JOYFUL COMMUNION (DELIVERANCE FROM ONE’S FRIENDS)

#522 JOYFUL COMMUNION (DELIVERANCE FROM ONE’S FRIENDS)

Scripture: Psalm 4, NIV                                                                                                                      Orig. 12/13/61 (1/78)

                                                                                                                                                                                  Rewr. 4/14/87 

Passage: Answer me when I call to you, my righteous God.  Give me relief from my distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer.  How long will you people turn my glory into shame?  How long will you love delusions and seek false Gods?  Know that the Lord has set apart his faithful servant for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him.  Tremble and do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent.  Offer the sacrifices of the righteous and trust in the Lord.  Many, Lord, are asking, “Who will bring us prosperity?”  Let the light of your face shine on us.  Fill my heart with joy when their grain and new wine abound.  In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, let me dwell in safety.

Purpose: Continuing series from Psalms, here sharing David’s prayer asserting God’s gracious presence in his life.

Keywords: Communion                 Prayer                   Deliverance      

Timeline/Series: Psalms

Introduction

                A Keene, TX, woman by the name of Marie Crawford tells about a most disconcerting experience a few years ago when she was traveling in the Appalachian Mountains.  She became suddenly, and seriously ill, and knew that she must immediately seek medical assistance.  She was in the small town of Banner Elk, NC.  Because she was with a tour, it was necessary for her friends to continue without her.

                Being thus alone, she discovered that she would have to have surgery, and that it would not be wise to wait until family arrived.  Being assured that the surgery was not life-threatening, she gave her consent.

                In her room, after the surgery, and as the sedative began to wear off, her first conscious thought was that someone was in her room.  Not knowing what to think, or who it could be, she struggled to clear her mind.  When finally managing to get her eyes opened, she was shocked to see two strange mountain women in her room.  She had never seen them before.  Had no idea who they were.  They were sitting side-by-side in rocking chairs.  Both wore bonnets, and rocked with their hands folded in their laps.

                She managed to get her wits together enough to speak.  “I’m sorry, ladies, you must be in the wrong room,” she said.

                The younger of the two women turned to Mrs. Crawford and replied, “Now, don’t you fret honey.  We ain’t going to bother you one bit.  Poor Papa died in this room, right in that bed, one year ago today.  Me and Mama jus’ want to set here a spell and rock, and think about Papa.”

                David is in need of a time and a place where he can feast on the Father’s presence.  Thus, he speaks his heart.

I.             We Must First Compare with the Prior Chapter. Both are called Psalms of David.  Both bear the imprint of a man at prayer.  There is a noteworthy difference in the object of his prayer.  There may be a heading: Psalms 3, a Morning Prayer, and Psalms 4, an evening prayer.  Chapter 3 you remember was a prayer seeking deliverance from his enemies. V5 “I laid down and slept; I awakened; for the Lord sustained me.”  Chapter 4, however, is a prayer seeking deliverance from his friends.  V8 “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep; for thou, Lord, only makest me to dwell in safety.”

Clearly, Psalm 4 is a Prayer Psalm.  V1 “hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness.”  It is a prayer of David, called so in the title.  Neginoth means “stringed instruments.”  Note Psalm 5—Nehiloth—flutes.  The anxiety of a man on the run penetrates the 3^rd Psalm.  Adversity surrounds him as Absalom seeks the throne.  Here is the prayer of a man pressed in, not by his enemies, but by his friends.  Counselors may mis-advise him.  Special interests may seek favors from him.  He must be a man alert to God’s leading.

II.            We Also Understand the Ground Upon which David Prays.  He prays because God has dealt justly with him.  V1 “thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress.” “Have mercy, hear, as you have before.”  He comes to God without any claim to merit.  During the time of Saul’s jealous rage with David (I Sam 18:14) “David behaved himself wisely and the Lord was with him.”  He comes, because he is wise, asking to be heard, because God is merciful.  V3 “The Lord will hear when I call unto him.”

III.           As We have Learned the Ground of His Prayer, We Know Also the Subject of His Prayer.  His so-called friends have confronted him with wrong choices.  V2 “O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame?”  Rom. 1:21f “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”  They were men of prominent station.  David points them to the One who is his keeper.  “The Lord will hear” (v3), and who insists upon their recognition “stand in awe, commune, offer the sacrifices,” is his very good advice to them.

                It defines a “set-apartness” that we must not overlook.  The Christian shares this separateness. 

                II Corinthians 6:17 “Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord.”  The conditions of relationship are not changed: wrong to capitulate to the world, wrong also to avoid contact, wrong to reflect haughtiness/

arrogance.

                David points his friends to a conditional trust.  The condition is that they stand in “awe” of God. RSV: “Be angry and sin not.”  KJV “Stand in awe and sin not.”  GNV “Tremble with fear and stop sinning.”  Find a place where worldly thoughts will not distract from God’s presence: “upon your bed”/“still.”  Alone with one’s own thoughts, at a place of their own choosing, where distractions are minimal.

IV.          Having Found Such a Place, Offer the “Necessary Sacrifices to the Lord.”  Ps. 27:6 “therefore will I offer in his tabernacle, sacrifices of joy.” Psalm 51:17 “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite spirit.”  Isaiah 1:11 “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices.”  Hosea 6:6 “for I desire mercy and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”  Micah 6:8 “What doth the Lord require?”

                His prayer is that they may know as he knows. Doubt, skepticism abound. V6 “There be many that say, Who will show us any good?” Such negativism abounds today.  What better do we have to reflect God’s presence than the joy of relationship?  V6 “Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us”—not to see us but to see God within blessing.  What David has is of far greater value than the best of what they have.  V7 “Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.”

                David had to share what those around him needed. V

8 “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.”  Psalm 3:5 “I laid me down and slept; I awakened for the Lord sustained me.”  Odee Parker’s “What do I pray for?” “Peace!”

Conclusion

                Listen to a final admonition from Habakkuk: 3:17-18 “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”

ANCIENT LANDMARKS REVISITED

#495                                                          ANCIENT LANDMARKS REVISITED                                                                        

Scripture Proverbs 22:28 NIV                                                                                                                      Orig. 5-12-1968

                                                                                                                                                                              Rewr. 5-11-1989 

Passage:  Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your ancestors.

Purpose:              On Mother’s Day, to share with my people some of the more noble concepts of a society based on God’s word.

Keywords:          Church                  Christian Education        Family                  Mother’s Day                    Special Day        Worship

Timeline:             Mother’s Day

Introduction

                Finding a different text for Mother’s Day is never difficult.  One can start anywhere except with Adam and Eve, and relate one’s life to one’s mother.  In every other instance there is one.  There are some negative examples, of course, but there are many positive ones.

                I have used some of the classic passages in celebration of prior Mother’s Days.  What more fitting example could there be than the mother of Jesus?  An Old Testament illustration of the highest echelon of motherhood was seen in Samuel’s mother, Hannah.  And surely, every one of us has heard at least two sermons taken from Proverbs, chapter 31,

                                “Who can find a virtuous woman? For

                                Her price is far above rubies.”

                While this passage, also from Proverbs, seems to have nothing at all to do with motherhood, I want to claim it today as a text to speak to us about the more noble of society’s concepts.  There are deep spiritual truths perceived here, and who has a greater interest in truth than a mother has for the child that she has born and nourished.

                Rudyard Kipling wrote about his own mother:

                                “If I were hanged on the highest hill,

                                “I know whose love would follow me still.”

He recognized, as we certainly must, that the fountainhead of society, the stabilizing force for godliness and righteousness, has been “neither school nor church nor hall of justice,” but the concern of a godly mother for her children.  May I share these four “landmarks” that are the keystones upon which any pertinent society must be built?

I.             The First is that of Home and Family Dedicated to God.  The home remains God’s focal point for the redeeming message.  Genesis 1:28. “And God blessed them and said, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion.”  It is a promise of blessing.  It is a pronouncement of bearing.  It is a profession of birthright.

                At the level of family relationship, it anticipates spiritual dominion.  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.”  That is not the language of force.  It does not suggest that the child becomes what the parent chooses.  It says to give him consistent spiritual example. Pray regularly for them, and challenge them to be the best they can be.

                Recognize that home and family begin with two people committed to each other and to an endearing principle.  Marriage is not theatrics.  It is not exemplified by one single example on TV. It is not fun, games, and clever repartee; it is not a perverted relationship.  The safest marriage is to a person who is one’s spiritual equal.  Years ago safety meant a reasonable guarantee of happiness. Today it carries somber, physically debilitating overtones.

II.            The Second Landmark is that of Corporate Worship.  Psalms 55:14 “We took sweet counsel together and walked to the house of God in company.”  Of course, where there is spiritual mutuality, this is assumed.  Our friends Herman and Lois Smith in New Orleans are a fond example.  The fact of worship is a constant in nearly every human life.  By meaning, worship is “a willingness to serve or make sacrifices for someone or something.”  Our lives, then, are molded, not by what we profess, but by what we worship.  Jesus had this in mind when he admonished his hearers as “hypocrites.”  They claimed to worship God.  In fact, it is power, privilege, prestige.  It is so today as well.

                Christ is the only valid instrument to lead us to worship.  I Peter 2:5 “Ye . . . are built up a spiritual house . . . to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.”  He is the redeemer of all who will come to him.  In a Bridgeport, CT, cemetery there are two recognizable names.  P.T. Barnum (“a sucker born every minute”) lies beneath an expensive, ornate stone. A simple stone marks the grave of “Aunt Fanny”—Fanny Crosby (“I am Thine O Lord,” “Blessed Assurance,” “Jesus is Calling”). 

                He supplies the answer to any of life’s enigmas.  World Book 1968, p. 205, Kenyapithicus Africanus “The finding also destroyed the popular textbook theory that man evolved from an apelike, tree-dwelling primate.”  He holds the key to order in a disordered world.  He alone offers a meaningful climax to history: No more Lebanons. No more Noriegas for Panama.

III.           There is the Landmark of Christian Education. 2 Timothy 2:15 “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.”  Education has clearly taken a downturn.  It may be administrative laxity, the lack of teacher dedication, a breakdown of family expectation.  The signs of the times clearly indicate a problem: drugs, pregnancies, dropout.  Let me define what I mean by Christian Education.  It is not the expectation of Christian education in the public schools.  It is the home and the church working furiously to involve all we can to the glory of God.  It is education geared to the student’s need and capability from a Christian perspective.

                At its heart, Christian education is a parental responsibility.  It should involve both parents.  Don McNeill’s Breakfast Club radio guests were asked to express views on mothers.  “See that their children are sent to Sunday School and Church.  Make sure the children respect their fathers.”  Every Christian should be eager to assist in such efforts.

                VBS planning has begun.  Are you ready to offer assistance?

                See that we do not get out of reach of our pulpits.  In the language of the sea, there was a sailor sent to the foredeck, called the “pulpit rider.”  On the foremost point of deck he rode the wave, took the shock, but warned the wheelhouse of imminent danger.

                The purpose of Christian Education is not to make people religious, but to give them freedom to make wise choices.  Candles of faith cannot be lighted in unbelieving hearts if there is not a bright, warm glow in our own hearts.

IV.          If Opportunity Permitted, There Would be One Other Landmark, that of Civil Disobedience.

Conclusion

                A major yachting event was underway. The race from Cape Town, South Africa, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was won by a 43’ ketch captained by Kees Bruynzeel.  He was 72, and had a serious heart problem.  He hoisted anchor in Cape Town, with a nurse, a complete Cardiac Care unit, and a weighted bag for burial at sea if he did not make it.

                Susan Butcher (Iditarod winner 1986, 1987, 1988, and 1990), flew one of her lead dogs to Anchorage to the vet, and slept on the floor of the kennel for ten days until the dog was well enough to return home and resume training.

                What kind of dedication do we bring to our faith?            

FAITH IN THE FACE OF FIRE

#480                                                           FAITH IN THE FACE OF FIRE                                                                                  

Scripture   I Samuel 17:26, 31-37 NIV                                                                                                           Orig. 3-31-68

                                                                                                                                                                                  Rewr. 5-19-89 

Passage:  ²⁶ David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”  ³¹ What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.  ³² David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” ³³ Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” ³⁴ But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, ³⁵ I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. ³⁶ Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. ³⁷ The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”

Purpose:  To share a message in which we may compare our own faith with that of a young shepherd boy out of the hills of Judea.  It is typical, isn’t it?  When trouble is recognized, all of us look for a near-point of escape.  But we want this text to help us to examine the courage of our faith.  “FAITH IN THE FACE OF FIRE” is our theme.

Keywords:          Faith                     Vision                    Courage

Timeline/Series:               Biographical

Introduction

                We cannot be absolutely sure that David fully understands the danger that he is taking upon himself.  There were stronger men in the Hebrew army who had declined the Goliathan offer.  There were brave men on the field of battle who agreed that a fight between two representative soldiers would be better for the two nations than the onslaught of blood-letting that awaited them. But Israel had no representative soldier who was the equal of Goliath.  

                David, in his youthful vigor, offers to go out in battle against this loud-mouthed Philistine.  If that is all it is, youthful vigor, then he and his king and people are in serious trouble.

                But when the showdown came, David went out “in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel.” V40 “He went out with a staff, a slingshot, a bag of five stones, and faith.

                Years ago, American soldiers were among those of a United Nations peace-keeping mission sent to the Congo to quell an uprising.  These young soldiers were not sure what awaited them.  To say they were anxious is an understatement.

                Readers Digest, in its “Humor in Uniform” section, reported a dialogue that took place on the plane as it was preparing to land.  An African American soldier turned to his white seatmate and said, “Ray, you are in more trouble than you have ever been in.”  Ray, of course, wanted to know why.  “Because,” said his friend, “if those Congolese soldiers come running toward this plane when we get off, I'm going to jump on your back and yell, ‘I got ‘im!  I got ‘im!’

                We don’t want to compare our courage with a young soldier, or even David.  We do want to get a measure of our faith as compared with that evidence here.

I.             The First Measure of His Faith is that it is Courageous Faith.  V32 “Let no man’s heart fail because of him, thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”  It does us well, from time to time, to remember that young soldiers are still being called to battle.  We hear too little about their bravery.  We hear more of the philosophical issues.  A liberal press is often more interested in failure than in fortitude under fire.  More of these brave young people have been sent to Panama.

                Something like this happens on the spiritual level as well.  Not only is the church under fire.  The very character and integrity of Jesus is put to the test.  “God is dead,” they say.  “Morality is going out of style.”  We Christians have a chance as never before, to stand by our faith.  The enemies out there are Goliathan in proportion, but they are not invincible.  As a soldier represents his battalion and a shepherd lad his people, we are to know where the power is in the confrontation with evil.

                David, though young and without practical experience, had faith in God.  For forty days Goliath had taunted Israel.  David would stand in the gap. 

                On Wednesday night we studied Jonah.   Because he went to Nineveh, the Northern Kingdom survived 50-75 years longer. It is also interesting to consider Daniel in light of the decree of Darius and Cyrus (Daniel 6:10f).

II.            Next Measure David’s as a Confident Faith.  V37 “The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.”

                Faith always draws on prior experience.  One does not have to travel far to see much and feel deeply.  What enemies he had encountered had been summarily dispatched.  Why not this taunter of God as well?

                There were betrayers of such confidence.  He took the form of David’s elder brother, Eliab.  I wonder why we are not surprised, because we have been older brothers, or known them, or had them.  Eliab accused David of “pride,” of a “naughty spirit,” of “neglect” of his sheep. Perhaps Eliab saw himself in his younger brother.  What does it take to betray your confidence in your faith?

III.           Then I See David’s Faith as a Charted Faith.  V39b “And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these: for I have not proved them. . .  And he took his staff, . . . and chose five smooth stones.”  We must respond to the enemies around us with our strengths and not our weaknesses.  That doesn’t reflect any inability to attempt the untried.  But it early recognizes all that is to its hurt.  It is one thing not to be in the House of the Lord regularly, including Sunday evening.  It is something else when we choose things that dishonor Christ instead. 

                Faith faces openly the things that strengthen it: dealing regularly with the word; knowing that there is no substitute for prayer; acknowledging that evil is exorcized by confronting it.  Such faith is the link-up of believers that we know as the church.  Someone makes a grievous point:  “Five out of every six churches in America could be dismantled without damage to the Christian mission.”  That was something said not by a critic, but a friend.  Now is not the time to think of other.  If everyone in your church were like you are would it be of the five, or of the one?

IV.          It is Next Visualized as a Conquering Faith.  V50 “So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone.”  We know, don’t we, that it was not the weapon.  V50 “There was no sword in the hand of David.”  Neither was it experience or the lack of it.  Strength did not win this battle, though perhaps weakness played a part.

                Did you see the Dexter Manley article (MMS 5/19/89 NFL/SB/PB)? A pro football defensive end, at 27 he enrolled in the Washington Lab School to learn to read. “I had to humble myself. I had to walk into the Lab School and not pretend.”

                Every success in the faith venture brings a greater capacity for faith.  Faith in the face of fire is not the kind to avoid.  It is the kind to cherish.  It is the kind to nourish.  There will always be negative influences.  Armor was Saul’s attempt to control.  There was Eliab’s disdainful rebuke. Too many of us would have been effectively out of action.  Satan would have won the battle.

V.            Before Leaving David, We Must Assess His Faith as a Contagious Faith.  V52 “And the men of Israel and of Judah arose and shouted, and pursued the Philistines.”  What did they see, these Hebrew men?  Eliab saw an excitable boy.  V55 Saul saw a “stripling.”  V44 Goliath saw “buzzard meat.”  David saw himself as v34 “shepherd,” v58 “son of Jesse,” v45 “servant of God.” 

                What they saw was sufficient to lift them out of their fears to face the fire of their own faith.

Conclusion

                B.T.  Bradley’s poem says enough with which to conclude.

Lord, when I am weary with toiling,

        And burdensome seem thy commands,

If my load should lead to complaining,

        Lord, show me thy hands, Thy nail-pierced hands, Thy cross-torn hands,

        My Saviour show me Thy hands.

Christ, if ever my footsteps should falter,

        And I be prepared to retreat,

If desert or thorn cause lamenting,

        Lord show me Thy feet, Thy bleeding feet, Thy nail-scarred feet,

        My Jesus, show me Thy feet.

O God, dare I show thee MY hands and MY feet

HINDS FEET IN HIGH PLACES

#298                                                          HINDS FEET IN HIGH  PLACES                                                                                

Scripture Habakkuk 3:17-19, NIV                                                                                                                    Orig. 9-20-89

Passage:  Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.  The Sovereign Lord is my strength, he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.  (For the director of music, on my stringed instruments.)

Purpose:              Continuing a series on the Old Testament prophets, here examining Habakkuk’s change from perplexity to praise.

Keywords:          Bible Study

Timeline/Series:               Sequential/Old Testament Prophets

Introduction

                The guide sheet covering the prophets of Israel and Judah shows Habakkuk as a contemporary of Jeremiah.  The same prevailing injustice that Jeremiah railed against, is the contention driving this prophet to deep consternation.

                Nothing about this man is known other than the historical setting that surrounded him.  His name appears only here in this book of three chapters. He was of the tribe of Levi, for he identifies himself as one of the temple singers (3:19)

                Paul knew him and so should we.  He three times extols his great statement of faith, “the just shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4).

                Romans 1:17 “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”

                Galatians 3:11 “Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”

                Hebrews 10:38 “But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.”

I.             Note his perplexity.  Habakkuk 1:1 “The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see”: Invasion coming from without—the Battle of Carchemish in 605 B.C., in which the Babylonians claimed total dominance, and corruption arising within—Josiah has been dead a few years and his sons have come to the throne (Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah). 

                He raises three questions.  How long? V2 “How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save?” Why? V3 “Why do you make me look at injustice: Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?  Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.”  These questions assert both the evil of foreign powers, but also the corruption of religious/political leaders.  He pauses, and God answers these questions in a way unsettling to Habakkuk. V5-6 “For I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans.”  Remember Jonah’s struggle with Nineveh.

Habakkuk responds with his third question, V 13b “Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously?”  V12 He remembers who he is addressing, and V12b he extols God’s promise: Israel will live and her enemies will die.  God’s holiness will not allow Him to betray His word.

II.            Next, see what persuades him.  Habakkuk 2:1 “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.”  God’s three-fold plan for his prophet: He is to wait (2a, 3c), he is to watch (2a), and he is to write (2b).  Again God answers the prophet’s question with a recordable vision of five parts.  Woe against their insatiable greed (V6-8)—“because”; woe against their overarching ambition (V9-11)—“for”; woe against their cruelty (V 12-14)—“for”; woe against their inhumanity toward other people (V15-17)—“”for”; woe against their idolatry (V18-20)—“but.”

Habakkuk concludes ashamed that he has so rudely doubted. 2:20 “But the Lord is in His holy temple.  Let all the earth keep silence before Him.”

III.           Finally, we hear the call to prayer and praise.  3:2 “O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the  years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath, remember mercy.”  He stands convicted and convinced.  Nothing will stay him from faith. 

                Habakkuk 3:17-19 “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.  The Sovereign Lord is my strength, he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.”

ELIJAH, MAN OF MIRACLES

#162                                                           ELIJAH, MAN OF MIRACLES                                                                                  

Scripture  I Kings 18:22-39, 19:13-18 NIV                                                                                                      Orig. 1-7-62

                                                                                                                                                                       Rewr. 4-71, 8-14-74 

Passage: I Kings 18:22-39   ²² Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left,^(A) but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets.^{(B) 23} Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. ²⁴ Then you call^(C) on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord.^(D) The god who answers by fire^(E)—he is God.” Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”  ²⁵ Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” ²⁶ So they took the bull given them and prepared it.  Then they called^(F) on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response;^(G) no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.  ²⁷ At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.”^{(H) 28} So they shouted louder and slashed^(I) themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. ²⁹ Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice.^(J) But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.^{(K)  30} Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar^(L) of the Lord, which had been torn down. ³¹ Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.”^{(M) 32} With the stones he built an altar in the name^(N) of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs^[a] of seed. ³³ He arranged^(O) the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”  ³⁴ “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.  “Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. ³⁵ The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.  ³⁶ At the time^(P) of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham,^(Q) Isaac and Israel, let it be known^(R) today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.^{(S) 37} Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know^(T) that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”  ³⁸ Then the fire^(U) of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.  ³⁹ When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate^(V) and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”

1 Kings 19:13-18  ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face^(A) and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.  Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”  ¹⁴ He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left,^(B) and now they are trying to kill me too.”  ¹⁵ The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael^(C) king over Aram. ¹⁶ Also, anoint^(D) Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha^(E) son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah^(F) to succeed you as prophet. ¹⁷ Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael,^(G) and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu.^{(H) 18} Yet I reserve^(I) seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed^(J) him.”

Introduction

                The main problem that a preacher has after choosing Elijah for a sermon subject is the way in which the subject should be developed.  Should I preach on his faith, his courage, his lack of faith, his fear or maybe even his perseverance.  This is the kind of man that we respect, for there is never any doubt where he stands.  When he is intent on serving the Lord, then he lets nothing stand in his way.  When he has a frustrating problem, he doesn’t cover it over with a thin veneer of false piety.  The thing different about him was that his moment of defeatism came just after he had won a major victory. 

                “To reach the port of heaven we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it.  But we must sail and not drift or lie at anchor.”  Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

                When the victory was achieved, he had begun to drift, and he nearly piled up on the rocks.

                Four words are all that are needed to suggest the stages in the life of this prophet of God.  Food!  Fire!  Folly! Favor!

I.             Food!  1 Kings 17:4 “And it shall be that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.”  In this period we notice several commands from God: V1 to tell Ahab of the looming drought; v3 to go to the brook Cherith (we note God’s provision and we note the contingency of his provision); and v9 to go to Zarephath.  We notice the man of God being used to help others—providing a meal v13-16 and raising a dead child v17-22. 

                We notice much use of natural provisions.  We notice also, the food from heaven.  Elijah made his proclamation to Ahab, assuming that there would be days when he too would be hungry.  Food has always been one of the besetting problems of mankind.

II.            Fire!  I Kings 18:29 “And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord: and the God that answers by fire, let him be God.”  Here we see the faith of this man: faith in God; faith in principles of righteousness; faith in his countrymen that they would agree to the test; faith in his mission—this is the point where we fall short.

                We see the fearlessness of Elijah.  There were 450 prophets of Baal, and one of God, Elijah; their offering was dry, his was wet. V26  They danced on the altar, and Elijah came near.  We see the fire from heaven: Some people take more to convince.

III.           Folly!  I Kings 19:4 “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.”  It has always been true that man cannot live forever in the mountain peaks.  To get from one peak to another we must go through the valley, a valley of despair and a valley of hope.  The greatest of men have had occasion of stumbling.  The food of heaven is weak when mingled with humanity:  In Exodus 16:3 the people of Israel asked if it would have been better to remain in Egypt and die.  Martin Luther’s wife, Katherine, put on a black dress one day when Luther was depressed and despairing. Luther asked, “Are you going to a funeral?” “No,” she responded, “but since you act as though God is dead, I wanted to join you in the mourning!” Exactly what Luther needed to hear (source: unknown).

IV.          Favor!  I Kings 19:13 “What doest thou here. Elijah?”  V15 “Go . . . and anoint.” V18 “Yet I have left me 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal.”  God had erased forever that moment of weakness; William James says that sin always leaves its mark. God has given Elijah a new challenge, a task that would be impossible to attain in his lifetime—the preparation of Elisha.

                The lesson in life:  Never look back on our attainments, look forward to what can yet be.

Conclusion

                When Thomas Carlyle had completed his first volume of The French Revolution, he entrusted the manuscript to John Stuart Mill for proofreading.  A few days later, Mill was forced to return and tell Carlyle that the manuscript had been destroyed.  A chambermaid had used it to start a fire.  Carlyle remarked to his wife that they must never let Mill know the seriousness of the matter—serious because the Carlyles were penniless, and because he had destroyed all of his notes.

                The next day he made this entry in his diary: “It is as if my invisible school master had torn my copybook when I showed it and said, “No, child, thou must write it better.”

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.

1. The initial awakening of God.
2. The illuminating command of God.
3. 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] 1}When 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

I Corinthians 7:3-5 NIV                                                                                                                                                                  

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 20^th 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, 18^th 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 1^st, not a man reaching in toward himself as was Cain, but reaching out to the unknown: to God. 2^nd was Enoch, immortalized forever as the man who walked with God.  3^rd was Noah, forever the man of spiritual renewal; he followed his God over the cold water to a new day of hope.  4^th was Abraham; he was a man who walked by faith, was “accounted as righteous” and called “the friend of God.” 5^th, 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, 6^th, came Jacob; in him was the life of service—busy, untiring, blessing, a prince at prayer. Finally, 7^th, 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 10^th-8^th 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.”