THE SIN OF SONLESSNESS, reflections on 9/11
#055b reflections on 9/11 THE SIN OF SONLESSNESS
Scripture John 8:21-36, NIV Orig. Date 10-2-61
Rewr. Dates 9/14/2001; 4-18-85 (7-77)
Passage: 21 Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”
22 This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”
23 But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”
25 “Who are you?” they asked. “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. 26 “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”
27 They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up[a] the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” 30 Even as he spoke, many believed in him.
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Purpose: Post 9-11, to introduce a doctrinal study called The Doctrine of Christ so that my people will better understand their need of Christ, the sin-bearer.
Keywords: Christ, Saviour Christian Life Sin Power
Introduction
The study brought us today to John 8:24. The horrors of the week do not necessitate a change. The gospel is still the hope of our world. We must be faithful, but careful in exploiting what we possess. Commitment is the exercise of the day.
We have watched, for three days now, as a brigade of men and women have hauled away the debris of the World Trade Center. Hundreds of thousands of tons of the by-product of the hate of a small group of people. A vast commitment of principal because one person may still be alive under it. Such effort is simply a by-product of love.
So, the text has not been changed, though some remarks will bear on the depth of the outcome of such a week.
Significantly, the controversial remarks of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell must be brought into such a text. Has God taken a protective hand away? It is impossible to argue the point that we Americans have enjoyed that protection. Now, is it gone? Are we without it? They are honorable men, and men of vision, but they are wrong. His hand is extended to all people of “good will,” whatever their religion or life principle. And, so must our hand. In the crisis of that hour, and the days since, there have been tens of thousands of those responses.
The tragedy happened. It was not willed by deity to happen. Nor was it a chance event. It was humanly engineered. So must be the conditions of recovery.
Deuteronomy 24:16 “Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.” Jeremiah 31:29 “In those days . . . say no more ‘the fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ . . . Everyone shall die for his own iniquity.”
Even if Robertson and Falwell could prove their contention, I would lay claim to that concluding prayer of Habakkuk 3:17-19 “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 I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength. He will make my feet like hinds’ feet and He will make me to walk upon mine high places.”
Sin comes to us in all shapes and colors. It waltzes through one’s life with the whisper of a gentle breeze, or it destroys everything in its path like a late Summer storm. It registers every degree of intensity from anguish to zeal (misguided). It is real! There are different kinds. These are difficult to categorize. One sin exceeds all others in total effect upon our lives. It is the Sin of Sonlessness. It is the sin unto death. It spells death for people, for cultures, for nations, for churches.
I. The Sin of Sonlessness Results in Minimized Human Potential. John 8:34-36 “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world. Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
You see, creation included Christ. God created a being capable of self-will and therefore of response. Genesis 3:5 “Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Ecclesiastes 7:29 “God has made man upright, but they have sought many inventions.” They were seeking not what God’s will provides but what their will tolerates.
From the first it was His intention to redeem man through Christ. One of the things remembered with fondness from New Orleans is the trips to Women’s Hospital and the magnificent walks by the nursery window. There were dozens of babies. The spark of life is God’s gift. Spiritual life also. John 1:16f “of His fullness have we all received . . . . The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”
Any of us may achieve material success apart from Christ, but it has no redeeming effect. Some unnamed author of Profit and Loss wrote:
I counted dollars while God counted crosses,
I counted gains while He counted losses.
I counted my worth, my things gained in store;
And he sized me up by the scars that I bore.
I counted honors and sought degrees,
He counted the hours I spent on my knees.
I never knew until one day by the grave
How vain are the things that we spend life to save.
I did not know till a friend went above
That richest is he who is rich in God’s love.
Dr. Arthur Burden, Christian psychiatrist in New Orleans, served on the Foreign Mission Board screening committee. He recovered from a heart attack in 1974. “God spared my life. I am sure of that. I am not completely sure for what reasons. The things that are important to me now are the little everyday things: a blue sky; time spent with my family; the touch of a friend’s hand.”
We reach our fullest potential by the measure of our attachment to Christ.
II. The Sin of Sonlessness Results in a Life Turned Inward. John 8:26 “I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard from Him.”
The first concern of the life turned inward is that it contradicts God’s will. What if Jesus had allowed Himself to get side-tracked? What if He had been satisfied to turn Israel around? V26 “I see so much to judge.”
For the reformer, what if the goal becomes an end in itself, and the source of the goal is lost from view? “He who sent me is true.”
You see, Israel was to be the agent through whom others came to believe. “And I speak to the world.” Isaiah 42:6 “I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, . . . and give thee . . . for a light to the Gentiles.”
Though Jesus didn’t get side-tracked, we can. The question is not just the expending of spiritual energy. It is primarily openness of life to the will of God. I Corinthians 3:11f “No other foundation can any person lay than what is laid, which is Jesus. Whatever is built . . . gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or stubble. Fire shall try everyone’s work of what sort it is.”
This life turned inward becomes a barrier to the way rather than a guidepost. Parents can stand in the way of children. Failing to be a consistent witness, we stand in the way of others. G.K. Chesterton wrote: “We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty.”
III. The Sin of Sonlessness Separates One from God. John 8:34 “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin, and a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” It is to know God through His Son. Gladstone “All that I think, all that I hope, all that I write, all that I live for, is based on the divinity of Jesus Christ, the central joy of my poor wayward life.” Phillips Brooks “The only way to realize that we are God’s children is to allow Jesus to lead us to our Father.”
But to be without Christ is to be without dependable hope. John 3:36 “He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life, but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on Him.”
Conclusion
He held the lamp each livelong day
So low that none could miss the way,
And yet so high to bring in sight
That picture fair of Christ, the light,
That gazing up--the lamp between—
The hand that held it was not seen.
He held the pitcher, stooping low,
To lips of little ones below,
Then raised it to the weary saint
And bade him drink when sick and faint;
They drank--the pitcher thus between—
The hand that held it scarce was seen.
He blew the trumpet, soft and clear,
That cringing sinners need not fear,
And then with louder note and bold
To storm the walls of Satan’s hold:
The trumpet coming thus between,
The hand that held it was not seen.
But when our captain says, “Well done
Thou good and faithful servant, come.
Lay down the lamp, lay down the cup,
Lay down the trumpet, leave the camp.”
Thy weary hands will then be seen,
Clasped in his pierced ones, naught between.
Author unknown
TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY CEREMONY OF IRA AND VONCILLE VEAZEY
#649 25TH ANNIVERSARY CEREMONY OF IRA AND VONCILLE VEAZEY
PRAYER
When a man and woman come to choose for themselves the estate of marriage, they do, whether knowingly or unknowingly, choose unto their united life, that which is a product of the love and grace of God. Whatever the level of their spiritual experience, they enter into a contract of which it is God’s purpose to bless As early as the second chapter of Genesis, the first book in God’s Word establishes the intent of God. Of the creation encounter we are taught, “The Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him an helpmeet for him.”
It is a happy experience to look with eyes of faith through the pages of holy scripture, and to discover, again and again, the positive blessings of God which are associated with marriage. Though our Lord, Himself, did not marry, He graced its meaning by choosing a wedding feast in Cana of Galilee for the occasion of His first miracle. On such a happy event as this, as surely as at His baptism, He announced His Messiahship and His miracle-endowed ministry.
The primary impact of Jesus’ teaching on the subject of marriage was clearly established. Both Matthew (19) and Mark (10) record the basis of marriage as the foundation stone upon which the social culture of family life is to be built. Jesus said, “For this cause shall a man leave His father and mother, and cleave to his wife; and they twain shall be one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder.”
There had been other Old Testament passages that had formed the nucleus of Jesus’ teachings. It was a broad principle stated by Solomon in Ecclesiastes 4:9. “Two are better than one.” He had stated the principle much more meaningfully in Proverbs 18:22. “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favor of the Lord.” Solomon’s experiences teach us also what he learned in the retrospect of having lived counter to the principle. One of the most beautiful Old Testament passages is in The Song of Solomon where the lovely Shulamite woman rejects all of the pursuits and advances of the king because of her love for the one whom she would ultimately marry.
There is yet another dimension of the holy estate of matrimony presented in the scripture The New Testament epistles speak of the church as the bride of Christ. This One who is Lord is pictured as giving His life for His one true love. Paul in the Epistle to the Ephesians reminded the believing husbands that they “were to love their wives, nourishing and cherishing the relationship, even as the Lord the church.”
As the imprint of the intent of God is found almost from the first page of scripture, it is seen finally in the last book and near the last chapter. The revelator, John, records in Chapter 19, “blessed are they which are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Though it is not an issue here, the believing husband or wife is encouraged to believe that their witness will be effective in bringing an unbelieving spouse to faith. (I Corinthians 7:14)
We have come together here this evening, not to unite in matrimony, but to consecrate a union in matrimony, but to consecrate a union in acknowledgement of the attainment of the Twenty-fifth Anniversary. This acknowledgement declares to all who care to take notice that the years yet to be are even more important than the ones that have been. On the occasion of this anniversary, you are surrounded by the friends who have walked with you through both sad and glad. Others here are themselves the result of your marital trust.
You stand before me as two already united in the eyes of the state, and considered so by your friends and loved ones. It is an ennobling act of faith which seeks to commemorate this happy event in the presence of these who know and love you.
We are told that “Where two or more are gathered together in the name of the Lord, He is present there with those who are His.” (Matthew 18:20) What more significant gathering of two or more of His own than to accommodate a believing couple in their desire to sanctify their union for these important years ahead.
It is then, not with symbolic candles that we come to express the meshing together of your individual lives. It is not to sign the necessary but too often meaningless documents of State. It is not even to give renewed meaning to the rings of ceremony already shared. It is simply to restate the vows of union.
I request that you join right hands, face each other, and repeat these vows:
“I thank God for the holy estate of matrimony.
“I praise His Name for the fusing of my life with yours.
“I bless His Name and for His will expressed lovingly through our lives.
“I am pledged in wedded love to you alone for so long as we shall live.”
PRAYER
WEDDING CEREMONY OF THOMAS A. MICHELLI AND VICKIE LYNN SMITH
#071 WEDDING CEREMONY of THOMAS A. MICHELLI AND VICKIE LYNN SMITH
Prepared by Lamar Skinner November 21, 1987
Marriage has historically been one of life’s greatest celebrations. Every culture has had its very own means to this end. The processes, whether primitive or exacting, have enabled the two contracting parties to form a normative relationship. These individuals would, in this manner, disassociate themselves from the vestiges of the single life, and begin the experience of shared intimacy. Life takes on the different hue of sharing. There are now two hands on the tiller of faith and circumstance.
The declaration made here is all the more significant because there are already two others who stand to gain greatly by this association. It is all the more significant then, that we enter into this celebration prayerfully.
You will bow with me, please, for prayer.
PRAYER
We are assembled here, in the home of friends to joyfully share in this celebration of marriage. Our minds, hearts, and spirits join with those of
Tommy Michelli
and
Vickie Smith
to enjoin the spiritual oneness of marriage. We acknowledge responsibility, responsibility first to God, Himself. Responsibility to other family members who surely are affected by this decision. Marriage, in its fullest dimension, is the achievement of God alone. We are to look to Him for the greater fulfillment of family. We are surely to praise Him for the opening of doors that led upward to this celebration. You have prayed about your own decision. Others, who love you devotedly, have prayed for you. As great significance is seen in prayer for the wedding, even greater significance is determined for marriage. No more measured circumstance could come out of your wedding here today than that of determining that God will hold the place of honor in your individual and collective lives.
As the years have passed, Tommy, Vickie, you have meandered down separate trails toward a destiny that you could not imagine. You were guided through your own childhood, but the day came when more assertive decisions became your lot. Events of magnitude have occurred. You have experienced both happiness and grief. Stumbling steps have reached toward selfhood, toward becoming the person you can, and ought to be. There have been many times when your steps were the steps of a person alone. When you turn from this place, the sands of time will reveal partnered steps. Work with all your heart and soul to keep it just that way. Look to God as the source of your strength.
Marriage is not innovative. It is not unique. It is simply acquiescence to a greater divine plan.
“And the Lord God said, ‘It isn’t in man’s best interest for him to be alone; I will make another person to complement him. They will be suited to each other’s needs.’ Then the Lord . . . brought this woman to the man. This explains why the man . . . is joined to his wife in such a way that the two become one person.”
To this end we are gathered here. It is toward what we believe to be the will of God that we here move. We do little more than add man’s prose to God’s promise. For it is the promise that sends faith to replace the fantasy of the dreamer.
Because you have indicated to me that these goals to be shared are your desire. As you want this spiritual priority to guide your relationship, I then request that you join your right hands and repeat these vows.
I Tommy take you Vickie to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.
Vickie, your vow is no more nor any less than that of the one who here becomes your husband.
I Vickie take you Tommy to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, to love and to cherish, til death do us part.
Now, as a sign of the confirmation of these vows, you will share together the rings of covenant. The ring has had other uses throughout history. But none match the holy estate of their importance in marriage. The symbolism of pure metal and unique form address the purity that is to attend your relationship, and the eternality of your covenant.
Do you, Tommy/Vickie, give this ring to Vickie/Tommy, as an eternal covenant of your love?
Each responds “I do!”
Do you receive the ring, Vickie/Tommy, as such a token of love, and do you so promise to wear it as it has been thus intended?
Each answers “I will!”
Those of us gathered here by your invitation have heard you pledge your love each to the other. We have watched as you sealed the contract of your marriage with the rings you have shared with the other. I therefore, as your pastor friend, and as an agent of this state empowered to do so, happily acknowledge your new station as husband and wife. Take care that this holy covenant remains so. Become the family, father, mother, and two daughters, Jessica and Lindsey, loved fully by you both.
Tommy, you may kiss your wife.
WEDDING OF ROBERT CARLTON DINWIDDIE and FRITHA LYNN SKINNER
#715 WEDDING
OF
ROBERT CARLTON DINWIDDIE
AND
FRITHA LYNN SKINNER
At
First Baptist Church
Bernice, Louisiana
April 22, 1989
Prelude
Duet “O, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus” Larry and Laurie Thompson
Reading Jeremiah 33:10f Robert Burns
“There shall be heard in this place, . . . the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the Lord of hosts: for the Lord is good; for His mercy endureth forever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord.”
The Processional Worship Medley Betty O’Bannon
Mothers are seated
Presentation of the Bride
Rob Burns: “Who gives this young woman in marriage?”
Lamar Skinner: “Her mother and I!”
Solo “The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi” Larry Thompson
The Declaration
The time comes round for all of us when deeply significant decisions are to be made. Questions demanding answers come upon us in ways that require the total commitment of every resource of our personhood. Such times require an unfailing trust in the other people who are affected by such decisions. Marriage is not the only determination of such merit, but it surely is one of the more important. Thus, have Robert Dinwiddie and Fritha Skinner decided.
Having chosen, Bob and Fritha seek oneness and happiness in the will of God. They invite the congregation to join them in singing the hymn,
Congregational Hymn “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” #2
We all have deep feelings and life-encompassing needs, but are such feelings enough? It is no wonder then that the challenge of marriage charms us by the anticipation of such noble purpose to be shared.
For the two of you, there has been all of this, and more. There has been mutual trust. There has been respect for the attitudes of friends and loved ones who shared the intensity of this coming to oneness. There has been faith in God as the ground of being. Surely now, there is for you both, a sense of assurance and anticipation that these months and months of friendship and deepening love will result in the continued intensity of all of these feelings of which marriage consists.
So, we have come to this place today to share with Robert and Fritha on the occasion of their marriage. Because it is a most happy event in their lives, it is their desire to share such a moment with those dearest to them. They do herewith give indication that this brings fulfillment for their individual lives and for their collective life as husband and wife.
I invite you then to bow with them and with me in prayer. While it is the prayer of dignity in assured and committed lives, it is also the deeply penetrating prayer for the judgment of God’s love upon our lives.
Prayer Pastor
Do I need to remind you that the last of the creative acts of God was the provision of an helpmeet for a friend of God whose name was Adam? With this wife, spouse, helpmate, friend, he was to live in a relationship of conjugal sharing. The man was not pictured as master, but as loving husband with the responsibility of protection and provision. The woman was not pictured as of less worth and consequence, but as the molder of meaningful family relationship. To deny these goals is to deny scripture, and to deny God. It remains God’s intent, as we understand His Word, for the husband, spiritually, to be the head of the home. He cannot, however, appropriate God’s ideals in the home until he has appropriated God’s spirit in his life.
It was of this relationship that Jesus declared what He knew to be the intent of God. His statement is one of breaking forth, of faith, of family. His words were, “For this reason, a man shall leave father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they two shall become one.”
With particular appropriateness Jesus has spoken. You are admonished to make other human relationships secondary to your relationship to each other. The only responsibility exceeding this one is that responsibility both of you owe to God. It is in thus walking with Him that you find true prosperity in each other, and therein life takes on its grandest meaning. Elizabeth Barrett Browning shares such a thought.
“Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God. But only those who look take off their shoes. The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.”
So, Bob, Fritha, you have so chosen. Your intent is to be one, and in that oneness to find your happiness in the will of God.
The apostle Paul has given us a wonderful insight to marriage. “Marriage was to be held in honor by all,” he wrote; and in another place he constrained the Christian husband “to love his wife as Christ loved the church.” Therein is the husband constrained, and the wife challenged, to be the inspiration of such love.
Reading I Corinthians 13:1-13 Rob Burns
“If I speak with the eloquence of men and of angels, but have no love, I become no more than blaring brass or crashing cymbal. If I have the gift of foretelling the future and hold in my mind not only all human knowledge but the very secrets of God, and if I also have the absolute faith which can move mountains, but have no love, I amount to nothing at all. If I dispose of all that I possess, yes, even if I give my own body to be burned, and have no love, I achieve precisely nothing.
“This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience—it looks for a way of being constructive. It is not possessive; it is neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance.
“Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage. It is not touchy. It does not keep account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails.
“Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the only thing standing when all else has fallen.
“For if there are prophecies they will be fulfilled and done with, if there are ‘tongues’ the need for them will disappear, if there is knowledge it will be swallowed up in truth. For our knowledge is always incomplete and our prophecy is always incomplete, and when the complete comes, that is the end of the incomplete.
“When I was a little child I talked and felt and thought like a little child. Now that I am an adult my childish speech and feeling and thought have no further significance for me.
“At present we look at puzzling reflections in a mirror. The time will come when we shall see reality whole and face to face! At present all I know is a little fraction of the truth, but the time will come when I shall know it as fully as God now knows me.
“In this life we have three great lasting qualities—faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
It seems appropriate somehow for the two of you, to bring Sidney Lanier off the shelf and to allow his salient pen to speak a word of vision. In his “Song of the Future” of a bird set free,
“My brain is beating like the heart of Haste: I’ll loose me a bird upon this Present waste; . . . Thou’rt only a gray and sober dove, But thine eye is faith and thy wing is love.”
Isn’t it wonderful what “gray and sober” doves can become in the “eye” of faith, and on the “wing” of love?
I request that you join right hands and prepare to share the vows of ceremony and commitment. To others of us, they are ceremonial. To you these vows are a fundamental statement of your commitment.
Bob/Fritha repeat:
In the name of God, I, _______, take you, _______, to be my wife/husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to honor and to cherish, until we are parted by death. This is my solemn vow.
Ring ceremony:
And now as a constant reminder of this hour and these vows, we shall take the rings of ceremony and confirm to all that you belong each to the other. It is significant that the ring has come to be used in this way. Just such bands of gold have been used throughout history in various meaningful ways. It was for a time a signet to be worn by the monarch with which important documents of state were sealed. It was used during another period as a bond of friendship in which brotherhood was often established. It was thought by some to have the magic powers of a talisman. But used as a symbol of marital union, the ring attains its most significant worth.
The purity of content describes the relationship that you share. The form declares permanence. Remember please, that God’s moderating Spirit is the conductor of marital harmony.
Do you, Robert, give this ring to Fritha as a token of your love for her? Do you accept this ring, Fritha, as a token of Bob’s love, and will you wear it as a sign of your love for him?
Do you, Fritha, give this ring to Robert as a sign of your love for him? Do you, then, Robert, accept Fritha’s ring, and promise to wear it as a sign of your love for her?
Pronouncement:
Having pledged your love with these vows, and having sealed your vows with these rings, I do now acknowledge your marriage as a binding contract of commitment to each other, and in doing so, pronounce you to be husband and wife.
We have been witnesses to this treasured moments in your lives. Daily seek God’s presence to bring His intensity to your union. Let all take care that this covenant remain sacred. May the God who cherishes His children hold you always in the embrace of His love. May those who love you, love you yet the more.
Benediction Romans 15:4-7 Dorothea Gatlin
“For all those words which were written long ago are meant to teach us today, so that we may be encouraged to endure and to go on hoping in our own time. May the God who inspires men to endure, and gives them constant encouragement, give you a mind united with one another in your common loyalty to Christ Jesus. And then, as one, you will sing from the heart the praises of God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So open your hearts to one another as Christ has opened His heart to you, and God will be glorified.”
Prayer Ms. Gatlin
Congregational Hymn “God, Our Father, We Adore Thee” #5
Recessional “The Master Hath Come” Betty O’Bannon
Rob Burns Invitation to Reception
WHEN GOOD THINGS COME OUR WAY
#073 WHEN GOOD THINGS COME OUR WAY
Scripture Psalm 84:11 NIV Orig. November 24. 1963
Rewr. November 17, 1984
Passage:
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless.
Purpose: On the Sunday before Thanksgiving, to remind my people of the great goodness of God to His people.
Keywords: God Goodness Special Days
Timeline/Series: Thanksgiving
Introduction
Have you ever reasoned within yourself to see what it is that you really expect from God? Do we seriously expect God to bless us with wealth when so much of the world’s people go hungry?
I could not help but notice the disparity this week. U.S.A. Today featured an article on hunger in Africa. “Americans who have been to Ethiopia remember the silent children . . . . or women gathering grass for their families’ meals. Or children with bloated bellies tugging at the arms of visitors or lying on the road to stop food trucks.”
The disparity came a day or so later while reading an article in Newsweek. The article was entitled “America’s Nutrition Revolution.” It described a beautifully appointed salad bar. “No,” said the article, “it isn’t Malibu. It’s the Greyhound Bus Station in Chicago, hog butcher for the world.”
It’s great to have a choice. It is greater still to know about nutrition, and to be able to eat accordingly.
Ethiopia and half of Africa is in what some call the worst famine of the 20th Century, and most Americans are more concerned about higher standards of living, better roads, less taxes, bigger amusement parks, and how to best invest our money.
Now what was that question again? Do we seriously expect God to bless us with wealth when so much of the world’s people go hungry?”
I. Good Comes from the Vision of God for His People. The text boldly proclaims “No good thing” asserting that good does not come by accident. Psalms 23:6 “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” Romans 12:9 “Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good.” I Thessalonians 5:21 “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”
It is God’s nature to abhor evil, cleave to good, so it is expected of you and me. Thus, in those good things that we receive, we are to perceive them as His gifts of love to us. We are to be very careful that we not perceive only that which is materially advantageous as good.
One Sunday morning in New Orleans, the paper told a large story between the lines. Tulane won when Vandy failed to score from the one yard line in the last minutes of the game. The winning coach was quoted as saying “Just the grace of God.”
There is one all-encompassing guideline by which God determines the “good thing” which He will not withhold. Philippians 4:19 “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Jesus Christ.” What we receive is from the supply of his divine economy. Since He has other children, we are “joint heirs” to His riches in glory.” His promise is to “supply all your need.” Anything that you have that you do not need, you decide where it came from.
II. Good Comes from the Involvement of God with His People. “No good thing will the Lord withhold from them . . . .” In our pseudo-sophistication, either out of church or in church, many people have discounted God. What Paul wrote to the Romans in 1:22, what some will miss in tonight’s message: “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”
To discount God is to discount Him to our doom and to our perversion. Ethiopia is a case in point. They have been in the eastern bloc. Russia could supply them with arms; not with grain. Russia can’t feed her own. At the same time, America, with stored grain to stabilize prices, is more concerned about its economy than the starving people of Africa, or the poor around us.
God is the one constant in life. Bread and water are changing commodities. Heat (or cooling) and light seem to grow increasingly expensive. Even love and hate are cyclical, as seen in Ireland. But God never changes.
Moses defined for the people the meaning of their obedience. Exodus 23:25 “So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He shall bless your bread and your water.”
So what is important??? The Bread and Water, or God’s Blessing? Jesus reached the same conclusion in The Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:3). “Give us this day our daily bread.” Again, what is important? The bread! The water! Or the One from whom it comes.
III. Good Comes with the Invitation of God to His People. “No good thing will the Lord withhold from them that walk uprightly.” Some people seem to think that the answer is in sitting back and waiting for God to act. It is clearly in God’s vision. God foresaw for Israel a great blessing through David as King.
We are also dependent upon God’s Involvement. God accepted David as a shepherd lad, saw him through many character flaws to help him become. But make no mistake, the Invitation calls us to commitment of self. God calls us, invites us, to consider good on His terms, to acquaint ourselves with the world as it is. What prayer is said at your table? “I thank thee, Lord, that I am not as others are”? What if instead we might pray, “Help me to be worthy of the bounty of Thy love.”
Read again that beautiful 100th Psalm. “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands, Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before His presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord He is God, it is He that hath made us and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with Thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.”
God invites us to live in His world as His children. Accept His invitation to the upright walk. That’s not sinlessness. It’s putting Him first. Receive from Him the assurance of every “good thing” for our spiritual well-being.
Closing
Bro. Emory Wallace told this story of a father from Mobile, AL. His daughter was in jail in DeRidder. He called Bro. Wallace asking if he knew how she was doing. Her cynicism was uncontained until he told her about her father’s call, and of his love.
GLADNESS OF HEART
#047 GLADNESS OF HEART
Scripture Psalm 96:9-13 NIV Orig. 12-5-61
Rewr. 10-29-87
Passage: 9 Worship the Lord in the splendor of his[a] holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.
11 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let the sea resound, and all that is in it.
12 Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;
let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.
13 Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes,
he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples in his faithfulness.
Purpose: To share a hopeful and heartening message at the funeral of a church member
Keywords: Funeral Joy
Introduction
Death and sorrow are inseparable. With the loss of one so intimately entwined with our lives, there are the sudden and sure pangs of grief and loss. At this point, Christians are no different. In fact, these feelings may be more inordinately felt.
To measure life by eternal scales is to feel with an intensity that others cannot know. It is sadness for the one parted from us, whose parting came under such struggle and toil. There is given to the believer, however, the potential even in such a place, to know peace, even to know gladness of heart.
At the heart of the cyclone tearing the sky
And flinging the clouds and the towers by,
Is a place of central calm;
So here in the roar of mortal things,
I have a place where my spirit sings,
In the hollow of God’s palm.
Edwin Markham
I. Gladness of Heart Comes in Knowing that the Lord Reigns. V10 “Say,” says the Psalmist, “that the Lord reigns.” How can there be tragedy that is not negated by that good news? Surely, there are regrets in such partings as this. But resentment, for the believer, is a thing impossible. For there is no untoward thing that cannot bring refreshment to the believing spirit.
“Time flies,
Suns rise
And shadows fall.
Let time go by.
Love is forever over all.”
English Sun Dial (Q1, II, p30)
He came to reign, and the heart in which he reigns is at peace. Isaiah 51:11 “The redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion: and everlasting joy shall be upon their head; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.”
To know the Lord is to know redemption. It is to know that though the parting was a grievous one, the first greeting will be as happy as the last one was sad. It does us well to remember that peace is not a human condition but a divine complement.
A man on his deathbed (attributed to John Newton, writer of Amazing Grace) dictated a short letter that he wanted delivered to a friend. He started, “I am yet in the land of the living.” Suddenly, he directed the one taking the letter to stop writing. “Change that,” he said. “I am yet in the land of the dying, but soon will be in the land of the living.”
II. Gladness of Heart Comes in Remembering the Goodness of God. V13 “… the Lord cometh to judge . . . the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.” It is here in the land of the dying that the gracious hand of God comforts his people. We are surrounded by heartache, struggle, a thousand other things that we would change if we could, even things that are meant to magnify God’s grace. It is in the struggle that we are best able to perceive the sovereignty. The returning captives would know the sheer, unadulterated joy of victory over their deepest sorrows.
Isaiah saw the day of return. Isaiah 55:12 “Ye shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace: the mountain and the hills will break forth before you in singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”
It is his will to introduce us from this land of death, to one of life. James Tinsley has preceded us. Knowing what he now knows, he would not change a thing. He would plead with his renewed voice to be ready, for the time will come and for many, when they are least ready.
“I prayed to see the face of God, illumined by the central suns
Turning in their ancient track;
But what I saw was not His face at all—
I saw His bent figure on a windy hill,
Carrying a double load upon His back.”
--R. Perkins in Anthology of Modern Verse
Conclusion
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was asked by a respondent a question about his own death. She wanted to know, “How would you spend the next few hours if you knew you were to die at midnight tomorrow?”
He replied, “Just as I intend to spend them now. I would preach this evening at Gloucester. Again at 5:00 tomorrow morning. I would ride to Tewksbury to preach in the evening. Then to meet with the societies, and to go to friend Martin’s house. There I would converse and pray with his family, retire to my room at ten. Commend myself to my heavenly Father. Lie down to rest. And wake up in glory.”
FAITH MADE PERFECT
#036 FAITH MADE PERFECT
Scripture James 2:19-26 NIV Orig. 10-14-62
Rewr. 10-8-87
Passage: 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. 20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[a]? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”[b] and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
Purpose: Beginning the new church year with an emphasis on faith and church organization in conjunction with the Lord’s Supper
Keywords: Church Activity Faith Ordinance Lord’s Supper
Introduction
Tomorrow is a special milestone in our great Baptist Heritage. It represents a very special anniversary for Louisiana Baptists.
On October 12th, in 1812, the first Baptist work was begun in our state. That was the date, in Washington Parish, on the Bogue Chitto River, that the Half Moon Bluff Church was organized.
For 175 years, the gospel has been proudly proclaimed by Baptists of Louisiana. Those earliest believers, because of their location in extreme southeastern Louisiana, were for some years affiliated with Mississippi Baptists, but they were, nonetheless, the forebears of Louisiana work.
It was the same year, by the way, that Adoniram Judson left to go to Burma as a missionary. If you recall the story, you recall that he changed to his life-long Baptist faith on the ship that took him to a land that knew nothing of Christianity. He went, then, without support. His former denomination withdrew support. And it was before we Baptists were known for our missionary vision. These struggling churches, not unlike Half Moon Bluff, in the early Nineteenth Century, supported what missionaries that there were, on butter and egg money, by the women of the Ladies Aid Society, the forerunner of our Women’s Missionary Union.
It has been people of vision, working together organizationally, who have reared up this great Baptist heritage. It seems that some of us are satisfied to let some parts of it die. In the name of our Lord, and in His covenant with us in his own blood, I challenge you to be a strong arm of influence in our town and Parish, for our Lord, and for His church.
I. Faith Demands an Effort Put Forth. V22 “…by works was faith made perfect.” Make no mistake, they were not saved by works. Abraham faithed God. God imputed (deposited to his account). Those with children away at school have to impute solvency so that these young people will appear secure. That depositing of worth expects a response of concern. In other words, the works don’t save, but they prove the faith.
Our faith calls us to organize our concern. We organize a Bible teaching program called Sunday School for the teaching of the Word of God. A Church Training emphasis was organized years ago to personalize youth involvement and growth. Today it provides opportunity for growth in Christ, in Bible study, in ability, for all. Missions organization is just that, a means to share with all the prospect of service to the needs of humankind.
The 2nd Sunday in October represents World Hunger Day. Are you aware that 730 million people remain hungry every day? The wafer and juice we consume is more than many will have all day. In Ethiopia, 5-10 million may starve this year. In America, there may be as many as 3 million homeless. People working full-time at minimum wage are $1800 below the poverty line for a family of three.
Thus, faith is an instrument in our lives for good. Faith is belief. But it is belief to train, to work, to serve. And we begin where we are. Too many Christians assume that they are excused from such service. No person in this room is little qualified to serve Christ, none too old, or too feeble.
Rahab (v25) served, simply by becoming a relocation agent for God’s people passing through.
II. Faith Made Perfect is a Process Through Which We Grow in Our Understanding of God’s Will and Way. V26 “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” As a believer, I have a responsibility: To stay as close to the Lord as I can through Bible study, service activities, and mission involvement (Camp Harris), and to walk by faith—to live by faith—to work by faith.
As a believer, I have a responsibility to share. We share readily with those we love. When will our hearts be open to love those less fortunates for whom Christ died? We have been successful in the Georgia Barnette State Mission Offering. We will soon endeavor to opportunize the Lottie Moon Foreign Missions Offering. What can we do for hungry people?
Conclusion
Let me remind you as we turn our attention to the Lord’s Supper, that stewardship is a faith venture also. In the great text of II Samuel 24:24 about David and Araunah the Jebusite, Araunah was prepared to give whatever it might take in the King’s name. David’s reply is a classic. “Nay, but I will surely buy it of thee at a price; neither will I offer . . . offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing.”
What better time, than now, can we offer to our Lord, that which comes of dedication and even sacrifice?
THE IMAGE OF THE CHURCH
#029 THE IMAGE OF THE CHURCH
Scripture I John 1:1-10 NIV Orig. 10-18-64
Rewr. 10/7/86
Passage: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our[a] joy complete.
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[b] sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
Purpose: Lead my people in the observance of the Lord’s Supper with a brief message about our image as God’s people.
Keywords: Church, Image Lord’s Supper Ordinance
Introduction
I am not sure any longer what happened to it, but I used to have a book in my library entitled Games People Play. The author, Eric Berne, simply describes some of the ways that people pretend to be different than they really are. They imagine the kind of person they wish to be, or what they perceive others expect of them, and then they pretend to actualize that concept.
Children grow up playacting. In fact, it is one of the strong ways they have of perceiving the adult world of choices. Perhaps many have gone into chosen professions, including church vocations, who first playacted their way through some rainy day activity.
This fantasy world stops being a game when deception is being practiced. And remember, there are two kinds of deception: one, the kind when we deceive others; the second is the kind when we deceive ourselves.
Churches have to be careful also. We have a true image in our community. We want to be sure that the image being portrayed to our community is accurate, and that it is Christ-honoring.
I. The Church’s Image Is Seen in Her Fellowship. V3 “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us.”
Is it the image of compassion or compensation? Who stands to benefit most?
Is it dependable or demoralizing? Someone asked me recently, “Have you ever had a friend really let you down?” “Yes!”
Is it indispensable or insensitive? Do we really look for opportunities to share our faith through acts of ministry?
Is it peace-making or pageantry? We by our attention, or lack of it, determine what our image is.
Someone has suggested that the church has become a babysitter for delinquent parents, and organizer of discreet partying. Even if that is accurate, we are not wrong if we continue other image functions that enable us to portray ourselves as the people of God. Psalm 119:63 “I am companion of all them that fear Thee, and of them that keep Thy precepts.” Ecclesiastes 11-12 is a treatise about human activity, and ends, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”
II. The Church’s Image Is Seen in Her Spirituality. V6 “If we say we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.” Of what does the constituency of the church consist? Is it socially prominent? Is it wealthy? Are its members educated? Are they baptized Baptists? Remember that our church covenant requires that shared baptismal encounter. Is it a mecca of variant entities from throughout the community?
What the church should reflect: Those led by the Spirit of God to receive Jesus as Saviour; those who have publicly professed their faith in Christ; and those who declare their faith through worship and witness and ministry.
Regrettably, some speak of “The church within the church.” This is a divisive concept. Paul Tillich has defined faith as “ultimate concern:” Concern for self; concern for others; and concern for the output of our lives in association with others.1
III. The Church’s Image Is Seen in Her Purpose. V7 “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.”
This is not one upmanship—It is a worthy walk of faith. It is Christ supreme in our lives that He might be perceived as supreme in all things. It is to give expression to the transcendence of God.
Conclusion
Someone tells the story of a new family that moved into the small town. Needing groceries, the housewife called a local merchant and discovered that he delivered. She placed her order, and soon a young delivery boy was at her door. While there she inquired about his name. “Humphrey Bogart,” he replied. “Why, that’s a very famous name,” said the wife. “It ought to be,” came the immediate reply, “I’ve been delivering groceries around here for years.”
Our image needs to be true, it needs to be our own, and it needs to reflect a servant mentality.
1 Tillich, Paul. 1964. Theology of Culture. London: Oxford University Press. p. 6-7
THE POTTER'S HOUSE Deuteronomy 20:1-4; Jeremiah 18:1-6
#614bb THE POTTER’S HOUSE
Scripture Deuteronomy 20:1-4; Jeremiah 18:1-6, NIV Orig. Date May 10, 1981
Passage:
Deuteronomy 20:1-4
When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you. 2 When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. 3 He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. 4 For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”
Jeremiah 18:1-6
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. 5 Then the word of the Lord came to me. 6 He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.”
Purpose: To share a message at a special gathering of high school students.
Keywords: Discipline Banquet Revelation Relationship Youth
Introduction
It was one of those intolerably hot August days. A hiker had come out of the high regions and was beginning to see signs of civilization. Occasionally, in the distance, a house. Here and there, cultivated land with crops laid by. The hiker was now thinking only of finding a place to get a cool drink of water.
Down the way, he saw an old mountain house. As he drew nearer, he saw a man seated in a rickety chair on the run-down porch. As he approached he determined to be neighborly to the man, hoping that he would be so in return. He spoke, then called attention to the disagreeable weather. Still no invitation to rest came. He went on, “How is your cotton doing in this hot, dry weather?”
“Ain’t got none!” replied the mountain man.
“Didn’t you plant any cotton?” asked the surprised traveler.
“Nope,” he replied, “’fraid the boll weevils’d get it.”
“Well,” said the passer-by, “How is your corn?”
“Ain’t got none of that either,” said the old farmer, “And if you gotta know, I figured there weren’t gonna be no rain.”
Still hoping for an invitation to rest, and a drink of water, the hiker plunged in again. “Really, well what did you plant?” he asked.
“Didn’t plant nothing,” said the farmer, getting up to enter the old house. “I just played it safe.”
There are lots of good reasons why we do what we do. Some of them even good ones, and our excuses become the determinants of the way our lives are lived. To be a farmer and not to plant is ludicrous. To live in God’s world and make excuses for discounting Him is also.
There’s a shorter story of an avid golfer who was checking with his spiritual adviser about golfing in heaven. The adviser said, “There’s good and bad news. The good news is that the golf courses in heaven are many and lavish.” “That’s great!” the golfer happily exclaimed. “What’s the bad news?” The adviser said: “Tee off time is tomorrow at 10a.m.”
At first glance, Cervantes’ novel, Don Quixote, has little to offer young people. It is the story of a thought-to-be senile old man, and his fat and 50ish servant. They launch a quest to do something about the evil in the world, the don on a sway back horse and Panza on a mule. They stop for the night at a less than becoming inn, and his strange ways continue. He addresses the slovenly inn-keeper, “Behold, you are the Lord of this great manor.” The abused kitchen servant was seen as a beautiful maiden, and he requests a token to carry with him into his battles with evil. But what happens is that people who have never been trusted before respond to Quixote’s kindness, and it changes their lives, and does affect the evil in the world by affecting the lives of evil people.
You are at the place to decide your quest: A part of the evil, or an attempt to do something about it. Why you?
The New Orleans TV market had an unusually fine TV program a few years ago that ended with the sudden and unexpected death of the host, Jim Metcalf. He chose for a portion of one program to see life through a child’s eyes. “I now recall only how to look. I do not recall how to see.”
You must decide quickly, before you join a great host of others who recall only how to look at the world, not how to see it. How to experience the world, not how you feel about that experience.
Jeremiah is a case in point. It is here that I invite you to venture with Jeremiah to the potter’s house.
I. With All of His Experience, there was a Lesson that He had Missed. It was not an obvious lesson: not wasted clay, though we Americans have something to learn about waste—our loss of credibility. The lesson was in the symbol of wasted clay. It was a revelation. Not new, but very old. The symbol declared that it was God’s purpose to take what seemed to be useless and give it meaning and opportunity. It is a lesson that must not be pushed too far. The clay does not have free will with which it can resist the potter. Jeremiah did, and we do.
II. You See, Even as God’s Prophet, He had Compromised an Ideal. The world out there waiting for you is beset with bargains.
Soren Kierkegaard told a story about wild geese who chose to stay behind in a farmer’s field because it was safe. A wild goose, with broken wing, entered a farmer’s flock. After winter, with healed wing, he heard another flock flying north. He extolled the other geese to fly with him, but they would not, for the farmer’s corn was good, and the barnyard secure.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote: “When was it that I completely scattered the good seeds, one and all? For, after all, I spent my boyhood in the bright singing of Thy temples.
“Bookish subtleties sparked brightly, piercing my arrogant brain, the secrets of the world . . . in my grasp, life’s destiny . . . as pliable as wax.
“Blood seethed . . . and every swirl gleamed iridescently before me. Without a rumble the building of my faith quietly crumbled within my own heart.
“But passing here between being and nothingness, stumbling and clutching at the edge, I looked behind me with a grateful tremor upon the life that I have lived. Not with good judgment nor with desire are its twists and turns illumined, but with the even glow of the higher meaning which became apparent to me only later on.
“And now, with measuring cup returned to me, scooping up the living water, God of the universe! I believe again! Though I renounced you, you were with me!”
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Gulag II (Harper and Row—1968)
III. It was Now Time to Certify the Word from God. What God had to say was to be revealed in the work of the potter.
It speaks of confidence. There is something to believe in. There is a dependable world.
It speaks of obedience. James Michener’s book, The Source, is a fictional account of Moses. El Shaddai said to Zadok-the-Righteous, “As long as you live old man, you will be free to ignore my commands. But in time, I will grow impatient and will speak to others.” Zadok: “My home is the desert. I was afraid to leave.” El Shaddai: ‘I waited because I knew that if you did not love your home, you would not love me either. I am glad that you are now ready.”
It speaks of faith. I watched with more than a smile as a little girl, 4 or 5 years old, waited at the baggage belt in the air terminal in New Orleans. Just the three of us waiting for luggage at Moisant. She asked about putting her stuffed bear on the belt. Her daddy assured her it would come back. You cannot imagine the look of concern on that father’s face as he waited with her for his word to be trustworthy.
IV. The Lesson had to do with Discovering a Destiny. “Cannot I do with you as this potter? . . . As clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.”
Let me remind you of your dependence. This is not what your contemporaries want you to consider. It is threatening to them.
Let me remind you of design. The will of God is not a trite “preacherism.” It is ultimate truth. A little boy in a small town heard a “circus” was coming. He did not know what it was but posters and talk convinced him. For weeks he saved pennies till he had 25 cents. On the day, he got to town and was told where to go for the beginning of the parade. He saw lions, tigers, bears, elephants with people riding on them, beautiful horses, acrobats, jugglers, clowns, the circus band. As the last person appeared, the little boy stepped into the street, put five nickels into the man’s hand, and ran home to tell what he had seen. He had not been to a circus but to a parade.
Let me remind you of discipline: the calloused feet; the tools—wheel, rasp, chisel, fire. The light then came on in the prophet’s brain. Life’s meaning is found on the shaping wheel of grace, tempered in the fires of God’s providence.
Conclusion
Herman Hegedorn wrote after the initial atom bomb blast in New Mexico: “I went to call on the Lord in His high house on the hill, my head full of 150 million people having to grow up overnight. If ever a people needed a miracle! The Lord!! He looked at me as a mountain might look at a molehill.” ‘So you want a miracle. My! My! You want a miracle. You want me to come sliding down a sunbeam and make 150 million self-willed egotists into 150 million cooperating angels.
‘Brother,’ said the Lord in a voice that shook the windows, ‘that isn’t the sort of universe you are living in. That isn’t the sort of God I am. . . .
‘Give me your life, and I will make it a spade to dig the foundation of a new world.’”
THE POTTER'S HOUSE Jeremiah 18:1-6
#614b THE POTTER’S HOUSE
Scripture Jeremiah 18:1-6, NIV Orig. Date 2-4-75 (5-78)
Rewr. Dates 9-24-87
Passage: This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me. 6 He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.”
Purpose: To share a message at a special gathering of high school students.
Keywords: Discipline Banquet Revelation Relationship Youth
Introduction
It was one of those intolerably hot August days. A hiker had come out of the high regions and was beginning to see signs of civilization. Occasionally, in the distance, a house. Here and there, cultivated land with crops laid by. The hiker was now thinking only of finding a place to get a cool drink of water.
Down the way, he saw an old mountain house. As he drew nearer, he saw a man seated in a rickety chair on the run-down porch. As he approached he determined to be neighborly to the man, hoping that he would be so in return. He spoke, then called attention to the disagreeable weather. Still no invitation to rest came. He went on, “How is your cotton doing in this hot, dry weather?”
“Ain’t got none!” replied the mountain man.
“Didn’t you plant any cotton?” asked the surprised traveler.
“Nope,” he replied, “’fraid the boll weevils’d get it.”
“Well,” said the passer-by, “How is your corn?”
“Ain’t got none of that either,” said the old farmer, “And if you gotta know, I figured there weren’t gonna be no rain.”
Still hoping for an invitation to rest, and a drink of water, the hiker plunged in again. “Really, well what did you plant?” he asked.
“Didn’t plant nothing,” said the farmer, getting up to enter the old house. “I just played it safe.”
There are lots of good reasons why we do what we do. Some of them even good ones, and our excuses become the determinants of the way our lives are lived. To be a farmer and not to plant is ludicrous. To live in God’s world and make excuses for discounting Him is also.
I. Jeremiah Reminds Us of Something that He has Overlooked. V2. “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.” The message is not a new one. We are reminded rather than informed. It is not something never said before, not some new thing making its appearance. There all the time but Jeremiah was elsewhere.
And, it was becoming increasingly important for Jeremiah to know the heart of God. I wonder what good thing occupied the prophet. I wonder why he failed to seek the “best” thing. Were you ever guilty of that? I have been.
Even here, we can occupy ourselves with secondary matters. Why, here is a wonderful lesson about wasted clay. The potter needs to be more careful. We can extend this to a world where waste abounds and examine others’ guilt.
Contemporary ecology warns us about waste. We are losing trees, forests, woodlands. Water quality is a problem everywhere. Oil has been wasted to the point of world revolution.
The major economic concern in America today is that we are creating debt on unborn populations.
But, that’s not the lesson. The lesson is in the message delivered through the potter. It is a lesson that shows God to be the redeemer, the user of what has been cast aside. It didn’t just involve clay. It involved people, flesh and blood. Folks with free will, who could resist their potter.
II. So, Jeremiah Has to Deal with a Relationship That Has Been Bargained. V4 “And the vessel that he (the potter) made of clay was marred.” It did not achieve what was intended. It was bargained. It was cheapened. Now, wait a minute, do those words mean the same? The world out there, young people, is teaching you to get by as cheaply as you can. That’s okay if you’re buying books, or jeans, even a car if you are careful. But what about things that matter: Home, family, community, peace, dignity, integrity. God.
Soren Kierkegaard, a philosopher you’ll study about in college, wrote a fantasy about geese. A wild goose, with broken wing, entered a farmer’s flock. After winter, with healed wing, he heard another flock flying north. He extolled the other geese to fly with him, but they would not, for the farmer’s corn was good, and the barnyard secure.
We are too ready, you and I, to bargain the true lessons of God’s spirit for material, worldly reasons. James Michener’s book, The Source, is a fictional account of Moses. El Shaddai said to Zadok-the-Righteous, “As long as you live old man, you will be free to ignore my commands. But in time, I will grow impatient and will speak to others.” Zadok: “My home is the desert. I was afraid to leave.” El Shaddai: ‘I waited because I knew that if you did not love your home, you would not love me either. I am glad that you are now ready.”
We are neither too young nor too old to discount, to bargain the word of God to us.
III. Jeremiah Begins at Last to Look into the Very Heart of God. V4b “He made it again, another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make it.” V6 “. . .As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in my hand.”
The prophet had to learn that God was involving Himself redemptively in their lives. Exodus 19 (Moses): “Ye have seen how I bear you on eagle’s wings to myself.” Psalm 37 (David): “I was young, and now old. Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken.”
How intuitively Jesus knew this to be the case. Matthew 5:45 “He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good.” Matthew 10:29 “The sparrow shall not fall without the Father.” Luke 12:27 “Consider the lilies of the field, they toil not, neither do they spin.”
The prophet had but to remember this Godly quality and act in obedient faith. The life of Jesus proves how unlike God we are. His doing is my undoing. Without His mercy I have no choice left. Faith is believing, and living on the basis of that belief.
I watched a little girl, 4 or 5 years old, at the baggage belt in the air terminal in New Orleans. Just the three of us waiting for luggage. She asked about putting her stuffed bear on the belt. Her daddy assured her it would come back. You cannot imagine the look of concern on that father’s face as he waited with her for his word to be trustworthy.
IV. The Prophet Reminds Us that there Is an Undeniable Discipline in Responding to the Trustworthiness of God. V6 “. . . Cannot I do with you as this potter [does with the clay]?” saith the Lord. “As clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in my hand.”
So, we are dependent. Give God the first segment of every day. Give God the first day of every week. Give God the first return on material earned. Give God the first consideration in every decision. Give God first place in your heart.
For a brave to become a chief, he had to pluck the fur from the sacred bobcat, bring down the white buffalo alone, wrestle the brown bear. Then came the trial of fire and water. “Whatever happened to wholesome good looks and a nice personality?”
Look on the potter’s wheel and see design. It was the design that was flawed. Even so, God’s people were less than he had planned, thus the renovation.
Nor must we overlook discipline. The potter’s feet were calloused and misshapen from all the years at the wheel. The tools were those of wheel, rasp, chisel, fire.
And it was thus that the light suddenly came on in the prophet’s brain. This God would have me to see. His work is never to destroy but to design. His grace is not to reduce but to redeem. The smartest thing that one can do is to let Him have His way in our lives, and the sooner the better.
Conclusion
Herman Hegedorn wrote after the initial atom bomb blast in New Mexico: “I went to call on the Lord in His high house on the hill, my head full of 150 million people having to grow up overnight. If ever a people needed a miracle! The Lord!! He looked at me as a mountain might look at a molehill.” ‘So you want a miracle. My! My! You want a miracle. You want me to come sliding down a sunbeam and make 150 million self-willed egotists into 150 million cooperating angels.
‘Brother,’ said the Lord in a voice that shook the windows, ‘that isn’t the sort of universe you are living in. That isn’t the sort of God I am. . . .
‘Give me your life, and I will make it a spade to dig the foundation of a new world.’”
Alternate Conclusion
“When was it that I completely scattered the good seeds, one and all? For, after all, I spent my boyhood in the bright singing of Thy temples.
“Bookish subtleties sparked brightly, piercing my arrogant brain, the secrets of the world . . . in my grasp, life’s destiny . . . as pliable as wax.
“Blood seethed . . . and every swirl gleamed iridescently before me. Without a rumble the building of my faith quietly crumbled within my own heart.
“But passing here between being and nothingness, stumbling and clutching at the edge, I looked behind me with a grateful tremor upon the life that I have lived. Not with good judgment nor with desire are its twists and turns illumined, but with the even glow of the higher meaning which became apparent to me only later on.
“And now, with measuring cup returned to me, scooping up the living water, God of the universe! I believe again! Though I renounced you, you were with me!”
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Gulag II (Harper and Row—1968)