THE EXCELLENCE OF GOD

#120                                                             THE EXCELLENCE OF GOD                                                                                    

Scripture  Psalm 8, NIV                                                                                                                                       Orig. 2-28-62

                                                                                                                                                                                Rewr. 12-22-76 

Passage:  ¹ Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
    in the heavens.
² Through the praise of children and infants
    you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
    to silence the foe and the avenger.
³ When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
⁴ what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?^[c]

⁵ You have made them^[d] a little lower than the angels^[e]
    and crowned them^[f] with glory and honor.
⁶ You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
    you put everything under their^[g] feet:
⁷ all flocks and herds,
    and the animals of the wild,
⁸ the birds in the sky,
    and the fish in the sea,
    all that swim the paths of the seas.

⁹ Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Introduction

                Psalm is a Christmas Cantata and Easter program rolled into one.  It is the highest expression of all that the Psalmist feels.  The entire congregation seems suddenly to have been made aware of what God is really about.

                It is the wonder of the shepherds as they become aware, not just of the angels, but of the message being proclaimed.  It is the wise men, who, having for weeks followed a star, suddenly discovered that it was leading to more than they ever imagined.  It is a young Hebrew man and his wife, who believed in each other when no one else did, and who now reap the reward of their trust.

                It is that marvelous discovery of what Christmas is all about.  The realization that something wonderful has happened, and that it has happened at a time and place when my life is affected by it.

I.             His Excellence is Seen in His Divine Imperative.  O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth.  (Thy glory is recognized as far above the heavens as the heavens are above the earth.)  He brings to the earth a being not strange to himself, with the potential to deliver personality, character, and integrity.  The world is waiting for these signs of life to be communicated. 

                Elton Trueblood writes in The New Man for Our Time “The Christian faith cannot perform a redemptive role in the modern world unless it gives strong leadership on the central issue of faith.  If the members of the church are primarily interested in erecting a new building or buying a new piano, they will not even begin to meet the need that modern seekers so deeply feel."

                Additionally, it is the purpose of God to transmit His own holiness into the being of His creation.  There is one irrefutable argument for our faith—a life lived in holiness.

II.            His Excellence is Seen in the Majesty of His Creation.  When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; What is man that Thou art mindful of him?  We do not project the image of something in mass production, but that which is carefully, tenderly made.  How many of us remember those simplistic toys of childhood that meant the more because they were turned out by the loving hands of a parent?

                The concept of visitation is messianic, as in “visiteth” or “care for.”  Christmas was the literal visiting of God to the things of earth.  Luke 1:68 “At the birth of John, Zechariah prophesied ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people.’” Vv. 78-79 “The dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness.”  Acts 6:3 “(Look ye out) among you seven men of honest report.”

                There is redemptive purpose in this creation.  There is discovery of praise.  There is the blessing which results.  How many people want the same results from worship that they seek in the marketplace—the most for the least?

III.           The Excellence of God is Seen in the Honor Extended His Creation.  “Yet Thou has made him little less than God, and dost crown him with glory and honor.”  We are capable of dominion, of maintenance of physical control over the physical universe.

                We have mental comprehension. Take into consideration what man has been able to understand of outer space.  He had to know what to expect before men would be sent on the moon journey.

                We have spiritual uniqueness. “A little lower than the angels” (Elohim).  Luke 20:36 “For they are equal unto the angels.”

Conclusion

                From Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”:

                “Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid

                                Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire—

                Hands, that the rod of empire might have swayed,

                                Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre.”

HELPING THE HOME TO HAPPINESS

#105                                                   HELPING THE HOME TO HAPPINESS                                                                          

Scripture                                                                                                                                                      Orig. 5/2/65 (5/77)

Genesis 2:18-24 NIV                                                                                                                                          Rewr. 6/18/87

I Corinthians 7:3-5 NIV                                                                                                                                                                  

Passage:  Genesis 2:18-24 ¹⁸ The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” ¹⁹ Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam^[a] no suitable helper was found. ²¹ So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs^[b] and then closed up the place with flesh. ²² Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib^[c] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

²³ The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” ²⁴ That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

I Corinthians 7:3-5 ³ The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. ⁴ The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. ⁵ Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

Purpose:  On the occasion of Father’s Day, urge my people to achieve a renewed understanding of the home as a unique spiritual blessing.

Keywords:          Family                   Marriage              Heritage               Home

Introduction

                We occasionally see stickers on cars identifying those within as participants in some marriage-meaning seminar.  One of these stickers states, “We believe in marriage.”  If one believes in God, and believes that He has spoken in His Word, then marriage is the fundamental human relationship.

                What we read in Genesis 2 as the historic position of scripture, is found virtually unchanged when we read Paul’s interpretation found in I Corinthians 7.  Clearly, Jesus saw it this way, and declared his teaching openly.

                According to many social scientists, marriage is at a low point of esteem.  50% of all marriages end in divorce.  The average span of a marriage is six to nine years, giving vent to what is called the “seven-year itch.”  That’s another name for boredom based on acquired responsibility.

                Don’t lose sight of the fact that in our 20^th Century, sex has become a “sales” technique.  Thus enter our salesperson counselors who advise solutions: “gracious living replaces the life of grace.”  Instead of dealing with the problem, such counselors insist on a change of appearance, or wardrobe.  The psychiatrist seeks the total dismantling of “guilt” insisting, “If it feels good, do it,” which in many cases is what we want to hear anyway.

                The mandate upon the Christian in regard to marriage, is that God is the instigator of marriage, the molder of relationship, the magnifier of trust.

                It is important that those who have weathered the winds of withdrawal, know Who has been their succor.  As well, those who are facing uncertain days of threatened dissolution, need to know that their marriage is worth saving, and to know Him, only, who can.  And, finally, those who look ahead to such a social dilemma, might know that God still honors His Word, for those who are willing to live by it, and for those who do not.

I.             Marriage is Founded upon a Unique Spiritual Heritage.  Genesis 2:24 “. . . he shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.” I Corinthians 7:3 “The husband shall give to the wife what is her due as his wife; and so also the wife to the husband.”

                Such marriage is of divine origin.  Living Bible: God took the rib and made the woman, brought her to the man, who responded, “This is it!”  Grace is always getting more than we either expect or deserve.  One is impelled to see intended, physical consummation.  Some say it is the “result of sin.”  Others, that God allows it as an impediment.

                Scripture points to a higher goal of intent.  It was to be creative, intimate, relational—ever so much more than carnal expression.  It is the ultimate proclamation of selflessness.  The Greek has three words expressing love: carnal, familial, selfless.  Proverbs 18:22 “Whoso finds a wife, finds a good thing.” Hebrews 13:4 “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled.”

                Such physical consummation becomes spiritual between two people on harmonious spiritual terms. It is the belief that its beginning, and tenure, are of God, and it is the contentment that the relationship is its own ultimate goal.

                I remember a story (Readers Digest, March 1977), “There Came a Cry of Joy” about an ornithologist and a sparrow hawk.  He trapped it, but instead of penning it at the end of the day, felt impressed to release it.  He opened his hands, and watched as the hawk soared upward.  From far overhead he heard the cry of another bird.  “I was young then, and had seen little of the world, but when I heard that cry, my heart turned over.  It was not the cry of the hawk I had released.  I was now seeing farther up . . . where she had been soaring . . . for untold hours. And from far up, ringing from peak to peak of the summit over us, came a cry of such unutterable and ecstatic joy that it sounds down across the years and tingles among the cups on a quiet breakfast table.”

                To this divine origin is added parenthood. It is lagniappe, not biological, but spiritual, emotional.  Note: Parents, your children are being brainwashed with ideas relating to sex that are promiscuous, unrealistic.  Let them see in your marriage the bases for the divine image.  Youth, when you buy the contemporary garbage of promiscuity as a worthwhile goal, you reduce the chances that you will ever be able to experience what God wills for you.

II.            Uniquely Spiritual, Marriage is also Uniquely Human.  Genesis 2:18 “And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone; I will make an helpmeet for him.”  I Corinthians 7:4 “The wife no longer has full rights over her body, but shares them with her husband.  So also, the husband with the wife.”

                The Christian home is a respite of equals.  Matthew 19:6 “They are no longer two, but one flesh.”  These equals work together to define roles.  Indeed, the husband is to be head of wife and home.  Ron used “obey” for the wife, but merited it not written into the companion vow.

                The vulnerable marriages, Christian as well, are those that become power struggles.  Speaking tongue-in-cheek, the husband settles big issues and the wife the little ones: The wife decides where to live, school for children, vacation plans, etc.  The husband decides when to reestablish trade relations with China; whether or not to support the Contras; if PTL really should have sold the doghouse.

                Both must take serious interest in avoiding what brings grief to the other. Watchwords are communication, compromise, commitment.

                A relationship of equals is based on spiritual values.  It is this that is most easily mismanaged.  It is not a question of how much or how deeply we love.  Love is measured in terms of quality.  We must be able to gauge where we ourselves are spiritually, and to find another in spiritual harmony.  The last statistics seen call attention to a much higher level of marital success for those marrying above college age, perhaps twice as high.  It is not the college degree as much as age maturity.  Youth are clearly vulnerable.  All must remember that nothing physical or material will last. 

                Love sonnet: Thomas Moore, 18^th Century Irish poet, was married to beautiful Bessie Dykes, an actress.  In 1811, while away, he found out from a friend that she had been stricken with a skin disease, leaving her disfigured.  She dreaded his return. This poem preceded him:

“Believe me if all those endearing young charms, Which I gaze on so fondly today,

Were to change by tomorrow, and melt in my arms, Like fairy-gifts fading way,

Thou would still be adored, as this moment thou art, Let thy loveliness fade as it will.

And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart Would incline itself verdantly still.

It is not while beauty and youth are thine own, And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear,

That the fervour and faith of a soul may be known, To which time will but make thee more dear!

No, the heart that has truly loved never forgets, But as truly loves on to the close;

As the sunflower turns on her god, when he sets, The same look which she turned when he rose.”

                Others are as well vulnerable.  Among them are those who have lost mates of special harmony.  Marriage is not an end in itself.  The key is always, “What God has joined together.”  The solution is to allow the Spirit to lead.

                The worst mistake in my life…. (***the remainder of this paragraph has been lost***).

                What about the divorced?  There are times when divorce or annulment are the only alternatives.  That person has the right to marital happiness.  The Christian must not ever take the easy way.

                I came to know Wes Jackson in New Orleans. His wife had died, and he was dating a church lady.  A friend, whose wife had walked out on his ministerial career, sympathized with him over the loss of his wife.  “As strange as it may seem to you, I envy you.  Not because your wife died, but because death is so final, while divorce is not.  I know she’s out there somewhere, and I still care for her.”

III.           For the Home to be Uniquely Christian, there Needs to be Grace to Accept Differences in Others’ Lives.  The church performs in the role of extended family.  Christ is the husband, the Church is the bride, and we are participants together in family.

                Units within that family structure are going to differ.  Marriage is the norm: the operating criteria for most of us.  Single people are just as important to God.  Marriage at any cost is not the answer.  Making the most out of marriage is the answer for all married people.  The church must stand ready to open its heart as well to those outside of traditional family, offering companionship, and a full sense of belonging.

Conclusion

                Let me close, however, with a piece called “Practical Rules for a Happy Marriage.” “Never both be angry at the same time.  Never talk at one another, either alone or in company.  Never speak loudly to one another, unless the house is on fire.  Let each one strive to yield most often to the wishes of the other.  Let self-denial be the daily aim and practice of each.  Never taunt with a past mistake.  Neglect the whole world rather than one another.  Never part for a day without loving words to remember.  Never make a mean remark at the expense of the other.  Never meet without a loving welcome.  Never let the sun go down on any anger or grievance.  Never forget the happy hours of early love.  Never forget that marriage is ordained of God and that His blessings alone can make it what it ought to be.  And you will be happy ever after.”

                C.S. Lewis wrote in The Four Loves: “If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one. . . avoid all entanglements.  Lock it up safe in the coffin of your selfishness.  But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change.  It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. . . .  The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.”

THE ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

#103                                                        THE ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE                                                                               

Scripture              Jeremiah 2:5-13 NIV                                                                                        Orig. 11/22/64 (11/78)

                                Deuteronomy 1:10-11, 21 NIV                                                                                    Rewr. 11/22/86 

Passage:

Jeremiah 2:5-13

⁵ This is what the Lord says:

“What fault did your ancestors find in me,
    that they strayed so far from me?
They followed worthless idols
    and became worthless themselves.
⁶ They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord,
    who brought us up out of Egypt
and led us through the barren wilderness,
    through a land of deserts and ravines,
a land of drought and utter darkness,
    a land where no one travels and no one lives?’
⁷ I brought you into a fertile land
    to eat its fruit and rich produce.
But you came and defiled my land
    and made my inheritance detestable.
⁸ The priests did not ask,
    ‘Where is the Lord?’
Those who deal with the law did not know me;
    the leaders rebelled against me.
The prophets prophesied by Baal,
    following worthless idols.

⁹ “Therefore I bring charges against you again,”
declares the Lord.
    “And I will bring charges against your children’s children.
¹⁰ Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and look,
    send to Kedar^[a] and observe closely;
    see if there has ever been anything like this:
¹¹ Has a nation ever changed its gods?
    (Yet they are not gods at all.)
But my people have exchanged their glorious God
    for worthless idols.
¹² Be appalled at this, you heavens,
    and shudder with great horror,”
declares the Lord.
¹³ “My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
    the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
    broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

Deuteronomy 1:10-11, 21

¹⁰ The Lord your God has increased your numbers so that today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky. ¹¹ May the Lord, the God of your ancestors, increase you a thousand times and bless you as he has promised! 

 ²¹ See, the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

Purpose:  To call my people to remembrance of blessings of God to His people and that their spiritual prosperity was linked to their obedience

Keywords:          God’s Blessing                   Promises             Hebrew History                 Promises            

                                Thanksgiving                      Thankfulness

Introduction

                The attitude of gratitude is not borne easily.  Not only is its existence a troubled one, bearing it can sometimes be a struggle to those near at hand.

                Anonymity claims the  pen which wrote the verse:

                “Be thankful every day for bread;

                                For clothes and shelter, clean and warm;

                And God’s protection in life’s storm;

                For life and health, and those who care;

                                For peace and quiet, and love and prayer.”

                But in its lines is “the attitude of gratitude.” Without such, there is little to life’s meaning.  There is no maturity, no personhood; certainly, no discipleship.

                Bishop William Quayle, upon hearing of the death of his friend, the naturalist John Burroughs, reflected aloud, “Poor John, he loved the garden, but he never met the gardener.”

                Joyce Kilmer, on the other hand, was unapologetically a believer.  Before he died on a battlefield in France at the age of 32, he wrote,

                “Thank God for the bitter and ceaseless strife

                                And the sting of His chastening rod.

                Thank God for the stress and pains of life

                                And, Oh, thank God for God.”

                The Hebrew people to whom Jeremiah spoke, and around whom Deuteronomy was written, shared a heritage of blessing in the promises of God.  A part of that observance was the Feast of Tabernacles. They knew this celebration as “Sukkot,” and shared together in this feast at the end of the harvest season.  The purpose was to give thankfulness to God for the fulfillment of all His promised blessings to them.  But their history, like ours today, is checkered with those occasions of great blessing, with little or no response from those to whom the blessings are given.

I.             The Attitude of Gratitude Examines the Record from the Past.  Jeremiah 2:7, “I brought you into a plentiful country to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof.”  So the Lord is the key to time and circumstance.  Dr. Sidlow Baxter teaches an important lesson in the lives of the seven great men of Genesis.  Abel was 1^st, not a man reaching in toward himself as was Cain, but reaching out to the unknown: to God. 2^nd was Enoch, immortalized forever as the man who walked with God.  3^rd was Noah, forever the man of spiritual renewal; he followed his God over the cold water to a new day of hope.  4^th was Abraham; he was a man who walked by faith, was “accounted as righteous” and called “the friend of God.” 5^th, a little later, came Isaac; from him we get our first taste of  sonship; he was of special promise, of special birth, almost a sacrifice for sin. Then, 6^th, came Jacob; in him was the life of service—busy, untiring, blessing, a prince at prayer. Finally, 7^th, came Joseph, a life thrown away, but picked up again, blessed and used. 

                It is not such men that we need today, but people with such a grasp of God, committed to pray, promise, and perform. 

                It was in some similar way that God moved to bring America to the forefront of nations.  The year was not 1492, by the way, nor was the man Columbus.  The year was 1455, and the man was Gutenberg.  If you do not recognize the name, he was a printer.  Printing came alive, the equivalent of the computer.  The Bible, and its vision of men and women in freedom, was only a step away. 

                It was not long before doctrinal integrity replaced Ecclesiastical hierarchy (1517) in Luther’s 95 Theses at Wittenberg.  During that same period. The persecution of Separatists, your spiritual forebears, pointed believers toward a distant wilderness and freedom’s dream.

                God’s concern in America today is not in a land, but in a vision; not in a political entity, but a people.  Isaiah 1:18 “Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall become as wool.”  Colossians 2:2, “God’s secret . . . is Christ himself.  He is the key that opens all the hidden  treasures of God’s wisdom and knowledge.

II.            The Attitude of Gratitude Considers Performance of God’s Dealings with His People.  Deuteronomy 1:10 “The Lord your God hath multiplied  you and behold, you are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.”   The good gifts of God to Israel were a stewardship trust. 

They were gifts clearly from God.  The Ark of the Covenant symbolized God’s presence. 2 Chronicles 7:14: "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."  We abuse holy things.

                They were gifts centered for service.  Deuteronomy 26:5, “My father was a homeless Aramean who went down into Egypt with a small company, and lived there until they became a great nation.”  It was clearly their responsibility to use those gifts to the glory of God.  To examine Israel during those years of glory is to be aware of the awe in which others held them.  In the world of nations between 10^th-8^th Centuries BC, they were the rich kid on the block.  Others were jealous, but could do nothing.  Then it was discovered that the mansion of Israel         had roaches and termites just like the shacks by the river.  They had been given a chance to help others.  Their greatest failing was that they did not.  What will our greatest failing be?

                You see, the truth of moral and spiritual responsibility is eternal.  To know God is to be morally and materially responsible for sharing that knowledge persuasively.  Isaiah 62:6 “I have set watchmen upon the walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace, day or night . . . .  Give Him no rest till He establishes, till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”

                Not to share that responsibility is soul damning.  Philippians 2:13, “For it is God which worketh in you, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.”

                “O Zion haste, thy mission high fulfilling, to tell to all the world that God is light,

                That He who made all nations is not willing one soul  should perish, lost in shades of night.

                Proclaim to every people, tongue, and nation that God in whom they live and move is love.

                Tell how He stooped to save His lost creation, and died on earth that man might live above.”

III.           The Attitude of Gratitude Speaks Also of Promises in Prospect.  Deuteronomy 1:11 “[May] the Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as you are, and bless you, as He has promised you.”   

                Let us remember that God is righteous, and our sin is a burden to Him. The world was created and ordered under His perfect hand.  It awaits people of faith and dedication to open the chalices of promise.

                About ¾ century ago Albert Einstein stood before colleagues and wrote an equation that has literally changed the world.  E = MC².  Energy is proportional to mass.  And the atomic age came into being.  Will it always bode evil and war?  Can it not also bring good?

                The fulfilled promise is one in which sin is brought to light in Christ.

                It is the eternal link of blood.  Leviticus 17:11 “For it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.”  Hebrews 9:22 “Without the shedding of blood is no remission.”

                It is the building blocks to the universe.  Isaiah 28:16 “Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion, for a foundation, a stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.”

                God’s promise is first an invitation.  Matthew 11:28, “Come unto me, all ye who labor.”  I Peter 2:9, ‘Ye are a chosen generation called . . . out of darkness into His marvelous light.”  Revelations 22:17 “Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.”

Conclusion

                The early charters of the colonies that became the United States were treatises dedicated to God through His Son.  Plymouth, Delaware, Massachusetts Bay, Maryland, Rhode Island had the stated purpose, “to advance the enlargement of the Christian religion, to the glory of God almighty.”

                The closing words of the Declaration of Independence confessed the nation’s dependence.  Congress appointed a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer in 1776, that the colonies, “through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, obtain His pardon and forgiveness.”  Congress ordered the first Thanksgiving in 1777 asking “the penitent confession of their manifold sins . . . and their  humble earnest supplication, that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to blot out our sins of remembrance.”

Abbreviated version of #103

                When you hear today of someone with “an attitude,” it usually has a negative connotation.  However, if I understand the word aright, it can be used positively as well.  Just as we are able to express strong negative emotions, we are also able to express powerful positive emotions.  It is in that sense that I speak to you this morning on “The Attitude of Gratitude.”

                Anonymity claims the pen which wrote the verse:

                “Be thankful every day for bread,

                                For clothes and shelter, clean and warm;

                And God’s protection in life’s storm.

                                For life and health, and those  who care,

                For peace and quiet, and love and prayer.”

                Such lines as these contain that “attitude of gratitude.”  Without such, life’s meaning is extremely the more complicated.  Bishop William Quayle,  upon hearing of the death of his friend, the world-renowned naturalist, John Burroughs, reflected aloud, “Poor John, he loved the garden but never knew the gardener.”

                Joyce Kilmer, on the other hand, was unapologetically a believer.  Before dying on a battlefield in France at the age of 32, he wrote:

                “Thank God for the bitter and ceaseless strife

                                And the sting of His chastening rod.

                Thank God for the stress and pains of life

                                And, Oh, thank God for God.”    

                The Hebrew people, who were Jeremiah’s audience, and the subject about which Deuteronomy was written, shared a heritage not unlike our Thanksgiving heritage.  It was a celebration called ‘Sukkot.”  It came at the end of the harvest season, and was intended as an expression of thankfulness.  But their history, like ours today, is checkered with manifold evidence of blessing, and little more than token response from those to whom the blessings are given.  The “attitude of gratitude” must examine Past Perceptions, Present Performances, and Promises in Prospect.

                The early charters of the colonies that became the United States were treatises dedicated to God through His Son.  Plymouth, Delaware, Massachusetts Bay, Maryland, Rhode Island had the stated purpose, “to advance the enlargement of the Christian religion, to the glory of God almighty.”

                The closing words of the Declaration of Independence confessed the nation’s dependence.  Congress appointed a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer in 1776, that the colonies, “through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, obtain His pardon and forgiveness.”  Congress ordered the first Thanksgiving in 1777 asking “the penitent confession of their manifold sins . . . and their  humble earnest supplication, that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to blot out our sins of remembrance.”

A MISSIONS MANDATE

#098                                                               A MISSIONS MANDATE                                                                                      

Scripture  Psalm 96:1-13 NIV                                                                                                                            Orig. 12-3-61

                                                                                                                                                                                Rewr. 11-28-79 

Passage:  ¹ Sing to the Lord a new song;
    sing to the Lord, all the earth.
² Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
    proclaim his salvation day after day.
³ Declare his glory among the nations,
    his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

⁴ For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
    he is to be feared above all gods.
⁵ For all the gods of the nations are idols,
    but the Lord made the heavens.
⁶ Splendor and majesty are before him;
    strength and glory are in his sanctuary.

⁷ Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations,
    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
⁸ Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
    bring an offering and come into his courts.
⁹ Worship the Lord in the splendor of his^[a] holiness;
    tremble before him, all the earth.
¹⁰ Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
    The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;
    he will judge the peoples with equity.

¹¹ Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
    let the sea resound, and all that is in it.
¹² Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;
    let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.
¹³ Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes,
    he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
    and the peoples in his faithfulness

Purpose: To call my people to the high goal of response to the nobility of the task found in missions, and doing all that we can to further His cause.

Keywords:          Missions              God’s Word        Jesus the King

Timeline/Series:               Lottie Moon

Introduction

                A pastor friend here in the city share a counseling burden through which he had recently gone.  It had to do with a 22-year-old mother of two children, whose husband had tired of the boredom of relationship and went off looking for his thing.  Her inability to cope with this situation, the responsibility, the loneliness, the inequity, brought her finally to her pastor’s study.

                Before the hour had passed, He knew that she was facing far more than just this debilitating circumstance.  He recognized that this young woman’s life was in jeopardy.  Somebody was going to have to do something, and soon.  Discovering that there was no one else who would help, my pastor friend went to the Orleans Parish coroner’s office.  There he was advised to secure the services of a lawyer who could appeal to the courts for this woman’s admission into a mental health unit.  This in turn would enable the Court to order the appropriate agencies to take action on behalf of this young woman.

                Before this process could be secured, my friend’s counselee took her own life.  I do not know what happened to the young husband, and I must honestly say I do not care.  I do not know what happened to the two small children, bereft first of their father, who did not love them, and then of their mother, who most assuredly did.  But for them I do care.  Our responsibility in missions is facing up to the fact that we are living in a world fraught with the burdens of broken relationships; destitute with the inequities with which some people brutalize other people. We are living in a world where we Christians are the only ones who have the answer.  Our responsibility is to heed “A Missions Mandate” for the world’s sake.  The world, like this desperate young woman, cannot long cope with what is happening to it.  We American Christians are spending our time trying to find a negotiated answer, which will permit someone else to do the dirty work, when the only answer is in the giving of ourselves.

I.             A Missions Mandate Declares the Purpose of Missions.  V3 Declare His glory among the heathen, His wonders among all people.  The principal purpose is to reveal God’s love.  This aspect of God’s character has taken a beating.  Only its truth has enabled this love to break through the barriers of human pretense. 

                I surely do not need to do more than remind you of the injustices carried out in the name of Jesus.  The Arab, Khomeini, is not the first of his kind to preach his gospel of hate, and murder, in the name of God.   God will deal with him and his kind appropriately, but we best be ready to stand by our guns.  This present crisis may yet involve us all.  Perhaps it is an appropriate time to remind you that Muslim faith was under the gun of its founder, Mohammed, who conceived it as a mixture of Jewish, Christian, Greek, and Roman influences.  Of all of the great prophets, he passed himself off as the greatest, even the Holy Spirit promised by Christ.

                How many people do you know about whose lives would be very, very different if there were just one person to show them love?  In that purpose inspired by love is the offer of salvation.  It is an offer made unconditionally.  It is an offer made irrevocably.  My insurance company sold me a policy to protect my car. They didn’t tell me at the time, but part of that policy was conditional and revocable.  The coverage on breakage becomes deductible after I file a couple of claims.

                It is an offer made through Jesus because only in Him is God’s love fully measured.

                Involved with that purpose is the understanding that we who follow Him must declare His glory before all people.  Nothing else portrays His love as Jesus does.  The Jews had failed as a people to respond to this love.  Amos 3:2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

II.            A Missions Mandate Proclaims the Message of Missions. V10 Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved.  Our principal message is to tell the world that the Lord reigns.  No greater service can you render your king than to let him reign in your heart.   No greater gift can be given from the human heart than to announce yourself subject unto your Lord.

                Years ago, an English king went to hear a little-known minister.  As the scripture was being read, the King whispered something to his consort.  The minister turned from the scripture and declared: When the lion roars, the other beasts are silent; when the kings of the earth speak, then all others become quiet; but when the King of Glory speaks, even the kings of the earth shall keep silent and listen.

                To say that our Lord reigns is to acknowledge that He has the temper of human history under His hand.  In 1812, Adoniram Judson went to Burma, paid for, by the way, by the offerings of other people.  He labored there for six years before he had his first convert.  He spent untold numbers of hours translating the Bible into the Burmese tongue.  In all of his ministry there, part of which was spent in jail, he witnessed only a few hundred conversions.  How many of us, knowing such rigors, would have advised him that it wasn’t worth it to spend his life that way.  Yet, because they have the message, because one man’s life stood under the Lordship of Christ, there are hundreds of thousands of believers in that place today.  Can you think of one place where, because you lived there, there is one person who has become a believer?

                Can you think of one place where, because you lived there, one person became a believer who otherwise would not?  We are bearers of a seed that will propagate itself.  We are to see that it gets to some.  They then must see that it is taken to others.  

                Those through whom you heard and believed were faithful.  Will those who wait for you be so fortunate?  In the library at the Prague, there is displayed a triad of medallions dated 1572.  On the first. Wycliffe, the Bible translator, can be seen striking sparks from a stone.  On the second, the great martyr Hus is seen kindling a flame from the sparks.  The last contains the image of Martin Luther holding high a flaming torch. They were an Englishman, a Bohemian, and a German, united in faithfulness.

III.           A Missions Mandate Elicits a Picture of Our Victory Through Missions.  V12f Let the field be joyful and all that is therein; then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord: for He cometh, He cometh to judge the earth; He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth.    

                Make no mistake about it, God’s offer of salvation is offered to all mankind.  Are you inclined to doubt your ability and capability?  So am I!  It was for this very reason that the disciples heard their Lord, and they looked at the multitudes around them, and observed the handful of loaves and fishes.  John 6:9 “What are these among so many?” 

                The same One who strengthened the faith of those first disciples offers us His strength today.  There is that most-quoted of verses  Philippians 2:10f  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, . . . And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

                It is unquestionably the destiny of the people of God.  Habakkuk viewed this destiny when he declared, “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”   Isaiah proclaimed it when he wrote  “The wolf will dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the fatling together; and the little child shall lead them.”  Micah believed it. “And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.  Nation shall not rise up against nation, neither shall they study war anymore.”   And John in Revelation gave a final testimonial.  “After this I looked, and beheld a great multitude, which no man could number, from every nation and from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb.’”           

                Isn’t it time for you to give your life to Jesus?  Isn’t it time to stop playing religious games when so much is at stake?

THUMPS IN THE NIGHT

#088                                                               THUMPS IN THE NIGHT                                                                                      

Scripture  Ezekiel 1:26-2:5 NIV                                                                                                                        Orig. 6/14/64

                                                                                                                                                                      Rewr. 8/78, 8/24/87 

Passage:  1 ²⁶ Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne^(A) of lapis lazuli,^(B) and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man.^{(C) 27} I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him.^{(D) 28} Like the appearance of a rainbow^(E) in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.^(F)

This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory^(G) of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown,^(H) and I heard the voice of one speaking.  2 ¹ He said to me, “Son of man,^[a](I) stand^(J) up on your feet and I will speak to you.^(K)” ² As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me^(L) to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.

³ He said: “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day.^{(M) 4} The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn.^(N) Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’^{(O) 5} And whether they listen or fail to listen^(P)—for they are a rebellious people^(Q)—they will know that a prophet has been among them.^(R)

Purpose: Calling attention to the integrity of God’s word to call His people to our higher goals of faith.

Keywords:          Compassion                       Person of God                   Word of God                      Sin

Introduction

                Have you ever been called upon to chase down some uncertain noise that has gone “thump” in the night?  You went to bed after a hard, long day, expecting to get a full night’s sleep.  You had even spent some quality time with your family, and so had gone happily to bed and to sleep. In the quietness, and with contentment you had dropped quickly off to that place somewhere between wakefulness and sleep.  Then your wife sits bolt upright in bed and asks, “What was that?”

                “What was what?” you groggily reply.

                “That noise!” she says.

                “What noise?” you ask, sensing some urgency.

                “That thump!” she insists.

                By now, you are ready to suggest that she’s watching too much TV, or that she should not have eaten so much pizza, either of which would not have been a smart thing to say.  Before you can blurt it out, one of the children pads into the room in the dark, and you hear a sleepy voice say, “Daddy, I heard a funny noise!”

                “Well, if it was funny, why are we not all laughing?” is all that you can think to say.

                But now, you, the brave, strong daddy must get up and face the unknown, and you didn’t even hear it go thump.  After a few minutes you come back to bed assuring them that all is secure.  All you did was get a glass of water, but they don’t know that.  You have to reply when they ask what went thump.  Daddies just know that there are things that go thump in the night.

                But what if the “thump” is a word from God, and we are not tuned in?  What if an event, or a spoken word, is a love note from God to you, and you are involved elsewhere?

                The boy Samuel heard a thump in the night (I Samuel 3:4) and it was God.  “Where are you, Samuel?”  Where are we when these experiences come?

I.             The First Thump Involves Seemingly Religious People.  Ezekiel 2:3 “And He said to me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me.”

                A nation having every spiritual advantage becomes indifferent to these very values.  Their history records God’s blessing.  Their prophets called them again and again to their destiny.  The promise to them was of a Saviour/Messiah who would usher in the kingdom age.

                We also should feel this sin burden upon the world.  There are too many indications of faithlessness.  A Babel ethic has appeared on the contemporary scene.  The morality of Sodom visits our people.  Political chaos is born of expediency.  Sexual permissiveness leans upon the icy wings of liberation, freedom, sensualness.  Godlessness stalks the streets as a plague. 

                Too near at hand are the cold stares of people turned from religion who never gave it a chance. 

                James 1:27 reads “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep themselves unspotted from the world.” I pastored a church once that was in a region of ideal, rustic simplicity and contentment, and its members reached out to several people in the community who were HIV positive, in love and caring.

                What if, as some suppose, that this present stage is beyond redemption.  Be reminded that God is the Judge; that decision is His.  Revelation 6:17 “The great day of His wrath has come, and who shall be able to stand.”  Hosea 6:5 “Thy judgments are as light.”

                As God has vindicated His faithful people in the past, He will do so again.  Ezekiel here comes to a rebellious people.  His own Son invaded a world of spiritual procrastination of people saying one thing and doing another.

                What is expected of us is a willingness to be his vessels unto righteousness, not as doers of wrong only, but as proclaimers of right.

II.            The Second Thump in the Night is Disbelief.  V4 “. . . you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ . . . whether they hear or whether they refuse, they will know.’”

                God’s concern for His people is seen in every valid experience.  On an early earth day when a man looked lustily from a piece of fruit to her who was the true object of his lust, he and she could think only of deliverance from God’s oppressive PRESENCE.  Yet it was He who took the step in their behalf.  “Adam, where art thou?”

                On the hinder end of forty long wilderness years came a limping population.  Their struggling so vaingloriously was over a span of forty years, a highway that could have been trod triumphantly over a few short weeks.  To these Hebrews, forty years late, bedraggled, beaten, not yet ready to attest that God keeps His promise, God came to explain His choice.  Deuteronomy 7:7 “The Lord did not set His love on you and choose you because you are more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of people: But because the Lord loved you.”

                It should not be difficult for us to grasp such a concept today.  Don’t wait to see ourselves as lovable, see God’s innate affection for His people.  My wife and I had gone to retrieve one of our daughters from some summer activity.  We were in an art gallery passing time.  There before us was a picture of Christ holding a Saturday Night Special.  The picture attested to nothing about Christ.  It boldly asserted the artist’s view of faith, and of sin. 

                God’s commitment, as His promise, is to these human needs.  Jeremiah 31:3 “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn you.”  Malachi 1:2 “’I have loved you,’ saith the Lord, yet you say, ‘In what way have you loved us?’”  Instead of declaring God’s love as we have experienced it.  We raise other questions of validity of His love.  “What have You done for us lately?”

III.           The Final Thump Is the Reminder That This Is Our Message Also. V1 “And He said unto me Son of man, stand upon thy feet and I will speak to thee.”  He continues to desire to speak to the lowly son, or daughter, of man.  He spoke to Jesus constantly, because Jesus was constantly available.  He speaks to Ezekiel as one presently available.  He spoke to Moses with the fear of Egypt upon him and sent him as deliverer.  He spoke to Amos, the herdsman, and sent him to Israel with a message of hope.

                How many others are there to whom He is yet able to speak?  To one eating the dust of some godless employer. To one struggling under the ingrained and irrelevant habits learned in childhood.  And to the one whose life is marked as available to God. 

                He speaks and calls us to the intention to obey.  We can’t serve God while thrashing aimlessly in the mire of shame over past sin.  In the admission of sin, there is always the offer of forgiveness with acceptance.  I Samuel 15:22 “To obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken, than the fat of rams.”  To this end came the Spirit to Ezekiel, set him on his feet in a position of obedience, spoke to him of God’s expectation.  Recall Luke 11:1-4 “teach us to pray” and the parable in vv. 5-13: “How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

Conclusion

                I experienced a thump this week.  JH Harris stopped by.  It was his third time.  The first time, he came seeking help.  The second, he just wanted to say thank you.  His 12-year-old son was with him.  He stopped again last week.  He was running from trouble, going back to South Louisiana.  He wanted me to know that the boy is dead. He had heart disease, it hadn’t been detected soon enough, and he wanted me to pray with him.  It is too easy to overlook the people around us who most need what we have to share.  Listen to the thumps in the night.  They are all around us.

BE STILL AND KNOW (Psalms series)

#048a(s)                                                           BE STILL AND KNOW

Scripture  Psalm 46:1-11 NIV                                                                                                                            Orig. 10-9-83                                                                                                                                                                                    (Psalms series)

Passage:  God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam
    and the mountains quake with their surging.^[c]

⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
    the holy place where the Most High dwells.
⁵ God is within her, she will not fall;
    God will help her at break of day.
⁶ Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
    he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

⁷ The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

⁸ Come and see what the Lord has done,
    the desolations he has brought on the earth.
⁹ He makes wars cease
    to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
    he burns the shields^[d] with fire.
¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”

¹¹ The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Timeline/Series:               Psalms 

Introduction

                In North Carolina  once, we were hiking and became confused about our location.  It was noon, with no help from the sun. Planes were flying and making a lot of noise.  Not only were we lost.  But I became aware that we were walking in a circle.

                As we took a rest to try to figure out the best course of action to follow, the planes suddenly flew off to some other place.  After a moment, the sound  of trucks on the highway some miles off were heard, and we had our bearings.

I.             Consider the Pace.  V2 “Though the earth be removed.”

                What terrible things we do to ourselves when we continue without recourse in the never-ending cataclysm of activity.  The Psalmist moves from dismay to disillusion, through despair to discovery.  As the Psalmist views his troubled mountain, we need to view our troubled world.

II.            Consider the Pause.  V10 “Be still and know.”  The word “be still” means “to relax.”  It is not surrender, giving up.  It reminds us of the sabbath rest.  Worship is the best place and sphere for this to take place.  Vance Havner, preacher from the Blue Ridge Mountains, wrote that “the trouble with the church today is that we have too much ‘supper room’ and not enough ‘upper room.’”

III.           Consider the Peace.  V11 “The Lord God of Hosts is with us.” 

1. Mark 4:36, still of storm, “Peach be still. . . .  Have ye not yet faith?”
2. Isaiah 54:17, “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.  This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.”
3. Luke 19:37f Dialogue between Jesus and the Pharisees.  They wanted Him to rebuke the disciples for believing that peace followed Jesus.
4. Paul “I have learned in whatever state I am therein to be content.”

IV.          Concluding Thought.     

1. Verses 1-3 Picture God holding the reigns in a struggle through creation’s cataclysm.  Selah
2. Verses 4-7 Picture man struggling in social relationship, and vainly, apart from God, living happily.  Selah
3. Verses 8-11 Picture the perfect peace to come that clearly is the accomplishment of God alone, for His people alone.

Closing

                St. Francis of Assisi,  “Christ and the City,” p 104.

Lord, make  me an instrument of Thy peace;

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

To be consoled, as to console;

To be understood, as to understand;

To be loved, as to love.

For it is in the giving that we receive,

It is in the pardoning that we are pardoned,

It is in the dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.

Ephesians 6:20, ”[The gospel], for which I am an ambassador in chains; that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.”

SHUT UP AND SHOUT OUT

#086                                                            SHUT UP AND SHOUT OUT                                                                                   

Scripture  Jeremiah 33:1-7 NIV                                                                                                                          Orig. 1-7-62

                                                                                                                                                                                  Rewr. 9-12-89 

Passage:  1 While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him a second time: 2 “This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it—the LORD is his name: 3 ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ 4 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the houses in this city and the royal palaces of Judah that have been torn down to be used against the siege ramps and the sword  5 in the fight with the Babylonians : ‘They will be filled with the dead bodies of the people I will slay in my anger and wrath. I will hide my face from this city because of all its wickedness.  6 ‘Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security.  7 I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before.’”

Purpose:  Continuing a study emphasis from the prophets, here concluding a brief synopsis of some of the teaching of this book.

Keywords:          Bible Study                                                                         Series, Jeremiah

                                                                                                                                Series, Old Testament Prophets

Timeline:             Sequential         

Introduction

                The Biblical text writers are not strangers to persecution.  The path woven through the Old Testament prophets reveals to us again and again the hatred of those who protested against what the prophet had to say.  Not only did Jeremiah, as almost the last of the line, know about the others, he experienced it himself under the most adverse of circumstances.  

                Jeremiah has been accused of capitulation to the enemy (Jeremiah 37:13), and summarily taken away to prison.  The immediate event seems to have taken place at about the time Jehoiakim was relieved of the throne and taken to Babylon.  According to 37:1, Zedekiah has come to the throne, the third son of Josiah.

                The political leaders were among the arch enemies of the prophet and his message from God.  Jehoiakim, you remember, after the second Temple sermon had cut the segments from the scroll and burned them.

                The message of Jeremiah (36:32) seems, however, to have been written before the time spent in prison.  Jeremiah’s emotional warfare had been going on all the time in his own spirit.

                Paul, we know, wrote some of his letters from prison.  Consider Ephesians 6:12:

                “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

John Bunyan, also, in Pilgrim’s Progress:

                “If you will go with us, you must go against wind and tide; you must own religion in his rags as well as in his silver slippers; and stand by him, too, when bound in irons; as well as when he walketh the streets with applause.”

                Interestingly, Jeremiah came to write perhaps the single most significant statement of hope to Judah from this prison cell.  Chapter 33 is headed, “Prosperity will return to Jerusalem.”

                V14f “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and the house of Judah.  In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up into David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.  In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, the Lord our righteousness.”

I.             This chapter gives us a glorious view of what the prophet perceived of God.  He saw one who was absolute.  V2, “maker,” suggests first cause; “formed it” is utilitarian; “to establish it” may mean to keep it on target.

                He saw unlimited intercession.  V3 “Call unto me, and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.”

                He saw the extent of their blessing.  V6-9: v6 Health and cure; v6 peace and truth; v7 restoration.

                V8 is about forgiveness—“cleanse,” “pardon;” it means to purify for ritual participation, the nearest Old Testament concept to forgiveness.  This last is the same used Jeremiah 31:34, “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.

                V9 is about blessing, the opposite of what they were.  Others will know. Jeremiah would be appointed prophet to the nations. Jeremiah 1:5 (“I have appointed you a prophet to the nations”); 10: “See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms.”

                In vs 10-11 he saw future joy, praise, and mercy.  V11 “The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, ‘Give thanks to the Lord of hosts, For the Lord is good, For his lovingkindness is everlasting.’”

                He saw the promised Messiah in v14-16.  “I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth.”

***THE REMAINDER OF THIS SERMON HAS BEEN LOST***

CANCELLED COVENANTS

#084                                                              CANCELLED COVENANTS                                                                                    

Scripture Isaiah 28:14-22, NIV                                                                                                                         Orig. 6-30-63

                                                                                                                                                                                Rewr. 10-18-87 

Passage:  ¹⁴ Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem.
¹⁵ You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death, with the realm of the dead we have made an agreement. When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it cannot touch us, for we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood^[a] our hiding place.”

¹⁶ So this is what the Sovereign Lord says:  “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.
¹⁷ I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place.
¹⁸ Your covenant with death will be annulled; your agreement with the realm of the dead will not stand.
When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be beaten down by it.
¹⁹ As often as it comes it will carry you away; morning after morning, by day and by night, it will sweep through.”

The understanding of this message will bring sheer terror.
²⁰ The bed is too short to stretch out on, the blanket too narrow to wrap around you.
²¹ The Lord will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim, he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon—to do his work, his strange work, and perform his task, his alien task.
²² Now stop your mocking, or your chains will become heavier; the Lord, the Lord Almighty, has told me of the destruction decreed against the whole land.

Purpose: To remind my people, not only of the value of their vote, but of their responsibility to seek for that covenant of men that is first of God.

Keywords:          Covenants          Freedom             Politics                  Providence of God

Introduction

                The year was 1650. The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland was considering making the Westminster Confession the statute book of a state religion, presided over by none other than King Charles II, an infamous man.  A major part of the struggle was the artful tenet of “the divine right of kings.”

                Oliver Cromwell and his troops were encamped at Musselburgh.  He sent the following letter to these men.  “I beseech you in the bowels of Christ, think it is possible that you may be mistaken.  Precept may be upon precept, line may be upon line.  And yet the word of the Lord may be to some a word of Judgment; that they may fall backward and be broken, and be snared, and be taken!  There may be a spiritual fullness which the world may call drunkenness, as in the second chapter of Acts.  There may be, as well, a carnal confidence upon misunderstood and misapplied precepts, which may be called spiritual drunkenness.  There may be a covenant made with Death and Hell!  I will not say yours was so.  But judge if such things have a politic aim: To avoid the overflowing scourge; or, to accomplish worldly interests?  And if therein you have confederated with wicked and carnal men, and have respect for them, or otherwise have drawn them in to associate with us, whether this be a covenant of God and spiritual?  Bethink yourselves; we hope you do.

                “I pray you read the Twenty-eighth chapter of Isaiah, from the fifth to the fifteenth verse. And do not scorn to know that it is the Spirit that quickens and giveth life.”  220.23B6p163    The Book of Isaiah  

                Isaiah 62:6-7  “Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence.  And give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”

I.             They Were a People Who Believed in Political Expediency.  V14f “. . .Ye scornful men which rule this people . . . Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge . . .”

                It was, of course, the commonest mistake of Biblical times.  Isaiah was declaring it so.  Jeremiah, a century later, was proclaiming the same message to Judah.  Oliver Cromwell’s letter suggests that it has always been a humanist flaw.  We see it in our own political evolution today.  I wonder if we Louisianans are worst.  I fancy not, but it does stand out so clearly to us.

                Things change ever so slowly, and we forget how to see them.  When Earl Long was running for Governor in 1955, I was newly come to Louisiana.  How could anyone vote for him?  I told Ann, “There won’t even be a second primary.”  He won in the first.    

                This is relevant whenever and wherever luxury and intemperance abound:  Men with eyes too fevered by sin to see beauty in simple purity and piety; Human minds so brimful of knowledge, they are intoxicated with their own cleverness; Circumstances where we have been called upon so often that we conclude a melodramatic incapacity to err.

                What do we see when we examine issues?  God’s covenant—His word? His law?  Man’s compromise?  Israel decided that they were in a better position to analyze conditions.  It seemed that God’s word did not matter.  It’s kind of like going to a Halloween Carnival. Lots of fun things to do: dunking vats, cake walks, fishing booths, and there is always a little boy in a devil’s suit.  But he’s just a little boy, pretending.  Our problems are not little boys pretending to be devils.  Our problems are come from devils pretending to be what they are not, and we are tricked by their pretension.

II.            Too Many Seem to Believe that God Has Lost Control of His Creation.  V15 “. . . when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us.”  Israel’s problem necessitates explanation.  Isaiah had been a careful proponent of their hope in God.  But it was put to them in a way which singled out their sin, and their need to repent.  V17 “Judgment will I lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet.”

                In reality, we could blame Isaiah for this problem.  Isaiah had a speech impediment.  He spoke nothing but the truth.  He declared only what God gave him.  The Assyrian storm troops were in position right across the border.  The only way out was absolute dependence upon God, the sacrifice of their free-wheeling ways.  Explicitly, they were going to have to surrender their expediency.

                Instead of God, they turned to Egypt.  Isaiah 29:14 “Therefore . . . I will proceed to do a . . . work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent shall be hid.”

                We still only have two options. 

                We can trust God. He knows the end from the beginning.  V16 “I lay in Zion . . . a sure foundation.”  He has provided a sure defense for His people.  V17 “Judgment also will I lay to the line.”  No pretenders to faith allowed.  But then, no genuine articles were overlooked either.

                Or, we can trust the devices of men.  Make up our minds. Give more than lip-service. But remember where our strength is.

                We are going to be voting for five, maybe even Speedy Long.  Are we voting deviously?  Are we voting sincerely? The one thing we must not do is to let our variant choices become a barrier to our labors for Christ.

                My best advice to you:

                Vote!

                Vote your conscience!

                Give every other person that right!

                Remember that it is our covenant with God that will stand.  These human covenants are worth no more than the integrity of the person.

                The following piece was clipped from a magazine, source unknown:

“What makes a nation great?

Not serried ranks and flags unfurled, Not armored ships that gird the world,

Not hoarded wealth nor busy mills, Not cattle on a thousand hills,

Not sages wise, nor schools, nor laws, Not boasted deeds in freedom’s cause—

All these may be, and yet the state In the eye of God be far from great.

That land is great which knows the Lord, Whose songs are guided by His word:

Where justice rules ‘twixt man and man, Where love controls in art and plan;

Where, breathing in his native air, Each soul find joy in praise and prayer—

Thus may our country, good and great, Be God’s delight, . . . man’s best estate.”

                We have the opportunity to once again turn the self-interest of the alcohol-monger back in upon himself. 

                Don’t be duped by his “rights.”  Only what we give him.

                Don’t be led astray by tax advantage.  $1 in taxes costs $8.99 in support from trash to pieces of wasted lives.

                See it as one more opportunity to stand up for what you believe.

                Canceling the covenant of expediency is true freedom.  Isaiah 62:6,7  “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace, day or night: Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give Him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

THE HEART-CRY FOR REVIVAL

#081                                                         THE HEART-CRY FOR REVIVAL                                                                                

Scripture  II Chronicles 7:11-18 NIV                                                                                                               Orig. 9-27-64

                                                                                                                                                                                  Rewr. 3-17-77 

Passage: ¹¹ When Solomon had finished the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace, ¹² the Lord appeared to him at night and said: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.

¹³ “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, ¹⁴ if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. ¹⁵ Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. ¹⁶ I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.

¹⁷ “As for you, if you walk before me faithfully as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws, ¹⁸ I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to rule over Israel.’”

Introduction

                Over the past few years there has been a major thrust by some groups to maintain a proper balance of “truth in advertising.”  This came about as a result of some advertising methods that were questionable if not downright misleading.  Labels now must declare what is in a product, nothing more and nothing less.  Advertising techniques must be true to the capabilities of whatever is being advertised.  If not, the advertiser can be held liable.

                Now, a new problem has arisen.  The Madison Avenue boys in blue, or in blue jeans, whatever they are wearing now, have in their brazenness sunk to an all-time low.  The admen and their clients are getting on the religious bandwagon.  Someone suggested that “God is right up there with O.J. Simpson and Don Rickles.”  The most disgusting to me is the ‘Jesus jeans’ ad.  It depicted the rear view of a woman clad in a pair of these jeans, and across her rear was written a Bible quotation in Italian.  Translated it read, “He who loves me follows me.”

                A few months back, metropolitan newspapers in some parts of the country carried an ad introducing a new brand of whiskey called “King James Scotch Whiskey.” Before you get ready to argue their case, saying, “Why defend James when Robert would not offend us? Maybe it was not chosen for that reason,” know that on each side of the bottle appeared the phrase, “The King James version.”  “Blue Nun Wine” asks their clientele ‘to try something a little sacrilegious.’

                Playboy ran a full page newspaper ad picturing a priest reading their magazine.  The lead line in the ad states, “I read Playboy and found God.”  Even an old-line company like General Motors has gotten in on the act.  An ad in Time magazine shows a group of nuns in traditional dress, with one of them saying, “The steering committee at the convent voted 5 to 0 in favor of tilt wheel.  It’s been a blessing.”

                For most of us, this is offensive.  We ought to be stirred to express our opinions to the offending companies, their ad personnel, and also the newspapers and magazines carrying ads.  My point this morning, however, is that the Christian community has just as much responsibility to advertise what it can produce and nothing more.  We are advertising ‘revival’ and it is up to us to produce it.

I.             The Heart Cry of Revival is Heard Because Of Who We Are.  “If my people,” says the Scripture.  The pagan world has always found its understanding of divine appeasement in biological reproduction.  The happiness of the gods was seen in the success of human sexuality and agricultural abundance.  I am presently reading James Michener’s The Source.  It is an historical novel describing the level-by-level accumulation of history at a site called Makor.  While Michener’s purpose is not spiritual, he has authenticated his facts.  His view of the pre-Abramic Canaanites describes, with some taste and decorum, their appeasement of the gods through infant sacrifice, and sexual fertility rites.

                Spiritually we owe a great debt to the culture and the evolution of the Hebrew people through whom God revealed Himself.  They were the ones who taught us the open-heartedness of God for His creation.  Exodus 6:7 “I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God.  Deuteronomy 32:9 “The Lord’s portion is His people.”  Psalms 125:2 “As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from henceforth forever.

                The people of ancient Crete honored a statue of Jove which had no ears.  They could not believe that any god would concern himself with the idle chatter of people such as they.

                Through these Hebrews the discovery came of a faith relationship that was negotiable.  I Samuel 15:22 (200-300 years after Moses), “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?”  Psalms 51:16, “Thou delightest not in burnt offerings.”  Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”  II Chronicles 7:17, “And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and shalt observe my statutes and my judgments.”  Recall also the experience out of the life of David (II Samuel 12) when Nathan comes to congratulate David at Solomon’s birth, and named Solomon “Jedediah,” beloved of the Lord.

                Let it be finally understood that we are the people of God.  We are duty bound to proclaim it so.  Our responsibility is even greater in a world where faith and belief, and even a concept of God, are treated so shabbily.  Four or five years ago a movie titled McCabe and Mrs. Miller hit the cinemas across America.  The reviews gave ample evidence of what it contained.  Some of you let your children see it.  It contained every kind of immoral perversion that its “R” rating would allow.  It took place in a little town called Presbyterian Church.  The church was no more than incidental in the life and morality of the town. But, when the church caught on fire and was burning, it was those same people who were quickly on the scene saving the church.  The message left with the viewer was of the utter irrelevancy of the church.

                That is not unlike the cartoon carried on the editorial page of the Times-Picayune this week.  It had been picked up from a San Francisco paper.  A group of sour looking people were advancing on the porno shop with fire bombs.  The next sequence shows the shop in ashes, but behind the shop the public library was also in ashes.  You will never convince me that such as that is anything less than satanic intimidation. 

                Now hear me well brethren, we will never counteract contemporary, flagrant violations of spiritual trust, giving God, whose people we are, an hour of our time on Sunday morning.  Let me suggest some ways that help determine whose people we are: Whose people, when on a given Sunday, 75% of adult membership absent themselves from Bible study; whose, when on a Sunday evening 80-90% regularly ignore discipleship opportunity; whose, when on Wednesday night 95% reject an opportunity for intercessory prayer; whose, when maybe no more than 2-3% spend any time taking to others about their Lord, their church?

II.            The Heart Cry of Revival is Heard Because Of Where We Are.  The One who says, “If my people” says also “will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face.” 

                What “if my people” means:  That God has promised renewal; that Christians have the right and obligation to claim it.  There are proper procedures to enhance it—humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, turn away from wickedness.

                Consider first the need for humility.  The first man after Adam to need revival was his son Cain.  Genesis 4 tells the story.  He knew to bring an offering to the Lord.  Arriving at the altar, however, he, in effect said, “I will offer what offering I please and you can like it or lump it.”  That may sound familiar.

                Consider also the need for prayer.  Acts 2:42 “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”  Acts 2:46 “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.” Acts 3:1 “Peter and John went up to the temple at the hour of prayer.”  3:6 “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give thee: In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”

                Only after humility and prayer can we seek God’s face.  Psalms 24: “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place?  He that hath clean hands and a pure heart.”

***THE REMAINDER OF THIS SERMON HAS BEEN LOST***

WHEN GOOD THINGS COME OUR WAY

#073                                               WHEN GOOD THINGS COME OUR WAY                                                                      

Scripture  Psalm 84:11 NIV                                                                                                        Orig. November 24. 1963

                                                                                                                                                           Rewr. November 17, 1984 

Passage: 

For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
    the Lord bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
    from those whose walk is blameless.

Purpose: On the Sunday before Thanksgiving, to remind my people of the great goodness of God to His people.

Keywords:          God                       Goodness           Special Days

Timeline/Series:               Thanksgiving     

Introduction

                Have you ever reasoned within yourself to see what it is that you really expect from God?  Do we seriously expect God to bless us with wealth when so much of the world’s people go hungry?

                I could not help but notice the disparity this week.  U.S.A. Today featured an article on hunger in Africa.  “Americans who have been to Ethiopia remember the silent children . . . . or women gathering grass for their families’ meals. Or children with bloated bellies tugging at the arms of visitors or lying on the road to stop food trucks.”

                The disparity came a day or so later while reading an article in Newsweek.  The article was entitled “America’s Nutrition Revolution.”  It described a beautifully appointed salad bar.  “No,” said the article, “it isn’t Malibu.  It’s the Greyhound Bus Station in Chicago, hog butcher for the world.”

                It’s great to have a choice.  It is greater still to know about nutrition, and to be able to eat accordingly.

                Ethiopia and half of Africa is in what some call the worst famine of the 20^th Century, and most Americans are more concerned about higher standards of living, better roads, less taxes, bigger amusement parks, and how to best invest our money.

                Now what was that question again?  Do we seriously expect God to bless us with wealth when so much of the world’s people go hungry?”

I.             Good Comes from the Vision of God for His People.   The text boldly proclaims “No good thing” asserting that good does not come by accident.  Psalms 23:6 “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”  Romans 12:9 “Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good.”  I Thessalonians 5:21 “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”

                It is God’s nature to abhor evil, cleave to good, so it is expected of you and me.  Thus, in those good things that we receive, we are to perceive them as His gifts of love to us.  We are to be very careful that we not perceive only that which is materially advantageous as good.

                One Sunday morning in New Orleans, the paper told a large story between the lines.  Tulane won when Vandy failed to score from the one yard line in the last minutes of the game.  The winning coach was quoted as saying “Just the grace of God.”

                There is one all-encompassing guideline by which God determines the “good thing” which He will not withhold.  Philippians 4:19 “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Jesus Christ.”  What we receive is from the supply of his divine economy.  Since He has other children, we are “joint heirs” to His riches in glory.”  His promise is to “supply all your need.”  Anything that you have that you do not need, you decide where it came from.

II.            Good Comes from the Involvement of God with His People.  “No good thing will the Lord withhold from them . . . .”  In our pseudo-sophistication, either out of church or in church, many people have discounted God.  What Paul wrote to the Romans in 1:22, what some will miss in tonight’s message: “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” 

                To discount God is to discount Him to our doom and to our perversion.  Ethiopia is a case in point.  They have been in the eastern bloc.  Russia could supply them with arms; not with grain.  Russia can’t feed her own.  At the same time, America, with stored grain to stabilize prices, is more concerned about its economy than the starving people of Africa, or the poor around us.

                God is the one constant in life.  Bread and water are changing commodities.  Heat (or cooling) and light seem to grow increasingly expensive. Even love and hate are cyclical, as seen in Ireland. But God never changes.

                Moses defined for the people the meaning of their obedience.  Exodus 23:25 “So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He shall bless your bread and your water.”

                So what is important???  The Bread and Water, or God’s Blessing?  Jesus reached the same conclusion in The Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:3).  “Give us this day our daily bread.”  Again, what is important?  The bread! The water!  Or the One from whom it comes.

III.           Good Comes with the Invitation of God to His People.  “No good thing will the Lord withhold from them that walk uprightly.”  Some people seem to think that the answer is in sitting back and waiting for God to act.  It is clearly in God’s vision.  God foresaw for Israel a great blessing through David as King. 

                We are also dependent upon God’s Involvement.  God accepted David as a shepherd lad, saw him through many character flaws to help him become. But make no mistake, the Invitation calls us to commitment of self.  God calls us, invites us, to consider good on His terms, to acquaint ourselves with the world as it is.  What prayer is said at your table? “I thank thee, Lord, that I am not as others are”? What if instead we might pray, “Help me to be worthy of the bounty of Thy love.” 

                Read again that beautiful 100^th Psalm.  “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands, Serve the Lord with gladness.  Come before His presence with singing.  Know ye that the Lord He is God, it is He that hath made us and not we ourselves.  We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.  Enter into His gates with Thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.”

                God invites us to live in His world as His children.  Accept His invitation to the upright walk.  That’s not sinlessness.  It’s putting Him first.  Receive from Him the assurance of every “good thing” for our spiritual well-being.

Closing

                Bro. Emory Wallace told this story of a father from Mobile, AL. His daughter was in jail in DeRidder.  He called Bro. Wallace asking if he knew how she was doing.  Her cynicism was uncontained until he told her about her father’s call, and of his love.