COMPLACENT CROWD OR COMMISSIONED CHURCH
#498 COMPLACENT CROWD OR COMMISSIONED CHURCH
Scripture Luke 14:16-24, NIV Orig. 5-26-68
Rewr. 7-18-91
Passage: 16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ 19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ 21 “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ 22 “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ 23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”
Purpose: Addressing my people on the need for the followers of Christ to confirm in daily living all things vital in showing ourselves committed followers of Jesus.
Keywords: Christ Lord Commitment Complacency
Timeline/Series: Luke
Introduction
The article stared back at me from the daily paper (Town Talk, 5-24-67). The dateline, San Francisco, should have given it away at once. Weirdness seems to regularly first test its mettle there.
I read on anyway. “A well-proportioned brunette tiptoed through a hushed room decorated with a stuffed rat, two crows, and a skull. She took off her clothes and lay down on a leopard skin covering a mantle. All was ready for the baptism of a child.
“Anton Szandor Lavey,” continued the article, “who calls himself a sorcerer and the high priest of the First Church of Satan, baptized his gum-chewing three year old daughter Tuesday night as a hooded organist played ‘The Hymn to Satan.’”
We read such things with measured disgust, and tense up trying to pat ourselves on the back: “I thank God that I am not as other men.”
Do you suppose there is a difference in the mind of God? Think you that He sees this Satanism ploy any differently than He sees people in a Baptist, Methodist, etc., church, whose only telling influence is that they are gathered around an altar?
Here we are in our Sunday best. Some of us. Seated here in our comfortable, contemporary, even conservative pews. Add to that our disdain for what Lavey and his crowd conjure up. Is that enough to earn for us the favor of God? Or does it take personal response, commitment even, to be a follower of Christ?
I. The Signs of Complacency are Clearly About. V18 “And they all with one consent began to make excuse.” Actually, the three major concerns of life figure into this parable. One addresses his occupation, another his fascination, the last his adoration. So we examine one’s vocational life, the avocational life, the invocational life. See it as job, as fun, as church.
Remember, this is a parable, and therefore, contains teaching meant for our ears, too. Jesus was out touching lives: down-and-outers. He was at a feast in the home of a prominent Pharisee. It all started with a pontification. One of the guests said, V15 “Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God.” He was inspired, perhaps convicted. Now he would inspire others. Jesus’ response was to direct his teaching to their complacency. Excuse, job-related: this piece of land has to be put to proper use. Excuse, avocation: pull-off involving five yoke of oxen, a tractor-pull. Excuse, religious devotion: “I have married a wife.”
Deuteronomy 24:5 tells us, “When a man hath taken a new wife he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business, but he shall be free at home . . . to cheer up his wife.”
So, in the parable, these guys have been honored by one more honorable than they. It was to be a festive occasion. They wanted, expected, to be invited, and would be insulted not to. The corollary, I would remind you, is our invitation to the faith feast honoring God’s Son. “I want, expect, to be invited,” you say, “but it must be convenient.”
We could spend a lot of time here talking about excuses. We could lose our jobs. We have let pleasure take us where it would; in the tractor/taffy pull, “Go for the gold!” We even use our religion as an excuse.
II. The Expectation Here is Commission. V16 “A certain man made a great supper and bade many.” V21 “Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither.” The oriental feast had a special dimension. The invitation was for an appointed day. It was understood that the hour awaited preparation. They were to stay ready. They were to come when called. As they had accepted the invitation, they were to keep themselves available.
The wealth of talent in the contemporary church is extraordinary: People capable of turning the wheels of industry; professionals, teachers, gifted laborers. Imagine, all those talents dedicated.
Hey, I have an idea. Let’s dedicate our avocations to the Lord also. Did you see that delightful piece about Darryl Strawberry? He became a Christian, and he doesn’t play out of anger anymore. But how many athletes, musicians, entertainers, entrepreneurs, have a new mountain to climb? Christ is the Lord of what they are doing.
Very little of what it takes to be a Christian takes place here from 11 to 1. Does it bring you back at 7pm? What is your prayer life like? The worst excuse of all is blaming the pulpit.
Friendliness is an avocation: earnestness, enthusiasm. When you are out of your place, you have left a void that cannot be filled.
Leave some room for commitment invocationally, also. The chairs at the feast are going to be filled, not by the most worthy citizen, but by the most enthusiastic, the most responsive.
III. Finally, Do Not Overlook Intent. V24 “None of those men that were bidden shall taste of my supper.” Make no mistake, we are dealing with the purview of God here. The invitation went out clear to all in nature. Romans 1:20 “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, . . . so that they are without excuse." Jeremiah 31:31 “Behold days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.”
But God’s invitation came yet again. Romans 8:1 “There is now therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ.” Here the meaning came clearly. The second invitation came, the clearest of directives. The feast is prepared, you must decide. Romans 8:31 “What shall we then say to these things, if God be for us, who can be against us?”
To ignore the summons, to be complacent about the invitation is to court disaster. V24 as above—“none that were bidden shall taste of my supper.” Romans 10:1f “My heart’s desire . . . for Israel is, that they might be saved. . . For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness. . . , and going about to establish their own righteousness. . . , have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.”
The message then of the parable is fourfold. It tells of the provision of the feast. It tells us of the people invited to the feast who think themselves worthy, who know themselves unworthy. It tells us of the prospect of complacency. It tells us of punishment awaiting negligence. So it is a promise of provision through faith.
Conclusion
A young man is said to have approached a holy man of India standing by the Ganges River. “How may I find God?” he speculated. The holy man seized him and thrust him violently under the water. “Why did you do that?” he sputtered. “When you long for God as you longed for air, you will find.”
CHRIST THE JUDGE
#491 CHRIST THE JUDGE
Scripture Acts 17:31, NIV Orig. 4-28-68
Rewr. 2-20-91
Passage: For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.
Purpose: Continuing a series for Easter on Jesus’ nature, here seeing Him as the One in whom ultimate judgment must rest.
Keywords: Christ Judge Judgment Revival Nature of Christ
Timeline/Series: Easter/Other
Introduction
Most of us, because of inoculations administered when we were children, have little fear of such diseases as small pox and diphtheria. However, contagious diseases are still a great concern. We are reading about the cholera epidemic in Peru. The Centers for Disease Control reports on other problem areas in the world. Here in our own country, HIV is a terrible risk. Deviant sexual behavior is not its only source. Every winter, millions of people regularly take flu shots in a sometime fruitless attempt not to catch the flu during the peak-susceptibility cold weather months. We want to think of ourselves as invulnerable to disease.
Thankfully, some things have been brought under control. Others are as death-dealing as ever they have been. We must be sensible in our approach to health. We must generate a healthy lifestyle. Even with one, we are not completely invulnerable.
One of the myths of the ancients was that of a man named Achilles. He was the son of Peleus and Thetis. His father was noted for bravery during the Trojan Wars. Because his mother perceived that he would follow in his father’s steps and would thus face danger, she feared for his vulnerability. While a baby, she dipped Achilles in the River Styx, presumably to thus cover him with a shield of protection. He was thus submerged over the entirety of his body except the one spot on his heel where she held him. The myth informs us that it was in that heel years later that Achilles was mortally wounded.
In our day, even, an Achilles heel is a personal weakness for which there seems to be no solution. We can protect ourselves and our families from a few of life’s dangers, but not all. We may spend a fortune in the process and yet be vulnerable.
The question raised by all of this is, “What good is an almost invulnerability?” Why would people work with such determination to protect themselves from the vicissitudes of life, and pay no mind to the facing of the judgment of God? It is this judgment that we seek to address this morning as a part of the nature of Christ.
I. It is a Judgment of Appointed Time. “He hath appointed a day.” There are places in the world where time means little. People live in routine existence. Sameness controls their lives.
For most of us, everything is by appointment. We work appointed schedules. Our children practice ball, music, art, taekwondo, by appointment. We even meet our friends by appointment.
A four-year-old told her parents, just after her fourth birthday, that she wanted a baby brother for her next birthday. As if by appointment, on her fifth, he was born. Her mother was barely home from the hospital when the girl said she wanted a sister for the next one. On that very day a little girl was born. The little girl came breathlessly into the room, but was interrupted by her mother asking, “Susie, how would you like a puppy for your birthday, next year?”
The judgment of God will be by decree. John 5:28f “The hour cometh in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, to the resurrection of life; they that have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.”
II. It is Likewise a Judgment of Universal Scope. “He will judge the world.” Every evil scheme will fall under the searching eye of God. Paul had been brought out of Berea by his friends because of dangers. They came here to Athens. Doubtless, the same message that drove him from Berea, he preaches here. Remember, these are the philosophers, scholars, learned men. Architecture, art, philosophy know no equal. There are no advantaged people before God. The message is the same to all.
Read the message preached in Acts. The life of Jesus, the death, forgiveness. Why would Jesus go through the struggle of the cross if it meant nothing? What it means is forgiveness. What it means is deliverance from the resurrection of judgment.
III. It is a Judgment Administered in Righteousness. “He will judge the world in righteousness.” There is much injustice in our world. History alludes to its presence in every time, clime, and culture. Hitler is a prime example. Russia represses the Baltic States.
There are evident Biblical examples. Psalmist: 73:6-8 “Therefore pride is their necklace; The garment of violence covers them. Their eye bulges from fatness; the imaginations of their heart run riot. They mock, and wickedly speak of oppression; They speak from on high.” In v16 he continues: “it was too painful for me, until,” he said, “I remembered what is in store or them.”
How many times the man on the street has no idea what really happens in the halls of Congress, in the state house, among the military tribunals, in our private enclaves. –But God knows, and justice will be done.
IV. It is Judgment Administered by a Chosen Agent. “He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained.” Christ is this specially chosen vessel on the basis of his character, because His talk and His walk have been without sin. His knowledge is flawlessly accurate. An Anglican burial service contains the words: “holy and merciful Saviour, thou most worthy Judge eternal.”
The 19th century Scottish preacher Alexander Whyte wrote “The righteousness of God is that righteousness which His righteousness requires Him to require.” How does this measure against John 8:15 “I judge no man”? He meant “to divide,” “to separate.” John 8:15, again. “You judge after the flesh. I do not.”
It is human to issue rewards on the basis of favoritism. But Deuteronomy 1:17 reads “You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not fear man, for the judgment is God’s. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.”
V. It is a Judgment Consummated in Hope. “Whereof He hath given assurance to all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.” Paul speaks of what they now have experienced. It was not so clear before. Job: “If a man die, shall he live again?” David: “I can go to him, but he cannot return to me.”
But it is clear now. Jesus, who was dead, lived again. Herein, the Christian witness is different from all others. For the Hindu, reincarnation offers only a proposed re-birth to a higher caste, or as a bug. Communism has a dead saviour whose coffin was a shrine.
The New Testament, however, declares that the resurrection brings the believer into a state of grace. Philippians 3:8f “. . . I count all things but loss, . . . that I may win Christ, . . . That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection.” Acts 17:18 “He preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection.” John 11:25f “I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” I Peter 1:3 “His abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
Conclusion
Donald Barnhouse tells of an encounter on the Celebes Island with a boy and a small monkey. The boy was selling the animal that he had trapped with a handful of rice placed in a gourd. The monkey placed its small hand into the opening for the rice, but once clutching the object of its desire, he could not pull the hand free through the small opening, and was thus captured. Sin is the object of our desire. Jesus enables us to be set free.
ORDINANCES FOR THE NINETIES
#483 ORDINANCES FOR THE NINETIES
Scripture Acts 8:35-39, I Corinthians 11:23-29 NIV Orig. 9-29-63
Rewr. 1-11-90
Passage: Acts 8:35-39
35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. 36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” [37] [a Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” The eunuch answered, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”] 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.
1 Corinthians 11:23-29
23 For I received from the Lord(A) what I also passed on to you:(B) The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body,(C) which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant(D) in my blood;(E) do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.(F) 27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.(G) 28 Everyone ought to examine themselves(H) before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.
Purpose: Remind my people that the message and meaning of the Lord’s Supper have not changed.
Keywords: Christ Ordinance Lord’s Supper Ordinance Baptism Communion
Introduction
There is a beautiful passage from John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress (250C77p123), that is most applicable in the context of the Lord’s Supper.
Then said Christian to the porter, Sir, what house is this? The porter answered, This house was built by the Lord of the Hill, and he built it for the relief and security of Pilgrims. . . . Now I saw in my Dream that thus they sat talking together until supper was ready. So when they had made ready, they sat down to meat. Now the table was furnished with fat things, and with Wine that was well refined: and all their talk at the table was about the Lord of the Hill; as namely, about what He had done, and wherefore He did what He did, and why He had builded that House. . . . Thus they discoursed together till late at night; and after they had committed themselves to their Lord for protection, they took themselves to rest. The Pilgrim they laid in a large upper chamber, whose window opened towards the Sun rising: the name of the chamber was Peace, where he slept till break of day, and then he awoke and sang,
Where am I now? Is this the love and care of Jesus, for the men that Pilgrims are Thus to provide? That I should be forgiven! And dwell already the next door to Heaven!
The potential thus in the Lord’s Supper is for us to dwell “next door to heaven.”
I. First, a Brief Word about Determining Our Beliefs about Ordinances. We must encounter the teaching of Jesus. His early ministry was similar to that of John. Acts 13:24 “. . . who preached . . . the baptism of repentance.” Similarly, He instructed the disciples. Matthew 28:19 “Go ye therefore, . . . baptizing . . . in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.” Likewise He left His imprint upon the observance of the supper. So He led the disciples. So He instructed them to continue. Luke 22:19 “This do in remembrance of me.”
The early church left a relatively clear PICTURE of its practice. Denominationalism has altered it. Individual teachers have abused it. We have the early church with which to compare ourselves. The third determinant has to do with the message of the ordinance. We will deal with this shortly in describing our present beliefs. It is noteworthy, that foot washing, exemplified by Jesus, did not pass into general use. He didn’t advise its continuance, and we are hard pressed to find a celebrant. We ought to learn the humility thus pictured.
II. Next, a Brief Discussion about Our Beliefs. Baptism: Acts 3:36 “Here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?” Scriptural baptism is immersion. A.H. Strong writes that every place where the New Testament uses the concept of baptism either requires or mandates a meaning based on immersion. It is the immersion of a believer (Acts 8:37); there is no efficacy in a dunking in water not based on faith. Repeated immersions are a sacrilege because they espouse untruth. Baptism demonstrates a belief in who Jesus is, repentance and confession, and desire for discipleship. It is an act of obedience. Acts 2:38 “Repent and be baptized, every one of you . . . unto remission of sin.” It is a three-fold symbol of the Saviour’s life: Death--Romans 6:5 “For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, so shall we be in the likeness of His resurrection;” Burial and Resurrection—Colossians 2:12 “Buried with Him in baptism . . . risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God.”
It is a testimony of the believer’s faith in Christ and in His gospel. It is the prerequisite to the privileges of church membership.
The Lord’s Supper: It memorializes the death of Christ. Its elements are twofold: unleavened bread and available fruit of the vine. It is the appropriation of the sacrifice of another for ourselves. Matthew 26:28 “This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” It is the forecasting of His return. We are able to come to grips with this world as it is. We know that the ultimate change will happen only upon His return.
It is one thing more, it is an expression of obedience celebrated by the assembled church, according to Christ, the place of the supreme Lord, displaying a momentary picture of heaven.
Conclusion
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great British preacher, left a poem describing the supper.
Amidst us our beloved stands,
And bids us view his pierced hands;
Points to the wounded feet and side,
Blest emblems of the crucified.
What food luxurious loads the board
When, at his table, sits the Lord!
The wine how rich, the bread how sweet
When Jesus deigns his guests to meet!
If now, with eyes defiled and dim,
We see the signs, but see not him;
O, may his love the scales displace,
And bid us see him face to face!
Thou glorious Bridegroom of our hearts,
Thy present smile a heaven imparts!
O, lift the veil, if veil there be,
Let every saint thy glory see!
(250C77p169)
BIBLE STUDY
#477 BIBLE STUDY
Scripture Luke 14:1-24 NIV Orig. 3/13/68
Rewr. 3/1971, 12/1974
Passage: One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. 2 There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. 3 Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” 4 But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way. 5 Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child[a] or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?” 6 And they had nothing to say. 7 When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8 “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. 11 For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” 12 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” 15 When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” 16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ 19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ 21 “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ 22 “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ 23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”
Keywords: Banquet Disenfranchised
Timeline/Series: Bible study
Introduction
Luke records four of the seven occasions of Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath. (1) In Chapter 4, the healing of Simon’s mother-in-law; (2) in Chapter 6, the man with the withered hand; (3) in Chapter 13, the woman with an 18-year infirmity; and (4) here, a man with dropsy—an excess of body fluids, known today as edema.
It would seem that anyone so intent on upgrading man’s physical and spiritual condition would have drawn the immediate acceptance of the people. Jesus, however, was hated by many.
Jesus’ Attitude at the Supper. 14:1 Jesus never refused any man’s invitation to hospitality. He went into the house of one of the Chief Pharisees on the Sabbath day to eat bread. They watched Him: Jesus never lost patience with men even in times of stress.
Jesus’ Action at the Supper. 14:2-6 His first responsibility is the alleviation of human suffering. V4 And He took him and healed him and let him go. Attention is called to the Pharisees’ lack of value judgment. “Which of you will not remove your beast from a pit on the Sabbath day?”
Jesus’ Analogy About a Supper. 14:7-11 His teaching is always relevant. V7 He marked how they chose out the chief rooms. His teaching here is in regard to humility. V9 When you are bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room. Humility is retained by examination and by comparison.
Jesus’ Advice to His Host at the Supper. 14:12-14 His advice is to examine our motives. V12 Do not invite your friends, your brethren, your kinsmen, thy rich neighbours, lest perhaps they also invite you. Their motives would be, perhaps, a sense of duty, self-interest, vanity, or an effort to befriend. The result will be blessing from God rather than men. V14 And thou shalt be blessed, for they cannot recompense thee.
Apposition: Jesus Was Rebuffed By a Guest at the Supper. 14:15 The guest who said “Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God,” was perhaps incensed at Jesus’ word to the host. What right had He, through healing, to contradict the Law? What right to instruct the spiritual leaders? What right to advise the Chief Pharisee? The guest might have said, “What do you know about blessing? He is blessed who is of the spiritual heritage of Israel.”
Application: Jesus Rebuked False Claims of the Jews at the Supper. 14:16-24 Even a word spoken to a cynic is spoken in kindness.
But those to whom the kingdom was offered, rejected it: Because of vocation, and so immersed in work that there is no time for fellowship—“I have bought a piece of ground”; because of avocation, so taken with some novelty—“I have bought five yoke of oxen” (Did you know that 80,000 people a week see the Saints play football?!); because of invocation, in that the Mosaic Law says a man with a new wife will not go to war or be charged with business for one year—“I have married a wife.”
Closing
There are those to whom the Christian life is a melancholy and a dread. Swinburne, the poet, wrote, “Thou hast conquered, O pale Galilean, The world has grown gray from thy breath.” John Ruskin, an English author, told of a jumping jack given to him as a child, taken away by a pious aunt with the remark that toys were not things for a Christian child. It’s little wonder that his brilliant mind turned to socialism and nature. Wesley founded a school where the rule was no play, “because he who plays as a child plays as a man.”
Jesus, however, pictured His Kingdom in terms of a feast.
***THE REMAINDER OF THIS BIBLE STUDY HAS BEEN LOST***
NO MORE CHANCES
#463 NO MORE CHANCES
Scripture Luke 13:6-9 NIV Orig. 2-16-68
Rewr. 10-26-81
Passage: Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’”
Purpose: Continuing the series on the parables to remind my people of the teaching of Jesus relative to our responsibility to use our opportunities.
Keywords: Grace Judgment Providence Revival Uselessness
Series: Parables
Introduction
As Jesus continued his teaching, one of his Judean listeners raised a question. There was no great love lost between the Judeans and the Galileans, and a report had been recently circulated that Pilate had stormed out against their rebellious character by having his guards strike some of them down even while they were offering sacrifices. The one who raised the question was implying that they probably got what they deserved. If there is any place that a right-thinking person ought to be safe it is at the appointment of sacrifice. If, therefore, harm fell to them there, it simply means that they are guilty as charged and got their just deserts.
Jesus then answers directly. Do you think that those Galileans were the chief sinners among Galileans because that happened to them?” Jesus then laid the burden of sin right at their feet. “No!” he said, “They were not necessarily the chiefest of sinners just because they were killed.” Then, addressing their own disdain of God’s purpose for them, he continued. “Unless you repent, you will also perish.”
Then he brought up the case of a recent natural disaster. The tower of Siloam in Jerusalem had fallen causing the death of 18 people. He implies that if such as this can happen in Jerusalem, then the people must think that these victims were somehow deserving what happened to them. Again Jesus addresses their own sin problem. “That is not the case.” He says, but unless you repent of your sin, then you will ultimately perish just as violently as they did.
He does not deny that these Galileans and these workmen in Jerusalem were sinners. There is just not anything that he can do for dead sinners. His concern is for the living and for their errant rationale that allowed them self-justification. They were not safe from judgment simply because they were Jews. They were not to be excused from the necessity of repentance simply because of the chance of their birth to a Hebrew mother. Thus he shared with them the parable of the barren fig tree.
I. The Parable Addresses Opportunity: The fig tree owned a special providence. V6 “He came seeking fruit thereon.” Perhaps the significance of a parable needs to be restated. It is a story with a hidden meaning. The significance of such a story is never in what is obvious. It is not about a fig tree, but what the tree represents. It must somehow relate to productivity.
If this is just about trees, then there are many factors to be considered: size, fertility, climate, etc. If about trees, it can produce only what it is. But if its meaning is about people then we startlingly discover that a person can do much more than just produce another being like unto himself. Not only can he improve upon what nature has given, he can do more. He can produce a thought, an idea, a word, and a deed which, by the way, may be good or evil.
It is a consuming thought to come to realize that the master of the orchard is conscious of every plant. He expects no more that the plant, or that which it symbolizes, is capable to produce. Of a fig tree, he would expect a fig. But of one created to produce more and better things, he would expect that also. The master of the orchard knows the opportunity of each of us and expects that of which we are capable.
II. The Parable Addresses Obstructions to Opportunity. The fig tree reminds us that uselessness invites disaster. V7 “Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none.” Some would like to apply the parable to Jesus’ hearers, thus the Jewish nation. It is true that Isaiah foresaw such an eventuality. He describes the beloved’s vineyard “on a fruitful hill” and marks its destruction. Isaiah 5:1-7 “I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard. My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. That more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it. The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness but heard cries of distress.”
We dare see not see it, however, as relating to other than ourselves. Judging a tree we examine its leaves—right size and of good texture; its roots deep and strong; its fiber soft, pliable, moist; but if it bears no fruit, cut it down.
III. The Parable Asserts Offensiveness. The fig tree will understand that nothing which only takes and does not give can survive. V7 “Cut it down, why doth it cumber the ground?” The literal meaning is why does this plant allow the ground to be reduced to inactivity? Not only is the tree useless, the soil beneath it is rendered useless. An interesting parallel exists with other parables: Prodigal—“Lost,” loss of wellbeing; Strait Gate—“Destruction,” loss of wellbeing; Fig tree—“cumber,” loss of wellbeing; Fig tree—“cut it down,” loss of wellbeing.
The message is a twofold one, for empires and for individuals. We must never passively keep someone else from achieving their spiritual best, and we must anchor our lives to a bold, assertive spiritual activity.
IV. The Parable Speaks of Obligation. By the grace of the keeper of the orchard, a second chance is extended. V8f “Let it alone for one year more. I shall dig about it, and if it bear fruit, well.”
We are not directed to do something about our past, for we cannot; Thomas Hardy wrote in The Ghost of the Past, “We two kept house, the past and I.” We are not to be dazzled by the future, for we cannot grasp what it may hold; Longfellow wrote in A Psalm of Life, “Trust no future howe’er pleasant! Let the dead past bury its dead! Act, act in the living Present! Heart within, and God o’erhead.”
Be sure only of this, that God in Christ gives to each of us, to all, a second chance. Christ, on the cross, prayed “Father, forgive.” The foundling church offered to Israel a second chance to believe. Acts 13:46, First to Israel, “But seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” The nation, the denomination, the individual church, the believer, likewise understand that our very being (wellbeing) is “second chance.” The mind of the Father and the Son is the same that repentance spurned. The soil must be cleared for one who will repent.
V. Finally, the Parable Acknowledges Oblivion. The fig tree testifies that there is coming a last chance. V9 “If it does not bear fruit after this year, then, cut it down.” The judgment made by the gardener is based on its fruitlessness. It is not the fault of the gardener. It is not the fault of the soil. The fault rests only upon the agency judged. Understand this, please, of the judgment of God: It will always be upon spiritual potential denied. He will not judge any person for something they were incapable of doing. What one is capable of, and what one “wills” to do with that capability is, sadly, too often, two different things.
We, who have been favored to live in a part of the world graced by the finer things of life must accept a responsibility to do with these things to the glory of God. Who then must face a more severe judgment? The Russian who grew up being taught that God was a capitalist plot? The remote tribesman whose only notion of God is the predictability or unpredictability of nature? The third world refugee who knows nothing so completely as he knows hunger? Or the polished citizen of a western culture who has the best of all things, but who ignores the clear warnings of sin, and judgment, and last chances?
Make no mistake, we are accountable. The divine gardener pleads “spare.” It is he who finally declares “cut it down!” Recall please the message of John the Baptist, the forerunner. He admonished Israel to repent, and then warned, “and even now is the axe laid unto the root of the trees: Every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.”
Conclusion
We are called therefore to believe. That belief requires repentance, for we have sinned, and in spite of our sin the second chance has been given. Finally, acknowledging that second chance means that we choose to live in such a way that others understanding our commitment to life in our Lord Jesus Christ will begin to reckon their own lives in relation to Him.
THE PARABLE OF THE LOVING FATHER
#379 THE PARABLE OF THE LOVING FATHER
Scripture Luke 15:11-32 NIV Orig. 6/30/63 (10/81)
Rewr. 8/6/87
Passage: 11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. 25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
Purpose: In a series on the New Testament parables, here sharing with my people on the theme of human intemperance beset by God’s great love.
Keywords: Disobedience Forgiveness Revival Self-righteousness Sin
Timeline/Series: Parable
Introduction
Once upon a time there were two young children who went to spend the summer with their grandparents. Their names were Billy and Sally. They lived most of the year in the city, and a few weeks on their grandparents’ farm in the summer was a wonderful experience for them.
Billy, like many little boys, was exceedingly curious. He enjoyed all the different things, and animals that he encountered. One day Grandfather had some work to do in the hayloft and it was too hot for Billy to help. He was free to roam. He picked up his slingshot and went out to play hunter. Out beyond the barn, almost out of sight of the house, Billy had armed his weapon and had it ready. Suddenly, Grandmother’s pet duck waddled around the corner of the barn. Without so much as a flinch, Billy let fly his artillery. His aim usually wasn’t very good, but this time he was right on the mark. The duck lay dead. He looked to see if anyone was in sight. Then, scared though he was, he quickly buried the duck back of the barn. That night at supper he couldn’t eat. His grandmother asked if he was sick. After supper he and Sally went to wash dishes. She said she wasn’t going to help, and if he complained she’d tell about the duck.
You can imagine what the next week was like. Billy was miserable. Finally, one afternoon Billy went to his grandmother’s sewing room. He stood around, picked up trinkets in which he had no interest. Shuffled from one foot to the other. “Billy, if you need to know it, I love you.” Then came the flood of guilt and confession. “Billy, I was sitting here by the window and saw the whole thing. I wondered how long you would endure this bondage to Sally before you came to me.”
I. First, Parables are Often Unique in Their Setting. We can back up a couple of chapters. Luke 13:22. “. . . Jesus went through the towns and villages . . . as he made his way to Jerusalem.” Jesus is clearly conscious of the precious commodity of his dwindling days. Luke 17:11 “Now on his way to Jerusalem”—his last.
More directly, the scribes and Pharisees were murmuring about his friendship with sinners. Luke 15:2 “[They] muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’” Aren’t you glad Jesus is like this? You know where we would be otherwise.
Thus Jesus shares 3 parables of lost possessions. There is a lost sheep (15:3). It doesn’t will to be lost. It just wanders away. The shepherd seeks it until it is found. It is lost! It is sought! It is found! The finder rejoices.
There is a lost coin (15:8). It has no capacity to lose itself, or to understand its lostness. The one discovering it lost, holds other things incidental until it is found. It is lost! It is sought! It is found! The finder rejoices.
There is a lost son. He is lost, not because he wandered off, or was impassively misplaced, but because he chose to leave, to separate himself. He was just as lost! He was sought! He was restored! His return causes joy for his father.
The elder brother does not joy in return. Nor does he find joy in his father’s joy.
II. Next, We View the Lost Son As a Principal Character in Our Story. V11: “A certain man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.” It is noted that Jesus does not call this young man a prodigal. Keep in mind the religious bigots listening. They are vindictive of Jesus’ openness to sinners. We can measure both sons and their sin. The younger was callous and rebellious; the older was censorious, retaliatory.
We can learn that there are good things about this young man. He is his own person. He is ready to strike out on his own. But he handles it poorly. His immaturity shows he gives his father no chance to counsel him. He is seeking only what is rightfully his. Deuteronomy 21:17 The right of the firstborn is a double portion. He seems to be a man of simplicity and responsibility. He discovers his mistakes, and blames himself. He knows his best chance is starting over. At home? Enslaved?
The Bible describes three kinds of enslavement: Bondsmen—respected family extensions; servant—subordinate but with status; hired servants—temporarily indentured. The younger son is a man to whom repentance is not an unreasonable alternative. V.17 “And when he came to himself, he said . . . I will go . . . and say . . . Father, I have sinned.”
Don’t make the mistake of accusing him as an unthankful delinquent. There is a mind sustained by childhood teachings. There is a heart with gratitude for a loving father.
There are interesting interpretations. Augustine: the “far country” represents the forgetfulness of God. “Came to himself” suggests restoration from madness. Paul’s description in Ephesians 4:18, “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance . . . in them due to the hardening of their hearts.”
III. Then, We Must Consider the Older Brother Just as Lost in His Condescending Attitude. V28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in.” The elder brother stands in the parable for the hardhearted Pharisees who necessitated its message. They did not share Christ’s concern for sinners. We must consider our own attitudes. As the younger was riddled by an uneasy conscience, this one purported to be without fault. V29: “I never disobeyed your command.” He was unforgiving. One-third of the estate has been lost. His ledger-book mentality demands censure. Even brotherhood is too high a price for acquittal. Add to his other wrongs that of betraying his father’s joy. Father: “this thy brother.” Son: “This thy son.”
The theologian George Buttrick wrote: “The far country is measured in motives rather than miles.”
Finally, the parable shows no evidence of repentance for the elder brother. Some suggest that it is a true story.
IV. The Parable Remains Forever that of Loving Father. V22 “But the Father said to his servants, bring forth the best robe and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it; and let us eat and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; was lost, and is found.”
There were some things that the father could do. The robe, best or first, showed honor and restoration. The ring established the relationship and oneness (Wedding Ring, Class Ring, Super Bowl Ring). The shoes, not worn by the lowest servants, were provisioned to sons.
There were other things, however, that the father could not do. He could not erase the wrong done: Billy could not revive the pet duck. He could not promise a second part of the estate.
He depicts all the characteristics of the heavenly Father. He waits patiently and lovingly. He recognizes the repentant pilgrim. He goes out to meet the weary son. He interrupts the confession. God is no stickler for law for law’s sake.
A totally new picture of God emerges. We saw the shepherd search for the lost sheep. We watched as the homemaker searched for the lost coin. We sense that the father is brooding for his lost son. God’s concern for the lost is the brooding concern for what is of eminent worth.
Conclusion
I have had recent occasion to reconsider the different attitudes allowed my Dad and myself in regard to God as Father. When he was a lad, his dad deserted them. He tried to run the tiny farm, but in failure, lost the only holding they had. He has lived out his life without owning property: fearful of loss. But the greatest disparity is that he knew no human counterpart to depict for him the true picture of God as one of zealous good will.
A GLORY THAT IS FOREVER
#147 A GLORY THAT IS FOREVER
Scripture Romans 11:1-36 NIV Orig. 10/28/62
Rewr. 8/1/85
Passage: I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”[a]? 4 And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”[b] 5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
7 What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, 8 as it is written:
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that could not see
and ears that could not hear,
to this very day.”[c]
9 And David says:
“May their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
10 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
and their backs be bent forever.”[d]
11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!
13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry 14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16 If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18 do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in His kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way[e] all Israel will be saved. As it is written:
“The deliverer will come from Zion;
he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27 And this is[f] my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”[g]
28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. 30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now[h] receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. 32 For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and[i] knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”[j]
35 “Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”[k]
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Purpose: Continuing the series from Romans, here showing the wisdom of God in saving His people.
Keywords: Bible Study God’s Omnipotence Salvation
Timeline/Series: Romans
Introduction
It is interesting how prominently the Jews have figured in human history. Time does not permit but a casual telling of the story that, as often as not, their prominence was their undoing.
The presence of the Jews (Hebrews) galled the Egyptians during Moses’ time to the point that it became the practice of state to see them become slaves. This is similar to the intent of the Third Reich in our own century: The presence of wealthy Jews, and a race of people so content in their heritage, angered the German war lords to the point of holocaust.
Individually, the activity directed at them has not been much different. Do you remember Haman, the Agagite, and Mordecai the Jew? Mordecai was just trying to be faithful to his religious beliefs. He was not out to challenge anyone else, or to convert them. But he so galled Haman that he went to his death in a challenge of supremacy.
Every age has had its company of Jews who become prominent in their fields. You have heard about the farmer who was a man who excelled in his work. Well, Jews have a way of rising to the top, as cream over milk. Perhaps that is the characteristic that has labelled them and marked them for hostility and persecution.
Search any area of interest, medicine, government, commerce, industry, and you will note leaders in extraordinarily vaunted positions who are Jews. ***TEXT LOST AT END OF THIS PARAGRAPH***
I. The Glory of Grace. V1 “I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not!” The saved remnant appear in prior lessons: Romans 9 is about God’s sovereignty and election, and Romans 10 is about Israel’s failure and Gentile belief. The concept of remnant is not new. According to some accounts, Noah spent 120 years preaching and building. Only his family joined him on the ark. Genesis 6:8 “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”
The New Testament accounting shows that even Jesus had many who heard who did not believe. Matthew 7:14 “Straight is the gate, and narrow the way, leading to life, and few there are that find it.”
At Kadesh-Barnea, 12 spies went out. Ten returned, reporting there was no hope of success; only two believed. The obvious illustration of Elijah shows a believing host. Paul considers himself as proof of God’s constancy.
It continues to Paul’s day and ours. Every Jew who believes is of the people of God. “Remnant” refers to true believers.
With a hardened heart, people can be earnestly and sincerely wrong. V7f “Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were hardened. It is not enough to be good. It is totally inadequate to claim sincerity.
The human heart is not dependable. The Hebrews prove it. Paul elsewhere has his own testimony. Acts 26:9 “Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.”
II. The Glory of Provocation. V11 “I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.” Out of the Jewish failure, faith has come to the Gentiles. Romans 1:16, “For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth: to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” The Gentile is given salvation. The Jew is incited to desire.
The nature of their problem is in Romans 10:3. “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.” The source of this deplorable condition is in Romans 11:8. “God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.” Here, Paul reiterates Deuteronomy 29:4 and Isaiah 29:10.
Did God want to destroy them? Such is unthinkable. Paul says “God forbid!” Isaiah shows that this stupor is in response to their unbelief.
Take care to note the end result. The Gentiles are saved. The Jews are provoked to believe.
III. The Glory of Ingrafting. V17 “And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree.” The imagery in Paul’s lesson is that Israel is the tame olive tree. Gentiles are the wild olive tree. On the trunk of the olive tree, split by limbs broken off, a piece of non-native material is broken off because of uselessness. In Romans 10:21 Paul recalls the words of Isaiah. “Concerning Israel he says, ‘All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.’”
IV. The Glory of Future Promise. V26 “And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written, the deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is my covenant with them.” This says, “All of Hebrew stock will be saved,” or, it says that all Jews who come to accept this conditional right, in Christ will be saved.
V. The Glory of Praise. V33 “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out.” The Jew with his strong position in regard to God finds himself disavowed. This total spiritual energy aimed at God’s people is to reach the unchosen. That energy is then turned from Israel to the Gentiles, which will ultimately be the means by which the Jew is attracted to his prior post.
***THE CONCLUSION TO THIS SERMON HAS BEEN LOST***
A FAILURE THAT IS ADDICTIVE
#141 A FAILURE THAT IS ADDICTIVE
Scripture Romans 10:1-21 NIV Orig. 9/23/62
Rewr. 7/25/85
Passage: Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3 Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
5 Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.”[a] 6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’”[b] (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’”[c] (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,”[d] that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: 9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”[e] 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”[f]
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”[g]
16 But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”[h] 17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. 18 But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:
“Their voice has gone out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.”[i]
19 Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says,
“I will make you envious by those who are not a nation;
I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.”[j]
20 And Isaiah boldly says,
“I was found by those who did not seek me;
I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”[k]
21 But concerning Israel he says,
“All day long I have held out my hands
to a disobedient and obstinate people.”[l]
Purpose: Continuing a series from Romans, showing Israel’s failure to understand their relationship to God and faith.
Keywords: Bible Study Law
Series, Romans
Introduction
Quest is a major factor in one’s concept of dedication. Do we envision a great task entrusted to us? Do we apply ourselves to its success?
It is said that the ship’s log used by Christopher Columbus on his first crossing of the Atlantic repeats, “This day we sailed westward!” day after day. When Cyrus Field was preparing to put in place the very first Atlantic cable, he first made fifty trips across that great ocean to prepare for it. Gibbon, the historian, wrote his autobiography nine times before he was satisfied with it, and spent twenty years on his greatest work, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
More recently, this week’s news tells of treasure hunter Mel Fisher. For sixteen years he has searched the waters off of Key West, Florida, for a sunken Spanish galleon, Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which sank in a hurricane in 1622 with millions in silver and gold. The search cost Mr. Fisher the lives of a son, daughter-in-law, and another diver. He is said to have greeted his divers every day for years with the statement, “Today’s the day!” Last Saturday morning was the day.
But the Jews, instead of seeing their relationship with God as a quest of faith, saw it as an endowment of merit. As long as they were the guardians of the law, they were special. Paul shows them that this is not so. Faith must be the target of Jew and Gentile.
I. The First Consideration Is Their Judicial Failure. V4 “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
We need a right picture about failure. It was not a failure of the law. Romans 4:4f “Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes . . ., his faith is accounted for righteousness.” Psalm 32:1 “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”
It was certainly not God’s failure. Isaiah 1:9 “Unless the Lord of hosts had left to us a . . . remnant, we would have become like Sodom.” Clearly, it was their failure. Three times (Luke 12:56, 19:44, 21:24): “How is it you do not discern this present time?”
They were not without urgency. There was will, determination, even excitement, but all in error. Paul prays for their salvation. He tells us that they are not. He tells us that they can be: II Corinthians 3:16 “When one turns to the Lord the veil is taken away.” He tells us that they will be: Romans 11:26 ”All Israel will be saved.”
Their failure is that they are looking to their Jewishness, not grace, to save. We are not saved by our Baptistness. Others are not saved by their Methodistness, etc. We are not saved by our churchiness.
II. Next, We Look at Their Spiritual Failure. V9 “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” It speaks of grace, of God doing what we cannot, of appropriating the sin-covering function of Jesus’ death for our sin. John 1:12 “As many as receive Him, to them God gives the power to become His children.”
Apart from Jesus we are cut off from God. So also were the Jews. It is a terrible risk to assume someone may have attained the spirit of obedience. It speaks too clearly of confession. It localizes that confession in Christ Jesus. It did the Jew no good to confess his Jewishness. It does no good to confess our churchiness. V10 “With the mouth confession is made.”
How long has it been since we talked to someone about Christ? Sunday School teachers need to talk to their pupils.
III. It Speaks of Their Social Failure. V14f “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?”
They chose what they could not save. When the law is not passing out punishment for wrong it is failing. One of our social concerns today is that the law is not always fair. We don’t need a law that lets people get by with more; we don’t need a law that, as someone said, “you can get out of if you have money.”
Mercy is a bestowal of grace. V4 “Christ is the end of the law,” the “termination,” the final reckoning. It will never go beyond this. It is God’s last word on the subject.
The Jew still has not learned that law and grace are antagonistic. Romans 4:4 “To him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.” Romans 11:6, “If by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise, grace is no longer grace.”
IV. Paul Adds a Concluding Note of Proof of Their Failure. Deuteronomy 32:21, God said to Moses, “I will provoke them to jealousy.” Isaiah 65:1 “I was found by those who did not seek me.” Isaiah 65:2 “I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”
Conclusion
The last entry in the diary of David Livingstone was: “Jesus, my Saviour, my king, my God, I rededicate my all to thee to be and to do for thee the best that I can until the day is done.” There is GRACE. There is BELIEF. There is CONFESSION.
IN THE WAY
#140 IN THE WAY
Matthew 19:13-15 NIV Orig. 7-11-65 (9-73)
Rewr. 8-25-88
Passage: 13 Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. 14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 15 When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.
Purpose: Approaching the new church year, to remind my people of our need to offer ourselves in service to the needs around us.
Keywords: Christ the Saviour Heritage Hunger
Children Home Special Day
Timeline/Series: New Church Year
Introduction
Both of the presidential candidates are talking about things important to all of us: childcare, education, patriotism. Private education has become a felt need for many parents. We are reading more and more about parents who are being allowed to educate their children at home.
Problems in the schools, public and private, are rife. One is put in mind again of the Baltimore woman who brought suit against her county school board. She claimed that her son, in choosing not to participate in what she called religious exercises, was being unduly ostracized. At that time, the schools opened with scripture, and with the recitation of the Lord’s prayer. Children who did not wish to participate were allowed to excuse themselves and leave the room.
Two hundred years ago, and many of the years since, every school of higher education in this country was connected with some church denomination. Except for the joint effort of Christian people, there would have been no higher education on this continent. Most of those colleges and universities are still around: Colgate, Bucknell, Princeton, Brown, Columbia, and many others. They are, however, no longer denominationally aligned. Then, the terms, “education” and “Christian education,” were synonymous.
In light of what is happening in education today, it is no longer remotely conceivable that our children will not be challenged by spiritual things in public or private education. We must be sure that our churches do our utmost to provide this vital service. Every Christian is obliged to offer himself/herself in this essential kingdom service.
I. First, There Must Be Education. The words of Matthew are that Jesus “blessed them.” It is a heritage of Judeo/Christian conviction. Every person in this land is better off because of our heritage. Many do not acknowledge it. Yet, they feast on what these religious imperatives have given. It is one God, living, loving, working through the evils of satanic influence. Adam was warned after his compromise: “By the sweat of your brow you will eat bread.”
This life knows no true good that comes without cost. There is a truism: “There’s no free lunch.”
Our heritage is not only Judeo-Christian, but set in a free republic. Whatever your genetic origins, what would life be in those origins? At once remembering the price paid by our forefathers for this, we are not that far removed from forebears who tilled the ground behind hand-forged plows, and unrelenting oxen, carrying a blunderbuss for protection. You worry about the cost of living: They paid dearly for meat and potatoes.
The blessing is that the Kingdom of God has come among us. It is as near as breathing and sunshine. It does not come with little children, but from little children who are brought to Him.
True prosperity is not material but conditional. The need of the hour is in the Kingdom of God. So we are not the answer. These, our children, are not the answer. All of us become the KINGDOM. That’s the answer.
Since the Bible is taken from the school, we must pinpoint its value as never before. We need sixty-seventy people involved in Christian education. We have no more than half. Church Training is an eight-cylinder engine beating on two. Missions and music are hanging on the hope and whisper of half-a-dozen.
We start next week. What will you as a Christian be doing between morning worship services from one Sunday to the next?
II. Secondly, We Must Grasp the True Vitality of the Home. “Then there were brought to Him little children.” The event here described is simply that of caring mothers bringing a child to some distinguished rabbi for a blessing. It was a common occurrence. It happened on the child’s first birthday.
A question of responsibility is put forth. What is the bottom-line charge? It is, of course, parental. The best thing the church can do for parents is to convince them. Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” III John 4 “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”
In an age that seeks liberation from all strictures, some demands are to be put in place. There is little efficacy in marriage. The license doesn’t prove God is in it. Being a biological parent is no proof of Christian manhood or womanhood. The mystery content is found in commitment: commitment to God; commitment to each other forever; commitment that children will be reared in an atmosphere of love and trust.
“My parents forced me” say the uncaring and the uncommitted. “I will not force religion down them.” Would you force air if suffocating? If cancer attacked, would you force treatment? Would you advise seat belts, helmets?
If they were hungry, would you not force food for them? During the noon meal in this country, 1200 children worldwide will starve to death. 30,000 will die today. 12-18 million people will die this year. Check the label to see where a gift was made.
III. And Three, Certainly not the Least Important, Is to Encourage Them to Faith in Christ. “Suffer the little children and forbid them not. We have long heard of parallelism in Hebrew prose. Something uniquely important is repeated. And as if to add further meaning, he repeats the concept positively then negatively. “Permit” is followed by “do not forbid.”
Perhaps we need to review some of the marvelous characteristics of childhood. Trust is the first essence of children. They readily forgive even to the threshold of abuse. They approach life with an eye for wonder. Obedience is natural to them. But disobedience is a learned ruse. Childlike faith is to live in trust of God, to think first of obedience, to desire to be forgiving, to contemplate the wonder of God’s care.
The best way to such faith is development over time, to so touch the lives of our children, to see other children whose lives can only be touched for good by the gospel. No matter what the age of need, it is still this child-like faith offering opportunity—not childish, but childlike.
And Jesus instructs us. We are not to be negative influences. But more, we are to be positive motivators urging spiritual children of all ages to the gospel: to Jesus.
Conclusion
We have approved our Nominating Committee report, and we have a full slate of workers. Next, the Finance Committee gets to work on the budget. It will need to be between $100,000 and $120,000. Peter spoke for the early church: “Silver and gold, have I none; but such as I have give I thee. In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk.” Such as we have also.
IN THE ARMS OF JESUS
#136 IN THE ARMS OF JESUS
Scripture Mark 10:13-16 NIV Orig. 6-23-78
Rewr. 6-24-88
Passage: 13 People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.
Purpose: Dedicated to the cause of the spiritual education of boys and girls through the church.
Keywords: Christ the Saviour Education Christian Education Heritage VBS
Introduction
A few years ago, late in the year, I was working with a young couple who were soon to be married. It happened to be one of those occasions where both participants were doing everything humanly possible to effect a sensitively done ceremony. And I was eager to help them.
They felt that this was the only way that they could look back upon their wedding day and rejoice in a day that had been commemorative to their faith in Christ as well as to their love.
Two days before the wedding, the newspapers told of another wedding. In fact, it was on the front page. The wedding thus described took place in New Roads, La. The bride/groom were dressed in the attire of witch/warlock. Their attendants were decked out as ghouls and southern belles.
The media would never have written up the wedding we were planning. They were all too eager to describe in full measure the frenetic energy of a society that has lost its way. It is this effort to expedite the abnormal that allows a sideshow to become acceptable, and the abnormal to become normal.
It is thus, with fear in our hearts, that we undertake a program of Christian education. If we do not teach others of Jesus, and His waiting arms, however will they learn? The paranormal, the abnormal, is the word the world passes on. Our word is spirit, and it is life. To that end, VBS is a vital part of our effort. We must teach our children, and all others whom we can, of Jesus, and of his waiting “arms” of blessing.
I. His Arms Speak First of Substance. V16 “And He took them up in His arms, put hands upon them and blessed them.” The substance here is seen in our Judeo-Christian heritage of family. One God: all living, all loving, working against the influence of Satan, who, by the way, is having a field day primarily on the back of religious organizers—TV entrepreneurs, denominational controversies, a New York preacher playing leapfrog with lies. If we don’t tell or show them what God is really like, who will? At Summer Theater in New Orleans, dissidents placarded Anita Bryant in the late 70’s: “Jesus may have died for sin, but not for mine.”
God has chosen to work through His church in accomplishment of His purpose. Satan is pleased to work through the ungodly. He takes greater pleasure in magnifying faithlessness of so-called believers. Did you notice the recent write up of dedication of the national headquarters of Atheists? Organized, they’re no threat. The threat is when we can’t muster interest in doing what we need. What have you invested in VBS? A lady in town called. She wanted her three daughters in VBS. She called back, “What can I do?” People ought to be standing in line to help. Are you?
Substance is also seen in our purpose. That purpose is to guide people in redemptive choices. Jesus’ parable of the prodigal was to make the point of the difference of life’s values, and difficulty of life’s choices. The pulse he came to eat was a cheap substitute. Your children, your neighbor’s children, are going to get wrapped up in something. Why not Jesus? The Greek for “took”—enagkalisamenos—means “folding in his arms.” If you’ve never “folded” a child in your arms, my heart bleeds for you.
The Kingdom of God is mentioned twice. It belongs to those who, like these children, are receptive. Jesus did not say it consisted of little children, he said it happens when those of simple spirit find true substance in Him. And it’s never been easy. Our forefathers tilled behind a hand forged plow, and unrelenting oxen, with blunderbuss for protection. They would have found it easy to live for Jesus in an air-conditioned home with a late model car, microwaves, and the like.
II. In This Light, His Arms Speak of Significance. V13 “And they brought young children to Him that He should touch them.” It is undoubtedly true that many parents have no interest in children coming to Jesus. In many instances, but not all, there is something we can do. Those who are grandparents, do you sacrifice your witness as an infringement?
To be truly redemptive, genuine parental responsibility must be proclaimed. It is never a problem to lead a child to faith whose parents are believers. It is a hundred times more difficult if one or both are not. The home must exercise responsibility. Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go.” 3 John 4: “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”
Some deny that the home can be what it once was, a vine-covered cottage down a quiet lane with happy, unthreatened children. But ours is a drug-sated, alcohol-scarred abused community of unconcern.
A father took a job in a distant city. He moved the family into a motel. Several weeks passed. A motel employee asked, “Little boy, don’t you have a home? I see you here all the time.” “Sure, we just haven’t found a house to put it in yet.” After we get settled, as believers, is when we need to do all we can to help other people to have a home to put in a house somewhere.
Let me try to define “home” for you. It is a place where individuality is happy to play second-fiddle to family. It is a place where neither children nor spouses have to play guessing games about love. It is a place where God’s Word and work are reverenced. It is a place where there are no distractions between the way one lives and what one says or teaches. The church, as an extended family, carries a correlation to the home.
III. His Arms Testify Ultimately of Salvation. V14b “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not.” I see this as a positive admonition of need. The three verses just prior stress the sanctity of the home. Jesus is instructing the parents to take the lead in their children’s well-being (paidua). The word means “earliest childhood.”
I am reading salvation into this, of course. The parent expresses faith in the bringing. The child discovers faith as what was brought. There is a parenthetical warning here. Yes, some bring their children. Some merely avoid standing in the way, at least by intent. Some, thoughtlessly, prevent them. The spirit of Jesus is clearly seen in response to these variant attitudes. V14 “When Jesus saw this, He was much indignant”—NIV. The King James reads “displeased.” My Greek dictionary doesn’t describe “indignant.” It refers to “anger.” In this instance He was angry with the disciples. Be reminded, He was angry because they stood in the way.
Conclusion
“Nobody Said It Was Easy” is a term that all of us have used, or have had used on us. The book of which it is the title happens to be a book on parenting. It isn’t easy at home, or at church, but it must be done, and you ought to help.