Joyful, Joyful

 

[The following is a manuscript of my devotional message delivered on Sunday morning, the 30th of June, 2024, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  This is a fifth Sunday service where we sang our favorite hymns.  A recording should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord!

Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.

Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;

Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.

For the Lord is the great God,

And the great King above all gods.

In His hand are the deep places of the earth;

The heights of the hills are His also.

The sea is His, for He made it;

And His hands formed the dry land.

Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

For He is our God,

And we are the people of His pasture,

And the sheep of His hand.

Amen.

                                        --Psalm 95:1-7a

Please listen and follow along to the joyful and reassuring proclamation the Apostle Paul made to the church in Rome, and to us, as recorded in the first 11 verses of the 5th chapter of his Letter to the Romans, and I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible…

1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.

6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, He will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son while we were still His enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of His Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

--Romans 5:1-11 (NLT)

We have been made right in God’s sight, not by anything we’ve done, but by the faith God Himself gave us and the sacrifice Jesus made for us.  We do not deserve the grace God shows us, the blessings He pours out over us.   Those were bought by the precious blood of Jesus.  When we realize how truly, richly we are blessed, we should be filled with joy and rejoicing, confidently secure in the promise that we will share in God’s glory.

Now yes, I know... some days it feels like we are far from blessed.  Some days the world is laying too heavily on our shoulders.  Some days it’s a struggle just to get out of bed.  Some days we feel far from blessed.  But you know, Family… those days are a blessing, too.

There’s an old saying that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.  Our tough times help make us stronger. They build endurance, which strengthens our character.  They show us that we can survive, not matter what befalls us.

And this feeds our hope and trust in God’s words, in Jesus’ deeds, in our promise of salvation that leads to eternal life.  This trust and this hope will not disappoint us, for God loves us, a love made manifest by His gift of His Holy Spirit dwelling within us, a love shown by the sacrifice of His own Son.

So let us always be joyful in this life, in good times and bad.  And right now this morning, let us make a joyful noise to our Lord!  For God is good all the time.  And all the time, God is good!

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

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for choosing us to follow Your Christ, Your Son Jesus.  Thank You for giving us faith that we can be made right in Your sight.  Father, because of our faith, we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing Your glory.  Please help us be more merciful and kind, more humble and gentle, more giving and forgiving in our daily walk, so that we might show the world Your love through our love.  May we always sing Your praises, glorifying You in all we do.  This we pray in the blessed name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

We Tell the Truth

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 23rd of June, 2024.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

How many times have you watched a TV show or movie scene set in a courtroom where they call a person up to the witness stand, have them put their left hand on a bible and raise their right hand and swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?  And the person always says, “I do”.  I just wonder how much validity that oath would hold if the person swearing to it were an atheist.  Would it matter to them if they told the truth or not?  Would their hand burn just a little bit on the bible?

Yes, I do think about weird things at times.

I think this is a valid concern, though, because our judicial system is based on people telling the truth.  And just how many people tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth in our society today?  In recent months alone we’ve seen some high-profile cases where folks just flat out lied in public statements, on legal forms, even in courtrooms under oath.  And with artificial intelligence and deepfakes and cheapfakes and fake news, just how much of what we see and hear anymore can we trust to be the truth?!?

Well, I’ve got good news for you, Family - there is one place we can turn where we can fully trust in what we are told.  There is one source of information we can be sure will always tell us the truth: our Holy Bible.

Our Bible contains the word of God, authored by men and women that He inspired to write everything we need to know to get us through this life and ready for the next.  We can trust those men and women for they have no reason whatsoever to try and trick us.  They have nothing to gain by lying, nothing to lose by being completely truthful.

One of those authors was given special insight into God’s word and God’s will by God’s Son Jesus.  Please listen and follow along as I read the first 15 verses from the 4th chapter of the 2nd letter that the Apostle Paul sent to the Corinthians, and I’ll be reading this from the Living Bible version of our Holy Bible…

1 It is God Himself, in His mercy, who has given us this wonderful work of telling His Good News to others, and so we never give up. 2 We do not try to trick people into believing — we are not interested in fooling anyone. We never try to get anyone to believe that the Bible teaches what it doesn’t. All such shameful methods we forego. We stand in the presence of God as we speak and so we tell the truth, as all who know us will agree.

3 If the Good News we preach is hidden to anyone, it is hidden from the one who is on the road to eternal death. 4 Satan, who is the god of this evil world, has made him blind, unable to see the glorious light of the Gospel that is shining upon him or to understand the amazing message we preach about the glory of Christ, who is God. 5 We don’t go around preaching about ourselves but about Christ Jesus as Lord. All we say of ourselves is that we are your slaves because of what Jesus has done for us. 6 For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made us understand that it is the brightness of His glory that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

7 But this precious treasure — this light and power that now shine within us — is held in a perishable container, that is, in our weak bodies. Everyone can see that the glorious power within must be from God and is not our own.

8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do, but we don’t give up and quit. 9 We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going. 10 These bodies of ours are constantly facing death just as Jesus did; so it is clear to all that it is only the living Christ within who keeps us safe.

11 Yes, we live under constant danger to our lives because we serve the Lord, but this gives us constant opportunities to show forth the power of Jesus Christ within our dying bodies. 12 Because of our preaching we face death, but it has resulted in eternal life for you.

13 We boldly say what we believe, trusting God to care for us, just as the psalm writer did when he said, “I believe and therefore I speak.” 14 We know that the same God who brought the Lord Jesus back from death will also bring us back to life again with Jesus and present us to Him along with you. 15 These sufferings of ours are for your benefit. And the more of you who are won to Christ, the more there are to thank Him for His great kindness, and the more the Lord is glorified.

--2 Corinthians 4:1-15 (TLB)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we thank You for inspiring so many men and women to write down Your word so that we would have it today, after centuries have passed.  Our Bible is our users manual, our book of instructions.  It contains all we need to go forward and live a righteous life.  Thank You for sharing Your word with us, for sharing Your truth with us.  Sadly though, Lord, not everyone believes in the Christian Bible being Your inspired word, nor in it being completely truthful.  And not even all those who follow Jesus as Lord spend time reading the Bible.  Satan is hard at work in this world, keeping people blind to the truth, turning them away from You.  Please help us use our Bible and its truth as a weapon against the devil, a shield to defend ourselves from him.  Help us reach out to the non-believers of the world, sharing the Good News of salvation that is only available through Jesus.  Help us show the truth to all we encounter.  And please forgive us when we hesitate to serve You and Your Son Jesus.

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 our Bible.  Help us make the best use of our instructions manual while we walk this earth.  And help us share Your love with all the world.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Two men had an argument.  To settle the matter, they went to a judge for arbitration.  The plaintiff made his case.  He was very eloquent and persuasive in his reasoning.  When he finished, the judge nodded in approval and said, "That's right, that's right."

On hearing this, the defendant jumped up and said, "Wait a second, judge, you haven't even heard my side of the case yet."  So the judge told the defendant to state his case.  And he, too, was very persuasive and eloquent.  When he finished, the judge again nodded and said, "That's right, that's right."

When the clerk of court heard this, he jumped up and said, "Judge, they both can't be right."  The judge looked at the clerk of court and said, "That's right, that's right."

A large part of our society experiences a great deal of difficulty discerning the truth.  Even so, they increasingly surround themselves with people who will tell them what they want to hear, including their teachers and preachers.  Many of our leaders, like this fictional judge, simply tell whatever group of people they’re speaking to what that particular group wants to hear, with little or no regard to the actual and complete truth.  And not telling the whole truth is just as bad as not telling any truth.  That’s what we call a lie of omission, misleading someone by leaving pertinent information out.

But spreading falsehoods is nothing new, and certainly not limited to our modern culture.  The first lie we know of came in the Garden of Eden, when the serpent promised Eve that eating the forbidden fruit would make her and Adam like God.

Fast forward to the times of our Lord Jesus.  The Pharisees and scribes had long been trying to trap Jesus in any breach of the Law of Moses, waiting for Him to slip up, but they had no hard evidence against Him to take to the Roman authorities.  So they made up evidence.  They lied about Him, and had others bear false witness about Him, too.

When He was finally hauled before the Roman governor for trial, Pilate asked Jesus if He was a king.  Jesus responded, “I came to bring truth to the world. All who love the truth are my followers.”  Pilate then rhetorically asked, “What is truth?”, without waiting for a response.  (John 18:37-38 (TLB))

But earlier, the Apostle John recorded where Jesus had already answered that question in the 6th verse of the 14th chapter of John’s Gospel account, when He told His disciples…

6 “I am the Way — yes, and the Truth and the Life.  No one can get to the Father except by means of Me.”

--John 14:6 (TLB)

Jesus is truth – the Truth.  Jesus is the only Way to the Father.  And Jesus is the true light.

John opened his Gospel account with the truth.  Listen to the first 9 verses of the 1st chapter of John’s account…

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.

--John 1:1-9 (NKJV)

John, who we call the Baptist, was given the mission by God to bear witness to the world about Jesus.  Jesus is the Truth, the Life, and the Light, sent by God to bring us out of the darkness, if we would only believe in Him and trust in Him.

Can we trust what we see on TV, what we read in any of our news sources, what we find on the internet?  No, not completely; some yes, but definitely not all.  Sadly, most of what we are shown or told is meant to mislead us for one purpose or another.  Anything we see or hear in our modern society should be taken with a great measure of skepticism.  If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

But Family, we can trust in Jesus.  We can trust in the Word of God, saved for us in our Holy Bible.  We can trust God, because, as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews assures us, “it is impossible for God to lie”.  (Hebrews 6:18b (TLB))

Jesus is truth, and we need to share this truth with all the world.  So let’s get out there and be a witness like John the Baptizer.  Let’s tell the world the truth.  For this is God’s will for us.

In the blessed name of Jesus our Christ, the Son of God, the Truth and the Way.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us truth we can depend on, the Truth in the person of Your Son Jesus.  Thank You for Your holy word, the word of truth.  Sadly though, Father, not everyone believes Your word, and we are slow to share it with them.  We hesitate to open up to others about our faith.  We too often fail to approach people to share the Gospel truth so they can lead a righteous life.  We’re too timid, too shy, too afraid to talk to someone about Jesus or even anything in the Bible.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  Help us share the truth, the Good News.  Help us fulfill our assigned mission for Jesus.  And as we do so, please help us be more forgiving, more merciful in our dealings with others.  And Father, 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 are the Truth, the Life, the Light, and the Way.  You shine in the darkness of our sin to show us the way to righteousness and life everlasting.  Through You, and only through You, are we granted eternal life.  Help us share this news of salvation, Lord.  Help us reach out to the unbelieving world.  Help us tell folks the whole truth, and to do so in a loving way.  Help us be more understanding, more merciful, more giving and forgiving of others, knowing that this is our Father’s will for us.  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.

Away From Home... For Now

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 16th of June, 2024 - Father's Day.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

Vacations are nice, aren’t they?  It’s nice to get away for a while, to just relax or to go off and see new places, enjoy new experiences.  But have you ever noticed that after some amount of time has passed, maybe four or five days, you begin to get just a bit homesick?  Doesn’t your own bed start to call out to you?

Yes, it’s great to get away, but it’s also great to get back home again.  When we’re away from home, things can be quite different, and that can cause stress.  We can find ourselves quickly losing control of a situation, with stuff getting out of hand around us.  We’re out of our comfort zone, no longer in the friendliest of environs.  And it can get scary quickly.

Family, this is the position we are in right now, and every day of our life on this earth.  We are away from home, away from our true home, away from the home God has ready for us.  And it can be really scary at times.

The Apostle Paul speaks to this in his 2nd letter to the church in Corinth, and it offers us reassurances, too.  Please listen and follow along as I read the first 10 verses from the 5th chapter of the 2nd letter that Paul sent to the Corinthians, and I’ll be reading from the New Living Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 Our body is like a house we live in here on earth. When it is destroyed, we know that God has another body for us in heaven. The new one will not be made by human hands as a house is made. This body will last forever. 2 Right now we cry inside ourselves because we wish we could have our new body which we will have in heaven. 3 We will not be without a body. We will live in a new body. 4 While we are in this body, we cry inside ourselves because things are hard for us. It is not that we want to die. Instead, we want to live in our new bodies. We want this dying body to be changed into a living body that lasts forever. 5 It is God Who has made us ready for this change. He has given us His Spirit to show us what He has for us.

6 We are sure of this. We know that while we are at home in this body we are not with the Lord. 7 Our life is lived by faith. We do not live by what we see in front of us. 8 We are sure we will be glad to be free of these bodies. It will be good to be at home with the Lord. 9 So if we stay here on earth or go home to Him, we always want to please Him. 10 For all of us must stand before Christ when He says who is guilty or not guilty. Each one will receive pay for what he has done. He will be paid for the good or the bad done while he lived in this body.

--2 Corinthians 5:1-10 (NLV)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we thank You for choosing us to follow Your Son, and for giving us the faith to believe in Him.  Jesus suffered the punishment we deserve.  He took our sins upon Himself so that we could stand clean before You at the end of time.  Thank You for having mercy upon us, Father.  And thank You for having a home prepared for us – our real home – when our time on this earth is over.  Sadly though, Lord, not everyone is willing to follow Jesus, to obey Him or even acknowledge that He is Your Son.  This condemns them, and pleases the devil.  Satan is hard at work in this world, keeping people blind to the truth, turning them away from worshiping You.  Please help us put to use the strength of our faith.  Help us reach out to the non-believers of the world, sharing the Good News of salvation that is only available through Jesus.  Help us show Your love to all we encounter.  And please forgive us when we hesitate to serve You and Your Son Jesus.

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 giving us this body, this earthly house, to live in while we are away from our true home.  Help us make the best use of this body and of our time while we walk this earth.  Help us share Your love with all the world.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

In his book, The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis writes, "We are very shy nowadays of even mentioning Heaven.  We are afraid of the jeer about 'pie in the sky,' and of being told that we are trying to 'escape from the duty of making a happy world here and now into dreams of a happy world elsewhere'.  But either there is 'pie in the sky' or there is not.  If there is not, then Christianity is false, for this doctrine is woven into its whole fabric.  If there is, then this truth, like any other, must be faced, whether it is useful at political meetings or no."

And in Mere Christianity, Lewis adds, "If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.  It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this."

It should be quite visible to us just how ineffective the church has become in modern society.  Mr. Lewis says that a huge contributing factor to this decline lies in our reluctance to place emphasis on the next life, on what follows after one’s walk through this life has come to an end.

According to our Bible, there are two – and only two – outcomes we can expect.  And both extend for all time; both are eternal.  We can either experience everlasting happiness and peace in heaven with God and His Son Jesus, or unending pain and torment in the lake of fire with Satan and his beast.  Why have we stopped talking about this?  Why do we no longer put any emphasis on the choice between heaven and hell, to use the popular term?

Well, part of the reason is because no one wants to listen, not even some Christians.  The world does not want to hear about a heaven and a hell because they don’t want to be held accountable for what they do in this life.  Of course, part of their reluctance to hear the truth may stem from how it was “delivered” to them before.  Simply shouting, “You’re going to hell!”, at someone isn’t going to win many converts.  Fortunately, we have better ways to tell folks about heaven and hell.  And those better ways come from Jesus Himself.

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us not to gather up treasures here on earth, where they’ll rot and decay, but to save them in heaven, where they will never rot or be destroyed.  And He told many parables comparing the kingdom of heaven to things His audience could relate to… that we can relate to.  Like the tiny mustard seed, that when planted can grow into a tree that birds can nest in for shelter.  And like a field where a valuable treasure has been buried, and like a pearl of great price.

He also compared God’s kingdom to the man who sowed good seed in his field, but while the man slept, his enemy sowed weeds in the same field.  At harvest, the grain is taken to safe storage while the weeds are pulled up and burned.  Believers are the good grain, while those who refuse to believe are the weeds.  Safe storage is heaven, and where the weeds are burned is what we call hell, the lake of fire.  This is what awaits us all – either a wonderful home, or eternal pain.  The choice is ours.

Of course, Paul is speaking to a church family of believers, just like I am now.  In this life, we live by faith because we are not physically with Jesus.  We long for heaven, our permanent home, and we know it awaits us because we do believe.  We believe in Jesus and we believe in God’s words and His promises.  We want that new, incorruptible body, the one that won’t ache or hurt or age or break down.

We long for heaven.  We’re homesick for the home we haven’t been to yet.  I can still hear the voice of our dear brother Leon Cline singing, “I'm kind of homesick for a country to which I've never been before.  No sad goodbyes will there be spoken for time won't matter anymore.”  Sweet Beulah Land.

We’re away from home, Family.  For now.  But while we still live this life, while we're away from home, we need to do the work assigned us.  We know what this work is, for Jesus gave us our assignment, and I’ve repeated it often.  Paul also reiterated our instructions and gives greater insight into what we can do to carry them out.  Listen as Paul continues his exhortation to us in chapter 5, verse 14 through the first part of verse 20 in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians…

14 The love of Christ puts us into action. We are sure that Christ died for everyone. So, because of that, everyone has a part in His death. 15 Christ died for everyone so that they would live for Him. They should not live to please themselves but for Christ Who died on a cross and was raised from the dead for them.

16 So from now on, we do not think about what people are like by looking at them. We even thought about Christ that way one time. But we do not think of Him that way anymore. 17 For if a man belongs to Christ, he is a new person. The old life is gone. New life has begun. 18 All this comes from God. He is the One Who brought us to Himself when we hated Him. He did this through Christ. Then He gave us the work of bringing others to Him. 19 God was in Christ. He was working through Christ to bring the whole world back to Himself. God no longer held men’s sins against them. And He gave us the work of telling and showing men this. 20 We are Christ’s missionaries.

--2 Corinthians 5:14-20a (NLV)

The love of Christ puts us into action.  Because Christ Jesus loves the people of this world so much that He doesn’t want to see anyone suffer eternal punishment, so He puts us into action to help save the lost.

He gave us the work of bringing others to Him, of reconciling the world to Him.  Jesus died for us that we would live for Him.  We are His missionaries.  This is our work, this is our job, while we are away from home.  So let’s get out there and get to work.  For this is God’s will for us.  In the blessed name of Jesus our Christ, the Son of God.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Your Christ, our Christ, to redeem us of our sin.  Thank You for promising us a new, more wonderful home when our time on this earth is over.  Sadly though, Father, we don’t always share the love and forgiveness You’ve shown us.  We hesitate to do the job Jesus gave us.  We too often fail to approach people to spread the Gospel, let alone tell them about the next life, in heaven or in hell.  We’re too timid, too shy, too afraid to talk to someone about Jesus or even anything in the Bible.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  Help us share the Gospel message.  Help us fulfill our assigned mission for Jesus.  And as we do so, please help us be more forgiving, more merciful in our dealings with others.  And Father, 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 died for us so that we might live for You.  And You promised us everlasting life in heaven, with You and God, in a new and incorruptible body, when we finally come home.  All we have to do is use the faith God gives us to believe in You and follow Your commands.  Help us as we try to continue Your work, Lord.  Help us reach out to the unbelieving world.  Help us tell folks all about the Gospel, and to do so in a loving way.  Help us be more understanding, more merciful, more giving and forgiving of others, knowing that this is our Father’s will for us.  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.

Our Sabbath

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 9th of June, 2024.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

And I still can't change text color, so no "red letter" version again.]

Family, if we look at our calendar, what is the first day of the new week?  It’s Sunday.  But what do we usually treat as the first day?  Monday, right?  We treat Sunday as if it were the last day of the week because it is the last day of our weekend, and we treat Monday as the first day, probably because it is the first day of the work week.  And in the world of business, Monday is the first day.

But Sunday was set as the first day back in 321 by Emperor Constantine who established the seven-day week for the Roman calendar.  Constantine was also the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, and basically the father of the Holy Roman Empire.  We use the Gregorian calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII who introduced it in 1582.  You can see that our calendar and our seven-day week both have been greatly influenced by Christianity.

We tend to think the Sabbath is just a Jewish thing, and yes it is that, but it is much more.  God gave us the Sabbath as a day of rest, and a day to spend in worship of our Lord.  He created all there is in 6 days, then rested on the 7th, not because He needed rest, but to set the example for us, in how to treat ourselves, and how to treat the world.

By our reckoning, creation would have occurred on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  Then comes the Sabbath, and it is Saturday, for us.  Our word "Sabbatical" comes from "Sabbath" and is the one period of rest after six periods of labor.  It is most often applied to pastors or priests or ministers being given a year to rest and spend in worship and study after every six years of service.  The earth can also benefit from a Sabbath, notably allowing a field to remain fallow for a year after being planted for six.

The ancient Jewish day ran from sunset to sunset, not like our midnight to midnight day, so their Sabbath, or Shabbat, began at sunset on Friday and ended at sunset on Saturday.  The Christian "Sabbath" - our day of worship - is Sunday, although we certainly don't observe it as God intended.

By the time of Jesus’ day, the religious leaders had taken God’s establishment of the Sabbath to the extreme, so much so that a person wasn’t even supposed to prepare a meal during those hours, but instead to eat what was prepared before sunset.  Devout Jews were so obedient to God's command to do no work on the Sabbath that they even held off preparing the body of Jesus for burial until after the Sabbath (by which time, of course, He had risen from the grave).  God forbid they should consider doing any work, like harvesting crops.

And that leads me to our scripture reading today.  Please listen and follow along as I read from chapter 2 verse 23 through chapter 3 verse 6 of the Apostle Mark’s Gospel account, and I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

2:23 Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. 24 And the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

25 But He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: 26 how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?”

27 And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”

3:1 And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2 So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. 3 And He said to the man who had the withered hand, “Step forward.” 4 Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent. 5 And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

----Mark 2:23-3:6 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we thank You for setting aside a period of time for all of Your creation to rest.  You gave us the Sabbath to allow us this rest and to also allow us to stop and reflect on all the mercy and goodness You extend to us.  Thank You for the Sabbath day, Father.  Sadly though, Lord, we no longer respect the Sabbath as we should.  Many have to labor through it, either out of personal necessity or out of greed.  Many treat it as a day to enjoy themselves, without giving a thought to You or Your lovingkindness.  Satan is hard at work in this world, keeping people blind to the truth, turning them away from worshiping You.  Please help us remember why You set aside a day for rest and worship.  Help us reach out to the non-believers of the world, sharing the Good News of salvation only available through Jesus.  Help us show Your love to all we encounter.  And please forgive us when we hesitate to serve You and Your Son Jesus.

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 seeing our need to rest and giving us a time to do so.  This is just another sign of Your love for us, for Your creation.  Help us share Your love with all the world.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

American theologian L. S. Chafer, co-founder of the Dallas Theological Seminary, told this little story:

One man challenged another to an all-day wood chopping contest.  The challenger worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break.  The other man had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day.  At the end of the day, the challenger was surprised and annoyed to find that the other fellow had chopped substantially more wood than he had.  “I don't get it,” he said.  “Every time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more wood than I did.”  “But you didn't notice,” said the winning woodsman, “that I was sharpening my ax when I sat down to rest.”

When we stop to rest, we "sharpen our tools" for the labors ahead.  And by that I mean our personal, bodily tools.  Our heart and lungs need some downtime when they’re not having to work so hard to supply us with blood and oxygen in our exertions.  Our brains need time to decompress, and to work through some of the events of the day, or just to go wandering off into some strange and wonderful, or frightening, world.  And even our spirits need time to rest, to reenergize.

Some of the early signs of sleep-deprivation are mood changes, difficulty handling even simple problems, hallucinations, depression.  We need enough rest time for our bodies, minds, and spirits to sharpen up and get ready for use again.

So, at one point during His ministry, Jesus and His disciples happened to be passing through a grain field during the Sabbath.  Let’s just imagine that it was around noon on that Saturday, and they were far from any town or village.  They were hungry, so the disciples began to pluck heads of grain as they walked and ate them.  Some Pharisees saw this and immediately shouted, “Stop!  You can’t do that!  It is not lawful!”  What was their offense?  Harvesting grain on the Sabbath; laboring on the day of rest.  No matter that they were hungry.  No matter that they were eating all they “harvested” and not setting any aside for later or for sale.  They were breaking the rigid code of the Sabbath.

Jesus rebuked the Pharisees by reminding them of the time that David and his men, on the run from King Saul and his troops, had eaten some of the showbread that only the priests were allowed to eat.  And then He issued an even greater rebuke, and what should have been an obvious truth: “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”  God did not create man so that the Sabbath could be observed, but instead created the Sabbath so that man might rest and worship their Creator.

“And oh, by the way,” Jesus continued, “I am the Lord of the Sabbath, so what I allow to take place on the Sabbath is OK.”  The term Jesus used for Himself, here and quite often in His ministry, is “the Son of Man”.  This term comes from the Book of Daniel, where the prophet describes the Messiah as “One like the Son of Man”.  God in human form.  The Pharisees didn’t like that.

Nor did they care much for what Jesus did next.  He entered their synagogue, saw a man with a withered hand, and healed Him, again doing something the Pharisees deemed unlawful on the Sabbath.  In response to their unspoken accusations, Jesus rhetorically asked if it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil, to save life or to kill?  In the Apostle Matthew’s telling of this event, Jesus also asks of the gathering, who, on the Sabbath, would not lift a sheep out of a pit that it had fallen into.  Sometimes, some form of labor just has to be performed, even on the Sabbath.

We might think the Pharisees’ attitude about the Sabbath to be extreme, and it certainly is by today’s standards.  But in all fairness, they were just following what they saw as God’s rule, as relayed from Him through Moses.  God commands us to keep the Sabbath, as recorded by Moses in his books of Deuteronomy and Exodus.

Hear what Moses wrote in Exodus chapter 20, verses 8 through 11…

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” 

--Exodus 20:8-11 (NKJV)

Do no work.  And this is a command not just to people, but to our animals as well, those that labor for us.  So yeah, we can almost say the Pharisees were justified in their behavior, but they could have been a bit more merciful in their application.

Today, we have moved to the opposite end of the spectrum, way past what even Jesus allowed.  Even our Sabbath day has changed, at least for us Christians.  We consider Sunday as our Sabbath day, and call it the Lord’s day.  Sunday is the first day, and Jesus was raised from the dead on the first day.  So this has become our day of rest and of worship.  But how many of us do?

Even among those who claim to be Christians, how many actually spend the day resting and worshiping our heavenly Father?  Many don’t even make it to church, taking advantage of the day off from work to go do other fun things.  They may “rest”, in the sense of enjoying recreation, but worship seldom enters the picture.

And then we have those who actually labor on Sundays.  Now, granted, there are some folks who must do so.  Life does not come to a halt on Sunday; stuff happens, and there are certain people who must respond when life rears an uglier head.  Our first responders, our hospital and nursing home staff, our military service people, our clergy, all must be on duty and ready to serve on Sundays just as on any day.

There are some who have to work because their employers are open for business on Sundays and require their employees to work at least some of them.  And then there are those who are just greedy and see Sunday as an opportunity to make more money.  I must admit that it is nice for my family and I to be able to go out and share a meal each Sunday after church, but I do really hate that some have to work just so we can enjoy that time together.

Our modern culture sure doesn’t make it easy for us to rest or to worship on Sundays.  How many times has one of your kids or grandkids had a ball game or other extracurricular activity scheduled on a Sunday morning, during church hours?  The church itself has become less and less important, less relevant, to the community, so our opportunities to skip worship have increased and become more attractive.

When we look around and lament what the world is coming to, and especially where America seems headed, we need to take a long, hard look in the mirror to see part of the problem.  Christianity has become diluted.  We have allowed Satan to infiltrate our ranks and poison our wells.  To often, the face we show the world is one of hatred and bias, bigotry and distrust.  Where is the love for our neighbors Jesus commands us to?  Where is the compassion, the mercy, the forgiveness?  Can anyone see a difference in us?  What has happened to our day of rest and worship?  To me, our failure to faithfully observe the Sabbath as God intended is a symptom of our greater sin of not truly following Jesus as Christians.  We claim with our lips what we don’t necessarily show through our actions.

There’s an old song that says “O Lord, send a revival, and let it begin with me”.  We can’t change things overnight.  And we can’t change everything that’s wrong.  But we can change our attitude.  We can change our priorities.  And we can start today, our Christian Sabbath.

Let’s make an effort to get more rest – I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but sometimes we have to purposely set our minds to do something, even if that something is to do nothing.  And let’s spend more time today in offering up praise and glory to our Father God.  Worship Him by spending more time with Him in prayer.  Worship Him by being more loving, more forgiving.  For this is God’s will for us.

In the blessed name of Jesus our Christ, the Son of God.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, thank You for seeing to our physical and spiritual needs by giving us a day each week that we can – or should - devote to rest and worship.  Sadly though, Father, we have gotten away from the intent of our Sabbath, and now treat it as just a day off from work, a chance to go out and play.  Some of us have no choice but to continue working.  We don’t spend time in worship like we should.  We don’t praise You and give You the glory in the presence of others.  We too often fail to approach people to share the Gospel.  We’re too timid, too shy, too afraid to tell someone about Jesus.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  Help us share the Gospel message.  Help us fulfill our assigned mission for Jesus.  And as we do so, please help us be more forgiving, more merciful in our dealings with others.  And Father, 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, as Lord of the Sabbath, You allowed that some labors could be performed on that day of rest.  But You did not take away anything from our need to worship our God on that day.  Lord, we have strayed far from how we should observe the Sabbath, our Lord’s day.  Help us see the need for rest, and for worship.  Help us return to our true Christian faith and roots.  And in that regard, help us tell folks all about the Gospel, and to do so in a loving way.  Help us be more understanding, more merciful, more giving and forgiving of others, knowing that this is our Father’s will for us.  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.

Starting Out, Starting Over

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 2nd of June, 2024.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

Family, last Sunday was a time of celebration for us.  We recognized two fine young men as recipients of our scholarships, and we congratulated all our young ladies and gentlemen who have graduated some level of schooling.  All these young people will soon be starting out on a new and different phase of their lives, entering the world as adults.  Many will be leaving the nest for the first time, taking wing on their own, with much love and support from home, of course.

And then we also welcomed two of our own back into fellowship with us; two who had been away from us for a while but had now returned.  In a way, they are starting over by renewing their membership, digging back into the life - and the work - of the church.

In our invocation, the Apostle Peter spoke of starting over when he instructed us to repent of our sins and turn to God.  This also applies to those just starting out, for we all sin, we all have fallen, we all bear the sin of Adam.

The Apostle Paul also speaks of starting out in his 2nd letter to the church in Corinth, who in many cases were just getting started in their new-found faith.  Please listen and follow along as I read from the 5th chapter of Paul’s 2nd letter to the Corinthians, verses 14 through 21, and I’ll be reading this from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible…

14 Christ’s love urges us on. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. 15 He died for everyone so that those who receive His new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

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

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

----2 Corinthians 5:14-21 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your loving kindness and mercy.  When we were stumbling around in the darkness of our sin, You sent Your Son to shine Your light and give us new life.  Thank You for allowing us to start over again.  Sadly though, Father, too many people simply do not believe that Jesus is Your Son, that He came to save us, that He died and rose again from the grave.  Satan is hard at work in this world, keeping people blind to the truth.  Please help us reach out to the non-believers of the world, sharing the Good News of salvation available only through Jesus.  Help us show Your love to all we encounter.  And please forgive us when we hesitate to serve You and Your Son.

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 letting us start over and start out on this new life in Jesus.  Help us share Your love with all the world.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

The first electric light was so dim that a candle was needed to see its socket.  One of the first steamboats took 32 hours to chug its way from New York to Albany, a distance of 150 miles.  Wilbur and Orville Wright's first airplane flight lasted only 12 seconds.  And the first automobiles traveled 2 to 4 miles per hour and broke down often.  Carriages would pass them, with their passengers shouting, “Get a horse!”

Beginnings, like childbirth, are often painful.  It can take a long time before they begin to gain traction.  We just have to be patient, learn to walk before we can run, take time to get things right.

We’re in an age of microwave ovens cooking dinner in minutes, instantaneous communications, connections to the world’s knowledge on our arms and hips or in our purses, everything faster, everything now.  But none of this came overnight.  Everything had a beginning, and most of our technological advances had many start-overs to get to the point of what we see now.  It’s really not a bad thing to start all over again, to get a fresh perspective while not losing sight of what didn’t work before.

I can’t even count the number of times I’ve started over or started out on some new journey.  I’ve tried quite a few different careers and professions in my life, a couple of them being completely new and different from anything before.  My last new job choice was by far my best, finally responding to God’s offer and leading me to here.

I’ve taken up new hobbies quite often, getting bored with one and moving on to the next.  I’ve even started out on new relationships, not always with the best results.  Sometimes I’ve learned from past mistakes, while too often just repeating them.

But starting over, and starting out on something new, gives us anther chance at living the way God will see as pleasing.  We just need to pay attention to what we’re doing so we don’t blow it.

In our scripture reading, Paul speaks for himself and Timothy when he says, “We believe that Christ died for all of us, and so we also believe that we have all died to our old life.  He died for everyone so that those who receive His new life will no longer live for themselves, but will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.”

We receive this new life Paul speaks of when we accept Jesus as the Son of God and our Lord.  We can never repay Jesus for what He did for us, but we can pay it forward – to use the popular phrase – by living our new life for Him, by serving Him, by carrying out His command to spread the Gospel and make disciples.

Part of living this new life means we must stop evaluating each other from a human perspective, a human point of view.  We need to try to look at others in the same light that we look at ourselves.  Do we forgive ourselves for our flaws, faults, and failures, especially the little, insignificant ones?  Then we should forgive others of theirs, and stop treating their flaws as greater than ours.  It’s like Jesus scolded us, to stop being overly concerned about the speck in someone else’s eye while walking around with a plank in our own.  We can’t really start over or start out on something new until we rid ourselves of our old habits and attitudes.

Long before Jesus came to renew us by taking on our sin, the great prophet Isaiah gave as some insight into starting over.  Hear what Isaiah wrote in verses 18 and 19 of the 43rd chapter of the book bearing his name…

18 “Do not remember the things that have happened before. Do not think about the things of the past. 19 See, I will do a new thing. It will begin happening now. Will you not know about it? I will even make a road in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

--Isaiah 43:18-19 (NLV)

Now Isaiah isn’t saying to forget all about what’s happened before, but instead just don’t dwell it.  Don’t live in the past - put it behind us, because we can’t change it.  God will give us the chance to start over fresh, starting right now, if we’ll let Him.  He will open new roads, new pathways for us, bringing encouragement and strength to our spirits just as a river flowing in the desert.

I said earlier that new beginnings can be slow and painful, and this applies to beginning again, too.  Starting over simply means that we’re starting out again.  It may not necessarily be an entirely new experience, but we should be approaching it with a new perspective, a new plan of action, a new heart, while hoping and praying for a new outcome.

When we start over, we need to remember what we did wrong the first time so we don't make the same mistakes all over again.  We need to forget about past hurts, especially those hurts that were caused by others.  This is the only way we can be successful.

When we accept Jesus, God wants us to be new, to be different, to not be the same as we were before.  He gives us the opportunity to start over, and this time, to get it right.  We’ll never get it right until we throw off our old ways, our old life, and fully embrace the new life God gave us.  Stop looking at others – judging others – through our old eyes, our human perspective, and try seeing them through Jesus’ eyes, through the eyes of love.  We must quit harping on what we think are someone else’s faults and start giving more honest consideration to our own.

Let’s reboot and start all over again, and this time let’s approach everything, and everyone, in a loving manner.  For this is God’s will for us.  In the blessed name of Jesus our Christ, the Son of God.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, You are the God of second chances, and we thank You for giving us a second chance to get things right.  You sent Your Son into the world to offer all of us new and eternal life.  Sadly though, Father, not all believe.  Some refuse to believe, and we aren’t always willing to try to help them see the truth.  We too often fail to approach others with the Gospel.  We’re too timid, too shy, too afraid to tell someone about Jesus.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  Help us share the Gospel message.  Help us start anew in our mission work for Jesus.  And as we do so, please help us be more forgiving, more merciful in our dealings with others.  And Father, 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 said that You are the Living Water, and that all who drink from You will never thirst again.  Lord, the Living Water is now welling up within us, bringing us eternal life.  Help us lead others to this well.  Help us tell them the truth, the Gospel, and to do so in a loving way.  Help us be more understanding, more merciful, more giving and forgiving of others, knowing that this is our Father’s will for us.  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.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 26th of May, 2024 - Trinity Sunday.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

Additional note:  Today's service included the recognition of our scholarship winners and of all our graduates, and the receiving of two returning members back into our church family.  And again, the editor will not let me change text color. <sigh>]

Family, today is Trinity Sunday, when we recognize and celebrate the Three Persons of God.  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  This has already been a long, jam-packed service, so I’ll keep this as brief as I can, letting our Father speak mostly through His inspired scripture.

And since this is Trinity Sunday, I chose scripture that tells of a time when the Son of God is speaking to a man of God about the Spirit of God and of God the Father sending His Son.  So please listen and follow along as I read from the 3rd chapter of the Apostle John’s Gospel account, verses 1 through 21, and I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”

10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

--John 3:1-21 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we thank You for making Yourself available and accessible to us in three distinct persons.  Each of Your persons provides a different and needed perspective for us.  As the Father, You comfort us and care for us and provide for all our needs.  As the Son, You redeem us of our sin and will come again some day to call us home and to judge the whole world.  And as the Holy Spirit, You live in us and join with our spirit to encourage us and strengthen us and guide us through this life.  Sadly though, Father, not everyone believes in You, they can’t accept any of Your three persons, and so they condemn themselves.  Satan is hard at work in this world, keeping people blind to the truth.  Please help us reach out to the non-believers of the world, sharing the Good News of salvation through Jesus.  Help us show Your love to all we encounter.  And please forgive us when we hesitate to serve You when we have no real reason not 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 being our Father.  Thank You for Your Son.  And thank You for Your Holy Spirit.  Help us share Your love with all the world.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

A little girl walks up to the preacher one Sunday after the service dragging her younger brother by the hand along with her.  She implores of the pastor, "Could you please straighten my stupid brother out?  He has the Holy Trinity mixed up with Larry, Moe, and Curly Joe."

I don’t believe I’ve ever heard anyone confuse the Holy Trinity with the Three Stooges, but in this world anything is possible.  Many people have trouble understanding the concept of three persons in one.  But I like to look at it as being three roles, three areas of responsibility, filling three different needs.

For instance, a man can be a father, seeing to the needs of his family, providing care and comfort for them as best he can.  At the same time, he can be a fireman or policeman or first responder, risking his life to save others.  And he can also be an Elder in his church, helping others with their spiritual needs, strengthening their faith, encouraging them in their personal ministries.

This is how the Almighty God gives of Himself for His creation.  He provides for us, redeems us, guides us.  All praise and glory to God our Father, God the Son Jesus, and God the most Holy Spirit.  Amen.

We all know John 3:16.  It’s the most well known, often repeated verse in the Bible.  People of all faiths, and of no faith, of all walks in life, know this verse.  They may not believe it, but they know it.  But I bet few know why Jesus spoke those words, or to whom, or all the rest of the scripture surrounding that one verse.

Nicodemus knew about Jesus.  He’d heard about the mighty deeds this teacher had performed and the words He’d spoken.  Nicodemus may have even witnessed Jesus in action.  He certainly knew enough to acknowledge that Jesus came from God.  And we know that eventually, Nicodemus became a believer and follower of Jesus, although a secret believer for he kept his position as a leader among the Pharisees.

So he is granted a chance to speak with Jesus and immediately our Lord confuses the poor man.  Jesus does go on to explain that one must be reborn of the Holy Spirit to gain entry into heaven.  And we know that the Holy Spirit comes to us when we accept Jesus as our Lord.  This is the rebirth Jesus spoke of, baptism by God’s Spirit.

During this conversation, Jesus even foretold His own role, that He must be lifted up, like the serpent was lifted up by Moses so that the people could be healed and saved.  Jesus must be lifted up, on the cross, so that all people might be healed of their sin and saved.

And then Jesus tells of the loving Father, who sent His only Son into the world to offer it salvation.  Jesus did not come to condemn us – He didn’t need to.  We condemn ourselves by our disbelief.  He came to save us, to shine the light of truth into the darkness.  And yet, so many love the darkness and shun the light, because they think the darkness hides their sin.

This brief conversation describes the Father who loves us, the Son who redeems us, and the Spirit who gives us new life.

Now I think we can agree that we owe God a lot, in each of His Three Persons.  And not just for what He provides in earthly, worldly goods and services, not just what we receive in the flesh.  The Apostle Paul – who was given great insight into the truth by none other than Jesus – speaks of God’s Three Persons and our debt to Him.  Hear what Paul wrote in chapter 8 of his letter to the church in Rome, verses 12 through 17…

12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors — not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

--Romans 8:12-17 (NKJV)

God’s own Spirit encourages us to call God “Abba”, Father.  “Abba” is actually a little more familiar term for our male parent, closer to what we might say as “Dad”, or “Daddy”.  And it is indeed comforting to think of the all-powerful, all-knowing God, the Creator of all the universe, as “Daddy”.

But we do owe a great debt to our heavenly Father, to His Son and our Brother Jesus, and to the Holy Spirit, for without them we would be forever lost and doomed.  So let us rejoice and celebrate all three persons of God, giving thanks for what They have given us.  In the blessed name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, thank You for loving us so much that You not only sent Your only Son to die for us and atone for our sin, but then You sent Your own Holy Spirit to live within us and be our constant helper and companion.  You comfort us and provide for us.  Jesus redeems us and shows us the truth.  And the Spirit guides us and speaks for us when we can’t find the words.  We owe You so very much for all Your loving kindness.  Sadly though, Father, we don’t always show our gratitude.  We too often fail to do as we are commanded.  We’re too timid, too shy, too afraid to approach someone and tell them about Jesus.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  Help us share the Gospel message.  Help us take up the work Jesus gave us.  And as we do so, please help us be more forgiving, more merciful in our dealings with others.  And Father, 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 redeem us of our sin and then You left us to return to heaven so that God’s Holy Spirit could come to be with us for the rest of our lives.  This is all part of our loving Father’s will that we never be alone.  As we walk through this life, please help us understand that all that happens around us is part of God’s plan.  Help us work for change where You want change, and help us accept what must be left as is.  Help us be more understanding, more merciful, more giving and forgiving of others, knowing that this is our Father’s will for us.  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.

Our Helper

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 19th of May, 2024 - Pentecost Sunday.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

Additional note:  I'm not sure why, but this tool will no longer let me change the text color.]

Family, today is Pentecost Sunday.  The word “Pentecost” comes from the Greek work meaning 50th, and the Pentecost is celebrated on the 50th day of Easter.  And as I mentioned a couple weeks ago, this would be on the 10th day of Jesus’ ascension into heaven after His resurrection.

We all remember what happened on Pentecost, when God’s Holy Spirit came down onto the disciples still gathered in Jerusalem.  This was the gift that Jesus had promised.  He reminded them many times that the Spirit would come to them, including after His resurrection, when He told them, “I will send you the One My Father has promised, but you must stay in the city until you are given power from heaven.”  That was recorded by the Apostle Luke in chapter 24 verse 49 of his Gospel account.  “Stay in the city, stay in Jerusalem, and the Holy Spirit will come upon you and dwell within you.”

For this morning, I’d like to look at one of those times, not quite at the end of His ministry on earth, when Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would come to them.  And then we’ll take a brief glimpse at when that event actually occurred.  I believe this answers some questions that people still ask today, if not out loud then at least in their minds and hearts.

Our scripture reading this morning will be a little different, as it comes from two separate sources, and two slightly separated timelines.  The first comes from a Gospel account and occurs – like I said - while Jesus is still alive and going about His ministry, and the second comes afterwards, on the 50th day of His defeat of death and rising from the grave.  This might seem a little strange and disjointed at first glance, but I think you’ll see how well it fits together as we read it.

Please listen and follow along as I read from chapter 15 verse 26 to chapter 16 verse 15 of the Apostle John’s Gospel account, and then verses 1 through 4 of the 2nd chapter of the Apostle Luke’s Book of the Acts of the Apostles, and I’ll be reading from the Contemporary English Version of our Holy Bible this morning.  We start out with Jesus speaking to us…

J15:26 "I will send you the Spirit who comes from the Father and shows what is true. The Spirit will help you and will tell you about Me. 27 Then you will also tell others about Me, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

16:1 "I am telling you these things, so that you will not turn away. 2 You will be chased out of the synagogues. And the time will come when people will kill you and think they are doing God a favor. 3 They will do these things because they don't know either the Father or Me. 4 I am saying this to you now, so that when the time comes, you will remember what I have said.

"I was with you at the first, and so I didn't tell you these things. 5 But now I am going back to the Father who sent Me, and none of you asks Me where I am going. 6 You are very sad from hearing all of this. 7 But I tell you I am going to do what is best for you. This is why I am going away. The Holy Spirit cannot come to help you until I leave. But after I am gone, I will send the Spirit to you.

8 "The Spirit will come and show the people of this world the truth about sin and God's justice and the judgment. 9 The Spirit will show them that they are wrong about sin, because they didn't have faith in Me. 10 They are wrong about God's justice, because I am going to the Father, and you won't see Me again. 11 And they are wrong about the judgment, because God has already judged the ruler of this world.

12 "I have much more to say to you, but right now it would be more than you could understand. 13  The Spirit shows what is true and will come and guide you into the full truth. The Spirit doesn't speak on His own. He will tell you only what He has heard from Me, and He will let you know what is going to happen. 14 The Spirit will bring glory to Me by taking My message and telling it to you. 15 Everything the Father has is Mine. This is why I have said that the Spirit takes My message and tells it to you."

A2:1  On the day of Pentecost all the Lord's followers were together in one place. 2 Suddenly there was a noise from heaven like the sound of a mighty wind! It filled the house where they were meeting. 3 Then they saw what looked like fiery tongues moving in all directions, and a tongue came and settled on each person there. 4 The Holy Spirit took control of everyone, and they began speaking whatever languages the Spirit let them speak.

--John 15:26-16:15; Acts 2:1-4 (CEV)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we thank You for all the many gifts and blessings You pour out on us!  You gave us Your Son Jesus to redeem us of our sin and You gave us the faith to believe in Him and follow Him.  And You even gave us Your own Holy Spirit after Jesus returned home; Your Spirit, to live in us and guide us through this life.  Sadly though, Father, not everyone believes, so not everyone receives Your Spirit and they have only the world’s devices to depend on.  Satan is working hard to keep people away from You and away from Jesus.  Please help us reach out to the non-believers of the world, sharing the Good News as John and Luke and the other apostles did.  Help us spread the message of salvation through Jesus and show Your love to all we encounter.  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 Your Spirit of peace and reconciliation.  Help us make the best use of this great power by sharing the Gospel with all the world.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Gordon Brownville's book, Symbols of the Holy Spirit, tells about the great Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, the first to discover the magnetic meridian of the North Pole and to discover the South Pole.  Brownville writes, “On one of his trips, Amundsen took a homing pigeon with him.  When he had finally reached the top of the world, he opened the bird's cage and set it free.  Imagine the delight of Amundsen's wife, back in Norway, when she looked up from the doorway of her home and saw the pigeon circling in the sky above.  No doubt she exclaimed, ‘He's alive! My husband is still alive!’

“So it was when Jesus ascended.  He was gone, but the disciples clung to His promise to send them the Holy Spirit.  What joy, then, when the dovelike Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost.  The disciples had with them the continual reminder that Jesus was alive and victorious at the right of the Father.  This continues to be the Spirit's message.”

While our scripture reading this morning gives the physical appearance of the Holy Spirit as looking like “fiery tongues”, Mr. Brownville describes Him as being “dovelike”.  This is in reference to the baptism of Jesus at the River Jordan by His kinsman John, when it is said that the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove.  Doves and pigeons are closely related, being of the same family of birds and very close in appearance.  And both are mentioned in our Bible.

In my little illustration, Amundsen released a homing pigeon to let his wife know he had reached his objective, and in our Bible, Noah released a dove to let him know that God had reached His objective.  God sent His own Holy Spirit to descend upon each of us like a dove.  Let us use that great power to achieve the objectives God and Jesus gave us.

At the start, I said I thought these two chunks of scripture fit together nicely.  In the first, Jesus not only promises that the Holy Spirit will come upon His followers, but He also shares with us what the Spirit will do, what He will mean to us, and the relationship the two have with each other.  In our New Testament, we often read of the relationship between Jesus and His Father God, but this is one of the few times we see what the Spirit means to Jesus, how close the two are.

And in the second passage the Holy Spirit comes, not like a dove lightly descending from heaven, but on the wings of a mighty wind, looking like fiery tongues, which to me describes streaks of lightning blazing through the house and striking each believer.  Rather than knocking them dead, the Spirit speaks through them, praising God in languages that all witnesses could understand.  This is the Power Jesus described, the Power He promised, the Power God delivered.

Of course, this isn’t the first time – and certainly not the only time – that Jesus told His disciples the Holy Spirit would come to them.  A little earlier in His ministry, not too long before the first part of our scripture reading, we are given the following in John’s Gospel account, chapter 14, verses 15 through 17…

15  Jesus said to His disciples:

“If you love Me, you will do as I command. 16 Then I will ask the Father to send you the Holy Spirit who will help you and always be with you. 17 The Spirit will show you what is true. The people of this world cannot accept the Spirit, because they don't see or know Him. But you know the Spirit, who is with you and will keep on living in you.”

--John 14:15-17 (CEV)

“If you love Me, you will do as I command.”  God has given us the faith to believe in Jesus, but we have to put that faith into action.  There’s more to believing than just acknowledging that Jesus existed or even that He is the Son of God – the demons and Satan believe that but they are certainly not saved nor given the Holy Spirit.  If we truly believe in Jesus, we will follow Him, we will love Him, and we will do as He commands.  And so God’s Holy Spirit will dwell within us.

Now the Spirit is the bringer and giver of life, but He also gives us hope, comfort, help, guidance, reassurance, company, and constant companionship.  He is everything to us, a wonderful gift from God, given because we love Jesus and try our best to do as He commands.

Our Lord doesn’t ask much of us, only that we love others and go out making disciples.  But our personal prejudices and hatreds sometimes keep us from doing the first, and our fear and temerity hold us back from doing the second.  We must overcome these somewhat natural human tendencies so that we can better serve our Lord.

And Jesus promised the Spirit will help us do this.  The Spirit will show people the truth, that they are wrong about sin, that they have no faith, and that they are wrong about God’s justice and judgment.  The Spirit speaks for Jesus and carries His message.  And He will speak that message through us so that others may come to know the truth.  We just need to let the Spirit speak and do His work.

One last point…  Earlier I said that I thought our scripture passage could answer some questions still being asked today.  That answer comes in verses 5 through 7.

While Jesus is still with them, He tells His followers that He will soon leave them and return to His Father in heaven.  He’s tried to explain this before, and He will again, but this time He gives them the reason why, why He will be leaving.  So that the Holy Spirit can come.

While He is still here on earth, incarnate, in the flesh, the Holy Spirit cannot come.  There is no need for Him to come while Jesus is here.  But once Jesus leaves, He can send the Spirit to take over for Him.

And here’s the thing…  This is what is best for us.  Jesus did what is best for us by leaving us so that the Holy Spirit could come and be with us always.  Jesus left us because it was for our own good, because it had to be done.

And this is the answer I spoke of, the answer to many of the questions people still ask today.  Some things happen the way they do because they just have to, because it is ultimately for our own good.  Why did Jesus suffer and die?  Because He had to, so that He could atone for our sin.  Why is there so much wrong in our world today, so many wars, so much crime, so much hatred and distrust and division?  Because our Bible tells us these things must happen before Jesus returns.

We cannot see the future, but God can.  We don’t often know the reason behind the occurrences and events of the day, but God does.  He is working all things together to the good for those who love Him and are the called according to His purposes.  It is enough for us to know that God loves us, Jesus loves us, and they gave us the gift and the power of the Holy Spirit to be with us and help us for as long as we draw breath.

God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Believe in the Son, obey the Son, love the Son.  And cherish the gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus, the one true Son of God, who came in the flesh to redeem us, who was raised from the dead into flesh and returned to heaven, and who is coming again to judge us all.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for loving us so much that You not only sent Your only Son to die for us and atone for our sin, but then You sent Your own Spirit to live within and be our constant helper and companion.  With Him inside us, we are never alone.  He guides us, if we let Him, and He speaks for us when we can’t find the words.  Thank you for caring this much about us.  And thank You for working all things to the good for us, even if we can’t understand what is happening all the time.  Sometimes though, Father, we let doubt creep into our hearts because we just can’t reconcile what we see all around us with what we think You would want to see.  And then it makes us even more hesitant to share our belief and our faith with others.  We are too timid, or too scared, to approach someone, especially a stranger, and try to tell them about Jesus.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  Help us share the Gospel message.  Help us take up the work Jesus gave us.  And as we do so, please help us be more forgiving, more merciful in our dealings with others.  And Father, 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 left us to return to heaven so that God’s Holy Spirit could come to be with us for the rest of our lives.  This had to be; this was for our good.  As we walk through this life, please help us see what happens around us as being part of God’s plan.  Help us work for change in those areas You want us to work, and help us accept the things that You have deemed must be as they are.  Help us be more understanding, more merciful, more giving and forgiving of others, knowing that this is our Father’s will for us.  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.