THE TONGUE OF LOVE
#060 THE TONGUE OF LOVE
Scripture I Corinthians 13:1-13, NIV Orig. Date 12-10-61
Rewr. Dates 1-22-89
Passage: If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Purpose: Continuing a series for Prayer Meeting emphasizing the Book of First Corinthians.
Keywords: Bible Study Great Texts Love
Series: I Corinthians
Introduction
At a family gathering in Transylvania on a Sunday afternoon, the unmarried son and his steady were present. He was in no hurry to get married, but wanted the security of a regular girlfriend. His main interests were hunting, fishing, etc.
As the family sat in the yard, Mark stood and said, “Let’s go!” The girl, assuming he was talking to her, stood. But at the same time she arose, the old family dog got up. She, recognizing how ridiculous this was, said, “Are you talking to me or the dog?”
The people we love ought to be able to tell by the way we talk, and by what we say, what are our feelings for them. Paul admonished us to love in word and deed.
I. First, We Need an Overview of Biblical Love. V1 “Though I speak with tongues of men and angels, and have not love, I am as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.”
English has only one word to express love. A Cajun may use it in reference to the nutria he has taken from his trap. An addict may use it in in regard to drugs. A faithful grandfather uses it about a Christmas necktie. It may be used by a man arrested for abusing his spouse.
But Greek has four interesting words. The noun eros/verb ethan is used for sensual or spousal love, for ambition, or for patriotism; it is not used in the New Testament. The noun storge/verb stergein means family affection or group interaction or devotion; Romans 12:10 uses the word: “Be ye kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love.” The noun philia/verb philien is the most-used in Classical Greek; it applies to close family (parent/child, husband/wife). The noun agapa/verb agapan is used over 250 times in the New Testament; classical scholars saw this as meaning “benefactor,” thus is its Victorian use as “charity.”
II. Now a Brief Grasp of the Passage. V2 “Though I have the gift of prophecy, understand mysteries, have knowledge, have faith sufficient to move mountains, but do not do so out of love, it means nothing.” Love is greater than understanding, be it natural or acquired: Love is greater than a college education. Knowledge did not set Paul’s heart on fire. Nor did it inspire such men as Luther and Wesley. Love is greater than prophecy—Hosea became a parable to Israel. Love is greater than works—than self-sacrifice, for instance; “Though I give my body to be burned” v3. Morality is not morality without love.
Love is greater than all other gifts. I Corinthians 12:28 calls attention to the gifts. Not all have every gift. It doesn’t matter. But all should covet what is best, and better than all is love.
***THE REMAINDER OF THIS SERMON HAS BEEN LOST***
THE SINNER'S PREDICAMENT
#057 THE SINNER’S PREDICAMENT
Scripture Psalm 51 NIV Orig. 10-7-61 (3-77)
Rewr. 2-10-88
Passage:
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
you who are God my Savior,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is[b] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.
18 May it please you to prosper Zion,
to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
in burnt offerings offered whole;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Purpose: To share with my people in an effort for all of us to deal with the gulf that exists between our sin and the holiness of God.
Keywords: Confession Greater Text Revival Conversion God’s Holiness Sin
Introduction
We do not lack illustrations of sin run amuck in human lives. The papers testify regularly in actual example what we know in foreboding moments of ourselves and people about us. What might our lives really be like if the Spirit of Christ were not a modifying influence?
Lately, we have read of the man in Arkansas who killed his wife, children, and grandchildren, apparently because the wife was threatening to leave him. A man in another state with a history of mental problems, killed his sister and her children during a visit because the grandparents were showing affection for them. In Utah recently, a woman and her family barricaded themselves in their homestead for several days to deny legal access; a law officer was killed when the confrontation finally came. The newspapers daily carry articles about child abuse, and many other scenes of social conflict.
Shades of Henry Lee Lucas! Do you remember him? The papers daily carried his story. The number of women dead by his hand (he claimed) reached an unbelievable 150. While some of these were later determined to be some sadistic exaggeration, he was linked to many of these cases. The first murder was his own mother, in 1960. He was imprisoned for that killing.
His judgment is not yet settled, a least as far as man is concerned. God’s justice, however, will not fail. His condemnation is not of a murderer of defenseless women. That for which Lucas stands guilty before God is that he refused to live under a standard of law outside of himself.
Davis describes for us in Psalm 51 the great discovery that he has made. That God is just. That His justice cannot be manipulated, intimidated, or confused. Whatever the sin, if it is unrequited, it faces the bar of God’s judgment.
- Sin’s Burden Is the Cause of the Sinner’s Predicament. V2 “Wash me from my iniquity. . . Cleanse me from my sin.” V3 “I acknowledge my guilt, and my sins confront me all the day long.” Any honest person will admit the problem with sin. The old spiritual “Not my brother, not my sister, but it’s me O Lord, standing in the need of prayer.” David, being an honest man, had to come to terms with himself. V3 “I acknowledge my guilt.”
It is the good favor of God that we can see this from the New Testament perspective. Galatians 1:10f “Those who depend on obeying the law live under a curse. For the Scripture says ‘Whoever does not always obey everything that is written in the law is under God’s curse.’ Now, it is clear that no man is put right with God by means of the law, because the Scripture says “He who is put right with God by faith shall live.’”
A few years ago, Patti Hearst went from the millionaire’s mansion to a cell block. She has been forgiven by society, by the system, and seems to be living a productive life. During her trial, however, her court-appointed psychiatrist laid out in sequence the sordid exposé of her life. Whether or not her sins came under the jurisdiction of God’s forgiveness remains to be seen. And He knows some things about Patti Hearst that were not made public at her trial. He likewise knows all about us.
Honest people should also admit that the real burden of our sin is against God. V4 “Against thee, thee only have I sinned.” Back up a moment, and look at the record. David caused a faithful woman to betray her husband on a kingly whim. To cover that indiscretion, he ordered this soldier husband to be put in mortal danger. The child conceived by this illicit union would die. David’s sons begin at this moment to learn the lesson of their father’s moral compromise. The nation Israel begins a date with destiny that will find the nation torn with division.
Get a good look at the deception. Uriah, the husband, was ordered home. He would not go in to his wife while troops of the king were in danger. He, himself, carried the order for his death. His own captain is used as an unwilling henchman.
David’s sin was also a betrayal of trust. There is no higher ethic than Hebrew law. Someone once said, “We have 35 million laws and no improvement on the Ten Commandments.” The basest malediction of the law is the failure to respect it as God’s law.
- We Must Also View Sin from the Perspective of God’s Nature. V3 “My sin confronts me all the day long.” It is the universal malady of the human race. Psalm 6:6 “All the night make I my bed to swim. I water my couch with tears.” Thus is the human dilemma, to be drawn down by the constancy of this struggle with sin. I Kings 15:5: “David did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and had not turned aside from any thing that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.” Ezra 9:6 “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.”
Or we treat it lightly, inconsequentially: Proverbs 14:9 “Fools make a mock at sin.” Micah 7:3 “. . . they may do evil with both hands earnestly.”
It is, first of all, the nature of God to perceive sin as it is. It is the energy toward which all of God’s energy is cast. It is the enigma compelling mortals to their doom. James 1:15 “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”
It is the nature of God to will all men delivered from this treachery. Forgiveness through Christ is the means. Desire for forgiveness is as strong as the will to sin. Psalm 126:6 “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” Luke 6:21 “Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh.” It is remembrance of sin that brings the sweet rapture of divine forgiveness. It is this remembrance of sin that brings the sweet rapture of divine forgiveness. It is this remembrance of sin that here keeps David watchful and prayerful. Matthew 26:41 “Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation.”
III. There Is, Finally, the Need to Share What He has Learned. V13 “Then I will teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. . . . My tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.”
What he has learned about himself:
- That sin is a problem of constancy.
- That there is a relief. I saw a church sign recently asking the question, “How do you spell relief?” The answer given was “P-R-A-Y-E-R.”
- That the best thing he can do for others is to live his faith openly. We are not responsible for “converting” people to God, to faith. We are duty bound, having walked through the jagged defile of sin’s anguish, to share winsomely what we have learned, experienced.
What he has learned about God:
- We must first note that it is a worshipful experience. “My mouth shall show forth thy praise.”
- It is a worship experience that is of the heart. We are told what it is not: V16 It is not sacrifice, burnt offering. We are told what it is: It is a restorative experience; “salvation”—deliverance from sin—deliverance from its consequences, as far as that is possible, and “joy”—it is to possess a special gift, and to possess it with understanding.
- What we can best communicate to others about God is His “salvation,” and to show it by the “joy” that issues forth in the believer’s life.
Conclusion
The name of David Livingston is known and associated with the cause of Christian missions. He served God faithfully in the continent of Africa. He was asked about how he stood up so well under the strictures brought on by the treachery and villainy he experienced at the hands of others. His response, “I have faults myself.”
We will do a better job relating to the sin of others, remembering that we have sins ourselves, and only the intercession of God can bring “salvation” and “joy” that issues forth from it.
Summary
David’s plea is a plea for cleansing. He found out long before that ritual doesn’t change anything, only relationship will set him free. The essence of true religion, then, is not ritual, but relationship. For cleansing to afford him the peace that he seeks, he must take the source of his separation from God before the bar of God’s justice. I Kings 15:5: “David did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and had not turned aside from any thing that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.”
James Carter wrote the hundred year history of the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home. He included a note about the move to Louisiana College in 1903. Kate Hawkins was matron. An outbuilding was used as a tool shed during construction, and an offer came to install bath fixtures in the outbuilding. We are told that Mrs. Hawkins refused this offer commenting that the children were not used to taking baths. Fortunately, for us, and for David, he was a man of unusual cleanness of spirit, and it is in that spirit that he addresses his God for forgiveness, and for renewed relationship.
IF OUR GOSPEL BE HID
#054 “IF OUR GOSPEL BE HID”
Scripture II Corinthians 4:1-7 Orig. Date 4/19/64 (8/75)
Rewr. Dates 7/22/87
Passage: Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”[a] made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
Purpose: To remind my people of the need to be openly assertive of our faith in Christ as Lord of life.
Keywords: Christian Life Gospel Revival Special Influence
Introduction
Margaret Sangster, the social worker, writer, and editor, shared an all-too personal experience from one of the tenement areas where she worked. The point of her life work had always been to reach out to the people around her and help them meet their own needs through private donations when government help was not available.
She saw a need for a gymnasium for the youth of the district. A place was secured, and because other help did not materialize, she began to supervise this activity. A lad of about twelve came to the gym one day on crutches. The leg was badly twisted, and Mrs. Sangster discovered that the boy had been run over, the leg badly broken, and no medical help was sought.
She made arrangements to carry the boy to an orthopedic surgeon who had provided his services before. She was told that the leg could be straightened, but it would take several operations. A wealthy benefactor was found who would pay the hospital costs. With parental approval, the transformation was begun. As Mrs. Sangster tells the story, about eighteen months later she joyously looked up in the gym one day to see the lad stroll in, pick up a basketball, dribble down the floor, and send it spinning through the hoop. What a happy moment that was.
Years later, she would tell the story, and ask, “Do you know what that boy is doing today?” Of course, no one did. “No, he’s not an attorney, or judge. No, he didn’t become a preacher or professor. No, he’s not in social work.” She would hide the sob trying to surface. “He is serving three concurrent life terms in the state penitentiary for murder and robbery.” After a pause, she continued, “I was so busy teaching him how to walk, I forgot to teach him where to walk.”
How careful are we as Christians to teach the really important things about our faith in Christ? What if “our gospel be hid”?
I. What If the Gospel Be Hid Socially? II Corinthians 4:3 “It is hid to them that are lost.” How hard is it, today, to tell who the Christians around us really are? Some estimates run as high as 90%. That would be all active church members, and all the 50% of church members who never attend. There are millions of others who happen to believe freedom to worship means freedom not to.
I have seen too many of them coming out of the quick-order store with a cross around their neck, a six pack in their hand, a foul message on their tee shirt. The answer is clearly not in one-day-a-week faith. It is too easy to dress in religious togs and be satisfied we are convincing. If I work, or work out, I wear something for sweating. If I am playing golf, it certainly won’t be in my black suit. I have a friend who occasionally wears overalls to prayer meeting; he has not time to change.
Paul here reminds us that our faith is a “treasure” bound up “in earthen vessels.” People take pride in their treasures. They want their friends to share in their good fortune. II Corinthians 5:17 “. . . if any be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away, all things are become new.” You see, the Vessel can be spoiled, the spirit within the vessel, never.
And beyond this, God calls us to share in His vision. Amy Carmichael was an Irish missionary who served in India for 56 years without furlough, and died there. II Corinthians 5:18 “. . . He hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.” That means let your light shine socially.
II. What If the Gospel Be Hid Politically? II Corinthians 4:3-4 “. . . It is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.” We are watching the gospel being slowly divested from the arena of politics. This week USA Today (July 22) reported “Over 50% of those interviewed would take all preachers off television.”
In our earlier history, politicians were considered statesmen. They had an obligation to a higher law, God’s law. Now, those who are men of faith often hope that it will not be used against them. What had we really rather have, a character to entertain, or, with character to inspire?
It is a good way to judge our TV preachers, and others. We are not out of line to want to know about the genuineness of a person’s religion. Oliver North’s wife was presented as a born-again Christian. Admiral Poindexter’s wife wore the frock of an Episcopal rector.
III. What If the Gospel Be Hid Intellectually? II Corinthians 4:3-4 “. . . it is hid to them that are lost: . . . lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, . . . should shine unto them.” The genius of human intellect is clear. Evidence of it appears in every age. It is asserting itself in this 20th Century as never before, through airplanes, atomic fission, electronic wizardry. Many learned men and women exemplify a strong Christian witness in Congress, in the Statehouse, as University Presidents, as coaches and artisans and athletes and entertainers.
What if we fail to make such faith clear? Youth grow to physical adulthood, enter college, participate, graduate with honors, but face the future unsure about their faith. With their own souls in jeopardy, their commitment to intellect may also be compromised.
The need intellectually is to assert our faith. We are creatures of intellect. Our society would crumble without it. Caesar came to the Rubicon with his armies. He had the ships that transported them burned. Retreat would not be an option open to them.
IV. What If We Hide the Gospel Culturally? II Corinthians 4:3,5 “. . . It is hid to them that are lost: . . . For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus our Lord: and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.”
America has much to offer a needy world today. There is intense physical hardship, in the third world and some even here at home. We have the wherewithal to help. Nothing lends itself to compassion like religious faith, particularly Christian faith. It has the potential of worthy example. Following the Civil War, the world saw a super power emerge. Inclusion of ethnic groups has proven the worth of our culture.
But our greatest treasure is our faith. In the day when many are surrendering theirs, we who look to Christ must continue to share Him with a searching world. Hosea 4:1 “Hear the word of the Lord, . . . for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.”
It is incumbent upon us as believers to keep our gospel exposed to the light of day, to share our faith, to share our wealth to expedite missions, and to live obediently so that what we say matches the way we live.
Conclusion
Albert McClellan tells us of the time when he and other convention personnel were having lunch at the Hermitage Hotel in Nashville. Soup was brought to the table, and one of the group was reminded of a story.
It seems that three men were having a meal together in London. When the soup was served, all three noticed a bug swimming around on the surface of each of their portions. The Englishman, acting discreetly, fastidiously pushed his bowl aside while claiming not to be hungry. The American plunged his spoon under the still swimming bug and raked him into his plate, saying aloud, “I’ll take care of you!”
The third man was a Scot He carefully slid the blade of his knife under the bug, balanced him carefully, then picked him off the knife blade with his fingers. Next, he shook the soup gathered on the knife blade back in the bowl, then squeezed the bug, saying, “Spit it out, little laddie.”
Dr. McClellan said that his group laughed so loudly at the story that others in the restaurant were attracted to their conversation just in time to hear one of the men say with a laugh, “bugs in the soup.” As you might expect, all over the restaurant, soup spoons were placed aside, but the real problem was for all of the people who had finished theirs.
We have a message to deliver, and it must be clear, because people are depending on us for the truth.
WISE UNTO SALVATION
#053 WISE UNTO SALVATION
Scripture II Timothy 3:12-17 Orig. Date 10-22-61 (4-75)
Rewr. Dates 1-12-86
Passage: 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Purpose: To speak to my people early in the year encouraging them to give stronger consideration to the need to study God’s Word with a renewed intensity.
Keywords: Bible Christian Responsibility Baptist Belief
Introduction
I stood there that day talking with a lady about a need for a music worker. She shared some reluctance, but I felt that she was almost convinced. I moved in like a fisherman at his favorite fishing hole. I reminded her that we simply wanted to see her talent invested in this important “kingdom” cause. Her response was sincere. “Brother Skinner, I love to sing, but there’s a lot I don’t know about music.” I felt like a chess payer moving in to checkmate. Said I, “I love to preach, but there’s a lot I don’t know about preaching and sermons.” I was just getting ready to pat myself on the back when she took the wind out of my sails. She responded, “Yeah, but YOU can fool people, and you can’t when you don’t know music.”
I never cease to be amazed at the capabilities that many people have. There are few things in this world that are not within the scope of being mastered if one has the heart and the will, and some intellect thrown in for good measure.
There are musicians who have dedicated their lives to mastering music. There are theologians who likewise have mastered the art and craft of sermon and rhetoric. Believe it or not, there are even people who understand American foreign policy. They know what is going on in Nicaragua, even Libya, or South Africa.
Make no mistake about this then. If one wants to understand the Bible, it is within our grasp. We can, and must, see it as vital to the Christian life. We must perceive of God’s Word as the agent of His communication with His people. Such a voice would not be shoddily handled when so much depends on it.
I. We Discover that This Book was Written By Men Inspired. II Peter 1:21 “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
There are a lot of different reasons that people write: Some to share knowledge; some to entertain; some to express their prurient thoughts. Others write simply because it is easier than working. The Bible was written as a storehouse of redemptive knowledge. Its purpose was not science, not astronomy, not even history. God is at work redemptively.
Psalm 110:105 “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Jeremiah 23:29 “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” Luke 24:32 “Did not our hearts burn within us as he opened to us the Scriptures?” Romans 15:4 “Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”
Patrick Henry referred to the Bible as “a book worth all other books which were ever printed.”
II. Written By Inspired Men, It Had God for Its Author, Salvation for Its End. Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.” God is then eternally responsible for His Word. In man’s beginning, he struggled to communicate with other men, and language was born, a language capable of expressing the deepest of thoughts. In man’s entrapment in the nuclear age, communication has been replaced by détente. God’s Word is now more than ever man’s only surviving means of brotherhood.
God’s purpose according to His Word will not and cannot be averted. The writing of the Bible as we know it today covers about 1600 years of man’s history. The Old Testament was born and woven in three fragments—Law, Prophets, and Writings. By 150 A.D. a complete New Testament canon was in circulation. Many translations preceded the ones we know: Jerome, mid 4th century; Wycliffe 1380; Tyndale 1611; King James 1611. The TEXTUS RECEPTUS was the basic King James text. Though some 5,000 manuscripts have been found since, there is a total alteration of less than one percent.
III. God’s Word has Truth without Any Mixture of Error for its Matter. Proverbs 30:5-6 “Every work of God is pure. Add thou not unto His words, lest He reprove thee and thou be found a liar.” There is not to be found any book with the integrity, credibility, and authenticity of the Bible. Why do people waste time on the trashy books that offer only a fleshly sensation at best? They may do worse. This is the real evil of pornography: What it does to us, and what it keeps from us.
The truth of man’s gravest need is found and continued in the book we know as the Bible. We were concerned with Watergate. We are concerned with Southeast Asia. We wonder about ecology and energy supplies. There is an answer to “Why am I here?” and “Where is it all going?”
Psalm 43:3 “Send out Thy light and Thy truth; let them lead me.” John 8:32 “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” II Corinthians 13:8 “We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.”
IV. The Bible Goes on to Reveal the Principles by Which God Will Judge Us. Romans 2:12 “As many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law." John 12:47-48 “If any man hear my words. . . . the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”
The most significant aspect of that judgment is faith in Jesus. Whatever good there is, or merit, in any human life comes about as a result of faith.
Aristotle said of his own writings that they “were given for action and not for discussion.” Even so, with the Bible, it is easier to get people to talk about the Bible, even to study, than to get us to do what it says. We marvel that Codex Sinaiticus sold for ½ million dollars. Vaticanus was so closely guarded that it was not known until Napoleon conquered Rome.
V. The Bible Is and Will Remain to the End of the World the True Center of Christian Union. Philippians 3:16 “Let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.” We have learned some things worthy of keeping: We are judged by the same standards. We are forgiven alike through Jesus. We are saved for equal purposes.
It will do us well to remember that the totalitarian state is enemy to the purpose of sharing this Word from God. One is reminded of a Hitler quote to youth-oriented groups, “Whether it is the Old Testament or the New Testament, or the sayings of Jesus, it is all the same old swindle. . . . One is either a German or a Christian. You can not be both.” A Hitler mouthpiece was head of the German people’s church. National socialism must not be judged from a biblical or ecclesiastical standpoint.
VI. The Bible is the Supreme Standard by Which All Human Conduct, Creeds, and Opinions Should be Tried. I John 4:1 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
CLOSING
Last eve I passed beside a blacksmith’s door,
and heard the anvil ring the vesper chime.
Then looking in I saw upon the floor
old hammers worn with beating years of time.
“How MANY anvils have you had,” said I,
“to wear and batter all these hammers so?”
“Just one,” said he, and then with twinkling eye,
“The anvil wears the hammers out you know!”
And so, thought I, the anvil of God’s Word,
for ages skeptic blows have beat upon;
Yet, though the noise of falling blows was heard,
the anvil is unharmed—the hammers gone.
Attributed to John Clifford
MISSIONS: THE TUNE OF OBEDIENCE
#050 MISSIONS: THE TUNE OF OBEDIENCE
Scripture Isaiah 54:1-5; John 4:31-41 NIV Orig. 11-26-61
Rewr. 11-28-84
Passage:
“Sing, barren woman,
you who never bore a child;
burst into song, shout for joy,
you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband,”
says the Lord.
2 “Enlarge the place of your tent,
stretch your tent curtains wide,
do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
strengthen your stakes.
3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
your descendants will dispossess nations
and settle in their desolate cities.
4 “Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame.
Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
You will forget the shame of your youth
and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.
5 For your Maker is your husband—
the Lord Almighty is his name—
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
he is called the God of all the earth.
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” 34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” 39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.
Purpose: To call attention to the clear teaching of Scripture as it gives us our mandate to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
Keywords: Christ Redeemer Missions Church Obedience
Introduction
It was an Easter meeting of the Northampton Association in England. The year was 1791. The urgency of missions was a new and controversial theme for English Baptists. For as long as any of them could remember their belief had centered around Calvinism. They were known as Particular Baptists because they believed that God was a “Particular” God, and that only certain “elected” people would be saved.
At that meeting, men like Andrew Fuller and John Sutcliffe spoke to these assembled believers. But on this occasion, they spoke on the challenge of missions.
It was just one month later when many of these same pastors and church leaders assembled again. They were to induct a young man into the role of pastor of one of these churches. As a part of the program, this young man was to preach. He chose a subject which was a part of a study in which he was engaged. The title of his sermon was “The Inquiry into the Obligation of Christians to use Means for the Conversion of the Heathen.”
The young man who was assuming his first pastoral role was William Carey, the man who today is called “The Father of modern missions.” That day he referred to statistics. There were 731 million people in the world: 2 of 10 were Muslim, 5 of 10 were pagan, only 3 of 10 were Christian. Something must be done to point these lost multitudes to Christ.
John Ryland, the pastor who baptized [Carey], was present. He spoke up, “Sit down, young man: When the Lord gets ready to convert the heathen, He will do it without your help or mine.”
A year later, on May 30, 1792, [Carey] preached again to the Association. “Expect great things from God . . . Attempt great things for God.” Within a year, Carey and a Baptist surgeon named [John] Thomas would be on their way to India.
I. Foreign Missions Fulfills the Tune of World Diplomacy. V3 “Your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited.” V35 “Look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest.” The world desperately needs to have an option to be Christian. It is Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist. It is Communist. How [many have] any chance to be Christian? A group of Christians emerged from a Jewish tour bus at the Dome of the Rock. The Muslim overseers had closed it for the day. The guide remarked to her driver, “I could do just as well without any religions.” Unfortunately, there are many Christians who act as if they agree.
Do you think Muslims will hesitate? Would see the world in Communism? Then we must support a mission program that reaches out in love.
Yes, missionaries are still making an impact with the Gospel. There are those who deny it. They say this person from another culture is not a messenger from God, but a harbinger of Western values. Baptist missionaries in most of the world are supporting national leaders. The good work for Ethiopian people is being done by the religiously oriented.
Here is the One Way that WE can creatively take a world stand. John Denver said in USA Today: “If one man is hungry, then I am hungry. If a child is starving, then my child is starving.” Missions is the one remaining best hope of the world.
II. It Not Only Fulfills World Diplomacy, but Church Deputation as Well. V35 “Lift up your eyes and look on the fields.” Matthew 28:19, 20 “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”
There can be no doubt that we are to evangelize. A young clergyman asked the Duke of Wellington if it wasn’t useless to preach to Hindus. “Look to your marching orders, ‘Go, preach the Gospel to every creature.’” S3p252.
The message of Christ has not found fulfillment until we share it with another. Each one of use came to believe through the witness of another. Our faith witness ought to include family, neighbors, others. Family and neighbors we can reach; missions helps us to extend our hands around the world.
It is no little job. World population is presently approaching 5 billion. By the year 2000 it is expected to be close to 6 billion.
WORLD AREA POPULATION % CHRISTIAN [1984]
Western Europe 516 million 30%
Eastern Europe 425 million 5%
[South] America 384 million 3%
Africa 700 million 2%
Asia 2.9 billion 0.1%
North America 280 million 40%
To walk with Christ is to identify with His message. Matthew 24:14 “This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations.” Revelation 14:6 “I saw another angel . . . , having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” Southern Baptist men gave 100,000 Bibles in Russia, and then they gave 100,000 Bibles again!
In preparing for Jonah last week, I read again why Jonah hated the Assyrians so. Do we want a Gaddafi or Khomeini or Khrushchev clone in control? God left the Jews because they became nation-centered.
90% of Protestant preaching is to English-speaking people. 90% or more of Christian wealth is in the hand of English-speaking people. English speakers make up 9% of the world’s population.
III. Missions Also is Necessary to Fulfill the Credibility of the Saviour. V34 “Jesus saith unto them, ‘My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” I John 4:14 “The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.” He continues to seek that accomplishment through men and women of faith and good will.
There are things that we can and must do. Be sensitive to the searchings of faith in the lives of people around us. Acknowledge that the means to winning the world is through the support of evangelically oriented missionaries. Take a prayerful look at what the Lottie Moon Christmas offering means in that purpose.
Remember that the way we live and talk, and the way we support our church and kingdom causes, tells people what we think about the credibility of the Saviour.
Conclusion
Do you know who Albert Einstein was? Perhaps the greatest brain in scientific revolution.
Do you know about Karl Marx? Probably the greatest mind behind 20th Century economics.
Do you recognize Sigmund Freud? The prime mover of psychology.
All were Jews!!!! But the need
***THE REMAINDER OF THIS SERMON HAS BEEN LOST***
A RADICAL CHANGE
#049 A RADICAL CHANGE
Scripture Romans 6:1-23 NIV Orig. 5-20-62 (6-77)
Rewr. 11-9-88 (1-85)
Passage: What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. 19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[b] Christ Jesus our Lord.
Purpose: Continuing a series from the Book of Romans, here drawing the contrast between sin’s death and Christ’s life.
Keywords: Death God Grace Life Sin
Series Romans Revival
Introduction
Finally, the truth has been revealed relative to the “Shroud of Turin.” For hundreds of years there has been speculation about this simple linen shroud. It was claimed to be the burial shroud in which Jesus was buried, and was for centuries, Christendom’s most baffling relic.
The relic is controlled by the Catholic bishop of Turin, and thus its name, although it is owned by Umberto II, a deposed king of Italy who, at last report, lived in Portugal.
It is just over 4-1/2 meters long, and just under one meter wide. It has been submitted to extensive scientific analysis, including carbon 14 dating, and computer technology. Even pollen samples were evaluated.
The shawl had blood in all the right places. Even the imprint of a human face. But the computers could not confirm its validity, and said absolutely nothing about life after death. It was determined that should this be proved to be the right cloth, then Jesus was 5’10-1/2”, and weighed 175 pounds.
Well, in fact now we know that it was not the burial shroud of Jesus. Even the Catholic Church admits that the early history of the cloth cannot be ascertained.
What if? What if it were the cloth? Suppose that these tests authenticated the shroud. We Christians would have a miracle to flaunt. One of the scientific team members said,
“If Christ was resurrected from the dead, then the gospels are truth, and eternal life—immortality—is offered.” (Ray Rogers—Omni p.95)
But the possibility of a miracle no longer exists. We are not yet without hope, however. The Bible has much to say on the subject, and the apostle here affirms that death, for the believer, will be swallowed up in life. He speaks of a most “radical change,” and it is that death “hath no more dominion.”
I. So Radical a Change Acknowledges Death to Sin. V2 “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” V6 “…Our old man is crucified with him.”
To begin with, Paul has much to say on the subject of death. Beside this note of being “crucified” with Christ, death is alluded to fourteen times in these first eleven verses. It is a subject not given wide circulation in our sophisticated culture. Tabloids on display at check-out lines sensationalize it: “Five Psychics Tell Why They Believe in Life after Death.” The scientific community offers us the name of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross as the most knowledgeable: “Although I do not consider myself a particularly religious woman, I find no conflict between the Christian concept of an after-life, and my own careful studies on death.”
But the death here is not just the cessation of bodily function. Remember the legal ramifications invoked in the Karen Ann Quinlan case. Who could throw the switch? Someone finally did, and she survived on a tube feeding for nine years.
Biblically, death is the soulmate of sin, and is viewed judgmentally. But is God death’s source? The answer is a resounding “No!” We are emphatically told that the “wages of sin is death.” Thus, sin, and its corollary, resulted from acts of will.
So, as death is more than cessation, life is more than breathing and bodily function. A war correspondent in Vietnam told of interviewing a crusty Marine sergeant. He was eating cold beans with his bayonet. “If I could grant one request right now for you what would it be?” “Give me tomorrow!”
A TV special on “Violence in America” concluded with this evaluation, “Biological life alone is not enough for a rational being. He, or she, wants participation in the social process.”
For the believer, death dispels the power of sin to rule and distort lives. Chapter five dealt with sin and grace. Sin and death are personified in Adam. Grace and life are personified in Christ.
The present chapter moves more to the drum beat of faith (sanctification). V14 “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” Having received Christ as Saviour is being perceived of God as following a new leader. Satan has lost the battle for your soul. But he has not lost your address. Depending totally on the carnality of our faith, he exercises influence.
II. So Radical a Change Acknowledges that a New Life is Given. V11. “Likewise, you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” It is not mentality that separates man from the beasts of the field. Within limits they have intellect. Consider pets, zoo animals.
Nor is it our ability to communicate. The great whales are said to communicate over hundreds, thousands of miles of ocean. Diane Fosse studied the great apes. Her death may be attributed to her affinity. Brahmans, Hindus, see animals as “brothers with them before God.” (National Geographic, November 1988)
What separates man from beast is his potential to faith-relationship with God. Scriptures declare this uniqueness. Genesis 2:7 “God . . . breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” It is that “breath of God” that we know as faith. It is here that “baptism” enters into Paul’s discussion. Baptism is the “sign” of that faith. Not salvation by legalist “rite,” but that baptism is expressive of that faith. Faith shows itself in many ways. Baptism is one.
We also have a fairly complete criteria of what that faith-relationship consists of. First it is dependable. In V11 we read “reckon”—to us often meaning no more than “suppose.” Then, it was an accounting term reflecting absolute accuracy. Secondly, it is free. V20 Enslaved to sin, we are set free to righteousness. V18, 23. Such faith knows no class distinction. Lastly, it is eternal. The word aionios means “eternal,” “endless.”
III. So Radical a Change Comes Through Jesus Christ. V23 “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The place of Christ in the equation of salvation is without equal. We were “baptized” (v3) into Christ Jesus. Our fleshly being was “crucified”(v6) with Jesus. “Death” in Christ Jesus is what frees us from sin (v7). Thus, we come to “live” (v11) through Jesus. And ultimately, eternal life (v23) comes through Him.
Lay to rest any thought that religion is nothing more than a person’s sincerity. There are waves of people who are sincerely wrong. At the abortion clinic, the young pregnant woman advises opponents to keep their “morals off of her body.” People around Louisiana think that devil worship by teenagers is idle (sic) curiosity. Sincere people say “God wouldn’t send anyone to hell.” Satan would, and he would gladly use our being “sincerely wrong” to accomplish it.
Conclusion
An unknown author left a couplet on death.
Some men die by shrapnel, some go down in flames.
But most men perish inch by inch, in play at little games.
Death comes to all alike. The method, manner may change, but only Christ makes a difference in dying. As there is more to life than blood flow, breath, body function, there is more to death than dying.
BE STILL AND KNOW
#048 BE STILL AND KNOW
Scripture Psalm 46:1-11 NIV Orig. 8-18-63 (1-76)
Rewr. June 30, 1991
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.
Purpose: To share a Sunday evening message to encourage my people to be tuned in to things that are spiritually beneficial.
Keywords: Healing King and Kingdom Satan, Influence
Timeline/Series: Psalms
Introduction
Reading from a commentary on The Psalms, I came across a story from the pen of Dr. G.H. Morrison, a great scholar, archaeologist of the Bible land and its people. He told of a time when an archaeological dig was underway in the Biblical city of Shechem. He wrote that beneath that ancient city were flowing streams of water. Dr. Morrison said that during the busy hours of the day there was no evidence of those streams. The topography of Shechem was dry, the weather oppressively hot. But when night descended upon the city it was different. The streets and bazaars were quieted, the noise and confusion of busy people was stilled. In that quietness, the humming of those buried streams could be heard.
Years ago we took our little girls to Ridgecrest for the first time. We were staying in a cottage across the highway, and just at the base of one of the mountains. A small brook cascaded down the mountainside just behind the cottage. During the day, unless the girls dragged us out back to wade, we were oblivious to it. But at night, through our bedroom window, came the therapeutic sounds of that stream to our tired bodies.
Most of us have already mapped out our plans for tomorrow and the rest of the week. Do you suppose that some of the things that would otherwise be a healing blessing to us, we will not enjoy because we have programmed these things in a separate mode? We will be so busy with lesser things, that things of the Spirit will go unnoticed.
I. The Only Place to Begin is in Consideration of the Pace at Which We Live Our Lives. V2 “Though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.”
It is a text drawn straight out of the 20th Century. Is it Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines that continues to wreak havoc? Is it the sound of tanks, ripping cars and trucks apart? Is it the silence of malnourished children calling out their plight?
Elijah had a similar experience. I Kings 19: He had seen God work a miracle, but he heard the threat of a vindictive woman, Jezebel. In the wilderness, he encountered wind, earthquake, fire. There came finally, “a still small voice.”
The loud voices of ill will linger. Bertrand Russell: “All the labors of the ages, all the devotions, all the inspirations, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system.” H.G. Wells: “The end of everything we call life is close at hand and cannot be evaded.”
Even many with a religious bent saw Operation Desert Storm as the first phase of Armageddon.
The Psalmist saw in physical exercise the social upheavals of our day. Eastern Europe is being thrown upon political unrest. Today’s news magazine devoted its entire copy to racial unrest: “Only educated, white men” escape. Closer to home is the theological unrest dividing most denominations.
II. Then There is Consideration of the Pause. V10 advises “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” What better time to pause and reflect than on the occasion of an anniversary? Be still and consider what these 22 years have meant: A church at the far edge of a great city has become a potentially great church ministering in a neighborhood of roughly 50,000 people through a handful of committed people. There is a relationship of sharing with 350 member families, with at least 350 other families being touched by ministries.
Meanwhile, out on the periphery there are those who want the church to lie down and play dead. And there are some that are capitulating to the world and any church, Riverside included, must face that as a viable option. If some so-called religious leaders had their way, the choice given to the church would be whether the information on the tombstone listed suicide or murder.
The “Be still” of the Lord God didn’t mean throwing in the towel. It meant, “Be reminded again, as others have had to be, whence cometh your strength.” The word means to “relax.” One is reminded of the Sabbath-rest.
But remember, this was a purposeful cessation of activity. It is nice sometimes to cast away all responsibility, but for the Christian the cessation is to be creative. Too many people take an unwarranted sabbatical. Bible Study last week was a case in point. It was announced. It was on the calendar. We still had less than 15% representation of deacons.
I have a kind of dream for us for this year. It is that we can spread our necessary administrating out wide enough that enough people can share in it that it is no longer our priority; it is that we can minister rather than ADminister.
Vance Havner wrote in “Christ for the World” that “the trouble with churches today is that they have too much supper room and too little upper room.” What better place to “be still” than when we come into God’s presence? One person asked her pastor to tone down the “prelude” because she couldn’t hear what her friend in the pew ahead said.
III. Consider, Finally, the Peace it Institutes. V11 “The Lord God of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” We have a poor concept of peace these days. We think of peace as a state of warlessness. But peace is a state of personal experience in which we are called and challenged to express a life-altering faith in God. I like Mark’s account in Mark 4:36 of the stilling of the storm on the Sea of Galilee. “And He said unto the sea, ‘Peace, be still.” Then to the disciples, ‘Have you not yet faith?’”
We know that God has promised His people peace. Yet far too many of us live in total frustration because we cannot get those around us to live like we want. 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.”
Read anew the tragic accounting of peace in Luke 19:37f. Jesus came near to Jerusalem, with the disciples rejoicing in what was seen. “Blessed be the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” The Pharisees told Him to rebuke His disciples because this is no time for peace. He said to them “If these should hold their peace, the stones will cry out.” He came to the city and wept over it. “If thou hadst known . . . the things which belong to thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes.”
Paul would late learn the meaning of Jerusalem’s proffered peace, which the Pharisees and publicans, and too many prophets, priests, preachers, and other pretenders miss. “I have learned in whatever state I am, therein to be content.”
CONCLUSION
Would that I could communicate to you the real meaning of St. Francis of Assisi’s prayer:
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 giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
GLADNESS OF HEART
#047 GLADNESS OF HEART
Scripture Psalm 96:9-13 NIV Orig. 12-5-61
Rewr. 10-29-87
Passage: 9 Worship the Lord in the splendor of his[a] holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.
11 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let the sea resound, and all that is in it.
12 Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;
let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.
13 Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes,
he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples in his faithfulness.
Purpose: To share a hopeful and heartening message at the funeral of a church member
Keywords: Funeral Joy
Introduction
Death and sorrow are inseparable. With the loss of one so intimately entwined with our lives, there are the sudden and sure pangs of grief and loss. At this point, Christians are no different. In fact, these feelings may be more inordinately felt.
To measure life by eternal scales is to feel with an intensity that others cannot know. It is sadness for the one parted from us, whose parting came under such struggle and toil. There is given to the believer, however, the potential even in such a place, to know peace, even to know gladness of heart.
At the heart of the cyclone tearing the sky
And flinging the clouds and the towers by,
Is a place of central calm;
So here in the roar of mortal things,
I have a place where my spirit sings,
In the hollow of God’s palm.
Edwin Markham
I. Gladness of Heart Comes in Knowing that the Lord Reigns. V10 “Say,” says the Psalmist, “that the Lord reigns.” How can there be tragedy that is not negated by that good news? Surely, there are regrets in such partings as this. But resentment, for the believer, is a thing impossible. For there is no untoward thing that cannot bring refreshment to the believing spirit.
“Time flies,
Suns rise
And shadows fall.
Let time go by.
Love is forever over all.”
English Sun Dial (Q1, II, p30)
He came to reign, and the heart in which he reigns is at peace. Isaiah 51:11 “The redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion: and everlasting joy shall be upon their head; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.”
To know the Lord is to know redemption. It is to know that though the parting was a grievous one, the first greeting will be as happy as the last one was sad. It does us well to remember that peace is not a human condition but a divine complement.
A man on his deathbed (attributed to John Newton, writer of Amazing Grace) dictated a short letter that he wanted delivered to a friend. He started, “I am yet in the land of the living.” Suddenly, he directed the one taking the letter to stop writing. “Change that,” he said. “I am yet in the land of the dying, but soon will be in the land of the living.”
II. Gladness of Heart Comes in Remembering the Goodness of God. V13 “… the Lord cometh to judge . . . the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.” It is here in the land of the dying that the gracious hand of God comforts his people. We are surrounded by heartache, struggle, a thousand other things that we would change if we could, even things that are meant to magnify God’s grace. It is in the struggle that we are best able to perceive the sovereignty. The returning captives would know the sheer, unadulterated joy of victory over their deepest sorrows.
Isaiah saw the day of return. Isaiah 55:12 “Ye shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace: the mountain and the hills will break forth before you in singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”
It is his will to introduce us from this land of death, to one of life. James Tinsley has preceded us. Knowing what he now knows, he would not change a thing. He would plead with his renewed voice to be ready, for the time will come and for many, when they are least ready.
“I prayed to see the face of God, illumined by the central suns
Turning in their ancient track;
But what I saw was not His face at all—
I saw His bent figure on a windy hill,
Carrying a double load upon His back.”
--R. Perkins in Anthology of Modern Verse
Conclusion
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was asked by a respondent a question about his own death. She wanted to know, “How would you spend the next few hours if you knew you were to die at midnight tomorrow?”
He replied, “Just as I intend to spend them now. I would preach this evening at Gloucester. Again at 5:00 tomorrow morning. I would ride to Tewksbury to preach in the evening. Then to meet with the societies, and to go to friend Martin’s house. There I would converse and pray with his family, retire to my room at ten. Commend myself to my heavenly Father. Lie down to rest. And wake up in glory.”
SEEKING BETTER THINGS
#045 SEEKING BETTER THINGS
Scripture Colossians 3:1-4 NIV Orig. 4-14-63
Rewr. 1-6-74/4-8-79
Passage: Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your[a] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Purpose: To speak to my people on the occasion of Easter celebration to call to their minds the need to lift our horizons in the Lord Jesus, and commitment to Him.
Keywords: New Birth Easter Resurrection Christian Living
Introduction
A BAG OF TOOLS
Isn’t it strange that princes and kings,
And clowns that caper in sawdust rings,
And common people like you and me
Are builders for eternity?
Each is given a bag of tools,
A shapeless mass, a book of rules:
And each must make—before life is gone—
A stumbling block or a steppingstone.
--R.L. Sharpe--
We do not have to look very far to discover people who have committed themselves absolutely to their life priorities. Jane Goodall is an English primatologist and anthropologist, considered the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees. Mary Leakey, paleontologist and contributor to National Geographic, was committed to the task of discovering man’s beginnings. Ralph Nader was a consumer who made news about the dangers of the Corvair and Pinto; a young college student had died. Nuclear scientists are convinced that one of man’s energy sources is in their field, and they are committed to efficient and safe nuclear power plants; it is too late to turn back because there are already 500 of these plants in the world, either in operation, or in some stage of planning or construction.
We Christians must come to terms with the need for commitment to our Lord, and to His church, in order that we might be known as people whose energy resources and reserves are given over unconditionally to our Lord to bring glory to His name.
Seeking better things is as immanent in the spiritual world as in the material world.
I. The Natural Beginning Place for Any Improvement is to Accept the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Colossians 3:1 “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.“
Apparently, most of us are looking for some good out of life. For Adam, it was a rather arrogant goal, to be like God, all wise and eternal. For Job, it was for an answer to a philosophical question, albeit a very important one (Job 14:14) “If a man die, shall he live again?”
Thomas, who walked part of life’s trail with Jesus, was one who could not settle for faith, He had to have fact. “I will believe that He is alive, only under the circumstances of touching the nail holes, and feeling the torn flesh on His side.”
But regrettably, the goal for most of us is not changed from that day long ago in Babel (Genesis 11:4), “Let us build us a city and a tower. . . , whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name.”
We are compelled here as Christians to remember that life has a higher, nobler goal. It begins with the certitude that Christ is alive. Luke 24:3 “And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.” Acts 4:33 “And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus; and great grace was upon them all.”
It takes on its deepest meaning when we discover through faith that we are alive with Christ. A.A. Ketchum wrote the hymn on p. 429 in our hymnal, Why Do I Sing About Jesus?
Deep in my heart there’s a gladness; Jesus has saved me from sin!
Praise to His name, what a Saviour! Cleansing without and within!
Why do I sing about Jesus? Why is He precious to me?
He is my Lord and my Saviour; Dying, He set me free!
Paul is not here appealing for a sham other worldliness where we only contemplate eternity. He is clearly acknowledging that for the Christian, his new standard of value will be God’s standard of value: Giving more than getting; serving more than ruling; forgiving more than avenging.
Vance Havner, the contemporary Baptist evangelist, gives practical advice to all of us: “I would say to today’s young minister, ‘Be not afraid to give much time to solitary walks and meditation. You can well afford to dispense with many other activities some may think indispensable. You will be returning to a way of life almost forgotten now, and you may be eyed askance by all runners in the Great Rat Race. But your chance may come one day to speak your piece on some strategic occasion, when weary humanity has reached saturation and boredom listening to everything else. On that day, your quiet walks and lonely vigils will pay off. If that chance never comes, they will have paid off anyway.’”
II. Then, Let this Seeking Continue in the Positive Thrust of Christ-Like Living. V3:2-3 “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.” The Gnostics believed in hidden wisdom. The meaning here is obvious. The believer does not automatically lose worldly desire. One never loses the potential to sin.
Something else did happen, and still does. Their lives are wrapped up in Christ. The Greeks commonly spoke of a dead relative as being hidden in the earth. The believer dies a spiritual death in baptism, and is hidden in Christ. Baptism literally engulfed the early believers in the Lord. It should be so with us.
There is another reason why the believer should be so wrapped up in the Lord. Satan rarely, if ever, gives up on bringing disruptive influences to bear in our lives.
Paganini, the great violinist, was in the middle of an important concert when one of the strings on his violin snapped. He continued to play as if nothing had happened. Then, a second broke! He played yet on without hesitation. Then, unbelievably, a third gave way with a sharp crack! For a brief moment, he paused. The audience assumed he would quit. But he calmly raised his famous Stradivarius with one hand and announced, “One string . . . and Paganini!”
With a tremendous, furious skill and matchless discipline, he finished the selection on a single string. The audience arose and gave him a thunderous ovation.
There are times in our lives when things go wrong. Strings one after the other seem to snap. It becomes increasingly easier to quit. But when we are wrapped up in Jesus, going on is the thing to do. Nothing pleases the prince of darkness more than for the children of the Father to forget who we are and WHOSE we are. Nothing robs him of power and pleasure in our lives like trusting the Lord the more in difficult times than in good times.
You see, the Christian life has a final goal of Christlikeness. The Christian’s life is never more than when it is in the process of becoming.
There is the new consumer advocacy. There is genetic engineering. For the believer, there is that priority that establishes the Lordship of Christ, and my only solution to the sin problem in my life is through Him.
CLOSING
The three Hebrew children, young men actually, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were threatened with death if they did not accede to the demands of the Babylonians. They were to worship like Babylonians and act like Babylonians. “If it be so that our God is able to deliver us, well; but if not, be it known to you, O King, that we will not serve thy gods or worship them” (Daniel 3).
When Paul arrived at Miletus, he sent for the elders of the church at Ephesus (Acts 20:17). He reminded them of the two essentials of the kingdom: repentance toward God, and faith toward the Lord Jesus. He, Paul, was not going to be around to help them, but this was the essential message that they were to bear to the people of their city.
Repentance and faith. They still are the elemental functions of belief: Repentance—clearly, we are sinners, and only repentance toward God will ever change that; and Faith—faith that Christ died on a cross as the enabler of repentance and forgiveness, and the better, fuller life that is in Him.
JUSTIFIED FREELY
#044 JUSTIFIED FREELY
Scripture Romans 3:19-31 NIV Orig. 11-12-61 (11-85)
Rewr. 10-5-88
Passage 19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in[a] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,[b] through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. 28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
Purpose: Continuing the series from Romans, here defining the message of justification for all mankind.
Keywords: Bible Study God, Grace Man, Lost Justification Law
Timeline/Series: Romans
Introduction
Although it has been a number of years, many of us will still remember news reports out of the city of Philadelphia, and the Bellevue Stratford Hotel. It was the summer of 1976. By some fateful choice, the American Legion was holding its annual meeting in Philadelphia. Many of the legionnaires were staying at the Bellevue Stratford.
After the convention was over, and many of the conventioneers had returned home, a strange pall of illness invaded the lives of many of them. Although they were in hospitals in several parts of the country, their doctors read the symptoms the very same way. These people had an unknown illness. For that reason, it became known as “legionnaires” disease. In the weeks following at least 29 people died as a result of complications from the disease. These people had either stayed at The Bellevue Stratford Hotel, or had taken meals there.
Public censure of the hotel began immediately. Before the end of that year, a period of no more than six months, the hotel was closed. What had at one time been one of the proudest of the Philadelphia hotels, slowly sank into an undeserved oblivion. The hotel did not cause those deaths. But its association with them was such that a cautious public would no longer avail itself of these accommodations.
We have an aversion to that which seems to be a threat to our physical well-being. We are insisting on more and more safety in every mode of transportation. We spend huge amounts of money encouraging medical science to protract life.
We have no aversion, however, to sin. We seem willing to take our chances with it even when we know what a threat it is. Thus, Paul reminds his readers, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace through . . . Christ Jesus.”
I. First, then, Is the Need for Justification. V23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Thomas Hobbes wrote, “whatsoever a man does against his conscience, is sin.” The first three chapters are an extension of this premise. God has revealed Himself to the gentiles through nature (Romans 1:19-20). He revealed Himself to the Jews through Law (Romans 2:14-15). All have rebelled against this revelation (Romans 1:29-32 and 2:1-5). All will be judged on the basis of truth rejected (Romans 2:9-11). All are equally guilty (Romans 3:21-23).
Here will begin (through chapter 8) the supreme workings of faith. Romans 8:38 “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, or angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things past, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Man, whatever his cultural bias, is the fallen creation of God. We were created in, and for, holiness. Acts 17:26f “From one man made He every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth: and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek Him. . . reach out for Him and find Him, though . . . not far from any of us.”
The first man was created in holiness but voluntarily fallen. So, each one of us, though touched by that same life force of God, is fallen. Holiness implanted but not yielded to in our lives, is thus lost.
We were created to remain under the just law of God. The article was somber and sobering. “Last night while you slept: 15,000 arrests were made, more than 3,000 were committed to mental institutions, there were nearly 100 suicides and 30 murders.”
II. There is Purpose in This Justification. V22 “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” Man had the choice of positive obedience, and of belief about trust in community, too. It was no impossible alternative. The only available example is Jesus. While we have the seed of sin, the choice is our own.
God chose man to dwell in fellowship. That purpose has never changed. It was witnessed by law and prophets. Isaiah’s “suffering servant” passage (Isaiah 52:13f) confirms. Isaiah 54:7 “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring thee back.”
The same truth pertains to Jew and Gentile, v22. “There is no difference.” V23 “Both have sinned,” or “miss the mark.” Hebrew v. Greek suggest bad aim or powerlessness.
“Justified freely” (v24) means a judicial decree. “Redemption” (v24) refers to a slave market, where a price had to be paid.
I Peter 1:18f “Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, . . . but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish.” This brings us to the very heart of the gospel. It speaks of the measure of redemption—“freely” (v24). It speaks of the manner of redemption—"by His grace” (v24). It speaks of the means of redemption—“through . . . Christ Jesus” (v24).
It behooves us to recognize the choice that we are left to make. Human reason tells us to avoid the implication of guilt. Matthew Arnold, poet and author of Victorian England, pictured sin “not as a monster but as an infirmity.” Elsewhere: “an infirmity to get rid of.” He says not “How”!
The likely choice is the (word), not human reasoning. Romans 3:2 “First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.” Guilt is a factor, and restitution is inevitable. The workable alternative is faith in Christ as redeemer and sin bearer.
III. Finally, We See the Example of Justification. V28 “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.” Paul’s argument here is not simply justification by faith. He has already settled that: V24 “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ.”
His argument is one for the exclusiveness of that faith justification. His point is clear. God does not opt to save some by faith and others by work. Such inconsistency is the spawn of infidelity. It is a human trait, not a sovereign one. If God’s mood allowed such swings, how would we know what is His contemporary exercise?
So the point is thoroughly made: He is God of both Jew and Gentile. Jeremiah 10:7 “Who would not fear you, O you king of the nations?” “Nations” is reference to non-Jews. Greek translates ethnos as “nations.”
Mark 12:29f “Hear O Israel, the Lord is one . . . . You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” For the Jew, the law is the source through which faith flows. (Galatians 3:24, in the King James calls law a “schoolmaster.”) For the Gentile, grace is the instrument of faith. But for both, it is the act of believing faith that saves.
So, Paul reminds us that sin is the problem. We are without defense or excuse. Repentance is the key that activates this faith. Thomas Fuller, English churchman and historian, said, “You cannot repent too soon, because you do not know how soon it will be too late.”
Closing
On our one trip abroad, we stopped briefly in Venice. On a ride through the canals, we saw the bridge called The Bridge of Sighs. It is said to lead from a courtroom to a dismal prison. “Abandon hope all ye who enter here.”