believe in Jesus and accept Him as Lord and they will have eternal life.  And please forgive us when we hesitate to witness for You and our Lord Jesus out of fear or anxiety.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand Your message today.  Thank You for forgiving and forgetting our sin.  Help us share the Good News of everlasting life in our daily walk.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

C. S. Lewis writes,  “Believing things 'on authority' only means believing them because you have been told them by someone you think trustworthy.  Ninety-nine percent of the things you believe are believed on authority.  I believe there is such a place as New York.  I could not prove by abstract reasoning that there is such a place.  I believe it because reliable people have told me so.  The ordinary person believes in the solar system, atoms, and the circulation of the blood on authority - because the scientists say so.  Every historical statement is believed on authority.  None of us has seen the Norman Conquest or the defeat of the Spanish Armada.  But we believe them simply because people who did see them have left writings that tell us about them; in fact, on authority.  A person who balked at authority in other things, as some people do in religion, would have to be content to know nothing all his life.”

Believing on authority.  We’ve seen very real examples of this in recent years.  Some people will believe in anything (like aliens and ghosts) simply because some person they think to be, or who claims to be, 'an authority' says it is so.  But they won't believe the eye-witness reports recorded in our Bible.  That strikes me as odd, and completely human.  We’ll believe in the things we want to believe in, while demanding proof for what we don’t want to believe in.

As believers, we might wonder why anyone would not want to believe in Jesus, especially since doing so brings us eternal life in heaven.  Probably because Jesus tells us to rid ourselves of our worldly lusts and desires and give of ourselves in service to Him, helping others.  Like the rich young ruler, they don’t want to give up their possessions, or their lusts.  So they’ll go on believing in what makes them feel good, condemning themselves in the process.

In our scripture reading, God tells Moses to cast a bronze replica of the poisonous serpents and raise it up onto a pole.  Anyone who is bitten by one of the snakes need only look up at the bronze serpent and they will be healed.  Jesus referenced this replica serpent when He was speaking with Nicodemus in private.  Please listen to the words Jesus spoke to this Pharisee, this Teacher of teachers, as recorded by the Apostle John in the 3rd chapter of his Gospel account, verses 13 through 17…

13 “No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life.

16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him.” 

--John 3:13-17 (NLT)

Just as the bronze serpent was lifted up onto a pole so that the Jewish people only need to look at it and be healed, Jesus was lifted up on a cross that all people might be healed if they only look to Him.  It’s all a matter of belief, of using the measure of faith God gives each of us.  I don’t know for sure, but I bet some number of the bitten Jewish people could not accept that so simple a thing as looking at the replica snake could cure them, and ended up dying a painful death.

Sometimes believing is hard.  Some folks who can't or won't believe, who don’t use the faith given to them, demand proof.  Count the Pharisees among them.  Hear how Jesus responded to their demands as recorded by the Apostle Mark in his Gospel account, chapter 8 verses 11 and 12…

11 When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had arrived, they came and started to argue with Him. Testing Him, they demanded that He show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove His authority.

12 When He heard this, He sighed deeply in His spirit and said, “Why do these people keep demanding a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, I will not give this generation any such sign.” 

--Mark 8:11-12 (NLT)

Now remember that Jesus went all around the region, even into the Gentile lands, healing people of all manner of illnesses and infirmities, casting out evil spirits, restoring sight and speech and hearing.  Yet these cold-hearted religious leaders refused to accept the eyewitness accounts of the people who had seen all this take place.  They demanded proof that they could see with their own eyes, right there in front of them, right now.

But if we use our faith to believe, we don't need proof, for we have life through faith.  Hear what the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome, in the 1st chapter of his letter to the Romans, verses 16 and 17…

16 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes — the Jew first and also the Gentile. 17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in His sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

--Romans 1:16-17 (NLT)

It is through faith that we live.  Proof is nice, but we don’t need it to believe in Jesus.  We have all we need in our Bibles, and in our hearts.  But there are times when our faith might waver, when doubts creep in.

Have you ever felt undeserving of God's mercy and grace, underserving of salvation?  Many people, even strong Christians, have.  Many wonder, "what did I ever do to deserve this?"  Some will claim it can't be this simple, to just believe and be saved.  Just look up at the replica snake and be cured.  There has to be more to it, doesn't there, more that is required of me to earn entry into heaven?

Well family, sometimes we just have to put reason aside.  This is about faith, it's a matter of faith, not reason.  Moses told the people to look upon the serpent and believe and be healed.  God told the world to look upon His Son Jesus and believe and be healed of sin and eternal death.

It really is that simple.  Believe, and be saved.  This is the message God gave to us, and the message Jesus commands us to share.  Believe and be healed.  Believe and be saved.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, who came to free us from sin, and who is coming again to judge us all.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for giving us the faith to believe that Jesus is Your Son, Your Christ, sent to free us from sin.  Thank You for giving us the faith to realize it really is that simple, that all we have to do is believe, and in our belief to accept Jesus as our Lord and Master.  We understand, though Father, that not everyone can accept this truth.  Sometimes folks have doubts, not only about Your Son and Your plan, but even that belief is all that is needed.  Some won’t believe without proof.  Please forgive us those times when we have doubts, Father, when we think more must be required of us, that we can somehow earn our way into heaven.  Forgive us when we don’t share the simple truth.  Please help us reach out more into the world, serving others in our service to You.  Help us be more forgiving, more merciful in our dealings with others.  Guide us around any pitfalls in this life and strengthen our spirits to do Your will.  And please help us do a better job of sharing 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 the world throws at us or holds out before us.

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

Lord Jesus, You came to free us of our binds to sin and to offer us salvation.  Sometimes we just have trouble believing that so great a gift cost us so little, only our belief in You and accepting You as Lord.  You gave of Yourself just for us, that we might live forever with You and our Father God in paradise.  Thank You, Jesus!  Please help us spread this message.  Help us share Your love by being more understanding, more merciful, more giving and forgiving of others, offering aid when we can.  Not everyone believes in You, so it is our job to help them see the truth and believe.  Give us the words to say, show us what to do to help bring the lost to You.

Lord 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 and all the false teachings.  Help us fend off his attacks.  Please help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

Reaching Out

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 21st of July, 2024.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

In Jesus’ day, Rome was the enemy.  The Roman army was the greatest on earth and its forces occupied most of the known world, including all the lands of Israel.  Although Messianic prophecy did not even hint at a military leader, over the centuries, and especially during the occupation, the idea emerged that the promised Messiah would raise an army that would free the Jewish people from Roman tyranny.  Jesus knew better, and tried to tell folks that the Messiah was not some conquering hero, not in the sense they were thinking.  But the idea persisted and even His disciples had trouble shaking off that belief, mainly because people despised the Romans for what they did.

So yeah, Rome was the enemy.  But not all Romans were bad.  We are told of one centurion who was a friend of the Jewish people, who helped them with their synagogue, and whose servant’s son Jesus healed.  And there was another who, at the cross, proclaimed that surely Jesus was the Son of God.  All of this is just to say that I find it very interesting that a church would be established and thrive in Rome, there among the Gentiles, and would even count a Roman emperor among its converts.

We don’t know which apostle established that church, but it was most likely not Paul or Peter, who were both martyred there.  It may have been one of the visitors at Pentecost, who went back and told folks about what they had seen and heard, or it could have been one of Paul’s or another apostle’s converts – we just don’t know.  But we do know that Paul wrote and sent them a letter.

This was a church he was anxious to visit and minister to, and the letter was basically to introduce himself to the church and to set forth his beliefs and his doctrines so that the church would know where he stood when he did come to them.  A principal theme of the letter centers on Christian behavior – how we should act and live as Christians.  In our hectic modern world, in our more liberal society, in our increasingly divided nation, we need to be reminded that we Christians are new creations, different from the rest of the world, so we should act and be seen differently, as Paul reminds us.  So please listen and follow along as I read the 12th chapter of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, and I’ll be reading from the Contemporary English Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 Dear friends, God is good. So I beg you to offer your bodies to Him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. That's the most sensible way to serve God. 2 Don't be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to Him.

3 I realize God has treated me with undeserved grace, and so I tell each of you not to think you are better than you really are. Use good sense and measure yourself by the amount of faith that God has given you. 4  A body is made up of many parts, and each of them has its own use. 5 That's how it is with us. There are many of us, but we each are part of the body of Christ, as well as part of one another.

6  God has also given each of us different gifts to use. If we can prophesy, we should do it according to the amount of faith we have. 7 If we can serve others, we should serve. If we can teach, we should teach. 8 If we can encourage others, we should encourage them. If we can give, we should be generous. If we are leaders, we should do our best. If we are good to others, we should do it cheerfully.

9 Be sincere in your love for others. Hate everything that is evil and hold tight to everything that is good. 10 Love each other as brothers and sisters and honor others more than you do yourself. 11 Never give up. Eagerly follow the Holy Spirit and serve the Lord. 12 Let your hope make you glad. Be patient in time of trouble and never stop praying. 13 Take care of God's needy people and welcome strangers into your home.

14  Ask God to bless everyone who mistreats you. Ask Him to bless them and not to curse them. 15  When others are happy, be happy with them, and when they are sad, be sad. 16  Be friendly with everyone. Don't be proud and feel that you know more than others. Make friends with ordinary people. 17 Don't mistreat someone who has mistreated you. But try to earn the respect of others, 18 and do your best to live at peace with everyone.

19  Dear friends, don't try to get even. Let God take revenge. In the Scriptures the Lord says,

“I am the One to take revenge

and pay them back.”

20  The Scriptures also say,

“If your enemies are hungry,

give them something to eat.

And if they are thirsty,

give them something

to drink.

This will be the same

as piling burning coals

on their heads.”

21 Don't let evil defeat you, but defeat evil with good.

--Romans 12 (CEV)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we thank You for showing Paul the truth and inspiring him to share with us how we should live and act, we who follow Your Christ Jesus.  When we accept Jesus as Your Son and our Lord, You send Your Holy Spirit to dwell within us, making us new and setting us apart from the others in this world.  Sadly, Father, we don’t always look and act differently from anyone else.  Nor do we always follow our Lord’s commands as we should.  Please help us be better servants.  Help us as we reach out into the world, helping those in need and witnessing to the non-believers, sharing the Good News and showing Your love.  Help us spread the message that all anyone has to do is to believe in Jesus and accept Him as Lord and they will have eternal life.  And please forgive us when we hesitate to witness for You and our Lord Jesus out of fear or anxiety.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand Your message today.  Thank You for forgiving and forgetting our sin.  Help us reach out and share the Good News of everlasting life in our daily walk.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

I may have used this before, but it's cute so I'm using it again.  Author William C. Schultz tells us that people need people by sharing this little story about his daughter.  “Laurie was about three when one night she requested my aid in getting undressed.  I was downstairs and she was upstairs, and ...well... ‘You know how to undress yourself,’ I reminded. ‘Yes,’ she explained, ‘but sometimes people need people anyway, even if they do know how to do things by themselves.’”

This is why we help others, because sometimes they just need help, even if they do know how to do things by themselves.  Sometimes, they just need to know someone cares enough to help.  Sometimes they just need to feel a little love.  We just have to get up out of our comfortable surroundings and go to where they are.  After all, that’s what Jesus commanded us to do, to go into the world making disciples.

I mentioned Peter earlier, in that he and Paul were both put to death in Rome.  But before that fateful day, Peter wrote at least three letters himself, addressed to the early church flung out across the known world.  In one of those letters, Peter echoes Paul’s directions to us regarding using our gifts.  Please listen to what the Apostle Peter wrote in the 4th chapter of his 1st letter, verses 10 and 11…

10 Each of you has been blessed with one of God's many wonderful gifts to be used in the service of others. So use your gift well. 11 If you have the gift of speaking, preach God's message. If you have the gift of helping others, do it with the strength that God supplies. Everything should be done in a way that will bring honor to God because of Jesus Christ, who is glorious and powerful forever. Amen. 

--1 Peter 4:10-11 (CEV)

Did you notice Peter ended that passage with the word “Amen”?  One meaning of "Amen" is "so be it".  Peter is telling us to make it so, to do as he says.  We are to use the gifts God gave us, by the strength He supplies, and in His service, to bring Him and only Him all honor and glory.

Our command to reach out and help others did not begin with the letters of Paul and Peter.  This goes all the way back to the Old Testament, as Moses led the people out of Egypt through the wilderness.  Please listen to what Moses wrote in the 10th chapter of his Book of Deuteronomy, verses 17 through 19…

17 The Lord your God is more powerful than all other gods and lords, and His tremendous power is to be feared. His decisions are always fair, and you cannot bribe Him to change His mind. 18  The Lord defends the rights of orphans and widows. He cares for foreigners and gives them food and clothing. 19 And you should also care for them, because you were foreigners in Egypt. 

--Deuteronomy 10:17-19 (CEV)

The Lord our God, the Creator of all there is, who wields tremendous power, defends the rights of orphans and widows, and cares for foreigners.  So we should follow His example and obey His commands and care for others too, including orphans, widows, and even foreigners.

Now we might not have ever been foreigners ourselves, not in the sense of coming from another land, but we may have come from somewhere else at some time or another.  Over the last few decades, North Carolina has experienced  a huge influx of new citizens from all over the country and all over the world.  They have come here where customs and habits may be quite different from what they were used to.  Our way of life may be foreign to them.  That must not detract from our caring for them.  They often need help, too.

Outreach – reaching out.  This is what I read between the lines in Paul’s passage.  Reaching out with the gifts God has given us to help others, and not just other Christians but any others in their time of need.

And not only helping but being sincere in our help, sincere in our love.  We’re not to help so that we are seen in a good light, or for a photo op, or to win a good citizen award, or to get any kind of personal reward or recognition.  We are to help out of sincere love and compassion, even blessing those who may mistreat us, even our enemies.  We must not let evil defeat us, but instead, we are to defeat evil with good.

I bet most of us can remember the old Bell Telephone System slogan, "Reach out and touch someone".  They were encouraging us to reach out for our phone, pick it up, and call someone, but the idea of reaching out and touching someone is actually quite beautiful.  Sometimes a touch conveys more than any words ever could, whether sharing a moment of sadness, of grief, or of joy and happiness.  So maybe "Reach out and touch someone" should be our slogan, too, though not so much to talk with them, although that is part of it, but mostly to help them in their times of need.

I think we do a good job of that, this Pilgrim family.  For one, there’s our missions support, where we give monthly to help those who help others.  And there’s our Outreach Team, that will be hosting our annual Ice Cream Social fundraiser this afternoon.  The Team reaches out into the community helping others, many of whom have come to the end of their ropes, financially, even spiritually.  Most notably, we've hosted our annual Run for Grace 5K and provided thousands of dollars in needed funds for the Workshop of Davidson - almost $100K in eight years.  This particular fundraiser is to refill the bucket we use to help out in the community around us.

As a family, this is one way we offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to God.  This is all part of our good and acceptable service.  For we have been treated with underserved grace.

In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, who gave of Himself to bring us the living water and everlasting life, and who is coming again to judge us all.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for helping us in our times of need.  Thank You for always being at our side.  We know You love us, and we know You loved us even when we rebelled against You.  By that, we know You really do love all people, so we should help show them Your love.  Sometimes, though Father, we hesitate to carry out our Lord’s commands because we’re afraid.  We’re worried we’ll get it all wrong, that we’ll say or do something to turn them away rather than toward You.  Sometimes we’re just too comfortable where we are and don’t want to get up and go somewhere less comfortable.  Please forgive us those times, Father, when we get too complacent.  Please help us reach out more into the world, helping folks even if we think they don’t really need help.  Help us be more forgiving, more merciful in our dealings with others.  Guide us around any pitfalls in this life and strengthen our spirits to do Your will.  And please help us do a better job of sharing 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 the world throws at us or holds out before us.

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

Lord Jesus, You set the example for us in how You lived Your life while among us.  You helped any and all when they needed You.  And You reached out to us all when we were lost in darkness, offering Your hand to lift us out of our sin.  Thank You, Jesus!  Please help us share Your love by being more understanding, more merciful, more giving and forgiving of others, offering aid when we can.  Not everyone believes in You, so it is our job to help them see the truth and believe. So Lord, please help us reach out to the non-believing world with the Gospel message, showing Your love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us what to do to help bring the lost to You.

Lord 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 and all the false teachings.  Help us fend off his attacks.  Please help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

The Living Water

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 14th of July, 2024.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

Family, we’ve been experiencing some very hot weather lately, and its been very dry, but thank our Lord He did release some rain from His storehouse to water His garden and lower the temperature a little.

Water is arguably the second most important element necessary for our survival, with the air we breathe being first.  Water is essential to life.  The earth needs it, all the animals that live in or on or under the earth need it, we need it.  We cannot long survive without it.  And we will do whatever it takes to get it.

We are very blessed, very fortunate, that all we have to do to get water is to turn on the tap.  I remember way back when we were in the throes of a multi-year drought, when lakes and streams were drying up and rivers ran dangerously low.  I quit worrying about my yard, only caring about some bushes my Dad had helped me plant when I first bought and moved into the house, giving them a little drink once a week to keep them alive.  And then one day my well pumped out mud.  You can’t really appreciate water until you can’t get it.

Our scripture reading this morning speaks of a time when a certain person was forced to go to extraordinary measures to get water each day.  Only the Apostle John recorded this incident for us.

As I read this passage, in my mind’s eye I see this being a hot summer day, like we’re in now.  Jesus and His disciples have walked a long way this morning and noon approaches.  He stops, ostensibly to rest, but in reality He has a much higher purpose planned.

Please listen and follow along as I read from the Apostle John’s Gospel account, chapter 4 verses 1 through 30 and 39 through 42, and I’ll be reading this from the New American Standard Bible…

1 So then, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that He was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus Himself was not baptizing; rather, His disciples were), 3 He left Judea and went away again to Galilee. 4 And He had to pass through Samaria. 5 So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; 6 and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, tired from His journey, was just sitting by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away to the city to buy food. 9 So the Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You, though You are a Jew, are asking me for a drink, though I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus replied to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” 11 She said to Him, “Sir, You have no bucket and the well is deep; where then do You get this living water? 12 You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well and drank of it himself, and his sons and his cattle?” 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never be thirsty; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.”

15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty, nor come all the way here to draw water.” 16 He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said to Him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this which you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and yet you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one must worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Believe Me, woman, that a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. 23 But a time is coming, and even now has arrived, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I am He, the One speaking to you.”

27 And at this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What are You seeking?” or, “Why are You speaking with her?” 28 So the woman left her waterpot and went into the city, and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is He?” 30 They left the city and were coming to Him.

39 Now from that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of His word; 42 and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One truly is the Savior of the world.” 

--John 4:1-30, 39-42 (NASB)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we thank You for the rains that nourish the earth, for the water that sustains our life, and for the Living Water that brings us eternal life.  When we come to Your Son, the living water flows and we never thirst again.  Sadly, Father, so many people have not had their thirst quenched, so many have not tasted that cool, clean water.  Please help us reach out to the non-believers of the world, sharing the Good News and showing them Your love.  Help us spread the message that all anyone has to do is to believe in Jesus and accept Him as Lord and they will never thirst again.  And please forgive us when we hesitate to witness for You and our Lord Jesus, even though we often want to.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand Your message today.  Thank You for forgiving and forgetting our sin.  Help us share the Good News of everlasting life in our daily walk.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

You might remember from your school days that about 71% of the earth’s surface is covered by water.  Of that, only about 3-1/2% is fresh water that we can drink.  The other 96.5% is in the oceans.  Yet that 3.5% is what we depend on to keep us alive.

Did you know that about 60% of the average adult human body is water?  The brain and heart are composed of around 73% water, while the lungs are 83% water.  (Makes you wonder why we choke when we happen to breathe in a sip of water.)  Our skin contains 64% water and our muscles and kidneys are at 79%.  Even our bones are a bit watery at 31%.

The body needs about three quarts of water a day to operate efficiently. It helps break up and soften food. Our blood, which is 90% water carries nutrients to the cells. As a cooling agent, water regulates our temperature through perspiration. And without its lubricating properties, our joints and muscles would grind and creak like unused parts of some old rusty machinery.  Water is vital to human health.  A person can survive for up to three weeks without food, but they won't last more than three to five days without water.

Of course, water was just as important in Jesus’ day as it is in ours.  It provides for our sustenance, with even the oceans giving us a tremendous source of food.  Remember that Jesus’ first four disciples were fishermen there on the Sea of Galilee.  So it’s no real stretch to understand that Jesus would use water – and especially its life-sustaining properties – in His messages to the people.  Just like He told the fisherman named Simon that he would become a fisher of men.

When Jesus told the Samaritan woman about the living water, it was not the first time He used that expression.  In our invocation I noted what Jesus said on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, when He cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”  John goes on to point out that, “this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”  The Holy Spirit gives life, and as the Living Water, gives everlasting life.

So in our reading, Jesus proves to the woman that He is the long awaited Messiah by telling her pretty much all she had done wrong leading up to that point.  He even directly said He was the Christ.  And she went running off to tell everyone in the village all about Him and what He had told her.

The amazing thing is that the people listened and believed this woman that they had been shunning because of her sin.  They believed her enough to go out and see for themselves.  And because of her and her testimony, many Samaritans found salvation.  Although treated as an outcast, she was willing and even excited to witness for Jesus.  Why aren’t we as willing?  Why aren’t we excited?

The Israelites endured exile many times throughout their history, including a time in Babylon.  The prophet Ezekiel lived and spoke for God during that period.  At one point, God showed Ezekiel a vision of the restored Israel, with a man leading the prophet around the city and its lands.  This might also be seen as a picture of the restored earth when Jesus returns, since earlier chapters in Ezekiel’s book include a prophecy of a great battle that will precede the Christ's second coming.

Please listen to one part of this vision as related by Ezekiel in the 47th chapter of his book of prophecy, verses 1 through 12…

1 Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar. 2 He brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me around on the outside to the outer gateway that faces east; and there was water, running out on the right side.

3 And when the man went out to the east with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the water came up to my ankles. 4 Again he measured one thousand and brought me through the waters; the water came up to my knees. Again he measured one thousand and brought me through; the water came up to my waist. 5 Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross; for the water was too deep, water in which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed. 6 He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he brought me and returned me to the bank of the river.

7 When I returned, there, along the bank of the river, were very many trees on one side and the other. 8 Then he said to me: “This water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the Jordan Valley, and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. 9 And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes. 10 It shall be that fishermen will stand by it from En Gedi to En Eglaim; they will be places for spreading their nets. Their fish will be of the same kinds as the fish of the Great Sea, exceedingly many. 11 But its swamps and marshes will not be healed; they will be given over to salt. 12 Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”

--Ezekiel 47:1-12 (NKJV)

How wide, how deep, and how vast flows the river of life, the living water, from the throne of God.  It offers healing to all, even to the waters of the sea.  It provides food for the spirit, nourishment for the soul.  The living water, the eternal water that gives everlasting life.

On a hot summer day, a woman came to the well of Jacob at noontime, to draw water for the day.  She came alone, long after the other women of Sychar had come to draw their water.   She came during the heat of the day since she was not welcome to walk among the other women because of her past and currently chosen situation.  But one day Jesus was there, and He welcomed her and offered her the living water of eternal life.

Cool water refreshes us on a hot day.  Living water will refresh us forever.  Come, and partake of the water Jesus offers.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, who gave of Himself to bring us the living water and everlasting life, and who is coming again to judge us all.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for giving us the faith to believe in Your Son, Your Christ, Jesus, who nourishes our soul as Your rains nourish the earth.  By Your mercy and His sacrificial act, we need never thirst again, but enjoy eternal life.  Thank You, Father – You are so very good to us!  Sometimes, though Father, we take Your mercy for granted just as we take the source of our water for granted.  Sometimes we become too comfortable with how easy it is for us to be refilled and refreshed, without thinking of how so many in the world thirst each day.  They thirst not only for life-sustaining water, but also for Your word.  Please forgive us those times, Father, when we get too complacent.  Please help us reach out more into the world, helping those who thirst.  Help us be more forgiving, more merciful in our dealings with others.  Guide us around any pitfalls in this life and strengthen our spirits to do Your will.  And please help us do a better job of sharing 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 the world throws at us or holds out before us.

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

Lord Jesus, when we gave ourselves to You, when we accepted You as our Master, You watered our dry spirits and brought us back to life.  We are Yours, we belong to You. By Your blood You purchased us and gave us new life.  Thank You, Jesus!  Please help us pass this blessing along by being more understanding, more merciful, more giving and forgiving of others, offering Your living water to all we meet.  Not everyone believes in You, so it is our job to help them see the truth and believe. So Lord, please help us reach out to the non-believing world with the Gospel message, showing Your love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us what to do to help bring the lost to You.

Lord 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 and all the false teachings.  Help us fend off his attacks.  Please help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

We Are Free

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 7th of July, 2024, as we celebrate our independence from foreign tyranny and our deliverance from sin.  We also joined together in Holy Communion with our Lord.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

Each year, Americans celebrate our independence from foreign rule on July the 4th, which coincides with the signing of our Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress in 1776.  But our fight for independence actually started over a year earlier, in April of 1775 with the Battles of Lexington and Concord, after the British had tried to disarm the colonists.  What we call the Revolutionary War was a bloody and costly eight year fight that culminated in our victory over English rule and foreign tyranny.

In our Declaration of Independence, we also declare that all men are created equal, but, of course, all men have never been treated equally.  Neither have all men ever been free.  Humankind has enclaved its fellow man since before recorded history, and it still goes on to this day, in the form of human trafficking, sex slavery, and the like.

But there is another form of slavery that can hold us all, and that is slavery to sin.  And Satan is the slave master.  Fortunately for us, though, Jesus came to break those chains that bind us to sin.  He fought the war to free us.  But it’s up to us to stay free.

Since we do have Communion in a few minutes, and I have a lot of scripture to share with you, I’ll be brief in my own comments.  After all, I think God and those He inspired give us far greater insight into the things of heaven than anything I can say.

Now if you’ve looked in your bulletin or on the screens you might wonder if I’ve gotten a little confused regarding our primary scripture reading this morning, but I think once we get into it, you’ll see how it all fits together.  So please listen and follow along as a great prophet, our Savior Jesus, and arguably His most effective apostle tell us about freedom.

We’ll hear first from Isaiah, from the first 2 verses of the 61st chapter of his book of prophecy.  Then our Lord Jesus will speak to us, as recorded by the Apostle John in the 8th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 31 through 36.  And finally, the Apostle Paul will share his insight with us, from the 6th chapter of his Letter to the Romans.  I’ll be reading mostly from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible this morning, with Paul’s writing and a later passage from the Apostle Peter coming from the New Living Translation…

Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,

Because the Lord has anointed Me

To preach good tidings to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives,

And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,

And the day of vengeance of our God;

To comfort all who mourn."

John 8:31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?”

34 Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. 36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

Romans 6:1 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

12 Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. 13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. 14 Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.

15 Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! 16 Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. 17 Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. 18 Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.

19 Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.

20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. 21 And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. 22 But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. 

--Isaiah 61:1-2 (NKJV); John 8:31-36 (NKJV); Romans 6 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending Your Son Jesus to free us from our bonds to sin.  By His sacrifice, we are washed clean of our sin and forgiven.  He conquered death so that we might live.  Sadly, Father, not everyone knows the true freedom that can only come from trusting in You, from loving You and Your Son Jesus.  Please help us reach out to the non-believers of the world, sharing the Good News and showing Your love.  Help us spread the message that all anyone has to do is to believe in Jesus and accept Him as Lord and they will be freed from their bondage to sin.  And please forgive us when we hesitate to serve You and our Lord, even though we know we should.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand Your message today.  Thank You for forgiving and forgetting our sin.  Help us share the Good News of freedom in our daily walk.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

American clergyman and author Phillips Brooks, who lived from 1835 through 1893, once noted that, “No man in this world attains to freedom from any slavery except by entrance into some higher servitude.  There is no such thing as an entirely free man conceivable.”

Rev. Brooks lived and served God through arguably the darkest years in American history.  He saw the effects of human slavery first hand.  But his knowledge of and insight into God’s word – the Bible – led him to realize that we all serve some master.  We cannot be freed from one slavery without giving in to some higher servitude.

We Christians have done just that.  We have willingly given ourselves into servitude under our declared Lord Jesus, who frees us from the tyranny of sin.  Isaiah speaks of being freed from prisons, but there are many forms of prison, with sin building the greatest walls to hold us in.  But the truth that comes from our Lord Jesus sets us free, as only the Son can free us.

Paul warns us not to take our liberty for granted.  We have been freed, yes, but it is too easy to return to the bonds of sin.  The temptations to do so are many and great.  Freedom is not free, and we must work to maintain it.  Serving our new Master, Jesus, is how we do so.  The Apostle Peter backs up Paul’s declarations when, in the 2nd chapter of his 1st letter to the early church, verses 15 and 16, he says…

15 It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you. 16 For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil.

--1 Peter 2:15-16 (NLT)

We are free, yes – set free by Jesus.  But we are not free to continue doing evil, to keep on sinning.  Instead, we are to be an example to the world of what true freedom looks like.  So let’s follow Paul’s instructions in chapter 5 verse 1 of his letter to the Galatians when he says…

1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

--Galatians 5:1 (NKJV)

Christ Jesus broke the chains so that we could cast off the yoke of bondage to sin.  Let us not pick those chains back up and tie them around ourselves again.

In just a few moments we will come to the table of our Lord to share His last meal with Him.  The Apostle Paul warns that we must be right with God before doing so.  Otherwise, we share the guilt of His execution, of His death, with those who committed the act.

Now is the time to get right with God.  If you are feeling convicted by the Holy Spirit, if you are weighed down by the guilt of disobedience, if you are holding a grudge against a fellow believer, if there is anything in your life that God would see as sinful, lay it all at the foot of our Lord’s cross, repent, and seek forgiveness.

Get right with God.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, who gave of Himself to set us free from the chains of sin, and who is coming again to judge us all.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for giving us the faith to believe in Your Son, Your Christ, Jesus, who came to release us from bondage to sin.  It is only by Your mercy and His sacrificial act that we are freed and granted access to paradise and eternal life.  Thank You, Father – You are so very good to us!  Sometimes, though Father, we seem to miss the chains.  Sometimes we run the risk of ensnaring ourselves into a life of slavery once more.  We just can’t completely let go of the world and too often fall prey to its charms and temptations.  Please forgive us those times, Father.  Please help us be more forgiving, more merciful in our dealings with others.  Guide us around any pitfalls in this life and strengthen our spirits to do Your will.  And please help us do a better job of sharing 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 the world throws at us or holds out before us.

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

Lord Jesus, when we gave ourselves to You, when we accepted You as our Master, we knowingly and willingly committed ourselves into servitude to You.  We are now Yours, we belong to You, You purchased us with Your blood.  Thank You, Jesus, for giving us new life that we may use in Your service.  Please help us be more understanding, more merciful, more giving and forgiving of others, remembering that You came to free us all from sin.  Not everyone believes in You, though, so not everyone is truly free. So Lord, please help us reach out to the non-believing world with the Gospel message, showing Your love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us what to do to help bring the lost to You.

Lord 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 and all the false teachings.  Help us fend off his attacks.  Please help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.