A TIME TO BUILD
#148 A TIME TO BUILD
Scripture Nehemiah 2 NIV Orig. 8-31-62
Rewr. 4-1-77
Passage: In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, 2 so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.”
I was very much afraid, 3 but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
4 The king said to me, “What is it you want?” Then I prayed to the God of heaven, 5 and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.”
6 Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?” It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time.
7 I also said to him, “If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? 8 And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the royal park, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?” And because the gracious hand of my God was on me, the king granted my requests. 9 So I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates and gave them the king’s letters. The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me.
10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites.
11 I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days 12 I set out during the night with a few others. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on. 13 By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal[a] Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire. 14 Then I moved on toward the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was not enough room for my mount to get through; 15 so I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and reentered through the Valley Gate. 16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work.
17 Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” 18 I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me.
They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.
19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. “What is this you are doing?” they asked. “Are you rebelling against the king?”
20 I answered them by saying, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.”
Purpose: To call attention to the fundamental reality alive within the church, to discover the needs which are basic to its renewal and revitalization
Introduction
Walk with me through this Old Testament passage by keeping in mind a New Testament event. In Acts 12, we discover that the apostle Peter had been imprisoned. King Herod had moved in persecution against certain of the believers. He did not do so out of any conviction, but because he discovered it improved his image with the Hebrew people. As Peter was arrested during the Passover Celebration Herod’s plans were to execute him immediately after this religious holy week was past. He had already executed the apostle James to the great pleasure of the Jewish leaders.
The believers were earnestly in prayer in Peter’s behalf. The night before he was to be executed, he was asleep, double-chained between two soldiers. Four watches of four men each were charged with the responsibility of guarding this man. The literal rendering of the Greek here says, “And behold, the angel of the Lord came upon, and a light shone,” which is so much like the account of the annunciation to the shepherds. Peter was awakened, and commanded to arise, as if from the dead; and as he did so, the chains fell off his hands and he was led from the prison, to find himself after a bit, alone in the street.
The awakening activity was totally a work of the messenger of God. He had been told only to arise quickly. It was in the process of obedience that the chains fell from his wrists, and he was set free. Awakening us to spiritual reality is the work of God. Believing the message that is mandated by God’s messenger is up to us. Which of us could have faulted Peter if he had looked at his double chains, and the guards on either side, and the knowledge that two more waited at the gate, had he assumed that any move toward freedom would simply hasten his death?
Three factors are involved if we are to reckon with the resurgence of new life out of the old.
- The initial awakening of God.
- The illuminating command of God.
- The infusion of obedience in the human will.
I. This Can Only Begin in a Life Where There is an Insurmountable Void of Emptiness. V2 Wherefore the King said unto me, “Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart.” Nehemiah had already been through the worst of the experience. He knew God’s will. The question was now how he could accomplish it. This was compounded by a remorse and concern that had begun to escape his composure.
For instance, if you were servant to one of these ancient, Oriental kings, you were not allowed the liberty of heartsickness. Whether you feel like it or not, you act happy when the king is around.
You see, the problem was not Nehemiah’s alone. It belonged to the people. V3 . . . “Why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed by fire.” They too are out of touch with God, and they must likewise discover that God wills them into the fray that will accomplish His purpose. How easy it is for the heart to grow fat and lethargic in complacency. Just to hear Bible study once a week on Sunday is never enough.
For instance, you recall the commercial of the company who makes weekends? The poor soul is pictured sitting in that over-stuffed chair watching someone’s excitement, until he becomes a part of the chair.
What Israel needed was the One who really does make weekends, and weekdays also. They are in captivity because they forgot Deuteronomy 28, “If you do not hearken to the voice of the Lord . . . He will bring a nation against thee from afar.” In 1:8, Nehemiah quotes Leviticus 26:33, “If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations.”
The Lord is the One working behind the scenes to awaken them. He will work through Nehemiah, but also through Artaxerxes. The initial step here must be that of repentance: Discovering that we are away from God; discovering that that obvious reality is itself the work of God; discovering that He compels our return to Him, not for ourselves alone, but likewise for those who fall under the sphere of our influence.
II. In a Vacuum of Personal Commitment, the Time to Build Continues with the Stark Confirmation of God’s Total Commitment to His People. V4b-8 “So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said unto the king—Nehemiah makes his petition to return to and rebuild Jerusalem--. . . And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.” The Old Testament is a revolving saga of God’s grace at work in the aftermath of His people’s repentance. He asks for no guarantees for He above all others knows that we are incapable of them. He asks only that we commit ourselves to His principles. He then helps us to understand that the only way to accomplish this is to submit our will to His.
The same grace which we have come to understand in the aftermath of Jesus, and that we are in danger of forgetting in a day of sophisticated snobbery, was the grace operative in the Old Testament. Grace is not just an unmerited gift. It is not just such a gift form God. It is the unmerited gift of life from the heavenly Father, who is the giver “of every good and perfect gift.” Grace is God, communicating Himself to man, and entrusting this receiver with forgiveness and restored fellowship.
In God’s total commitment to His people, there is His demand for our honesty to ourselves and to Him. It isn’t easy to be the people He expect us to be. Nehemiah’s burden had been a long one, and it would be years before he would see it fulfilled. Hanani’s return in the first chapter of Nehemiah “mourned certain days” four months before petitioning the king. The Jews had been back in Palestine 80 years or so, and had managed only a very modest temple.
We often fail to consider God’s resources. While the particulars are hazy in that there were two men named Artaxerxes, there is little doubt that they were son and/or grandson of Xerxes (Ahasuerus) and thus, stepson of Esther. Hear Mordecai say, “How do you know but that thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
While we must remember that God’s commitment to us is for His will, we have no finer option than obedience. Nehemiah had no way of knowing the king’s answer. He had only Hanani’s report of deplorable conditions. But a burden from God would not let him rest until he acted on the faith he had already expressed.
III. It is a Time to Build, and Vitalization of Personal Renewal is the Foundation Stone. “Opposition came in the wake of Nehemiah’s survey of the city. It was an opposition that could have been formidable. His climactic statement is a positive declaration of faith to God’s people. V20 “The God of heaven, He will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build.” To those who stood in the way his words left no doubt as to their intent. “. . . but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.”
As God’s people, we do not have time to quibble among ourselves. The real opposition is from without, and as in Nehemiah’s day, Satan will leave no stone unturned to divest us of our spiritual power, and sidetrack us on secondary issues.
Are you committed to your Lord? He must first be your Lord. In a day when sin’s colors are wafted in the afternoon breezes, people with strong moral persuasion are likely to compare themselves with others, rather than God’s holy ordinances. Romans 5:19, “as by one man’s disobedience, many were made sinners, so by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”
Are you committed to your Lord through His church which has a local, organizational entity, which is subject to change, as mandated by the people in the leading of God’s Holy Spirit? Do you see that the option of obedience is still as demanding, and as totally rewarding, as ever?
Renewal is the Foundation Stone upon which we can build. I call you now in commitment to that high hour.
Conclusion
For Peter, as for Nehemiah, victory began in the council chambers of God’s grace. Nothing would have happened apart from that. One was facing death. The other was facing a life of meaningless servitude to a chief of state. Both had but to initiate a step of faith to see their lives transformed into meaningful service to others, empowered by the will and purpose of God.
A MIND TO WORK
#125 A MIND TO WORK
Scripture Nehemiah 4:1-6, 15 NIV Orig. 3-10-63 (1-79)
Rewr. 4-12-88
Passage: [a] 1When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, 2 and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?” 3 Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!” 4 Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. 5 Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of[b] the builders. 6 So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.
15 When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work.
Purpose: Using the occasion of the resettlement of Jerusalem to remind my people of the need to resettle our communities with the exercise of faith.
Keywords: Dedication God’s Purpose Work Energy
Introduction
We are watching with interest the proceedings in Panama. We know that for some of our countrymen the stakes are high indeed. Some Americans have invested everything they have in the country that tenuously oversees the great Panama Canal.
Just a few years ago there was a similar circumstance in Iran. Because of our oil interest, there were many Americans, and Louisianans, who had made that Middle East, Muslim country, their home. Almost overnight they had to leave. Some interviewed in the media indicated they were leaving behind everything they owned: homes, cars, furniture, even bank accounts. Those possessions were no longer worth the risk of holding on to them. Most of these same people had taken those jobs years before, precisely because they promised lucrative material return.
The departure of the Hebrews from Babylon was similar. Though it was 2500 years earlier, it was from a site perhaps no more than 300 miles away. They too had to decide about pulling up stakes and departing. They had to walk away from many evidences of material prosperity.
It was in Babylon that the Jews discovered what excellent tradesmen they were. A few had become so wealthy that they refused to leave. Many, most actually, remembered that they were the guardians of faith in the one holy and living God. They must leave all and return to Jerusalem, because to its environs the Messiah would return. Thus, with such a mind they set themselves to the tasks of return. They had “a mind to work.”
I. It Is with a Mind to Work That Hardships Must Be Faced. V2:17 “Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire; come, let us build up the walls of Jerusalem.” 2:19 [their enemies] “laughed . . . to scorn, and despised [them] . . . and said, ‘will ye rebel against the king?’”
4:8 “And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it.”
Where there is this intent to serve, limitations do not distract. Success does not rest upon numbers alone. There were some Jews still in the country from before captivity. According to Ezra 2, 49,697 returned, including servants. Only 245 mules returned, but more than 6,000 donkeys. Others of their people would join them from time to time. Ezra was a priest, a religious leader who led in law and building the temple. The Temple was 20 years in building. A half century later Nehemiah would discover it still without unanimity.
There must be distinction between Jew and Samaritan for this unique national character to emerge. There was going to be opposition. They had to know who they were, and how the will of God related to them.
I knew a young man in seminary with a serious physical disability. He wanted to be a pastor. Much stood in the way. Would a church of “whole” people call him as pastor? He became a pastor in Fort Worth of a church of people with disabilities. He knew himself, and how he fit into the will of God.
Today, also, whatever the hardship is, commitment in the Lord is the solution. Nehemiah was given the key to the king’s storehouse. 2:8 “A letter unto Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest that he may give me timber.“ But by hard work this resource was used. 2:18b “So they strengthened their hands for this good work.”
If I could always choose my church hardship, it would be financial every time. People with a love for the Lord will rally around financial need. Big budgets don’t necessarily go with compassionate hearts. We are always better off with people who have little to give besides love, because they have “a mind to work.” People who give of their possessions are not easily led to give of themselves. It would do all of us well to consider how advantaged we are.
How to live on $100 a year: Get rid of all your furniture except one chair and one table. Throw out all TV sets, lamps and radios. Dispose of all of your clothing but your oldest dress or suit; one pair of shoes may be kept for the head of the family. Shut off the water, gas, electricity. Remove all appliances from the kitchen, keep . . . a small bag of flour, some sugar, salt, a few moldy potatoes, a handful of onion, some dried beans. Take away the house and move the family into the toolshed. Your neighborhood will be a shantytown. Move the nearest medical help ten miles away . . .a midwife. Get rid of your car. Forget about newspapers, magazines, books. You won’t miss them because you must also give up literacy. Count your emergency fund at $5. . . . No bank books, pension plans, insurance policies. Cultivate three acres as a tenant farmer. You can expect $100 to $300 a year in good years for cash crops. Pay a third to the landlord, at least a tenth to the money lender. Plan to take off 20 to 30 years in life expectancy. Millions do. . . , in fact, half of the people in our world actually live on $100 a year.” (Pulpit Helps – January 1979)
If you had to get by on less, could you still exercise your faith at your present level?
II. It Is with a Mind to Work That We Accomplish the Purpose of God. 4:6 “So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.”
Up to now, theirs had been a work of furious futility. They knew too little of themselves. They discounted God as a viable presence. They were intimidated by the godlessness around them.
But in responding to the vocal challenges around them they were victorious. Ezra 6:14 “And the elders of the Jews builded and prospered, through the prophesy of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo.” Haggai 2:9 “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, saith Jehovah of hosts; and in this place will I give peace.”
We also must deal with our extremities in coming to terms with the purpose of God. Our most basic excuse is “I don’t have time!” We find time for what we want. We waste huge segments on things that do not profit: Fill out a timesheet sometime; how much TV you watch might surprise you.
We also claim not to know how as an excuse. Some of the things that we take great pleasure in were first devised by people who didn’t know how. Some of the things that we are singularly competent in now, we once knew nothing about. Edison knew nothing of electricity. Bell knew not about telephones. Wilbur and Orville couldn’t fly no matter how hard they flapped their arms.
When God’s purpose becomes our purpose, we are no longer hindered by human weakness, but instead we are stimulated by divine strength. The best beginning place is in salvation. The Psalmist’s question was asked in 116:12 “What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?” His answer, 116:13 “I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.
Whatever it is to which we put our hand, if it is of value, we seek to accomplish it in God’s purpose. It was God’s wall. He would see to it. Thou must be of the mind to work.
THE EXCELLENCE OF GOD
#120 THE EXCELLENCE OF GOD
Scripture Psalm 8, NIV Orig. 2-28-62
Rewr. 12-22-76
Passage: 1 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?[c]
5 You have made them[d] a little lower than the angels[e]
and crowned them[f] with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their[g] feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Introduction
Psalm is a Christmas Cantata and Easter program rolled into one. It is the highest expression of all that the Psalmist feels. The entire congregation seems suddenly to have been made aware of what God is really about.
It is the wonder of the shepherds as they become aware, not just of the angels, but of the message being proclaimed. It is the wise men, who, having for weeks followed a star, suddenly discovered that it was leading to more than they ever imagined. It is a young Hebrew man and his wife, who believed in each other when no one else did, and who now reap the reward of their trust.
It is that marvelous discovery of what Christmas is all about. The realization that something wonderful has happened, and that it has happened at a time and place when my life is affected by it.
I. His Excellence is Seen in His Divine Imperative. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth. (Thy glory is recognized as far above the heavens as the heavens are above the earth.) He brings to the earth a being not strange to himself, with the potential to deliver personality, character, and integrity. The world is waiting for these signs of life to be communicated.
Elton Trueblood writes in The New Man for Our Time “The Christian faith cannot perform a redemptive role in the modern world unless it gives strong leadership on the central issue of faith. If the members of the church are primarily interested in erecting a new building or buying a new piano, they will not even begin to meet the need that modern seekers so deeply feel."
Additionally, it is the purpose of God to transmit His own holiness into the being of His creation. There is one irrefutable argument for our faith—a life lived in holiness.
II. His Excellence is Seen in the Majesty of His Creation. When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; What is man that Thou art mindful of him? We do not project the image of something in mass production, but that which is carefully, tenderly made. How many of us remember those simplistic toys of childhood that meant the more because they were turned out by the loving hands of a parent?
The concept of visitation is messianic, as in “visiteth” or “care for.” Christmas was the literal visiting of God to the things of earth. Luke 1:68 “At the birth of John, Zechariah prophesied ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people.’” Vv. 78-79 “The dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness.” Acts 6:3 “(Look ye out) among you seven men of honest report.”
There is redemptive purpose in this creation. There is discovery of praise. There is the blessing which results. How many people want the same results from worship that they seek in the marketplace—the most for the least?
III. The Excellence of God is Seen in the Honor Extended His Creation. “Yet Thou has made him little less than God, and dost crown him with glory and honor.” We are capable of dominion, of maintenance of physical control over the physical universe.
We have mental comprehension. Take into consideration what man has been able to understand of outer space. He had to know what to expect before men would be sent on the moon journey.
We have spiritual uniqueness. “A little lower than the angels” (Elohim). Luke 20:36 “For they are equal unto the angels.”
Conclusion
From Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”:
“Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire—
Hands, that the rod of empire might have swayed,
Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre.”
HELPING THE HOME TO HAPPINESS
#105 HELPING THE HOME TO HAPPINESS
Scripture Orig. 5/2/65 (5/77)
Genesis 2:18-24 NIV Rewr. 6/18/87
Passage: Genesis 2:18-24 18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” 19 Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam[a] no suitable helper was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs[b] and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib[c] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” 24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
I Corinthians 7:3-5 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. 5 Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
Purpose: On the occasion of Father’s Day, urge my people to achieve a renewed understanding of the home as a unique spiritual blessing.
Keywords: Family Marriage Heritage Home
Introduction
We occasionally see stickers on cars identifying those within as participants in some marriage-meaning seminar. One of these stickers states, “We believe in marriage.” If one believes in God, and believes that He has spoken in His Word, then marriage is the fundamental human relationship.
What we read in Genesis 2 as the historic position of scripture, is found virtually unchanged when we read Paul’s interpretation found in I Corinthians 7. Clearly, Jesus saw it this way, and declared his teaching openly.
According to many social scientists, marriage is at a low point of esteem. 50% of all marriages end in divorce. The average span of a marriage is six to nine years, giving vent to what is called the “seven-year itch.” That’s another name for boredom based on acquired responsibility.
Don’t lose sight of the fact that in our 20th Century, sex has become a “sales” technique. Thus enter our salesperson counselors who advise solutions: “gracious living replaces the life of grace.” Instead of dealing with the problem, such counselors insist on a change of appearance, or wardrobe. The psychiatrist seeks the total dismantling of “guilt” insisting, “If it feels good, do it,” which in many cases is what we want to hear anyway.
The mandate upon the Christian in regard to marriage, is that God is the instigator of marriage, the molder of relationship, the magnifier of trust.
It is important that those who have weathered the winds of withdrawal, know Who has been their succor. As well, those who are facing uncertain days of threatened dissolution, need to know that their marriage is worth saving, and to know Him, only, who can. And, finally, those who look ahead to such a social dilemma, might know that God still honors His Word, for those who are willing to live by it, and for those who do not.
I. Marriage is Founded upon a Unique Spiritual Heritage. Genesis 2:24 “. . . he shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.” I Corinthians 7:3 “The husband shall give to the wife what is her due as his wife; and so also the wife to the husband.”
Such marriage is of divine origin. Living Bible: God took the rib and made the woman, brought her to the man, who responded, “This is it!” Grace is always getting more than we either expect or deserve. One is impelled to see intended, physical consummation. Some say it is the “result of sin.” Others, that God allows it as an impediment.
Scripture points to a higher goal of intent. It was to be creative, intimate, relational—ever so much more than carnal expression. It is the ultimate proclamation of selflessness. The Greek has three words expressing love: carnal, familial, selfless. Proverbs 18:22 “Whoso finds a wife, finds a good thing.” Hebrews 13:4 “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled.”
Such physical consummation becomes spiritual between two people on harmonious spiritual terms. It is the belief that its beginning, and tenure, are of God, and it is the contentment that the relationship is its own ultimate goal.
I remember a story (Readers Digest, March 1977), “There Came a Cry of Joy” about an ornithologist and a sparrow hawk. He trapped it, but instead of penning it at the end of the day, felt impressed to release it. He opened his hands, and watched as the hawk soared upward. From far overhead he heard the cry of another bird. “I was young then, and had seen little of the world, but when I heard that cry, my heart turned over. It was not the cry of the hawk I had released. I was now seeing farther up . . . where she had been soaring . . . for untold hours. And from far up, ringing from peak to peak of the summit over us, came a cry of such unutterable and ecstatic joy that it sounds down across the years and tingles among the cups on a quiet breakfast table.”
To this divine origin is added parenthood. It is lagniappe, not biological, but spiritual, emotional. Note: Parents, your children are being brainwashed with ideas relating to sex that are promiscuous, unrealistic. Let them see in your marriage the bases for the divine image. Youth, when you buy the contemporary garbage of promiscuity as a worthwhile goal, you reduce the chances that you will ever be able to experience what God wills for you.
II. Uniquely Spiritual, Marriage is also Uniquely Human. Genesis 2:18 “And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone; I will make an helpmeet for him.” I Corinthians 7:4 “The wife no longer has full rights over her body, but shares them with her husband. So also, the husband with the wife.”
The Christian home is a respite of equals. Matthew 19:6 “They are no longer two, but one flesh.” These equals work together to define roles. Indeed, the husband is to be head of wife and home. Ron used “obey” for the wife, but merited it not written into the companion vow.
The vulnerable marriages, Christian as well, are those that become power struggles. Speaking tongue-in-cheek, the husband settles big issues and the wife the little ones: The wife decides where to live, school for children, vacation plans, etc. The husband decides when to reestablish trade relations with China; whether or not to support the Contras; if PTL really should have sold the doghouse.
Both must take serious interest in avoiding what brings grief to the other. Watchwords are communication, compromise, commitment.
A relationship of equals is based on spiritual values. It is this that is most easily mismanaged. It is not a question of how much or how deeply we love. Love is measured in terms of quality. We must be able to gauge where we ourselves are spiritually, and to find another in spiritual harmony. The last statistics seen call attention to a much higher level of marital success for those marrying above college age, perhaps twice as high. It is not the college degree as much as age maturity. Youth are clearly vulnerable. All must remember that nothing physical or material will last.
Love sonnet: Thomas Moore, 18th Century Irish poet, was married to beautiful Bessie Dykes, an actress. In 1811, while away, he found out from a friend that she had been stricken with a skin disease, leaving her disfigured. She dreaded his return. This poem preceded him:
“Believe me if all those endearing young charms, Which I gaze on so fondly today,
Were to change by tomorrow, and melt in my arms, Like fairy-gifts fading way,
Thou would still be adored, as this moment thou art, Let thy loveliness fade as it will.
And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart Would incline itself verdantly still.
It is not while beauty and youth are thine own, And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear,
That the fervour and faith of a soul may be known, To which time will but make thee more dear!
No, the heart that has truly loved never forgets, But as truly loves on to the close;
As the sunflower turns on her god, when he sets, The same look which she turned when he rose.”
Others are as well vulnerable. Among them are those who have lost mates of special harmony. Marriage is not an end in itself. The key is always, “What God has joined together.” The solution is to allow the Spirit to lead.
The worst mistake in my life…. (***the remainder of this paragraph has been lost***).
What about the divorced? There are times when divorce or annulment are the only alternatives. That person has the right to marital happiness. The Christian must not ever take the easy way.
I came to know Wes Jackson in New Orleans. His wife had died, and he was dating a church lady. A friend, whose wife had walked out on his ministerial career, sympathized with him over the loss of his wife. “As strange as it may seem to you, I envy you. Not because your wife died, but because death is so final, while divorce is not. I know she’s out there somewhere, and I still care for her.”
III. For the Home to be Uniquely Christian, there Needs to be Grace to Accept Differences in Others’ Lives. The church performs in the role of extended family. Christ is the husband, the Church is the bride, and we are participants together in family.
Units within that family structure are going to differ. Marriage is the norm: the operating criteria for most of us. Single people are just as important to God. Marriage at any cost is not the answer. Making the most out of marriage is the answer for all married people. The church must stand ready to open its heart as well to those outside of traditional family, offering companionship, and a full sense of belonging.
Conclusion
Let me close, however, with a piece called “Practical Rules for a Happy Marriage.” “Never both be angry at the same time. Never talk at one another, either alone or in company. Never speak loudly to one another, unless the house is on fire. Let each one strive to yield most often to the wishes of the other. Let self-denial be the daily aim and practice of each. Never taunt with a past mistake. Neglect the whole world rather than one another. Never part for a day without loving words to remember. Never make a mean remark at the expense of the other. Never meet without a loving welcome. Never let the sun go down on any anger or grievance. Never forget the happy hours of early love. Never forget that marriage is ordained of God and that His blessings alone can make it what it ought to be. And you will be happy ever after.”
C.S. Lewis wrote in The Four Loves: “If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one. . . avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. . . . The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.”
THE ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE
#103 THE ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE
Scripture Jeremiah 2:5-13 NIV Orig. 11/22/64 (11/78)
Deuteronomy 1:10-11, 21 NIV Rewr. 11/22/86
Passage:
Jeremiah 2:5-13
5 This is what the Lord says:
“What fault did your ancestors find in me,
that they strayed so far from me?
They followed worthless idols
and became worthless themselves.
6 They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord,
who brought us up out of Egypt
and led us through the barren wilderness,
through a land of deserts and ravines,
a land of drought and utter darkness,
a land where no one travels and no one lives?’
7 I brought you into a fertile land
to eat its fruit and rich produce.
But you came and defiled my land
and made my inheritance detestable.
8 The priests did not ask,
‘Where is the Lord?’
Those who deal with the law did not know me;
the leaders rebelled against me.
The prophets prophesied by Baal,
following worthless idols.
9 “Therefore I bring charges against you again,”
declares the Lord.
“And I will bring charges against your children’s children.
10 Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and look,
send to Kedar[a] and observe closely;
see if there has ever been anything like this:
11 Has a nation ever changed its gods?
(Yet they are not gods at all.)
But my people have exchanged their glorious God
for worthless idols.
12 Be appalled at this, you heavens,
and shudder with great horror,”
declares the Lord.
13 “My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
Deuteronomy 1:10-11, 21
10 The Lord your God has increased your numbers so that today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky. 11 May the Lord, the God of your ancestors, increase you a thousand times and bless you as he has promised!
21 See, the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
Purpose: To call my people to remembrance of blessings of God to His people and that their spiritual prosperity was linked to their obedience
Keywords: God’s Blessing Promises Hebrew History Promises
Thanksgiving Thankfulness
Introduction
The attitude of gratitude is not borne easily. Not only is its existence a troubled one, bearing it can sometimes be a struggle to those near at hand.
Anonymity claims the pen which wrote the verse:
“Be thankful every day for bread;
For clothes and shelter, clean and warm;
And God’s protection in life’s storm;
For life and health, and those who care;
For peace and quiet, and love and prayer.”
But in its lines is “the attitude of gratitude.” Without such, there is little to life’s meaning. There is no maturity, no personhood; certainly, no discipleship.
Bishop William Quayle, upon hearing of the death of his friend, the naturalist John Burroughs, reflected aloud, “Poor John, he loved the garden, but he never met the gardener.”
Joyce Kilmer, on the other hand, was unapologetically a believer. Before he died on a battlefield in France at the age of 32, he wrote,
“Thank God for the bitter and ceaseless strife
And the sting of His chastening rod.
Thank God for the stress and pains of life
And, Oh, thank God for God.”
The Hebrew people to whom Jeremiah spoke, and around whom Deuteronomy was written, shared a heritage of blessing in the promises of God. A part of that observance was the Feast of Tabernacles. They knew this celebration as “Sukkot,” and shared together in this feast at the end of the harvest season. The purpose was to give thankfulness to God for the fulfillment of all His promised blessings to them. But their history, like ours today, is checkered with those occasions of great blessing, with little or no response from those to whom the blessings are given.
I. The Attitude of Gratitude Examines the Record from the Past. Jeremiah 2:7, “I brought you into a plentiful country to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof.” So the Lord is the key to time and circumstance. Dr. Sidlow Baxter teaches an important lesson in the lives of the seven great men of Genesis. Abel was 1st, not a man reaching in toward himself as was Cain, but reaching out to the unknown: to God. 2nd was Enoch, immortalized forever as the man who walked with God. 3rd was Noah, forever the man of spiritual renewal; he followed his God over the cold water to a new day of hope. 4th was Abraham; he was a man who walked by faith, was “accounted as righteous” and called “the friend of God.” 5th, a little later, came Isaac; from him we get our first taste of sonship; he was of special promise, of special birth, almost a sacrifice for sin. Then, 6th, came Jacob; in him was the life of service—busy, untiring, blessing, a prince at prayer. Finally, 7th, came Joseph, a life thrown away, but picked up again, blessed and used.
It is not such men that we need today, but people with such a grasp of God, committed to pray, promise, and perform.
It was in some similar way that God moved to bring America to the forefront of nations. The year was not 1492, by the way, nor was the man Columbus. The year was 1455, and the man was Gutenberg. If you do not recognize the name, he was a printer. Printing came alive, the equivalent of the computer. The Bible, and its vision of men and women in freedom, was only a step away.
It was not long before doctrinal integrity replaced Ecclesiastical hierarchy (1517) in Luther’s 95 Theses at Wittenberg. During that same period. The persecution of Separatists, your spiritual forebears, pointed believers toward a distant wilderness and freedom’s dream.
God’s concern in America today is not in a land, but in a vision; not in a political entity, but a people. Isaiah 1:18 “Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall become as wool.” Colossians 2:2, “God’s secret . . . is Christ himself. He is the key that opens all the hidden treasures of God’s wisdom and knowledge.
II. The Attitude of Gratitude Considers Performance of God’s Dealings with His People. Deuteronomy 1:10 “The Lord your God hath multiplied you and behold, you are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.” The good gifts of God to Israel were a stewardship trust.
They were gifts clearly from God. The Ark of the Covenant symbolized God’s presence. 2 Chronicles 7:14: "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." We abuse holy things.
They were gifts centered for service. Deuteronomy 26:5, “My father was a homeless Aramean who went down into Egypt with a small company, and lived there until they became a great nation.” It was clearly their responsibility to use those gifts to the glory of God. To examine Israel during those years of glory is to be aware of the awe in which others held them. In the world of nations between 10th-8th Centuries BC, they were the rich kid on the block. Others were jealous, but could do nothing. Then it was discovered that the mansion of Israel had roaches and termites just like the shacks by the river. They had been given a chance to help others. Their greatest failing was that they did not. What will our greatest failing be?
You see, the truth of moral and spiritual responsibility is eternal. To know God is to be morally and materially responsible for sharing that knowledge persuasively. Isaiah 62:6 “I have set watchmen upon the walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace, day or night . . . . Give Him no rest till He establishes, till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”
Not to share that responsibility is soul damning. Philippians 2:13, “For it is God which worketh in you, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.”
“O Zion haste, thy mission high fulfilling, to tell to all the world that God is light,
That He who made all nations is not willing one soul should perish, lost in shades of night.
Proclaim to every people, tongue, and nation that God in whom they live and move is love.
Tell how He stooped to save His lost creation, and died on earth that man might live above.”
III. The Attitude of Gratitude Speaks Also of Promises in Prospect. Deuteronomy 1:11 “[May] the Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as you are, and bless you, as He has promised you.”
Let us remember that God is righteous, and our sin is a burden to Him. The world was created and ordered under His perfect hand. It awaits people of faith and dedication to open the chalices of promise.
About ¾ century ago Albert Einstein stood before colleagues and wrote an equation that has literally changed the world. E = MC2. Energy is proportional to mass. And the atomic age came into being. Will it always bode evil and war? Can it not also bring good?
The fulfilled promise is one in which sin is brought to light in Christ.
It is the eternal link of blood. Leviticus 17:11 “For it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” Hebrews 9:22 “Without the shedding of blood is no remission.”
It is the building blocks to the universe. Isaiah 28:16 “Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion, for a foundation, a stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.”
God’s promise is first an invitation. Matthew 11:28, “Come unto me, all ye who labor.” I Peter 2:9, ‘Ye are a chosen generation called . . . out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Revelations 22:17 “Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.”
Conclusion
The early charters of the colonies that became the United States were treatises dedicated to God through His Son. Plymouth, Delaware, Massachusetts Bay, Maryland, Rhode Island had the stated purpose, “to advance the enlargement of the Christian religion, to the glory of God almighty.”
The closing words of the Declaration of Independence confessed the nation’s dependence. Congress appointed a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer in 1776, that the colonies, “through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, obtain His pardon and forgiveness.” Congress ordered the first Thanksgiving in 1777 asking “the penitent confession of their manifold sins . . . and their humble earnest supplication, that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to blot out our sins of remembrance.”
Abbreviated version of #103
When you hear today of someone with “an attitude,” it usually has a negative connotation. However, if I understand the word aright, it can be used positively as well. Just as we are able to express strong negative emotions, we are also able to express powerful positive emotions. It is in that sense that I speak to you this morning on “The Attitude of Gratitude.”
Anonymity claims the pen which wrote the verse:
“Be thankful every day for bread,
For clothes and shelter, clean and warm;
And God’s protection in life’s storm.
For life and health, and those who care,
For peace and quiet, and love and prayer.”
Such lines as these contain that “attitude of gratitude.” Without such, life’s meaning is extremely the more complicated. Bishop William Quayle, upon hearing of the death of his friend, the world-renowned naturalist, John Burroughs, reflected aloud, “Poor John, he loved the garden but never knew the gardener.”
Joyce Kilmer, on the other hand, was unapologetically a believer. Before dying on a battlefield in France at the age of 32, he wrote:
“Thank God for the bitter and ceaseless strife
And the sting of His chastening rod.
Thank God for the stress and pains of life
And, Oh, thank God for God.”
The Hebrew people, who were Jeremiah’s audience, and the subject about which Deuteronomy was written, shared a heritage not unlike our Thanksgiving heritage. It was a celebration called ‘Sukkot.” It came at the end of the harvest season, and was intended as an expression of thankfulness. But their history, like ours today, is checkered with manifold evidence of blessing, and little more than token response from those to whom the blessings are given. The “attitude of gratitude” must examine Past Perceptions, Present Performances, and Promises in Prospect.
The early charters of the colonies that became the United States were treatises dedicated to God through His Son. Plymouth, Delaware, Massachusetts Bay, Maryland, Rhode Island had the stated purpose, “to advance the enlargement of the Christian religion, to the glory of God almighty.”
The closing words of the Declaration of Independence confessed the nation’s dependence. Congress appointed a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer in 1776, that the colonies, “through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, obtain His pardon and forgiveness.” Congress ordered the first Thanksgiving in 1777 asking “the penitent confession of their manifold sins . . . and their humble earnest supplication, that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to blot out our sins of remembrance.”
A MISSIONS MANDATE
#098 A MISSIONS MANDATE
Scripture Psalm 96:1-13 NIV Orig. 12-3-61
Rewr. 11-28-79
Passage: 1 Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
4 For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
6 Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering and come into his courts.
9 Worship the Lord in the splendor of his[a] holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.
11 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let the sea resound, and all that is in it.
12 Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;
let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.
13 Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes,
he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples in his faithfulness
Purpose: To call my people to the high goal of response to the nobility of the task found in missions, and doing all that we can to further His cause.
Keywords: Missions God’s Word Jesus the King
Timeline/Series: Lottie Moon
Introduction
A pastor friend here in the city share a counseling burden through which he had recently gone. It had to do with a 22-year-old mother of two children, whose husband had tired of the boredom of relationship and went off looking for his thing. Her inability to cope with this situation, the responsibility, the loneliness, the inequity, brought her finally to her pastor’s study.
Before the hour had passed, He knew that she was facing far more than just this debilitating circumstance. He recognized that this young woman’s life was in jeopardy. Somebody was going to have to do something, and soon. Discovering that there was no one else who would help, my pastor friend went to the Orleans Parish coroner’s office. There he was advised to secure the services of a lawyer who could appeal to the courts for this woman’s admission into a mental health unit. This in turn would enable the Court to order the appropriate agencies to take action on behalf of this young woman.
Before this process could be secured, my friend’s counselee took her own life. I do not know what happened to the young husband, and I must honestly say I do not care. I do not know what happened to the two small children, bereft first of their father, who did not love them, and then of their mother, who most assuredly did. But for them I do care. Our responsibility in missions is facing up to the fact that we are living in a world fraught with the burdens of broken relationships; destitute with the inequities with which some people brutalize other people. We are living in a world where we Christians are the only ones who have the answer. Our responsibility is to heed “A Missions Mandate” for the world’s sake. The world, like this desperate young woman, cannot long cope with what is happening to it. We American Christians are spending our time trying to find a negotiated answer, which will permit someone else to do the dirty work, when the only answer is in the giving of ourselves.
I. A Missions Mandate Declares the Purpose of Missions. V3 Declare His glory among the heathen, His wonders among all people. The principal purpose is to reveal God’s love. This aspect of God’s character has taken a beating. Only its truth has enabled this love to break through the barriers of human pretense.
I surely do not need to do more than remind you of the injustices carried out in the name of Jesus. The Arab, Khomeini, is not the first of his kind to preach his gospel of hate, and murder, in the name of God. God will deal with him and his kind appropriately, but we best be ready to stand by our guns. This present crisis may yet involve us all. Perhaps it is an appropriate time to remind you that Muslim faith was under the gun of its founder, Mohammed, who conceived it as a mixture of Jewish, Christian, Greek, and Roman influences. Of all of the great prophets, he passed himself off as the greatest, even the Holy Spirit promised by Christ.
How many people do you know about whose lives would be very, very different if there were just one person to show them love? In that purpose inspired by love is the offer of salvation. It is an offer made unconditionally. It is an offer made irrevocably. My insurance company sold me a policy to protect my car. They didn’t tell me at the time, but part of that policy was conditional and revocable. The coverage on breakage becomes deductible after I file a couple of claims.
It is an offer made through Jesus because only in Him is God’s love fully measured.
Involved with that purpose is the understanding that we who follow Him must declare His glory before all people. Nothing else portrays His love as Jesus does. The Jews had failed as a people to respond to this love. Amos 3:2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
II. A Missions Mandate Proclaims the Message of Missions. V10 Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved. Our principal message is to tell the world that the Lord reigns. No greater service can you render your king than to let him reign in your heart. No greater gift can be given from the human heart than to announce yourself subject unto your Lord.
Years ago, an English king went to hear a little-known minister. As the scripture was being read, the King whispered something to his consort. The minister turned from the scripture and declared: When the lion roars, the other beasts are silent; when the kings of the earth speak, then all others become quiet; but when the King of Glory speaks, even the kings of the earth shall keep silent and listen.
To say that our Lord reigns is to acknowledge that He has the temper of human history under His hand. In 1812, Adoniram Judson went to Burma, paid for, by the way, by the offerings of other people. He labored there for six years before he had his first convert. He spent untold numbers of hours translating the Bible into the Burmese tongue. In all of his ministry there, part of which was spent in jail, he witnessed only a few hundred conversions. How many of us, knowing such rigors, would have advised him that it wasn’t worth it to spend his life that way. Yet, because they have the message, because one man’s life stood under the Lordship of Christ, there are hundreds of thousands of believers in that place today. Can you think of one place where, because you lived there, there is one person who has become a believer?
Can you think of one place where, because you lived there, one person became a believer who otherwise would not? We are bearers of a seed that will propagate itself. We are to see that it gets to some. They then must see that it is taken to others.
Those through whom you heard and believed were faithful. Will those who wait for you be so fortunate? In the library at the Prague, there is displayed a triad of medallions dated 1572. On the first. Wycliffe, the Bible translator, can be seen striking sparks from a stone. On the second, the great martyr Hus is seen kindling a flame from the sparks. The last contains the image of Martin Luther holding high a flaming torch. They were an Englishman, a Bohemian, and a German, united in faithfulness.
III. A Missions Mandate Elicits a Picture of Our Victory Through Missions. V12f Let the field be joyful and all that is therein; then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord: for He cometh, He cometh to judge the earth; He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth.
Make no mistake about it, God’s offer of salvation is offered to all mankind. Are you inclined to doubt your ability and capability? So am I! It was for this very reason that the disciples heard their Lord, and they looked at the multitudes around them, and observed the handful of loaves and fishes. John 6:9 “What are these among so many?”
The same One who strengthened the faith of those first disciples offers us His strength today. There is that most-quoted of verses Philippians 2:10f That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, . . . And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
It is unquestionably the destiny of the people of God. Habakkuk viewed this destiny when he declared, “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” Isaiah proclaimed it when he wrote “The wolf will dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the fatling together; and the little child shall lead them.” Micah believed it. “And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not rise up against nation, neither shall they study war anymore.” And John in Revelation gave a final testimonial. “After this I looked, and beheld a great multitude, which no man could number, from every nation and from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb.’”
Isn’t it time for you to give your life to Jesus? Isn’t it time to stop playing religious games when so much is at stake?
THUMPS IN THE NIGHT
#088 THUMPS IN THE NIGHT
Scripture Ezekiel 1:26-2:5 NIV Orig. 6/14/64
Rewr. 8/78, 8/24/87
Passage: 1 26 Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne(A) of lapis lazuli,(B) and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man.(C) 27 I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him.(D) 28 Like the appearance of a rainbow(E) in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.(F)
This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory(G) of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown,(H) and I heard the voice of one speaking. 2 1 He said to me, “Son of man,[a](I) stand(J) up on your feet and I will speak to you.(K)” 2 As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me(L) to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.
3 He said: “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day.(M) 4 The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn.(N) Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’(O) 5 And whether they listen or fail to listen(P)—for they are a rebellious people(Q)—they will know that a prophet has been among them.(R)
Purpose: Calling attention to the integrity of God’s word to call His people to our higher goals of faith.
Keywords: Compassion Person of God Word of God Sin
Introduction
Have you ever been called upon to chase down some uncertain noise that has gone “thump” in the night? You went to bed after a hard, long day, expecting to get a full night’s sleep. You had even spent some quality time with your family, and so had gone happily to bed and to sleep. In the quietness, and with contentment you had dropped quickly off to that place somewhere between wakefulness and sleep. Then your wife sits bolt upright in bed and asks, “What was that?”
“What was what?” you groggily reply.
“That noise!” she says.
“What noise?” you ask, sensing some urgency.
“That thump!” she insists.
By now, you are ready to suggest that she’s watching too much TV, or that she should not have eaten so much pizza, either of which would not have been a smart thing to say. Before you can blurt it out, one of the children pads into the room in the dark, and you hear a sleepy voice say, “Daddy, I heard a funny noise!”
“Well, if it was funny, why are we not all laughing?” is all that you can think to say.
But now, you, the brave, strong daddy must get up and face the unknown, and you didn’t even hear it go thump. After a few minutes you come back to bed assuring them that all is secure. All you did was get a glass of water, but they don’t know that. You have to reply when they ask what went thump. Daddies just know that there are things that go thump in the night.
But what if the “thump” is a word from God, and we are not tuned in? What if an event, or a spoken word, is a love note from God to you, and you are involved elsewhere?
The boy Samuel heard a thump in the night (I Samuel 3:4) and it was God. “Where are you, Samuel?” Where are we when these experiences come?
I. The First Thump Involves Seemingly Religious People. Ezekiel 2:3 “And He said to me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me.”
A nation having every spiritual advantage becomes indifferent to these very values. Their history records God’s blessing. Their prophets called them again and again to their destiny. The promise to them was of a Saviour/Messiah who would usher in the kingdom age.
We also should feel this sin burden upon the world. There are too many indications of faithlessness. A Babel ethic has appeared on the contemporary scene. The morality of Sodom visits our people. Political chaos is born of expediency. Sexual permissiveness leans upon the icy wings of liberation, freedom, sensualness. Godlessness stalks the streets as a plague.
Too near at hand are the cold stares of people turned from religion who never gave it a chance.
James 1:27 reads “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep themselves unspotted from the world.” I pastored a church once that was in a region of ideal, rustic simplicity and contentment, and its members reached out to several people in the community who were HIV positive, in love and caring.
What if, as some suppose, that this present stage is beyond redemption. Be reminded that God is the Judge; that decision is His. Revelation 6:17 “The great day of His wrath has come, and who shall be able to stand.” Hosea 6:5 “Thy judgments are as light.”
As God has vindicated His faithful people in the past, He will do so again. Ezekiel here comes to a rebellious people. His own Son invaded a world of spiritual procrastination of people saying one thing and doing another.
What is expected of us is a willingness to be his vessels unto righteousness, not as doers of wrong only, but as proclaimers of right.
II. The Second Thump in the Night is Disbelief. V4 “. . . you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ . . . whether they hear or whether they refuse, they will know.’”
God’s concern for His people is seen in every valid experience. On an early earth day when a man looked lustily from a piece of fruit to her who was the true object of his lust, he and she could think only of deliverance from God’s oppressive PRESENCE. Yet it was He who took the step in their behalf. “Adam, where art thou?”
On the hinder end of forty long wilderness years came a limping population. Their struggling so vaingloriously was over a span of forty years, a highway that could have been trod triumphantly over a few short weeks. To these Hebrews, forty years late, bedraggled, beaten, not yet ready to attest that God keeps His promise, God came to explain His choice. Deuteronomy 7:7 “The Lord did not set His love on you and choose you because you are more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of people: But because the Lord loved you.”
It should not be difficult for us to grasp such a concept today. Don’t wait to see ourselves as lovable, see God’s innate affection for His people. My wife and I had gone to retrieve one of our daughters from some summer activity. We were in an art gallery passing time. There before us was a picture of Christ holding a Saturday Night Special. The picture attested to nothing about Christ. It boldly asserted the artist’s view of faith, and of sin.
God’s commitment, as His promise, is to these human needs. Jeremiah 31:3 “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn you.” Malachi 1:2 “’I have loved you,’ saith the Lord, yet you say, ‘In what way have you loved us?’” Instead of declaring God’s love as we have experienced it. We raise other questions of validity of His love. “What have You done for us lately?”
III. The Final Thump Is the Reminder That This Is Our Message Also. V1 “And He said unto me Son of man, stand upon thy feet and I will speak to thee.” He continues to desire to speak to the lowly son, or daughter, of man. He spoke to Jesus constantly, because Jesus was constantly available. He speaks to Ezekiel as one presently available. He spoke to Moses with the fear of Egypt upon him and sent him as deliverer. He spoke to Amos, the herdsman, and sent him to Israel with a message of hope.
How many others are there to whom He is yet able to speak? To one eating the dust of some godless employer. To one struggling under the ingrained and irrelevant habits learned in childhood. And to the one whose life is marked as available to God.
He speaks and calls us to the intention to obey. We can’t serve God while thrashing aimlessly in the mire of shame over past sin. In the admission of sin, there is always the offer of forgiveness with acceptance. I Samuel 15:22 “To obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken, than the fat of rams.” To this end came the Spirit to Ezekiel, set him on his feet in a position of obedience, spoke to him of God’s expectation. Recall Luke 11:1-4 “teach us to pray” and the parable in vv. 5-13: “How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
Conclusion
I experienced a thump this week. JH Harris stopped by. It was his third time. The first time, he came seeking help. The second, he just wanted to say thank you. His 12-year-old son was with him. He stopped again last week. He was running from trouble, going back to South Louisiana. He wanted me to know that the boy is dead. He had heart disease, it hadn’t been detected soon enough, and he wanted me to pray with him. It is too easy to overlook the people around us who most need what we have to share. Listen to the thumps in the night. They are all around us.
BE STILL AND KNOW (Psalms series)
#048a(s) BE STILL AND KNOW
Scripture Psalm 46:1-11 NIV Orig. 10-9-83 (Psalms series)
Passage: God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.[c]
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
8 Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields[d] with fire.
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Timeline/Series: Psalms
Introduction
In North Carolina once, we were hiking and became confused about our location. It was noon, with no help from the sun. Planes were flying and making a lot of noise. Not only were we lost. But I became aware that we were walking in a circle.
As we took a rest to try to figure out the best course of action to follow, the planes suddenly flew off to some other place. After a moment, the sound of trucks on the highway some miles off were heard, and we had our bearings.
I. Consider the Pace. V2 “Though the earth be removed.”
What terrible things we do to ourselves when we continue without recourse in the never-ending cataclysm of activity. The Psalmist moves from dismay to disillusion, through despair to discovery. As the Psalmist views his troubled mountain, we need to view our troubled world.
II. Consider the Pause. V10 “Be still and know.” The word “be still” means “to relax.” It is not surrender, giving up. It reminds us of the sabbath rest. Worship is the best place and sphere for this to take place. Vance Havner, preacher from the Blue Ridge Mountains, wrote that “the trouble with the church today is that we have too much ‘supper room’ and not enough ‘upper room.’”
III. Consider the Peace. V11 “The Lord God of Hosts is with us.”
- Mark 4:36, still of storm, “Peach be still. . . . Have ye not yet faith?”
- Isaiah 54:17, “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.”
- Luke 19:37f Dialogue between Jesus and the Pharisees. They wanted Him to rebuke the disciples for believing that peace followed Jesus.
- Paul “I have learned in whatever state I am therein to be content.”
IV. Concluding Thought.
- Verses 1-3 Picture God holding the reigns in a struggle through creation’s cataclysm. Selah
- Verses 4-7 Picture man struggling in social relationship, and vainly, apart from God, living happily. Selah
- Verses 8-11 Picture the perfect peace to come that clearly is the accomplishment of God alone, for His people alone.
Closing
St. Francis of Assisi, “Christ and the City,” p 104.
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved, as to love.
For it is in the giving that we receive,
It is in the pardoning that we are pardoned,
It is in the dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
Ephesians 6:20, ”[The gospel], for which I am an ambassador in chains; that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.”
SHUT UP AND SHOUT OUT
#086 SHUT UP AND SHOUT OUT
Scripture Jeremiah 33:1-7 NIV Orig. 1-7-62
Rewr. 9-12-89
Passage: 1 While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him a second time: 2 “This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it—the LORD is his name: 3 ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ 4 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the houses in this city and the royal palaces of Judah that have been torn down to be used against the siege ramps and the sword 5 in the fight with the Babylonians : ‘They will be filled with the dead bodies of the people I will slay in my anger and wrath. I will hide my face from this city because of all its wickedness. 6 ‘Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. 7 I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before.’”
Purpose: Continuing a study emphasis from the prophets, here concluding a brief synopsis of some of the teaching of this book.
Keywords: Bible Study Series, Jeremiah
Series, Old Testament Prophets
Timeline: Sequential
Introduction
The Biblical text writers are not strangers to persecution. The path woven through the Old Testament prophets reveals to us again and again the hatred of those who protested against what the prophet had to say. Not only did Jeremiah, as almost the last of the line, know about the others, he experienced it himself under the most adverse of circumstances.
Jeremiah has been accused of capitulation to the enemy (Jeremiah 37:13), and summarily taken away to prison. The immediate event seems to have taken place at about the time Jehoiakim was relieved of the throne and taken to Babylon. According to 37:1, Zedekiah has come to the throne, the third son of Josiah.
The political leaders were among the arch enemies of the prophet and his message from God. Jehoiakim, you remember, after the second Temple sermon had cut the segments from the scroll and burned them.
The message of Jeremiah (36:32) seems, however, to have been written before the time spent in prison. Jeremiah’s emotional warfare had been going on all the time in his own spirit.
Paul, we know, wrote some of his letters from prison. Consider Ephesians 6:12:
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
John Bunyan, also, in Pilgrim’s Progress:
“If you will go with us, you must go against wind and tide; you must own religion in his rags as well as in his silver slippers; and stand by him, too, when bound in irons; as well as when he walketh the streets with applause.”
Interestingly, Jeremiah came to write perhaps the single most significant statement of hope to Judah from this prison cell. Chapter 33 is headed, “Prosperity will return to Jerusalem.”
V14f “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up into David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, the Lord our righteousness.”
I. This chapter gives us a glorious view of what the prophet perceived of God. He saw one who was absolute. V2, “maker,” suggests first cause; “formed it” is utilitarian; “to establish it” may mean to keep it on target.
He saw unlimited intercession. V3 “Call unto me, and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.”
He saw the extent of their blessing. V6-9: v6 Health and cure; v6 peace and truth; v7 restoration.
V8 is about forgiveness—“cleanse,” “pardon;” it means to purify for ritual participation, the nearest Old Testament concept to forgiveness. This last is the same used Jeremiah 31:34, “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.
V9 is about blessing, the opposite of what they were. Others will know. Jeremiah would be appointed prophet to the nations. Jeremiah 1:5 (“I have appointed you a prophet to the nations”); 10: “See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms.”
In vs 10-11 he saw future joy, praise, and mercy. V11 “The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, ‘Give thanks to the Lord of hosts, For the Lord is good, For his lovingkindness is everlasting.’”
He saw the promised Messiah in v14-16. “I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth.”
***THE REMAINDER OF THIS SERMON HAS BEEN LOST***
CANCELLED COVENANTS
#084 CANCELLED COVENANTS
Scripture Isaiah 28:14-22, NIV Orig. 6-30-63
Rewr. 10-18-87
Passage: 14 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem.
15 You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death, with the realm of the dead we have made an agreement. When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it cannot touch us, for we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood[a] our hiding place.”
16 So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.
17 I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place.
18 Your covenant with death will be annulled; your agreement with the realm of the dead will not stand.
When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be beaten down by it.
19 As often as it comes it will carry you away; morning after morning, by day and by night, it will sweep through.”
The understanding of this message will bring sheer terror.
20 The bed is too short to stretch out on, the blanket too narrow to wrap around you.
21 The Lord will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim, he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon—to do his work, his strange work, and perform his task, his alien task.
22 Now stop your mocking, or your chains will become heavier; the Lord, the Lord Almighty, has told me of the destruction decreed against the whole land.
Purpose: To remind my people, not only of the value of their vote, but of their responsibility to seek for that covenant of men that is first of God.
Keywords: Covenants Freedom Politics Providence of God
Introduction
The year was 1650. The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland was considering making the Westminster Confession the statute book of a state religion, presided over by none other than King Charles II, an infamous man. A major part of the struggle was the artful tenet of “the divine right of kings.”
Oliver Cromwell and his troops were encamped at Musselburgh. He sent the following letter to these men. “I beseech you in the bowels of Christ, think it is possible that you may be mistaken. Precept may be upon precept, line may be upon line. And yet the word of the Lord may be to some a word of Judgment; that they may fall backward and be broken, and be snared, and be taken! There may be a spiritual fullness which the world may call drunkenness, as in the second chapter of Acts. There may be, as well, a carnal confidence upon misunderstood and misapplied precepts, which may be called spiritual drunkenness. There may be a covenant made with Death and Hell! I will not say yours was so. But judge if such things have a politic aim: To avoid the overflowing scourge; or, to accomplish worldly interests? And if therein you have confederated with wicked and carnal men, and have respect for them, or otherwise have drawn them in to associate with us, whether this be a covenant of God and spiritual? Bethink yourselves; we hope you do.
“I pray you read the Twenty-eighth chapter of Isaiah, from the fifth to the fifteenth verse. And do not scorn to know that it is the Spirit that quickens and giveth life.” 220.23B6p163 The Book of Isaiah
Isaiah 62:6-7 “Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence. And give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”
I. They Were a People Who Believed in Political Expediency. V14f “. . .Ye scornful men which rule this people . . . Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge . . .”
It was, of course, the commonest mistake of Biblical times. Isaiah was declaring it so. Jeremiah, a century later, was proclaiming the same message to Judah. Oliver Cromwell’s letter suggests that it has always been a humanist flaw. We see it in our own political evolution today. I wonder if we Louisianans are worst. I fancy not, but it does stand out so clearly to us.
Things change ever so slowly, and we forget how to see them. When Earl Long was running for Governor in 1955, I was newly come to Louisiana. How could anyone vote for him? I told Ann, “There won’t even be a second primary.” He won in the first.
This is relevant whenever and wherever luxury and intemperance abound: Men with eyes too fevered by sin to see beauty in simple purity and piety; Human minds so brimful of knowledge, they are intoxicated with their own cleverness; Circumstances where we have been called upon so often that we conclude a melodramatic incapacity to err.
What do we see when we examine issues? God’s covenant—His word? His law? Man’s compromise? Israel decided that they were in a better position to analyze conditions. It seemed that God’s word did not matter. It’s kind of like going to a Halloween Carnival. Lots of fun things to do: dunking vats, cake walks, fishing booths, and there is always a little boy in a devil’s suit. But he’s just a little boy, pretending. Our problems are not little boys pretending to be devils. Our problems are come from devils pretending to be what they are not, and we are tricked by their pretension.
II. Too Many Seem to Believe that God Has Lost Control of His Creation. V15 “. . . when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us.” Israel’s problem necessitates explanation. Isaiah had been a careful proponent of their hope in God. But it was put to them in a way which singled out their sin, and their need to repent. V17 “Judgment will I lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet.”
In reality, we could blame Isaiah for this problem. Isaiah had a speech impediment. He spoke nothing but the truth. He declared only what God gave him. The Assyrian storm troops were in position right across the border. The only way out was absolute dependence upon God, the sacrifice of their free-wheeling ways. Explicitly, they were going to have to surrender their expediency.
Instead of God, they turned to Egypt. Isaiah 29:14 “Therefore . . . I will proceed to do a . . . work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent shall be hid.”
We still only have two options.
We can trust God. He knows the end from the beginning. V16 “I lay in Zion . . . a sure foundation.” He has provided a sure defense for His people. V17 “Judgment also will I lay to the line.” No pretenders to faith allowed. But then, no genuine articles were overlooked either.
Or, we can trust the devices of men. Make up our minds. Give more than lip-service. But remember where our strength is.
We are going to be voting for five, maybe even Speedy Long. Are we voting deviously? Are we voting sincerely? The one thing we must not do is to let our variant choices become a barrier to our labors for Christ.
My best advice to you:
Vote!
Vote your conscience!
Give every other person that right!
Remember that it is our covenant with God that will stand. These human covenants are worth no more than the integrity of the person.
The following piece was clipped from a magazine, source unknown:
Not serried ranks and flags unfurled, Not armored ships that gird the world,
Not hoarded wealth nor busy mills, Not cattle on a thousand hills,
Not sages wise, nor schools, nor laws, Not boasted deeds in freedom’s cause—
All these may be, and yet the state In the eye of God be far from great.
That land is great which knows the Lord, Whose songs are guided by His word:
Where justice rules ‘twixt man and man, Where love controls in art and plan;
Where, breathing in his native air, Each soul find joy in praise and prayer—
Thus may our country, good and great, Be God’s delight, . . . man’s best estate.”
We have the opportunity to once again turn the self-interest of the alcohol-monger back in upon himself.
Don’t be duped by his “rights.” Only what we give him.
Don’t be led astray by tax advantage. $1 in taxes costs $8.99 in support from trash to pieces of wasted lives.
See it as one more opportunity to stand up for what you believe.
Canceling the covenant of expediency is true freedom. Isaiah 62:6,7 “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace, day or night: Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give Him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.