WATCHING JESUS CLOSELY
#476LS WATCHING JESUS CLOSELY
Scripture Luke 14:1-14, NIV Orig. 3/13/68
Rewr. 1/30/85
Passage: One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. 2 There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. 3 Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” 4 But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way. 5 Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child[a] or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?” 6 And they had nothing to say. 7 When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8 “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. 11 For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” 12 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Purpose: Using the occasion of the Lord’s Supper for a brief message relative to the interrelationships of Jesus at a supper.
Timeline/Series: LORD’S SUPPER
Introduction
Take note please that on a Sabbath, the Holy Day to a Jew, Jesus went into the home of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to share in a festive meal. It is said that the Jews normally ate two meals a day; but on the Sabbath a festive meal was added to the middle of the day. It is a joyful occasion.
Some people have a forlorn and complex view of Jesus as a man who never was other than serious. John Wesley founded a school near Bristol, England, where no games were allowed because “He who plays when he is a child will play when he is a man.”
William Barclay (G30p201) gives us some examples of this short-sighted view of the happy Christ. He quotes Swinburne, “Thou has conquered, O pale Galilean. The world has grown gray at the breath.” Julian spoke of “pale-faced, flat-breasted Christians for whom the sun shone and they never saw it.” And it was A.B. Bruce who said one “could not conceive of the child Jesus playing games when he was a boy, or smiling when he was a man.”
There were those present who were “watching Jesus closely.” Let’s join them and see what we can learn of our Lord’s disposition.
Observe Jesus’ Presence at the Supper. Jesus never refused any man’s hospitality. V1 “He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath.” Jesus went in response to a supposed kindness. It was a large gathering including lawyers and Pharisees. It included also an infirm man, either a plant or someone who happened in off the street. Jesus was not ill-at-ease in the surroundings. V1: “They watched Him closely.” Paratereo means “to watch with sinister intent.”
Note, please, that at such a supper given in His honor, Jesus is present.
Observe Jesus’ Activity at the Supper. He was there as a Pharisee’s guest. The lack of sincerity on the part of some would not change Him. He was there as a guest. However, one was present for whom something must be done. V4: “And He took him and healed him and let him go.”
Attention is called to the Pharisees’ lack of value judgment. It was the Sabbath. That was their excuse to do nothing. Jesus not only does what is right, he rebukes their do-nothing attitude.
At this supper given in honor of our Lord is the appropriate time to check our own values.
Observe Jesus’ Teaching about a Supper. V7: “So He told a parable” about being invited . . . to a wedding feast.” There is always relevancy in Jesus’ teaching. They were at a supper as guests. Some were not acting accordingly.
V7 “He noted how they chose the best places.” Thus, His teaching to them was a lesson in humility. V10 “When you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place.”
Note that it is a rare thing for us to think of ourselves as humble. What place would you want at the table where Jesus sat?
Observe Jesus’ Advice to His Host. He encourages him to examine his motives. Why do we do the things we do? Duty? Self-interest? To befriend? He had invited Jesus and perhaps the infirm man. Fearing what his friends would say, he invited them.
Do the right thing and let God provide the blessing. What better advice or higher goal could we accord than this? I will do the right thing, and I will wait for God to bless as he will.
***THE REMAINDER OF THIS SERMON HAS BEEN LOST***
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.”
- Mark 4:36, still of storm, “Peach be still. . . . Have ye not yet faith?”
- 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.”
- Luke 19:37f Dialogue between Jesus and the Pharisees. They wanted Him to rebuke the disciples for believing that peace followed Jesus.
- Paul “I have learned in whatever state I am therein to be content.”
IV. Concluding Thought.
- Verses 1-3 Picture God holding the reigns in a struggle through creation’s cataclysm. Selah
- Verses 4-7 Picture man struggling in social relationship, and vainly, apart from God, living happily. Selah
- 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.”
LIFE BEGINS WITH DEATH
#049a LIFE BEGINS WITH DEATH
Scripture Romans 6:17-23, NIV Orig. Date 5/20/62
Rewr. Dates 2/1/85 (6-77)
Passage: 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[a] Christ Jesus our Lord.
Purpose: To call attention to the new “life” that is in Christ which begins with the believer’s “death.”
Keywords: Christ the Saviour New Birth Revival Salvation
Introduction
“Life after death” is enjoying some popularity these days. Walk in any supermarket and look for the sensationalist newspapers and you will see what I mean. Most of the time there will be some outlandish article such as one I saw recently, “Five Psychics Tell Why They Believe in Life After Death.” You will even hear some of the people on talk shows discuss it usually in some metaphysical way.
I heard Paul Harvey quote Elisabeth Kübler-Ross a while back. She is a social scientist, and probably the world’s leading authority from a scientific standpoint of the death experience. “Although I do not consider myself a particularly religious woman, I find no conflict between the Christian concept of an afterlife, and my own careful studies on death.”
Perhaps, since we have access to the sensation mongers, over-zealous superstars, and sectarian scientists, we ought to see what insights God’s Word can give us. But if you really want to know about death and its implications, the only safe place to go is to God’s Word.
I. The Death that We Best Understand is the “Wages of Sin.” Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death.” There is, of course, the death of body function. Karen Ann Quinlan is the sad textbook example of a serious problem: When is a person biologically dead? After ten years, she is still alive.
Let me remind you that God didn’t will death. Its source, as this verse attests, is in man’s will to sin. Sin and its punishment are the result of man’s free will. Ecclesiastes 7:29, “God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions.” I Corinthians 2:14, “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto Him.”
The text speaks of moral and spiritual death as well as physical. Who would choose life without regard to circumstances? Why are there thousands of suicides? Who would choose Ethiopia?
Someone reports an on-the-spot interview by a war correspondent with a crusty Marine sergeant. He was eating cold beans from a can with his bayonet. “If I could grant one request for you right now, what would it be?” Without hesitation, the sergeant said, “Give me tomorrow!”
There’s a joke going around about a guy who asked a genie to make him owner of a new-car franchise in a major metropolitan area and wound up a Chrysler dealer in Tokyo right before an earthquake hit.
There is more to life than just living. There is a lot of difference between driving a truck, and trucking.
Thus, we are reminded that life is to sin as death is to righteousness. The human life is marked by sin. Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned.” Believers sin repeatedly. There are sins of circumstance and diversion, and there are sins of will and purpose. Romans 6:1, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue to sin, that grace may abound?” Romans 6:15, “What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.”
We won’t lose salvation, but can lose direction, joy, and perspective, and can find shame. The unbeliever is dead before God. Ecclesiastes 3:19, “That which befalleth the sons of man befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: As the one dieth, so dieth the other.”
II. The Corollary to This Death Is Life that Is a Free Gift from God. Clearly, there is more to death than the cessation of life. Even so, there is more to quality life than breath, blood flow, and brain function. The January 1977 National Geographic contains an article, “Planet Mars,” to show the possibility of life; Dr. Michael McElroy writes: “The elements of the chemistry set are there. We have carbon. . . , nitrogen. . . , sunshine. The only real thing remaining is whether the Great Chemist was there putting the elements together in the right way.”
The life in particular here, beyond physical, is the life of faith. The scripture declares man’s uniqueness is his relationship with God. Man is unique in creation. Genesis 2:7, “. . . and God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul.” Evolution would discount man’s fall, therefore there is his need of Christ.
There is uniqueness in his destiny. Romans 6:6f, “. . . our old man was crucified with Him that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. Now if we die with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him."
We know of what this life consists. It is, first, purposeful living. Romans 6:4 “. . . even so, we also should walk in newness of life.” John 10:10, “I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it abundantly.”
Secondly, it is life after death. It is not sensationalism. It is not metaphysical gibberish. It is not science by default. It is God’s promise to believers. Aionios is the Greek word meaning “endlessness.” It appears that way in 67 of 70 usages. II Corinthians 4:18, “For the things which are seen are temporary; things not seen are permanent.”
III. This Life that Comes Through Death Is by Jesus Christ. Romans 6:23, “. . . The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” There are those who claim that being sincere is religion enough. Judas probably thought he was right when he betrayed Jesus. The Jews surely thought they were doing God a favor when Jesus was crucified. Millions of Germans were sincere when they stood by as 6 million Jews went to gas chambers.
There are some who suggest that this life depends on church relationship. There is Baptist truth, then there is Catholic truth. While pastoring in Oakdale, I had a 15-minute radio program. Prior was West Baptist Church; after was First Presbyterian Church; then West Baptist Church to counter any opposite points.
But the scripture points us to Jesus only as the instrument of salvation. The Bible message is still John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
It is clearly this message that Jesus taught, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Me” (John 14:6). This is what every born-again believer stakes his or her life on. II Timothy 1:12, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.”
Conclusion
Elton Trueblood wrote in “New Life in the Church”: “There are two insights which can illumine our understanding of the Christian case. The first is the conversion which is important is not conversion from sheer paganism to nominal Christianity; not conversion from cold to warm, but from lukewarm to hot, from a mild religion to one in which a person’s whole life is taken up and filled and compelled. The second is that the most common situation in which this kind of conversion can occur is the situation of middle age.”
PUMPING IN PERFECTION
#053b PUMPING IN PERFECTION
Scripture II Timothy 3:12-17 Orig. Date 10-22-61
Rewr. Dates 4-19-75
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.”
People as a rule have capabilities to master just about anything. There are musicians who have dedicated their lives to mastering music. There are theologians and preachers who have mastered the art of sermon and rhetoric.
As difficult as it is to believe, there are people who understand, and who have mastered, American foreign policy. To most of us it is beyond the scope of comprehension. One of the nemeses of the school years is always testing time. It’s bad enough to spend hours preparing for the subject, and then leave the classroom wondering if we even passed. Then we look at the posted grades and see the names of those who not only passed, they had perfect scores.
One of the most significant doctrinal emphases of Baptists over the centuries has been our regard for the Bible. I do not know of anyone who has claimed to master this book. None of us will ever be able to exceed in understanding what the Word of God proclaims in revelation. But, oh how we need to set ourselves to the task.
We will never know all that we would like to know about our chosen vocations, but we work at improvement. Knowledge abounds in the avocational areas of sports, arts and crafts, travel, history, and a thousand other subjects. That we can not know everything does not hinder our determination.
“Pumping in Perfection” is an apt title because the only way that we will ever get close to what we ought to be is by the embrace of the assimilation of God’s Word creatively applied.
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 fleshy 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
Don’t you think it’s time for a little of God’s perfection to be pumped?
THE SIN OF SONLESSNESS
#055a THE SIN OF SONLESSNESS
Scripture John 8:21-36, NIV Orig. Date 10-2-61
Rewr. Dates 4-18-85 (7-77)
Passage: 21 Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”
22 This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”
23 But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”
25 “Who are you?” they asked. “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. 26 “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”
27 They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up[a] the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” 30 Even as he spoke, many believed in him.
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Purpose: To introduce a doctrinal study called The Doctrine of Christ so that my people will better understand their need of Christ, the sin-bearer.
Keywords: Christ the Saviour The Christian Life Sin Power
Introduction
It has been several years ago, but the news services told the story all around the country. The streets of the city of New York were electrically dark, but were aflame with human passion. Different reports gave different accounts. 1,700, 1,800, as many as 2,000 arrested for looting and arson. An old jail, long out of service, had to be reactivated to hold the mobs.
It started with a power failure and turned into a night of terror. Untold numbers of people were caught up in a wild melee in the streets that suddenly engulfed them. Some of them found themselves doing things that they would never have done under other circumstances.
Nevertheless, their weakness violated the law, caused pain and suffering; they would have to pay for their crimes. In other places, those more detached from the human scene were scoffing at the evangelical concept of sin. Is there sin? Can there be a God who judges sin? Are we accountable for the wrongs we do?
Sin comes to us in all shapes and colors. It waltzes through one’s life with the whisper of a gentle breeze, or it destroys everything in its path like a late Summer storm. It registers every degree of intensity from anguish to zeal (misguided). It is real! There are different kinds. These are difficult to categorize. One sin exceeds all others in total effect upon our lives. It is the Sin of Sonlessness. It is the sin unto death. It spells death for people, for cultures, for nations, for churches.
I. The Sin of Sonlessness Results in Minimized Human Potential. John 8:34-36 “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world. Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
You see, creation included Christ. God created a being capable of self-will and therefore of response. Genesis 3:5 “Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Ecclesiastes 7:29 “God has made man upright, but they have sought many inventions.” They were seeking not what God’s will provides but what their will tolerates.
From the first it was His intention to redeem man through Christ. One of the things remembered with fondness from New Orleans is the trips to Women’s Hospital and the magnificent walks by the nursery window. There were dozens of babies. The spark of life is God’s gift. Spiritual life also. John 1:16f “of His fullness have we all received . . . . The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”
Any of us may achieve material success apart from Christ, but it has no redeeming effect. Some unnamed author of Profit and Loss wrote:
I counted dollars while God counted crosses,
I counted gains while He counted losses.
I counted my worth, my things gained in store;
And he sized me up by the scars that I bore.
I counted honors and sought degrees,
He counted the hours I spent on my knees.
I never knew until one day by the grave
How vain are the things that we spend life to save.
I did not know till a friend went above
That richest is he who is rich in God’s love.
Dr. Arthur Burden, Christian psychiatrist in New Orleans, served on the Foreign Mission Board screening committee. He recovered from a heart attack in 1974. “God spared my life. I am sure of that. I am not completely sure for what reasons. The things that are important to me now are the little every day things: a blue sky; time spent with my family; the touch of a friend’s hand.”
We reach our fullest potential by the measure of our attachment to Christ.
II. The Sin of Sonlessness Results in a Life Turned Inward. John 8:26 “I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard from Him.”
The first concern of the life turned inward is that it contradicts God’s will. What if Jesus had allowed Himself to get side-tracked? What if He had been satisfied to turn Israel around? V26 “I see so much to judge.”
For the reformer, what if the goal becomes an end in itself, and the source of the goal is lost from view? “He who sent me is true.”
You see, Israel was to be the agent through whom others came to believe. “And I speak to the world.” Isaiah 42:6 “I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, . . . and give thee . . . for a light to the Gentiles.”
Though Jesus didn’t get side-tracked, we can. The question is not just the expending of spiritual energy. It is primarily openness of life to the will of God. I Corinthians 3:11f “No other foundation can any person lay than what is laid, which is Jesus. Whatever is built . . . gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or stubble. Fire shall try everyone’s work of what sort it is.”
This life turned inward becomes a barrier to the way rather than a guidepost. Parents can stand in the way of children. Failing to be a consistent witness, we stand in the way of others. G.K. Chesterton wrote: “We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty.”
III. The Sin of Sonlessness Separates One from God. John 8:34 “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin, and a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” It is to know God through His Son. Gladstone “All that I think, all that I hope, all that I write, all that I live for, is based on the divinity of Jesus Christ, the central joy of my poor wayward life.” Phillips Brooks “The only way to realize that we are God’s children is to allow Jesus to lead us to our Father.”
But to be without Christ is to be without dependable hope. John 3:36 “He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life, but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on Him.”
Conclusion
He held the lamp each livelong day
So low that none could miss the way,
And yet so high to bring in sight
That picture fair of Christ, the light,
That gazing up--the lamp between—
The hand that held it was not seen.
He held the pitcher, stooping low,
To lips of little ones below,
Then raised it to the weary saint
And bade him drink when sick and faint;
They drank--the pitcher thus between—
The hand that held it scarce was seen.
He blew the trumpet, soft and clear,
That cringing sinners need not fear,
And then with louder note and bold
To storm the walls of Satan’s hold:
The trumpet coming thus between,
The hand that held it was not seen.
But when our captain says, “Well done
Thou good and faithful servant, come.
Lay down the lamp, lay down the cup,
Lay down the trumpet, leave the camp.”
Thy weary hands will then be seen,
Clasped in his pierced ones, naught between.
Author unknown
THE SIN OF SONLESSNESS, reflections on 9/11
#055b reflections on 9/11 THE SIN OF SONLESSNESS
Scripture John 8:21-36, NIV Orig. Date 10-2-61
Rewr. Dates 9/14/2001; 4-18-85 (7-77)
Passage: 21 Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”
22 This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”
23 But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”
25 “Who are you?” they asked. “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. 26 “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”
27 They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up[a] the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” 30 Even as he spoke, many believed in him.
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Purpose: Post 9-11, to introduce a doctrinal study called The Doctrine of Christ so that my people will better understand their need of Christ, the sin-bearer.
Keywords: Christ, Saviour Christian Life Sin Power
Introduction
The study brought us today to John 8:24. The horrors of the week do not necessitate a change. The gospel is still the hope of our world. We must be faithful, but careful in exploiting what we possess. Commitment is the exercise of the day.
We have watched, for three days now, as a brigade of men and women have hauled away the debris of the World Trade Center. Hundreds of thousands of tons of the by-product of the hate of a small group of people. A vast commitment of principal because one person may still be alive under it. Such effort is simply a by-product of love.
So, the text has not been changed, though some remarks will bear on the depth of the outcome of such a week.
Significantly, the controversial remarks of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell must be brought into such a text. Has God taken a protective hand away? It is impossible to argue the point that we Americans have enjoyed that protection. Now, is it gone? Are we without it? They are honorable men, and men of vision, but they are wrong. His hand is extended to all people of “good will,” whatever their religion or life principle. And, so must our hand. In the crisis of that hour, and the days since, there have been tens of thousands of those responses.
The tragedy happened. It was not willed by deity to happen. Nor was it a chance event. It was humanly engineered. So must be the conditions of recovery.
Deuteronomy 24:16 “Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.” Jeremiah 31:29 “In those days . . . say no more ‘the fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ . . . Everyone shall die for his own iniquity.”
Even if Robertson and Falwell could prove their contention, I would lay claim to that concluding prayer of Habakkuk 3:17-19 “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength. He will make my feet like hinds’ feet and He will make me to walk upon mine high places.”
Sin comes to us in all shapes and colors. It waltzes through one’s life with the whisper of a gentle breeze, or it destroys everything in its path like a late Summer storm. It registers every degree of intensity from anguish to zeal (misguided). It is real! There are different kinds. These are difficult to categorize. One sin exceeds all others in total effect upon our lives. It is the Sin of Sonlessness. It is the sin unto death. It spells death for people, for cultures, for nations, for churches.
I. The Sin of Sonlessness Results in Minimized Human Potential. John 8:34-36 “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world. Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
You see, creation included Christ. God created a being capable of self-will and therefore of response. Genesis 3:5 “Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Ecclesiastes 7:29 “God has made man upright, but they have sought many inventions.” They were seeking not what God’s will provides but what their will tolerates.
From the first it was His intention to redeem man through Christ. One of the things remembered with fondness from New Orleans is the trips to Women’s Hospital and the magnificent walks by the nursery window. There were dozens of babies. The spark of life is God’s gift. Spiritual life also. John 1:16f “of His fullness have we all received . . . . The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”
Any of us may achieve material success apart from Christ, but it has no redeeming effect. Some unnamed author of Profit and Loss wrote:
I counted dollars while God counted crosses,
I counted gains while He counted losses.
I counted my worth, my things gained in store;
And he sized me up by the scars that I bore.
I counted honors and sought degrees,
He counted the hours I spent on my knees.
I never knew until one day by the grave
How vain are the things that we spend life to save.
I did not know till a friend went above
That richest is he who is rich in God’s love.
Dr. Arthur Burden, Christian psychiatrist in New Orleans, served on the Foreign Mission Board screening committee. He recovered from a heart attack in 1974. “God spared my life. I am sure of that. I am not completely sure for what reasons. The things that are important to me now are the little everyday things: a blue sky; time spent with my family; the touch of a friend’s hand.”
We reach our fullest potential by the measure of our attachment to Christ.
II. The Sin of Sonlessness Results in a Life Turned Inward. John 8:26 “I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard from Him.”
The first concern of the life turned inward is that it contradicts God’s will. What if Jesus had allowed Himself to get side-tracked? What if He had been satisfied to turn Israel around? V26 “I see so much to judge.”
For the reformer, what if the goal becomes an end in itself, and the source of the goal is lost from view? “He who sent me is true.”
You see, Israel was to be the agent through whom others came to believe. “And I speak to the world.” Isaiah 42:6 “I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, . . . and give thee . . . for a light to the Gentiles.”
Though Jesus didn’t get side-tracked, we can. The question is not just the expending of spiritual energy. It is primarily openness of life to the will of God. I Corinthians 3:11f “No other foundation can any person lay than what is laid, which is Jesus. Whatever is built . . . gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or stubble. Fire shall try everyone’s work of what sort it is.”
This life turned inward becomes a barrier to the way rather than a guidepost. Parents can stand in the way of children. Failing to be a consistent witness, we stand in the way of others. G.K. Chesterton wrote: “We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty.”
III. The Sin of Sonlessness Separates One from God. John 8:34 “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin, and a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” It is to know God through His Son. Gladstone “All that I think, all that I hope, all that I write, all that I live for, is based on the divinity of Jesus Christ, the central joy of my poor wayward life.” Phillips Brooks “The only way to realize that we are God’s children is to allow Jesus to lead us to our Father.”
But to be without Christ is to be without dependable hope. John 3:36 “He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life, but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on Him.”
Conclusion
He held the lamp each livelong day
So low that none could miss the way,
And yet so high to bring in sight
That picture fair of Christ, the light,
That gazing up--the lamp between—
The hand that held it was not seen.
He held the pitcher, stooping low,
To lips of little ones below,
Then raised it to the weary saint
And bade him drink when sick and faint;
They drank--the pitcher thus between—
The hand that held it scarce was seen.
He blew the trumpet, soft and clear,
That cringing sinners need not fear,
And then with louder note and bold
To storm the walls of Satan’s hold:
The trumpet coming thus between,
The hand that held it was not seen.
But when our captain says, “Well done
Thou good and faithful servant, come.
Lay down the lamp, lay down the cup,
Lay down the trumpet, leave the camp.”
Thy weary hands will then be seen,
Clasped in his pierced ones, naught between.
Author unknown
TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY CEREMONY OF IRA AND VONCILLE VEAZEY
#649 25TH ANNIVERSARY CEREMONY OF IRA AND VONCILLE VEAZEY
PRAYER
When a man and woman come to choose for themselves the estate of marriage, they do, whether knowingly or unknowingly, choose unto their united life, that which is a product of the love and grace of God. Whatever the level of their spiritual experience, they enter into a contract of which it is God’s purpose to bless As early as the second chapter of Genesis, the first book in God’s Word establishes the intent of God. Of the creation encounter we are taught, “The Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him an helpmeet for him.”
It is a happy experience to look with eyes of faith through the pages of holy scripture, and to discover, again and again, the positive blessings of God which are associated with marriage. Though our Lord, Himself, did not marry, He graced its meaning by choosing a wedding feast in Cana of Galilee for the occasion of His first miracle. On such a happy event as this, as surely as at His baptism, He announced His Messiahship and His miracle-endowed ministry.
The primary impact of Jesus’ teaching on the subject of marriage was clearly established. Both Matthew (19) and Mark (10) record the basis of marriage as the foundation stone upon which the social culture of family life is to be built. Jesus said, “For this cause shall a man leave His father and mother, and cleave to his wife; and they twain shall be one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder.”
There had been other Old Testament passages that had formed the nucleus of Jesus’ teachings. It was a broad principle stated by Solomon in Ecclesiastes 4:9. “Two are better than one.” He had stated the principle much more meaningfully in Proverbs 18:22. “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favor of the Lord.” Solomon’s experiences teach us also what he learned in the retrospect of having lived counter to the principle. One of the most beautiful Old Testament passages is in The Song of Solomon where the lovely Shulamite woman rejects all of the pursuits and advances of the king because of her love for the one whom she would ultimately marry.
There is yet another dimension of the holy estate of matrimony presented in the scripture The New Testament epistles speak of the church as the bride of Christ. This One who is Lord is pictured as giving His life for His one true love. Paul in the Epistle to the Ephesians reminded the believing husbands that they “were to love their wives, nourishing and cherishing the relationship, even as the Lord the church.”
As the imprint of the intent of God is found almost from the first page of scripture, it is seen finally in the last book and near the last chapter. The revelator, John, records in Chapter 19, “blessed are they which are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Though it is not an issue here, the believing husband or wife is encouraged to believe that their witness will be effective in bringing an unbelieving spouse to faith. (I Corinthians 7:14)
We have come together here this evening, not to unite in matrimony, but to consecrate a union in matrimony, but to consecrate a union in acknowledgement of the attainment of the Twenty-fifth Anniversary. This acknowledgement declares to all who care to take notice that the years yet to be are even more important than the ones that have been. On the occasion of this anniversary, you are surrounded by the friends who have walked with you through both sad and glad. Others here are themselves the result of your marital trust.
You stand before me as two already united in the eyes of the state, and considered so by your friends and loved ones. It is an ennobling act of faith which seeks to commemorate this happy event in the presence of these who know and love you.
We are told that “Where two or more are gathered together in the name of the Lord, He is present there with those who are His.” (Matthew 18:20) What more significant gathering of two or more of His own than to accommodate a believing couple in their desire to sanctify their union for these important years ahead.
It is then, not with symbolic candles that we come to express the meshing together of your individual lives. It is not to sign the necessary but too often meaningless documents of State. It is not even to give renewed meaning to the rings of ceremony already shared. It is simply to restate the vows of union.
I request that you join right hands, face each other, and repeat these vows:
“I thank God for the holy estate of matrimony.
“I praise His Name for the fusing of my life with yours.
“I bless His Name and for His will expressed lovingly through our lives.
“I am pledged in wedded love to you alone for so long as we shall live.”
PRAYER
WEDDING CEREMONY OF THOMAS A. MICHELLI AND VICKIE LYNN SMITH
#071 WEDDING CEREMONY of THOMAS A. MICHELLI AND VICKIE LYNN SMITH
Prepared by Lamar Skinner November 21, 1987
Marriage has historically been one of life’s greatest celebrations. Every culture has had its very own means to this end. The processes, whether primitive or exacting, have enabled the two contracting parties to form a normative relationship. These individuals would, in this manner, disassociate themselves from the vestiges of the single life, and begin the experience of shared intimacy. Life takes on the different hue of sharing. There are now two hands on the tiller of faith and circumstance.
The declaration made here is all the more significant because there are already two others who stand to gain greatly by this association. It is all the more significant then, that we enter into this celebration prayerfully.
You will bow with me, please, for prayer.
PRAYER
We are assembled here, in the home of friends to joyfully share in this celebration of marriage. Our minds, hearts, and spirits join with those of
Tommy Michelli
and
Vickie Smith
to enjoin the spiritual oneness of marriage. We acknowledge responsibility, responsibility first to God, Himself. Responsibility to other family members who surely are affected by this decision. Marriage, in its fullest dimension, is the achievement of God alone. We are to look to Him for the greater fulfillment of family. We are surely to praise Him for the opening of doors that led upward to this celebration. You have prayed about your own decision. Others, who love you devotedly, have prayed for you. As great significance is seen in prayer for the wedding, even greater significance is determined for marriage. No more measured circumstance could come out of your wedding here today than that of determining that God will hold the place of honor in your individual and collective lives.
As the years have passed, Tommy, Vickie, you have meandered down separate trails toward a destiny that you could not imagine. You were guided through your own childhood, but the day came when more assertive decisions became your lot. Events of magnitude have occurred. You have experienced both happiness and grief. Stumbling steps have reached toward selfhood, toward becoming the person you can, and ought to be. There have been many times when your steps were the steps of a person alone. When you turn from this place, the sands of time will reveal partnered steps. Work with all your heart and soul to keep it just that way. Look to God as the source of your strength.
Marriage is not innovative. It is not unique. It is simply acquiescence to a greater divine plan.
“And the Lord God said, ‘It isn’t in man’s best interest for him to be alone; I will make another person to complement him. They will be suited to each other’s needs.’ Then the Lord . . . brought this woman to the man. This explains why the man . . . is joined to his wife in such a way that the two become one person.”
To this end we are gathered here. It is toward what we believe to be the will of God that we here move. We do little more than add man’s prose to God’s promise. For it is the promise that sends faith to replace the fantasy of the dreamer.
Because you have indicated to me that these goals to be shared are your desire. As you want this spiritual priority to guide your relationship, I then request that you join your right hands and repeat these vows.
I Tommy take you Vickie to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.
Vickie, your vow is no more nor any less than that of the one who here becomes your husband.
I Vickie take you Tommy to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, to love and to cherish, til death do us part.
Now, as a sign of the confirmation of these vows, you will share together the rings of covenant. The ring has had other uses throughout history. But none match the holy estate of their importance in marriage. The symbolism of pure metal and unique form address the purity that is to attend your relationship, and the eternality of your covenant.
Do you, Tommy/Vickie, give this ring to Vickie/Tommy, as an eternal covenant of your love?
Each responds “I do!”
Do you receive the ring, Vickie/Tommy, as such a token of love, and do you so promise to wear it as it has been thus intended?
Each answers “I will!”
Those of us gathered here by your invitation have heard you pledge your love each to the other. We have watched as you sealed the contract of your marriage with the rings you have shared with the other. I therefore, as your pastor friend, and as an agent of this state empowered to do so, happily acknowledge your new station as husband and wife. Take care that this holy covenant remains so. Become the family, father, mother, and two daughters, Jessica and Lindsey, loved fully by you both.
Tommy, you may kiss your wife.
WEDDING OF ROBERT CARLTON DINWIDDIE and FRITHA LYNN SKINNER
#715 WEDDING
OF
ROBERT CARLTON DINWIDDIE
AND
FRITHA LYNN SKINNER
At
First Baptist Church
Bernice, Louisiana
April 22, 1989
Prelude
Duet “O, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus” Larry and Laurie Thompson
Reading Jeremiah 33:10f Robert Burns
“There shall be heard in this place, . . . the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the Lord of hosts: for the Lord is good; for His mercy endureth forever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord.”
The Processional Worship Medley Betty O’Bannon
Mothers are seated
Presentation of the Bride
Rob Burns: “Who gives this young woman in marriage?”
Lamar Skinner: “Her mother and I!”
Solo “The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi” Larry Thompson
The Declaration
The time comes round for all of us when deeply significant decisions are to be made. Questions demanding answers come upon us in ways that require the total commitment of every resource of our personhood. Such times require an unfailing trust in the other people who are affected by such decisions. Marriage is not the only determination of such merit, but it surely is one of the more important. Thus, have Robert Dinwiddie and Fritha Skinner decided.
Having chosen, Bob and Fritha seek oneness and happiness in the will of God. They invite the congregation to join them in singing the hymn,
Congregational Hymn “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” #2
We all have deep feelings and life-encompassing needs, but are such feelings enough? It is no wonder then that the challenge of marriage charms us by the anticipation of such noble purpose to be shared.
For the two of you, there has been all of this, and more. There has been mutual trust. There has been respect for the attitudes of friends and loved ones who shared the intensity of this coming to oneness. There has been faith in God as the ground of being. Surely now, there is for you both, a sense of assurance and anticipation that these months and months of friendship and deepening love will result in the continued intensity of all of these feelings of which marriage consists.
So, we have come to this place today to share with Robert and Fritha on the occasion of their marriage. Because it is a most happy event in their lives, it is their desire to share such a moment with those dearest to them. They do herewith give indication that this brings fulfillment for their individual lives and for their collective life as husband and wife.
I invite you then to bow with them and with me in prayer. While it is the prayer of dignity in assured and committed lives, it is also the deeply penetrating prayer for the judgment of God’s love upon our lives.
Prayer Pastor
Do I need to remind you that the last of the creative acts of God was the provision of an helpmeet for a friend of God whose name was Adam? With this wife, spouse, helpmate, friend, he was to live in a relationship of conjugal sharing. The man was not pictured as master, but as loving husband with the responsibility of protection and provision. The woman was not pictured as of less worth and consequence, but as the molder of meaningful family relationship. To deny these goals is to deny scripture, and to deny God. It remains God’s intent, as we understand His Word, for the husband, spiritually, to be the head of the home. He cannot, however, appropriate God’s ideals in the home until he has appropriated God’s spirit in his life.
It was of this relationship that Jesus declared what He knew to be the intent of God. His statement is one of breaking forth, of faith, of family. His words were, “For this reason, a man shall leave father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they two shall become one.”
With particular appropriateness Jesus has spoken. You are admonished to make other human relationships secondary to your relationship to each other. The only responsibility exceeding this one is that responsibility both of you owe to God. It is in thus walking with Him that you find true prosperity in each other, and therein life takes on its grandest meaning. Elizabeth Barrett Browning shares such a thought.
“Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God. But only those who look take off their shoes. The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.”
So, Bob, Fritha, you have so chosen. Your intent is to be one, and in that oneness to find your happiness in the will of God.
The apostle Paul has given us a wonderful insight to marriage. “Marriage was to be held in honor by all,” he wrote; and in another place he constrained the Christian husband “to love his wife as Christ loved the church.” Therein is the husband constrained, and the wife challenged, to be the inspiration of such love.
Reading I Corinthians 13:1-13 Rob Burns
“If I speak with the eloquence of men and of angels, but have no love, I become no more than blaring brass or crashing cymbal. If I have the gift of foretelling the future and hold in my mind not only all human knowledge but the very secrets of God, and if I also have the absolute faith which can move mountains, but have no love, I amount to nothing at all. If I dispose of all that I possess, yes, even if I give my own body to be burned, and have no love, I achieve precisely nothing.
“This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience—it looks for a way of being constructive. It is not possessive; it is neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance.
“Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage. It is not touchy. It does not keep account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails.
“Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the only thing standing when all else has fallen.
“For if there are prophecies they will be fulfilled and done with, if there are ‘tongues’ the need for them will disappear, if there is knowledge it will be swallowed up in truth. For our knowledge is always incomplete and our prophecy is always incomplete, and when the complete comes, that is the end of the incomplete.
“When I was a little child I talked and felt and thought like a little child. Now that I am an adult my childish speech and feeling and thought have no further significance for me.
“At present we look at puzzling reflections in a mirror. The time will come when we shall see reality whole and face to face! At present all I know is a little fraction of the truth, but the time will come when I shall know it as fully as God now knows me.
“In this life we have three great lasting qualities—faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
It seems appropriate somehow for the two of you, to bring Sidney Lanier off the shelf and to allow his salient pen to speak a word of vision. In his “Song of the Future” of a bird set free,
“My brain is beating like the heart of Haste: I’ll loose me a bird upon this Present waste; . . . Thou’rt only a gray and sober dove, But thine eye is faith and thy wing is love.”
Isn’t it wonderful what “gray and sober” doves can become in the “eye” of faith, and on the “wing” of love?
I request that you join right hands and prepare to share the vows of ceremony and commitment. To others of us, they are ceremonial. To you these vows are a fundamental statement of your commitment.
Bob/Fritha repeat:
In the name of God, I, _______, take you, _______, to be my wife/husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to honor and to cherish, until we are parted by death. This is my solemn vow.
Ring ceremony:
And now as a constant reminder of this hour and these vows, we shall take the rings of ceremony and confirm to all that you belong each to the other. It is significant that the ring has come to be used in this way. Just such bands of gold have been used throughout history in various meaningful ways. It was for a time a signet to be worn by the monarch with which important documents of state were sealed. It was used during another period as a bond of friendship in which brotherhood was often established. It was thought by some to have the magic powers of a talisman. But used as a symbol of marital union, the ring attains its most significant worth.
The purity of content describes the relationship that you share. The form declares permanence. Remember please, that God’s moderating Spirit is the conductor of marital harmony.
Do you, Robert, give this ring to Fritha as a token of your love for her? Do you accept this ring, Fritha, as a token of Bob’s love, and will you wear it as a sign of your love for him?
Do you, Fritha, give this ring to Robert as a sign of your love for him? Do you, then, Robert, accept Fritha’s ring, and promise to wear it as a sign of your love for her?
Pronouncement:
Having pledged your love with these vows, and having sealed your vows with these rings, I do now acknowledge your marriage as a binding contract of commitment to each other, and in doing so, pronounce you to be husband and wife.
We have been witnesses to this treasured moments in your lives. Daily seek God’s presence to bring His intensity to your union. Let all take care that this covenant remain sacred. May the God who cherishes His children hold you always in the embrace of His love. May those who love you, love you yet the more.
Benediction Romans 15:4-7 Dorothea Gatlin
“For all those words which were written long ago are meant to teach us today, so that we may be encouraged to endure and to go on hoping in our own time. May the God who inspires men to endure, and gives them constant encouragement, give you a mind united with one another in your common loyalty to Christ Jesus. And then, as one, you will sing from the heart the praises of God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So open your hearts to one another as Christ has opened His heart to you, and God will be glorified.”
Prayer Ms. Gatlin
Congregational Hymn “God, Our Father, We Adore Thee” #5
Recessional “The Master Hath Come” Betty O’Bannon
Rob Burns Invitation to Reception
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***