24
October
2006
Lamentation 3:21-26
Recently I had a dream. In this dream I found myself preaching on a sidewalk on the main street of a town here in the mountains. Rain fell hard on the street. It was dark and cloudy. A crowd had gathered around me, which I recognized as friends and church members. Across the street people continued to walk, carrying umbrellas, glancing over at me on occasion. Cars continued to pass by, splashing water from the puddles. Horns blew. Windshield wipers waved back and forth.
The church people were listening intently and sounding “Amens”. But the people across the street appeared to pay very little attention to what I had to say. Then I reached a point in my preaching where I suddenly captured the attention of everyone. They stopped – seemed to freeze where they stood – and listened. I said in my dream something like this. “It takes people to keep our cities thriving. There is power in the human mind, power that keeps our hearts beating continuously. But, there is something here today more powerful than people. The storm and the rain you see all around us have great power to bring destruction on us – but this is something more powerful than the storm. It takes a power to enable these automobiles to move back and forth on the street. Yet the power I’m talking about is far greater than our technology.”
After I had built up to the climax with these comparisons, I concluded my sermon. “The power I am talking about is the Grace of God.” As I stated those final words, the people across the street smiled, broke out in applause, and rejoiced.
I have thought a lot about that dream these past two weeks. It is a dream that has incubated in my heart for a long time – a dream to witness and experience a sweeping revival across the mountains of eastern Kentucky. Is it possible? Our speaker at the prayer summit last Tuesday, John Franklin, who has studied great revivals of the past, shared with us about the great revival of the 1740’s. He told us how this awakening swept across the nation as it was at that time – the Midwest, western Kentucky, Louisville and Lexington, all up and down the 13 colonies from New England to Florida. But one area the revival skipped over was the area in which we live today – Appalachia. He told us that there was no report of a breaking out of revival here among the mountain people. Why did it skip over our area?
Could it have been pride, self dependence, or a hardening of the hearts of the people then? Could it have been that God wanted to pour our revival, but the people were not in tune with him? They weren’t prepared? They weren’t seeking Him in their lives? I don’t know why.
But I do believe today that God wants to send seasons of refreshing to us. Do you know what refreshing means? Re means “again” – to be made fresh again.
1. New to one’s experience; not encountered before.
2. Novel; different
3. Recently made, produced, or harvested; not stale or spoiled:
4. Not preserved as by canning, smoking, or freezing:
5. Not saline or salty: fresh water.
6. Not yet used or soiled; clean: a fresh sheet of paper.
7. Free from impurity or pollution; pure: fresh air.
8. Additional; new: fresh evidence.
9. Bright and clear; not dull or faded: a fresh memory.
10. Having the glowing, unspoiled appearance of youth: a fresh complexion.
11. Revived or reinvigorated, stimulated
Imagine being tired, hot and sweaty, and dirty. You step into the shower and wash up, rinse off, and dry off. You feel like a new person. That’s why rain is such a good thing. It not only provides us with water, but it literally cleans the roads, the rivers, and so on.
The book of Lamentations is a small book. If you look at this book in your Bibles today, you will notice that it has four chapters. The first, second, and last chapters have 22 verses each. That’s because the writer started each verse with a letter in the Hebrew alphabet. There are 22 letter in the alphabet, one for each verse. But in chapter three he starts three verses in a row with each letter – thus 66 verses. Why does he do this? I don’t know. But I do know that the third chapter gives us the formula for spiritual refreshing. He begins by talking about God’s wrath against sin, then God’s love for sinners (our text). Verses 37-41 are a call to repentance followed by a prayer of repentance in 42-47. The last part of the chapter voices the expectation that God is going to send relief.
There are three main messages in this little book.
First, the national disasters we face are directly linked with our neglect of God and neglect of social justice.
Look at America today. Breakdown of the family (abuse, divorce, homosexual unions, etc…), hurricanes unlike any in our history, terrorism attacks, suicides, violent crime, devaluing of human life, materialsm, drug and alcohol abuse, record number of prisons and inmates, loss of respect for authority, love of entertainment… In this book, the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah are to be understood for what it was – the direct hand of God to punish his people for years of sin and disobedience- and to open their eyes
Secondly, our only response is a simple return to God and a trusting obedience to the Lord.
If things are bad today, they can only get worse. The write tells us here that the only reason it isn’t worse is that he has mercy. Or we would have been completely consumed. His steadfast love never ceases and His mercies never end. If we got what we deserve, we’d all be in Hell. But his mercies are new every day. A new start. A new opportunity. A refreshing time. But these times can come only if we return to Him and do what He says. We have to stop making excuses and blaming the government and society. II Chronicle 7:14 -22, “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.
Thirdly, Our Future Hope For Blessings Lies Only In The Lord.
This book is filled with prayers – prayers that God will make a change – that He will reverse their fortunes and do good to them. This book still lacks the complete revelation through Jesus Christ. We know that if we come to Him, he will give us rest. The writer tells us here (verses 24-25) that we are to hope in Him, wait for Him, and seek him.
Unless we turn to Him and seek Him in our lives, our future here looks dim. Without Jesus Christ, we have no hope.
So what do I do? One of my favorite verses in the Bible makes it quite simple. Acts 3:19-20, “Repent therefore, and be converted (return), that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you.”
Through genuine repentance, we can experience God’s power and times of refreshing.
Posted under Sermons
14
July
2006
Acts 16:9
“If ten men are carrying a log — nine of them on the little end and one at the heavy end — and you want to help, which end will you lift on?” — William Borden, as he reflected on the numbers of Christian workers in the U.S. as compared to those among unreached peoples in China
A Biblical Mandate for Missions is found in this verse in three parts.
1. God calls people to change directions in their lives
There is something important to note about Paul. In Acts 15:35, we are told that “Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.” Many other teachers and preachers. In verse 36, after some days of doing this, Paul said to Barnabas, “Come, let us return and visit with the brethren in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” There is no evangelistic vision, no angelic call, no lightening, and no special wooing of the Holy Spirit. Just simple Christian concern for the people they knew and led to Christ. Most of us have no problem doing that. Next we are told that Paul fell out with Barnabas and Mark and went their separate ways. Now Paul travels with Silas and continues to strengthen the churches. In Lystra they pick up another missionary…Timothy. All seems to be going well.
Then we are told the Holy Spirit shuts the door and does not allow them to go into Asia. He did not stop or back track. He went to the most logical place he knew, where the door was open. Isaiah wrote, “You will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30:21. Later Paul did go into Asia – that is Turkey today…where Ephesus is.
God gives Paul a vision. This is not a dream. It is different. He sees a man calling him, crying out to him, begging him, pleading him…”come over here and help us!” Paul is assured that this is God’s call to change directions in his life. Everything was going well up to this point. Churches were growing and being strengthened. Paul seemed fulfilled and used of God where he was and what he was already doing. So why change directions? God, in His sovereignty, called him. When God call, we respond.
Acts 26:16-18, “But rise, and stand on your feet: for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of these things which you have seen, and of those things in which I will appear to you; Delivering you from the people, and from the Gentiles, to whom now I send you, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”
Here what some missionaries have said and experienced in their own lives:
“The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become.” — Henry Martyn, missionary to India and Persia
“If a commission by an earthly king is considered an honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?” — David Livingstone
“Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell.” — C.T. Studd
When James Calvert went out as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji Islands, the ship captain tried to turn him back, saying, “You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages.” To that, Calvert replied, “We died before we came here.”]
“The concern for world evangelization is not something tacked on to a man’s personal Christianity, which he may take or leave as he chooses. It is rooted in the character of the God who has come to us in Christ Jesus. Thus, it can never be the province of a few enthusiasts, a sideline or a specialty of those who happen to have a bent that way. It is the distinctive mark of being a Christian.” — James S. Stewart
Mark 10:28-30, “Then Peter began to say unto him; we have left all, and have followed you. And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brothers, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.”
2. God calls people to advance the Gospel into new areas
John10:15-16, “As the Father knows me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.”
The interesting part of this story to me is that the Gospel advance changed directions and moved into Europe. From Europe it spread here to America. We are not only recipients of Paul’s change of direction, but of European missions to America. Aren’t you glad those European missionaries believed God’s call and obeyed Him and came to tell us about Jesus?
The next verse tells us that they immediately endeavored to go into Macedonia. Immediately! They didn’t have to go on a retreat and studying and pray about it. They knew that God had placed a call upon their lives. They went. A missionary once said to me personally, “Every Christian is called to go to missions. Unless God specifically calls you to stay here, you are called to go.
Paul and his companions went overseas. That’s right. They began to look for a ship to take them. International missions right here in the book of Acts.
Philip and Julie Bentley approached me about taking the Gospel to our college students here in Whitesburg. They have a vision for college ministry and missions, here in church and on the campus. This is a new area, almost untouched. So are the jails. A stranger in the hospital called out to me last week as I sat talking to a man in the waiting area. She asked if I was a minister. I told her I was. Then she said, “Why don’t you go down to the jail. They need you down there. I asked her if she had someone in her family in there, she said “no” and then continued, “They need you down there. They need to hear the Gospel.” Then she was called back and left. I had never seen the woman before of since. She was exactly right. We probably have 20 chaplains at the hospital, but maybe one or two churches ministering to a place filled with lost and troubled people. Here’s what some missionaries have to say about advancing the Gospel into new areas:
“The Great Commission1 is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed” — Hudson Taylor
“No one has the right to hear the gospel twice, while there remains someone who has not heard it once.” The Church that is not seriously involved in helping fulfill the Great Commission has forfeited its biblical right to exist.” “The mission of the church is missions.” “We talk of the Second Coming; half the world has never heard of the first.” — Oswald J. Smith
“If you found a cure for cancer, wouldn’t it be inconceivable to hide it from the rest of mankind? How much more inconceivable to keep silent the cure from the eternal wages of death.” — Dave Davidson
“The mark of a great church is not its seating capacity, but its sending capacity.” — Mike Stachura
“People who don’t believe in missions have not read the New Testament. Right from the beginning Jesus said the field is the world. The early church took Him at His word and went East, West, North and South.” — J. Howard Edington
3. God calls people to help those who need help
This is a vivid picture. Help us! (bohqhson hmin) - To run at a cry, to help. The man uses the plural for all, including himself. It was the cry of Europe for Christ. Today Africa is crying for Christ. Asia. The Middle East Thousands of unreached people groups in the world who have little or no evangelistic witness or scripture in their language.
The Great Commission is a call to go to all the people groups.
Matthew 28:19-20, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
Nations is a Greek word that means ethnic groups, not countries. You may have several groups in some countries that speak different languages and have not heard the Gospel.
The plea is for help. It is a cry. What do you think he wanted help doing? Paul was an evangelist, church planter, teacher, and encourager.
About 90% of the trained Christian workers serve in America. 10% in the rest of the world. Nine men on the end of a log and one on the other. Unfortunately today, most pastor and teachers and evangelists want to serve in America where a small percentage of the world’s population lives. They choose to go to churches in areas that are already saturated with other churches and the Gospel message.
Right here in Letcher County, we have churches on every corner. I read in the Mountain Eagle where two new ones are starting. During our VBS last week, I knew of four other SBC churches in our county who held VBS the same time we did. Four of them were within a couple of miles from each other. Ed Bolen, pastor at Fleming Baptist Church told me as we discussed VBS at his church this July, “There are nine churches within walking distance of Fleming Baptist church. We hold approximately 50 Bible schools in Letcher County each summer.
I visited with a man last week who cannot read or write. He had three Bibles and the Bible on cassette in his home. People had given him two of those Bibles. He gave one to me and asked me to give it to someone who doesn’t have one. My friends, I cannot go into the jails or the hospitals or the nursing homes without finding Bibles already there. If anybody in Letcher County does not own a Bible, it is because of choice. You can buy one at Wal- Mart cheaper than you can buy cigarettes or gasoline. Our church and many others would gladly provide a Bible to anyone who wanted one. I told this man I visited that the only people I knew who didn’t have a Bible couldn’t use this one because it is written in English.
Last year I sent $100.00 to a man in Africa who wants to buy a motorcycle so he can travel to more places to preach. It costs $1200.00. Eight months later I asked him how much he still needed. My gift was the only money he had received. Yet on any given day, I pass dozens of motorcycles on the road here. Sometimes I see them in packs, two abreast, cruising down the highway – just for pleasure. And every time one passes me I think, “My friend in Africa a place where people are dying young every day from starvation and Aids and curable diseases – how much he would like to have that motorcycle to reach his neighbors for Christ”. And I become angry. Nine men on one end of the pole and one on the other crying for help. And people say, we need to help the ones on our end of the pole. I honestly believe we – and all America – will be greatly judged. To whom much has been given, much will be required, the Scripture says. Here’s what these missionaries have to say about helping those in need.
“I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light” — John Keith Falconer
“We are debtors to every man to give him the gospel in the same measure in which we have received it” — P.F. Breese, founder of the Church of the Nazarene
“In our lifetime, wouldn’t it be sad if we spent more time washing dishes or swatting flies or mowing the yard or watching television than praying for world missions?” — Dave Davidson
“You can give without loving. But you cannot love without giving.” — Amy Carmichael, missionary to India
“‘Not called!’ did you say?
‘Not heard the call,’ I think you should say.
Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father’s house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face — whose mercy you have professed to obey — and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world. — William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army
“I believe that in each generation God has called’ enough men and women to evangelize all the yet unreached tribes of the earth…. It is not God who does not call. It is man who will not respond!” — Isobel Kuhn, missionary to China and Thailand
Posted under Thoughts
16
May
2006
THE BUTTON THAT NEVER COMES OFF
(Psalm 139:13-18)
I know you have had this experience before. Your button falls off. If it’s a top button on your blouse or shirt, your collar stands wide open. If it’s a sleeve button, your sleeve may flop around on your arm all day. If it’s a button on your pants….watch out they don’t fall down. Some buttons don’t really matter that much. They’re for looks. If one falls off, you might not even pay any attention to it – and maybe no one else will either. You may wear a campaign button or a smiley face or one of thousands like that which advertise something you won’t to say.
Once when I was in the service, I got written up for missing a button on my dress blue jacket uniform. It was pretty obvious. They were large silver buttons with a design in them. One missing really stood out. I complained that it fell off and I didn’t see if fall. That didn’t matter. All that matter is that it was missing. The how or why seemed irrelevant.
I may not be the smartest person in the world nor do I claim to be a seamstress. But I have figured out why buttons fall off. It’s not the button’s fault. That’s true. The fault lies in the thread. I have sewed buttons back on before only to have them drop off again. At first the threads come loose and then…before you know it, the button is gone. I have even doubled and tripled my thread – in anger – and sewed it so thick that I had this big wad of thread in the middle of my button. I have sewn them so tight before that I couldn’t even tilt the button enough to make it go through the button hole. And somehow – yes, somehow – they still managed to fall off.
But I have discovered one button that never falls off. It’s not a shirt button or a campaign button. Some buttons are for fastening while some are ornamental. This button is neither. This button never falls of because God made it. And He made it to stay there with a thread that never wears out. You can’t lose this button even if you wanted to – although there are people in this world today who are trying everything they know to get rid of it.
It’s an identity button. It tells something about you that no man made button could ever tell. It has a unique design. You don’t actually have this button when you are born, but you get it soon after free of charge simply because God wants you to have it. We call it by a very poor choice of a name. We refer to it as a belly button.
The one hundred-thirty-ninth Psalm contains one of the most personal and inspirational testimonies concerning the inescapable presence of Almighty God. In the first six verses the Psalmist describes God’s perfect knowledge of us. He searches us and knows us. His complete knowledge of us is so great that the writer admits he could never understand it. In the next six verses, he declares the presence of God is everywhere at all times. One could not escape the presence of God if he tried desperately to do so. We may lose His power and the filling of the Spirit to accomplish His work (Psalm 51:11), but we can never escape His presence. God is just as visible in the darkness as He is in the light (verses 11-12). How comforting and encouraging to rest on that truth, even in our darkest times.
But the third section of six verses, 13-18, refers specifically to the marvelous work of God in creating us. Even then, during creation, God knew us and was ever present. But, even then, He was involved in forming our lives to be what He wanted us to be.
1. God Created Us While We Were Protected in a Very Special Place of Warmth and Safety
That miraculous place is called the womb. It is the only place I am aware of in which a human can live and grow, yet not breathe. God created this place to keep the baby warm and to protect her. The Bible speaks many times of this place. It is often linked to the presence of God and the blessing of God. It is a sanctuary. A sanctuary is a place set apart, sanctified or made holy…a place of refuge, asylum, and immunity.
Before you were born, God knew you and searched you and was with you.
In Job 1:21, Job declared, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb…”
Psalm 22:9-10, “But you are he that took me out of the womb: you did make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts. I was cast upon you from the womb: you are my God from my mother’s belly.”
Isaiah 44:2, “Thus says the LORD that made you, and formed you from the womb…”
Isaiah 49:1, “…The LORD has called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother has he made mention of my name.”
Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet unto the nations.”
Luke 1:42, “Blessed is the fruit of thy womb.”
Luke 11:27, “And it came to pass, as he spoke these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bore you…”
It is sad to think that this place of warmth and safety has become a place of death for so many babies. The very place designed by God to enable a baby to live and thrive has, for many, become the place of terror and death. Look at verse 13. God’s presence was there before this baby even had developed his mind and emotions. The brain and the heart were not fully functioning yet, but the soul is already there. God fashions…or weaves…this child while still in his mother’s womb. That’s a miracle.
2. God Created Us While We Were Attached to a Very Special Person
Do you know what medical people call a belly button? I mean, what really is it to be called? Of course we call it a navel. Navel is a word that means the center of something. The bellybutton is in the center. But actually, it is a scar. That’s right. It is a scar left when the umbilical cord is cut off and withers.
A scar is something left on your body or your mind after something painful has happened. We carry scars on our bodies that remind us of an accident or a war injury. Your belly button is a scar. It not only reminds us of the nourishment we received from our mothers that enabled us to live, but it is a scar that reminds us of pain. Not our pain. Our mother’s pain when she bore us.
As long as you live, you carry a scar on your body that serves as a reminder that someone loved you and cared for you and suffered for you. Your belly button teaches us an important truth: You need somebody. Even the strongest, most independent, most arrogant people who have ever lived carry the same scar. The scar tells us that “you would have never made it on your own”. God designed umbilical cords to keep us attached to our mothers. Let that scar serve as a reminder of her love and suffering and our dependency on her to survive.
No matter how long you live, that button does not come off. The cord may be cut, but we never cease to be dependent on that woman who brought us into this world. God intended it that way.
3. God Created Us While Thinking Very Special Thoughts About Us
Look at verses 16-18. God took time to record your progress in the womb. He gave you what you needed to make it through this life. Sin in our human race has caused problems that God did not originally intend to be there. The precious thoughts that God had for you while you were still in the womb and still attached to an umbilical cord are more than you could ever count. They number more than the sand on the shore. Verse 18 concludes this section of verses with the assurance once again of God’s presence. Whether in the womb or hidden in some other dark place, whether asleep or awake, God is always with us.
Jeremiah 29:11-14, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall you call upon me, and you shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And you shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, says the LORD…”
CONCLUSION:
Two Points to Consider:
A. God’s presence to the believer is a promise. Even before we are born, God is with us. No matter where we go, God’s presence will be there. The Psalmist declares in Psalm 23, “even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me.”
Jeremiah 23:23-24, “Am I a God at hand, says the LORD, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? Says the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? Says the Lord.”
Do you know the Lord’s presence in your life? The Good news is that you can know him and discover meaning and purpose in life.
B. Just as your own belly button is a scar that reminds you of your mother’s love and suffering; so the scars in the hands and feet of Jesus remind you of His love and suffering for you. Your mother sacrificed so you could be born. Jesus sacrificed His life so you could be born again.
Have you been born again? He is near and available today. Call upon Him and be saved.
Posted under Sermons
21
April
2006
Mark 16:1-8
Philip Yancy in his book, The Jesus I Never Knew, wrote about George Buttrick, former chaplain at Harvard. Buttrick recalled that he often had students who came to his office, plopped down in a chair, and declared, “I don’t believe in God” Buttrick would offer a disarming reply, “Sit down and tell me what kind of God you don’t believe in. I probably don’t believe in that God either.” Then He would talk about Jesus.
That is the corrective to all our beliefs about God. Jesus! The name above all names. The Incarnate God! The lover of souls. The Savior of the world. Religion is detrimental to you health. Without a personal relationship with God through His only begotten Son, Jesus, religion is like the Sepulcher in the Easter story – a symbol of death and empty.
Mark’s gospel here does not use the word tomb. From 15:46 through 16:8 six times he uses the word sepulcher. The first two are prior to the resurrection. Mark uses 15:46 to affirm that Jesus was actually dead and buried and a stone was rolled in front of the sepulcher.
What is a Sepulcher? The dictionary describes it as a tomb, grave, or burial place. It is a deep cavity above ground – or at least the entrance is above ground. Like a cave. Today there is a church built on the sight where Jesus’ sepulcher is believed to be. Constantine, Holy Roman Emperor in the early fourth century decided that a shrine should be built on the sight of Jesus’ sepulcher. Through the years it has been damaged, partially destroyed, and repaired many times.
The Detroit Free Press ran a story this past Thursday about this church. Oddly enough, two families control the door to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This goes back to a peace agreement some 800 years ago. Today, one family still holds the key and another family opens the door. Six different religions look after or control the various sections of the Church: Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Egyptian Coptic, Ethiopian Orthodox, and Syrian Orthodox. And the ironic part of all this: the two families who hold the key to the church and open the door are Muslims.
The first question I would ask is, “Why build a church on a sepulcher?” The angel asked the women that same kind of question in Luke 24:5, “Why seek the living among the dead?” The second question I would ask is, “Isn’t that just like religions? We all want to build our shrines and cherish our relics. Religion is just like the sepulcher – dead. The good news today is this: “HE IS NOT HERE! HE IS RISEN!”
The last four uses of the word sepulcher in Mark’s gospel refer to the time after the resurrection. The sepulcher plays a role. The sepulcher has a message to preach.
1. To the sepulcher we come with – ANTICIPATION OF THE MOMENT Verses 1-2
It was early in the morning – the first day of the week. They were traveling…on their way…a vivid picture of newness and beginning. But they didn’t know it. They anticipated only anointed Jesus’ dead body with spices. Just like religions. Going through the motions. Customs. Traditions. Relics. Carrying the right kinds of spices. Making sure the Sabbath was over so they wouldn’t break any Sabbath laws. Careful to keep the rules. They came to the sepulcher. The sun is just rising. Could they…might they…would it be possible that one of them might anticipate something extraordinary happening that morning?
How about you? It’s Easter Sunday. Are you just keeping your tradition? Are you cherishing your holy relics today? A Bible, a cross, a hymnal, a padded pew? Or did you come anticipating God doing something extraordinary in your life?
2. At the sepulcher we stand with – DESPERATION OF THE TASK Verses 3-4
Mark tells us that these women were faced with an overwhelming task. Who will roll away the stone? That was on their minds. A problem. A big problem. Bigger than them. What problems have you brought with you to church this morning? Family problems? Money problems? Recent bad news you have received? Sin problems? Addictions? Problems bigger than you are. What will I do about this?
Matthew’s Gospel tells us how God handles problems like this. Matthew 28:2, “And behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.” He sat on it. Symbolic not only of the power to move the stone, but the complete victory God made over death and the grave. You too, through Jesus Christ – not through religion – but through Jesus Christ – have this same power available to you. Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.”
I have witnessed this kind of power in my own life when Jesus came into my life and saved me. Mark says the stone “was very great” – but it was not great enough to hold Jesus inside.
In England a house was build in a forest clearing with a six foot thick concrete foundation. But it time, a little oak sapling grew, spread its roots, and burst through the concrete floor. Now that’s power. From a tiny seed. Jesus has also burst through and crushed death by the mighty power of the resurrection. Do you think a big rock can cause God such a big problem? “Nothing is difficult for thee,” the Bible says of God. We stand today at the empty sepulcher. The stone has been rolled away. No problem we face in life is too desperate for us if we know the power of His resurrection.
3. Into the sepulcher we enter with – UNCERTAINTY OF THE SCENE Verses 5-6
When the women saw all this happening, they decided to go in the sepulcher to check it out. They saw an angel there. Mark says they were afraid. Luke describes two angels. He says the women were perplexed…confused. John says that Mary waited until Peter and John had checked it out, then she peeked inside. There were two angels. She told them that she was crying because she was afraid that someone had stolen or moved his body and she didn’t know where to find it.
Have you ever looked for something and you couldn’t find it? You knew you had put it there. It was there the last time you saw it. But it’s gone. Where did it go? You stand there confused, your mouth hanging open. “I know it was there.” You began to imagine what could have happened. Am I at the wrong place? Did somebody move it? Is someone playing a trick on me? Am I losing my mind?
When you look into the empty tomb today, what do you say? Are you afraid? Are you confused? Do you believe he has been stolen? Or do you believe He is risen? You will live your life based on what you believe about the empty tomb. If you believe Jesus is alive, you will follow Him. If you think He is just hidden or missing, you will doubt God’s power. If you try to figure it out yourself, you will be religious. No one has ever found the body of Jesus dead. He is not here!
There is power in emptiness. A school professor once assigned his students to turn in a five page paper on courage. Give the best example of courage you know. Several students told some fascinating stories. But one young man got an A+. He turned in five empty pages. There is power in emptiness. The angel said, “Look. Look for yourself. He isn’t here. Look where they laid him. It’s empty.”
4. From the Sepulcher we run with – URGENCY OF THE NEWS Verses 7-8
The angel told the women to go and tell Peter and the other disciples. Matthew 28:7 tells us that they instructed them to “go quickly!” There is urgency to this message. So the women did exactly as they were instructed. They went out quickly and fled. They trembled. They were amazed. They were afraid. They were so excited they could not stop and talk to anyone else along the way. Luke says they left the sepulcher and told all the things which they had seen.
Don’t you wish Christian people still got that excited about the resurrection of Jesus? Don’t you wish our altars could be flooded before we got through the first verse of the invitation? Don’t you wish people would run out of church and be so excited about the Gospel message that they couldn’t bear to stop and waste a minute? Religion is dead and will bored most people to death. But Christ is alive and that excites us and amazes us.
CONCLUSION:
So what does the sepulcher mean to you? It’s just a hewn out piece of rock or a cave. You might want to build a church over it and start a new religious movement like Constantine did. Maybe we can make a lot of money if we sold little necklaces with an empty sepulcher on it – like people do with crosses and crucifix. But religion can save you.
You might explain it away. Jesus was stolen or hidden or misplaced. He wasn’t really dead, you might say. If that were true, go home and forget all about Easter. Either Jesus is Alive and he is who he says he is or it’s all a lie. Either He died on the cross to save sinners and rose again to conquer death or he just started another religion. Either you know Him as your personal Lord and Savior or you don’t. What do you believe?
Dr. Seamands tells of a man from another religion in Africa who converted to Christianity. Someone asked him why he would convert from his religion to another. He answered like this, “Suppose you were going down the road and suddenly the road forked in two directions, and you didn’t know which way to go? And there at the fork in the road were two men, one dead and one alive. Which one of those two men would you ask which way to go – the one dead or the one alive?”
John records that Mary turned around a saw Jesus. He called her name, “Mary!” She answered, “Master!” That is our only response. He calls us by name. We answer Him. Master. Lord. Savior. The sepulcher is not a religious relic. It is not something to be owned and fought over by all kinds of religions. It points to the risen Jesus. It is empty today because Jesus is living. Do you know Him? Have you ever called Him your Lord and Savior? What role does the empty sepulcher play in your life?
Posted under Thoughts
10
April
2006
FROM THE PASTOR’S HEART,
Can you take a moment to write to a young man today serving in prison? What a helpful ministry! You may encourage him, help him grow in the Lord; share your faith with him. You can be a friend.
One man in prison wrote me “a prison letter is like gold. They’re priceless. People on the outside world don’t know how much a letter can brighten up a person’s day. Since I have been in prison I can count on one hand how many times I’ve received mail. And that’s kind of sad. It’s as if once you’re behind bars, no one cares.” As Christians, we care. Here is a ministry that involves little time and great spiritual rewards.
Bernard L. Sadler # 31870 Wallen’s Ridge State Prison
PO Box 759
Travis D. Dailey # 326205 Big Stone Gap, VA
24219-0759
Joseph Dick # 276709
Wallen’s Ridge is located about an hour from our church. These men listen to our church services on the radio. You may want to write a letter to one today. Remember that all Christians are ministers. Find a ministry and get involved today. I love you and pray for you.
Bro. Tony Brown
Posted under Articles
10
April
2006
FROM THE PASTOR’S HEART,
Would you like a new word to add to your vocabulary? Here’s a great word: UBIQUITOUS. Are you kidding? Is that really a word? Yes – and there are many forms of it. It is a word used most often in business and computer language. It means omnipresent; present everywhere at the same time. Have you ever thought of God as ubiquitous?
It is an humbling thought to realize that God sees all and knows all – all at the same time. The Psalmist declared that there is no where he could go to flee God’s presence. Ask Jonah. God kept his eyes on Him in the middle of the ocean. Ask Hagar. God followed her deep into the woods by a spring of water. Ask David. God saw all his sinful deeds, although David managed to cover them from everyone else.
But ubiquitous is not a negative word. It’s a good word. You may send a ubiquitous message on your computer that will be received everywhere at the same time. God’s eyes run to and fro throughout the earth. His presence not only sees us – but protects us. God watches over and cares for His children day and night everywhere we go. The Psalmist tells us that God never slumbers or sleeps.
We live in an often cruel and evil world. Sin is rampant. Christians are hated and persecuted in every country. Isn’t it assuring to know that God is in control? He records all the evil that is done to His people and holds the culprits accountable. At the same time He watches over His children. Even in death, “Thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.” To be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord. We cannot lose.
If you don’t know the Lord as your Savior, call on Him and know Him today. He can be your strength and your shield in this troubled world. If you already belong to Him, then take comfort and hope in your Ubiquitous God. You may not see Him, but He is always with you, even to the end of this world.
BRO. TONY
Posted under Articles
27
February
2006
OUR SPECIAL VISITOR
The first Sunday he visited our church, he didn’t utter a word. He laughed. He offered a toothless grin – not at one of my jokes, mind you. Then he cried all the way through my sermon. Dressed in shabby clothes and wearing no shoes, he seemed to have no regard for his appearance. I noticed that he stayed hidden somewhere on the back row where no one could see him.
He hadn’t been around very long. Most of our folks had never met him. In town, he carried no weight, held no social standing to speak of, no power, and no reputation. He had not learned to read or write and had no interest in the subject. Would you believe he couldn’t even write his own name? He didn’t even know His own name – at least as far as I could tell about him.
This was one of those people who depended on other people to keep him up. He couldn’t walk. When he did try to walk he’d stumble and fall down every time. Somehow, he never got hurt. Someone in his family brought him up in front of the whole church right in the middle of the service. There we prayed for him and all promised to help him.
I reckon everyone in church that first time he visited could tell that he didn’t own a dime to his name. It seemed obvious that he wouldn’t be one of the big givers to the budget or do anything productive unless – unless, of course – something changed. He couldn’t work at anything, as much as we needed bus drivers and teachers. He didn’t even know how to drive. As a matter of fact, no one had ever seen him sitting behind the wheel of a car.
When the service came to a close, he didn’t come forward to join the church or to make any kind of decision about the Lord. I don’t suppose he really gave God a thought, absorbed in his own little world. Mostly he just distracted everyone else. But I felt sure that God was going to do something wonderful with his life.
After church we all met down in the fellowship hall for dinner. One of our deacons had to carry him down the steps because his legs were too weak to carry his own weight. We didn’t want him to tumble down the steps and get hurt. But our special visitor didn’t eat a bite of all that delicious food. No chicken and dumplings. No potatoes. No chocolate cake. Because he was on a special diet and couldn’t chew well, someone brought him a drink. It wasn’t the kind of drink you normally see at a church fellowship dinner. He gobbled it down most unmanerably.
Now a fellow like that, you don’t normally expect him to carry on a good conversation with anybody or make friends with everyone. He sure didn’t. He never learned anyone’s name, never shook a single hand, and didn’t even fill out a guest card – as you might imagine. But let me tell you the big surprise of the whole day! Everybody loved him.
That’s right. They had a fit over him. I had preached one of the most powerful sermons I had ever preached in my life, and only a handful of people even complimented me. But this guy, who couldn’t do anything to help the church grow, ended up getting all the attention. People made over him – especially the girls. They thought he was cute and even told him that. They never said anything like that to me.
Our visitor was special all right. Somehow or another, his presence created the most wonderful spirit in our church that day. People seemed so happy – laughing and enjoying themselves, so glad that he had visited our church. He made everybody feel so good. He melted the hardest of hearts. Most everyone in the church laid hands on him and blessed him and hoped that he would come back the next week.
When he left to go home, he cried. He lay in the back seat of the old Blue Buick and cried ‘till he disappeared from our sight. I don’t think he wanted to leave us. We all waved at him and said good-bye – though we knew he would not acknowledge our farewell.
Years have passed since that special fellow first visited our church. I have thought a lot about him since that day. We never forgot how he blessed our church. God touched him and changed his life that Sunday. He realized through the years how our little church had loved him and accepted him, though he could not acknowledge our love. He has been in church many times since then and has grown and learned a lot about the love of God through us.
I can still see him now – the way he looked back then – the way our people embraced him and prayed for him. Would you believe he drops money in the offering plate each Sunday now? He even helps people who are just like what he used to be. He has learned to love our church. Now he speaks to everyone and makes all our special visitors feels special. Do you know him? He’s in every church – I hope and pray. Without people like him in our churches, we might as well close the doors of the church. Do you know who our special visitor might be?
Posted under Thoughts
22
February
2006
I Corinthians 2:1-5
As a Christian, I am constantly aware of the struggle between discipline and acceptance. I have witnessed some Christians who disciplined others in a mean spirited fashion that made them appear more like the Pharisees… judgmental and delighting in putting others down. They condemned sinners and placed upon them strict religious rules that were impossible to fulfill.
On the other hand I have seen Christians who were so loving and accepting that they offered forgiveness without any sorrow or repentance and watered down the gospel so far that anyone could easily receive it without any cost. It became an “anything goes” gospel with a “God loves you no matter what you do” theology. Neither view seems accurate to the scriptures. One story from the ministry of Jesus where I see this struggle is John 8:1-11. Jesus told the woman caught in adultery “neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” He loved the woman, but told her to turn from sin.
I suppose the answer to this struggle is found in only one place: The cross. Paul expressed gratitude that he had baptized so few people. That doesn’t sound like a church growth specialist. In I Corinthians 1:17-18 he wrote, “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”
Most Christians readily accept the doctrine that Jesus’ death on the cross was a once-for-all substitution. He died in “my place” so that I would not suffer and miss out on abundant life. I must agree with this. When Jesus cried, “It is finished!” he knew that he had done everything that was possible to provide salvation to sinner. But that is not all the Bible says about the cross. Paul does declare in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” Yet Jesus also declares in Luke 9:22-23, “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day. And he said to them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”
I see this passage as Jesus declaring that he must suffer and die and be raised again. But we, in order to truly receive Him, must deny ourselves and take up our cross. So the message of the cross is two-fold. Jesus died to provide salvation through his blood. We must die to self and carry our own crosses in order to genuinely receive Him. This is no watered down gospel.
In Romans 6:6-8 Paul tells us that, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.” I can determine from this passage that we die, our old selves, die on the cross with Jesus. But we take up a cross individually in the sense that we are willing to give up our selfish desires and suffer for Him. Without this surrender to Jesus and the sacrifice of our pride, we cannot follow Jesus.
What does this have to do with the passage I have read in I Corinthians 2:1-5? Paul declared in verse two that he “determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified”. This doesn’t mean that Paul never spoke about any other doctrines or never offered counsel about spiritual growth and church polity – because he certainly did. What Paul asserted here was that the cross is our power and, furthermore, the Christian walk is a walk with a cross. It is a life of sacrifice and surrender.
The cross truly is an “emblem of suffering and shame” as the hymn states. So much for the prosperity gospel! So much for Christians being guaranteed a life of riches and success and becoming kings on our own personal little thrones! This kind of gospel not only blasphemes Jesus call to take up a cross, but it mocks every saint who has ever given his or her life for the sake of the gospel message – missionaries, martyrs, and all the humble cross carrying preachers and prophets through the ages.
Paul shared about “his life” verses “their lives” as Christians in I Corinthians 4:8-13, “Now you are full, now you are rich, you have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you. For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; you are honorable, but we are despised. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place; And labor, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: Being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the off scouring of all things unto this day.”
That was how Paul walked the Christian walk. Others seemed to be comfortable and sat up on pedestals. Paul and his fellow apostles were cross bearing servants of Christ who gave up everything this world offered to follow Him.
He told the Philippians in 3:7-10 that he “counted all things but loss” in order to know Christ, even the things which he once counted as gain. He desired to know Christ even in “the fellowship of His suffering, being made conformable unto His death”.
In this passage today, Paul offers us his goal for coming to and preaching to the Corinthian people in verse 5: “That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God”.
He talks about his coming to them, how he did not come and how he did come.
First, How Did He Not Come?
1. In verse one, he admits that “I came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom”. He did not claim to be a great orator.
2. In verse four, he speaks of the motives behind his speech. “My speech and my preaching were not with enticing words of man’s wisdom”.
Paul did not preach a gospel that was so watered down and entertaining that it lured everyone in. He could have used the tactics and gimmicks of worldly wisdom to draw a big crowd. But he did not want people to respond to the gospel simply because he was such a great orator or because he was a talented actor. Do you think that a lot of the gospel presentations we observe today are based on the best secular strategies and skills that can be discovered? There is a popular phrase for this kind of speech. It’s called “sweet talking”. With the most carefully chosen words and the atmosphere of comfort and prosperity, most preachers could pack a church. But they wouldn’t find many cross bearing disciples.
I Thessalonians 2:3-6, “For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile: But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which tries our hearts. For neither at any time used we flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness; God is witness: Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others…”
Look at Paul’s style in Acts 17:2-3, “And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.”
Paul used “great plainness of speech” (2 Corinthians 3:12) to bring the Gospel. Integrity was at the heart of his intentions. 2 Corinthians 4::2, “But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”
This does not mean that Paul went to the other extreme to impose so many rules on people that they would stop trying. He did not spew a diet of judgment and condemnation so that people who grow tired of listening. He desired to reach people and see them happy, but he never used the gospel to promote himself. Look at I Corinthians 10:33, “Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.” Yet his ultimate goal was to please God. Galatians 1:10, “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.”
Second, How Did He Come?
1. In verse three, Paul tells how he came to these Christians. “I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling”.
What was his weakness? Paul was accused in 2 Corinthians 10:10, “For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.”
Paul even told of his own weaknesses in Galatians 4:13-14, “You know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh you despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.”
Apparently Paul suffered from some kind of physical ailment or chronic condition. Remember his “thorn in the flesh” that he prayed three times for God to remove? He finally found grace and learned to accept his weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, “And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” He bore in his body “the marks of the Lord Jesus” (Galatians 6:17).
I believe the Apostle Paul preached with fear and trembling, not because he lacked courage and faith, but because he recognized the tremendous responsibility placed upon him by Christ. 2 Corinthians 3:5, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.”
2. In verse four, he adds that his ministry to the Galatians was “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power”.
Paul did not want the cross to be emptied of its power. He wanted no gimmick, no dramatic miracle, no fancy rhetoric, and not even baptism to draw attention away from the power of the cross. 2 Corinthians 4:12 gives evidence to where Paul wanted the credit to go: “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.”
Timothy received this instruction about power in 2 Timothy 1:7-8, “For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.” Since we do not minister in our own strength, we do not have to live in fear. Peter stated in I Peter 1:5 that we are kept by the power of God. In Ephesians 3:20, the Apostle Paul praised God in this doxology, stressing that it is God’s power that does the work. “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”
Paul continued to preach wherever he went the full gospel, “Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God…” (Romans 15:19)
In conclusion, scripture testifies to the fact that in the cross of Christ we receive our power. Galatians 6:14 shows Paul’s determination to keep focus on the cross, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Our power is the cross of Jesus that works through our weak vessels for His glory. When we surrender to Him and take of our crosses of sacrifice, we truly walk in power. Our weaknesses become our strengths through Christ. 2Corinthians 13:4, “For though He was crucified through weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you.”
Posted under Sermons
17
January
2006
What shall we do in our family ministry center? You might ask. We have discussed this on occasion in the past. We named all kinds of ministries to meet needs, youth and senior adult programs, fellowships, sports leagues, and, at the top of the list, leading people to faith in Christ. Today’s message is not about what we will do or not do. The message is about what we must never find ourselves saying inside the walls of our new family ministry center. It is based on Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan from Luke 10:30-37
1. I Don’t Help Those Who Won’t Help Themselves
In this story, the Good Samaritan sees. He saw him. Him? Who did he see?” Verse 30 of Jesus’ familiar parable tells us that it was a certain man. We don’t know who he was. It really doesn’t matter. This certain man represents anyone in need that we can see. He was a CERTAIN man. The Oxford American Dictionary defines certain as “known without doubt”. There was no denying this need. He was a real person in real need. God knew him, without a doubt. God knew his need.
What happened to this certain man? He fell. He fell among thieves. He was beaten, robbed, stripped, and left for dead. You may never run across a person like this in your life time. But you will probably see other people who “fell”. Fell into financial troubles, fell into the ditch, or fell into self-pity. This man fell; and we see people who fall into hard times…if we look.
This certain man, now wounded and helpless, could do nothing for himself. Not one verb describes any action this man took during the entire story…except that “he fell”. If we are not careful, we may become so critical and judgmental that we cannot see straight. We might say, “He’s got to help himself.” We might add to scripture with our own proverb, “God helps those who help themselves”. We could assume that it was “all his fault” for walking on the road by himself or at night. We could surmise that he was foolish and deserved what he got. We could announce that “anyone who carries valuables on himself like this man out in the middle of the wilderness where you know thieves abound is “just asking for it”.
Yet, no where are we told that this certain man did anything to deserve what he got. All the Good Samaritan could see was a man in desperate need. We must keep our eyes open for opportunities to help people in need.
2. I Don’t Want To Get Involved
Look closely at the end of verse 33. “And when he saw him, he had compassion on him.” The priest, a certain priest, known without a doubt, saw the man in need, but he passed by on the other side. God knows those who feel compassion and those who don’t want to get involved. The priest represents someone who has the ability to do something to help, but makes every excuse possible to not get involved.
“It’s a trick.” “It’s a trap.” “Is this the same guy I saw here last week? “If I help him, I’ll have to help everybody.” “I’ll never get him off my back.”
What about the Levite, another religious man? He saw, but he too passed by on the other side. Maybe he said, “I am just too busy”. “There are other churches and agencies that can help.” “I don’t want to get my new robe dirty.” What was missing? Eyesight? No. Heartsight. He had no compassion.
On the other hand, the Samaritan was able to break free from his fears, his prejudices, and his traditions. John 4:9 tells us that the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. The Good Samaritan thought for himself. He didn’t care whose feathers he might ruffle. God often leads us to go against the grain. The where and when and who and how may not be part of our plans. We must learn never to take our agenda to a meeting with God. So, what made him stop? What made him different from the other two? Compassion. Again, the dictionary offers this definition of Compassion: “a feeling of pity that makes one want to help”. Yes, I believe he could feel the man’s pain. He probably imagined that, “if this were me lying down here in the ditch half dead, I would hope that someone would stop to help me.” Jesus taught, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. Paul wrote, “As those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion” (Colossians 3:12). Compassion made him stop. Compassion will not allow you to pass by on the other side.
3. I Don’t Have The Time
This Good Samaritan changed his schedule to suit the wounded man’s needs. He didn’t have the time, but he gave it anyway. Look what he did for this stranger and calculate in your mind the time involved. Leland Johnson in his article, “The M.O. of a Good Samaritan” in the spiritual journal, Heartcry, made the following observation: Look what he did for this stranger and calculate in your mind the time involved.
• He came to him
• He bandaged up his wounds
• He poured oil and wine on them
• He put him on his own beast
• He brought him to an inn
• He took care of him
• And the next day – he spent the night – that took time
Look what the Good Samaritan did not do.
He did not ask, “Are you a Christian?”
“Don’t you go to church anywhere?”
“I need to see your driver’s license”
“Are you a Democrat or a Republican?”
“Do you tithe?”
“Do you drink?”
“If I help you today, what will you do to assure me that this won’t happen again in the same ditch tomorrow?”
He helped him. Yes, we must be as wise as serpents. We must depend upon the Holy Spirit’s leadership. We must use good practices and procedures. But above all, we must take the time that is necessary to do the job right. Ministry to people in ditches takes time.
4. I Don’t Have The Money
When was the last time you gave a chunk of your schedule and your hard earned dollars to help a total stranger? I pray that I will never in this lifetime determine whether or not I will help someone in need based solely on money. When money becomes that much of a priority to me, I will be in deep spiritual trouble. God always equips and supplies what he calls us to do.
The next day, verse 35 tells us, the Good Samaritan reached into his pocket and gave to the host what amounted to two days wages. Would you give two days pay to help a total stranger that may not even be grateful to you when it’s all said and done? Notice the Bible says, “He gave”. Not loaned. Not reluctantly paid the bill. Not charged it to the wounded man’s account. But gave. It would be like me spending a couple hundred dollars to provide for shelter, food, and medical care for a total stranger. If that wasn’t enough, he promised to pay more if more expenses in the future were incurred.
Jesus measures our love for God by our generosity to others. Is that right, you ask? Look at Matthew 25:34-40.
“Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was hungry and you gave me meat: I was thirsty and you gave me drink: I was a stranger and you took me in: Naked and you clothed me: I was sick and you visited me: I was in prison and you came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry, and fed you? Or thirsty, and gave you drink? When did we see you a stranger, and took you in? Or naked, and clothed you? Or when did we see you sick, or in prison, and came unto you? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.”
CONCLUSION:
How do you create a heart of compassion and giving? You can’t create it. It comes from a relationship with God. Paul told about the Macedonian Christians who gave generously in 2 Corinthians 8:1-5 and concluded by saying, “but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God”. You will have the most difficult time giving your time and money to ministry until you first give yourself to God.
Jesus concluded his story with a simple command that I will use to conclude this sermon: “GO AND DO LIKEWISE.”
Open your eyes to opportunity.
Open your heart to compassion.
Open your schedules for ministry.
Open your wallets to give generously.
Our family ministry center will afford us wonderful opportunities to minister to people in need. As Paul told the Galatians, “So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, especially to those who are of the household of faith” (6:10).
Posted under Sermons
6
January
2006
In Matthew 16:21, Jesus began to show His disciples that he must go to Jerusalem to suffer and die on the cross. The Apostle Peter, who, only moments before had spoken one of the most God-inspired confessions of faith in all Christianity (verse 16), now rebukes Jesus. The Bible states that Peter even took him. That sounds like he grabbed His arm and pulled Him aside as he informed Jesus that the cross would not be allowed in His future.
Jesus, who had just commended Peter for his confession, now calls him down as one influenced by Satan himself. Jesus then taught Peter – and all of us – that in suffering and obedience we demonstrate our love for the will of God; and in selfishness we demonstrate our love for ourselves. Then follows what I would call one of the greatest lessons in the Bible – and one of the greatest calls to discipleship.
Matthew 16:24, “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”
Jesus’ call to discipleship involves abandoning our selfish will in order to find true life. What does it mean to abandon your own will and selfish pleasures for the sake of your soul? What does the word abandon mean?
The Oxford American Dictionary defines Abandon as – “to go away from a person or a thing, without intending to return. To give up. To yield completely to an impulse or an emotion”.
If…If…a decision must be made. If you want to come after me or if you truly want to be my disciple or if you truly want to find life or if you want to invest in the profit of your soul. You must satisfy this question first. Do you truly want to be a follower of Jesus Christ? If not, say so. As Joshua said, “Choose this day who you will serve”. But if you do want to be a follower of Jesus Christ, you must abandon yourself. How can we abandon ourselves? If any Christian truly desires to be a disciple of Jesus, he or she must take three actions. All three must be taken and in the order Jesus gives us.
1. GIVE “let him deny himself”
The gift of yourself is the greatest gift you have to offer God. There is one temptation that will keep you from following the Lord. What is that? Love of yourself. Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 13 that, “Love seeks not her own.” It is our nature, our carnal nature, to look for the things that bring us personal comfort and pleasure. There is no sin in comfort or pleasure; but these can never be our god. We must abandon our will for His will. Remember what it means to abandon? To go away from our selfishness, never to return. We leave selfish pleasure permanently. It is a complete giving of our lives into the will of God. We yield to Him.
It may seem difficult for some mothers to wean their babies off the milk. The baby does not want to give up what she is used to and what brings her satisfaction. But the mother weans the baby off the milk to solid food because that is how the baby can live and grow. The weaning process may not be comfortable or pleasurable at first, but in the long run it is the best.
God sometimes has to wean us off our selfish pleasures. It does not come easy or pleasurable to give ourselves completely for God. If it were easy and pleasurable, more Christians would be doing it. Since it is only natural to love ourselves, we must draw close to God and deny ourselves in order to be His intimate disciple. Then we will know real pleasure. Only then are we truly satisfied. We may think that we are satisfied with our lives the way they are. We satisfy our own bodies and our own egos. But a true disciple is one who learns to abandon himself for the sake of Christ.
2. GIVE UP “and take up his cross”
To give someone something is generosity. We give ourselves to God. But to give up implies surrender. What is it that we must surrender? First and foremost, we must surrender our love of self. That is what our Savior did. In the garden He prayed, “Not my will, but thy will be done.” Then He went to the cross. Denying ourselves is a giving of our lives to God. Taking up our crosses is a surrendering to His will. We are willing to suffer in order to follow Him.
We speak about loving the world. John tells us in 1 John 2:15-17, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he who does the will of God abides for ever.”
The love of the world is nothing less than a love of ourselves and a desire to fulfill our lusts and pride. Paul told the Corinthians that “Love does not seek her own.” That is why we take up the cross. The cross is a symbol of suffering. We are crucified. Paul told the Galatians in 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
You and I are nothing without the cross of Christ. To take up our cross is to follow Him to the death, all the way, complete, and wholehearted…no matter what the cost. It is a true giving up of ourselves. The 15th century Christian writer and spiritualist, Jeanne Guyon wrote, “God gives us a cross, and then the cross gives us God.”
3. GIVE IN “and follow me”
When a person gives in, it implies that a struggle has gone on inside him for a long time, and finally he stops putting up a resistance and goes along. We may have resisted God for years and turned a deaf ear to His call. But one day, the Holy Spirit’s draw on our life was so strong and the burden of sin so great that we stopped resisting. We said yes to Jesus and began to follow Him. Remember the order of these steps. We cannot expect to be a follower of Jesus until we give our lives completely to Him and surrender our self love for love of Him. Only when we dethrone our pride and submit to His will, can we follow Him.
Following Jesus is a one time commitment. We don’t need to be saved over and over again. We don’t need to make a new decision to follow Him every minute. Once we declare our commitment to follow Him, we will follow Him all the way….as long as we have given our lives to Him and surrendered to His will. If we stray, we may remind ourselves where we are supposed to be going, but we don’t have to start all over will a new salvation experience.
When I set out on a trip to Lexington, every step I take and every mile I drive is intentional and voluntary. I say to myself, “I intend to go to Lexington”. I only say it only once. I don’t have to say it every step or every mile marker. I don’t repeat for three hours, “I am going to Lexington. I am going to Lexington. I am going to Lexington.” If I start out with the intention in my heart to arrive in Lexington, I will go there without having to tell myself over and over that Lexington is my destination. If I intend to follow Jesus and set out on that journey, I don’t have to keep telling myself over and over that Jesus is my destination. It will come automatically…if I have the intention…if I am doing the other two things first. There may be times I stray or take a wrong turn. I may have to ask for directions. But I do not have to return home and make a new decision to go to Lexington. I pick back up where I am. That is the beauty of forgiveness.
Conclusion: A traveler was invited once to spend the night at the home of a rich man. The rich man told him, “go on in the house and make yourself at home. I have some business to attend to and I will come in and join you later.” The traveler climb the steps of the big house and observed brand new bamboo furniture, ceiling fans spinning above, live plants, soft lights, a lovely carpet, and so much more beauty. He decided to lie down on the couch and cover up with a hand crochet throw that the rich man’s wife had made herself. As he rested on the couch, he admired the beautiful home. He began to envy the man who lived in such a comfortable home. Soon, the rich man entered through the glass door. “You have such a beautiful house,” he told the rich man. “You haven’t seen the house,” he replied. “You’re only on the front porch.” Don’t live your life on the front porch. Come on in the house. The doorway is self abandonment. Give of yourself wholly to God. “God loves a cheerful giver.” (Second Corinthians 9:7)
Posted under Sermons