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The purpose of the sermon today is not so much a lesson as it is a revelation of the person Jesus as His disciples and contemporaries knew Him.  I received an email forward the other day that made me think about what I know of Him and how that compares to how others think of Him.  The forward was a series of pictures drawn by an artist who calls himself ‘The Jesus Artist’. The pictures were beautiful, the artist discovered by some people attending a seminary in Florida. They were pencil drawings the size of a barn door and he drew them in half an hour depicting Jesus exactly as parents and children two thousand years ago would have known Him, laughing and smiling.  The person who initiated the email wrote: “Christ laughing. A concept I hadn’t seen before.”

Interesting. Most of us don’t stand still to wonder what He must have been like, but we love to read the stories about Him.  Of course He laughed.  He also played games with His siblings and friends and went to parties. He probably exchanged funny stories but everyone could count on the fact that they were clean and never aimed at tearing someone down or making fun of them. The Bible tells us He increased in favour with God and man.  People loved to be with Him for many reasons.

We see Jesus as the gospel writers wanted us to see Him. They chose the highlights of His ministry and reported on them. They chose the stories we need to hear but more and more people are wondering and writing about what He was like as a real person.

The part of His ministry I’m focusing on today is healing. We have many stories about that. But before we turn to the past, I want to take a look at the present, from a human perspective.

I began my research by Googling ‘healing evangelists’ and was indeed surprised by the number of names I found.  Interestingly enough, I couldn’t find testimonies from people who had been healed by these people.  I remember in the early seventies, when I was first teaching in my home County, a child in my class lost a sister to cancer. At that time there was a lady who was a healing evangelist by the name of Kathryn Kuhlmann whose ministry was in the US. Inspired by her radio and television ministry, the mother and her daughter boarded a bus, and full of hope and strong in her faith, this mother expected her daughter to be healed. It didn’t happen. Her daughter became sicker and within a year she died. She told me later that people travelling on the same bus on the return trip told her that her faith was not strong enough. She was shattered. The disappointment was a bitter blow.

This mother had researched the healer carefully and followed her on television and radio. It was in 1947 that Kathryn Kuhlmann, a woman dedicated to God preached her first series on the Holy Spirit. During the first meeting a woman was healed of a tumor while listening to Kuhlman preach. Later during the series a man was also healed. These events marked the beginning of her healing ministry.

There are many other names to be found under Google—healing evangelists whose ministry appeared on television and aired on the radio, ministers who were widely interviewed by well-known interviewers, ministers who wrote books telling of their experiences.  Naturally, a lot of controversy follows these healers. Another modern day healer is Benny Hinn, whose work is inspired by Kuhlmanbut his ministry is riddled with controversy. A number of years ago Fifth Estate conducted an investigation of him.  According to their report, many people who he claimed to have healed were either not sick with the illness he said they had, they were still sick, or they had died.

People today, more than they ever did in Jesus time, try to discredit faith healing. Of course.  It makes us uncomfortable because we don’t know where this power comes from, whether or not the person is as connected to God as they say they are. Religions leaders must study as much as is humanly possible. Critics do it because they want to make religion look bad.  Kuhlman was ignorant of medicine, yet people were healed.  And the ministries continue—people flock by the thousands to fill stadiums when Benny Hinn is in town, they pour to the front to be healed. Now these healings would be easier to document if the people who had been healed by any evangelist had written a book, or made a post on Facebook. But as I mentioned before there don’t seem to be many books with testimonials from people who were healed by faith healers. Perhaps they have—I just didn’t find any in the limited time I spent searching.

A person who claims to heal through the power of the Holy Spirit frightens people who don’t know the power of God. They also frighten those who do.  All too often we are disillusioned when we read of lavish mansions, cars, airplanes and lifestyle of the people who claim to be ‘soldiers of God.’

I suppose if Jesus was living today, He would be called a healing evangelist, He would have His own television show and radio show, probably even a talk show. He would appear on talk shows and national television interviews. Think of all the people He could reach, all the healing He could do.  And yet, even if that were so, His lifestyle would be humble.

But He isn’t here now, at least not in His physical form. He was here more than two thousand years ago and He was a healing evangelist.  He preached the message of repentance and promised that the Kingdom of Heaven was close at hand. His focus was on God. People liked what they heard.  He spoke with authority—never saying  “I think”, or” I read in a magazine somewhere…”  If He made a quotation, it came from scripture, words that His Father had inspired human writers to record.

The Bible tells us in the gospel of Matthew that Jesus went around Galilee teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of disease and sickness among the people. Matthew says that even in Syria people heard about him. Syria lies northeast of Galilee by many miles. He was known throughout the Decapolis, a region to the east—the area of His fame and the geographical territory He covered in His travels was a very large area. No radio. No television.

How blessed those people were—think of someone you know and love dearly with a debilitating physical or mental illness.  If it was possible for you to take their sickness upon yourself you would.  If there was an evangelist who promised healing, you would take him or her there, confident that there would be instant healing. So it was in Jesus time. They brought their sick to be healed and they themselves went to hear Him preach. Nowadays, Jesus would fill huge stadiums in the large cities. In those days, the huge crowds simply followed Him and He spoke to them wherever they gathered—no microphones, no computers, no big screens.  I have often wondered how the people at the back could hear Him—especially when I read the story about the feeding of the five thousand.  I’ve stood at the back of a group of fifty or so people, in a museum or at the zoo, trying to hear what the guide was saying, and not hearing a word. How could the people at the back of the crowd of five thousand men, plus the women and noisy children hear?  Don’t you think the Holy Spirit had something to do with the acoustics?

Today’s evangelists have sceptics and hecklers—people who try to turn the crowd away, who try to discredit what they are preaching or the healing they are doing. Times haven’t changed.  In Jesus’ time, they were there too. One day He was preaching in the temple and a man at the back of the synagogue started shouting, disrupting the message. Perhaps he was well-known to the worshippers, perhaps he was a stranger. Whoever he was, he was loud and he identified Jesus as the Holy one of God.

Now this man was not an ordinary man. He looked like an ordinary man, but he carried baggage—a demon to be exact. This man was possessed by a demon. You and I would probably not recognize someone who was possessed by a demon, and we may not know what to do with it if we did. But Jesus did.  He simply looked at the man and said sternly (Mark uses that word) Be quiet! Come out of him!  Just like that. Mark tells us the demon shook the man terribly and came out of him with a shriek. How frightening it must have been to witness that.

Picture the clusters of people in the fellowship hall after the service, all talking at once, some crying, some consoling, many frightened. Imagine the conversation:

“Wow! Did you see that? I had no idea he had a demon! It was awful the way he shook the poor man so violently—I thought his neck would break the way his head snapped back and forth……

Who is this teacher?  I’ve never heard anyone speak like Him.  He got rid of a demon! There’s no question He can’t answer.  He knows exactly where to look in the Scriptures for His responses……  I wonder if He would heal my friend.  I think he has a demon inside him.  He really scares us at times with the way he looks at us, and the evil things he does to us…… And what about our friend Isaac’s little boy—maybe it’s a demon that makes him have those terrible fits.  I wonder if He would heal him.”

And so the conversation would travel in circles and the people would start bringing their family and their friends to be healed. Jesus never turned anyone away—at least the Bible doesn’t tell us if He did.

Now this demon we just read about actually spoke, and called Jesus the Holy one of God. The demon did that, not the man he possessed. Jesus didn’t usually allow the evil spirits to speak.  You see, they all recognized Him—they all knew He was the Son of God. Jesus wanted to build His ministry by the words He spoke and the deeds He did first. He wanted people to recognize Him because of His simple truths and His power.  John the Baptist had already prepared the way. He didn’t want or need a sideshow of demon-possessed people shouting out that He was the Son of God.  Firstly, people wouldn’t believe them, and secondly, people would begin to associate Him with demon-possessed people and that would frighten them away.  They would use Him for healing,  but they might not listen to His words and take Him and the things He did for granted. People would be afraid.

We heard the story not so long ago, of the encounter Jesus had in the hills on the far side of the Sea of Galilee. There He encountered the man who was so possessed that people chained him outside the city. The chains didn’t hold him though. The poor man. The Bible tells us he purposely cut himself with the stones on the ground. Kids are doing that today—they cut themselves with sharp objects. Makes you think.  When Jesus inquired, the demons were proud to respond that there was a legion of them within this man. How he must have suffered. There were so many that they drove a whole herd of pigs over the cliff. Imagine his gratitude.

Do demons still possess people today? Indeed, they do. Fiction writers have a field day with them and it’s what they like. Have you read Harry Potter? It’s a fun fantasy series mostly.  Remember “He Who May Not Be Named” otherwise known as Voldemort? In one of the books, JK Rowling gives a detailed description of the demon possession and what it looked like. That’s frightening evil and it’s fiction. But they do exist, they do possess in reality only most of us don’t recognize them. We just feel their effects. They make people do terrible things, they force addictions, encourage satanic cultures, books and movies as well as evil practices. They thrive upon the violent movies and video games of today, probably at the root of their creation. They keep people awake with worry and fear, turning them inward, instead of outward to God and they must be exorcised in the name of Jesus.  No demon can stand under His name.

Speaking with authority and healing the sick and diseased set Jesus apart from any prophet who had ever come before Him and driving out demons elevated Him to a status that could not be ignored. He was the talk of thousands of people. No job was too small or too daunting. We read that on the same day that Jesus rebuked the first demon He went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew, probably for lunch.  Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a high fever and the family told Jesus about her as soon as he walked in the door. He healed her right away, and she jumped out of bed and waited on them.

We read in another place of a man named Jairus a wealthy and influential man. He came to Jesus, begging him to come to his home to lay his hands on his sick daughter, trusting that He could heal her. As usual, Jesus was in the midst of a crowd who kept talking to Him, asking Him questions and discussing some of the healing He had done.  He couldn’t just leave and hurry away. They thronged around Him but the gospels tell us that on that particular day as He walked and talked, He felt power leave His body, energy that had been directed to the healing of someone.

In the middle of the crowd Jesus asked a rather unusual question—‘who touched my clothes?’ He knew the healing power had left His body via his clothing. In a crowd of many people this could easily happen, and the disciples thought He was asking a foolish question.  They should have known by that time. When Jesus revealed that healing power had gone out from Him, the crowd must have stepped back and become silent, each one looking at the other. Finally a lady stepped forward, frightened out of her wits, embarrassed to be singled out, and confessed that she had touched the hem of his robe, believing that if she could do so she would be healed.  She went on to explain that she had had an issue of bleeding for twelve years and desperately wanted to get better. But she didn’t ask for healing—she took it in faith.

Jesus didn’t get angry.  He recognized a need and a teachable moment. He said to her, “Your faith has healed you.  Go in peace and be free from suffering.”

 In the meantime, the agitated father paced back and forth impatiently, fearful that they would be too late. Sure enough, the news came that his daughter had died. There was no further need for the Master. Did Jesus already know this would happen?

No job too small or insignificant, no job too difficult. Jesus didn’t turn to the man and pat him on the back. He didn’t offer empty excuses or condolences. Instead He reminded the father that he had come to Jesus in faith, and he needed to hold on to it, to believe. And when He came to Jairus’ house, he shooed away the people, telling them she wasn’t dead, she was asleep. How they must have laughed. He raised her to life. Imagine the shock.  Probably today that twelve-year-old would be interviewed ad nauseum on national television around the world, and book publishers would be vying for the rights to publish her story. The news rags would have a field day, tying in ancient prophecies and predictions as they wrote up an embellished version of the incident.

People quickly forget the sensational. Nothing we do today would have the same effect as Matthew, Mark and Luke did. They simply recorded it as it happened, and two thousand years later we’re still reading about the twelve year old daughter of Jairus.

Jesus made an impact upon the lives of the people living in His time. The words He spoke in the synagogues and wherever a crowd gathered were inhaled by a people hungry  to hear from God. The words He spoke were invigorating, His manner gave them confidence—He conducted Himself in a way befitting a religious leader.

Even though He’s not here today in physical form, He’s still making an impact. People are still hungry to hear His words, anxious to understand His teachings. His words are still full of confidence and truth. Jesus said one day that we who learn about Him and accept His teaching without having His physical body present are blessed. That’s us. And we have to share His words.  We have the evidence, the inspired speakers and teachers to guide us in His truth.  We have to lead others to it. Our belief is our blessing. All we have to do is reach out and take it and pass it on.  Amen

God will provide a lamb—so was the promise to Abraham as he walked with his son Isaac to make an offering to the Lord. ‘God will provide a lamb.’

The seven hundred years before Jesus birth was a turbulent time. Small wonder that people were ready to believe the Messiah had come when Jesus arrived on the scene. With the Babylonian captivity about 693 years earlier, Israel ceased to be a nation. The temple was ransacked and burned, and in addition to losing their city, the Ark of the Covenant and their homeland, the people were taken as captives into a land filled with idolatry.  The only ones remaining in the land of their forefathers were the weak and infirm, and the aged. God warned that this captivity would last 70 years. He did not leave them to fend for themselves. During this time He provided leaders and prophets to keep the spirits of the people up and to keep alive the desire to rebuild the homeland.

As a footnote, you may or may not remember, the ruins of the city of Babylon can be found in what is present day Iraq.  In fact these ruins, which cover approximately 2100 acres, lie only 53 miles south of present day Baghdad.  Check them out—the pictures are fascinating for you history buffs. From Iraq we move to Iran (Persia) to follow the strand in history.

After a period of time, the Babylonians were defeated by the Persians. The new king, Darius allowed the Jews to return and begin rebuilding the temple, but by this time, many of them were settled and content to live in Babylon and only a small number of people returned to begin the task of rebuilding. When the second wave of Israelites arrived, they set to work under Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Under his skilled leadership, this feat took only 52 days to complete. In this period also, Ezra and Nehemiah together canonized the books of the Old Testament, using them to teach the people and  encourage them to return to the Lord.

Next came the Greeks whose mandate it was to Hellenize their entire empire. Their plan was aimed at eradicating the Jewish religion. Antiochus prohibited central elements of Jewish practice, attempted to destroy all copies of the Torah and required offerings to the Greek god Zeus. His crowning outrage was erection of a statue of Zeus and the sacrificing of a pig in the Jerusalem temple itself.  As this empire faded, the Romans took command, taking Jerusalem after a three-month siege of the temple area, massacring priests in the performance of their duties and entering the Most Holy Place.

One of the Roman rulers, mentioned in the Bible was Herod.  The historian Josephus recorded that Jews suffered more during the reign of that man than during the entire period prior to him since the Babylonian exile, a period of almost 600 years. When he died land was divided and the area of Galilee was ruled by a man named Herod the Tetrarch.  We remember him as the one who illegally married his brother’s wife and for his imprisonment and execution of John the Baptist. But that’s another part of the story. A different ruler, Archelaus, in a different part of the holy land began his reign by slaughtering 3000 Jew during the Jewish Passover. ( you may remember that Joseph was warned by an angel not to return to their hometown because of the cruelty of this man and that’s why they went to Nazareth.) Archelaus was actually dethroned after ten years of rule because of his horrendous cruelty and  Judaea became a Roman province. Such was the political scene when Jesus appeared in it.

After His baptism, we turn to the book of Mark for a look at the events of Jesus’ life, the first chapter. John was living at this time in the desert, dressed in camel clothing and eating locusts and wild honey and preaching a baptism message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He no doubt recognized the signs of the political pressure his people were under. The people were so ready to hear from God’s word. They flocked to hear him because for centuries there had been no prophet. The gospel of Mark tells us that the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him, confessing their sins and being baptized by him, wondering, hoping that he was the Christ, the Messiah. The temple rulers did not like this preacher—they had not authorized him nor did they support him and no doubt they feared him, so they sent a delegation to ask him who he was. They wondered if he was Elijah or a prophet or the Christ.

John of course denied being any of those people, proclaiming that he was simply preparing the way, ‘a voice of one crying in the wilderness’. Oh, he knew the scriptures and he used them well. The day after the visit by this entourage, Jesus appeared on the scene. Would that have been coincidental? What do you think? When John saw Him he must have been so excited, knowing that he had been on the right track, stunned to think that this awesome man of God should appear here with him.  He shouted out: “Behold the Lamb of God!”

Now, that phrase is only used twice in the Bible, both times in the first chapter of the gospel of John. He’s the only one who used that expression, but he gave no explanation as to why he used it. At least the Gospel of St. John didn’t record an explanation. Perhaps he had been talking to the people about the need to repent, reminding them of the rule requiring them to offer the sacrifice of a pure firstling. Quite often this was a lamb. They didn’t just come to John the Baptist to be baptised, they came to hear him speak and teach the Word of God.  It would naturally follow in the conversation to use the expression and tie it in with the topic of repentance. It was a comparison the people could understand. Perhaps they had discussed how God had provided for Abraham when things seemed hopeless, hoping that somehow the Messiah He had promised would soon show up. We don’t know.

John the Baptist told the people that he did not know Jesus. They were cousins! How could he not know him? It is unclear why he said that—perhaps he meant that he really didn’t know him, or simply that he had not recognized before who Jesus really was or the role He was to play in the salvation of the human race. It was through the working of the Holy Spirit that he understood the nature of the man who had come to be baptized, the enormous task that He was to fulfil.

I can well imagine the conversation that followed his proclamation of the ‘Lamb of God’, and after the settling of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus. How excited the people must have been. Hope would have been spelled with capital letters. No doubt John and Jesus had a lot of questions fired at them and people wouldn’t want to go home.

The sequence of events is a bit difficult to follow. However, the Bible tells us that in the course of his ministry, John rebuked Herod, the frightening one, named Archelaus, because he had married his niece, who was his brother’s wife.  Marrying a brother’s wife, while the brother was still living was forbidden by Mosaic law. John judged this king according to the law he knew, laws given by God. Herod of course, didn’t like being told off and threw John in prison.

When Jesus heard that John was in prison, he returned to Galilee, perhaps to be near to give comfort and support to John. The Bible simply says that when Jesus heard that John the Baptist had been thrown into prison, He returned to the region of Galilee, living in Capernaum which is close to the area of Zebulun and Naphtali. Even this location had been foretold, and Matthew once again made the connection to a prophecy found in Isaiah which talked about a people in the land of Zebulun and Naphtali  living in darkness and seeing a great light.  From this point onward Jesus began his ministry in earnest, continuing the theme of repentance started by John and elaborating upon it by telling the people that the kingdom of heaven was at hand.

Jesus knew His time on earth was limited and that He had a lot of teaching to do. He began to pick the men who would follow him.

Shortly after Jesus’ return to Capernaum, He was walking by the Sea of Galilee. He wasn’t alone.  A crowd of people followed Him and He was chatting with those nearest while others pushed to hear what He was saying.  It would have been so interesting to be there. The conversation was no doubt of a spiritual nature, but they may have had some laughs together too. Jesus wasn’t always serious but the conversation would always be redirected to what was nearest and dearest to His heart. It was before ten o’clock in the morning according to the Gospel of John. By this time the crowd had grown large enough that Jesus needed space to talk to everyone present. It probably happened like that a lot, but this particular day was to be a special one.

 There were a couple of boats pulled up on the shore and so Jesus stepped inside one and asked the owners to row Him out into the water a little way so that He could speak to the people without being crowded. Later that morning He suggested they row out to deep water and let down the nets for a catch. Of course He had a plan, and He wanted to hear their reaction. They didn’t fail Him.

“Master, we’ve been fishing all night, from all sides and we haven’t caught a thing,” they told Him. Then they hastened to add “But if You would like us to, we’ll do it.” They did and the rest of the story is, as they say, history. The net was so full they had to call other fishermen to help them bring it into shore. They recognized the miracle. He invited them right then to join Him and promised He would teach them to become ‘fishers of men.’ Have you ever wondered how long it took to convince the fishermen?  Would Jesus have simply said “Follow me” and that’s what they did? Somehow, I expect that the men would have recognized an amazing opportunity, but they did have homes and families and they would have to be clear as to what Jesus expected of them. They would need to be reassured that their families would not be neglected.

Andrew, one of the owners of the boat had been a disciple of John the Baptist. He had heard him call Jesus the Lamb of God. This piqued his interest. Curious, he had gone to hear Him preach, excited to hear another prophet preach the same message that John had preached and since John was in prison, he decided he wanted to hear more from this man. He had called his brother, Simon, to come and listen to Jesus preach His message of repentance, telling him they had found the Messiah.  As it turned out, instead of standing in the crowd and listening, it was their boat that He chose to step into to address the crowd.

Later that day Jesus met James, the son of Zebedee and his brother John and these men too, He invited to join Him to become His disciples. This was the same day that He called Andrew and Simon. And the Bible tells us they left their boats and nets and their father and went away with Jesus.

Was it coincidence that Jesus came upon these men or was it by God’s design? The Bible doesn’t tell us, but when God has a plan, nothing happens by accident. Jesus went out looking for those men. He already knew the role Peter would play in establishing the Christian church and so He told him, “You will be called Cephas” which means “Peter”, the Rock.

Have you ever wondered where Jesus lived? He didn’t spend his time camping outdoors with no roof over His head.  At the time He called the two brothers, He may have been boarding with someone in the village, or staying with a friend, but Peter invited Him to stay with his family and it was Peter’s home which became the centre of operations for Jesus work. When He was in Capernaum, He did stay there, and if people needed Jesus, they would contact Peter.  Whenever He travelled, He would not be short of invitations to stay overnight and His disciples as well. People would be thrilled to care for them, and awed when He accepted.

The next disciple to be hand chosen was Phillip. John is the one who tells us this story. You must understand.  These men weren’t all chosen at one time.  As he hand-picked his followers, Jesus travelled around the area, speaking and teaching and people flocked to hear Him speak.  Phillip had a friend, Nathaniel whom he tried to convince that the Messiah had come.  Nathaniel was pretty sceptical.  “Nazareth?” he asked.  “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  But Phillip convinced him to come and give it a try.

When Jesus saw the men approaching He praised Nathaniel for being a true Israelite in whom there is nothing false.  Stunned, Nathaniel asked how he could possibly know that.

Let’s just stop here for a minute.  Think of an evangelist—for the sake of one we can all relate to, let’s take Billy Graham for example.  He’s coming to town and you want to go to hear him speak.  You’ve recognized that he has something special and he’s the talk of all the radio and television talk shows.  In fact, you’ve heard him speak but you’re not sure his preaching comes from the heart.  You figure he’s got a good speech writer in the wings. But your friend convinces you to come along and once inside the auditorium, the great evangelist walks down the aisle immediately and welcomes you. He invites you then and there to join his ministry because you are a person of integrity.

Wouldn’t you think this man was being just a bit too smooth, that he was laying it on pretty thick? If he needed help, shouldn’t he just advertise?

Nathaniel was a sceptic. He couldn’t believe that the little village of Nazareth could possibly produce anyone famous? We can relate to that. Who’d ever heard of Stirling until Rob Ray and Matt Cooke? Who’d ever heard of Belleville until PK Subban hit the ice? It happens.

And just when Nathaniel was about to turn away, Jesus told him He’d seen him while he was still under the fig tree before his friend Phillip called him. That convinced him. But here’s the question.  Did Jesus see Nathaniel as He was walking by, and made a note to invite him? Did He make a mental reminder to inspire Phillip to bring Him along? Or did He see Nathaniel in His mind, as God sees?  And how would He know that Nathaniel was an upright man?  Divine intervention would be the answer in each case here.

Would you be convinced if Billy Graham explained that he’d seen you plowing in your field before your friend called you? Would you accept his word for it that he knew you were just the person he was looking for?  Probably. God would work in your heart in exactly the same way He worked in Nathaniel’s heart.  You would accept his explanation especially if he’d walked down the aisle to meet you specifically before the evenings’ event had even begun, he walked down to meet you because he wanted your skills. He knew when he first saw you.

So it was with Nathaniel.   Jesus was hand-picking a special group of men, each one chosen because God directed Him to do so.

It’s still that way, you know. The Bible tells us that God knew us before we were formed in the secret places. He knew us and He had a plan for us—He still has a plan for us. Is it by coincidence that we are where we are at this given moment?  Are we lucky?

I think not. Luck doesn’t fit into God’s plans.  Every sermon we hear and ponder, every devotion we read, the religious songs we sing or the books we read, every time we study and understand something new in the Bible, we come closer to understanding who we are in relation to who God wants us to be. Most of us probably won’t exclaim out loud that Jesus is the King of Kings, the son of God. Lots of us have difficulty talking about Him to others. But if He calls us to do so, He will empower us.

The people of Jesus time had a tangible human being, a person they could listen to and talk to.  We don’t. We’re not even sure if the healing that happens to someone we know, or the ‘lucky’ chance that happened to keep us safe in an extreme situation was just luck or a miracle. Do we recognize miracles? Do we let people know we recognize them?

Think about the time Jesus was at a friend’s wedding in Cana.  He had been teaching and preaching and had already chosen six men to be His close followers. Jesus’ mother had been invited and He and His disciples had been invited also. These feasts could go on for days, according to the wealth of the family. In this particular incident, Jesus’ mother came hurrying to Him and told Him the wine was gone, could He maybe do something. She had faith in her son and knew there was something He could do—she didn’t know what, but she knew He would help.

Jesus’ response was “Dear woman, why do you involve me?  My time has not come yet.” Was he exasperated with his mother when he addressed her as ‘dear woman’? Is He exasperated when we ask for things?

ou would accept his explanation exactly the same way He worked in Nathaniel’ nd His disciples as well. uld h a friend, but PeteMore likely he was speaking to her fondly. He knew that she knew there was nothing too difficult or too unimportant for Him to take care of.  And there isn’t.  We can ask for the tiniest thing.  Nothing is too difficult or beneath His dignity.

And so He simply set to work. He instructed the servants to fill all the stone water jars standing nearby. Each one of these jars was capable of holding twenty to thirty gallons. They must have wondered, but they did it—someone must have taken leadership because of the tone of authority in Jesus’ voice, the confidence of His manner.  And when they tested it, it was wine.

The people were ready, anxious to believe that this man, who spoke so eloquently and knowledgeably about God’s purpose and redemption, was the lamb that God had promised. They wanted to accept Him as the provision of God.

God still calls us. He has things for us to do and He’s waiting for us to show up, just like Nathaniel. There’s nothing He won’t do for us—nothing too difficult or too small. He will tend to all our needs—all of them. What He asks is that we bring them to Him in the first place and that we leave ourselves open to understanding where He wants us to go or how He wants us to deal with each situation in our lives and in our church. That’s what the calling of today looks like.

Amen

And Jesus increased in wisdom, in stature and in favour with God and man. Thus ends the Biblical account of Jesus’ early years.

 We know by these verses that He grew taller as all normal, ordinary teenagers do, that His wisdom increased (He didn’t supernaturally know everything from birth even though He astounded the teachers in the temple.  It was His questions and insight that left them with their mouths open), and we know that people loved Him.  We know also that He was loved by God. It is safe to assume He was a good big brother but the Bible doesn’t say so, nor do we know anything else about His growing up years because they had no effect upon His ministry.  We could have had accounts of the games He played, or the teenage get-togethers He attended,  or what His marks were like in school, but they are not there. We know  He was a good son, because after His experience in the temple with the teachers, the Bible tells us He went home with Mary and Joseph and was obedient to them. 

After Jesus’ encounter in the temple, the Bible picks up chronologically to report on John the Baptist.  You remember he was Jesus’ cousin, born about six months earlier than Jesus.  We don’t know if the boys ever came together, or how long Zecharias and Elizabeth lived after he was born.  We know nothing about him other than that an angel told his parents that he was on the way, and the same angel told Mary that her aged cousin was expecting a baby and already in her sixth month.

John’s ministry is an important and necessary introduction to  Jesus’ ministry.  In the ancient Near East, it was customary to send a representative ahead to prepare the way for the visit of a monarch.  The picture we see here, in our scripture reading is of a processional highway being prepared for the Lord Jesus. It was a simile the people would understand. John didn’t start preaching just because he liked his cousin, or because he wanted people to follow him.  His teachings came to him as they did to the prophets before him—they were the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Many of the books of prophecy begin ‘the word of the Lord came to….”   And that’s what we find about John the Baptist in Luke’s account as well.

The Bible tells us that the word of the Lord came to him ‘in the desert’ but does not elaborate upon why he was there.  Perhaps he’d made a home there to prepare for the ministry he had been born to perform as a place of solitude. Many prophets and other people as well, went to the desert for solitude. If we turn to the book of Mark, we learn that he wore clothing made of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey, truly an ascetic.

John understood the Old Testament.  He knew the teachings of the prophets; he understood that many had foretold of the coming of Jesus.  (Micah 5:1,2; Is. 11:2; Is.61:1; Is. 7:14; Jer. 23:5,6; Deut. 18:15, Gen. 49:10;Is. 9:1-7) He understood too, the role he must play in preparing the way and he rose to the task, confident that he was doing the will of God and that God would be there for him when trouble arose. And so He was. At the end of his ministry, when John publicly rebuked Herod for marrying his niece,( his brother’s wife), he may have wanted to remain silent instead of speaking out. It would have been easier and he would have lived longer but throughout his adult life he chose the path of service to the God he praised and obeyed. And God gave him the strength to follow through to the end. We learn that Jesus went to visit him in prison, to sustain and encourage.

Many of the people to whom John preached became his followers and remained faithful to him even after Jesus’ resurrection.  Paul made mention of that in one of his letters concerning the discussions and arguments arising because some followed John the Baptist and some followed the risen Lord. As well, many of the people to whom he preached knew the Old Testament prophecies as well as he did, but none recognized the amazing events of Jesus birth as they related to the coming of the Promised One.

In the Old Testament times, before Jesus birth, people didn’t just die and not go anywhere.  They sought forgiveness, and atonement or reconciliation with God the same as we do today. They believed in God, they had faith that God was real, faith in what He could do, what He had done and what He will do. But their belief was not enough, and ‘I’m sorry’ didn’t bring about atonement. They had to offer to the Lord a blood sacrifice, an offering of a perfect animal.  As far back as Genesis, we read that Abel understood who God was and that it pleased Him to receive a blood sacrifice as an indicator of repentance. This blood sacrifice was an offering of a firstling, the purest of the flock or herd. So, in order for them to be forgiven, they had to offer, through the priest, a blood sacrifice for forgiveness and atonement.

John knew all these things and through the Holy Spirit, understood that the old ways were about to change. He started talking to the people, preaching repentance and a washing away of sin. Over and over he emphasized the need to recognize personal sin and to turn away from it. When people came to him in repentance, he sealed it by pouring water over them as a symbolic washing away of their dirtiness, or sin. The people understood baptism.  All around them, when Gentiles converted to belief in God, they were baptized as a symbolic washing away of the old life. It never occurred to the Jews that it also applied to them.

However, John did not stop with mere baptizing.  He told everyone he met, all the people he baptized that this baptism with water was only a temporary measure, that there was One coming who would baptize with the Holy Spirit, naming Him as ‘One whose sandals I am not worthy to unloose.” In fact, when Jesus came to him to be baptized, he protested that it should really be the other way around. In Matt. 3:13,14, we read this:  Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.  But John tried to deter him saying, I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?

He knew who Jesus was, he recognized His Messiah. But Jesus knew His own baptism had to happen to ‘fulfil all righteousness.’  This means He was consecrated to God and officially approved by Him.  We read an account of what the people saw and heard—a dove descended upon Jesus and a voice was heard saying: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” The dove, of course, was the Spirit of the Lord and the voice was the voice of God.  This occurrence is the one time in the Bible when Father, Son and Holy Spirit are present at the same time. This is the reason we do not read tedious accounts of Jesus teenage years. It is sufficient for us to know that God was pleased with His obedience to His task to be perfect, because He was to become the firstling, the sacrifice without blemish.

The public baptism of Jesus also announced the official beginning of His ministry. By His baptism Jesus completely identified himself with man’s sin and failure, becoming our substitute. By His baptism, he indicated to His followers that they needed to have their sins cleansed away. The giving of the Holy Spirit was not to overcome sin, because Jesus was already blameless.  It came to empower Him for the ministry He was to begin as the divine-human Messiah.

You see, Jesus was a Messiah, a Holy Messiah.  He had not come to deliver the people in the way they had anticipated.  He was not a military messiah and it was necessary to establish that from the outset. God told the people that Jesus pleased Him, that the people should listen to Him. Again I emphasize that this reinforces that Jesus was without sin—He had passed the first test and God was pleased with Him, which He wouldn’t be if there had been a blemish. You see, even if Jesus had done nothing more than  desire to disobey God He would have been sinning, because sinful desires are in themselves sin. But He didn`t. This is why stories and movies which turn to unreliable ‘news rags’ and gossip books are so dangerous.  The suggestion that He was tempted to sin in any way is wrong,–He  did have human emotions, but He was without the desire to satisfy those needs.

How is that possible you may ask? How can a human being experience intense emotions without feeling a desire to satisfy them?  The simple answer is that Jesus is God and so did not sin either by actions, words or deeds. You could argue that He had ample opportunity to do so without anyone knowing. But He did not sin. God was pleased with Him.

After He received the Holy Spirit, Jesus had one further task to do, one which was divinely intended. He had to prove that He could fulfil the end for which He had come, to meet and conquer the devil head on.  In preparation for this battle, Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights.  Most of us can’t fast longer than a week and by the end of this time even the rocks looked good enough to eat and Satan moved in slick and sibilant. He played upon Jesus human weakness, His hunger, just like he does with ours. But Jesus knew the scriptures and for each temptation He used the sword of the Spirit– the word of God. This is the same weapon we can use each time we are tempted.

  When Jesus reminded Satan that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God, He was quoting from Deut. 8.  In the same way that God led His people into the desert to humble them and test them to see what was in their hearts, whether or not they would keep His commands, so too was Jesus  led by the Holy Spirit into the desert to meet Satan face to face to see once for all what was in His heart and if He would resist the offers of Satan and be obedient to the will of God.

One other time in early history we read of a similar temptation—that of Adam and Eve. And whereas Adam failed the test and led the human race into sin, Jesus was faithful and remained pure and true to God  and by using the tools God provided, namely His Word, Jesus showed to us that even in our greatest temptation we can find help in God’s word. He is our living example .

At any time in His ministry or during His temptation Jesus could have used His supernatural powers to accomplish His purposes. That would certainly have won Him huge crowds. But He didn’t. He wanted nothing to do with magic. Magic doesn’t come from God and the perception would have been that He was associated with the devil. No, His purpose was to teach the people about the Kingdom of Heaven and make it so real that they would want to be included.  And He did it through the words He taught and the healing He accomplished.

We all know the outcome of the time of temptation, and here again, at the end of this episode we read that angels came and ministered unto Him. Satan walked away, defeated—for the time being. He hasn’t stopped; he’s still out there using his powers of persuasion, attacking God’s.

Jesus, the pure, unblemished firstling, walked away from Satan’s offer of power and glory and instead walked into a ministry of healing and teaching, preparing as He went, for the final sacrifice He would make.

After His baptism and temptation, Jesus returned to the region of Galilee because He had heard that John was in prison, and we can assume He visited with him and gave him courage. Everywhere He went, people loved Him, they were excited by His teaching and many people became his followers. Everywhere He travelled, he spoke in their synagogues.

Then He returned to Nazareth where His hometown received Him with a jubilant welcome. At this time, people still considered Him to be one who would lead them away from the tyranny of the Romans and what He was preaching excited them—a Kingdom of God, a Kingdom of heaven. They welcomed Him into their synagogue. The Bible tells us that He read from the scroll of Isaiah:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

This interested the people.  Luke tells us that the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were on Him and then He began to speak.

Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Surely you will quote this proverb to me: Physician heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.

The people continued to listen attentively, wondering, exchanging whispers with each other and reassuring themselves that He was indeed Josephs’ son, nodding pleasantly as they whispered and listened.

And then He continued.

I tell you the truth.  No prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years, and there was a severe famine throughout the land.  Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.  And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.

And with that He stopped reading. Jesus made it clear with this statement that God had helped others before who were not Israelites and implied that He would do so again. By including this story, Luke shows his own concern for the Gentiles. The people understood this from Jesus message too, but they missed the point that when Israel rejected God’s messenger of redemption, namely the prophets, God sent him to the Gentiles, and so it would be again if they refused to accept Jesus.

Imagine sitting here today, listening to me telling you to listen up, God was sick and tired of listening to your complaints and from now on He was going to pay special attention to the Muslims and the Buddhists and Hindus. You’d no doubt look at each other and remind yourselves that I was just an ordinary former resident of West Huntingdon who was elevating myself and pointing fingers.

They reacted in the same way that we all would—they threw Him out of the synagogue, drove Him out of the town and prepared to dump Him over a cliff. How He walked through that crowd is not explained by Luke, but He left Capernaum that day and went on His way to begin His ministry.

The Bible shows Jesus, just before His ministry was to begin, as a real person, a Son of God, well-loved by humans and by God. It reveals to us that He had pleased His father by remaining free from sin. The Bible also tell us that Jesus didn’t hold himself above the crowd, scorning baptism, but that He recognized the need to show the people that everyone needed baptism, we all need to have our sins washed away. By not scorning baptism, He also sanctified Himself by receiving the Holy Spirit and God`s blessing as the perfect sacrifice.

As we continue to walk through Lent, we must think about the sacrifice Jesus made for us. `Giving things up` has become a joke for many, doing so when it is convenient or when it serves a selfish purpose such as weight loss. But Jesus never turned from the path God had chosen for Him. He didn`t just give up bread, or chips or beer, when it suited Him.  He gave up His life so that we may enter heaven the moment our eyes close in death.

He did this for me, and for each one of you, of His own free will, with the help and comfort of the Holy Spirit.  We can`t be pure and without blemish, but if Jesus`sacrifice is important to us, we must go about our daily lives trying to be as pleasing to Him as we can, so that when it is our turn to die, He will say, `This is my beloved friend. Welcome. I am well pleased and satisfied that you are mine. When the time comes I will stand with you before my Father`s throne.  Amen

Other Astonishing Events in Jesus’ Early Life

It is often said, in times of discussion or dissent concerning an issue in Scripture that the Bible was written by man.  Do you argue with this? How should you respond?

The common reply is: “Yes, but it was inspired by God.” And so it was, but what does that mean? The next few lessons will take a look at this by beginning with the reading of the events which occurred when Jesus was born. 

To begin, we cannot use one single gospel to get the whole picture.  It is important to use all four gospels to fill in all the blanks and get as complete a picture of Jesus’  life as possible.  We begin with the Gospel of Luke, a man well educated in Greek culture, a physician by profession, a companion of Paul at various times from his second missionary journey to his imprisonment.

Luke directs his writings to a man named Theophilus.  The title ‘most excellent Theophilus’ indicates that he was an official of high position and wealth, possibly Luke’s patron, the man responsible for seeing that the writings were copied and distributed.  Luke wrote to strengthen the faith not only of his patron, but of all believers and to answer the attacks of unbelievers, to displace disconnected and ill-founded reports about Jesus. Today, Christian authors are doing the same with books and movies like ‘The DaVinci Code.’

 In his opening paragraph he writes: “Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.  Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.”

Luke, the well-educated doctor, carefully investigated eyewitness reports before presenting his file to Theophilus for publishing and distribution.  He checked everything out meticulously before he put pen to paper. He wanted it published and he wanted it accurate.  This was to be no tabloid publication because it was to be used for teaching.

It is in Luke that we read the account of the birth of John the Baptist.  Zechariah and Elizabeth were of priestly origin and had no children for Elizabeth was barren.  At the appointed time, Zechariah was performing his priestly duty of attending the incense within the temple.  While he was there, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar. Notice the detail Luke puts into his story. The angel  told Zechariah that their prayers had been heard and Elizabeth would bear a son who would be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel would be brought back to the Lord because of him. 

Zechariah and Elizabeth were well along in years and so Zechariah did not believe the angel, who identified himself as Gabriel. And so, because of his unbelief, Zechariah was struck dumb until the day of the baby’s birth.

Following this message, Gabriel next visited Mary, promising her she would give birth to a son who would be called the Son of God.  And then Gabriel told Mary that her relative Elizabeth was already in the sixth month of her pregnancy.  He was a busy messenger. The next time Gabriel appears is when he speaks to the shepherds in the field, and brings with him the heavenly choir of angels. All of this is recorded in Luke.

Inasmuch as he was able, Luke verified all of the stories.  According to historical events mentioned in the Gospel, it is believed that he wrote it somewhere between the years 59-63 A.D. Now, if we accept the Gregorian calendar as beginning at the time Jesus was thought to be born, Mary, the very young mother, sixty years later would probably have been in her mid-seventies.  If she no longer lived, most of her other children certainly would still be alive.  Dr. Luke could definitely have gone to them to hear their accounts and prepared his report from their stories.

So far, we have interviews and stories collected by an ordinary human being.  However, not too many doctors care to write books about anything other than medical knowledge to teach others interested in that topic.  The inspiration to write as concise and correct an account of Jesus’ life came from God.  By the working of His holy spirit He directed Luke’s thinking, filling his mind with questions, guiding him to the people who would have the answers.

To get the next significant event that occurred we turn to the Gospel of Matthew.  Scholars agree that this author was one of the disciples of Jesus and that he wrote his journal in the late fifties possibly in the seventies or later and that would make him a very old man. His writings copy Mark and Luke, hence the difficulty in deciding when his gospel was written.  While Luke wrote to teach his patron and all readers, Matthew wrote to prove to Jewish readers that Jesus is their Messiah.  He did this primarily by showing how Jesus in his life and ministry fulfilled the Old Testament Scriptures, giving texts as proof where he could.

Matthew is the only one who records the events of the visit of the Magi.  He writes only that these rich men came from the east, naming them Magi. It is commonly believed that these men came from Persia, which is modern day Iran. The Bible does not call them kings, nor does it anywhere give their names as Belthazar, Melchior and Caspar.  The Bible does give us clues as to who these men were.

Magi appear in the book of Jeremiah, where the prophet mentions a man by the name of Nergal-sharezer, a magi.  They also appear in the book of Daniel. They were very skilled in astronomy and were greatly preoccupied with astrology, divination and occult practices. According to the historian Herodotus, they were probably Medes, an ancient culture of Babylon and from the Babylonian to the Roman empires they maintained a place of tremendous prominence and significance in the Orient, serving in a powerfully influential capacity as advisors to royalty.  In the second chapter of Daniel he names them ‘astrologers, magicians and soothsayers.’ In fact, because Daniel was able to interpret the kings’ dream and they couldn’t, he was appointed chief over all the astrologers, magicians and soothsayers, namely ‘magi’.

Daniel, because he was a devout man no doubt influenced these magi to know about Jehovah God. These men also intermingled with Jews and intermarried with them, thus becoming very familiar with their history and their prophecies.  So powerful were these magi that no Persian could become king until he had mastered the scientific and religious discipline of the magi, and he had to be approved and crowned by the magi. During the time of Daniel, King Darius desired to have a national religion so he chose Zoroastrianism because of its emphasis upon astrology, so these magi had a choice of following Zoroaster, the ancient beliefs of the magi, or the religion of the Jews and as learned men, they would have made their choices after careful study of what each religion had to offer. That in a nutshell, is the history of the wise men, the Magi who came to visit Jesus.

We can’t know for certain, but the length of time it took them to get to Jerusalem, possibly by camel, (again, Matthew doesn’t tell us) gives an idea of the origin of their journey.  The star which they followed was not seen by anyone else, so it is not recorded anywhere else. Just as the pillar of fire led the Israelites by night, and a cloud led them by day, this star led these learned men ever westward. The Bible doesn’t even tell us how many of these wise men there were.  It only tells us that they brought three different gifts. 

Matthew, as was Luke, was meticulous in his report.  He tells that the visit of these men to the kings’ court led to consternation not only in the palace, but in the city of Jerusalem as well. Herod would have recognized them for the great men they were. The Bible tells us that when King Herod heard their news he was disturbed and all Jerusalem with him. It wouldn’t take long for word to spread.  Servants, travellers, courtiers–all would have seen these men arriving at the palace and do their best to find out why they were there and pass the news along.  To the Jews in Jerusalem it would be an amazing revelation that the King of the Jews had been born.  To others it would be a juicy item of political interest, curiosity rampant as to who this usurper to the throne was and how his birth had remained a secret.  There were no doubt many who would have remembered the story of the angels’ visit to the shepherds and their night time journey to Bethlehem, and they would have wondered.

The ruler at that time was Herod the Great, a non-Jew, appointed by the Roman Senate. He was a ruthless leader.  His reign was noted for splendour, as is seen in the many theaters, amphitheaters, monuments, pagan altars, fortresses and other buildings he erected or refurbished, including the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, begun in 20 B.C. and finished 68 years after his death. Upon hearing that a ‘king’ had been born, Herod turned to his wise men, who turned to scripture, to the words of the prophet Micah, which had been spoken seven hundred years earlier.  Herod’s wise men, his chief priests and teachers of the law, knew the scriptures well.  It didn’t take them long to put their fingers on these words:  “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah’ for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.”

Matthew then goes on to tell us that Herod spoke secretly with the wealthy visitors, inviting them to search carefully and bring back news of the child and where he was so that he too could bring gifts. Imagine his chagrin and anger when he realized the visitors were not only wealthy, but they were also smart, obedient to the words of the angel.  They did not return to tell Herod.

Matthew was also meticulous to record that the magi visited Jesus in a house, not the stable, leaving their expensive gifts with the family. Warned by an angel, Gabriel perhaps, not to go back to Herod, they returned home by a different route.  Joseph, also warned in a dream by an angel of the Lord, uprooted his family immediately and fled to Egypt. Herod the ruthless murderer, responsible for the murder of his wife, his three sons, his mother in law, his brother in law and many others, thought nothing of murdering babies less than two years old, expecting that this ‘king’ would die too.  Little did Herod know it, but this very act had been foretold by the prophet Jeremiah.  We can find it in Jer. 31:15—“A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more.”

After Herod died, an angel informed Joseph in a dream that it was safe to leave Egypt because Herod was dead. A second angel visitation warned him that it would not be safe to settle in Judea because Herod’s son was even more cruel and tyrannical than his father, so he took his family and settled in Galilee in a town called Nazareth. Jesus would have been about four years old by this time.

Okay, so you say this is all very interesting, but so far, everything is words, written by a man, with one of those men one who probably copied two other writers.

Well, yes, except he was the only one who told the story of the Magi.  He must have done the research for that story himself, or, in his travels he heard it and it impressed him enough to write it down.  Matthew made the connections. He brought in the prophecies and understood that some of them were being fulfilled in his lifetime.  He understood the significance of the visit of the Magi. He corroborated many things by saying, “Thus was fulfilled…..” and refers to prophecies in the Old Testament. After all, his purpose was to convince Jews that Jesus is their Lord and Saviour. He wrote the words. Of course.  Humans are God’s instruments in many acts that come from the Holy Spirit. God uses our hands to bring healing, to make things for others. He uses our minds to create new medicines, new prostheses, new tools and machinery, new ways of saving our planet.  God also uses our feet to take us to the homes, streets and countries where He sees the greatest need.

 But how is it that we know how to interpret the messages the Holy Spirit is giving to us?  How do we make the connection from an idea to a finished project? How do we know that what we do comes from God? How is it that Matthew,  and  Luke and the others chose to write about the specific things they did write about?  Who put the questions into their minds, who directed their paths so that they would meet up with people who would share the stories with them?

Nowadays, when an author witnesses or reads about a particular event that piques his interest, he claims it as his own, and adds it to his notes on ‘stories I’d like to tell’. It appears that Matthew and the other writers of Scripture did the same thing because their hearts were so full for God’speople.

We return to the Gospel of Luke.  He is the only one to record the event of Jesus’ presentation at the temple, after his circumcision and naming. Luke tells us of old Simeon who had been promised by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.  Luke tells us that the Holy Spirit prompted Simeon to go to the temple on the day that Joseph and Mary brought the baby. Some would say he was lucky to be there, but Luke was convinced that Simeon was directed by the Holy Spirit.  As he held the baby in his arms, he prophesied that Jesus was destined to cause the fall and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that would be spoken against so that the thoughts of many hearts would be revealed. 

Also in the temple at that time was an elderly widow, Anna, who also recognized the infant Jesus, and told all who would listen to her that this child would bring about the redemption of Jerusalem. From here, the  Bible reports that Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and men. In other words, he grew as any normal boy would grow, and  He was well-liked by all, especially by God.

The only other event that is recorded of Jesus’ boyhood concerns a trip to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of the Passover. The feast itself was not important, but the fact that Jesus stayed behind and had serious intellectual conversation with the teachers, was very important.  They were astounded by His knowledge.  While He talked, His earthly parents searched for three days for him. How frightened they must have been. Although Jesus would have been sorry that he caused his parents to worry, it was more important to him to be about his Father’s business in his Father’s house. And Luke says that after this, he returned to Nazareth and was obedient to his parents. Mary kept all these events in her heart and thought about them. 

These writings that we have in the Bible were not the only stories or letters ever written.  There were others, but their information was unreliable, often incorrect, they were of no importance, or they had no significance whatsoever to Jesus’ ministry or to the furthering of our knowledge of God and His purposes. The men who sifted through ancient letters and records, prayed over each piece they read and discussed, deciding as teams which ones could be left in the slush pile and which ones would be canonized (something which is accorded sacrosanct or authoritative standing ). Nothing that they read and discussed was done lightly.  All of it was done through prayer for the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

If you have experienced the work of the Holy Spirit in your life, it is easy to accept that the Scriptures are indeed holy and inspired by God.  If no great spiritual happening has ever occurred, it will be your faith in God that will lead you to believe that they were written through His inspiration. If your faith is weak, or if the faith of the person with whom you converse about scriptural matters is weak of faith, it is important to search the scriptures, to pray and to find Christian authors who can guide and teach you.  In 2 Peter 1:21 we read the following:  “Above all you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

And nothing in God’s Word can ever be changed or rewritten.

Amen.

New Testament: Luke 2:1-20

Envy the Shepherds

We just finished reading Luke’s account of the visitation to the shepherds.  No doubt you have read and heard this story many times over your lifetime. Most of us could repeat it pretty much verbatim and we’ve all seen the pictures.  But have you ever put yourself inside the picture?  Let’s take a look.

Who were the shepherds really?  Google has a wealth of information about shepherds at the time of Jesus birth. I quote:

Tending flocks, with agriculture, formed the basis of the Palestine economy, and sheep raised on the hillsides around Bethlehem may well have been destined for temple sacrifices in Jerusalem, only six miles to the north.[1]

Jeremias describes a shepherd’s life: “The dryness of the ground made it necessary for the flocks of sheep and cattle to move about during the rainless summer and to stay for months at a time in isolated areas, far from the owner’s home. Hence, herding sheep was an independent and responsible job; indeed, in view of the threat of wild beasts and robbers, it could even be dangerous. Sometimes the owner himself (Luke 15:6; John 10:12) or his sons did the job. But usually it was done by hired shepherds, who only too often did not justify the confidence reposed in them (John 10:12-13).”[2]  end quote

Shepherds had a bad name, and good shepherds, as is always the case, felt the negative vibrations sent their way by people who painted them with the same brush as the bad ones. Of course, there were good shepherds, but on the whole, they had an unsavoury reputation.  According to a variety of sources, they were despised and treated as second class citizens, their job a menial vocation for the labouring class.

Because shepherds lived far away from home, distant from the owners’ watchful eye, it was not uncommon for them to offer lambs for sale to pilgrims on their way to the temple to worship—lambs that belonged to their master and stolen for the money they would bring. In fact, it was forbidden to buy milk, wool or a kid from a shepherd on the assumption that it would be stolen property. Not only did the shepherds steal the lambs and sell them, but they lied to the owner, saying that they had died at birth or that wolves had killed them.

These were the shepherds of Jesus’ time.  Now of course, nowhere in the Bible does it tell us what kind of people the shepherds were to whom the angels appeared, but it stands to reason that the possibility is great that some among them were not all that honest.

Shepherds lived in the fields, probably in tents, perhaps in temporary shelters, possibly under the stars. Personal hygiene may not have been an issue and in some cases, the shepherd slept among his sheep to guard against thieving from the others. On the night of the particular event of Jesus birth, they were going about their business as usual. The sheep were in their folds, dinner was probably finished, the campfire burning.  Perhaps they were chatting quietly, or playing a game.  Perhaps they were gambling. At any rate, it was to be an evening they would never forget and it would change their lives forever.

They may not have noticed the sky becoming lighter at first.  The angel may not have appeared suddenly, but the Bible tells us in the Old Testament when he appeared to Daniel, centuries earlier, Daniel described his arrival as ‘swift flight’. However he arrived, when the shepherds became aware of his presence, they were terrified. Wild beasts they could fight, but this—this tore them up, it frightened them out of their wits and they hid their faces because there was no place to run.

Did he thunder?  Did he shout? What did Gabriel’s voice sound like? Was it strong and deep, or soft and gentle?  How did he calm their fears?  How did he convince them to look at him?  What did they see? The Bible says he spoke to them: “Fear not.”  Did he sit down with them or stand before them; did he touch them on the shoulders one by one?  How long was it before they would look at him? His joy would be infectious—they would be unable to listen and not feel it.

Where were the rest of the angels?  Luke says ‘suddenly’ there was with the angel a host of heavenly beings. Did they appear suddenly, or were the shepherds suddenly aware of them because they had been focusing on Gabriel? You know, when you’re at the theatre or some show, you focus on the person who is centre stage and don’t notice the choir, or actors or others as they silently file in under cover of a darkened stage. At the appropriate moment, the lights go up and you become aware of them.  Perhaps it was that way with the heavenly host. Maybe they had they been humming in the background, gradually getting louder until Gabriel was finished delivering his message.  Did they all appear at once or were they revealed row by row as if panned by a camera?  How big is a host of angels?  What did the music sound like?

Angels are beings created by God before the creation of the earth.  They have always been with Him, praising Him and doing His will. All the angels that have ever been created are in heaven right now, or going about their business.  They have eternal life. There will never be more angels created.  We’ll never become angels because the Bible tells us that God created us a little lower than the heavenly beings (Ps. 8:5). Their duties include being messengers, encouraging, (Acts 27:23,24) carrying the dead to heaven, (Luke 16:22) guiding (Acts 8:26), guarding and protecting as well as doing many other things.  Since Adam and Eve they had been caring for God’s people, encouraging, ministering, watching.

We can’t see angels–onlywhen God wants them to be revealed. In his letter to the Hebrews, Paul wrote to them not to forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. It would be interesting to know if they would reveal their true nature at any time. But they do report to God on a regular basis.  It is recorded so in the Bible. For instance, in the book of Job we read in Chapt. 1:6—“One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord.... and in Ps. 89:7 “in the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared; he is more awesome than all who surround.”

There are not a lot of records of people who have actually spoken with angels but there are a few.  Elijah comes to my mind when he fled to Horeb because he was afraid of Ahab.  He was so afraid he wanted to die but an angel woke him up, and told him to eat the food he had prepared for him. In fact, he came back a second time to make sure Elijah had eaten and drunk enough to keep him going on his journey.

One of the most amazing stories in the Old Testament is the story of Elisha and his servant, Gehazi.  You can read it in 2 Kings 5. Elisha had kept the king of Israel informed of the whereabouts of the Arameans, foiling them time and again in their attempts to capture the Israelite king.  Finally the King of Aram sent an army with horses and chariots and surrounded the city where Elisha and Gehazi were staying.  In the morning when Gehazi looked outside for the first time, he trembled with fear and asked Elisha what they should do. 

Then Elisha answered, “Don’t be afraid.  Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”  The he prayed, “O Lord open his eyes so he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he look and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”  You can read the rest of the story yourself in 2 Kings 5.

So, you see, it is not uncommon for humans to see angels here on earth.  But no one, in recorded history, has heard the angel choirs sing.  I think Handel was inspired when he wrote the Messiah, and also Vivaldi when he wrote the Gloria.  That piece of music, above all else, helps me to have a tiny idea of what that angel choir must have sounded like. . Except, our stages are not big enough to have a ‘host’ of voices! Vivaldi had the words, the melody and the musical accompaniment.

It must have been a spectacle that night.  The angels were so happy that Jesus had finally arrived to begin the chain of events that would bring final peace to the world. They may have prepared for that night for a long time.

At any rate, humble, despised, illiterate men can still appreciate the beauty of thousands of voices and musical instruments singing praises to God. They would be aware of the magnitude of what they were seeing. I can picture the tears streaming down their faces as they stood there and watched and listened. As with any amazing performance, they probably didn’t want it to stop, waiting silently until the last note had faded away, and the stars once more twinkled and shone.

How do you resume normal conversation after such an experience?  Maybe they talked in whispers at first, perhaps they all started talking at once.  They knew they had to get to Bethlehem and find a stable.  The sheep were safely in their folds.  They would trust God to look after them after treating them to such a show.  So away they hurried, perhaps all together, or setting about the task of splitting up and systematically visiting every barn in the village.  And they would be asking questions.  They would shout out the news, they’d be so excited and the whole village would be up in arms—even all the visitors who had come from far away to be counted in the census. It probably didn’t take long before the whole village was up and about, excited to find out where this amazing baby was, and who he was and who his parents were.  Within days, the story would have spread to surrounding towns and villages.  Jerusalem was a mere five mile walk away and people visiting friends and relatives would tell the story.  Imagine the headlines if they’d had newspapers or television!

Every manger scene we have ever seen shows a few shepherds and the three wise men.  We know the wise men did not appear until sometime later, but the stable may also have been crowded with villagers eager to see the baby the angels had just sung about. The town crier would have been hoarse by the end of the night. The innkeepers’ wife may have been harried shooing well-wishers and nosy people away so Mary could rest. But they would keep coming.

Dont’ you wish you had been there?  Don’t you envy the shepherds seeing Gabriel and hearing the choir?  You know, historians tell us those men were a pretty rough lot, but it would be my guess that every single one of those illiterate, maligned sinners did a full 360 in their lives. All the way to Bethlehem they would have been talking. Right from the beginning, Jesus reached out to the meanest, lowliest, hurtingest people on earth and offered them salvation.  He didn’t verbalize it, but each of those men understood that they had witnessed a miracle and that they had been blessed by God.  And every single person who heard the story, couldn’t help but be affected by the obvious joy of those men.

Lucky men, you say.  How do they rate?  How come those things don’t happen to me? We can’t hear the voice of God. We don’t know what He’s telling us. We’d love to hear an angel choir singing and have an angel step up to us and tell us what we need to know. But it doesn’t happen. And anyway, how would our lives be different if we did get to see such a show? Would we be different?

 The shepherds hurried to Bethlehem, to see the baby.  We can’t do that, and even if we did there would be no baby. We can visit the Church of the Nativity.  It’s an ancient building that was erected over the site where it is supposed that Jesus was born. I remember Rev. Stan Self telling us how awesome it is to visit the holy land and walk and sit where so many familiar people walked and sat. If we went there, to sit or stand in that building would be a moving experience—but maybe it would be crowded.  You may have to book an appointment to have quiet time. But you would be touched. Even if it’s not the exact spot where He was born, the thought that you were close to it would have its impact—a humbling, a revelation of who you really are, the mirror you refuse to look into. The outcome of that experience could change your life.

But, really, we don’t go to Bethlehem. And angels don’t sit down and talk with us, nor do they sing for us.  We know about Bethlehem, and we can go to it in a spiritual way, humbled by the story of his birth.  It takes little imagination to put yourself in the stable, to walk the hills of Ephrathah with the shepherds and hurry with them over the miles to the village.

But why would you want to go there? Is there something you need, something missing in your life? He’s not there—He’s risen and in heaven waiting for us. What did it look like when the shepherds ‘worshipped’ Jesus. What is ‘worship’?  Did they kneel before him, did they pray, did they talk to Mary and Joseph? Did they feel His peace?

So often we talk, we pray, and nothing changes. Our prayers have a pattern, maybe even a mechanical sound, the words repetitive. We know there’s a deep need yet we can’t find the words. Still, Jesus reaches out to us, He touches us. Down through the ages millions of peoples’ lives have been changed because He does. There are no bright flashing lights, no explosions of sound, no singing. But they have felt peace—beautiful peace that cannot be described.

Don’t waste your life envying the shepherds. They, and later the villagers who knew Him, were blessed in a special way.  Jesus said this to Thomas after he put his finger in Jesus’ wounds:” Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” 

Stop and think about it for a minute.  Would your belief in Jesus be any different if you had witnessed the angel choir? A real living relationship with Jesus cannot be defined by mere words. He can be the best friend you never had, better than the best friend you do know, but don’t get hung up on the fact that you can’t see Him. He’s here, right beside you. Lives tend to be messy. Past hurts and anger hold us back. Secrets tear us apart. Jesus is calling and if you listen and pray you can hear His voice. It’s up to you to call back and let Him know you hear him, that you will do what He bids and then go and do it. There’s work for you to do for Him. Ask and He will direct you.

It works corporately too.  There was no angel choir to shake us out of our comfort zon, no nice angel to talk to us and say ‘Fear not’. There was only trouble, unhappy human relationships, negative feelings. Angels would have been so much nicer. We too have had a life changing experience and we are different. As a church community we have worshipped before Him in a way that we never did before. We have listened carefully in the last few years to hear the voice of Jesus and to understand His will concerning who we are and where we fit into His plan. We listen better now than we did ten or fifteen years ago. He called, and we responded and with His help, we are strong. So, at the portal of a new year, let us look outward with renewed desire to fulfil His plans for us and let us continue. Let us press on to know the Lord and be obedient to His will. There is more work for us to do—maybe we’ve only just begun. We can do it with Jesus help—we don’t need the angel choir. Envy the shepherds, then remember what it took to shake us up. Let’s do what Jesus is  calling us to do.

Amen

Honour the Lord Your God

Over the last two months, I have spoken on the topic of respect, beginning with respecting self.  It is a huge issue, the root of many of the social ills of today. A lot of people don’t like who they are. They’ve looked and don’t like what they see. Many people carry on just as before, making no changes. Once they acknowledge who they are and what’s not good about them, and once they understand that they need help, the people of the world turn to worldly people to help them.  Christians, on the other hand know that the only one who can help to fix all the things wrong with them, without judgment, is God.

It is difficult to keep in mind that who we are, body, mind and spirit, is God’s gift to us. We tend to lose sight of that. In light of that, it’s not okay to indulge, or to allow others to bully us, or to be a bully at work or at school.  In fact, the Bible tells us that we are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in us. It’s hard to understand how that can be so. We hurt, we suffer pain, we are angry—we have a multitude of not so nice things happening to us and when they do, we wonder where God is.  But He’s here, indwelling , waiting for us to turn to Him.  It naturally follows in my mind, that if our body is God’s temple, and He dwells within us, He’s never very far away, always ready to help. And, we don’t have to shout to get His attention when we need him. But, until we initiate the call for help, He’s just there, quietly loving us and wishing we would trust Him.

 It’s hard to let go of the idea that we can look after ourselves. And it’s even more difficult to share our innermost grief and worries with others or to ask them to pray for us.  In ancient times God’s dwelling place was in the Holy of Holies and that brought Him close to His people. In order to have any interaction the people had to come to Him, through the priest with requests and offerings. Now, because of Jesus, we can have conversation with God as often as we desire, but we must initiate the conversation and we must do the asking.  Then of course, we wait for His answer and do His will. In that way, inasmuch as our body is God’s gift to us, what we do with it, is our gift back to Him.

As we mature in respect for self, and begin the steps toward healing, we take more interest in the world around us, however it concerns us. We become aware of our responsibilities—to lead by example and to make a difference where we can. I also touched upon dealing with leaders who betrayed our trust, be they minister or Prime Minister. God calls us to be obedient, and also to pray for wisdom and guidance for our leaders, as well as for ourselves so that we know how to deal with leaders who do not deserve our respect. 

We move on now to discuss our relationship with God—He who dwells within us. As Christians, we acknowledge, along with other faith groups that He is the Creator of the universe, the Giver of Life to all living things. He is not to be treated with disrespect.  In Exodus 20 He told the people of Israel:

“I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  You shall have no other gods before me.” He made it clear as to who He was and what He expected. These commandments were not given to His people to put them under bondage.  They were meant to set them free.  God chose the people.  They did not choose Him. They hadn’t figured out what it looked like to be God’s chosen ones. So, He gave them a clear set of moral laws and then went on to describe many other things they should know to be sanctified, clean and happy.

Why would God tell His people they could have no other gods before Him?  Don’t you wonder about other gods?  Were they real? Was there more to them than just an image sculpted out of rock or mineral? In Bible study we learned that Satan, who was the angel with the distinguished task of watching over the throne of God, got ideas of grandeur.  He was not content to be second best.  He wanted it all, he wanted to be God. And so he set about doing that, getting himself kicked out of heaven while he did so and taking about one third of the heavenly host of angels with him.  And he went to earth to play King Satan.

 Think about the context for the Israelites at the time God gave them the Ten Commandments.  They had just spent 400 years in slavery in Egypt.  During that time many had taken on the gods of the people around them, the Egyptian gods—Osiris, Isis, Horus, Ra, Seth, Hathor—gods  of life, death, sun, evil storms and a mother goddess. After four hundred years, it would be difficult to believe in a God of all gods. And yet, there were those who worshipped the God of Adam and Eve. They knew of Him, and respected Him because  the stories continued to be handed down through the generations.

To the people of Israel, God was YHWH. Moses inquired of Him what to tell the people when they asked who had sent him. God told him he was to say ‘I Am’ had sent him. Later God referred to Himself as I AM Who I AM. But He has other names, Jewish words which describe who He is.  He is Elohim, Creator of all that exists, El-Elyon, God above all gods, Adonai, owner and master of all creation, El-Shaddai, creator and sustainer of life, Jehovah Jireh, sustainer to the faithful. All of these are names for God, attesting to His power and faithfulness to His people.

This is the God we worship, the God who cares for us.  The Westminster Shorter Catechism states that  “the chief end of man is to glorify God,¹ and to enjoy him forever.²”

First we glorify Him, then we enjoy Him. I stated earlier that we have been created in the image of God, that our bodies are His temple. We respect someone because we love them and vice versa. And when we love someone, we give them our best—we look to please them, we give them our best food when they come to dinner, they get the nicest mugs or coffee cups, the best chair in the house. We like to spend time with them, to call them on the phone or email them.  If they correct us in some way, we may get angry, but we get over it and we’re still friends.  When we need advice, we turn to our friends and expect them to come through for us.  What we don’t do is get so angry that the friendship is over. We value them.

Why is it so difficult for us to do the same for God?  Is it because we can’t see Him? We know who He is. We know what He has done in creation. Yet, all too often we give Him less than our best. We have a Sunday visit with Him and then don’t talk to Him again for the rest of the week.  Spending time with God is essential.  How else can we get to know Him and understand His word or know His will?  Think.  Do you start each day with a word of prayer—a few moments to connect with God?  Is it a natural part of your morning routine?  Do you read His word or a devotional? At the end of the day, do you thank Him for the good things and let Him know you had a great day, or not. Do you ask Him to bless your food before you eat? He wants you to, you know. 

It’s a reciprocating process.  When you are thankful, your heart overflows, you thank God and He blesses you.  He always rewards His people who are faithful.  His rewards don’t look like our idea of rewards—there’s not a windfall of money or anything.  At least not mostly.  But His blessings will be self-evident.  And, God does bless His people with financial success and is happy to do so. I had a discussion not long ago with someone who questioned the parable of the rich man wherein Jesus said it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get to heaven. But the Bible tells us in Prov. 10:22 that “The blessing of the Lord brings wealth and he adds no trouble to it.” The more you give to God, the more God gives to you in return.

Now, there is a caveat with that.  If you give to the Lord because you expect something back, God will know. If your money controls you, causes you to be covetous, he knows.  He searches us and knows our hearts. He will know if our offering is sincere and cheerful. He  is confident that the giver who has been blessed will return the blessing to Him in some way. It will be passed on to those who can benefit from it.  And then God blesses them more. He wants His people to be happy and to live in comfort.

There is much evidence in the Bible of God’s blessings. The Lord gives strength to His people.  The Lord blesses His people with peace. Ps. 29:10-11. Anyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.  For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Rom. 10:11-13. These name just two.  The list in the concordance under the word ‘blessing’ is long.

What then of the people who live in countries where tyranny abounds? How can those people bless God? What of the families who have many calamities visited upon them? Where is the blessing?  What of those on the streets, in abusive homes or relationships? How can they glorify God when they have nothing to give and are in fear for their life, or sick or poor?

For those who know Him and call on Him, their blessing is not in what they have, but in the comfort of knowing that God is with them, that He will sustain them and, in His time, will work their misery for His purpose for a good thing. We grow stronger in our adversity, through Him, and if we give God the glory even when we’re down, He will lift us up. Guaranteed. He never lets His people go.  It’s easy to blame God for the bad things that happen in our lives or to the people around us.  But this world is populated by people who make choices and each choice affects their relationship with God.  In Ps. 1:1,2,6—the psalmist writes this:  “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night.” Even when we’re in the deepest valley, we can bless God by acknowledging His presence and protection and we will be blessed.

 “You shall have no other gods before me,” God says.  What other gods?  What do we worship before we worship God? Could it be our children, our homes and cars, our possessions, our health? Are we putting our recreation or pleasure before God? Are the things of the world coming between us? Are we too busy?

You see, God is a jealous God.  He said so when He told us not to put other gods before Him. He expects to be first in everything we do and often, the truth is, we are too busy. It’s an old problem. In the Old Testament, in Haggai, we read this in the account of God’s call to build the house of the Lord.  I read from Haggai 1:7-11:  “This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.  Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honoured, says the Lord.  “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little.  What you brought home, I blew away.  Why?” declares the Lord Almighty.  “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.  Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops.  I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labour of your hands.”  God must be first.

There is nothing new under the sun. This was written around 520 BC. Even in those days the people were too busy for God and He let them know He was not pleased.  Things have not changed.  He does not want us to be too busy for Him. He expects us to be obedient and to take time for Him. There is a verse in Prov. 1:7—The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom but fools despise wisdom and discipline. The fear of the Lord.  We must take that seriously too. God has patience but when we turn our backs too often, He takes away our blessing.  Just the same as we do to our children. Life is not all blessings and roses.

It works like this.  We’ve been introduced to God.  We hold Him at arms’ length, allowing the minister to say the words to God.  Then we learn that we can pray, for ourselves. So we do. Carefully.  On Sundays only, trying to use big words.  Then we discover we can talk to God anytime, anywhere, respectfully. Then, we hear how much He loves us. At first ‘God loves us’ is only words. Easter is a routine, a ritual. But then things start to go wrong–we suffer heartaches because of a family member or friend. And God lets us know He understands because He suffers in the same way over all of us. And we begin to understand. Maybe we’ve never had a loving relationship with anyone including parent and it’s difficult to feel anything. But the more we reach out to Him, the more real His love becomes.

His love is real.  It is patient and kind and forgiving. He created us. He wants us to come close to him, to let our hang-ups and bad attitudes go. He wants us to feel His presence.

God wants us to glorify Him.  That means we give Him the glory in all things. Is your farm successful?  To God be the glory, not you. Oh yes, you have worked hard, but God blessed your work. Do you have work when others around you don’t?  You’re not lucky, you are blessed and so you tell people, that it is by God’s grace that you have a job. Is a sick family member getting better? It’s not good luck that they came to be in the hospital they’re in, when they did with the doctors who were on hand.  God had a hand in that. It was by His grace that it happened that way. We must give God recognition for all things He does for us. That’s giving Him the glory.

You know, it’s tough to give God the glory.  All too often, we say, ‘boy that was lucky’, when we really mean, “Wow. What a blessing.” More often than not, we are afraid to give Him the glory because we don’t want to sound like holy rollers.  Perhaps it’s not a Presbyterian thing to do, but I don’t think so.  Most of us come from different roots than Presbyterian and many of us didn’t grow up giving glory to God when we should have. What a blessing that He loves us.  In spite of our neglect, He is infinitely patient with us and keeps on loving us. Partly that is because He knows we don’t know how much we owe Him, or we don’t think about it because it wasn’t pointed out to us.

About 700 years ago the prophet Micah said these words: “O Man, what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God.” When we walk with our God, and give the glory to Him in all things, not only will we be blessed, but we will experience the peace that defies description and passes all understanding. And we shall be reassured that no matter what happens to us in this life on earth, He is there, within us, caring for everything that we need.

Amen

Question for the day:  What does God require of us? How must we interpret His laws as they relate to respect for others? Today, I will review the previous lesson and then move forward, referring regularly to scripture as I search for answers to some tough questions.

Questions: How can we be sure God loves us?

                  Must we honour those who treat us poorly?

                  What does God want us to do concerning false or faithless leadership?

                  How important is it that we do daily devotions?

The last time I spoke the lesson touched on the subject of self-respect and I submit that it is our God-given right and privilege to live in a world in which we are happy with who we are, as we relate to who God wants us to be, and to be respected by others. I would like to reiterate that He loves each one of us and that everything we do and say is important to Him.

Our world is full of people who are not happy with themselves and therefore have difficulty respecting others. They are the down-trodden, some visible, hiding behind the hoods of their sweatshirts, their long hair, their alcohol or drugs, and their crazy parties, but many more are invisible, smiling as they go about their day, but not smiling with their eyes. They are all too often the products of physical or verbal abuse from parents, teachers or bullies on the playground.  They are the ones who have heard words of criticism, rejection and ridicule so often they believe them to be true. They may be the ones who have difficulty learning simple lessons for a variety of reasons and because of repeated mistakes and negative responses believe they are just not smart enough to try anything.

What price for self-respect?  How much does it cost to praise someone for a good effort and to encourage them to keep doing so?  How much effort is required to suggest to a misguided soul that they try something different, to nudge them in the direction of jobs they do well and give help in the areas of their weakness? How difficult is it really to start reading God’s Word for our own learning or to share it so that others may learn and grow?

Think about it. None of it is difficult, yet all too often we forget to say those words of encouragement, we mind our own business as they struggle to please someone else or keep working in an unsuitable job in order to pay the bills. We don’t want to get involved in spite of the fact that we know they come home unhappy, lacking in the glow that follows a day at work in a job well done. All too often we’re too shy to suggest they start reading the Bible and to pray for spiritual guidance and support. It just sounds too geeky—it takes courage. We’re afraid they’ll laugh at us for suggesting it, or avoid us.

But if we want to respect others, or to have them respect us, we must share God’s Word, for their sakes and for our own. The Bible tells us we must. God knew it would build respect. You’ve heard the verses concerning the teaching of scripture many times—you probably know them by heart because I use them a lot—Deut. 4:6–…Keep these commandments upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. As I said a moment ago, God knows keeping His commandments builds respect.  But we don’t teach them enough, and in many homes, even though people may go to church, they are not taught at all. People are too afraid they will be rejected or made fun of. Ridicule causes pain, rejection wears people down because they are perceived as ‘weak’ for leaning on ancient words. But those words build the respect which everyone craves. When they are missing, and when others try to slip people into a slot that’s the wrong shape frustration is frequently expressed with angry words or blows.

Low self-esteem has a source and if it is not dealt with it grows and consumes us, causing us in our turn to lash out at others who are weaker.  And so a cycle begins and grows. People with low self-esteem treat others as they have been treated. As the saying goes:  “Little people belittle people.”  It is all they know. They have little respect for themselves and they do not know how to show it to others. The words they use, or the slaps or spankings are natural responses to everything life dishes out because it has been a natural part of their daily living. And so self-esteem and self-respect go hand in hand—how do I see myself and how well do I like what I see? For Christians, the other question is: Where does God fit into all this?  I will try to address that as I progress.

Moving forward, we take a look at respecting others which is directly connected to trust.  Consider this scenario. Two friends are sharing coffee and a quiet moment in one of their favourite hangouts.  During that time a story is told in confidence.  Weeks later, a well-meaning friend offers sympathy concerning the incident shared, revealing that the confidence has been misplaced, the secret is out. If it was your secret, and it embarrassed you or angered you that it had been told, how would you deal with it?  Should you talk about it with your friend? Definitely. Should you forgive?  Of course.  Will you trust him or her again? Probably, but something has changed and the degree of trust is not as it was before. In addition, a certain amount of respect for your friend has been lost. Once it is lost it is difficult to restore.

Respect is a responsibility for us as we raise our families. The Bible teaches us as parents to bring our children up in the training and instruction of the Lord. By failing to do so we give them the message that the world revolves around them and that consequences don’t happen. They in turn grow up to be self-centered, disrespectful adults who focus on themselves instead of God and they often lead others astray in their own wanderings. By instructing them in the love of God and the observance of His laws, we teach them to respect His will and open them to receive His grace. It doesn’t mean they accept it, or that they will live by it, but it will return to them as they mature, it will have an impact on their lives.

Respect is a responsibility for congregations and church leaders. In 1 Thess. 5:12 we read this: Respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. In 1 Tim. 5:17… we read: The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is in preaching and teaching.  For the Scriptures says, “Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain.” And “The worker deserves his wages.” Philippians 2:29 also says we are to honor them.

And yet, we must not follow our church leaders blindly.  While the Bible commands that we show respect for them and honor them because of their work, we must also publicly rebuke those who sin so that others may take warning. (1 Tim. 5:20). Public rebuke as we all know is a step that churches do not take lightly but Paul, in his letter to Timothy was well aware that some people in positions of leadership were not deserving of respect and definitely in need of redirection and discipline. )  In Romans 1:17… Paul wrote the following:  I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned.  Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naïve people…be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil.

We must show respect for our nations’ leaders because they are appointed by God. In Romans 13:1 Paul writes: Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.  The authorities that exist have been established by God. And further in 1 Peter 2:13-17 we read the following:  Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.  Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.  Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

So what do we do when our leader supports all the wrong issues? How do we deal with it if his idea of war and peace is different from our own, or civil rights or abortion or dealing with gang warfare and the drug trade? How can we respect and honor a leader who does not follow through on campaign promises or changes his platform in mid-stream or allows himself to be influenced by the wrong people?

The Bible clearly teaches that we must be obedient because God knows that we as people must have leaders. When our leaders make poor decisions or refuse to take a clear stance on important issues, we cannot simply follow blindly but by seeking God’s guidance through prayer, we can resist that which is wrong. Our simple act of prayer acknowledges that we know our leader is wrong and we care enough about the people in our country to pray for divine intervention and wisdom.  There is power in prayer and if churches and groups co-ordinate their prayer resources, much can be accomplished and we are being obedient to God.

Question number one of the Westminster Shorter Catechism ask this: What is the chief end of man? The response to that is: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever. When we teach our children about His love, we glorify Him, when we are obedient and do our best we also glorify God.  In 1 Cor. 6:20,31 we read the following:  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s…. Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Revelation 4:11. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

Let’s try to summarize this then.  Respect is not a simple topic. Firstly, we must take a look in the mirror and compare what we see within to what God expects.  If we are not sure what those expectations are, we turn to His Word or we talk to elders and leaders, we go to Alpha groups and Bible studies and Christian retreats—whatever it takes for as long as it takes. If what we see does not measure up to what God wants to see in us, we have to pray for His wisdom and guidance, read His word and make an effort to be obedient to His will. When we know that we are doing our best to obey Gods laws, we begin to respect ourselves.

In whatsoever we do we do it with the strength God provides so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 4:11)

We teach our children God’s laws, making them obedient to Him, letting them feel His love, and it pleases and glorifies Him.  It gives them the boundaries they need to grow up to be adults who love the Lord and who, by their words and actions, show others that they do.  Where God’s Word is shared and taught, there is love and where there is love, there is respect and honor.

We use God’s name when we talk with friends and acquaintances, and let our actions speak for us. All too often, out of respect for them, we mostly avoid religious conversations, but we shouldn’t because God’s word tells us that if we love our friends and families we will find a way to share His laws.

We must show respect for our church leaders because the Bible tells us to do so. We must give them honor because of the work they do, but if they fail to teach His laws, or sin in any way, they must be rebuked publicly so that others may learn from their mistakes and if it is necessary, we redirect them elsewhere, cautiously, so that others will not be plagued with the same problems we had to deal with.

Respect is our right and our privilege but it is also our responsibility. When you teach and encourage it, it will come back to you. When you live it, your glorify God and He fills you with the desire to be His child and to serve Him.  When you show it to people in authority over you, you teach that there are rules in life that need to be observed and dealt with.

Respect is a huge issue and it is not possible to cover it completely in one lesson or without being repetitious. But the beginning of respect for self and others is in the love of God. When we are His children, He doesn’t solve our problems for us, but encourages us to come to Him for help. When a church is firmly planted in God’s word and secure in His love, it is strong and filled with the spirit to reach out to others. When a country prays together and looks to scripture for answers it is strong and it is blessed. God must be first and foremost.

This is only the tip of the ‘respect’ iceberg. Many issues have not been addressed, nor can they be in one short sermon. But if, in our daily lives, we arm ourselves with the Word of God, we can face those issues and take a stand as they arise. As I read to catch up on back issues of the Presbyterian Record, I am encouraged by the readers who know Scripture and champion Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, the only way to Heaven, who respect God’s word and hold it dear to their hearts. But as I read on, I understand too, that many who call themselves Presbyterians do not hold fast to God’s word, nor do they respect Jesus as the only way to heaven and that causes conflict within our own ranks.

Know God. Know yourself and give God all glory and honor. The future of your family, our church and our country depend upon what you do out of respect for yourself and others.

What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever. In glorifying God we in turn are filled with His spirit so that we can live as citizens who respect ourselves and others.

Amen.

In one of the schools I supply teach in the day is started with announcements, as it is in many schools.  However, at the end of announcements, the reader says: “Remember everyone:  Respect—Give it…” And throughout the school you can hear the resounding response—“Get it!”

What a great way to start the day. Gage Canadian Dictionary defines it thus: respect—to honour and esteem. To honour means” to hold in high regard”.

It begins within us. Before we can respect others, we must respect ourselves. We would all like to be happy and fun or thoughtful and kind, and mostly we are but we have to look often into the self-examination mirror and be really honest about the things we don’t like to see in ourselves. And then we have to make adjustments. If we don’t respect ourselves, we can’t step forward and respect others.

  We have fallen into some very bad habits over the years. It’s so easy to growl out an answer, to find fault, to blame someone else, to criticize. And yet, it sure ticks us off when our family growls at us, and finds fault and blames us for things we don’t deserve to be blamed for.

We get too caught up in surviving the busyness of life, preoccupied with the trivia of things we think we need to do, and when others require a piece of our time there’s none left to share. Our responses all too often resemble Lucy in the Peanuts comic strip. There are a lot of Lucy’s around, men and women.

There are a lot of Charlie Browns too. They’re the timid ones, the fearful ones who don’t want to try anything, who fear making a commitment because they think they won’t be able to follow through on it. They’re the ones for whom the ball gets pulled away just as they go to kick it. Maybe they’re even the ones who always need a spokesperson.  I remember a girl in my class who often came forward and said: “Molly would like to know if….” At first I responded to the girl, but before long I said, “Why doesn’t Molly come up and ask me herself?” And she did. As long as she had her friend to hold her hand, she had all the confidence she needed.                   

Whether you’re Lucy or Charlie Brown, everyone has issues concerning respect. What is learned in the home gets taken elsewhere. In the poem “Children Learn What They Live,” we read the following exerpt:

If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

1998 by Dorothy Law Nolte and Rachel Harris  (end quote)

What a different world this would be if all of us could be so blessed. In far too many homes, the parents bear the brunt of disrespect. The fights and angry words of youthful years may be long forgotten, but if there are old things that need to be talked about and forgiven, it must be done. Without that step, you cannot be complete and it is holding you back from giving them respect and being the person God wants you to be.

 For many of us it’s too late to make those things right. Our parents are gone but the pain remains. Forgetting about it won’t make it go away. The only choice is to bring it to Jesus, and pray over it. He wants to hear your words—that you are acknowledging your pain and asking Him to guide you to know how to deal with it. He can give forgiveness if you were at fault.  He can also help you to accept your parents’ guilt and fill you with the understanding and acceptance of the fact that parents are not perfect. Let it go and learn from it. If you and any of your children have unresolved problems and issues, ask Jesus to help you figure out how to open the conversation and fix whatever needs fixing. By taking this step, healing from your own wounds can begin and you will be a stronger parent.

The same principle should be applied to siblings and friends.  If there is something that has caused anger or hurt, you need to take the time to think about it, pray for wisdom and tackle it head on.  If you are the guilty one, admit it and ask for forgiveness.  If another has caused you pain, open a conversation by sending a card or a brief letter. And keep praying.

In an ideal life, we would all be perfect, funny and charismatic, loving, considerate and kind. But this is real life. All of us are some of those at different times and all of us have way too many faults. Some of us have had less than perfect role models, while others have not paid attention to the good role models they had.

Not too long ago I was part of a conversation in which a man commented on the lack of respect toward women in many areas of our country. I agreed because in Northern Ontario we have often seen signs reading: “Spousal abuse is a crime”, so we know it is a problem and the discussion went on from there. A short while later that same person rounded on one of the ladies in the room in a most rude and disrespectful way over an innocent remark. What a contradiction. How embarrassing for everyone present. And she was his best friend.

We are human beings and we are full of faults but we love family and friends. We growl when we don’t need to, we may take advantage of other people’s good nature, or speak selfishly and thoughtlessly.  But we shouldn’t. Nobody should. If we took the advice of Lord and Lady Baden-Powell, in which they said: What would Christ have done under the circumstances?’ and be guided accordingly there would be no disrespect.

Think of it this way. Love is patient, it is kind. It does not envy it does not boast it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking in is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails.

It never fails. It is the solver of all problems. A number of years ago there were signs posted all around our city which read—“You can change”.  Underneath one of those signs someone had lamented “No I can’t”. No one dared to bring in the name of Jesus but underneath that was written, “Oh yes you can!” Love can change anything.  Without love there is no respect.

Respect begins with you. Be patient with yourself and your faults. They can’t be fixed in one day, or even one year. Look at those faults and decide which ones need immediate attention and get started. Be content to take your time, so that each one you attack gets your full attention.

Most often when people begin to start fixing things about themselves, they try to do it on their own.  They may show up as New Year’s resolutions, soon neglected, quickly forgotten.  They may appear in a self-help group, great to discuss, difficult to put into action. Once self-help groups are left behind, people who are part of your everyday life don’t give opportunity for self improvement. There’s so much to do and nothing changes and you dislike yourself even more because it doesn’t change.

It’s not possible to fix an unkind heart, a mean spirit, a selfish nature by yourself. It’s impossible. But you don’t have to do it alone. There is help available, ready at hand, and for all too many people it’s a last resort. They resist the help that is so freely given.

A few moments ago I mentioned a girl in my class who was the friend speaking on behalf of another girl. We all have a friend like that just waiting for us to ask. Many people go to church every Sunday, and they hear God’s name, and they read about Jesus and study what the apostles taught after Jesus died. But for some, it’s just words– not real—they feel distant, like a story told over and over, one which they think they know well. But they remain just that—a story.

If you’re one of those people, who have gone to church all your life but never felt any satisfying connection with Jesus, believe that it is real. God is in heaven and Jesus is the ruler who came here for us and who is waiting for us to ask for His help. The peace He gives defies description and yet so many resist His offer to help.

It’s tough to pray for yourself. It means you have to take a long hard look and acknowledge your faults. That’s not even the hard part. Once you admit to yourself what’s really wrong with you, you have to bring it to the cross and ask for forgiveness. That is a very difficult thing to do because it means you’ve been wrong all your life and unwilling to admit it. What a blessing that Jesus has a heart full of love to give us. What a blessing that Paul was able to put it into words so well, as we read earlier.

Sometimes we are so full of guilt we can’t seem to find the words we need to pray, and that’s okay, because Paul promised in his letter to the Romans 8:26b,27 the following: We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.  And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

Note the last part of verse 27: “He who searches our hearts, knows the mind of the Spirit and intercedes for us.”

We really don’t have to tell Him about it because He already knows what’s wrong with us. But confess we must. Proverbs 28: 13 tells us that “he who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”

You don’t have to tell Jesus, You could just leave it. After all, He already knows. Shouldn’t He just take care of it?

The long answer is ‘No’. You must open the conversation and when you come to Him and don’t know where to begin, He takes over and uses the words you need to bring your prayers to God in heaven. And that will open the conversation. Jesus won’t be mad when you tell Him what’s on your mind. He won’t yell at you for something terrible that you find difficult to change. He already knows what your problems are before you come to Him.  But He will be very sad if you don’t bring them to Him because until you start the conversation He can do nothing on your behalf and you remain lost in your sin.

It’s very unhealthy. Unconfessed sin means there’s something about you that you know to be true and wrong, but you’re not willing to do anything about it. It will grow inside you and fester until it bursts and while it’s growing it will hurt you and also others.  The longer you leave it, the worse it becomes and the more difficult it will be to bring it before God. You crab at your family, you gossip about others, you point fingers in judgment, you continue with your secret sin, and all the time you know something’s wrong and you wonder why you feel incomplete and why you don’t respect yourself.

You are a product of what’s inside you. If you leave things the way they are, you won’t get better.  If you turn to Jesus as your spokesman and your friend, you will be on the road to healing. Even the angels will rejoice when you make the decision to let Jesus be your guide.

Respect begins with you.  When you respect yourself, because you have found your sin, acknowledged it, brought it to the cross and left it there, you will respect others. You can’t change them until you change yourself, and only then can you start reaching out a hand to them one by one, because that’s exactly what Jesus did.  He didn’t start by speaking to multitudes—He started with small groups which grew to be big groups and turned into multitudes.

Your family and friends are a pond and you are a pebble. When you take Jesus by the hand, He helps you to address that which is wrong inside of you and then He sends you out to where you will start the ripples of change in others. When you start to fix what’s wrong with you, you begin to respect yourself and that respect cannot help but connect to the ripples of others changing around you.

God has a plan for us. Before we were born He knew us, before we were formed in our mothers’ womb. Did you know that? It says so in Ps. 139: 13-16: For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mothers’ womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.  When I was woven together in the depths of the earth your eyes saw my unformed body.  All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

God already knows how long we will live on this earth. There is something we have to do for Him. When we are right within ourselves, we can reach out to others and do that work. If our lives are such that people do not respect us, we cannot succeed.

Maybe you didn’t know that you’re important, that who you are matters to God. But you are. He knows the very number of the hairs on your head at this precise moment. It’s trivia, but that’s how Jesus explained how all-knowing God is. 

You are one of God’s people. Search yourself, clean out the dusty old cobwebs and bring the bad stuff to Jesus. Then join with the Psalmist when he says: Search me, Oh God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.

Amen

Scriptural Tea

We had our evening cup of tea the other day and chose the raspberry flavoured, caffeine-free Scriptural tea.  The text that went with it was a good one:

Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you.

That’s a tough one. How do you pray for someone who delights in making you feel small?

I have a few thoughts on that. I guess the first thing to think about is the expression, “Little people belittle people”. I know. Nobody has the right to belittle others, but when they’re not right with themselves, they’re not right with God and they lash out at others so that they’re not hurting alone. It’s not right, but that’s how it goes. At least that’s the way I see it.

It helps to try to understand where they are coming from and although we can’t know their hurts and sorrows, and we have no idea of the source of their anger, we can pray for them. God will give us the grace to do so.

It can be a simple start, such as asking God to show you how to pray. And then listen for the answer. He will give you the words. If they are lacking initially, that’s okay. The Bible promises us in Romans 8:26b, 27 the following:  We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.  And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

You must be willing. Perhaps the need in your workplace is great.  There are many people wearing smiles who hurt inside and don’t know what to do about it. Reach out to them, cover them with your prayers and thank God for His grace.

Maybe that’s why you’re there. You are a soldier of God.

If God is for us, who can be against us

Joy comes again with the rising of the sun.

  Rest with me and have a cup of Scriptural tea

In Psalms 30:5 we read: “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”

How long is a night?  As I sipped my cup of tea, I pondered that thought.  I guess it’s important to define ‘night’. In some instances a night is more than a twelve hour period.  It describes a time in our lives when things appear black.

How many times has it not happened that you lay awake in the blackest time of night, in the wee hours of the morning and all your worries come swarming in on you?  Remember the dumb things you did as a teenager?  Why do you remember them at those times?  Why do you think about the things you said or did that were hurtful to someone, or that someone may have done to you? Why do your worries crash down on you?

It’s always in the night—always in the darkest hours. That is the time when we are suspended—not quite asleep and not really awake, although our thoughts are flying as if we were. It’s only when daylight approaches that the fears take wing and we fall asleep.

The twelve hours of darkness is not the ‘night’ the psalmist was thinking of. He was referring to that period of time in our lives when everything seems to go wrong, when illness steps in, or accidents happen, or something goes wrong with a family member. He equated it to the night because the emotions of fear, worry, anxiety, regret, anger and revenge hit us the strongest blow at that time and the darkness is overpowering. So too are the difficult things of our lives.

To those who love the Lord, we will endure no matter how long the ‘night’ is because He walks beside us.  No matter what life may throw our way, no matter how hard Satan tries to derail us from our love of God, our Lord walks beside us, reaching out a hand when we need it most, whispering the promise that He will show the way if we but lean on Him, and that strengthens us.

Joy cometh in the morning.

To read more go to Sanctuary/Messages/Respect

Take Time to Be Holy

There is a popular song that says:

Our God is an awesome God, He reigns from heaven above

With wisdom, power and love, Our God is an awesome God.

Just two lines–yet so powerful.  This God whom we have chosen to serve is indeed awesome. There is nothing He cannot or will not do for His children.  He deserves so much.  Do we give Him all the praise we should; does He have our undying love?

Firstly, how do you perceive God?  What is your attitude toward Him?  Is it sort of yeah, yeah, I know there’s a God but let’s talk about something else. Or is He your friend who dwells in your heart?

Think about it.  God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die as atonement for all our sins.  Atonement—that means Jesus gave His lifeblood to cover all we have ever done that would fall under the category of ‘sin’. I wonder if we do enough to thank Him?

When was the last time you sincerely praised God?

In his book, “Praying the Lords’ Prayer” author Elmer Towns makes these suggestions on how to begin praising God:

1. 1. Try thanking God for all He has done in your life.
2. 2. Try worshipping God for all He has created.
3. 3. Try praising God for all He has done especially as recorded in the Bible.
4. 4. Try magnifying God for all you have in Christ.

Do you remember to thank Him whenever you see a sight that takes your breath away?  Do you think to tell Him how wonderful He is when something good, or exciting, or special happens to you?  Or are you too caught up in the excitement of moments and remember way later that you didn’t give thanks to God. If we want to be sure we adequately praise God, and worship Him as He deserves, we have to think of these few things.

First, take time to be holy.  You may well ask, “In this day and age, how is that possible?”  Time is the currency of today’s world, according to Towns.  We’re all so busy and time is something most of us just don’t have enough of.  But how long does it take to reach God–a heartbeat perhaps?  When we call, He hears us.  It only takes a second to say thank you, or help, or that’s amazing!  We can do it at any time.  Those few words connect us with God.  But if that’s all you do don’t pat yourself on the back yet.

Taking time to be holy, to worship God is the most important routine you will ever develop.  A few minutes daily of reading in His word, along with any devotional, saying a prayer of thanksgiving and care for friends and family let Him know that you care enough about Him to seek Him out just for a little quiet time with Him alone—quality time, one on one. That’s important to Him—that you care enough to take a piece of His time.

Speak often with the Lord, small stuff and really big things. Marvel at what He does. Let Him know you notice. Tell Him how awesome He is. Talk to Him about everyday things, about coincidences.  You could have some serious conversations on that topic.  You have a wound that won’t heal, and you’re not really doing a lot about it because you figure it’ll go away on its own.  But it doesn’t and it’s starting to look bad. You could go to the doctor, you’ll make an appointment tomorrow, but it wakes you in the night and you search out the polysporin or something.  Is it just coincidence that a different, stronger salve or ointment comes to your hand first, or did you get a little nudge because this was really a bad infection?  Or there’s an accident on a highway you were just travelling on, but for some reason, you had changed your route and you were safe.  It could have been you on the way to the hospital or the morgue.  Was that different route a coincidence, or a nudge?  We say, “Boy, that was lucky!” a lot, but was it luck or direction?  Speak oft with the Lord. Think about those things. And listen to His responses.

Abide in Him always.  That means to stay in Him.  Make the choice.  The Bible says: In all ways acknowledge Him and He will direct Thy paths. That’s the difference between lucky and God’s intervention.

Feed on His word.  It’s not enough to listen to the Word of God as it is read to you on Sunday mornings.  Look up the passages, mark them and reread them at home after the service.  Reflect on them and on the message for the day. What can you learn from reading and hearing His word and its application to real life?  Develop a voracious appetite for the Word and as you read, use study notes, check the cross-references mentioned in your Bible.  Be discerning about the translation you are using. One or two words can completely change a meaning. A good Bible has been directly translated from Greek and Hebrew. Join Alpha and Bible study groups. Feed on His word.

Make friends of God’s children.  That’s a tough one. We don’t always work with God’s children. Lots of us have friends who never go to church.  They’re great people; maybe they know God and they know all about Jesus, but it’s not an important part of their life.  In fact they are good people, much better than some of the so-called Christians walking out of church on a Sunday morning.  But many of these friends don’t want to talk about the Lord, they may not respect the Sabbath and they read books and watch movies you know are not wholesome.  Some of them do these things—not all. So do you too, probably. Remember you’re not perfect either. There are lots of good people around who are just that—plain good, but they don’t have a relationship, or at least not a visible one, with the Lord.  Making friends of God’s children is much like finding a spouse who shares your own background.  You may fall in love with an Asian, or an African or a child from a broken or abusive home. That happens a lot. But as you progress through life, you will discover many things that keep you apart, mostly because of how both of you grew up.  That’s how it is with a Christian and a non-Christian.  They have a few things in common but when religion becomes the topic of discussion, non-Christian friends will simply shy away from a lengthy discussion or anything that is important to you. They don’t want to talk about it.  Don’t stay away from your friends—pray for them. Your faith may be visible, but it doesn’t mean it’s better.

Help those who are weak.  We don’t have to look far to find them.  People in the counseling profession could certainly tell lots of stories about them. So could teachers and police officers.  We’ve seen signs as we travel through northern Ontario: “Spouse abuse is a crime!” Schools are filled with bullies.  Children suffer from broken and abusive homes. When we can, we need to reach out and help.  We cant sit back and hope somebody else will do it. As a church, we need to seek them out and lend a hand and when we do all these things, we seek His blessing and we are blessed.

We are. The book of Psalms tells us this:  Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.  But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on His law he meditates day and night.

Keep this in mind and don’t stop meditating or worshipping.  God’s blessing is what keeps us on our feet.  Worship Him with praise, but also worship Him with your hands and your heart.

Let your friends and acquaintances see Jesus in you.  Let them see that you have something they do not have. Make them want it. They might not talk about it, but they’ll notice, and just maybe they’ll ask and you can direct them to an Alpha group or invite them to your Bible study.

Let God guide you.  By asking yourself ‘What would Jesus do”, and taking the time to reflect upon it, you can’t go wrong.  When you take the time to keep the connection to God in heaven, you can’t make mistakes.

The Bible promises this: “If you make the Most High your dwelling—even the Lord, who is my refuge—then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.  For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;  Because he loves me, says the Lord, I will rescue him, for he acknowledges my name.  He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble.  I will deliver him and honor him.  With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.” Because we love Him, he will do this for us.

Lastly, be calm in your soul.  Give your worries to God. Worship Him with a heart of thanksgiving. You can drop them at the base of the cross of Jesus and leave them there.  Far too often, we drag them all the way up the hill, drop them, rest awhile, and then pick most of them up again out of the dirt to worry about all over again.  Just take them to the cross with a heart full of praise and leave them there; search for the calmness of the soul and receive God’s holy peace. For God proclaims, “Be still and know that I am God.” The peace He gives passes all understanding.  It cannot be described.  You have to experience it.

To sum this all up, if that is possible, Micah 6:8 says this: What does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Amen