“Free Will . . . My Will … God’s Will … Whose Will?”

Genesis 1:26-30

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth." Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food"; and it was so.

Genesis 2:15-17

Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17  but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."

Message                    “Free Will . . . My Will … God’s Will … Whose Will?”                      Tom Williams

Years ago I heard a parent relating a story about their young son who was very active.

On this particular day the parent was extremely busy and becoming frazzled when the youngster continued to stand on a kitchen chair. She was afraid that he would tip the chair over or fall off of it.

“Sit down” orders had been issued several times and ignored.

Mom finally picked him up and “sat” him in the chair.

After a minute or so had passed the child looked defiantly at his mother and said, “I’m still standing up on the inside!”

I’m sure that we’ve all been both the victim and perpetrator of this type of defiance.

It is an integral part of our nature as human beings. It is the exercise of our free will.

The scope and limitations of free will has been theologically discussed for a long-long time by greater minds than mine so I will not get too involved in the debate on the nature of free will.

My quest is to understand the reason for free will.

Why did God create a creature capable of defying Him?

Let’s look back to the beginning.

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us create human kind in our own image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, And over the birds of the air, and over the cattle and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”

That’s a pretty simple explanation of why God created human kind. He had a job for us to do.

God placed man in the middle of a perfect natural world.

He was given free reign over it all.

With one

… one! …

tiny stipulation …

 “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.”

Without free will, there would have been no need of that limitation.

Without free will, there could have been no ability to eat of the fruit or even the temptation to do so.

So, again, why did God create a creature capable of defying Him?

What was the purpose of free will?

Certainly it wasn’t given to us to get us into trouble!

Then, why?

I’m sure that as we all were growing up we had a stuffed toy or doll that we really loved.

Mine was a teddy bear with the original name of Teddy.

This bear was a gift from my sister on the day I was born.

Originally he was a soft, plush black and white panda bear with glossy black plastic eyes.

I say “originally” because he doesn’t look like that any more.

Yes, I still have him! Over the years I literally loved him to pieces.

His eyes have been replaced by plain buttons.

His plush ‘fur’ has worn off to the point that he appears to be made of canvas.

The white has turned to the color of old asphalt and his chest has a star drawn on it (He was my deputy sheriff).

His head has been reattached by my less than skillful youthful hands in a stitch pattern that would make Dr. Frankenstein shudder.

And his right arm has once again fallen off.

Teddy was my nearly constant companion until about the middle of elementary school.

He listened to my jokes, stories of woe and shared my tears.

He was a comfort when I broke my arms

(so many times that I don’t know how many times they’ve been broken

– once while it was still in a cast.

– how would you have liked to been MY mother?).

He joined me as I scaled high mountains and fought my way through the darkest jungles.

He was my copilot in my airplanes and space ships.

We fought side by side against amazing armies of Indians, Germans, cattle-rustlers, and legions of bad-guys of all kinds.

We were occasionally wounded but didn’t keep us from being victorious over our foes!

I loved this bear!

He was as real as my family with his own personality and most importantly Teddy loved me back!

Well, that’s what my childish mind told me.

I understand now that I was projecting personality and love on to him.

In reality he is just a cleverly cut and sewn piece of cloth stuffed with sawdust and cotton batting.

A toy!

Not capable of returning my feelings of friendship and love.

God did not create us to be his toys!

We were not created to be His playthings or His pets!

We are His children! Romans 8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

Remember that verse in Genesis? We are created in his image and likeness!

But what is the image and likeness of God in-which we were created?

Obviously we are not made in the physical image of God because He is a spirit.

Indeed, it occurs to me that it might be rightly said that,   in the person of Jesus,   God created Himself in the image of man.

So, if we are not the physical image of God, how are we in His image?

I believe that the main way we are like God is in our free will.

Our ability to choose.

This is a great and terrifying gift.

With the gift of free will we can choose order or chaos, love or hate, obedience of defiance.

I believe that the reason we were given this gift is so that we can truly love God.

To be in fellowship with Him.

To be in partnership with Him. “Take my yoke upon you,” Jesus says in Matthew 11:29.

That says to me that we are working side by side. And pulling in the same direction.

Our will and God’s will in step.

Love?

How?

How do we show our true love to God?

Jesus gave examples: 

LOVE: John15:9-15

Even as the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you: abide ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do the things which I command you. No longer do I call you servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I heard from my Father, I have made known unto you.

LOVE:  John 21:15-19

So when they had broken their fast, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again a second time, Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Tend my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

LOVE: John 14:15

I ye love me, ye will keep my commandments.

Here, I believe is the one thing God really wants from us:

to say “not my will but thine”.

Herein lies the true reason for the gift of free will: to give it back to God.

I mean really!

What else do we have that we can give to God?

What do we “own” that doesn’t already really belong to God? Nothing!

Some will say that (Senator Foghorn voice) our tithe is our gift to God.

Wrong! We own nothing.  Everything belongs to God and comes from God.  It is only on loan to us.

MONEY/POSSITIONS

John 1:3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made.

I say that the 90% that God allows us to manage is His gift to us.

Some might say that the time we spend in prayer, ministry, service and worship is our gift to God.

I think that since I can not CREATE time, it isn’t mine to give either.

TIME: Revelation 22:13

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

Before he created the first day, there was no time. And for that matter, no one to keep track of it.

“My gift is the use of my talents in God’s service,” some would say. 

Oh wait, … those are God-given talents.

TALENTS/GIFTS: 1 Corinthians 12:4-11

Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are diversities of ministrations, and the same Lord. And there are diversities of workings, but the same God, who worketh all things in all. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profit withal. For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit: to another faith, in the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healings, in the one Spirit; and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discernings of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; and to another the interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally even as he will.

No, in truth the only REAL gift we have that can be given to God is our will.

And here is the real irony, only by bringing our will into alignment with God’s will can we be truly free!

You see, we are already “slaves” to sin.

John 8:34 “Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.”

“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23

Jesus recognized this truth when he was challenged to decide the fate of the woman caught in adultery. “He who is without sin among you cast the first stone.” John 8:7

His tormenters knew that truth also. Nobody threw a rock!

So?

Does this mean to quit being a slave to sin I have to become a slave to God?

The apostle Paul answers that question in his letter to Titus (Titus1:1) by calling himself, “Paul, a servant of God”

The author of the book of James echoes that by calling himself “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” James 1:1

Peter does the same in 2^nd Peter 1:1 “Simeon Peter a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ”

The writer of Jude “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James” Jude 1:1.

These writers knew the difference between being a slave and being a servant.  You know what that difference is?

You guessed it! Free will!

I ask you to take a moment and look at your own life. Answer for yourself, “Am I a slave or a servant?” that is really the only two choices available! What will you do with your free will?

If you aren’t happy with your answer, take the step to change it. Pray “not my will but thine.” Actively seek the will of God. (here’s a hint … the answer is in the Book)

If you need help and support, I and others of the congregation and staff of this church are available.

In closing,

As I pray this familiar prayer, pay close attention to what it means to have His will done on earth as it is in heaven.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name.
Thy Kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,

the power and the glory,

for ever and ever.

Amen

"When Jesus Came to Jordan"

For your convenience the scripture readings are posted at the end of the message.

Sermon:          “When Jesus Came to Jordan”          Tom Williams

Have you, like me, ever wondered why Jesus, sinless Son of God, would ask to be baptized?  Doesn’t that seem odd to you?  It has always appeared ‘backwards’ to me for Jesus to ask John to baptize him.  Are you listening, Church?

Well, I have a new insight that I’d like to share with you.

Here is the story in synopsis:  John the baptizer was preaching in the regions surrounding the Jordon.  It appears that he was one of those “hellfire and damnation” preachers when in Luke chapter three he says, “You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bear fruits worthy of repentance.  Do not begin to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.  Even now the ax is at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”  No sugar coating from John.  Amen?

John had been preaching that the kingdom of God was at hand.  And he was baptizing people to repentance.  And people were listening!  Sinners (yes, even tax collectors) were repenting of their sins and coming to him to be baptized.  Praise God!  There was revival taking place there along the banks of the Jordon.

Now people were beginning to ask if he, John, was the messiah.  Do you see what was happening here?   This people, the people set aside by God to be a blessing to the world, were a defeated people.  They were defeated in war and ruled by foreign powers AGAIN!  But worse than that, they were defeated in their spirits.  Instead of living in the Joy of the Lord, they were trying and failing to live under the burden of traditions and precepts that had were now enforced as law.  They listen to John and began to hope that the new Kingdom was at hand.  They were beginning to hope again.  They were beginning to look for a messiah and savior to come and free them from this downtrodden life.  I’ve been there!  Have you?

 It was at this time when Jesus came near the Jordan and heard, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”  With these words he pointed toward Jesus. 

Can you imagine the response from those crowded around John?  A lamb?  No! We want … we need … a messiah, not another sacrifice.  We have sacrificed enough!

It was then that Jesus came to John and asked to be baptized.  John, realizing what those around him had failed understand, at first refused saying that Jesus should instead baptize him. The gospel of Matthew records it this way, “Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordon, to be baptized by him.  John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 

I have to say that I would agree with John.  That seems like the proper order to me; for the sinless Son of God to be the baptizer not the baptized.  What do you say, Church?  Does that seem right to you?

But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”   Saying in essence, “This is the right thing to do at this time.”

Okay… why?

John had been baptizing people.  Under stand he wasn’t washing them of the dirt on their bodies.  He wasn’t seeking their physical cleanliness.  He was offering an object lesson, a visual aid that was symbolic of the cleansing of their souls.  As he says, “I baptize you with water for repentance.”

Now listen, Jesus had no need to repentant and no need for his soul to be cleansed.   I’ll say it again, Jesus had no need to repentant and no need for his soul to be cleansed because He was without ‘spot or blemish’. 

Without spot or blemish was the requirement for the sacrificial lamb, the lamb to take away the sins of the people of God.  This was what was required by the Law in Leviticus for the atonement of sin.  It made Jesus the perfect of Lamb of God.

Now, in truth, according to the law, there were two lambs required.  Leviticus 16:7-10 Then he (Aaron) is to take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat. Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering. But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat.

One lamb was slaughtered and burned as a sacrifice, a symbolic way of presenting it directly to God.  The second lamb had the sins of the people symbolically laid upon it and was then driven into the wilderness.  One lamb was an offering for sin and one for atonement.

This convergence of thinking about the two lambs and the baptism of Jesus gave me a new insight as to why Jesus said that this baptism was the right thing to do.  Jesus was not just the lamb of sacrifice, he was also the lamb of atonement.

It could be that Jesus came to John, not to have his sins washed away, but to have the sins of the world laid upon him in the same way that the sins were laid on the scapegoat.

Before I go any further I want to offer this disclaimer:  I have to warn you here that this is not something that I’ve ever seen anyone else say about this passage of scripture.  And because I don’t want to lead anyone astray, I want you to know that this is MY interpretation and you are certainly free to disagree and offer your own interpretation of these events.  I in fact encourage you to read and study for yourself.

Now, having given this disclaimer, I have to say that when this thought entered my mind, it shook me!  I believe it was a revelation of the Spirit of God because I would never have thought of it myself.

Once the thought had entered my mind that John was in fact fulfilling the Law of Atonement by placing his hands on the head of Jesus at his baptism, several other things fell into place.

·       First, it made more sense that John would call Jesus the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. 

·       Second, the wording of the gospel that says “And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness” coincides so well with the Old Testament command to send the scapegoat into the wilderness.

You see, it was expected that the scapegoat would be killed by predators in the wilderness.  After all, goats are herd animals and once they are cut off from the protection of the herd, they fall easy prey to the wild beasts.  In a similar way, Jesus was driven into the wilderness and set upon by the Devil seeking to destroy him as soon as he entered the wilderness.  A while back we saw a DVD with pictures of this wilderness.  Not a wilderness of forested hills with streams of water trickling through it.  No! This is a barrenness of sand and wind and sun!  Here there was no place to hide, to rest, to have shelter from the elements or the wild beasts.

Now I have to admit that because the Bible list several specific temptations set before Jesus, I used to think that those were the only times in which Jesus was tempted.  The temptation is presented in the gospels so CIVIL, it is almost a dual of wits among English gentlemen sitting in deeply padded leather chairs, while they sipped tea.

In reality, Jesus endured forty days and nights of constant bombardment by Satan.  Picture in your mind some scene from a movie where some prisoner is being tortured and interrogated.  Now imagine that torture going on without ceasing for forty days and nights!  I believe that this is a more accurate depiction of the temptation of Christ than what I previously imagined.

Mark says, “and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.”  Matthew records, “He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was famished.”  So, Jesus was surrounded by wild beasts and waited on by angels but did not eat.  He was famished and physically weakened by his ordeal of contending with Satan.  When you are in the middle of a battle, you do not stop for a coffee break.  Amen?

What were the angels doing if they weren’t bringing him food?  Were they there to keep the beasts at bay?  I don’t know.  However, it sure paints a different picture than the images that I’ve seen in paintings.  Jesus isn’t sitting peacefully praying while angels see to his comfort.  This is a battle!  And Jesus and the angels are fully engaged in it.  If Satan were to win this battle, then he could stop OUR salvation from ever happening. 

If my interpretation is correct, Jesus is fighting this battle while he is already weighed down with our sins.  WE had handicapped him in this most important fight ever fought!  He was carrying every temptation that has ever tempted anyone … ever. 

How great a love!  Jesus could have traded OUR souls for his own release from the temptations.  That was what Satan wanted here, OUR souls.  And Jesus endured this first great battle in the ongoing war on our behalf, even knowing that the path he had to travel on earth would end in a violent and painful death on the cross.  Again I say, how great a love.

If you, like me, are feeling unworthy of that love, it is alright … we’re right … we are unworthy.  Our salvation is a free gift not a reward earned.  Our only responsibility is to ‘open’ the gift by acknowledging our NEED for the gift and thanking God for it. 

We make proclamation of our acceptance of the gift by following the example of Jesus and being baptized.  As it says in 1 Peter, “And baptism, which this prefigured, (speaking of Noah and the flood) now saves you--not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.”

AFTER accepting the gift, we do have the obligation to live it.  Even there we are empowered by the Spirit of God with the strength to live this new life as a child of God in His kingdom.  We also have an advocate to speak on our behalf during those time in which we fail to live as should.  How great is his love!  Amen.

New Testament:             1 Peter 3:18-22       

¹⁸For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, ¹⁹in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison ²⁰who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.  ²¹And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you--not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
²²who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

*Gospel:                           Mark 1:9-15             

⁹In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  ¹⁰And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.  ¹¹And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." 

¹²And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. ¹³He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

¹⁴Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, ¹⁵and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."

"Why the Transfiguration"

Read Mark 9:2-9
for convenience the scripture is printed at the end of this post.

Sermon:                 “Why the Transfiguration?”              Tom Williams

Today’s message is less a ‘sermon’ than a lesson. 

Not a sermon because I make no exhortation for change. 

I offer this as a study to gain a, perhaps new, understand of the scripture.  And I’ll leave ‘change’ up to you.

Okay, here is the question that comes to my mind when I read this story of the transfiguration, “What is the purpose of the transfiguration?” 

You see, I believe that everything in this book is there for a reason.  This is not just a book a dry facts it is a book of living truths.  So, let’s see what truths we can find hear and how do they become ‘living’ in us.

It is a very short section of scripture and pretty straight forward.

-  Jesus and three disciples go up the hill.

-  Jesus is changed to a ‘glorified state’ and visits with Moses and Elijah.

-  Disciples are confused and afraid  and want to build shelters for them.

-  God, the Father, exalts Jesus as His beloved Son

-  Jesus tells the disciples to tell no one.

There are so many ‘whys’ here.

-  Why take some disciples but not all?

-  Why go up on a mountain?

-  Why was Jesus appearance changed?

-  Why were Moses and Elijah there?

-  Why were the disciples able to recognize them? 

-  Why were the disciples afraid?

-  Why did the disciples want to build shelters?

-  Why did God speak to the disciples rather than Jesus?

-  Why were they commanded to tell no one?

-  What does this mean to me? 

-  What does this mean to you?

               When I run into so many questions, I try to see how the scripture fits into the narrative before and after the event.  Interestingly, the seventeenth chapter begins with the words, “Six days later …”

               Six days after what?

               I’ll get to that in a minute.  However, I want to go back further in the scriptures than the happenings of that last week.

               Mark records in his gospel a great number of healings and those were not supernatural events for Jesus, that they were indeed natural for him. 

These events were not called miracles in the gospels.  These events were called signs because they pointed the way to the Kingdom of God and the divinity of Christ.

               This signs were often attacked by the Scribes, Sadducees and Pharisees.  These religious leaders saw the signs and dismissed them as blasphemous and works of the devil.

For His part, Jesus has systematically demonstrated that the Scribes, Sadducees and the Pharisees had been teaching tradition as if it were God’s law. 

In every confrontation with the religious scholars of the day, Jesus repeatedly claimed his divine authority to seek the lost and forgive the sinner.  But his message was not getting through to very many of them.

Here are a couple of examples:

Mark 2:3-10 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." So he said to the man,11 "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home."

            And later, after Jesus had called Levi to become a disciple, Mark 2:15-17 records:

While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

            Mark 2:23-28 tells us,

One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grain fields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"

Jesus reminds them of stories of David and of priests who have broken the Sabbath and “Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

               The other scene that Mark presents over and over is the inability of the disciples to fully understand what Jesus was teaching them about himself and the kingdom of God.  

               The examples that I just gave you were said in the presence of His disciples and yet even they keep missing the point that Jesus has come to save and forgive sin.

                “Oh you of little faith…” wasn’t directed at His detractors but at His own followers.  I can almost hear the exasperation in His voice here, in Mark 4:35-41

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.  A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.  Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

            I have wondered why he didn’t just calm their fears instead of calming the wind and the sea. … Maybe because that was the easier thing to do.  The natural forces of wind and sea were obedient without questioning … unlike the disciples.

               Later, in Mark 8:27-33, when He asks His followers, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”  The disciples say, “John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”

               Now here comes the famous question, when Jesus asks, “But who do you say that I am?”  We know that Peter answers, “You are the Messiah.” 

Here it appears that Jesus is finally seeing that they are beginning to understand.  So once again He tells them that He is bound for Jerusalem where he must die. 

Peter, because he can not accept that Jesus will be taken away by death, argues with him to which Jesus replies, "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns."

               Read your Bible and you will see that, though he taught the crowds in parables, Jesus spoke openly and plainly about his need to give up his life for the salvation of all.

              

               Here, Jesus, seeing that the disciples were still not ready to accept this truth about His mission, tells them to tell no one that He is the messiah.  I believe it is because His own disciples still don’t grasp the nature of Jesus as messiah.  He does not want them to spread the wrong story.

              

               And now, six days later, He takes his strongest inner circle of disciples and leads them to a dramatic experience, the transfiguration. 

              And who does he choose for this experience?  He chooses Peter, James and John; the three most outspoken of the disciples.  All three were known to confront Jesus with statements and questions.

               These three disciples were ‘blurters’.  You know the type; the ones whose thoughts come out of there mouths before they ever reach their brains.  As leaders amongst the disciples, these were the ones who NEEDED the experience of the transformation the most. 

               And look what happened … Jesus was changed, his face shone like the sun and his clothes were transformed to an unearthly brightness … a whiteness no bleach could cause. 

               This was a preview of Christ the King in His heavenly glory.  This was the Messiah that was promised … not the Messiah that was expected.  Not a military leader and a man of war.   This was the divine Son of God, Beloved of the Father.  Not a mere messenger but He was the  MESSAGE. The Word of God incarnate.

               And there, on that mountain top, with His disciples as witnesses, appeared Moses and Elijah.  I use the term witnesses in the legal sense here.  Remember that by Jewish law an event was judged true or false by the witness of two or more.  The testimony of one disciple could have been disregarded.  However, the word of three witnesses had to be accepted as true.

               Now here were Moses, giver of the Law, the very personification of the Law and Elijah, the prophet of prophets who had ridden to heaven in a fiery chariot, standing there with Jesus. 

               Do you see the see the symbolism here?  The Law and the Prophets, the cornerstone of all Jewish beliefs, are standing there with Christ and talking with Him. 

               Peter got it.  For him everything was complete right there … and there he wanted to stay.  Let’s build houses and stay right here.

. . .

               Okay, maybe Peter still didn’t get it.   Because then God, the Father, in the form of a glowing cloud sets them straight, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!"

`              “Listen to him!  Draw a big red circle around His words and highlight it in yellow.  Underscore His words multiple times.  Listen to him!  Pay attention.  This is not Moses giving you a law and this is not Elijah prophesying, this is MY SON!  His time with you is about over, so listen up!”   Okay, I have expanded what was actually recorded but that is the feeling of power and importance that I get from that simple line, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”

               Okay, we started this session with a lot of questions.  Let’s revisit them and see what understand we have gained.

-  Why take some disciples but not all? 

I believe that it was because Jesus realized that these three needed it the most.  They were the natural leaders in the group of disciples.  If the three of them could truly understand the importance of this event, they would convince the rest.

-  Why go up on a mountain? 

To get away from the crowds and to be by themselves.  This was a ‘by invitation only’ event.

-  Why was Jesus appearance changed? 

It was a revelation of the heavenly Christ, the divine beloved Son of God.  This is Christ as He was and as He will be.

-  Why were Moses and Elijah there? 

They were recognizable symbols of the Jewish Law and Prophets and two of the most respected historical figures to the disciples.  Remember what I said about the testimony of two or more?  Here we have Moses, Elijah and God the Father all testifying about Jesus.

-  Why were the disciples able to recognize them?

I still don’t know.  This goes on my list of things to ask when I get to heaven … if they are still important.

-  Why were the disciples afraid? 

They were sinful men suddenly in the presence of the Almighty God.  And their realization of their sin stood out in fierce contrast to His holiness.  Ask yourself what your reaction would be.

-  Why did the disciples want to build shelters? 

It may have been a sign of honor or it was a desire to extend the experience.  Remember what Jesus said to Peter earlier? "You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”  He clearly is still thinking about human concerns and not God’s concerns.

-  Why did God speak to the disciples rather than Jesus?  

It was necessary for the disciples to be deep-down convinced that Jesus was the beloved Son of God and that the words that Jesus spoke were the words of the Father.  These men were going to be tested soon and their faith had to be rock solid all the way to their cores.

-  Why were they commanded to tell no one?

It was not yet time for them to share their testimony with the world.  And people have to come to their own understand of Jesus as God’s Son.

- What does this mean to me? 

Well, it means that those ‘red  words’ in my Bible, the words spoken by Jesus, carry far more weight than words spoken by anyone else in the Bible …. Or anywhere else. 

He was not an earthly ruler who gave us laws to follow. 

He was not some philosopher spouting words of wisdom. 

He was not a prophet giving mysterious and cloudy predictions of the future. 

He was and is the Son, the Beloved, of the Heavenly Father. 

And the words He speaks are not to be ignored.

- What does this mean to you? 

Well, that one you’ll have to answer for yourself.

Here ends the lesson.

Mark 9:2-9                        

²Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, ³and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.  ⁴And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus.  ⁵Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."  ⁶He did not know what to say, for they were terrified.  ⁷Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" ⁸Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.  ⁹As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the son of Man had risen from the dead.

Quoted from the New Revised Standard Version of the Holy Bible

“How Blest Are We?”

image from Photo Bucket

Read: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 and Luke 1:46b-55 (For your convenience this readings are added at the end of the message)

“Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed,” Mary sings in a psalm in today’s scripture reading.  But when we look at the facts of Mary’s life, we see troubles and pain and turmoil.  She is pregnant out of wedlock, which is punishable by being stoned to death. 

The Roman’s who have conquered and are occupying the Jewish nation require a census for taxation purposes.  This forces Joseph and Mary to travel to Bethlehem while she is about due to deliver a baby. 

Then she gets to Bethlehem and finds they must spend the night in a stable.  And in a stable she gives birth. 

So far this doesn’t seem to fit our modern concept of be blessed, does it? 

And it gets worse.  When the king hears of the baby’s birth he sends soldiers to find and kill all the children in the area.  She has to uproot her family and go with Joseph and Jesus to a country that certainly is not a “friend to Jews”, Egypt.

Take your choice of people in the old or new testaments and you’ll find that everyone that was blessed was beset with troubles.

Abraham was blessed and the blessing required him to leave his home and security and go to an unknown land.  And if we look closely at that blessing we see that it is THROUGH him that all the world is to be blessed.

                        Kind David, after he is anointed as Israel’s true king by the prophet Samuel, has to run and hide because Saul wants to kill him.

            Moses, it is said, was a prophet like no other because he talked face to face with God.  However, there is not much in his life that could match up with our concept of being blessed.  He escaped being killed at birth only by being set adrift in the Nile (think about Nile crocodiles which still on occasion actively hunt people).  As a young man, he has to flee to the desert.  Then God blesses him and sends him back to Egypt to have a showdown with one of the most powerful and ruthless men in the world.  Even when he has won that battle, he has to lead a bunch of surly, cantankerous, whiners to a Promised Land that they refused to enter.  And then has to put up with them for another forty years.  And in the end, he doesn’t even get to enter the Promised Land himself.

            John the Baptist was blessed of God and lived in the wilderness eating locust and honey before he became a homeless, traveling preacher.  And for his faithfulness, he was beheaded by Herod as a present for his daughter.

            Jesus, the very Son of God, did not live a life of ease and free of troubles.  You may have realized when we read the Bible passage from Isaiah that this is the passage that Jesus read in the synagogue and then told the crowd that He was the person that Isaiah was prophesying about.  As a result those good, religious people took him out of the synagogue to a high hill and tried to throw him off of the cliff.  That is the way His ministry started.  And we know, that in the end, they did succeed in killing Him.

            All of this tells us that our concept of blessings is way to narrow.  When we think of blessings, we think of things like our health, our family, our jobs, our friends, our homes, or our wealth.  Amen?

            Now listen, I’m not saying that those things that I’ve listed aren’t blessings.  What I’m saying is that those blessings are given to us so that we can BE a blessing.

            If God has opened the windows of heaven and poured out for us an overflowing blessing, you can be assured that it wasn’t given to us to hoard.  We know that, right?

We remember, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal. ”

            Count your blessings.  Count them one by one.  Count your many blessings, see what God has done.

            I may never sing that song with the same innocence that I’ve sung it in the past.  Amen?

            About a dozen years ago a new understanding of blessings came to me when I was reading and thinking about Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

            I had always loved this verse because it gave me comfort that God was on my side.  Anybody else love that verse and claim it as your own?

However, one day I saw it with new eyes.  I saw that it said “all things work for the good”.  It didn’t say that all things were going to be good.  It wasn’t a promise of “A cloud of pink ice cream where every star is a candy bar and the moon is a marshmallow dream.”

It said that God would take everything and everyone that I encountered in life and make it good for me.  Good for me.  You know, like this medicine is good for me.  The foul smelling, nasty tasting medicine that makes me want to vomit, is good for me.  You know what I’m talking about here.  Amen?

            I came to understand that I don’t have to like it, for it to be good for me.  We don’t have to like it for it to be good for us. We don’t have to like it for it to be a blessing for us.

What we have to do is turn it over to God and he will make it good “for” us.  Do you see?

Now we have lived long enough that we can look back on our life and see many things that came into our life that were far from pleasant.  And yet because of that unpleasant experience, our life was ‘shifted’ onto a better path.  We have been blessed.

And like all those who came before us, we are to BE blessings.

We are to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,  and to comfort all who mourn, to provide for those who mourn, to build up the ancient ruins, to raise up the former devastations, to repair the ruined cities, and the devastations of many generations.

And we do that by taking whatever comes into our life, turning it over to God.  We need to give it as an offering of our will to Him.  And He in turn gives us a peace that the world will never know and can not take away. 

I have a joy, joy, joy, joy down it my heart.  Down in my heart to stay.  Amen.

-------

Hebrew Bible:  Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11  Pew Bible OT 691

¹The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; ²to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; ³to provide for those who mourn in Zion-- to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, to display his glory.  ⁴They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.

⁸For I the LORD love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.  ⁹Their descendants shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge that they are a people whom the LORD has blessed.  ¹⁰I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my whole being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.  ¹¹For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.  

Gospel: Luke 1:46b-55  Pew Bible NT 57
^46b"My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, ⁴⁸for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; ⁴⁹for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.  ⁵⁰His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.  ⁵¹He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.  ⁵²He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; ⁵³he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.  ⁵⁴He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, ⁵⁵according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever." 

Judgment or Grace?

 Scripture readings from Mark 13:24-37 and 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 are found at the end of the message.

Message             Judgment or Grace?        Thomas E. Williams

            The sky is falling!  The sky is falling!  You remember Chicken Little.  An acorn fell on his head and he paniced and started declaring that the sky was falling.  Before long he had Henny Penny, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey, and Turkey Lurkey all convinced that he was right and everyone was running for shelter.

            How many Chicken Littles have come and gone?  I don’t know for sure.  Hundreds or thousands I’d guess.  I did a quick research on the World Wide Web and found the following:

1. In the 1530s, Anabaptists assumed control of the German town of Munster and hailed it as a New Jerusalem awaiting the return of Christ.  Jan Bockelson declared himself the "Messiah of the last days," took multiple wives, issued coins that prophesied the coming apocalypse and in general made life hell for everyone in the city.
2. 666 is described as the "mark of the beast" in the Bible's Book of Revelation. So it was no surprise that Europeans worried as the year 1666 approached.
3. William Miller began to preach about the world's end, saying Jesus Christ would return for the long-awaited Second Coming and that Earth would be engulfed in fire sometime between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844. When that end didn't come, Miller changed the date to Oct. 22. When Oct. 23 rolled around, his loyal followers explained it away yet again.
4. The Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society, founder, Charles Taze Russell, had previously predicted Christ's invisible return in 1874, followed by anticipation of his Second Coming in 1914.
5. Pentecostal pastor William Branham claimed he met with seven angels who revealed to him the meaning of the seven seals from the Book of Revelation, leading him to predict that Jesus would return to Earth in 1977. 
6. Harold Camping's prediction that the world will end Saturday, May 21, 2011, is not his first such prediction. In 1992, the evangelist published a book called 1994?, which proclaimed that sometime in mid-September 1994, Christ would return and the world would end. Camping based his calculations on numbers and dates found in the Bible and, at the time, said that he was "99.9% certain" that his math was correct. But the world did not end in 1994. Nor did it end on March 31, 1995 — another date Camping provided when September 1994 passed without incident. "I'm like the boy who cried wolf again and again and the wolf didn't come," Camping told the San Francisco Chronicle in 1995. "This doesn't bother me in the slightest."
7. Hal Lindsey’s Late Great Planet Earth, which was the best-selling nonfiction book of the 1970s, predicted that the world would end sometime before Dec. 31, 1988. He cited a host of world events — nuclear war, the communist threat and the restoration of Israel — as reasons the end times were upon mankind. His later books, though less specific, suggested that believers not plan on being on Earth past the 1980s — then the 1990s and, of course, the 2000s.
8. Edgar Whisenant published a book in 1988 called 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988, which sold some 4.5 million copies. Whisenant once famously said, "Only if the Bible is in error am I wrong." When 1989 rolled around, a discredited Whisenant published another book, saying the Rapture would occur that year instead. It did not sell as well, nor did later titles that predicted the world would end in 1993 and again in 1994.
9. Y2K. For months before the stroke of midnight on Jan. 1, 2000, analysts speculated that entire computer networks would crash, causing widespread dysfunction for a global population that had become irreversibly dependent on computers  
10. David Koresh led his Branch Davidian sect to its doom in a compound near Waco, Texas, in 1993. How did he do that? He convinced his followers that he was Christ and that they should hole up at what was called the Mount Carmel Center to prepare for the end of the world.
11. A New Age belief cites 2012 as the year humans will undergo a physical and spiritual transformation, while some people predict that sometime that year, Earth will collide with a black hole or a planet named Nibiru. But perhaps the most popular belief is attributed (falsely, many scholars argue) to the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar from the ancient Mayan civilization. Interpretations suggest that the fourth world, in which we live now, will end on Dec. 21, 2012.

            When will the world end?  I don’t know.  But it seems that all I have to do to build a following of Henny Pennys, Ducky Luckys, Goosey Looseys, and Turkey Lurkeys is use some unsound science or theology and shout it with enough conviction. 

            I’d want to set the date just far enough into the future so that word had time to spread and more people could ‘tune in’ to my message.  And, hey, I could get lucky and the world would end when I predicted and no body would be around to laugh at me.

            There is so much interest in end of the world prophesies that all manner of books, movies and TV shows have been written about it.  And if you really want to see how wide spread the belief in the end of the world is, go to the web.  There are not only prophets making predictions, there are people preparing for it.  There is a whole sub culture of people who call themselves “Preppers”.  They are survivalist types who want to be ready for the ‘coming chaos’.  There are sites where you can buy packages that contain a years worth of freeze dried food, water, first aid kits, ammunition, and seeds so that you can plant your own post-apocalyptic gardens.

            Now understand that I am not belittling them, I believe in a certain amount of preparedness.  I live in a Recreational Vehicle, a fifth-wheel trailer.  My wife and I have an emergency to-go bag with some clothes, our meds, bottles of water and food bars.  We change the contents as the seasons change.  There have been times when the weather reports were indicating that it would be unsafe in our RV.  We took the bag and sought shelter in a safer building.  If our home was destroyed by the storm we had a few necessities with us.  But is it really necessary or possible to prepare for the end of the world?

            Our scripture readings both speak of the Day of the Lord, the day that Jesus comes in the clouds. The sun and moon will be darkened. Stars will fall from the sky and heaven and earth will pass away on that day!

That sounds like the end of the world doesn’t it?  Can we be prepared for it?  Yes, and Jesus tells us what to do.

.  ³⁵Therefore, keep awake--for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, ³⁶or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly.  ³⁷And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake."

            And why are we to watch? Paul tells the Corinthians and by extension us:  Because in every way we have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind--⁶just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among us--⁷so that we are not lacking in any spiritual gift as we wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁸He will also strengthen us to the end, so that we may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

            As Christians we should be prepared by keeping ourselves right with God.  We ARE SAVED.  That is done!  Now we need to keep our will in line with God’s will.  We need to be about doing what God intends for every believer to be doing.  And that is spreading the Good News that Christ has come, Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again.

            As Christian we should be seeking the end of THIS world and the full realization of the Kingdom of God.  There is nothing to fear in this world’s end, for it is a broken world.  Only by its passing can the new earth and the new heaven be revealed. 

            So what if the stars fall and the sun and the moon are darkened?  We will have the light of Christ as a physical presence in the world.  I will paraphrase the message that the angels gave the shepherds at Jesus’ birth,  "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today there has returned for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

            So often I've heard the phrase "The Coming Judgement" said with fear and trepidation.  I say you to we Christians have already been judged and found innocent by the grace given as a gift of God through Christ Jesus.  What we have to look forward to at the end of the world is the handing out of our rewards.  It is grace not judgement for us at the worlds end.  So rejoice, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

Amen

- - -

New Testament          1 Corinthians 1:3-9  

³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind--⁶just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you--⁷so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁸He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

*Gospel:                  Mark 13:24-37                

²⁴"But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, ²⁵and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

²⁶Then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in clouds' with great power and glory.
²⁷Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
²⁸"From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.

²⁹So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. ³⁰Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. ³¹Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.  ³²"But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  ³³Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come.  ³⁴It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch.  ³⁵Therefore, keep awake--for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, ³⁶or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly.  ³⁷And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake."

Bible readings are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Holy Bible