“Praise Ye The Lord”

Read Psalm 146*

 

Befor the sermon, I want to give you a little background about the hymn “It Is Well With My Soul” because I believe that the truth in this hymn is also found in our Psalm 146 reading.

In 1871, Horatio Spafford, a prosperous lawyer and devout Presbyterian church elder and his wife, Anna, were living comfortably with their four young daughters in their home in a north side suburb of Chicago.

The Spaffords hosted and sometimes financially supported many guests. Horatio had been active in the abolitionist crusade and the cottage was a meeting place for activists in the reform movements of the time such as Frances E. Willard, president of the National Women's Christian Temperance Union, and evangelical leaders like Dwight Moody, who ignited a religious revival in America and Europe.

Spafford, a senior partner in a thriving law firm, invested in real estate north of an expanding Chicago in the spring of 1871. When the Great Fire of Chicago reduced the city to ashes in October of the same year, it also destroyed Spafford's sizable investment.

Two years later the family decided to vacation with friends in Europe. At the last moment Horatio was detained by business, and Anna and the girls went on ahead, sailing on the ocean liner S.S. Ville de Havre. On November 21, 1873, the liner was rammed amidship by a British vessel and sank within minutes.

The four children drown. However, Anna was picked up unconscious on a floating spar by the crew of the Lochearn, which itself was in danger of sinking. Fortunately, the Trimountain, a cargo sailing vessel arrived to save the survivors.

Nine days after the shipwreck Anna landed in Cardiff, Wales, and cabled Horatio, "Saved alone. What shall I do…"

After receiving Anna's telegram, Horatio immediately left Chicago to bring his wife home. On the Atlantic crossing, the captain of his ship called Horatio to his cabin to tell him that they were passing over the spot where his four daughters had perished. He wrote to Rachel, his wife's half-sister, "On Thursday last we passed over the spot where she went down, in mid-ocean, the waters three miles deep. But I do not think of our dear ones there. They are safe, folded, the dear lambs."

Horatio wrote this hymn, we’re singing today, as he passed over their watery grave.

Here was a man who had suffered losses, physical, financial, and emotional.  And yet his faith allowed him to write, “It Is Well With My Soul”.

Do an internet search if you’d like more information about this man.

Opening Hymn: ““It is Well With My Soul”

1. When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,                                                 When sorrows like sea billows roll.                                                             Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say                                                          It is well,  It is well, with my soul.

Refrain:                                                                                                                 It is well (it is well) with my soul (with my soul)                                                   It is well, it is well, with my soul.                                           

2.  My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought:                                                                                                               My sin, not in part but the whole,                                                                          Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more.                                                    Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Refrain:

3.  Oh Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight                                       The clouds be rolled back as a scroll.                                                                 The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend,                                              Even so, it is well with my soul.

Refrain:

Sermon: “Praise Ye The Lord”

Psalm 146 is one of five Psalms called “Hallelujah Psalms.”  They all begin and end with the phrase “Praise ye the LORD!”  That phrase is the translation of the Hebrew word “Hallelujah!”

Israel had just recently returned from a terrible time of bondage in Babylon when this psalm was written.  They had returned to find their shining city on a hill, Jerusalem, was in ruins.  Their temple, the center of their spiritual life, was stripped of its ornaments and sacred items and was but a few walls and scattered stones.  Their joy of release of bondage and their homecoming was tempered with the knowledge of the labor that lay before them.

They gathered craftsmen and laborers and began the rebuilding.  Slowly the walls came together around their beautiful city.  The temple was reconstructed and redecorated.  The few sacred items that had survived were brought back and new ones created.  They could now begin to truly worship God as they and their ancestors had done before.

Israel’s neighbors had sought to destroy not only their nation but the people themselves.  Many had been killed or assimilated into the cultures of the surrounding nations.

As they slowly returned to their homeland, they also began to once again turn to the God of their ancestors.  They lamented what had been lost, which is natural.  However, they also began to praise God for what he had brought them through.  As their nation was rebuilt, so also was their identity as the Children of the one true God.  They remembered the Shema, “Hear, O Israel, your God is one God.  And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

It was then this this psalm was written.

Do you understand why I gave you the background story about the writing of “It Is Well With My Soul”?  What Israel had gone through as a nation, is like unto what all people everywhere and in every generation go through.  Suffering and loss is not what God intended for his people.  However, due to the willful disobedience of Adam and Eve, God’s perfect world was broken.  This is the world in which we now live.  If you believe that, say amen.

Let us look at Psalm 146 and see what we may learn about praising God in all times and situations, so that we may also have the deep down knowledge that “All is well with my soul”. 

Lesson One:  The people came to understand that, though prophets of God had warned them to turn from their disobedience and return to God, they had wandered from the true path that God laid out for them.  Centuries later, the apostle Paul said it quite simply, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  That realization as a nation and as individuals gave them the perspective to accept that it wasn’t so much a punishment from God, as the consequence of not staying true to God.  Only as we recognize our sin and admit to it, can we truly repent and ask for forgiveness.

Lesson Two:  God is worthy of our praise, of our hallelujah.

As the Israelites came to realize that it was only through God’s goodness and his Grace that they were returned to their land.  They sang praises to his name.  We too have been saved by grace, through faith -- and this in not from ourselves, it is the gift of God.  (paraphrased from Ephesians 2:8)  It is because of Christ’s sacrifice, we can sing “Amazing Grace”, “Rock of Ages”, “It is Well With My Soul”, and many others.

Lesson Three:  “I want to praise the Lord throughout my life.  I want to make music to praise my God as long as I live.”  Praising God in not conditional on our circumstances or our feelings.  Understand that though it is well with our soul, we are not exempt from the pain and suffering of this life.   Amen? However, as followers of God in Christ, we have been delivered from an eternity separated from the love of God, an eternity in Hell.  Praise God!

As the Jews rejoiced because they were freed from bondage, we too can rejoice as we are freed from our chains of sin.  Sometimes it is hard to remember that we are but visitors in this earthly life, that our true home is in heaven.  The span of our earthly life is less than a tick of the clock of eternity.  When we are standing in the magnificent presence of God, we will praise him throughout all eternity. 

I sometimes think of this life as “practice” or “rehearsal”.  We often think we are in the middle of “life” when in truth we are still in the locker room or the green room off stage. Our true life hasn’t even begun. This is our training ground … let us make the most of it.

Lesson Four: Be careful of where you place your trust: “Do not trust influential people, mortals who cannot help you.  When they breathe their last breath, they return to the ground.  On that day their plans come to an end.”

“Trust me, I know what I’m doing.”  We have all heard that before. Amen? And it usually precedes something going terrible wrong.

Over nearly 70 years, I have placed my trust in a lot of people, a lot of organizations, and a lot of great thinkers.  I have placed a lot of faith in myself as well.  One thing I’ve learned is, that at some point, all trust in earthly people, places, and things is misplaced because, as I’ve said, we live in a broken world. 

We may not be intentionally misled.  However, another thing I’ve learned is, a stupid idea said by a smart man, is still a stupid idea.  A wrong direction is still a wrong direction even if everyone agrees that it is the right way to go.  Personally, I will never intentionally mislead you.  However, despite my good intentions, I could still be wrong.  Don’t rely on me.  Rely on God.  

Most of us know the Old Testament story of Job.  I was amazed when I actually read it through.  What amazed me was the advice that his friends were giving him as he was going through his testing.  They were true friends and really wanted to help, to ease his suffering.  It says in chapter 2:11-13 “When Job’s three friends heard about all the terrible things that had happened to him, each of them came from his home—Eliphaz of Teman, Bildad of Shuah, Zophar of Naama. They had agreed they would go together to sympathize with Job and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they didn’t even recognize him. They cried out loud and wept, and each of them tore his own clothes in grief. They threw dust on their heads.  Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him because they saw that he was in such great pain.”

These sound like the kind of friends that you would want with you in times of trouble. Amen?

His friend, Eliphaz, said to him, “Now think about this: Which innocent person ever died an untimely death? Find me a decent person who has been destroyed.  Whenever I saw those who plowed wickedness and planted misery, they gathered its harvest. God destroys them with his breath and kills them with a blast of his anger.” The implication was that Job must have done something that displeased God and he should make it right before he was destroyed.

“Then Bildad replied to Job, … If you search for God and plead for mercy from the Almighty, if you are moral and ethical, then he will rise up on your behalf and prove your righteousness by rebuilding your home. Again it is implied that Job had done something to displease God.

“Then Zophar replied to Job,  “Shouldn’t someone answer this flood of words? Should a good public speaker be acquitted? Should your empty talk silence others so that you can make fun of us without any shame? You say, ‘My teaching is morally correct,’ and, ‘As you can see, I’m innocent.’  I only wish God would speak and open his mouth to talk to you. He would tell you the secrets of wisdom, because true wisdom is twice as great as your wisdom, and you would know that God forgets your sin.”

All of this was good solid advice based on everything that they knew.   In other circumstances, it would have been great advice.  However, it was completely wrong.  My point is, although people may be well meaning and even helpful at times, they don't know the path that God has chosen for us. 

Lesson five:  “Blessed are those who receive help from the God of Jacob. Their hope rests on the Lord their God, who made heaven, earth, the sea, and everything in them.”

Our true hope rests in the Lord alone.  As believers, this should be self evident.  Who would you rather trust, the man who seeks shelter from the storm or the one who commands the storm, “Peace, be still”? 

The God who created the vast universe and the smallest sub atomic particles loves and cares for me and for you.  He even knows the number of hairs on our heads.  I find that, in equal amounts, humbling and comforting.

Lesson six:  “The Lord remains faithful forever.”   I said earlier that at some point, all trust in earthly people, places, and things is misplaced.  However in psalm 103 it says, “From everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children.”

From everlasting to everlasting is the kind of faithfulness in which we can trust.  Right?

It isn't from “beginning to end”.  It starts before the begining and zooms right past the end.

Lesson seven:  The Lord cares.  The psalmist gives a list of ways that God provides for all people.

Justice for the oppressed. The history of the Jewish people is a history of oppression.  Over and over they were carried away to distant lands or their homeland was occupied by other nations.   Israel has seen oppression since the beginning of their nation.  From the time of the Philistines of the Old Testament to the Roman occupation during the time of Christ, the pattern continued.  In more recent history there has been the persecution and execution of European Jews during the holocaust.  The modern nation of Israel was established within my lifetime and continues to be fraught with conflict and war.

So too were the early Christians persecuted, enslaved, and executed.  Even today, when one third of the world’s population claim to be Christians, are we persecuted, sometimes covertly and sometimes openly.  It is not surprising since the Kingdom of God has always been at war with the rulers of this world.  God’s will verses Man’s will is the whole story of the Bible in a simple sentence.

Though conflict and oppression are a constant part of the life of the church, we are never abandoned.  We read this promise in Isaiah 30:18-19 “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he rises up to show you compassion.  For the Lord is a God of justice.  Blessed are all who wait for him!  People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you.”

Again we see God’s justice at work in Psalm 34:17-18 “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.  The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

God provides food to the hungry.  I can easily think of several remarkable times that God has directly provided food for the hungry.  Exodus 16 details when God provided manna and quail to the Israelites fleeing Egypt. During their time in the wilderness water was also provided for them in spectacular ways.

In the new testament we find that Jesus’ first recorded miracle was him providing drink at a wedding.  All four of the gospels give the account of Jesus feeding of 5000 people with a boy’s lunch of five barley loaves and two fish.  The gospels of Matthew and Mark also record a second time when Jesus feed the people who had followed him into a remote place.  This time it is recorded that he feed 4000 with seven loaves and a few fishes.  After his resurrection, Jesus found his disciples had gone back to fishing.  He prepared a meal of fish for them on the shore.

I have had my own miraculous cases of food arriving just when I needed it.  Oh, the heavens didn’t open and rain down bread upon me.  God used human agents as his messengers but that did not make it any less miraculous.  We are commanded, among other things, to feed the hungry as though we were feeding Jesus.

Freedom for the prisoners:  Wow!  Where to start? Maybe with Joseph being thrown into a deep pit and then sold into slavery by his brothers,   How about Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego being cast into a fiery furnace?  Or maybe just Daniel in the lions’ den.  Sampson breaking his chains?  Paul and Silas when the earth shook, the doors of the prison opened, and their chains fell off.  No, there are just too many examples to try and list them all.

Sight to the blind: at least three times in the gospels are examples of Jesus healing the blind.  In one example the man’s friends brought him to Jesus for healing. (Mark 8:22-25).  In Luke 18:35 Jesus stopped his journey to Jericho to heal a blind beggar along the side of the road.  And in John 9 Jesus uses his healing of a man blind from birth as a “visual aid” (sorry about the pun) to teach his disciples a truth about God’s plans.  But let’s not forget that Saul of Tarsus was blinded in an encounter with the risen Christ and later in Damascus something like fish scales fell from his eyes and he could see.  But Paul’s sight was more than physically restored.  His spiritual eyes had also been opened.

Straightens the backs of those who are bent over: This statement is much more than just about the physical healing.  It is also about the downtrodden in society, those that live on the fringes of society, those that are outcasts, those that are different, those that live in fear, paranoia, and depression.  These are people who have had their backs broken by their burdens.  In many cases the Lord is the only hope they have.  Certainly the ten lepers mentioned in Luke 17:11-19 that Jesus healed fit this category.  They had to not only deal with their disease but also the rejection of society.  Yet Jesus approached them and touched them.  He laid hands on them and healed them.  God cares.

Loves the righteous:  Can we just agree on this one?  Search your own Bible for the thousands of examples.  If I took time to cover them, we’d be here a very long time indeed.

Protects the foreigners: One of the commands repeated over and over in the Old Testament was to care for the strangers within your borders.  It was also to be a remembrance that the Jews had also been foreigners in strange lands.  We know that in this country, with the exceptions of the native people, we are all descendants from foreigners.  I had my DNA tested.  Here are the results for my personal history:

· 48% Western Europe (germany, france etc.)

· 28% Great Britain

· 13% Ireland

· 3% Scandinavian

· 2% Western Asia

· 2% Iberian peninsula  Spain/Portugal

· 2% European Jew

· 1% Finland / NW Russia

· 1% Pacific Islander Melanesian

· 1% Northern Africa

I am going to sidestep the issue of “illegal” foreigners in our land and just restate that we are to remember that we too were foreigners and we are to treat those within our borders with respect and dignity as commanded by God. 

Along with the oft repeated command about the foreigners,we are also to provide relief for the the orphans and widows.  These three groups of people are so important to God that He reminds the Israelites (and by extension us) multiple times.

Special laws forbade farmers from harvesting all of their crops.  They were to leave enough in the fields that the widows and orphans could gather enough food to feed themselves. 

Jesus in his parable of the sheep and the goats declares that those who feed, cloth, shelter, heal the least of His brothers, will be credited as doing it for the Lord himself.  And those who don’t, will be condemned. 

The Psalm ends with the declaration that “The Lord rules as king forever.  Zion, your God rules throughout every generation.  Hallelujah!”

 

*Psalm 146 GOD’S WORD Translation

1 Hallelujah!  Praise the Lord, my soul!                                                               2 I want to praise the Lord throughout my life.  I want to make music to praise my God as long as I live.                                                                                       3 Do not trust influential people, mortals who cannot help you.                           4 When they breathe their last breath, they return to the ground.  On that day their plans come to an end.                                                                                    5 Blessed are those who receive help from the God of Jacob. Their hope rests on the Lord their God,                                                                                                6 who made heaven, earth, the sea, and everything in them.  The Lord remains faithful forever.                                                                                                     7 He brings about justice for those who are oppressed.  He gives food to those who are hungry.  The Lord sets prisoners free.                                                     8 The Lord gives sight to blind people.  The Lord straightens the backs of those who are bent over.  The Lord loves righteous people.                                            9 The Lord protects foreigners.  The Lord gives relief to orphans and widows.  But he keeps wicked people from reaching their goal.                           10 The Lord rules as king forever.  Zion, your God rules throughout every generation.  Hallelujah!

Sermon: “Life in the Spirit”

Read Galatians 5:1, 13-25*

In our Galatians reading, Paul talks a lot about freedom and life in the spirit.  He also contrasts the life in the spirit to life in the flesh.  So, before we proceed further, I think it best to understand Paul’s designation of “the flesh”.  He is not so much speaking about our physical bodies, but rather he is speaking of the things in our culture that pull at us on a daily basis.

Paul lists things such as: illicit sex, perversion, promiscuity, idolatry, drug use, hatred, rivalry, jealousy, angry outbursts, selfish ambition, conflict, factions, envy, drunkenness, wild partying, and similar things.  As Paul says, these things are obvious.  However, in our reading in Luke we find, people called by Jesus to follow him.  They all are pulled away from the spirit-lead life by worldly things: homes, the dead, and family. These things are also life in the flesh.

Jesus said "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."  Life in the spirit is one way and one way only, toward God.  Any time we let ourselves become distracted by “the flesh” we start drifting from the path that the Lord has laid out for us.

In Matthew 6:25-32 Jesus tells us to “stop worrying about what you will eat, drink, or wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothes?   “Look at the birds. They don’t plant, harvest, or gather the harvest into barns. Yet, your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they?

“Can any of you add a single hour to your life by worrying?

“And why worry about clothes? Notice how the flowers grow in the field. They never work or spin yarn for clothes.  But I say that not even Solomon in all his majesty was dressed like one of these flowers. That’s the way God clothes the grass in the field. Today it’s alive, and tomorrow it’s thrown into an incinerator. So how much more will he clothe you people who have so little faith?

“Don’t ever worry and say, ‘What are we going to eat?’ or ‘What are we going to drink?’ or ‘What are we going to wear?’  Everyone is concerned about these things, and your heavenly Father certainly knows you need all of them.”

The message seems clear: stay on the path and God will take care of you.  And that makes me think of the Hymn “God Will Take Care of You”. 

In this hymn, first is a list of things of the “flesh” then after each of those is the line “God will take care of you.”  Here is the list with out the assurance notice how universal these “fleshly” things are.

· Be not dismayed whate’er betide,

· When dangers fierce your path assail,

· All you may need He will provide,

· Nothing you ask will be denied,

· No matter what may be the test,

· Lean, weary one, upon His breast,

God will take care of you,

through every day, o’er all the way,

He will take care of you.

God will take care of you.

The hymn writer, Civilla D. Martin published that in 1904.  And in 1905 she published “His Eye is on the Sparrow”.  She was a woman who seemed to understand this biblical truth.

“Christ has freed us so that we may enjoy the benefits of freedom”  We have been freed!  But what is it that we have been freed from?

Sin!  Amen?  We are freed from sin.  Praise God!  We can all probably make a list of sins.  However, do you know what sin actually means?  The Hebrew word that has been translated as sin could also mean to miss, as in miss the target, or miss the turn in the road. 

In Philippians 3:14 Paul writes, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”  “I press toward the mark is a forward motion toward a specific goal … in this case that goal is life in the presence of God.  Anything that distracts us from that goal is living in the flesh, living as a slave to sin. 

Here Paul writes, “Therefore, be firm in this freedom, and don’t become slaves again.”  Be firm in this freedom.  Being firm conotes a solid belief with no room doubt, no second guessing.   John Wessley, founder of Methodism, put it this way, “In a Christian believer love sits upon the throne which is erected in the inmost soul; namely, love of God and man, which fills the whole heart, and reigns without a rival.”  I like that imagery of a heart so filled with love of God and love of man that there simply is no room for anything else.  Such a heart, by its nature, would be free from sin … free from missing the mark.

Paul next warns his readers that, “You were indeed called to be free, brothers and sisters. Don’t turn this freedom into an excuse for your corrupt nature to express itself.”   Human nature is to return to familiar patterns.  This is why diets and ten step programs often fail.  It is why people released from prison can not associate with criminals. What good is it if, after our soul is cleansed, we refill it with the same vile stuff that was in there before?

In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus gives this warning, “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it.  Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order.  Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”

Paul’s list of evidence that we have let ourselves return to the life in the flesh include:  “illicit sex, perversion, promiscuity,  idolatry, drug use, hatred, rivalry, jealousy, angry outbursts, selfish ambition, conflict, factions, envy, drunkenness, wild partying, and similar things. I’ve told you in the past and I’m telling you again that people who do these kinds of things will not inherit God’s kingdom.”

So, step one: let the Holy Spirit clean house in your soul.  Step two:  keep it clean.  Step three:  Don’t let the house (your soul) remain empty but fill it with the things of the spirit lead life.  As for step three, here is what Paul writes, “Rather, serve each other through love.  All of Moses’ Teachings are summarized in a single statement, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” He then goes on to give a short list of things that are evident of living this new spiritual life: “the spiritual nature produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, and self-control. There are no laws against things like that.  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their corrupt nature along with its passions and desires.”

“Let me explain further. Live your life as your spiritual nature directs you. Then you will never follow through on what your corrupt nature wants.  What your corrupt nature wants is contrary to what your spiritual nature wants, and what your spiritual nature wants is contrary to what your corrupt nature wants. They are opposed to each other. As a result, you don’t always do what you intend to do.”

In Romans 7:14-25 Paul expands on this idea and confesses that he also has this problem.  “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.  I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.  And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.  As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.  For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.  For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.  Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;  but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.  What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?  Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Finally, Paul wraps up this part of our scripture reading with this summation: “If your spiritual nature is your guide, you are not subject to Moses’ laws.   If we live by our spiritual nature, then our lives need to conform to our spiritual nature.”

Now let us “clean house” by confessing our sins before the Lord and then refill them by being united with the Lord and each other as His one body, the church universal, though scattered around the world.

*Galatians 5:1, 13-25

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.  For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.  For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law.  Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.  And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

Fathers Teach Your Children

 

Read Deuteronomy chapter 6 as preparation for this sermon.

Sermon: “Fathers Teach Your Children”

It’s Fathers’ Day. 

A little boy was asked if he knew what Fathers’ Day was.  He said, “Yes, it just like Mothers’ Day … except you don’t have to spend as much!”

I have heard it said that children love their mothers but follow their fathers.

Some fathers take this responsibility very seriously … and some don’t.  Just in my lifetime, I have seen a trend to diminish a father’s role.  The sitcoms that my children watched were much different than the ones I watched when I was young. 

In my day the fathers were strong leaders and … yes … enforcers.  (well except for Ozzie Nelson of Ozzie and Harriet.  He always kind of bumbled and fumbled his way through raising his sons.)  But even Ozzie, bumbling as he was, was better than those that followed in the next generation. 

Archie Bunker was at least concerned about Gloria and Meathead and tried to get them to be more like himself. 

Al Bundy from Married With Children clearly didn’t want his children.  His life was bad enough without having to deal with the kids too.

But today’s sitcoms have even further degraded the father figure.  Think of the fathers in Modern Family or even worse The Family Guy (which, after watching a few episodes, I made sure to avoid ever-after).

We often use the analogy of God as a Father. For most of us, this is comforting.  However not all fathers have modeled the love of God as He intended.

In my own life, I have been a father-figure for a lot of kids.  Beside my own four children and two step-children, Ella and I have hosted a lot of Exchange Students.  While they were here in the U.S. it was natural to call me “Dad”.  When we started hosting, I really didn’t realize what a lifelong relationship would be formed.  I was surprised when our first exchange student had returned to Germany and called “home to Iowa” to ask advice from the only dad that he had ever had.  Those exchange kids have now grown into adults and some have started their own families and most still refer to me as Dad.  That has been a surprise.

I need to tell you about my brother.  He was seventeen years older than I and he had a violent temper .  He was, at times, abusive to his kids.  He mellowed with age and was a much more patient and loving grandfather.  I tell you this because I was really surprised when several of my deceased brother’s grown adult children asked if I could be their dad. 

Now here is the kicker, I was raised by a single mother.  My father died when I was around four-years-old.  I wasn’t alone in being fatherless.  More than 20 million children live in a home without the physical presence of a father.  Millions more have dads who are physically present, but emotionally absent.  If it were classified as a disease, fatherlessness would be an epidemic worthy of attention as a national emergency.

I wasn’t totally without father figures.  The three most prominent father figures were; my brother who was, as I said, seventeen when I was born.  Then there was our next door neighbor, who I was too naive at the time to understand that he was my mother’s boyfriend.  And the leader of the Boy Scout troop I joined.  Unfortunately, I can’t remember his name.

These men impressed me in different ways.  Russell, my neighbor would take me fishing.  I learned the fine art of fishing with a cane pole and how to make doughball from cornmeal and water.  I learned how to clean and descale carp, which is what we mostly caught. He also took me to the dump.  Of the two, I think I enjoyed the dump the most.  Yep, I was a “that” kid.  We would take a load of trash out and I would bring a load back.  Anything with lights, bells, buzzers or whistles would come home with me.  I had lots of old non-working radios that I would remove their “skins” and exchange tubes, resolder loose wires and repair broken parts.  That was Russell, my buddy. I learned that you can make friends of people of all ages.

My scout master, instilled in me the scout motto and pledge.  I learned about camping and woodscraft.  I learned how to be both self-sufficient and how to work as part of a team.  I learned how to build a fire.  Yes, I really do know how to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together, or with a magnifying glass.  I learned to care about and care for the natural world from him also.  However the most important thing that I gained from him was a sense of how to be an integral contributing part of society.

My brother, as I’ve already stated, was not a nice person.  Because I was nearly the same age as his children, he was as abusive to me as well.  However, I was NOT his child and I would fight back where his own children didn’t.  I told him many times that one day I’d be as big as him and I’d kick his … well you know.  I saw how he was as a husband as well as a father.  He became my role model of what not to do.  It was a conscious decision on my part to be different than him. 

It wasn’t easy and I had my own problems with anger … which I guess … is why I, in my preteens would threaten this six foot eight inch full grown adult.  By the way, when I returned from the Army, it was my brother who came to the airport to get me.  The first thing he said to me was, “ guess I have an ass whoppin’ comin’.”  While in the service, I became interested in and studied several martial arts, one of which was a Chinese form of karate or gung fu.  I was in my mid twenties and in excellent shape.  He was in his late thirties.  Although at six foot two, I had not gotten as big as his six eight, I felt the fight would have been in my favor.  However, as my reply to his challenge I did a high front snapping kick and kicked his hat off.  Then I said, “Naw, I’m good.”  Neither of us ever spoke of it again.  It wasn’t until the last few years of his life, that we became at least friendly.

Fathers and father figures are vastly important to the healthy growth of children.  As I said earlier there is an epidemic of fatherlessness in this country.  There is hope though.  In this day of absentee fathers leaving single mothers to do the work of mother and father also, there are conscience movements, particularly in the black communities which historically have had a higher percentage of single women raising children, to encourage and help men to become true fathers to their children.

Fathers need to teach their children.  It is one of their biggest duties.  However, many men need to be taught how to be fathers before they can teach the children.

That is where the scripture reading comes in.

Our scripture reading from Deuteronomy has some points that will help fathers how to teach the love of God.  You can’t go wrong with the Ten Commandments.

1. There is only one God.

2. No idols.

3. Do not use the name of God lightly or profanely.

4. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy

5. Honor your father and mother

6. Do not murder

7. Do not commit adultery

8. Do not steal

9. Do not bear false witness

10. Do not covet what belongs others

I have boiled down the Deuteronomy scriptures as follows.

These are the commands, laws, and rules the Lord your God commanded me to teach you.

·       Obey them.  Obey them.  This should be self evident.  These are not the ten suggestions or the ten recommendations.  These are laws governing how we interact with the Lord our God as well as with other people around us..

·       As long as you live, you, your children, and your grandchildren must fear the Lord your God.  As long as you live.  There is no “Graduation Day” where you have mastered all of the commandmenst and then get to ignore them.  If we claim to be children of God, we must strive every day, in every way, to be good children.  He is our Father … He is also our Lord … He both loves us and expects our obedience. 

Coming from the background that I did, I made a decision to use corpral punishment only in extream events.  One, if the child’s behavior was a threat to their or other’s lives.  Two if they were willfully disobedient.  We had a “one swat” rule at our house.  If you needed to us a swat on the butt to reinforce what you said, it was only one swat.  One swat would let the child know how serious you were about it.  More than one swat was just a way for the parent to vent their, fear, disappointment, or anger.  One swat rule.

·       Listen, The Lord is our God. The Lord is the only God.  God demands to have your respect above all other things, places, or people in and around your life.  He is the center of your life or he is not really YOUR God.  Do not let money, power, self satisfaction, people, or anything become more important to you than God

·       Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

These verses are the Shema “Hear, Israe, the Lord is our God, The Lord is One.  And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”  These words serve as the center piece of Jewish morning and evening prayers.  You may recognize them as what Jesus quoted in Mark the twelth chapter starting at verse 28, “One of the teacher of the law came and heard them depating.  Noticing tha Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked of him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”  The most impostant one, answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel; The Lord ou God is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your sould and will all your mind and with all your strength.’  Jesus then went beyond what the teacher of the law had asked and said, “The second is this; ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  There is no commandment greater than these.”

·       Take to heart these words that I give you today. Understand how important these words are!   In just two sentences, Jesus had boiled down the whole of the Law and the Prophets.  If you want to be an honest follower of Christ, then internalize these words and let them guide your thoughts, your words, and you actions.

·       Repeat them to your children. Repeat, repeat, repeat.  Dispite some of the modern teaching models, children learn and retain best those things that are repeated.  Repeat them until your children say, “You already told me that!”  Then you know that they have heard.  And just to be sure, say it at lease twice more.

Talk about them when you’re at home or away, when you lie down or get up.   he When is the best time to teach your children?  Now!

·       Write them down, and tie them around your wrist, and wear them as headbands as a reminder. Devout Jews take this litterally.  They have a tiny handwritten scroll of the Shema that is worn on their bodies.  I have no problem with Christians doing the same, though a more modern answer might be to have it as the background on your desktop, tablet and smartphone.

·       Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.  Again the strict Jews do this litterally with small scrolls on their door frames.  They will kiss their fingers and tap the scroll as they pass through the doorway.  If you want to follow their example that is fine.  Perhaps scriptural sayings throughout the house in little signs, or cross-stitched on cushions or worn on t-shirts or hats, is a modern equivelent.  In our trailers, we have “With God all things are possible” and “As for me and my house, we will follow the Lord” as wall decorations.  Whatever keeps the Word of God before your eyes and in your heart is a good thing.

Let me state it one more time in one more way:

·       The Lord your God will bless you with things you neither earned of deserve.

·       After you have all that you want, be careful that you don’t forget the Lord,

·       You must fear the Lord your God,

·       You must serve him,

·       You must take your oaths only in his name.

·       Never worship any of the things worshiped by the people around you.

·       Never test the Lord your God as you did at Massah.

·       Be sure to obey the commands of the Lord your God and the regulations and laws he has given you.

·       Do what the Lord considers right and good.

And then teach them to your children.  The gospel of father (and mother) will have more impact on your children’s lives than the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Now I’ll close with this poem written by Anonymous.  I’ve read a lot of his writtings,  He’s really good.  Grin

WALK A LITTLE PLAINER DADDY

"Walk a little plainer, Daddy,"

Said a little boy so frail.

"I'm following in your footsteps

And I don't want to fail.

Sometimes your steps are very plain;

Sometimes they are hard to see;

So walk a little plainer, Daddy,

For you are leading me.

I know that once you walked this way many years ago,

And what you did along the way

I'd really like to know:

For sometimes when I am tempted

I don't know what to do

So walk a little plainer, Daddy,

For I must follow you.

Someday when I'm grown up

You are like I want to be.

Then I will have a little boy

Who will want to follow me

And I would want to lead him right

And help him to be true.

So walk a little plainer, Daddy

For We must follow you."

amen

Who Gave You This Authority? - Sermon on Galatians 1:1-12

Galatians 1:1-12

Paul an apostle--sent neither by human commission nor from human authorities, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead-- and all the members of God's family who are with me, To the churches of Galatia:  Peace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel--not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.  But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed!  As we have said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed!   Am I now seeking human approval, or God's approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ. For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin;  for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

 

Sermon: Who Gave You This Authority?

One of the first things that I noticed about Paul’s letter to the Galatians was the abrupt greeting.  Look at his greeting to the church in Rome:

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apartfor the gospel of God

Or as he opens his letter to the church at Ephesus:

“Paul, I am under God’s plan as an apostle, a special agent of Christ Jesus, writing to you faithful believers in Ephesus.”

Or how he greets the church in Philippi

“Paul and Timothy, both of us committed servants of Christ Jesus, write this letter to all the followers of Jesus in Philippi,”

Now notice how he begins his letter to the church at Galatia,

“Paul an apostle” With his deliberate use of the word apostle, Paul is reminding them that he is on equal footing with the original 12 because he, like the original 12, was “sent neither by human commission nor from human authorities, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.”

After he has quickly reminded them of his authority he then gives them  his greeting and blessing from himself and all the members of God's family who are with him.

In Paul’s other letters he says he is a servant or a slave or is sent by God.  However, in this letter he felt it necessary to clarify where his authority does NOT lay.  He is NOT writing because some human authority has commanded it.  He is NOT acting as an agent of a man or of a man-made institution. 

This seems to be important to Paul to re-establish his credentials.  Perhaps he was remembering how in his previous life, that is his life before his encounter with Jesus the risen Christ. As we read in the ninth chapter of Acts:

“All this time Saul was breathing down the necks of the Master’s disciples, out for the kill. He went to the Chief Priest and got arrest warrants to take to the meeting places in Damascus so that if he found anyone there belonging to the Way, whether men or women, he could arrest them and bring them to Jerusalem.”

Saul had sought and received his authority, to arrest Christians, from the Jewish council. He was acting under human authority to do what he THOUGHT was God’s will.  However the truth is that instead of taking God’s will to the world, he was taken the council’s will (that is the world’s) and presenting it as if it were God’s.  I’ll  return to that thought in a moment.

So now, Paul makes it clear from whom his authority comes.

“It comes directly from Jesus the Messiah and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. I’m God-commissioned.”

God-commissioned. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary commision means:

1. A formal written warrant granting the power to perform various acts or duties.

2. A certificate conferring military rank and authority

3. Authority to act for, in behalf of, or in place of another

4. An act of entrusting empowering with authority.

Paul or Saul had previously had a formal written warrant granting the power to perform various acts or duties.  He was acting as an agent for the council under their authority.

Now he was acting for and in behalf of Jesus the Christ.

Jesus himself was questioned about his authority in Matthew 21:23-  it reads, “Jesus entered the temple courts, and while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked.  “And who gave you this authority?”

I’ve often marveled and enjoyed how Jesus handled this.  He said, “I will also ask you one question, if you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

Do you see what he did here?  He made their question secondary to his own. If you, then I.  He snatched their power from them in just a few words.

He then goes on to ask these chief priests and elders of the people about where they believed John the Baptizer had received his power.  This really put them on the spot. “They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’ we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”

Again and again it comes down to where the source of the the authority lay.  Heaven or Earth.  God or Man.

Paul, having established his authority to speak for God, then says, “So I greet you with the great words, grace and peace!  We know the meaning of those words because Jesus Christ rescued us from this evil world we’re in by offering himself as a sacrifice for our sins. God’s plan is that we all experience that rescue. Glory to God forever! Amen!”

Paul said that his readers know the meaning of Grace and Peace.  However, I’m don’t convinced that we in this age understand what he meant by Grace and peace!

First let us look at Grace: Biblical grace is unmerited favor.  It is God’s free action for the benefit of His people. Grace is often misunderstood to be like Justice or Mercy.  So to properly contrast Grace to these two,  We need to better define what they are.

1. Justice is getting what we deserve … do the crime, do the time

2. Mercy is not getting what we deserve … guilty but set free

3. Grace is getting what we do not deserve … we deserve death and eternal separation from God. (All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Rom. 3:23)  However, what we received is eternal life and all the other blessings of God. (God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Rom. 5:8)

Here is an acronym for grace that may help in our understanding: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.

Grace is the Spiritual Reset Button.  Grace is deserving death but given life.

Have I clarified Grace sufficiently?

Okay now let’s understand the word “Peace” as Paul uses it here.  For the most part when I hear the word ‘peace’, I equate it to lack of conflict or not being at war.  However, Jesus in John 14:27 says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”  So, Here is peace as Jesus defines it, hearts not troubled and no fear.

Now as we read the New Testament and other histories of the early church, it becomes clear that the early followers of Christ did have peace in the worldly sense.  They were often reviled, persecuted, imprisoned, and sometimes executed.  That is not peace in the sense of opposite of conflict.  No, the peace that Jesus and Paul are speaking about is the internal peace in the midst of conflict and the storms of life.  It is peace with God and peace in God.  Not as the world gives but Christ’s peace is what we have received.

Okay we and the Galatians are now on the same page as Paul continues. “I  can’t believe your fickleness—how easily you have turned traitor to him who called you by the grace of Christ by embracing a variant message!”

Paul seldom speaks so bluntly as he does here.  He is shocked to learn that they have so easily wandered from the Truth. 

Wait!  Stop!  We must not judge the Galatians until we have looked into ourselves.  Have we become fickle and wandered from the truth?  Many things in our modern culture can pull us away from the truth of God’s word.  We must be careful of what we accept as “the word of God.”  Listen to these words in the King James Version found in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”  I like how the amplified Bible translates it, “Study and do your best to present yourself to God approved, a workman (tested by trial) who have no reason to be ashamed, accurately handling and skillfully teaching the word of truth.”

Then Paul says, “It is not a minor variation, you know; it is completely other, an alien message, a no-message, a lie about God.”

Be careful here.  Understand this, In today’s Christianity there are many denominations.  I call them families of God.  Generally speaking all denominations and nondenominational churches are founded on the good solid word of God.  We may disagree about the politics of the church organization such as, how pastors, elders, and deacons are chosen.  We may have slightly different understandings of some biblical passages.  But we nearly all agree that we believe in God the Father, the creator, God the Son, Sacrificial Savior, and God the Holy Spirit, the comforter and indwelling power of God.  These minor differences in understanding are not what Paul is speaking about. 

Listen to what he says, “Those who are provoking this agitation among you are turning the Message of Christ on its head.”

The main thing that was turning the Message of Christ on its head was the teaching that, to be a Christian, you first had to be a Jew.  There were new teachers in the church that were telling the Gentile followers of Christ that only by following all of the Jewish laws, and elaborate symbolic ceremonies (including circumcision) could they become truly followers of Christ.

Paul continues, “Let me be blunt: If one of us—even if an angel from heaven!—were to preach something other than what we preached originally, let him be cursed. I said it once; I’ll say it again: If anyone, regardless of reputation or credentials, preaches something other than what you received originally, let him be cursed.”

Here is the BIG SECRET … are you ready?  Read your Bible!  Read, pray for understanding and guidance.  Read for understanding.  Ask yourself, “What does this mean to / for me?” 

Paul instructs Timothy (and us) where the true authority can be found, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim 3:16-17)

Earlier I said that I’d get back to the statement of taking God’s will to the world,or taking the World’s will and attributing it to God. Well here we are.

Lately, it seems as if Hollywood has discovered “religion”.  There are many recent movies and television shows that are representing their storylines as if they were God’s messengers.  A few are even very good movies.  But beware of basing your understand of God and His plan on things that you hear, see, or read in the popular media.

Understand that by far and away, many of these are purely business based decisions not necessarily built on the Solid Rock of God’s word. 

Be discerning of all … including me.  Compare what I present to you with the entirety of God’s written word.  Many cults are built on a few Bible verses taken completely out of context.  Remember, even the devil can quote scripture. 

Don’t accept something as true just because someone says, “The Bible says ….’  I am reminded of the Facebook image that I’ve seen going around.  It goes something like this: there is a picture of Abraham Lincoln with a message in quotes that says, “Don’t believe everything you read on Facebook just because it has a picture and quotation marks.’ signed Abraham Lincoln.

It is fairly easy to fact check most of the things posted on the internet.  Just go to www.snopes.com and enter the information.

To fact check in the Bible, read the bible and internalize it.  You can also use many good internet bible sites.  However, again let me caution you, read the bible verses in their proper context.  Understand the whole story that surrounds the verse or verses.

I have heard the excuse of “I just don't have time to read the Bible.” Well Jesus didn't really have time to take the beating and the hanging on the cross and the burying that should have been our reward for our sins and yet he did it.  I think we can take the time to do some reading.

I will gladly add my agreement to what Paul says next, ”Do you think I speak this strongly in order to manipulate crowds? Or curry favor with God? Or get popular applause?”

There are many good preachers today.  However, there are some that appear to me to be seeking to entertain rather than inform.  I’m not opposed to using humor or visual aids in a sermon.  Jesus did this.  However, I’ve seen some televangelists that use all manner of stage tricks to get the congregation stirred up … but have a message that is so shallow and lacking in the depth of God’s word that their preaching is merely a stage presentation.

It seems that Paul knew of some of these folks also when he said, “If my goal was popularity, I wouldn’t bother being Christ’s slave.” 

Paul continues, “Know this—I am most emphatic here, friends—this great Message I delivered to you is not mere human optimism. I didn’t receive it through the traditions, and I wasn’t taught it in some school.”

Here Paul is once again contrasting his previous life with his new life in Christ.  As Saul, he was raised in the Jewish traditions and studied the Law of Moses with one of the greatest Jewish teachers.  Paul was very well trained in the Law and the Prophets.  However, he reminds his readers where his true authority comes from when he says, “I got it straight from God, I received the Message directly from Jesus Christ.”

Here I will leave you with a question for which you must find your own answer.  Where do you receive your authority?  Are you 100% sure that what you THINK the bible says, is what it actually says?  Are you willing to take a little time each day or even a little each week to STUDY (not just read) to show yourself approved?

Yes or No? Stay or Go

Hebrew Scripture Reading: Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18

Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Long ago your ancestors--Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor--lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods.
"Now therefore revere the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. Now if you are unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

Then the people answered, "Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed; and the LORD drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God."

Gospel Reading: John 6:56-69
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever." He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.
When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?" But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you?” Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. And he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father."
Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."

Sermon:  “Yes or No?  Stay or Go”
Let me start with a short prayer.  You pray for my speaking and I’ll pray for your hearing.  God, I pray that You will give me the right words to say. Then I will speak boldly when I reveal the mystery of the Good News.  I pray that despite what I say today, that these people hear your words.  Amen

In these Old Testament and the New Testament scriptures, a decision is demanded.  Using a current idiom, I’d call these as “Come to Jesus meetings.”  They were said with love but there is a clear ultimatum in both stories.  Yes or no?  Stay or go? 

Come to Jesus Meeting is an apt name for these because Jesus demanded a clear commitment.  He called many people.  He called fishermen, tax collectors, tradesmen, revolutionaries, religious leaders, lawyers, and many more.  Some dropped what they were doing and followed.  He called some who turned away sadly.  Some turned away angry. Some said things like, “I’ll follow, but first let me go … (whatever excuse they offered)”  Jesus made it clear that those who said things like, had made their choice.
We are going to be traveling around through time a little bit so … If we get into our scriptural time-machine, we can go back almost three thousand years to the time after Moses had died and Joshua had led the children of Israel into the Promised Land.  Just relax and breathe in and out normally.  This will only take a second. Really, this time machine is the safest way to travel.

As we arrive, things have just, finally, settled down after the fighting. The land was promised by God and He assured the victories.  However, he required the people to fight the battles.  I’m pretty sure that there is a good sermon right there. 

However, we have arrived after the battles were won, the cities and territories established, the crops and vineyards were planted and the people were beginning to enjoy this land flowing with milk and honey.  Smell that nice fresh air, we don’t have anything like that back in the twenty first century!

Joshua is now over one hundred years old.  He looks pretty spry for a guy his age!  He is the last of the generation who first came to the boarder of the Promised Land.  The generation that refused to follow God’s command to enter the land.  They were afraid of the people who lived there because they were bigger and stronger.  The spies who went in, came back with the report that even though it was indeed a land flowing with milk and honey, the cities were large and well fortified.  And the people were so big that the spies said that “we were like grasshoppers to them.”

They let their fear rule them rather than their faith.  Now I’m sure that there’s a sermon in that!  Their refusal to follow God’s command is the reason that they wandered in the dessert for forty years.  They had been unfaithful, so God led them around the dessert until that whole generation (with the exception of Moses, Caleb and Joshua) had died.  Because of their unfaithfulness, they were not allowed into the land that God had promised.  And not only were they not allowed in, but their children and grandchildren had to delay entering the Promised Land for forty years!  I think there’s another sermon there too!

But, Joshua, now an old man, has just called all the leaders of all the tribes together and has a message for them.  He lays it all on the line by telling them, “Before God called Abraham he had followed other gods.  The descendants of Abraham, after settling in Egypt, had also turned and followed false gods.”  Joshua is letting them know that, as a people, they have not always been faithful followers of the one true God.

Joshua now reminds the people that they are heirs of the covenant that God had made with Abraham. God said, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you, I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Here is their “Come to Jesus Meeting” as Joshua tells the people to make a choice, a commitment, a reaffirmation of the covenant between his people and God.  At the same time he makes it clear that his choice now is and ever will be, “Me and my household, we will serve the LORD." 

The people responded, “What are you talking about?  We would not / could not abandon the Lord to serve other gods. After all the Lord our God brought us and our ancestors out of slavery in Egypt. Do you remember how He did these spectacular signs right before our eyes. He even guarded us wherever we went, especially as we passed through other nations. The Lord forced out all the people ahead of us, including the Amorites who lived in this land. We, too, will serve the Lord, because he is our God.”

They may have been children when they fled Egypt or they may have been born during the forty years in the wilderness, but they had grown up with God literally leading them as a cloud by day and pillar of fire by night! They had seen water gush from a rock in the dessert.  God fed them bread from heaven and meat to eat.  They were there when the tabernacle was created and God spoke from above the Ark of the Covenant. They had seen the power of God when he gave them victory over their enemies.

Having witnessed all of these things, it seems only natural that they would choose to follow God!  Right?  I mean, who would be stupid enough to not choose God when you had witnessed all of that?  Makes sense, right?

But hang on a moment, get back in the time machine.  We are going to go back in time another fifty to sixty years.  We are going to see how faithful their, Fathers, Mothers, Grandparents were. 

See, that didn’t take long!  We have arrived safely at the base of Mount Sinai and you’ll notice that it is covered in a dense cloud.  That cloud is an avatar of God, a symbolic representation of His Holy Self.  Don’t get too close.  Sinful man cannot come into the presence of Holy God and live.

We have arrived about three and a half months after they fled from Egypt.  If these folks look a little “shell shocked”  remember they have just lived through the ten plagues of Egypt:

They have just recently seen the Red sea parted so that they could walk through it on dry land.  As soon as they had reached this side of the Red Sea, it closed over the pursuing Egyptians.

Moses has told them to wash their clothing so that they can be ritually clean while he consecrates them to God.  Look, there he goes up the mountain where he will receive the ten commandments from God.

Now look what the people are doing in his absence.  They have melted their golden jewelry and created a golden calf to worship!   Listen!  Do you hear what they are saying?  The are praising this man-made idol and are giving it the credit for bringing them out of Egypt. It has been less than four months from captivity and they have already abandoned God! 

Yep!  These people were that forgetful, ungrateful, and easily swayed. You can almost hear them asking, “What has God done for me today?” 

Wait!  Wait!  I see that look in some of your eyes.  A little light bulb just lit up over your heads.  But don’t start searching your own soul or examining your own relationship with God … not yet!  I have a few more illustration to make before you do that.  No peeking ahead!

Okay, let’s get in our time-machine and travel ahead about six hundred years to the time when Jesus walked the earth as a man.  Everybody ready?  Remember to keep your hands inside your seats until we have come to a complete stop. 

There!  We have arrived to about thirty-two years after Jesus was born.  Everybody okay, nobody dizzy?  Great!

If look a little over there to the right of the synagogue you’ll see Jesus in discussion with his disciples.  Or more correctly, the apostles, the twelve core members of his followers.  Jesus has had hundreds and hundreds of disciples following him.  They have crowded so close that several times he was forced into a boat. They have followed him up a mountain.  They even followed him to his home and crowded in so close that his family was fearful. At one point, some men tore the roof from his home to bring a sick friend to him.  They’ve pressed in so close to him that when he stopped and asked, “Who touched me?” his disciples responded, in disbelief that he had asked that question, it seemed to them that everyone had touched him.  In fact, I found a source that says there are around thirty-four scriptures that mention the crowds coming to Jesus.  While it is true that some of those may be duplicated between the four gospels, that still is a lot of crowding.

These disciples followed him for various reasons but mostly because of the signs that he preformed. They had seem him heal the sick, the leprous the blind, the lame and even raise the dead.  He had turned water to wine, feed thousands of people on a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. 

Some followed because they believed that he would be the next king of Israel and free them from the Roman occupation. 

Some followed because of the way he taught with such power and authority. 

Some came because the parables that he told engaged them and caused them to think in ways that they had never considered. 

A few followed because they wanted to trap him into saying or doing something that would turn the people away from him and also stand up in a trial. 

And some … some followed because they believed he was sent from God. 

As we see Jesus today, people are walking away.  The message he gave today in the synagogue in Capernaum had caused a division. The theme of Jesus being the Bread of Life and the Living Water were ones that he had used many times before.  Today the sermon was a little more graphic and it upset people.  “Eat my flesh and drink my blood,” was too hard of a lesson to learn. 

Jesus tells them that the flesh is nothing … the spirit is everything. If you remember back in the book of Genesis; God created man from the dust of the ground.  And then breathe the breath of life, literally the Spirit of Life into him.  Without the spirit, Man is just a pile of dust.

Jesus has just asked the inner twelve for their decision,  Yes or no?  Stay or go?  Peter answers for them all.  And I can just imagine Peter, in his load rough voice, answering.  Not just answering but answering loud enough that his voice carries to those walking away.  “Lord, who could we possible go to?  Your words give eternal life.  Besides, we believe … and more than believe … we know that you are the Holy One of God.”
You and I know from our perspective from the future that the crowds will once more assemble for him on Palm Sunday and we know that most will once again turn away at the trial and crucifixion.  As we get back into our time machine, we see that those once crushing crowds are beginning to drift away leaving only those true believers to continue to faithfully follow. 

This was a true, “Come to Jesus Meeting” and a large number of disciples walked away.  In one way or another, Jesus had not met their expectation.  Yep!  People were still that way during Jesus’ time.  They were still that forgetful, ungrateful, and easily swayed. “What has Jesus done for me today?” 

Now hang on because the bumpiest part of this ride is about to start.  We are returning to our own time.  This is where we are going to be looking around us and inside us.

We are also inheritors of the covenant God first made with Abraham.  We even have the advantage that a major part of that promise has already been fulfilled by the birth, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus.  We now have the two thousand years of proof of things that they only hoped for.  Certainly, it must be easier for our generation to live up to our end of the covenant.  Right?  We’ve done our job and taken the good news to every corner of the world.  One third of the world’s population call themselves Christians.

If that is still true, someone explain this graph to me.

What is happening?  This is how it appears to me … there are a lot of people who are Christian in name only.  I could be wrong. …  I’d like to be wrong.  But what I’m seeing is people wrapping themselves in the name, Christian, as though it were a magic suit of armor. 

Well I’ll tell you right now that it does not work that way. You can’t get by with just playing “dress up.”  This is a war. If you want a suit of armor, you still have to put it on one piece at a time.  I’ll tell you the same thing that Paul told the church in Ephesus,
“Put on all the armor that God supplies. In this way you can take a stand against the devil’s strategies. This is not a wrestling match against a human opponent. We are wrestling with rulers, authorities, the powers who govern this world of darkness, and spiritual forces that control evil in the heavenly world.  For this reason, take up all the armor that God supplies. Then you will be able to take a stand during these evil days. Once you have overcome all obstacles, you will be able to stand your ground.
So then, take your stand! Fasten truth around your waist like a belt. Put on God’s approval as your breastplate.  Put on your shoes so that you are ready to spread the Good News that gives peace.  In addition to all these, take the Christian faith as your shield. With it you can put out all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Also take salvation as your helmet and God’s word as the sword that the Spirit supplies.
Pray in the Spirit in every situation. Use every kind of prayer and request there is. For the same reason be alert. Use every kind of effort and make every kind of request for all of God’s people.

Consider this your Come to Jesus Meeting.  We are required … No!  We are commanded to care for ourselves, each other, the widows, the orphans, the aliens in our land, and all of God’s children.  Love them, feed them, shelter them, clothe them, heal them … but most of all … tell them the good news that Christ Jesus died that they might live.  The flesh is nothing the Spirit is everything. 

We’re just going to take another short journey, this time into the future.  We’re not going to land, we’re not allowed.  But we’re going to do a flyover just to see what is happening.  Don’t blink ‘cause this’ll have to be really quick.

Look! All of humanity is here.  Everyone who ever was or ever will be is here.  Do you see?  Every knee is bowing and every tongue crying out, “Jesus is Lord!”  However, listen to his response.  To some he is saying, “Well done you good and faithful servant!”  Those are going into the light of eternal life.   However, to others he is saying, “Depart from me you cursed, for you did not do as I commanded to love your neighbor as yourself!”  and those are going into the outer darkness, a complete separation from God.  Our time here is up we must now return to our own time.

I pray, Lord, don’t let this generation be forgetful, ungrateful, and easily swayed. Don’t let us ask, “What has Jesus done for me lately?”  Let us, instead, ask, “What can I do for Jesus today?”  I tell you, “Now is God’s acceptable time!  Now is the day of salvation!”  Have you made your choice?  Yes or no?  Stay or go?