1 Peter 1:3-16 [NLTse]

³ All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by His great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, ⁴ and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in Heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. ⁵ And through your faith, God is protecting you by His power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.

⁶ So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. ⁷ These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

⁸ You love Him even though you have never seen Him. Though you do not see Him now, you trust Him;

and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. ⁹ The reward for trusting Him will be the salvation of your souls.

¹⁰ This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. ¹¹ They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when He told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and His great glory afterward.

¹² They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from Heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.

¹³ So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. ¹⁴ So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. ¹⁵ But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God Who chose you is holy. ¹⁶ For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

Sermon

There’s a lot of talk going around our community and our nation these days about foreigners and immigrants; a lot of talk about building walls and not granting visas, on the one hand, or legalizing everybody and giving everyone citizenship, on the other.

There are 10 things a person needs to do to become a citizen of the United States of America:

1. You must be of age [18];
2. You must be a permanent resident of the United States and,
3. be able to prove it;
4. You must be able to prove that you’ve spent at least 30 months physically in the country;
5. You must have lived in the state where you applied for citizenship for at least 3 months;
6. You must live according to good moral standards;
7. You must demonstrate “an attachment” to the principles and ideals of the U.S. Constitution;
8. You must be able to read, write, and speak English;
9. You must have a basic understanding of U.S. history and government; and,
10. You must take an oath of allegiance – an oath of loyalty and commitment – to the United States.

A citizen of the United States is then entitled to the protection of the United States and all of its blessings.

We began Worship listening to Peter remind us that we Christians are “living as foreigners” here in our communities and neighborhoods. Our faith in Christ has made us citizens of Heaven! but we are temporarily living here on the earth until our Country and our King call us home. This letter, First Peter, is all about what our lives are to be like: Living as citizens of Heaven, as we are “living as foreigners” here on the earth.

First, as citizens of Heaven we need to know that ours is a new life here and now. Just as to be a U.S. citizen people need to be permanent residents of the United States and be able to prove it, we need to guard ourselves against going back and forth between the ways of Heaven and the ways we used to live when we were merely citizens of the earth. Just as the U.S. requires people to live according to good moral standards, what we say and do or do not say and do not do are the ways should make clear to all those around us, believers and non-believers, that we are citizens of Heaven living here on the earth.

And just as those wanting to be citizens of the U.S. need to have lived in one of the fifty states for a certain period of time, we, Christians, need to be an active part of a local church: Participating in the life of the Kingdom of Heaven as it’s being lived out there, and doing our part to grow and expand the influence of Christ’s Kingdom through that church.

Bible Study is critical to help us get to know Heaven’s history and government, and to help us live allegiant – loyal and committed – to Heaven and to our King, Jesus Christ.

Living as citizens of Heaven is a call to be different. The word “holy” in the Bible is just a fancy word for being different: God has set us apart, made us His Own, so that we might live His way, differently from those around us. And, I know it’s hard to be different – to go against the grain, to swim against the flow – but the ways of Heaven are better than the ways of the earth and the leaders of Heaven are better and more trustworthy than the leaders of the earth, and our neighbors and friends and those around us need us to show them here on earth life as it is in Heaven.

As far as our life “living as foreigners” here, I’d like to highlight a couple things from Peter’s long list.

First, I want to highlight that living as foreigners is a life of war. Verse 13 says, “Prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control.” Passions, temptations, troubles, and trials are all weapons the devil strives to use to tear us down and destroy us from the inside and the outside. But the best defense is still a good offense. So, reading the Bible, praying and praising, worshiping, serving others, sharing our faith, getting to know and growing closer to other Christians… are all actions we are called to take to enjoy Christ’s victory in our battles. Don’t misunderstand me: We’re not on our own in these fights and we don’t need to figure out how to fight by ourselves; no, the Holy Spirit provides the grace we need to fight, and the Scriptures teach us God’s ways of fighting, ways that are so very different from the ways of the world. That being said, “living as foreigners” is war: A war to destroy sin and death by acts of love and self-sacrifice, a war to overcome evil by doing good.

Which leads us to a second aspect of our “living as foreigners” I want to highlight. 1 Peter 3:9 says, “Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and He will grant you His blessing.” God’s ways of fighting this war are not what we might think.

Proverbs 22:24-25 says, “If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat. If they are thirsty, give them water to drink. You will heap burning coals of shame on their heads, and the Lord will reward you.” The Apostle Paul quotes this Proverb in Romans 12 as an example of how we advance the Kingdom and overcome evil with good.

The Lord Jesus encourages the same kind of strategy when He commands us, “Love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back.” (Luke 6:27-30) Selfish sinner that I can be, I admit that it helps me to not retaliate against those who have hurt me, but to do good to them instead, when I can remember that my doing good to them heaps burning coals on their heads in the spiritual world.

And one last highlight, we citizens of Heaven “living as foreigners” here must always be ready to share our faith. 1 Peter 3:15 says, “Worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.” Are you ready to tell someone else what Jesus has done for you, and what you’re hoping for from Him in the future? If you aren’t, I’d encourage you to get yourself ready.

For me, the Lord always being with me is what has changed (and keeps on changing) my life, that and that through prayer and the Bible, God talks with me, helping me see things as they truly are, and guiding my life. As for the future, the promises from Revelation hold my hope: Of a day when we will live with the Lord face-to-face, and He will wipe every tear from our eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain, and all things will be made new!

We are Citizens of Heaven, not just citizens of the United States and the earth. We have been given new life in Christ so that we would no longer live with just the moment or with just this world in mind; no, we citizens of Heaven are a people living here on the earth, but with our hearts and minds set on eternity and the things of Heaven.

Hebrews 9:11-28 [NLTse]

¹¹ So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in Heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. ¹² With His Own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—He entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.

¹³ Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. ¹⁴ Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered Himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. ¹⁵ That is why He is the One Who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.

¹⁶ Now when someone leaves a will, it is necessary to prove that the person who made it is dead. ¹⁷ The will goes into effect only after the person’s death. While the person who made it is still alive, the will cannot be put into effect.

¹⁸ That is why even the first covenant was put into effect with the blood of an animal. ¹⁹ For after Moses had read each of God’s commandments to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, and sprinkled both the book of God’s Law and all the people, using hyssop branches and scarlet wool. ²⁰ Then he said, “This blood confirms the covenant God has made with you.” ²¹ And in the same way, he sprinkled blood on the Tabernacle and on everything used for worship. ²² In fact, according to the Law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.

²³ That is why the Tabernacle and everything in it, which were copies of things in Heaven, had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things in Heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals.

²⁴ For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in Heaven. He entered into Heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. ²⁵ And He did not enter Heaven to offer Himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. ²⁶ If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, He has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by His Own death as a sacrifice.

²⁷ And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, ²⁸ so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for Him.

Sermon

I want to draw your attention to the “Hebrews In a Nutshell” insert in our Bulletins. Like some other biblical books, Hebrews can seem pretty scattered, especially with all of its Old Testament references. So, I put this together in the hopes of bringing some clarity to it all. Hebrews is a radical book making radical claims. We must understand what the Lord is saying to us and the hope He is bringing to us in its pages!

But, back to our reading for today…

Anyone here like watching baseball? I don’t tend to watch much baseball, because I’m more of a people-person and I only like watching sports when I can watch the game with others. So, when my son, Noah, was a Yankees fan I used to watch a lot of Yankees games. But since he’s been off to college, Eden and Caleb are into watching other things, so I’ve been watching their other things with them.

But this past week as I was visiting with my folks (who are avid Orioles fans!) I got the chance to watch a game with my mom. The O’s were playing the Yanks this past week. (Who smacked ‘em right out of first place!) It was the first game of the series, and A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez; Designated Hitter for the Yankees) hit this home run! It was one of those shots where A-Rod didn’t even track the ball out of the park: He hit it; felt it hit the “sweet spot” on the bat; and just started jogging around the bases before the ball had even cleared the outfield.

The “sweet spot”.

I used to play baseball when I was a kid: 3^rd Grade, 4^th Grade, up through 7^th or 8^th Grade, I think. And I remember the “sweet spot”. You just knew you’d hit it right. You just knew it was going to be flying forever. Thinking about our reading today and thinking about the “sweet spot”, it reminds me of a part from the 1981 movie, “Chariots of Fire”. “Chariots of Fire” was about the 1924 Olympic games and long distance runner and gold medal likely Eric Liddel. Liddel was a devout Christian, and says in one part of the flick, “I believe that God made me for a purpose. [And he’s talking about missionary work.] But He also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure.”

The “sweet spot”…

This passage from Hebrews 9 that Elder Neil Frazer just read teaches us many things. One is that the Tabernacle Moses built, the Temple that Solomon built, and the Second Temple that Herod the Great made into one of the wonders of the ancient world were all based upon a Tabernacle that exists now, and has existed for all Time, in Heaven. Exodus speaks of this heavenly Tabernacle (25:40), and several of the prophets were given visions of it (Micaiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel), as was the apostle John while he was on the Roman prison island of Patmos.

Hebrews also teaches us that reincarnation is a lie: “Each person is destined to die once,” Hebrews says, “and after that comes judgment.” (9:27) So, the Hindu, Buddhist, and New Age teaching that people live many lifetimes – going up the karma-ladder closer to Nirvana if you’ve been good, or going down the karma-ladder farther away from Nirvana if you’ve been bad – that that’s not true.

No, reincarnation is the ultimate works-righteousness teaching, trying to convince folks they don’t need a Savior. “Don’t worry!” reincarnation teaches. “If you mess it up in this life, you’ll have other lives to get it right!” But the Bible consistently says and shows that each human being has one life to live, that today is the day of salvation, don’t put off deciding about how you’re going to respond to Jesus for some other time, you might not get another time, “each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment!” Choose Jesus today! Enjoy the Father today! Live in the “sweet spot” today! (But I’m getting ahead of myself…)

So, Hebrews teaches us many things, but what I want us to see in our passage for today is that God is looking for worshipers!

After talking about the Old Covenant’s system of repeated animal sacrifices for sin, Hebrews 9:14 says, “Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God.” Why did Christ purify our consciences from sin? So that we can worship God! And since life is a lot more than just Worship Services, the idea of worship must include a whole lot more than just Sunday mornings. We were made to worship. The “sweet spot” of human existence is worship! The Lord is looking for worshipers.

Notice the detail about Jesus’ sacrifice that Hebrews 9:14 focuses on here: “Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds…” A whole lot more happened on the cross than just our consciences being purified from sin. A whole lot more. Our human natures – all that makes us human – our very souls themselves were put to death when the Lord Jesus died on the cross. A supernatural work across Time and space. Something we couldn’t do for ourselves, nor could any other but God the Son born into humanity do it for us. Every one who has ever put their trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord has died and been born again! But Hebrews, here, is focusing us on a particular aspect of Christ’s work; a specific aspect of our renewal: Our consciences being purified from our sinful deeds.

To worship God a man, woman, boy, and girl must know that their sins have been forgiven. We must have confidence in Christ that we’ve been washed, cleansed, made new. We can’t worship the Lord in all the “sweet” ways He’s made us to worship Him in when we’re always beating ourselves up again and again, condemning ourselves for past evil (even if it was just that morning). Either God the Son took off His divinity, was born a man, took our sins upon Himself on the cross, and put them to death there – once-and-for-all – or He did not. If He did put our sins to death and wash us clean and make us new then every time we think we’re no good and every time we think that God must hate us or be so frustrated with us we are thinking evil thoughts, untrue thoughts, thoughts the devil has put into our heads. Because the Lord has said, “I will forgive their wickedness and never again remember their sins.” (Jeremiah 31:34)

We can’t worship God unless our consciences have been purified from all our sinful deeds. We need to trust that Christ has done what He says He has done: Taken our sins to the cross. “If we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”

When we can talk freely about our sins and our sinfulness, we know we’ve been forgiven, it shows that our consciences have been purified. And we can worship the Lord.

But clearly the kind of worship Hebrews is saying Jesus died for is more than just attending Worship Services. Turn to Hebrews 13 with me…

The letter To the Hebrews ends with this charge to its original Jewish readers, and to all those who read it today. It is a charge to Christian living. It is a charge to the “sweet” way of Jesus. It is a charge to worship, and a picture of what daily, moment-by-moment worship looks like. I’ll summarize it this way:

• Loving each other like family,
• Making strangers feel at home,
• Not forgetting those who are in prison and suffering for the faith,
• Honoring marriage and being faithful in our marriages,
• Not trusting in money,
• Not being attracted to new religions and new-fangled religious practices,
• Praising the Lord,
• Sharing with those in need, and,
• Obeying our spiritual leaders.

This is the supernatural life of worship we’ve been saved for, our consciences purified for, and called to. We can’t do these things on our own. We need the power of God. We need the Holy Spirit.

For instance, look around you at all the others here in the Sanctuary today. Do you love each one the same way you love your family? Would you respond to the person in front of you’s troubles the same way you would respond to your parents or kids’ troubles, or your brother’s or sister’s?

Another instance: In our culture it is hard to honor marriage and be faithful in our marriages when our society itself is redefining marriage and when so many powers and temptations are working to tear our marriages apart!

There’s so many distractions and activities competing for our time and attention. We can be drawn away from praising the Lord each day. We can be drawn away from meeting to praise Him together each Sunday.

No, it is clear that we cannot do these things on our own. We cannot live a life of worship on our own. We need God’s power, the power that raised Jesus from the dead. We need the Holy Spirit to live in such a way. And because He’s called us to live such “sweet” ways, we can trust Him to empower us to live it when we seek Him and ask.

When we live life our own way; when we give into those thoughts telling us, “I can’t live God’s way. It’s too much for me!” When we give into such thoughts we’re on our own. The Lord is not going to help us leave Him and forsake Him and pursue a life of doubt. He’s not going to help us because that would hurt us.

But when we seek Him and His Kingdom first, we can count on Him helping us every step of the Way.

As we’ve said, some days it may seem like too much. Of course it’s too much. This is a supernatural life of worship He’s called us to! It takes God the Holy Spirit and the power that raised Jesus from the dead to live these ways! But the Holy Spirit is ours for the asking (Luke 11:13) – the power that raised Jesus from the dead, ours for the asking – as we seek Him for His help to live in these “sweet” ways He’s called us to.

[Put the baseball bat over my shoulder.] And as we seek to worship Him these ways, as we seek Him and don’t give up, as we surrender and submit to Him and each other and don’t give up, as we seek to live His Way ourselves – not demanding that our spouses or our children or our parents or our leaders or whichever others around us start living this way and treating us in these ways first – as we trust Him, as we seek to worship Him in these ways: POW! [Swing the bat for a home run.] He meets us and helps us and joins with us and life comes together. So very “sweet”..!

Introduction

We’ve been reading through the New Testament this 2016, and I’ve committed to preach from something we’ve read the week before. As of today we’re smack-dab in the middle of Hebrews…

There is so much that we could read and talk about from Hebrews: The Lord Jesus’ humanity; the rest God has been promising His people since the beginning that we have partially in Christ and will have fully in the new Heavens and Earth to come; the Lord Jesus’ ministry as our high priest, intercessor, and sacrifice; how easy it is to drift away from the fullness of the God’s truth and the importance of not doing so; etc…

One of the difficult things about preaching from just one thing we’ve read the week before is having to choose from so much richness in God’s Word to pick just one thing to focus on. And I’ve chosen setting our sights on Jesus’ humanity, as Elder Doug Jacobs will proclaim to us in a moment…

Hebrews 2:5-18 [NLTse]

⁵ And furthermore, it is not angels who will control the future world we are talking about. ⁶ For in one place the Scriptures say,

“What are mere mortals that you should think about them, or a son of man that you should care for him? ⁷ Yet for a little while you made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. ⁸ You gave them authority over all things.”

Now when it says “all things,” it means nothing is left out. But we have not yet seen all things put under their authority. ⁹ What we do see is Jesus, who for a little while was given a position “a little lower than the angels”; and because he suffered death for us, he is now “crowned with glory and honor.” Yes, by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone. ¹⁰ God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.

¹¹ So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters. ¹² For he said to God,

“I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters. I will praise you among your assembled people.”

¹³ He also said,

“I will put my trust in him,” that is, “I and the children God has given me.”

¹⁴ Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. ¹⁵ Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.

¹⁶ We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; he came to help the descendants of Abraham. ¹⁷ Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. ¹⁸ Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested

Sermon

Hebrews is all about the greatness of Jesus Christ. He is greater than angels. He is greater than Moses. He is greater than Aaron and any of the priesthood or high priesthood. He is greater than the Temple. He is the initiator of a greater covenant than the Old Covenant. His sacrifice is greater. His promises are greater. The life He has for us is greater…

And while psychics and new age gurus and self-proclaimed witches and mediums talk about their encounters with angels, the dead, spirits, and the like, we have been visited by God’s Son! People get so excited about seeing and being visited by angels or the dead or by spirits, and yet too many Christians have come to take for granted that in the words of the Bible, by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, we sons and daughters of God are visited by the very Son of the Most High each and every time we open its pages, and He walks with us and He talks with us and He tells us we are His Own there!

Praise the Lord! What a great salvation we’ve been given! What a great and marvelous Savior! What a great and marvelous Lord!

Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not trying to be critical of Christians. I think the truth is that many have just gotten used to Jesus speaking to us through the words of Scripture. Whether we’ve always done what He’s called us to perfectly or less so, I think that many have come to take His voice across the pages of the Bible for granted: “Of course He speaks to me there!”. That being said, I think that many Christians are also just looking for something more in their relationship with Him. Just as our relationships with our friends or our husbands or wives can grow stale – we find we’ve gotten into a rut – likewise I think that our relationship with the Lord can grow stale, ho-hum, we want more of Him, we want Him to have more of us, … The great thing is that God is inexhaustible, uncontainable! There are no limits to His height, nor width, nor depth! Nor to His love for us, and the good things He has for us and with us! But we can have enough troubles keeping our friendships and marriages stirred up and fresh. How do we stir up and refresh our relationship with God?

Three things come to my mind: First, we need to fight the tendency to take God’s Word and the work of His Spirit through His Word for granted; the second is, we need to strive to strengthen and grow our relationship with Him through the spiritual exercises He’s laid before us.

One of the laws of thermodynamics is that energy runs down. That is, that complex things will always break down and become less complex over time. That high-energy systems will lose energy over time. Etc… So, it is no surprise that our relationships lose their energy and impact over time. It shouldn’t be surprising that it’s happening to us. We shouldn’t feel like Christian failures if we have times feeling a bit dull or far from the Lord. It’s an aspect of this fallen creation. And without yet going on to new things and fresh things we might do, we need to remind ourselves of the good and the great things we already have in Him. We need to stir up and celebrate the foundations of our salvation.

We have been chosen by God to be His sons and daughters. That truth should be enough to keep us dancing and giddy for several lifetimes, but often it grows cold! Jesus Christ has traded His full, righteous, rejoicing relationship with God for our lacking, sinful, separated lack of relationship with God. (Of course, after trading us He put our lack of relationship with God to death!) But the reality of such a trade and such an amazing and privileged relationship should be enough to keep us dancing and giddy for several lifetimes, but often it grows cold. The almighty God is always with us, always near. His Holy Spirit fills our lives and empowers us and comforts us, as we seek and follow Him, across life trials and strains. He has given us so many wonderful promises to look forward to in this life and in the new Heavens and Earth to come… All of this should be enough to keep us dancing and giddy through several lifetimes! But often it grows cold. So, our first work is to stir up and refresh our appreciation for it all.

For instance, how many times have you told your spouse, children, parents, friends, or folks at work or at the grocery store, “Well, I was talking with God this morning and He told me…” Too often we tell people we were reading the Bible or our devotional and it said…” And yet we believe that the Holy Spirit speaks God’s Word to us through the Scriptures, right? We believe that God answers us when we pray, right? So, we need to encourage ourselves in the truth of such wonders by letting those around us know that God spoke to us through the Bible or prayer! He met us and was gloriously near to us in Worship! Whatever the truth, we need to stir and refresh ourselves in the truth of these things by declaring and proclaiming these truths aloud to those around us. The people around us need to hear it. We need to say it!

What a wonderful salvation! What great and glorious revelation! It takes work to keep the good foundations of our relationships fresh and like-new. We must do so, for others’ sake and our own!

Secondly, many of us may have daily Bible reading and prayer times. And, of course, all of us here today are in Worship this morning. And being in the Word, and talking to God in prayer, and joining with others to sing His songs and proclaim His glory and learn about Him and praise Him and ask for His help (and more that we do in Worship), all these things are precious and strengthening and empowering and just plain good! But we need to stir up what we do with our families and loved ones and friends to keep those relationships vital and growing. And the same is true with the Lord.

Find some different ways to read the Bible. Try some different ways to pray. Give yourself to Worship – to singing, to praying, to responding to the Word – in different ways, etc… And, of course, there are other ways to enjoy God: Fasting; walking through a beautiful part of creation with Him while praising Him for it; setting apart special times to be quiet – to not speak and to turn off the TV or music, to be without your iPod or phone; going out of your way to serve someone just for Jesus’ sake; etc…

There are many “grace practices” you can find on the internet or by asking me… Stir up your relationship with God. Get out of the rut…

Lastly, and this is the reason I picked our reading for this morning: We can refresh and renew our relationship with the Lord by remembering the Lord Jesus’ humanity.

As I’ve preached a number of times before and as our reading this morning underlines: Jesus was like us in every way except that He did not sin. The one difference that Jesus has from us is that He was not conceived by a man and a woman. The Holy Spirit conceived Jesus in Mary’s womb.

When Adam sinned in the very beginning, he passed on his sin nature to his children when he made babies with Eve. And their children passed on that sin nature to their children. And so on through to today. But Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary’s womb. He had (and has) no sin nature.

Because of our sin nature, we are sinners in the womb and from birth. We can’t help sinning. Sin nature is a part of our DNA. But not Jesus. Because He had no sin nature He was able to not sin. And the Bible tells us that He sought God’s will and chose God’s will first and in every situation His entire short life long.

But other than that, Jesus was like us in every way the Bible says.

So that means He had financial hardships. That means He had relationship troubles and unreturned love. That means His folks disciplined Him in ways He didn’t like or thought were unfair. That means He was wronged, hated, made fun of, that He wanted things He couldn’t get or wasn’t allowed to get, etc…, etc…, etc… He was tempted in every way like we are except that He did not sin!

Notice it doesn’t say that He was like us in every way except that He never sinned AND He had God’s wonder-working power to preach and heal and work miracles. No, He was like us in respect to God’s power, to. That is, Jesus of Nazareth was born a human being. He didn’t have God’s power. Philippians 2:6 says that He took off His almighty power when He was born a human being. He had God’s power only because He was baptized by the Holy Spirit. (After John baptized Him with water we see the Holy Spirit coming upon out of Heaven in the form of a dove. That’s being baptized by the Holy Spirit: When the Holy Spirit comes upon you and fills you because of your faith and trust in the Father through your faith and trust in Jesus.)

And yet, Jesus did so many wonders! John ends his gospel saying that all the books in the world couldn’t contain all the wonders Jesus did, if all of His wonders had been written down! If He is just like us, as you say, Pastor, (you may be saying) then why don’t we see ourselves doing all those wonders? Why don’t we see you doing all those wonders, Pastor? (You may be saying.)

Well, (this is my answer to you) that’s what I believe God wants us to be talking about here this morning, because the Lord Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in Me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in My name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask Me for anything in My name, and I will do it!” (14:12-14) So, the Lord Jesus Himself has said that we can do the same works He has done and even greater works! So, either the Lord Jesus Christ is a liar, or something’s not right here…

Here’s what I think: I think that you and I don’t always do the empowered, miraculous works that Jesus did because we don’t believe we can. But Jesus always believed. As we’ve said, He’s like us in every way except He never sinned; He always believed; He always trusted in God and did what God directed Him to do. So, when the Father directed and empowered Him to speak, Jesus spoke! When the Father directed and empowered Him to heal, Jesus healed! When the Father revealed knowledge about those around Him to Jesus, Jesus believed that the knowledge had been revealed to Him by God and He acted on that knowledge the way God wanted Him to! But that’s not always true for us, is it?

Anybody here ever seen someone in great pain or going through great distress? … Anybody here ever asked God in that moment, “Do You want to heal them through me, Lord?” Or, “do You want to comfort them through me, Lord?” Or, “do You want to provide for them in some miraculous way through me, Lord?” And, if you have asked God these things, and if the Father’s answer has ever been “yes, I want to do that through you,” who here has always reached out in whatever way the Holy Spirit has led you to do so – to heal, to comfort, to provide – each and every time the Lord has led you to do so?

So, I think the Lord Jesus’ empowerment seems so very different from ours because He always believed! He always sought the Father’s will first at all times and in all circumstances, and He always did the Father’s will at all times and in all circumstances. And as is true for apostles, disciples, and others who’ve loved, trusted, and followed the Lord Jesus over the years before us, as we seek Him first more and more, and as we follow and obey and do His will more and more, then we will recognize better and better the Father’s direction, we’ll sense better and better His empowerment, and we’ll be able to step out in faith with greater and greater assurance that God Almighty has spoken to us, is wanting to work wonders through us for His glory, and we, too, will see more of the life and love and empowerment that we see in Jesus’ recorded life in our own lives and in the lives of those around us in His Church, as well.

We get more of the Father – more of God – by trusting Jesus and surrendering to the Holy Spirit. We get by giving. We receive by surrendering. We gain more life by laying our lives down.

People are visited by angels. Who cares! Big deal! I live with God’s Son! He walks with [pointing] you and He talks with [pointing] you, and He tells us we are His Own!

Let us refresh ourselves in the good things we have in Christ. Let us shake up our relationship with Him to try new things and to do old things new ways. And let’s take Him at His Word. Let us believe Him more intimately, asking Him what He wants us to do, and doing what He tells us.

It’s not crazy. It’s not fanatical. It’s living by faith. And Jesus has commanded us to do so, because He’s with us, visiting us, walking among us and talking to us by the Holy Spirit. The demons tremble and the angels rejoice!

Philemon 1-25 [NLTse]

¹ This letter is from Paul, a prisoner for preaching the Good News about Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy.

I am writing to Philemon, our beloved co-worker, ² and to our sister Apphia, and to our fellow soldier Archippus, and to the church that meets in your house.

³ May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

⁴ I always thank my God when I pray for you, Philemon, ⁵ because I keep hearing about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all of God’s people. ⁶ And I am praying that you will put into action the generosity that comes from your faith as you understand and experience all the good things we have in Christ. ⁷ Your love has given me much joy and comfort, my brother, for your kindness has often refreshed the hearts of God’s people.

⁸ That is why I am boldly asking a favor of you. I could demand it in the name of Christ because it is the right thing for you to do. ⁹ But because of our love, I prefer simply to ask you. Consider this as a request from me—Paul, an old man and now also a prisoner for the sake of Christ Jesus.

¹⁰ I appeal to you to show kindness to my child, Onesimus. I became his father in the faith while here in prison. ¹¹ Onesimus hasn’t been of much use to you in the past, but now he is very useful to both of us. ¹² I am sending him back to you, and with him comes my own heart.

¹³ I wanted to keep him here with me while I am in these chains for preaching the Good News, and he would have helped me on your behalf. ¹⁴ But I didn’t want to do anything without your consent. I wanted you to help because you were willing, not because you were forced. ¹⁵ It seems you lost Onesimus for a little while so that you could have him back forever. ¹⁶ He is no longer like a slave to you. He is more than a slave, for he is a beloved brother, especially to me. Now he will mean much more to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord.

¹⁷ So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. ¹⁸ If he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge it to me. ¹⁹ I, PAUL, WRITE THIS WITH MY OWN HAND: I WILL REPAY IT. AND I WON’T MENTION THAT YOU OWE ME YOUR VERY SOUL!

²⁰ Yes, my brother, please do me this favor for the Lord’s sake. Give me this encouragement in Christ.

²¹ I am confident as I write this letter that you will do what I ask and even more! ²² One more thing—please prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that God will answer your prayers and let me return to you soon.

²³ Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings. ²⁴ So do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my co-workers.

²⁵ May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Sermon

We have been reading through the New Testament together as a congregation this 2016, and each Sunday I’ve been preaching from something we’ve read the week before. We just began reading Hebrews this past week. So, if you’ve gotten behind or haven’t been a part of this yet, catch up by reading Hebrews 1 and 2, and then you can find the readings for this-coming week – Hebrews 3 and onward – on the back flap of our Bulletins and on the right-hand side of our website.

As a part of this last-week’s readings, we read the short letter Philemon that Elder Neil Frazer just read to us again.

Philemon lived in Colosse and had apparently become a Christian through Paul’s ministry during one of the Paul’s several missionary journeys through that region. Like every person of any substance in the Roman world of that time, Philemon owned slaves. One of them, Onesimus, had run away. (A crime punishable by death.) To make matters worse, it seems Onesimus had stolen from Philemon as he fled. As the Holy Spirit would orchestrate things, however, while on the run Onesimus had come under Paul’s influence and had become a Christian! Paul was imprisoned during the time he was discipling Onesimus, and Onesimus had grown to become a great support and encouragement to Paul during his days and weeks in jail.

The reason for the letter is that Paul has made a huge demand of Onesimus: For Christ’s sake, Paul has demanded that Onesimus return to Colosse, face his master and any consequences for his sins in escaping and stealing from himi, and to be reconciled to his master, Philemon, if Philemon will allow it. In the letter itself, Paul has made a huge request of Philemon, asking him to accept Onesimus back, without any penalty. And if that weren’t enough, Paul is clearly hinting that Philemon should set Onesimus free!

We never find out what happened. Did Philemon punish Onesimus, or did he forgive him, set him free, and let him return to help Paul, as the apostle had hoped? We don’t know.

But we do see the gospel being lived out in several dramatic ways across the short letter. First, in Onesimus’ return to Colosse and his presenting himself to his master, Philemon, we can see that living in obedience to Jesus Christ is worth everything, even our very lives.

We live in a day where personal happiness is touted as being the most important thing to achieve in life. “Does it make you happy?” you hear people asking as the final deal-maker or -breaker for decisions today? (Or, “does he make you happy?” or, “does she make you happy?”) “If it’s good for me it must be good,” we’ve been brainwashed to believe. But Philemon shows us that making God happy – knowing and doing His will – is the way to achieve true happiness.

The Lord Jesus, as always, is our role-model in such things, and the One Who always goes first. Hebrews states in 12:1-2, “Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion Who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now He is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.” I read these words and think that we human beings are too satisfied by lesser happiness-es. The Lord Jesus shows us that trusting the Father, even if trusting Him might lead to trouble and trial and a cross, is always the way to true and complete happiness.

Submitting himself to his master was clearly the faithful thing for Onesimus to do. And yet it could have led to his death! But trusting in Jesus is the road to true happiness. I can imagine the peace Onesimus must have experienced once he determined to trust in the Lord and return to pay his dues. Yes, I can imagine the temptations towards fear and worry that must have come against him, as well. But I can imagine how the Holy Spirit must have comforted this faithful son as he set himself to do the Father’s will, even though it might cost him his life.

A second way we see the gospel so beautifully lived out is when Paul asks Philemon to forgive Onesimus his many wrongs. Paul makes clear that he could have ordered Philemon to forgive Onesimus and set him free. Philemon accepted Paul’s apostleship, and so Paul’s words to him would have been as though coming directly from the Lord Jesus Himself! But Paul didn’t command Philemon to do what he wanted. Paul asked Philemon. He asked him to forgive Onesimus and set him free on account of their love for each other, Just as the Lord asks us to trust, follow, and obey Him on account of His love for us and our love for Him, likewise, Paul asked Philemon to forgive Onesimus and set him free on account of their mutual love, all the while making absolutely clear that Philemon didn’t have to do as he’d asked. He made sure that Philemon knew he was free to do what Paul had asked of him or not!

This can be a tough one in our culture that teaches us that we deserve the good things in life. So, we should take what we want, whatever it takes. Be nasty, be rude, coerce, manipulate, put others down, boss them around, if necessary: Whatever it takes to get what you want, do it. You deserve it! But that’s not Jesus’ Way.

Walking in Jesus’ Way, seeming gain proves loss, and seeming loss proves gain. The persecution of the early church drove Christians far afield, and thus spread the gospel – like seed carried on the wind. Blessing came from apparent disaster. Who could have prophesied that a Babe born in a stable in a remote and conquered province would be the Savior of the world? Or that pain could be a better teacher than prosperity? Or that the fact of death could reveal everlasting arms beneath the void? Or that a thieving, runaway slave could be a herald for God’s Kingdom?

The Lord Jesus tells us that the greatest will be the servant of all, that if you want to make your enemy miserable to do them good and treat them kindly, and (though it’s not Scripture), that love truly does conquer all.

And, a last beautiful picture of Christ I’d like to highlight: Acknowledging that Philemon may have suffered hardship or loss on account of Onesimus’ running away, we read of Paul telling Philemon to transfer any and all of Onesimus’ debts to Paul’s account: Paul would repay them all.

It’s the same way that the Lord Jesus responded to our own indebtedness: Christ Jesus paid the penalty our sins deserved, He died on the cross, we live confident in our righteousness before God on account of Jesus’ sacrifice. Likewise, Paul has told Philemon that whatever Onesimus owed him, whatever was due, that Paul would repay it to Philemon in full!

So, a Philemon recap:

Living in obedience to Jesus Christ is worth everything, even our very lives. Trusting Him is the source of true happiness;

Let’s make the main influence we have over others come from the love they know we have for them and that they have for us, instead of coming from any kind of heavy-handed power and authority; and,

Christ came to do what humanity could not do: Pay the penalty for human sin. Let us, likewise, commit ourselves to doing what we recognize others around us can’t do for themselves: To pay the debts they can’t repay; to pray the prayers they can’t yet offer; to serve expecting nothing in return; to use our influence and abilities, time and stuff, for Jesus’ sake in their lives.

Let us pray…

1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 [NLTse]

¹³ And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. ¹⁴ For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with Him the believers who have died.

¹⁵ We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet Him ahead of those who have died. ¹⁶ For the Lord Himself will come down from Heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. ¹⁷ Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ So encourage each other with these words.

^5:1 Now concerning how and when all this will happen, dear brothers and sisters, we don’t really need to write you. ² For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night. ³ When people are saying, “Everything is peaceful and secure,” then disaster will fall on them as suddenly as a pregnant woman’s labor pains begin. And there will be no escape.

⁴ But you aren’t in the dark about these things, dear brothers and sisters, and you won’t be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief. ⁵ For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night. ⁶ So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded. ⁷ Night is the time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk. ⁸ But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation.

⁹ For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out His anger on us. ¹⁰ Christ died for us so that, whether we are dead or alive when He returns, we can live with Him forever. ¹¹ So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.

Sermon – “Ready or Not, Here I Come”

Who here wears a seatbelt when you drive or ride in a car? … (In all honesty, who would wear one even if it wasn’t the law?) … Who here has automobile insurance? Would you have auto insurance if it wasn’t the law? …

When Jesus Christ conquered death and rose from the dead that first Easter Sunday morning, He taught His followers many things before He eventually returned to Heaven forty days later. One of the things the Lord Jesus taught those first followers – and that has been passed on to us, as well – is that Jesus will return to earth someday. He will return for us; He will return to reward and to punish everyone who has ever lived for the deeds we’ve done and the reasons we did them; He will return to bring an end to this sinful, fallen, broken Creation; and, in its place, He will return to establish a new and perfect Heaven and a new and perfect earth where Christians will live again, and be able to live with Him forever.

Several passages across the Bible indicate that we do not, and cannot, know the time when the Lord will return. The Lord Jesus Himself said, “You must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.” (Matthew 24:44) Jesus said, “Keep watch! For you do not know the day or hour of My return.” (Matthew 25:13) He said, “No one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in Heaven or the Son Himself. Only the Father knows. And since you don’t know when that time will come, be on guard! Stay alert!” (Mark 13:32-33) Of course, the practical result of all this is that anyone who claims to know when Jesus is coming back is automatically to be considered wrong.

That being acknowledged, the Bible speaks of several events that will happen leading up to the Lord’s return:

• The good news about Jesus will be proclaimed to every nation (see Mark 13:10 and Matthew 24:14);
• Christians will endure a time of horrible persecution and suffering (see Mark 13:7-8; Matthew 24:15-22; Luke 21:20-24);
• False prophets will try to lead Christians away from believing in the Lord Jesus by performing wonders and miracles (see Mark 13:22; Matthew 24:23-24);
• One of these false prophets will be a charismatic world leader who will proclaim him- or her-self to be Jesus-returned and seek to be worshiped as God (2 Thessalonians 2:1-10);
• The sun and moon will behave strangely, accompanied by showers of meteors striking all over the face of the earth (see Mark 13:24-25; Matthew 24:29-30; Luke 21:25-27); and,
• Many, many, many Jews will become Christians and trust that Christ is God and their Savior and their Lord (see Romans 11:12, 25-26).

Now, the good news about Jesus has been proclaimed to every nation, and yet, there are still many people and language-groups-of-people who have never heard the gospel. [the “suffering” slide] The suffering and persecution of Christians for our faith has been constant in different regions of the world since the days of the apostles, and yet the degree of persecution and suffering that the Bible speaks of towards the End seems to be much more widespread than the world has so-far ever known. [the “false prophets” slide] There have been many false prophets and teachers and wonder-working deceivers around since Bible days, and yet the Bible seems to portray it all leading up to [the “antiChrist” slide] a popular, anti-Christian world leader the likes of which we have not encountered yet. [the “meteor shower” slide] We have experienced all manner of meteor-strikes, eclipses, and signs in the heavens, but what the Bible points to in these “last-days events” seems unprecedented. [the “mass baptism” slide”] And although many, many Jews have become Christians across the centuries, the Bible seems to be indicating a mass-conversion that will happen across a fairly short period of time towards the End, something unknown since the first century.

So, although it is possible that these signs have already been fulfilled, it seems unlikely. And yet, since the only event that seems certainly not to have occurred – the darkening of the sun and moon and the falling of the stars – since that event could occur within the space of a few minutes or an hour, it seems appropriate to say that, although unlikely, Jesus Christ could now return at any hour of the day or night. And, of course, in preparation for His return, the Bible tells us to “be alert”; to “be ready”!

But is it possible to be ready for something that we think unlikely to happen anytime soon? I think so. It seems to me that everyone who wears a seatbelt or who purchases automobile insurance is getting ready for an event that he or she thinks is unlikely… (Afterall, if we thought an accident were likely, we likely wouldn’t get into the car at all.)

So, although it may be unlikely for Jesus Christ to return today, are you confident that you are ready for Christ to return, if He does return today? …

If you knew the Lord Jesus was going to return within the next 24 hours, what habits or practices would you admit to being sinful, ask forgiveness for, and commit to banish from your life? What situations would you get working to straighten out by His appearing? If you knew the Lord was going to return within the next 24 hours, what relationships would you get working to straighten out by then? …

The Lord Jesus Christ has commanded us to “be alert”; to “be ready”. On account of His imminent return, what do you think you should do today about these habits and practices? What do you think you should do about those situations, those relationships, even though it may be unlikely that He will return today? …

Colossians 4:7-18 [NLTse]

⁷ Tychicus will give you a full report about how I am getting along. He is a beloved brother and faithful helper who serves with me in the Lord’s work. ⁸ I have sent him to you for this very purpose—to let you know how we are doing and to encourage you. ⁹ I am also sending Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, one of your own people. He and Tychicus will tell you everything that’s happening here.

¹⁰ Aristarchus, who is in prison with me, sends you his greetings, and so does Mark, Barnabas’s cousin. As you were instructed before, make Mark welcome if he comes your way. ¹¹ Jesus (the one we call Justus) also sends his greetings. These are the only Jewish believers among my co-workers; they are working with me here for the Kingdom of God. And what a comfort they have been!

¹² Epaphras, a member of your own fellowship and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings. He always prays earnestly for you, asking God to make you strong and perfect, fully confident that you are following the whole will of God. ¹³ I can assure you that he prays hard for you and also for the believers in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

¹⁴ Luke, the beloved doctor, sends his greetings, and so does Demas. ¹⁵ Please give my greetings to our brothers and sisters at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church that meets in her house.

¹⁶ After you have read this letter, pass it on to the church at Laodicea so they can read it, too. And you should read the letter I wrote to them.

¹⁷ And say to Archippus, “Be sure to carry out the ministry the Lord gave you.”

¹⁸ HERE IS MY GREETING IN MY OWN HANDWRITING—PAUL.

Remember my chains.

May God’s grace be with you.

Sermon – “Every Day Saints”

Onesimus was a slave. He belonged to the patron of the Colossian church – a man named Philemon. The Colossian-Christians gathered each Lord’s Day for Worship in Philemon’s home (and, it was to this same Philemon that the Bible’s letter Philemon is written). It seems that Onesimus had been accused of stealing from his master, and rather than face the accusations, Onesimus had fled and made his way from small city, Colosse, to big city, Ephesus, two weeks journey away.

In Ephesus the Holy Spirit drew Onesimus to the apostle Paul’s preaching and teaching. We know that Paul was a leatherworker, and as Onesimus looked for work in the markets of Ephesus it seems that he came across Paul’s ministry and influence there. He became a Christian. And suddenly Onesimus faced his first test of faith.

You see, slaves had no rights at this time in Roman society, and the typical punishment for runaway slaves was to be branded on the forehead with a Roman “FUG” (for fugitivus) and to have various joints crushed or bones broken, depending upon the value of the slave and the work the owner wanted him or her to continue being able to do. And so, Onesimus had to either trust and obey Jesus Christ and return to his master, or he had to deny the Lord and continue his life as a fugitive.

Here in Paul’s letter to the Colossians we see how Onesimus responded: He accompanied Tychicus in bringing Paul’s letter to the Colossians, and he himself delivered Paul’s letter to his master, Philemon.

Has anyone here said something or done something that the Holy Spirit is calling you to confess? Maybe you’ve lied to your parents or cheated on your taxes or stolen from a store or something much worse or something not as bad, but whatever it’s been you’ve kept it a secret, you’ve kept it to yourself, it’s eating you up inside but you’re afraid of what might happen if you were to obey the Lord and be honest and confess it and come clean…

If it has anything to do with somebody else in this room, I charge you to not leave today without admitting it, asking forgiveness, and doing everything in your power to be reconciled. If it has to do with others not a part of this church, commit right now in the presence of God to address it, admit it, to right the wrong, as soon as possible, and by week’s end at the latest…

We don’t know what Philemon did when Onesimus returned. We don’t know how he responded to Paul’s plea for mercy that fills his letter to Philemon. But history tells us that at the turn of the first century all the many house-churches of the great city of Ephesus were under the shepherding of a bishop named Onesimus. We don’t know if that bishop was the same runaway-slave-Onesimus as Paul is commending to the Colossian church here. But such a responsibility over Christ’s beloved Church would be worthy of someone who had trusted the Lord Jesus enough to face the consequences of their sins, no matter what those consequences might be.

My brothers and sisters: Come clean; face your fears; trust Jesus; humble yourself to the Lord that He might lift you up.

John Mark was the cousin of Barnabas. Barnabas, the famous encourager who sold some land he owned in order to help provide for the needs of those first twelve apostles and the early church; the same Barnabas who, after Paul stopped hunting Christians and became one, took Paul under his wing when no one else would; the same Barnabas whom Paul accompanied on that first great missionary journey to plant churches in Paphos and Salamis on the island of Cyprus, and in Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, and Attalia in what was then called Asia (and is now called Turkey).

John Mark had accompanied Barnabas and Paul on that first missionary journey, but for some unexplained reason, when they arrived in Asia after their trials and victories on Cyprus, John Mark left them to return to Jerusalem.

Acts tells us that Barnabas and Paul continued on together without Mark (John Mark), but that when Barnabas and Paul began planning their next missionary journey, that because Barnabas wanted to bring Mark along with them again, that Barnabas and Paul separated because Paul refused to trust Mark to not leave them again.

And here we have John Mark again, included once more among Paul’s trusted co-workers. Their friendship and trust in one another has been restored, and the gospel of God’s friendship with humanity, and His entrusting us with the good news of His Son, shows its power to all who know their story. Of course, we don’t know whether Paul first approached Mark for forgiveness or whether Mark first approached Paul, but every kind word they say to each other, every expression of trust given and trust lived out, exhibits the resurrection-power of Jesus to all them.

Who are you living in broken-relationship with? Who has hurt you whom you refuse to forgive? Who have you hurt whom you refuse to ask forgiveness? Let it end today. They do not have to ask your forgiveness. You can stop holding onto the grudge today, right now, every time it comes to your mind laying the offense at the foot of the cross to be washed, covered, by Jesus’ blood there. You can tell that person who’s upset at you that you are sorry today, right now. You can lay your pride down at the foot of that same cross and prove that your relationship with them is more important to you than are your rights. Let the world see the power of the resurrection at work in your life, your relationships. “Do everything you can to live at peace with all people,” Paul wrote. It shows the power of God in you, like it did in Paul and John Mark.

John Mark went on to accompany the apostle Simon Peter on many of his preaching and teaching journeys, wrote the Gospel of Mark, and is credited with bringing Christianity to northern Africa where Coptic and Orthodox churches continue to revere him as their founder today…

Of course, there is Demas. We don’t know much about Demas, other than that he was a “fellow worker” for the gospel with Paul. But we read that Demas later rejected Christ because “he loved this world.”

It seems that Demas didn’t want to make the sacrifices that our Savior requires. He didn’t want to do the work of reconciliation and forgiveness. He didn’t want to suffer the persecutions and hostilities of being a Christian: “He loved this world.”

Demas reminds us that we either are loving the Lord or we are loving the world. And it’s easy to tell which: You can tell by how you spend your money, how you spend your time, and in what activities you invest your abilities and talents day after day. The things, teachings, and priorities of our society and culture are powerful lures away from Christ.

Look at your lives: Have the things of the world crowded out Jesus? When you hear His call in the Scriptures do you respond, “Yeah, but…”? Is the Holy Spirit calling you to repent of anything sinful, worldly, or that’s making your heart hard toward the things of God today? Well, repent! Let Demas be our warning! “He loved this world”…

Lastly, I want to lift up Aristarchus to us all. Aristarchus was from the city of Thessalonica, and all that we know about him besides that is that he was always there. When Paul’s team was seized by rioters in Ephesus, Aristarchus was among those who were seized. He accompanied Paul to Macedonia and Achaia after that. And when Paul returned to Ephesus, we see that Aristarchus returned with him. When Paul was sent to Rome to be tried by the Emperor, Aristarchus was with him. Paul writes that Aristarchus was his “fellow prisoner” and that Aristarchus was his “fellow laborer”. We don’t know if he was gifted in any kind of special way. We don’t ever see him speaking or doing anything remarkable. Faithful Aristarchus: It seems he was simply always there.

And so, I ask you: Are you always there for Christ? When Sunday comes, are you always in Worship, wherever you may be? Are you always at Bible Study, always at the Prayer Meetings, always encouraging the leaders of the ministries and the leaders of the church with your presence and support? Be here. Be there. Always. Let the church be your family. Let your family be the church. Always be there for Jesus by always being here/there, whatever is going on, be a part of it. Faithful. Always there…

To the Colossians 1:1-14 [NLTse]
This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy.
² We are writing to God’s holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ.
May God our Father give you grace and peace.
³ We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴ For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, ⁵ which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in Heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.
⁶ This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.
⁷ You learned about the Good News from Epaphras, our beloved co-worker. He is Christ’s faithful servant, and he is helping us on your behalf. ⁸ He has told us about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you.
⁹ So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of His will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. ¹⁰ Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.
¹¹ We also pray that you will be strengthened with all His glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, ¹² always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to His people, who live in the light. ¹³ For He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His dear Son, ¹⁴ Who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

Sermon – “Legacy: Planning For the End”

What kind of person do you want to be?

As many of you know, I turned fifty-one a little over two weeks ago. When I was a kid I don’t think I ever thought about myself. When I was a teen I only wondered what others thought about me. When I was in my twenties I focused more on how much money I could get and how much stuff I could acquire. In my thirties I thought a lot about what I could and would accomplish. Across my forties I compared myself a lot with those around me, looking to see how my life looked in comparison.

But now that I’ve hit the big “five-O” I realize that there’s likely more life behind me than there is ahead of me! And it’s gotten me starting to look at myself more closely, wondering: Who I am, really? What have I done? What am I leaving behind? Has my life mattered? Day by day, is my life mattering still?

It’s not a series of questions that have to wait until you’re my age. Although the vast majority of funerals I attend or am a part of are for older people, Jason Bell’s funeral yesterday, and Sandy Meyer’s many years ago; my wife, Amy’s, brother dying when he was twenty-three, and my brother dying when he was twenty-one, all remind me – and should remind us all! – that no matter how young and invulnerable we are or we feel, not one of us is promised another moment beyond the one we’re breathing in and our hearts are beating through right now…

Steven Covey of “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” fame has been encouraging readers to begin asking such questions across the past 20 years. And his son, Sean Covey, has been encouraging ever-younger readers to begin asking these same questions, as well:

What kind of person do you want to be?

As of the writing of this letter, the apostle Paul had never been to the city of Colossae, but in Colossians 1 Paul tells the church that he had heard about them. It seems they had quite the reputation.

As we ask ourselves what kind of person we want to be, finding out what kind of reputation we have can surely help us know what kind of person we have become. Whether it is a reputation you are happy about or a reputation that upsets you, as we think about the kind of person we want to be our reputation can help us know where we are now, which can help us begin planning how to get from here to there.

The Colossians’ reputation that the apostle Paul had heard about was that they were known for trusting in Christ and for loving their fellow Christians. A commendable reputation! The kind of reputation we have promised Jesus we would have when we got baptized!

It’s interesting to me that Paul doesn’t go on in his letter from there to simply commend the Colossians for their faith. No. The very next thing he does is commit to pray for them, and he says he will be praying for them for two reasons: (1) So that the way they live will always honor and please the Lord, and so that their lives will produce every kind of good fruit; and, (2) so that they will grow as they learn to know God better and better.

For the apostle Paul, he’s not just pleased to know who the Colossians are now, he’s concerned about the kind of people they will grow to be.

The Book of Numbers introduces us to a man named Caleb. Now, Caleb was the leader of the Tribe of Judah, even though Caleb was not a native-born Israelite. The Bible tells us that Caleb was a Kenizzite, from one of the wild, nomadic tribes that roamed the Sinai Peninsula in search of good pastureland. It seems that Caleb’s family, or perhaps his entire tribe, had become slaves alongside the Israelites in Egypt, and had embraced the Hebrew God as their own and afterwards joined with Israel. Caleb must have been a remarkable man and a remarkable man of faith, because, after the exodus, when God released the Israelites out of their slavery in Egypt, Caleb was the head of the Israelite tribe of Judah. And, after fleeing Egypt, and as Israel was about to enter into the land God had promised Israel’s ancestors – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – as Judah’s chief elder, Caleb was sent along with the eleven other tribal heads to scout out the Promised Land.

Maybe you know the story, but after the twelve had thoroughly reconnoitered the land, ten of the tribal leaders came back and gave a discouraging report, with only Caleb and Moses’ successor, Joshua, giving and encouraging one.

Notes
It was during this new season of self-reflection that I picked up Gordon MacDonald’s bookThe Life God Blesses. A seasoned ministry veteran with a lot of life insight, he asked the question, “What kind of old man do you want to be?” He’d been reading the story of Caleb, who at eighty-five was described as following the Lord God of Israel “wholeheartedly.”

MacDonald started looking around for other older men who were at their very best in their twilight years. “One thing quickly became clear. I have known a lot of old men, but my list of ‘emulatable’ old men was alarmingly short.”

This was true for a variety of reasons. Some had drifted into self-centeredness, while others had become impatient and cynical toward the next generation. Some had let the later years sour them into becoming grumpy and critical. Many simply lived in the past and were no longer leaning forward into the future.

Securing a spot on MacDonald’s list of “emulatable” old men had virtually nothing to do with achievement or success as we often define it. It had more to do with character and attitude and “being.”

Having served in ministry more than three decades, I find myself less enamored with accomplishment and the bravado that often accompanies it. I am more drawn to men and women who live well than to those who live big. But those who’ve been in ministry a long time and are living well aren’t that easy to find. Why aren’t there more whose twilight years are their highlight years?

I think Henri Nouwen gives us a clue.
I began to experience a deep inner threat. As I entered into my fifties and was able to realize the unlikelihood of doubling my years, I came face to face with the simple question, “Did becoming older bring me closer to Jesus?” After twenty-five years of priesthood, I found myself praying poorly, living somewhat isolated from other people, and very much preoccupied with burning issues.
Pastors write thousands of sermons, lead thousands of meetings, and prepare thousands of budgets. (or at least it seems like it). Twenty or twenty-five years of pushing and striving and leading take its toll. We can feel drained, fatigued, and even jaded. The thought of one more vision message or capital campaign just doesn’t crank up the adrenaline like it once did.

At this point in life we’re very capable of leading out of our experience and knowledge rather than the deep well of a healthy soul. On the outside we have the answers, but on the inside we have questions. To further complicate matters, our physical stamina begins to diminish.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying passion for ministry goes away. I am saying it feels different than when you first started. As a twenty-five-year veteran, you face a whole new set of challenges. The triple-A of adrenaline, ambition, and achievement aren’t enough to sustain you anymore.

Like Nouwen, we have to admit that decades of ministry haven’t necessarily made us more like Jesus. Our sermons are better, our leadership is better, our staff management is better, our planning is better, but our intimacy with Jesus? Not so much.

And for some of us, there is the disillusionment that ministry hasn’t turned out like we thought it would. We’ve done the best we could, but more often than we want to admit, ministry has been more babysitting than leading, more mundane than miraculous, more life-taking than life-giving.

Some days we want out. We daydream about what it’s like on the outside. We fantasize about a prison break from the constraints of ministry. We wonder what it would be like to have a “normal” life. We ponder how it would feel to have weekends off. We dream of not being constantly scrutinized.

If ministry hasn’t turned out like you expected, I want to ask you the same question that Gordon MacDonald asked. What kind of old man or woman do you want to be? I’m not asking what kind of ministry you want to have. I’m asking about you, as a person, as a Christ follower. You can’t undo the past, and you can’t control all of your circumstances, but you so have a choice about the life you are going to live.
?
We have a gut-wrenching choice to make. We can put our ministry on autopilot and move into image-management mode. Or we can do the hard work of reinventing ourselves, of reworking the last chapters of life. If you have been drinking at the well of ambition and success and drivenness . . . that well will run dry. It’s time to drill a new well that will sustain you as you get older.

Ephesians [NLTse]

¹⁰ A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. ¹¹ Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. ¹² For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

¹³ Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. ¹⁴ Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. ¹⁵ For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. ¹⁶ In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. ¹⁷ Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

¹⁸ Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

¹⁹ And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God’s mysterious plan that the Good News is for Jews and Gentiles alike. ²⁰ I am in chains now, still preaching this message as God’s ambassador. So pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for Him, as I should.

Sermon – “Armed, Armored, and Ready To Go!”

Do you believe in demons? (The Bible also calls them “unclean spirits” and “evil spirits” and “evil rulers” and “powers of the air” and “principalities” and “authorities of the unseen world” and “mighty powers in this dark world” and “other gods” and “the glorious ones”…) The Bible talks quite a lot about demons.

The Bible tells us that demons were originally angels – heavenly messengers – created in the beginning by Almighty God. But, the Bible tells us that, a number of those angels – maybe even a third of them – rebelled against the Lord to follow the great archangel, Lucifer, instead. Lucifer and his angels were defeated, and they were cast out of Heaven to the Earth. Lucifer then came to be called “the devil” and “Satan”, and his rebel-angels came to be called “demons” and the other names (and more) that I’ve mentioned.

Through the ages demons have remained the enemies of God and, because God loves human beings, demons also hate us, humans, and are committed to keeping us from knowing the Lord and drawing near to Him through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, and are committed to trapping us in as much pain and suffering as possible.

Ephesians was a letter written to new Christians living in the city of Ephesus. Like the rest of the first century world, and like much of our world today, Ephesus was filled with people who were uncertain about their future and who were fearful that their fate was in the hands of invisible powers over which they had no control.

At the time of Paul’s writing, Ephesus was the most important and populated city in the entire Roman Empire, second only to Rome itself. The city controlled important land and sea trade routes, and was both the economic and religious center of the province of Asia. (The western part of what is now the nation of “Turkey”.) Ephesus was the home of the Artemis-ion – the temple of the goddess Artemis, worshiped as “the Queen of Heaven”. One of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the Temple of Artemis reflected the honor with which the goddess was held. And so, Ephesus was also the destination of tens of thousands of religious pilgrims who flocked to the city each year to worship “the Queen of Heaven” and seek her aid.

What all this means for us this morning is that the Bible says that this so-called “goddess” Artemis, whom so many journeyed from across the Roman Empire and beyond to worship and seek favor from, was in reality a demon! (Just as the Bible says that every so-called “god” that took worship away from God our Father back then and that takes worship away from God our Father today is in reality a demon.) And, so, Ephesus was more than just a center of pagan religion, it was a center of demonic activity. And historical records and the Bible itself show Ephesus to have been a place where magic and sorcery were widely practiced – by the intellectual and the ignorant alike – in their efforts to control these spirits that interfered with their livelihoods and governed their destinies.

The gospel-writer, Luke, records the apostle Paul’s two-year ministry in Ephesus in Chapter 19 of the book of Acts. We read of the Lord using Paul to heal people and cast demons out of them to such an extent that many Ephesians who practiced magic and the occult put their trust in Jesus and were baptized, even destroying their spell and magic books, worth millions of dollars! No one in Ephesus had ever seen a person dominate demons as Paul did, and as Paul promised them that, by the Holy Spirit through Christ, they could too!

What does this all have to do with us?

Well, it brings me back to my original question: Do you believe in demons? Clearly the Bible does, but do you?

The Bible gives us a picture of invisible creatures who are working to ruin our relationships by tempting us to become jealous (when jealousy wouldn’t have come to our minds without them) or by enticing us to take offense at what the other person has said or done (when we wouldn’t have taken offense otherwise), or by encouraging us to not forgive but to hold on to our grudge or our anger (when forgiving the other would ordinarily have been so easy in that moment). The Bible describes demons as spirit-beings who seek to persuade us towards worry, fear, and anxiety that is far beyond what our circumstances call for; who seek to distract us from the comfort and protection the Lord would offer us: That He has for us in His Truth, in the righteousness that is ours in Christ, in the peace with Him that Jesus’ sacrifice has achieved, and that He has for us in our great salvation!

The Bible tells us that demons are crafty, clever liars and deceivers and tellers of half-truths, who prey upon our weaknesses, and seek to twist the good things our Father has given us in Creation and in His Word. Demons strive to keep us thinking we’re not good enough for God to love us, or that we’re not loved and not loveable, when the Bible tells us that God has loved us and has adopted us to be His Own in Christ! Demons do their best to keep us focused on world-events instead of on the cross; to keep us focused on all that might happen in the future instead of on what the Holy Spirit is calling us to do right now; to keep us focused on what we can see, hear, smell, taste, and touch to be true rather than on what He’s told us and promised us and committed to us to be true in His Word.

It goes on and on!

What makes the work of demons so diabolical is that we don’t often recognize that it is happening! A thought comes into our heads and we don’t stop and hold it up to the light of Christ. No. We too often receive it uncritically and act upon it! We think it’s our own thought and don’t realize it’s the tempting work of a demon. And before we know it, we’ve given into the temptation, we’re sinning and in a mess, and we’re wondering how everything went so wrong so fast!

(Notice we’re not talking about demon possession here. The Bible doesn’t talk about demon possession, either. The Bible uses the term demonized: It presents us with people who are under different levels of a demon’s, or several demons’, influence: Believing a lie here; giving into a temptation there, overcoming an enticement here! Christians can be influenced by demons when we act upon a demon’s distractions or temptations. And being influenced by a demon is very different from being possessed by one.

(Demon possession is an extreme situation where a person acts on everything the demon (or demons) say. And the Bible gives only one example of such an extreme condition: The man who had a legion of demons influencing him. And in that situation the Lord Jesus cast that whole army of demons out of the man with just a command. And so can we.)

You see, the apostle Paul wrote the letter To the Ephesians the way he did and raised the issues and the topics he did because of the center for demonic activity that Ephesus was in the First Century, because not all cities or towns or boroughs are the same when it comes to demonic activity and oppression, and what the Christians were facing in Ephesus was different than what those were facing who lived in Rome or Corinth or Philippi or Thessalonica.

That being said, casting out demons does not depend on special gifting or even special holiness. Any Christian living in fellowship with Jesus Christ can command demons in Jesus’ name, and they will obey him or her, no matter how young, no matter how old.

I say this with such confidence because the Bible pictures the resurrected Jesus seated at the Father’s right hand “far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else – not only in this world but also in the world to come”. (Ephesians 1:21) Compared to Jesus, demons are weak and pitiful creatures, doomed for eternity and left with nothing but to scramble around like rats in garbage seeking to do whatever harm they can.

The key to getting rid of demons is not to focus on the demons. The key is to get rid of the garbage in our lives that demons feed on. When the pain and suffering they feed upon is forgiven through the confession of sin and the cross of Christ, when it is replaced by the truth of God’s Word, and it is restored and healed by the resulting work of the Holy Spirit, demons have nothing to hold on to and we can cast them out with a prayer. Like this one.

Would you join me in praying it?

In the name of Jesus Christ, God the Son, my Savior, and with the authority He has given me as a child of God, I command any demons present to leave, now. You are to report to Jesus Christ, Who will do with you whatever He chooses, and you are never to return or to trouble me or any loved one of mine again. Amen!

Ephesians 1:3-14 [NLTse]

³ All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. ⁴ Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. ⁵ God decided in advance to adopt us into His Own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure. ⁶ So we praise God for the glorious grace He has poured out on us who belong to His dear Son. ⁷ He is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins. ⁸ He has showered His kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

⁹ God has now revealed to us His mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill His Own good plan. ¹⁰ And this is the plan: At the right time He will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in Heaven and on earth. ¹¹ Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for He chose us in advance, and He makes everything work out according to His plan.

¹² God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. ¹³ And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, He identified you as His Own by giving you the Holy Spirit, Whom He promised long ago. ¹⁴ The Spirit is God’s guarantee that He will give us the inheritance He promised and that He has purchased us to be His Own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify Him.

Sermon – “Every Spiritual Blessing”

A lady in our church, several years ago, was a teacher at a local community college. She often taught in the areas of business and writing. But this semester the school’s Statistics teacher quit suddenly and the administration was in a jam. They told this woman she would need to teach the Statistics class for that semester until they could hire someone else, and they gave her the teaching materials and set her to go. But the woman was terrified.

Math had never made sense to her. She could balance her checkbook, and those kinds of necessary math skills, but she had never done well when it came to using formulas and figuring out what to do when asked questions like, a duck lays three eggs a week for five weeks, but a lizard comes and steals every fourth egg that’s laid. So how many eggs are left? It drove her nuts! And her assignment terrified her. She was afraid for looking like a fool. She was afraid for not being able to teach the students well. And she was afraid she might lose her job when her bosses found out about it all.

She prayed. We all prayed. (We were in Bible Study together.) And as she began preparing for her first class, the gibberish of the material strangely started making sense to her. She understood the concepts. She got what formulas worked where. She said it was like suddenly becoming fluent in a language she’d never read, written, or spoken before.

It was a thrilling semester for her and for all of us in the Bible Study with her, as she would give us weekly updates. I will never forget her telling us, the week after final exams and after grades were in, how she’d been looking at her notes as she’d been putting them away, and her shock to realize she didn’t understand them anymore. It had become a mass of numbers and symbols to her again! The Holy Spirit had given her the grace she and her students needed. And then it was gone…

Today is Pentecost Sunday. Today we remember and celebrate the Holy Spirit being poured out on the Church of Jesus Christ, for we are not only a forgiven people (brought into fellowship and communion with Almighty God through the cross and sacrifice of Jesus Christ), we are also an empowered people (that fellowship and communion making us the dwelling places of the Almighty’s very Own nature, the power of God working in and through Christians in the world.)

There is so much misunderstanding about the person and work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian’s life: In your life; in my life… Some Christians believe that Jesus was altogether different from us. Even though the New Testament goes out of its way to make sure we understand that Jesus was like us in every way, except that He never sinned, many Christians believe that Jesus was altogether different. That He was God-in-a-bod, and that that’s how the power of the Almighty was at work in Him.

Many Christians believe that the apostles and early disciples were altogether different from us. Even though the New Testament makes very clear that each and every one was like us in having good things about them and bad things about them, in having personal strengths and personality flaws, in experiencing heartache and having hang-ups, and the like, many Christians believe that those apostles and first disciples were somehow different, and that’s how the power of Almighty God was at work in them.

But none of that’s true.

Philippians 2:6-8 makes clear that God the Son took off His divinity when He was born. Jesus of Nazareth was not God-in-a-bod. He was just a baby boy, and then a kid, and then a teen, and a young man, Who was then killed for the sins of the world.

And the apostles and early disciples were people who had disputes and fears and who made mistakes and gave into temptation and could be jealous of each other, and the like…

The Lord Jesus did the works of Almighty God because He was baptized by the Holy Spirit and because He believed that the Father had filled Him with Himself. He expected to be used, and He believed He could be used. And so God used Him.

And the apostles and those early disciples did the works of Almighty God because they wanted to be useful to God, and because they made themselves available to be useful to Him. They were forgiven, because they had trusted in Jesus’ sacrifice to cleanse them from sin and bring them into fellowship and communion with the Father, and they were empowered for ministry, because they had asked and waited for the Holy Spirit’s baptism, and then trusted that God had, indeed, filled them with Himself. They expected to be used, and they believed that they could be used. And so God used them!

The same is true for us. We have been forgiven if we have trusted in Jesus’ sacrifice to cleanse us from our sins. And we have been empowered for ministry if we have asked and waited for the Holy Spirit’s baptism, and then trusted that God has, indeed, filled us with Himself. The question is: Do we expect to be used by God? And do we believe that we could be used by God, if He chose to use us?

You see, the Church of Jesus Christ is like the Lord’s toolbox. Each of us is needed to get His job done. (And His job is bringing everything and everyone in Heaven and on earth together under the authority and lordship of Jesus.) Each of us has a role to play in that work. Maybe one of us is a screwdriver and another one of us is a wrench. Perhaps one of us is a level and another of us is a catspaw. (You use this to pull tough-to-get nails out.) But we’re all needed because bringing everything and everyone in Heaven and on earth together under the authority and lordship of Jesus is a big job!

Of course, the wrench can do some of the work a screwdriver can do, and a level might be able to get a nail or two out, like a catspaw. But that’s not what those tools were made for, and that’s why every tool is needed, just like every Christian is needed. We’re not interchangeable.

Even so, it’s not us doing the work. A screwdriver, no matter how well-crafted is useless on its own. But when you put it in the hands of someone who knows how to use it you can hang cabinets in your kitchen and bathroom, you can put door knobs on your doors, you can take apart your washing machine and put it back together. A level is good for hanging pictures, for making sure that windows and doors will be able to open and close, for keeping water from pooling on your front walk… But only if it’s in the hands of someone who knows how to use it!

At the very beginning of our reading today, the apostle Paul praises the Lord for “blessing us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.” (V. 3) You and I have been granted every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ! There is nothing I cannot do that God wants me to do. There is nothing you cannot do that God wants you to do. He’s given us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ!

Some of the spiritual blessings that the Bible talks about are wisdom, healing, speaking in languages we’ve never learned, knowing things there’s no way we could know, trusting God for the impossible, speaking on God’s behalf, and others… We can say “yes” to God whenever He calls and in every circumstance because He has miraculous abilities to share with us so that we can accomplish whatever He’s set us to.

These spiritual blessings aren’t powers that we get to control and manipulate and utilize for our own purposes and to make ourselves look good. (Though they can be abused). No. But when we want to be useful to the Lord, and when we make ourselves available to Him, His Holy Spirit at work in us empowers us to be able to know and do or speak whatever is necessary to accomplish all that He has set us to.

If the thought comes into your head to pray for a co-worker’s health, or for your friend to be delivered out of bad relationship or situation, or for their spouse or parents or children to come to Christ, or… whatever the thought might be, you don’t have to listen to the voice that might say, “I can’t pray for them for that, because I can’t heal anyone or deliver anyone or make anyone come to Christ or… whatever.” No, you can reach out your hands and pray in faith because you know that it’s not you doing these great works, it is God the Holy Spirit wanting to do these great works through you!

When you feel called to tackle a situation, but you don’t know what to do or where to begin, you don’t have listen to the voice in your head that might say, “It’s too much for you. Leave it for someone else!” No. You can step into the situation trusting that the Father wants you to, knowing that He’ll give you wisdom if you need it; He’ll give you knowledge if you need it; He’ll give you the words to say, if words need to be said; every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms will be available to you so that you can do what is impossible for you to do, so that God will get peoples’ attention through you.

We’re not the ones doing the work. God is doing the work through us. Our part is to want to be useful. Our part is to make ourselves available to Him.

This week, when you arrive at school or work or the store or at your friend’s house, ask the Lord to use you. Trust that He can use you. Expect Him to use you. And ask the Lord to use you. Then follow the promptings that come, trusting they have come from His Spirit into your mind. Act upon the promptings knowing that you are just the tool, chosen by the Lord at that moment to accomplish His wonders and advance His Kingdom in the world and in someone’s life.

Trust that He can use you. Expect Him to use you. Live united with Jesus Christ. Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms is ours because we are united with Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 12:1-10 [NLTse]
This boasting will do no good, but I must go on. I will reluctantly tell about visions and revelations from the Lord. ² I was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether I was in my body or out of my body, I don’t know—only God knows. ³ Yes, only God knows whether I was in my body or outside my body. But I do know ⁴ that I was caught up to Paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.
⁵ That experience is worth boasting about, but I’m not going to do it. I will boast only about my weaknesses. ⁶ If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it, because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message, ⁷ even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.
⁸ Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. ⁹ Each time He said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. ¹⁰ That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Sermon
Jim Croce was a ballad singer and songwriter who died recently. He was always singing stories about his girl falling for another guy or about other guys around his neighborhood who were tougher than him. One of his songs had this for a refrain:
You don’t tug on Superman’s cape. You don’t spit into the wind. You don’t pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger. And you don’t mess around with Jim. But by the end of the song someone tougher and meaner than Jim had come around, and now you didn’t mess around with Slim…

Weakness doesn’t sell in our culture. It doesn’t sell in any culture. It never has. Everybody wants to be strong. We sing songs about it. (Many of them love songs, that we could get the girl or get the guy if we were only “stronger”: More beautiful; more witty; a better dancer… We write movies about it, that everyone would look to us as a hero if we were only “stronger”: More powerful; able to out-think the bad guy; able to overcome our fears…

Since the very beginning human beings have been rebelling against our weakness. But the Lord God made us to be weak. We were to be His lords and ladies upon the earth. In our weakness His power would be able to be known and exercised all over the world! But we wanted to be “strong”.

Adam and Eve rebelled against God in the beginning because God had made them dependent upon Him. They – and all of us human beings – were to be weak vessels through which God’s wisdom, strength, miraculous powers, and knowledge of good and evil could freely flow through. But they wanted to be strong, independent! And that’s what the devil promised them. And that’s what they got!

We’re kind of like Betta fish in that way. Does anybody know what a Betta fish is? Here’s a picture of one. Betta fish males are beautiful, majestic-looking creatures. But they must keep isolated from other males or they will fight each other for dominance to the death! And since the beginning us human beings have not only been fighting against one another for dominance – like Jim and Slim –we’ve been consistently fighting against God. (Of course, human beings fighting God is like a Betta fish fighting a blue whale… But we never seem to learn.)

And we’ve brought about all-manner of troubles and pain upon ourselves in our rebellion against our weakness. In our striving to be “strong” we’ve developed eating disorders and insecurity complex’s and people have become bullies and warlords and tyrants and have sold their souls and sold themselves! But the truth is that there is always a Slim waiting to come along. Some Snow White is always going to grow up and become fairer than you. Another all-star is always going to rise up to replace your records on the board. There will always be someone more handsome, wealthier, more likeable, who gets more attention, who sees what you couldn’t see, who gets done what you could only muddle through…

We human beings were made weak and made to be weak. We desperately need to be content with that! We need to be able to live at peace with our weakness!

2 Corinthians 12 shows us that Paul was no different: Our Father gave Paul extraordinary visions and revelations, and such special blessings tempted Paul to pride; tempted him to say, “Look at me! Look what God’s done in my life! Aren’t I the best apostle! Aren’t I the greatest!” And Paul writes, “So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.” (V. 7)

Many across the years have wondered about this “thorn” Paul was given. And I have my own ideas, but I’m not going to share them here because I think we need to talk about this whole category of “thorns” and “weaknesses” Paul is writing about. He says that he has come to boast about this “thorn” and these weaknesses. He says that he has come to take pleasure in them! So, what are they?

We don’t have to go far. At the end of v. 10 Paul lists them: He says, “I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” So, let’s look at these “insults”, “hardships”, “persecutions”, and “troubles”.
“Insults” speaks of those times when people think of clever ways of making our faith or our lifestyle or our words look stupid or weird or inconsistent. “Hardships” describe circumstances forced upon us, when things start going against us no matter how hard we try. “Hardships” can refer to any situation where we feel trapped, where we didn’t plan for what has happened, but here we are, and it’s hard… “Persecutions”, of course, are abuses or painful circumstances or acts of prejudice from people simply because of our Christian faith or our Christian morals and commitments. It’s when we are hurt or not treated fairly simply because of Christ. And this word for “troubles” carries the idea of pressures, when we’re feeling the weight of the world; circumstances that tend to overcome us with stress and tension…

(Notice that Paul’s not talking about sin here. These “weaknesses” are not a kind of behavior—like we might say ‘he has a weakness for lust’; or ‘she has a weakness for overeating’. Paul is not talking about the bad choices we can make. He is not saying, “The power of Christ is perfected in my bad choices.” He’s not saying, “I will all the more gladly boast of my bad choices.” Weaknesses here are circumstances and situations and experiences and wounds that make us look weak; things we would get rid of if we had the human strength.

Because, if we were “strong,” we would return the insult with such an effective put down that our opponent would wither and everyone would admire our wit and cleverness. If we were “strong,” we would take charge of these hardships and turn everything around so that it was all going our way again, the way we want it to. If we were “strong,” we would stand up to and face down the persecution so quickly and so decisively that no one would ever mess with us again! If we were “strong,” we would use our resources to get out from under all the stress, we would master the situation and get back on top of it all!
But we don’t tend to have this kind of human strength. And even when we do, Christ shows us not to use our strength the way the world does. Jesus tells us not to return evil for evil. Paul said back in 1 Corinthians 4:12–13, “We bless those who curse us. We are patient with those who abuse us. We appeal gently when evil things are said about us.” And then he added, “Yet we are treated like the world’s garbage, like everybody’s trash—right up to the present moment.” Because this kind of response to abuse looks weak! [At least it looks that way to those who thrive on pride and who strive after strength.])
Paul calls his “thorn” a “messenger of Satan” (v. 7) given to harass him. So, clearly, some “thorns” and weaknesses come from the devil. Satan afflicts the children of God through his demons and evil crew. His aim is to destroy us and kill us and to make us miserable.

But it is not that simple. The devil is not the only one at work here. God is at work, too. These “thorns” and weaknesses are not just the work of Satan to destroy. They are the work of God to save.

We know this because Paul describes the purpose for the “thorn” being to keep him from pride. Paul’s revelations in Paradise made him vulnerable to pride and a sense of superiority. So God uses the hostile intentions of Satan for Paul’s holiness. Satan wanted to make Paul miserable and turn him away from the faith and the ministry and the value of the visions he had seen. But God wanted to make Paul humble and turn him away from thinking himself so great. So God appointed the “thorn” of Satan to the work of Paul’s salvation.
Another reason we know the “thorn” is God’s work and not just Satan’s is that when Paul prays in verse 8 that God would take the thorn away, the Lord says, “No, because My power is made perfect in this weakness.” In other words, Jesus is saying, “I have a purpose in what is happening to you, Paul. This is not ultimately Satan’s destroying work. It is ultimately My saving and sanctifying work.”

For Paul and for us, the source of our weaknesses may sometimes be Satan and his destructive designs for us; but always our weaknesses are designed by God for our good. This is why the truth of God’s sovereign grace is so precious in the midst of hardship and troubles: Because God is in control of Satan. Satan does nothing to God’s children that God does not design with infinite skill and love for our good!

But what is the purpose of such weaknesses? Is there a goal or an aim for why the weaknesses come? Why insults, hardships, persecutions, calamities, and troubles? Why can’t I find a job? Why am I trapped in this awful marriage? Why does my dad have cancer? Why can’t I have children? Why do I have no friends? Why is nothing working in my life?

First, know that Satan wants to beat you up and harass you. So know that it is okay to pray for relief. That’s what Paul did until he got word from the Lord. Pain is not a good thing in itself. God does not delight in our suffering. But Satan does, so he must be resisted.

Second, God’s purpose over and through Satan’s troubling us is our Christ-likeness and humility. Paul was in danger of pride and a sense of superiority, and God took steps to keep him humble. This is a crazy-strange thing in our self-centered age, but God thinks humility is more important than comfort; God thinks humility is more important than freedom from pain. He will give us a mountain top experience in the Garden of Eden itself, and then bring us through every kind of trial and anguish, as needed, to keep us from thinking we have “arrived” and no longer need to totally rely on His grace.

But, ultimately, God’s purpose in our “thorns” and weaknesses is to glorify the grace and power of Jesus. In v. 9 Jesus says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” God made us weak to make you and me a showcase for Jesus’ power. And yet, not the way the world would demand it: Not by getting rid of all our weaknesses; but by giving us strength to endure and even rejoice in tribulation.

Of course, we must let God be God here: That is, if He wills to show the perfection of His Son’s power in our weakness instead of by our escape from weakness, then He knows best and we must trust Him. Hebrews 11 is a good guide here. It says that by faith some escaped the sword (v. 34) and by faith some were killed by the sword (v. 37). By faith some shut the mouths of lions (v. 33), and by faith others were sawn in two (v. 37). By faith some were mighty in war, and by faith others suffered defeat and imprisonment.
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The deepest need that you and I have in weakness and adversity – that empowers us to turn the other cheek, pray for our enemies, and do good to those who hate us – our deepest need is not quick relief, but the bedrock-confidence that what is happening to us in these weak times is part of the greatest purpose God has in the universe: Drawing everyone and everything’s attention to the grace and power at work in Jesus Christ: The grace and power that took Jesus to the cross; the grace and power that kept Him there until God’s work of love was done. That’s what God is building into our lives. That’s why we can take pleasure in our weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that we suffer for Christ. For when we are weak – and we let ourselves be weak trusting in the grace and power of Jesus – then we are unconquerably strong!