SUBJECT TO HIGHER POWERS
#020 SUBJECT TO HIGHER POWERS
Scripture Romans 13:1-14 NIV Orig. 11-11-62 (8-85)
Rewr. 5-18-88
Passage: Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.
6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7 Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”[a] and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
11 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.[c]
Purpose: To speak to my people during Religious Liberty Week on the need to subject ourselves to the social as well as spiritual needs around us.
Keywords: Citizenship Law Duty Love
Timeline/Series: Romans
Introduction
Among sermons in my library is one preached more than a century ago by Robert William Dale, a Congregational pastor in Birmingham, England. He raises, and speaks to a question pertinent to Religious Liberty Week. He quotes John 6:15:
“Jesus therefore perceiving that they were about to come and take Him by force, to make Him king, withdrew.”
He then asks, “Did not our Lord miss a great chance when he refused the position which they offered Him? . . . . Why did He not consent to reign?” He then answers his own question. “It was the miracle of the loaves and the fishes, . . . that provoked the popular enthusiasm. No doubt the people thought that if He were their king all their material wants . . . would receive satisfaction. Ah! But it is not Christ’s first object to secure . . . outward conditions favorable to universal ease and comfort. That was clearly not His object in the creation of the material universe which He has built for our home. Men have to live by the sweat of their brow, and in most parts of the world, they have to work hard in order to live. There are fogs and floods, harvests are blighted; there is intolerable heat, . . . cold; men are disciplined to endurance by physical discomfort; their intellectual life is provoked to strenuous activity by the hardships and difficulties of their condition. The proverbial garden of the sluggard is not a reproach to Providence but to the sluggard. It was God’s will that he should have not only a garden bright with flowers, but that he should have the physical vigor, the industry, the intelligence that would come from cultivating it. God cares more for the man than for the garden. . . . Government is a divine institution, but it is through human virtue, . . . self-sacrifice, . . . patience, . . . sagacity, that the material blessings which are possible through the social condition are to be actually won. . . . It was impossible that Christ should accept power on the terms upon which He knew that it had been offered to Him.”
It would be left up to us to secure the kind of government that we deserve. That’s what Religious Liberty Week is all about.
I. Subject to Higher Powers Means Duties to the State. V1 “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God.” This acknowledges the sovereignty of God, and abused authority is answerable to Him. Governing authorities are put in place. Even in a police state such authority is responsible.
The will of God includes government within a social system. The dark ages were marked by a serious challenge to state and church. Henry the Eighth is easily recognized for this period.
Paul, who knew no pope, seems to have made room for no such power vested in the church.
Ann and I served on a Jefferson Parish jury years ago. A man from our neighborhood was in the jury pool with us; a Jehovah’s Witness, he asked to be excused.
I Peter 2:13f: “. . . submit yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, or to those sent by him. . . .”
We are fortunate indeed to live within an open system. Agitation for better government is allowed and expected. The system, with all its faults, advocates teaching to improve. We should all be good students of history. Obey the law, but be prepared to work to improve the system as needed.
Does being “subject” mean respecting leaders? It is a military term. It acknowledges a chain of command. I remember my own military experience. We were admonished to salute the rank.
In 1977, the little Strode boy in Marion, North Carolina, and his parents were far off base; it is reprehensible for parents to allow their son to say the things he said about teachers and administrators.
I remember a First Sergeant whom I did not, could not, respect, but I was subject to him.
II. Subject to Higher Powers Means Duties to Citizens of the State. V8 “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.” He is speaking outside of the purview of the church: “Owe no man.” Do not be obligated to another. Don’t let others control your destiny.
He uses the civic term “neighbor” rather than “brother”: “’Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor.”
Some see contradiction with Romans 6:14 “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law but under grace.” Our relation to God is spiritual (Romans 6:14). Our relation to the world is legal (Romans 13:8f).
James Stifler (E13p219), The Epistle to the Romans—“God demands much more of the believer than the state asks. The latter says ‘Thou shalt not injure thy neighbor.’ God says, ‘Thou shalt love him as thyself.’”
The goal, then, for the Christian, is to care about other people. It extends beyond other “believers.”
It is an obligation to pay our own way and our just debts. Love teaches us not only what good to do, it teaches what ungood to avoid. Love restrains us from: (v9) adultery, murder, theft, false witness, covetousness; all else is “comprehended” in “love.”
We would do well to remember that the state can only administer by the sword. If it administers wrongly, grievous injustice can and does result. The church, however, is to administer through love. Even if we are wrong, what injustice is there in love? V9: “. . . All is summed up (kephelaion) in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
III. Subject to Higher Powers Means Enforcement of Civil Duties. V13 “Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in licentiousness and lewdness, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts.”
What we do, do it because of the time. V11 “Knowing the time.” There is too much tendency to sleep, moreso, to fail to see moral and cultural deprivations. Biblical advice is that it is time to awaken out of stupor; time to grasp the meaning of ineptitude; time to perceive that we can make a difference. On May 14, 1988, while Monroe, Louisiana, bar owners were celebrating their school’s 2a.m. victory, a customer of Kentucky bars was turning into the wrong lane of the freeway, and killed 27 people.
The true significance of this passage is in its relationship to Christ. First, the “night” of Christ’s away, V12; second, the “day” of His reappearing. They were to put off the works of darkness, put on the works of light. Ephesians 6:13 “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”
You see, when we have taken Christ, we have done all we can, or need to do. Hebrews 10:37, “For yet a little while, and he who is coming will come, and will not tarry.”
Simple honesty demands that we be in daily living what we claim to be in profession. V13 “Let us walk honestly.” It means “becomingly, decently.” Paul uses the same word in I Thessalonians 4:12, “Walk honestly toward them who are outsiders.” We who are believers do have moral, as well as spiritual obligations to others. Not many “drunken” or “perverted orgies,” or even “jealous strife.” But the text reminds us (v10) “Love worketh no ill to one’s neighbor,” remembering Christ’s definition.
The summation of all is that we are to “put on” Christ. Romans 6:3 “As many as are baptized in Jesus, are baptized in His death.” Galatians 3:27 “For as many as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ.”
There is obedience. There is disposition. There is hope.
***THE CONCLUSION OF THIS SERMON HAS BEEN LOST***
WHEN GOD BECAME MAN
#012 WHEN GOD BECAME MAN
Scripture Matthew 2:1-6 Orig. 12-19-71
Rewr. 12-14-76
Passage: After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
Introduction
To contemplate the birth of Jesus, one must also consider that earlier birth of a planet, and birth of the generic man upon that planet. Back in the day when pollution was unknown, and ecology was unnecessary, man lived in what was a veritable Garden of Eden.
Of the little that we do know about that place, there is this fact about man’s beginnings. Around him were many trees. Of two of these we know the names—the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge. Imagination tells us what might have been names of other trees—virtue, strength, love, faith, obedience, trust, fidelity, honor. It was the tree of knowledge that man was disallowed any access.
You must be aware that there is a suitable recourse to knowledge when life is adequately lived. By having life, man can achieve knowledge. To have knowledge, however, is never any guarantee for life.
Thus, when man chose knowledge and rejected life, a rerouting of man’s priority became necessary. That rerouting ordered by God is declared in the story of the birth of Jesus. “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sin.”
And in His birth it is again declared—“I am come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly.”
The birth of Jesus, then, was not an historical declarative, but a contemporary imperative. And it was more. It was when God became man.
I. When God Became Man, There was Submission to the Limitations of the Flesh. He experienced extreme physical privation. A prince born in a cattle stall—the wise men honored a king; the priests looked for a king; The Word foretold a king. But even earthly kings are not so treated. I remember the birth of England’s Prince. The throngs waited amid regal glories for the natal hour. I remember when the College of Cardinals elected a Pope. I remember election night 1968. I remember last evening, when the winning democrat pictured himself elected.
Was such privation necessary for the “Tiny King?” You remember, I am sure, that Satan promised Jesus the kingdoms of this world if Jesus would worship him. But you must remember that this is a betrayal of trust. The kingdoms of which he spoke were those of the King of Kings, and not Lord of Lords. This KING, and no tiny king is HE, came to help man find His way back to God. The king must be One with the subject who will honor Him. Hebrews 4:15: “We have a high priest who feels our infirmities.” His life and His ministry were to make it easier for man to believe—to reroute his priorities.
This privation experience is necessary for us as well. We must die to the flesh, live unto God. Matthew 18:3 “Except you become as little children, you shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven.”
II. When God Became Man, There was Surrender of All of the Divine Attributes. The power of God did not cease to be operative in the universe. But in Jesus, God Himself, became the deliverer, the sin bearer, the rerouter of man’s priorities.
Let’s be sure about our concept of a deliverer. Television and movies have given us what is a poor substitute for the real thing. There is always the same plot. The father can’t or won’t pay the rent, the damsel won’t agree to the landlord’s proposal (it used to be one of marriage), so he ties her to the railroad track to await the hero sweeping in to deliver. May I call your attention to the Biblical concept—He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. With His stripes we are healed. Even with His manliness, there was no compromise with purity and virtue. Hebrews 4:15 In all points He was tempted as we are, yet without sin.
III. When God Became Man, There was Subordination to the Holy Spirit. It was as Jesus accepted the fact of God’s Will that He was empowered to accomplish it. The hard fact of Jesus’ life was that He was willing to pay whatever price necessary to honor His heavenly Father—not human parents; not national heritage, not unborn multitudes; certainly not the human blood suckers who demand that we be like they are or a little worse. It is in the context of our willingness to honor our heavenly Father that we may be empowered for our task. May. May. May… The doubt is not in God’s ability, but in our will. John 14:12 “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these because I go to the Father.”
Conclusion
I read recently an account of a lady in the frontier days of the old west who came to the attitude of dependence upon the Holy Spirit. She lived with her husband in a mining town when gold fever was very high.
Someone told of an old prospector who lived alone in a shack back of town in the hills. He was dying. But about such a mean and vile man, no one cared. She went to him when no one would even go with her. He cursed her for coming. At the mention of mother, he cursed her. At mention of wife, he cursed her. After several visits she despaired to go again. Her little boy said “You didn’t pray. Have you given up? Has God given up?” She spent a night agonizing in prayer. She started visiting with a neighbor and her daughter. The little girl’s laugh became the key to the old man’s heart.
Our trouble is that we get bleary eyed and beatific over the birth of Bethlehem’s babe. Then after Christmas, we just revert to our old thinking about living among all of those agnostics and we are afraid to let them know that Christ is out of the manger and in our hearts.
THE SEVENTH ANGEL SOUNDED
#009 THE SEVENTH ANGEL SOUNDED
Scripture Revelation 11:15 Orig. Date 12/9/73
Passage: 15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:
“The kingdom of the world has become
the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,
and he will reign for ever and ever.”
Introduction
When Jesus went into Jerusalem shortly before His death, there came out to greet Him hundreds of interested and curious citizens. They prepared for His coming simply by placing palm branches along the way. They stood there shouting their “hosannahs” as He passed by. All of the outward signs were signs of acceptance and belief, but only a few days had passed before Jesus faced death at the hands of an angry mob.
Within the lifetime of many of us, we have had a similar event. About thirty years ago American and other Allied soldiers moved back onto the continent of Europe. Citizens of European countries, which had been under “der Fuhrer’s heel,” were free again. As these allied troops began the trek across Europe, time and again they were greeted by masses of people. They waited on the outskirts of their towns and villages for their liberators. It would not be long, however, before the scars of war would have healed and the brave deeds of courageous men would be forgotten.
But we are quick to point out that the Nazarene has not been forgotten. In fact, for the next few weeks, we are going to be very busy remembering. The next two Sunday nights, many of us will be here in the sanctuary rejoicing at the sounds of Christmas music. The preacher will stand to preach, and his messages will center themselves around the birth of Christ. And that’s not all. Some of us have already put up our trees. They are standing there with or without lights, gaily decorated, saying to all who enter, “We celebrate the birth of Jesus here.” Underneath the tree, either there are or there will be the gaudily packaged gifts of friendship and love. Is this not proof enough that we hold with the One who taught us that it is better to give than to receive?
Yes, we remember these brave soldiers of thirty years ago, and we remember the Galilean of two thousand years ago. Let it be noted, however, that we await only the sounding of the seventh angel’s trumpet, and all that will be remembered will be the Christ and His Kingdom, and His efforts to bring us into it.
I. The Seventh Angel Signals the End of This World’s Kingdoms. Be reminded of the kingdom of self. When the seventh angel sounds, the kingdom of self will be no more.
Little description is needed. We know it well. There are many who serve in this kingdom. It doesn’t make brothers of us. The Christian has no fetish to keep him from paying homage to this dissolute regent. This is the one place in the human spectrum where Satan is satisfied with second place.
It was this regard for self that drove Adam out of Paradise, Lucifer from the throne room of God, Saul from the seat of majesty as one of the great kings of Israel, Haman from the court of King Ahasuerus, and Judas from the brotherhood of Jesus.
Be as well reminded of the kingdom of sin. When the seventh angel sounds, the kingdom of sin will be no more.
Again, little description is needed. We all know the image of the picture which sin provides.
“All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23
“Your righteousness is as filthy rags.” Isaiah 64:6
We all know how capable we are in detecting sin in the lives of others. But we also know the scathing denunciation of Jesus upon those who would set themselves up as judges. “Thou hypocrite, if you really want to acknowledge the speck of dust in your friend’s eye, then first get the boulder out of your own eye.” Matthew 7:5.
I am inclined to think that we may miss the point of the matter. Whether the analogy of the sin in our lives is speck or boulder, splinter or log, the point is, we can’t do anything about either. When we knowingly enter the kingdom of sin, we can never be sure where it will end.
There is a third kingdom of which we must be forewarned—the kingdom of service. When the seventh angel sounds, the kingdom of service will be no more.
While many of us know all about the kingdoms of self and sin, most of us know little about the kingdom of service. Be reminded that it is difficult to isolate the true ideals of service. The vice president resigns. The president-elect of C. of C. is indicted. Even paragons of virtue have feet of clay.
II. The Seventh Angel Signals the Consummation of the Kingdom of Christ. His kingdom is the kingdom of love. Love is the language of communication there. “God is love, and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him.” I John 4:16.
It is the kingdom of Christian experience. “Though I speak with the tongues of men, of angels even, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a clanging symbol.” I Corinthians 13:1. Noise alone asserts neither style, nor skill, nor depth of feeling.
It is the kingdom of change by growth. I have not been able to establish unquestioned authenticity, but I have read that there is a disease called “marasmus,” that is said to be “the disease of being not loved.” It is a gradual wasting away of the body, especially in infants and elderly people.
It is the kingdom of peace. Longfellow wrote one of the most beautiful of all Christmas poems. Having been set to music we enjoy it during this season as one of the most popular songs of Christmas.
I heard the bells on Christmas Day, their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat, of “peace on earth, good will to men.”
I thought how as the day had come, the belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song of peace on earth, good will to men.
And in despair I bowed my head, “There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men.”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep, “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep.”
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth, good will to men.
Till ringing, singing on its way, the world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime, of peace on earth, good will to men.
So be here reminded that this kingdom is the kingdom of eternal values.
III. In Addition to the Kingdom, There is Also to be Considered the Capabilities of the King. In His providence He transforms. He didn’t start over (though there were times when He had cause to): In the garden with Adam; In the wilderness with the Hebrew nation; In the divided kingdom with Jeroboam and Rehoboam; In Rome with the Holy Catholic Church; In America with the evangelical church. He MADE over.
In His love, He redeemed. The Hebrew nation in Jesus’ day looked for a redemption from God. It was based on hope and faith. It was a false hope however, for it anticipated an earthly king. In what king of redemption have we put our trust? A babe in Bethlehem. In Him whose name shall be called “wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father the Prince of Peace.”
In His power He sustains and keeps the believer.
Closing
You may have recognized the words of our text as being a part of the most famous of all Christmas oratorios, Handel’s Messiah. The message so stirred a king, George II, that he stood to salute the majesty of the work.
This composition which took Handel only twenty-five days to prepare, has stood for 230 years as the human mark of the excellence of that coming kingdom. The music has outlasted the crown and the scepter of the one who acclaimed its genius. But justice cannot be done to the kingdom itself in the words and music of men. When the seventh angel sounds the trumpet, the “kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.”
MEMORIAL SERVICE, MRS. LIB COLVIN
#922 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
Bernice, Louisiana
May 6, 1991
Memorial Service
Mrs. Lib Colvin
There is a nonsensical story of an old farmer sitting on a rickety rocker on the porch of his cabin way back in the hills. A backpacker happened along the trail that brought him by the cabin. Being hot and thirsty on the August day, he stopped and attempted to engage the old man, hoping to get an offer to stop and rest. Asked about cotton, the old man told the youth there was none because of boll weevils. Asked about corn, he informed him that it was not smart to plant corn when there was no rain. Asked what he did plant, the farmer responded, “I didn’t plant nothin’! I played it safe!”
But this has nothing to do with Miss Lib. The one thing that she was careful to avoid was playing it safe, especially where her Christian responsibility was concerned. She knew what she ought to do, needed to do, and set about doing it.
Too many people are like the old farmer. Just playing it safe! And when the end comes, nothing is left. We have so much to learn from Miss Lib. As much as we grieve for her, yet we know that this was the essence of her life. She was prepared for this moment of truth.
My wife taught her Sunday School lesson yesterday. She fretted when she first found that it would be her job. Then, someone gave her the material that Miss Lib herself had prepared. She knew what her responsibility was, and she was ready. Imagine, she went in the hospital on Thursday, and her lesson for the next Sunday was already prepared.
I know teachers who don’t start preparing until Friday night. I know preachers who have no idea on Saturday what they are going to preach about on Sunday night. Occasionally, Sunday morning also. This dear lady, who has taught this class longer than any of us can remember, regularly prepared her lesson early in the week, starting even on Sunday afternoon. She would never run the risk of being unprepared. Her message to us here today is preparation. What we are responsible for, do it well. Because we face the future uncertainly, face it squarely, with Christ as Lord of our lives.
I. We Learn from Her the Importance of Something to Believe. “If I do not the work of my Father,” Jesus said, “believe me not. But if I do, though you believe not me, believe the works; that you may know and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in Him.” (John 10:37-38.) Again from John (11:25), “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”
No matter where we are in life, the essence of living is in what we believe: the content of our belief and the way we live our lives in response to the things believed. For the Christian, what we believe about Christ sets the tone for everything we do. Of course, there are generalities, like believing the sun will rise tomorrow. But the special things that show Christ alive within this committed life have particular meaning. Romans 15:13, “Now the God of all hope, fill you with all joy and peace in believing.”
II. The Next Thing there is to Learn from Her is of Something to Be. I John 3:1-3, “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we shall be called children of God . . . now we are God’s children, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him because we shall see Him as He is.”
The example of Jesus was of major importance in Miss Lib’s life: Moral persuasion, compassion, and commitment to God’s will. Hebrews 10:9, “Then said He, Lo, I come to do thy will O God.” Our highest resolve is shallow outside of the will of God. She was a fine example of womanhood, of sacrificial service, and of commitment of one’s best.
III. The Third Thing that We Learn from Her is of Something to Do. Rev. 22:14, “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates to the city.” There is a proper sequence: Something to believe, something to be, and something to do. The example of Jesus was to do what He was uniquely equipped to do.
We have surrendered a friend to the ages who showed us that this works in ordinary lives also. She found Christ sufficiently able to forgive sin. She grew in God’s grace to discover His purpose in deliverance from sin also.
Conclusion
Henry C. Morrison, missionary to Africa, tells of his return to America. A life had been spent in faithful and effective missionary service in Africa. He was retiring, regretting that he was at the end of the way. Teddy Roosevelt was on the same ship, returning from some safari or the other. Servants attended his every need on board the ship. As they approached New York harbor, passengers could see crowds of people at the dock, awaiting the president.
Mr. Morrison said he was filled with self-pity. For the president, it had been fun and games. For him, it had been devotion and service. But the crowds were waiting to see the president, not him. But suddenly, he said, the Lord filled him with an understanding that he “was not home yet.”
PUTTING OFF AND PUTTING ON
#022 PUTTING OFF AND PUTTING ON
Scripture Ephesians 4:17-24 NIV Orig. 11/14/71
Rewr. 10/3/85 (10-79)
Passage: 17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Purpose: To lead my people to consider the willful response of the believer to become a new person in Christ Jesus.
Keywords: Assurance Holiness Obedience Revival
Introduction
Paul shares a different kind of expression with us by way of his instruction to the believers in Ephesus. “Putting Off and Putting On” is an exclamation of his faith that in Christ we become new people. It is not a new concept. We are quite familiar with such terms as “the new birth” or “born again.” These terms, falling into contemporary jargon, are losing their significance to us, however.
The Christ-life itself is not now, nor has it ever been, an impossible ideal. But we must understand that the hope and joy of that life, is not so much in its fulfillment as in its aspiration, something of which Robert Browning wrote:
That low man seeks a little thing to do,
Sees it and does it.
This high man seeks a great thing to pursue,
Dies ere he knows it.
Paul here encourages the Ephesians about “Putting Off and Putting On.” They are to “put off” the old man, the deceiver, the corrupt one. They are then enabled to “put on” the new person, being recreated to honor God.
Years ago, E. Stanley Jones labored for Christ in India. This great missionary statesman, earnest and deeply committed believer, maintained a hope that Christianity would become culturalized into the very essence of the life of India. He knew that little headway would be made as long as his faith was looked upon as a “religion of foreigners.” Mahatma Gandhi, the great liberator of India, was his friend. Mr. Jones asked what could be done to accomplish such a goal. There were three suggestions:
That all of you Christians begin to live more like Jesus.
That you practice your religion without toning it down.
That you present yourselves by love, for love is the central soul of Christianity.
I. Put Off the Old Man of Corruption. Put on the New Person of Obedience. V23 “And be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” We are not given any false notions that this is easily done.
Our age is a critical age. It is not a time of peace. It is a time of war. Revolution is a way of life. Korean evangelist Billy Kim survived the Japanese occupation of his country and the Korean War, was educated in America, and delivered a speech entitled “I Speak for Democracy.” Wimpy Smith, missionary to Argentina, said that country was like a phonograph record, 33-1/3 revolutions per minute. The only time an assassination in the Third World captured my attention was when Fritha was in Liberia.
Perhaps we don’t expect to hear of these things, but we do not abhor them. We make light of the struggles going on.
The Bible pictures this Christ-life accomplished under adverse conditions. Ephesians 6:11 “Put on the whole armor of God.” II Timothy 2:3 “Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. As Christ’s soldier, do not let yourself become tied up in worldly affairs, for then you cannot satisfy the One who has enlisted you in His army.”
Dr. E.V Hill, pastor of a church in Watts, defines their sign: Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, Conservative-Liberal-Militant: He says, “Conservative, because we believe every word of the Bible. Liberal, because we try every means available to get the job done. Militant, because we will not take ‘No!’ for an answer.”
Obedience is to desire those things that will better enable our service for Christ’s sake. It is more than living within the framework of a book. It is that! The Bible! It is letting that book change us. The Hebrews had the book, but living without it they failed. We Christians can carry a New Testament in our pocket or purse, but is Christ in our hearts?
V 21,22a “If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: That you put off your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to deceitful lusts.”
II. Put Off the Old of Doubt, Put On the New Person of Assurance. V23 “And be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” The substance of this assurance is that Christ is Lord. This link in Paul’s life is clear. I Corinthians 2:2, “I am determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Philippians 1:20 “So now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death.”
It is just as clear that this is God’s will for us all. You admire this in religious leaders. You insist upon it in pastor and staff. You desire it in deacons. You respond to it in Sunday School teachers. And you should! But it is the goal of God for all believers. Look ahead to V30. The believer is “sealed for the day of redemption.” The “seal,” then as now, declares ownership.
Such assurance declares that you are traveling the available road Godward. In Galatians 3:27, Paul uses this very idea of “putting on” Christ through baptism. It is clearly a step Godward. Baptism implies repentance, remorse over sin, a turning. Its use here takes us another step Godward. We put on the teaching of Christ. We seek that that He offers. It is to take the garments of Christ to cover our lack. Colossians 3:14 “But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”
Remember all the while that any other road is a road to Godlessness. There is a place of eternal loss. Punishment in the spiritual sense is the worst kind of punishment.
III. Put Off the Old Person of Worldliness, Put On the New Person of Holiness. V24 “And that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness.” It is a newness of life that instills a new and different purpose. We need to remember that it is accomplished by degrees, rarely in great, sudden surges, more often in slow, predictable change.
We must also recall that Christ, Himself, only achieved this response to God absolutely. We may go forward for a time, lose ground, start, as it were, over.
But once enlightened through Christ, we are never set adrift. Isaiah 32:18 “My people shall dwell in . . . sure dwellings.” 2 Corinthians 5:1, “We have a building of God, an house not made with hands.” I Peter 3:13 “Who is he that will harm you, if you be followers of that which is good?”
It is a purpose that separates us to the will of God: to live in His will with or without material advantage; to rightly interpret the bounds of warranted pleasure; to interpret God’s will on the basis of the Word.
Conclusion
In Shaw’s play, Saint Joan, an interesting dialogue takes place. Joan of Arc, as she would later be called, is hearing the voice of God, and is then told to declare to the king what she has heard.
Dauphin: “O your voices, your voices. Why don’t your voices come to me? I am the king, not you.”
Joan: “They do come, but you do not hear them. You have not sat in the field in the evening listening to them. When the Angelus rings, you cross yourself and have done with it, but if you prayed with your heart and listened to the thrilling of the bells in the air after they stop ringing, you would hear the voices as well as I do.”
WATCHING JESUS
Scripture Luke 6:1-19 NIV Orig. June 19, 1985
Passage: One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. 2 Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” 3 Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” 5 Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” 6 On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. 7 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. 8 But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there. 9 Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” 10 He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. 11 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus. 12 One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. 13 When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: 14 Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, 15 Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. 17 He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, 18 who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, 19 and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.
Introduction
The principle part of the text that we shall cover reflects the extension of controversy that had begun to center itself around Jesus. The Pharisees, and to some extent, the scribes, had begun to question and then resent Him. From that resentment was born opposition and then hostility.
In the 2nd verse, we have the 4th of these conflicts, and verses 6-11 contain the last. But we need to go back to chapter five to consider the first three.
4:15 Jesus enjoyed popularity.
5:17 Thusly, he draws the attention of the religious leaders.
5:21 “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Jesus had healed a paralytic with a statement of forgiven sins. They did not recognize Jesus’ deity. Unacceptable tendencies begin to emerge.
5:30 “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Pharisees (separatists) could see religion in only one way. (Calling Levi)
5:33 “Why do the disciples of John fast often . . . Likewise those of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink?” Fasting: The Law prescribed one annual fast (Leviticus 16:29-31); after the captivity it had become four. Luke 18:12, the Pharisee: “I fast twice a week.”
5:36 Spirituality: “No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old. . . .” Someone wrote, “New and old don’t mix. When you know truth, you can’t be satisfied with other.”
6:1 Jesus observed the Sabbath.
6:2 “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath? (Plucking grains). They did not understand His deity, or the Law, or yet the Sabbath.
6:6-11 They ask no question, but here is the consummate conflict. “Filled with rage, (they) discuss . . . what they might do to Jesus.”
6:9 Jesus introduced a new law for an ineffective one.
6:13f Jesus called the twelve disciples/apostles.
6:17-19 Jesus presented a new people of God.
6:46 But no room is left for compromise.
We note first the intent of these religious speculators. 5:17 “There were Pharisees, and teachers of the Law sitting by. 6:7 “And the Scribes and the Pharisees watched Him closely”—to watch suspiciously, underhandedly.
I. They Watched Him through Unforgiven Eyes. “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” (Mark 2:5f.) They disputed Jesus’ right to say so. They disputed that such could happen under these circumstances. Sin, as they understood it, required traditionally prescribed values.
II. They Watched Him through Separatist Eyes. 5:32 “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” (Mark 2:16f.) They believed THEY were God’s only concern. Pharisee meant “separatist.” Their interpretation of the law kept them from associating with such people.
III. They Watched Him through Snobbish Eyes. 5:33 “Why do the disciples of John fast, likewise those of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink?” (Mark 2:18.) They saw themselves as the true guardians of the faith. They saw Jesus as something entirely different.
IV. They Saw Jesus through Legalistic Eyes. 6:2 “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” (Mark 2:23.) It is incidental that the question revolves around the Sabbath. Jesus honored the Sabbath. He taught His disciples to correctly honor it. They rebuke what He is allowing His disciples to do. They are eating grain and it is the Sabbath; it was wheat or barley, and harvesting, threshing, winnowing, and preparing it were not lawful. They equate combining and drawing one’s hand over the stalk. The Pharisees had forgotten the claims of mercy because they were beset by rules and regulations. Jesus quoted I Samuel 21:1-6, where David’s men ate the “shewbread” (Bread of the Presence). If David was justified as a man of war defending himself, then what about Jesus, who was a man of love, peace, and mercy.
William Barclay’s insight into “Have you not read what David did?” An obvious “yes!” They did not bring an open mind to God’s Word. They did not bring a needy heart.
V. They Watched Jesus through Changeless Eyes. Jesus asks the question here. 6:9 “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” (Mark 3:5)
6:5 Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. (Mark 2:28). He defines the Sabbath as an agent for man’s well-being, not an institution to which man is responsible. God ordained it as a day of rest and worship: rest for his body, worship for his spirit. Matthew 12:12 puts it in the form of a positive statement. “It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” It is a story with characters: One who needs help—the man with the withered hand; the helper—Jesus; and those who define that help—the Pharisees.
VI. Jesus Chooses His Disciples, 6:12-19. V12 He spent a night in prayer. V13-16 He began calling the disciples. He begins a concerted ministry. V18 He is there [to teach]; the disciples are there to learn; the multitudes are there to hear and to be healed.
Conclusion (Luke 6:6-10)
- Faith called the infirm man to do what he could: “Stand forth.”
- Faith constrained him to do what he could not: “Stretch forth thy hand.”
- Faith compelled him to give credit as is due. “Go in praise to God” (Understood). Jose Cardena was asked about his leukemia. “Would your life purpose be the same if you had not contracted leukemia?” “Probably not,” he said.
LIVING BUILDING STONES
#15 LIVING BUILDING STONES
Scripture I Peter 2:1-12 NIV Orig. 5/10/64 (10-81)
Rewr. 10-1-86
Passage: Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
Purpose: To show that we are the Living Building Stones out of which the redemptive mission of God is brought to fruition
Keywords: Mission, Church, Christ, Propitiation, Heritage, Fellowship, Tradition
Introduction
Octoberfest celebrations are underway everywhere. Most of the people who are celebrating have no idea what the original concept was. It would never occur to them that this is a harvest ritual. They are totally void of any comprehension of meaning in relation to the bounty of God in general. And the provision of Christ in particular. How many people who are caught up in the wild melee of these celebrations will see them as a time of rededication, and of new beginnings?
Werner Marx, Moravian missionary to South America, remembers his own childhood in the home of missionary parents in Tibet. He remembers dedication services for new workers where fledgling missionaries were required to place both their hands on their head and declare, “Woe unto me if I preach not the Gospel!” Their lives were fixed to the place where they were, and they were to be prepared to be used of God to build what He would build.
It is not inordinately visionary to think of ourselves in that same light. We are “living building stones” to serve the place where we are. We are not here by accident, you and I. We are here a-purpose, and the purpose is God’s.
You remember Walt Kelly’s comic strip, Pogo. The characters were animals, but the gist of the strip was human relationships. They were having trouble getting along with one another, and Pogo observed, “The trouble with us is that we are surrounded by insurmountable opportunities.” He eulogized to his fellow-denizens of the swamp, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
I. In the First Place, Living Stones are Provisional. V9 “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy mountain, a peculiar people; for ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Consider the analogy as it relates to building. The architect determines the style of stone. The workman rasps away any rough edges to bring the stone into symmetry. The stone has only yielded to this superior wisdom.
True Baptists have sustained a real romance with the local church. We have rightly viewed it as the proper descendant of the body of believers found in the New Testament. In the real sense, descendants also of Israel. The physical manifestation of the Kingdom of God.
But the Church in every age has faced the temptation to lose its outward vision. The aging process does indeed bring on the hypochondria of deterioration. This lends support to the discovery that two kinds of churches tend to grow: those newly started, who are able to sustain the freshness of mission, and those that “re-dream” the dream. What we must discover are new ways to minister to those outside the local church. We will not have many new people to come here. The key is finding a means to the disenfranchised ones. Consider the inner child of the past; bad childhood experience; the threat of surrendering some ingrained passion. What we need first at First Baptist Church is not new people in town, but those among us who re-dream the dream.
One of the real problems of the late 1980’s is to deal with the burden of spiraling expenditure that eats away at what we ought to do for others and for God. An editorial cartoon in NSW (10-81) is of two cave men exhausting their possessions trying to own the more powerful weapon. Dr. Leslie Weatherhead wrote: “Picture in your mind a man of say a million years ago, grabbing his club and running for his cave because his enemy was in sight. Then picture modern man in his imported suit grabbing his gas mask and running for his bomb shelter because the attack alarm has sounded. Which is civilized?”
II. Such Living Stones are Also Providential. V4: “So come to Him, our Living Stone—the stone rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God. Come and let yourselves be built, as living stones, into a spiritual temple; become a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” We are required to rethink the entire meaning of fellowship. Clarence Willis in Oakdale attended regularly but would not unite with the church because of church suppers. The problem at Corinth was with “Love Feasts.” Jude 12: “These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted, twice dead.”
But Jesus used “sup” as an analogy of faith. Revelation 3:20: “Behold I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” So we have justification for fellowship meals. But Blackie’s thesis is right, fellowship is more than eating together, whether in the same room or under the same tree.
I remember a wedding reception in New Orleans, but Christian fellowship was on few minds.
Fellowship is not merely a joint walk by equals either. What happens in too many marriages of those who seem supremely suited is that there is no spiritual unity between them. The novelty wears off, and the bond comes unraveled. Fellowship is a walk together in the dispensation of grace, God’s grace. It is to be of the same mind as God, and of his Son, Jesus.
In the sphere of worship, prayer, ministry, and administration, we have fellowship. 1 John 1:7 “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with the other.” No, we don’t have to give up church suppers or dinners. We don’t even have to hold them outside. There is even some room for parlor games, the right kind, but they must be occasions of Christian fellowship.
Vance Havner said: “The church today needs time out to tune up. We are so busy building a bigger orchestra, that we won’t stop to tune the instruments. What good is a big orchestra if two-thirds of the members never show up for practice, or else are off-key when they perform?”
III. So, These Living Stones are, Above All Else, Propitiational. V6 “Wherefore also, it is contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded. It no longer is an extension of Judeo/Christian traditions. Upon this building stone all rests. Notice verses 7 and 8. The craftsmen are at their work. The surveyor has found the site. The architect has fitted plans to the site. The builder has begun construction. But all have discounted the capstone.
The only link to the past that matters is Christ. But our best link with Him is NOW. Don’t ask where we have been but, rather, where we are going. Do we walk together in Christ? Are we STONES for the building? Do we willingly fit into the chosen place? Is it nothing more than Pogo’s “insurmountable opportunity”? What is the church’s destiny? What is our church’s destiny?
Tonight, Sardis: “thou hast a name that thou liveth.”
In a few weeks Philadelphia: “Behold, I have set before thee an open door.”
Conclusion
Most of us have had enough of Alice in Wonderland to remember the basics of the story. Alice is at a crossroads, not sure what to do next. She encounters the Cheshire Cat. He enquires, “Where are you headed?” She responds, “I don’t know.” To which he responds what must be the feeling of our Lord for many of us as well, if you don’t know where you are going, “Then it doesn’t matter!” Which road is taken at the crossroads?
We Christians are to know where we are going, and which road leads to our destination.
Robert Frost: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by. That has made all the difference.”
THE PROPHECIES OF CHRISTMAS
#014 THE PROPHECIES OF CHRISTMAS
Scripture Matthew 2:1-23 Orig. 8-25-63 (12-77)
Rewr. 12-18=86
Passage:
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’[b]”
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” 9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”[c]
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”[d]
19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”
21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.
Purpose: To share a Christmas message drawing from the great prophecies about Christ and His birth.
Keywords: Biographical, Joseph Messiah Prophecy Christ, Birth
Timeline/Series: Christmas
Introduction
It has been more than thirty years since I first drove north out of Alexandria on the highway that fronts church property. That first trip through the pine forests of central Louisiana was with the young woman who would become my wife, to meet her parents. Because four pastorates and twenty years would be spent in the central and southern parts of our state, that highway would be one “much traveled by.”
We watched many changes. Since much of it was in the National Forest, only as we approached the towns were there indications of people’s changing ways. But even the forest changed. An occasional tree hugging the right of way would be gone. Places where the tree harvester plied his trade were in evidence. We would see the void, where trees had been. Next, the denuded landscape. But by the next trip north, preseedlings would be in the ground beginning their inexorable growth.
There were human changes as well. At a central stopping place there was a break we regularly took. It was a restaurant operated by a happy, God-fearing family man. His daughters were grown and occasionally worked in the business. His pride in them showed, not only in the pictures that adorned the walls.
A much younger son was seen occasionally, and then over years, less and less. He grew up during those years. Graduated from Winnfield High School, went on to LSU, graduated there I believe, and became a pilot. Then, on a later trip, Mr. Mercer told us that he was in Viet Nam. An article in the Alexandria paper while we were still in Oakdale revealed that the young man was dead, shot down serving his country.
The restaurant was still open on our next journey or two north, but things were not the same. He, of happy countenance and friendly greeting, was not to be seen. Then came the inevitable day, and a black, gloomy sign which read “Closed.” It was understood that it also meant, “Not to be reopened.” I do not recall whether other interests tried to make the Goat Castle thrive again. I only know that it could not have been. Now, the corner is marred by the memory of what was, and what is, and by what now occupies the corner on the south edge of Winnfield.
It is a high price to pay to give one’s son, even if the cause is that in which one believes. God gave His Son, knowing full well that for Him to be born would also be to die. That’s an even higher price.
I. There Is the Foretelling of His Birth to Wise Men. It is not a prophecy in the Biblical sense. There is scriptural intonation. Numbers 24:16f “The utterance of him . . . who sees the vision of the Almighty, . . . I see Him but not now; I behold Him, but not near. A star shall come out of Jacob; a scepter shall rise out of Israel.”
Zechariah offers an apocalyptic image.
Other verses allude to wisdom of men out of the east. I Kings 4:30 “Solomon’s wisdom excelled . . . the men of the east.”
We know something, of course, of those people and their distant land:
- In the east was Babylon, today’s Iraq, in the Tigris/Euphrates valley.
- Isaac’s wife, Rebekah, came from Abraham’s homeland, Mesopotamia.
- Egypt was the land of captivity, where some Jews remained.
- The gospel song reminds us of this time: “Wade in the water; wade in the water, children; wade in the water: God’s gonna trouble the water.”
- Ur, home of Abraham, is near modern-day Kuwait, which rests precipitously at the Northwest extremity of the Persian Gulf.
- Jerusalem was the land of Daniel (Daniel 9:24-25), who prophesied 70 weeks (or years) until the coming of the Messiah.
The presence of these wise men demands two significant considerations: That the Messiah was known outside of Israel, disarming this as a political P.R. event, and that God intended faith in His Son to be the great, universal, foundation stone upon which hope and peace would be built. Micah 4:2 “And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Zechariah 2:11 “And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee.” Zechariah 8:23 “Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.”
II. There Is Prophecy Relative to Messiah’s Birth, Appearing Here As Questions of Those Men. V2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?” With all of their learning, there are yet surprises: Surprise that Herod knows not of this, that a king would be born away from Jerusalem, that the star will show them the very place of His birth, and that they would be “divinely warned” in a dream.
But be very sure that the prophetic word of God knows no surprises. Micah 5:2 “But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth that is to be ruler in Israel.” The wise men asked about a king, but when Herod called on his own scholars, he inquired of “Messiah,” and of Bethlehem.
At Bethlehem, the picture begins to form of God’s love. Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the sky of parchment made; were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade: To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry, Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky (Frederick Lehman).
At Bethlehem also, we begin to discover the degree to which God will go for those He loves. It took someone like Jesus to save us. We dare not treat it lightly.
III. The Forecast of Direction to Joseph for His Family. V13 “. . . an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, ‘Arise, take . . . go . . . stay.” It is not Father’s Day, but perhaps it is: A time to assume joys and responsibilities; a time to learn of Joseph’s example; a time to bring joy to the hearts of 20th Century Marys; a time for deepening relationships, of the spiritual sort, and of family. God spoke to Joseph. He can speak to us: Through a dream then, perhaps now. He speaks indisputably through His Word.
The climax is that of obedience. V14 “. . . He arose, . . . took the young Child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt.” Knowing in obedience is doing. The message is that of God’s providence.
This is the Joseph of momentous decisions. When he learned of the baby there were three choices: Accuse Mary before the elders; simply put her away (Deuteronomy 22:26—sometimes the woman is helpless); accept Mary, and her baby, shelter them both, love them, and see the wonders of God.
When God persists in a plan, He provides the resource. Three wise men from the east traveled for perhaps five months to provide resources for Joseph and his family in Egypt.
Wise men still seek Jesus.
IV. There Is Foreboding of the Murder of Children. V16 “Herod . . . sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under.”
Is it conceivable for one man to harbour such malice, suspicion, and fear? But clearly, to the warped mind human life is just another expendable commodity, political not spiritual. Besides that, it was not just another human life sought by Herod, not just another number recorded on the parchment of over-populated land mass. This was the king/messiah they were asking about: What is done with the old king when a new one asserts himself?
There are still Herods about. These people didn’t find Jeremiah’s prophecy all that shocking. Nor did the people to whom Jeremiah spoke. “A voice was heard in Ramah, . . . Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they were no more” (Jeremiah 31:15).
Such are not born that way, they become that way. “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad with power.”
Christian social enterprise without Christ’s redemptive love is hate. I read of the Mayas of Mesoamerica, and their trials chiefly through Spain’s lust for gold. There were places in their own native land where they could not walk on the sidewalks until 1965.
Conclusion
In these areas, the prophecies of Christmas chiefly speak. They testify that God is at work, and that He is at work in the human world. The prophetic scriptures were fulfilled. The Messiah was born of the Virgin Mary. He was called the “Son of God,” because He was. He was named “Immanuel” meaning God with us.
Harold Lindsell, contemporary scholar, wrote in Christianity Today (12/77), “By the light of nature we see God above us. By the light of the law we see God against us. By the light of the gospel we see Jesus as Immanuel who is God with us.”
Skeptics and apostates may question and deny, but they deny only their own reason, and assert their own faithlessness. They do no injustice to the truth of God.
We believe the prophecies of Christmas because they are true. They are true because God intervened in history and brought them to pass. The Babe of Bethlehem became Calvary’s Captive: The Lord of glory, at whose feet we fall, and to whom we pay homage. Blessed Christmas season when once again we remind, and are reminded, that God has tabernacled among us and we have beheld His glory.
THE PREACHING OF JESUS
Scripture Luke 6:39-49 NIV Orig. July 4, 1985
Passage: 39 He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher. 41 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. 43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. 46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? 47 As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. 48 They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 49 But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”
Purpose: Continuing a Wednesday night series from Luke emphasizing the preaching of Jesus
Keywords: Luke, Christ, Preaching
Timeline/Series: Luke
Introduction
From the preaching of Jesus we have an example of preaching in the mold of Hebrew preaching in that day. It not only helps us to understand the context of preaching in the way that He experienced it, but it also shows the variances that He added to for others to follow.
Our text contains eleven verses. There are at least six distinct ideas contained therein. The themes are: Following those who don’t know where they are going; relationship of teacher and pupil; reality therapy; a tree and its fruit; good and evil persons; and building a house.
Herein is the essence of Hebrew preaching. The Jews had a word for it: charaz, meaning “stringing beads.” The preacher, in order to maintain interest, was taught to hurry from topic to topic. The Book of Proverbs is a fairly good example of such preaching.
Here, we have an example of using this kind of contemporary communication. But He was not limited to this. We find Him broadening the base of preaching by using it to convey specific truth through teaching. He controlled the manner of His preaching as surely as He did the message.
Rule #1—We can Share Effectively Only What We have Come to Grasp Sufficiently. V39 “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch?” The blind person is totally helpless with anything he has not experienced. The blind person is helpless. It is remarkable what some have achieved within their limitations. There are golf tournaments for the blind. A blind woman named Vera painted her house in New Orleans. To try to take another where we have not been is a risk. There are compensations for sighted persons, such as maps, aids.
There is room for consideration of both literal and metaphorical blindness. The Greek word tuphlos refers to either kind of blindness. Its use here seems to suggest a literal blindness (physical).
There are variances of blindness. Some don’t see; some won’t see; some can’t see. Helen Kellen spoke at Southern Seminary and said, “The worst thing is to have eyes and not be able to see.” V40 “A disciple is not above his, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. Perfect/perfected—katertismenos in the Greek—suggests mending torn or broken nets. In Matthew 4:21, “He saw James and John, . . . mending their nets.” Galatians 6:1 “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in a trespass (fault), you who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness.”
There are compensations for blindness whether literal or otherwise. If literal, there is a cane, guide dog, surgery, miracle; if none of these work, there is always the arm of a friend. It is so for metaphorical blindness, but the helper must first be able to see.
The Golden Rules of Teaching
- A teacher is a hinge on which one’s future swings.
- We teach more by our walk than by our talk.
- Sometimes, an ounce of Christian living before a pupil is worth a ton of talk.
- It is not what the pupils remember that constitutes knowledge, but what they cannot forget.
Rule #2—Misshapen Attitudes Affect Us both as Teachers and Learners. V41 “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye?” There is another consideration of “don’t, won’t, can’t.” What these two have in common: Both have been rendered incapable of sight; both have seemingly correctible conditions. Now, a look at the ways they differ: a speck v. a plank or sawdust v. a saw log; accident v. carelessness; knowledge v. ignorance; beyond control v. self-control.
Dr. Criswell told about preaching in an Oklahoma revival. Members came, but a wife and husband went to sleep. When the power suddenly failed, the husband woke up in the dark. “Dr. Criswell,” he shouted, “Stop preaching and pray for me! I’ve gone stark blind!”
Don’t work to change others until you’ve made room for change in your own life. A psychiatrist is an M.D. who goes through psychoanalysis himself. As Edward Wallis Hoch wrote, “There is so much bad in the best of us, and so much good in the worst of us, that it hardly behooves any of us to talk about the rest of us.”
Rule #3—Good and Evil are Alike Products of Human Personality. V 45 “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of the heart brings forth evil.” Obedience to the highest good we know is the final test. Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.” Psalm 1:2 “His delight is in the law of the Lord.”
The tree is known by what it produces. I have two plums in my yard. One is surrounded by little plums from last year’s fallen plums. The other I race the birds to them. My tomato plants are not producing. In the same way, the human heart produces what it is. Does God see the maliciously evil differently from the ignorantly evil? The evil done in the name of religion? The hostages! [1979-81]
Rule #4—What is in the Human Heart is Given Expression with What We Say. V45 “Out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” What does one say under pressure? What does one habitually say? What do we say when no one hears?
Rule #5—They Are Happy Who do not Exchange Future Advantage for Present Pleasure. V48 “He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.” The house builder is a useful illustration. He built his house during the dry season in the river bed. When the rains came it was more difficult and more expensive.
We often have a choice between immediate convenience and long-term good. Many people have trouble choosing what can’t be seen, such as the essence of spiritual decision. Let us rebuke carelessness of spirit, as the University President whose goal was to raise a Christian family. Let us require steadfastness; 1 Timothy 6:19, “Storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.” Let us restore hope. Storms do come.
***THE REMAINDER OF THIS SERMON HAS BEEN LOST***
THE GREAT PHYSICIAN
#003 THE GREAT PHYSICIAN
Scripture Luke 5:27-32 Orig. 6/21/64
Rewr. 8/1/87
Passage: 27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. 29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Purpose: To share with my people various spiritual sicknesses and that only a sense of sin leads us to the One who can heal.
Keywords: Christ, Saviour Faith Doubt Sin
Introduction
The years have passed far too quickly. We have watched with fascination, and sometimes with dismay, the progress of American space missions. We remember particularly some of the earlier ones because we watched our TVs with our hearts in our throats. We read the responses of the returning astronauts.
I remember the cosmonaut who returned loudly proclaiming that if heaven is out there, he saw no evidence of God. It was only a few weeks later that an American astronaut responded, having viewed what’s out there with eyes of faith, and having seen great evidence of God everywhere he looked.
Later, someone, I forget who, added a footnote to this debate. It is a message not to be overlooked.
“Nothing has been found up there that has changed the ground rules down here. Nothing has been gleaned along the Milky Way which has made the good life easier or the wrong less attractive. There is nothing out there that can warm one heart chilled with loneliness here, or bandage one mind that’s bleeding to death from doubt, or forgive one sin that has turned one soul prematurely grey. . . .”
I. It Is the Self-Righteously Sick Who Need the Physician. 5:31 “. . . not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” He is the person who has answers even to questions which haven’t been asked. Scribes and Pharisees were smart men. They had read the writing and knew the mind of God. Why do you associate with such? (Levi).
At Simon’s for dinner (7:36), Jesus was approached by a sinful woman, who anointed Him. Simon concludes, “If he were a prophet he would know the kind of woman she is.”
People are often flippant about the mind of God. Psalm 25:14 “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His covenant.” Romans 11:34 “Who hath known the mind of the Lord?” I Corinthians 1:25 “The foolishness of God is wiser than men.”
Besides this flippancy about God, there are those who gloss over their own sin. They are not so forgiving of others’ sins. It should be our most accessible trait. The Bible shows the character of God. Evidence described a Christ who lived it. But day by day we are surely overcome by our failure even to come close to the expectations of God. John 15:22 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now . . . they have no excuse for their sin.”
We must also consider the parent refusing to acknowledge spiritual responsibility. A great man once spoke of his majestic city, saying that if allowed to do so, he would go to the highest place in that city, call all the citizens together, and ask why they were turning every stone to scrape wealth together, yet taking so little care and concern for their children to whom they must one day relinquish all. The man was Socrates, speaking in Athens in 400 B.C.
II. It Is the Cynically Sick Who Need the Physician. “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have . . . come . . . to call the righteous . . . to repentance.” The cynic sees only the ugly in our society. We will do well to dispense with false ideals. Sin and hypocrisy among well-meaning people are too easily spotted.
There are legitimate claims of hypocrisy in the church. But people who use hypocrisy as an excuse can’t afford to be hypocritical. If you stay away from church, for example, you must also find businesses without hypocrisy. Be careful that those who teach your children are above hypocrisy. Plan ahead so that your funeral coach driver is without such sin.
The cynic sees Christ not as physician, but as meddler. But for Christ’s intervention, he could be openly amoral. John 15:24 “If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin.” No, they would just be consigned to the region of the damned, of the earth, earthly. But for Christ, gold would be our eternally adorning God. I Peter 1:18 “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver and gold.” But for Christ, our children would be the fruit of fate, not faith.
III. It Is the Pseudo-Religiously Satisfied Who Need the Physician. 5:31 “It is not the healthy who need a doctor . . . . I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Such is often the person without spiritual values—unmoved, unmotivated, satisfied not to be last. Regrettably, even using Philippians 4:11 as proof text: “ . . . for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content,” ignoring what Paul went on to say: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Morality for too many people today is staying out of jail and out of the doghouse. Many excuse themselves saying the New Testament standard is outdated. In a cartoon, two people stood before a painting by one of the great masters. One said, “I’m not impressed. Are you?” The other, “The painting is not on trial. We are!”
The values of our day become more confused. In Steinbeck’s novel, The Winter of Our Discontent, the son of his protagonist won an essay award through plagiarism. When confronted by his father after the award was taken away, the young man said, “Who cares? Everybody does it . . . . Don’t you read the papers? Right up to the top!” This is not a barb at youth. It is a stab at the pathetic example set for youth. When we come to doubt the reasons for the things we do, we are in trouble.
IV. It Is the Seeking Sick to Whom the Physician Comes. V32 “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” First of all, the truly righteous know their state before God. Psalm 112:7 “His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.” Isaiah 32:17“The effect of righteousness will be quietness and assurance forever.”
The true seeker, though yet unredeemed, knows the hope of salvation. He is standing under the burden of sin: Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” He knows that a day of reckoning must come: Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through the Lord Jesus Christ.” What he may not know is the fullness of this salvation and its availability: Romans 15:13 “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound.”
There are times, as a true seeker, that I fear for my role as pastor of First Baptist Church. Oh, we are baptizing our children. But what else of significance? How much closer to the Lord are you? What would a roll call of deacons, Sunday School teachers tell us? How excitedly do you take your place on Sunday morning? Why do you not come back on Sunday evening? Wednesday? Why do you make no effort to further missions activities of your church?
My fear is in the full realization that God will not suffer through an ineffective leader to the spoil of His church, and this church is a precipitous one. It’s time then, for a lot of us, as true believers, to begin thinking repentance.
Conclusion
I found a paragraph at the conclusion of a sermon written 20-25 years ago telling of the critical nature of contemporary events. A journalist had published a book, Two Minutes till Midnight. A missionary had delivered a much-publicized message entitled “Wake Up or Blow Up.” A piece in the newspaper had told of individual B-52s on air alert, carrying explosive power equal to twelve times the explosives dropped during all of World War II. During that same time, a statesman had spoken of people living under a “balance of terror.”
Armageddon is a Biblical reality, and we may be closer than we think. Whatever else may be on the brink, it is time to seek peace.