Scripture: Exodus 23:20-33
Today is our 3rd message that addresses the differences between the way we exist in the world, verses our life in God’s Kingdom. For the past 2 weeks, we have looked at, first, God’s salvation from the dangers that the world throws at us, and last week, at the ways that God relieves our hunger – in both spiritual and physical aspects. Today, we look at how God leads us through the world, and the great benevolence that He shows to us all.
Whenever we think of Moses’ trek up the slopes of Mount Sinai, we usually are reminded only of the 10 Commandments that we find in Exodus 20. But the truth is that the descriptions of his 2 journeys up the mountain and his time in the presence of the Lord actually takes 15 chapters - from Chapter 19 through 34! In addition to receiving the 2 stone tablets twice, Moses received many other instructions, including laws regarding the obtaining and treatment of Hebrew servants, how to deal with personal injuries –those effecting both humans and animals, social responsibilities including issues surrounding justice and mercy, instructions on the building of the Arc of the Covenant and the Tabernacle, construction of garments that the priests would wear and how the priests are to be consecrated for service, and details regarding the 4th Commandment - observance of the Sabbath. Our lesson for today is part of this discussion, and looks at God’s word on how His people will be guided to the Promised Land, how they will take possession of it, and most importantly, God’s expectations of them.
Read Exodus 23:20-26
I have to admit that I’m a map kind-of-guy, and I have yet to buy a GPS. AAA Tip Tiks are good, but I also want to be able to see the options that extend beyond the highway, just in case construction traffic gets backed up and I need to take a detour, or if I just don’t like the route that AAA or MapQuest lays out for me. I guess I just like to not only be in the driver’s seat, but also in the navigator’s!
Israel would be running into all kinds of obstructions and detours on their journey to their new home, but they would receive far more than just a map to guide them. God was giving them an angel to go ahead of them – he would be a guide, a scout, a protector, an early warning device for dangers that would approach, and would be God’s own promise and presence for the people.
But the Lord also includes a caveat for the people – (:21) “Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him.”
That’s one of the problems that we all encounter as we move through this life – there are many voices that constantly call out to us, and with all the hubbub, there will always be times when it’s nearly impossible to hear God’s voice. But this passage seems to tell us that our own inclination toward deafness and confusion is no excuse! “Pay attention to me and listen to my words – don’t be distracted by the babbling of the world. They will do nothing but waylay you and lead you completely away from Me!”
And the Lord didn’t stop there! Don’t just listen to my words, take them seriously! He continues (:24) “Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces.” Since that moment on Mount Sinai, that commandment has existed – for the Jews and for Christians. And since that moment on Sinai, that commandment has been broken. Jewish men and women would soon be marrying into the faith of foreigners. And not only would they not demolish those false gods or destroy those sacred stones, they would bow down to, and embrace, these new and false beliefs and would worship those false gods, and they would willingly, and by their own appalling decisions, be lead astray.
And I have to tell you that people throughout the ages have done the same, and people continue to disregard those vital words of God, even today. For some strange reason, folks think that in order to show love to others that we have to love the things they think and believe and do, as well! The Lord, though, has told us otherwise! We are to love the people of this world, without exception, and we are to reject the things of this world, also without exception! (:25) “Worship the Lord your God, and His blessing will be on your food and water”, and, if I may add, upon your very life.
And this angel that God promised to put in the lead of Israel would be a holy terror to any who would dare to come against them, and in God’s time and plan, nothing would be able to prevent His chosen people from taking possession of the land that God had set aside for them years before.
Read Exodus 23:27-33
God would be all, give all, do all, love all, enable all that Israel would need, both then and throughout eternity, and all they were asked to do in return was to give God the honor and glory for all. (:32-33) “Don’t covenant with [people of other nations and don’t give honor to] their gods. And if you do not follow this commandment, you will know my anger!”
The journey had been joined, the expectations, the covenant had been set down, God would go, not just with them, but before them, He would guide them, protect them, promise them, love them,and the people were to follow Him and Him only. But Israel, and we, too, have always wanted to make our own way. Maybe it’s our sense of adventure - I don’t know - but it always seems to get us into trouble.
- “Gee, why can’t I have some input into the route our journey takes?”
- “How come I can’t sit in the driver’s seat once in a while?”
- “Why can’t I read the map and choose the route?”
The answer to all of these questions, and more, is that we don’t know the way to the ultimate destination – our view is too narrow and too limited, and if the truth be known, we only have a microscopic, an infinitesimal understanding of what the destination even is! Our view of the journey is finite, while it is actually infinite and eternal; our understanding of the journey is that we should be as good and pleasant to the world we live in as we possibly can, while this journey is actually only about one thing – honoring and glorifying the One who has given us everything, and is going ahead of us, to make our way to that glory possible.
And the way of the world is a dead end, and our way, the world’s way, can only lead to “Nowhere”.
In October 1965, John Lennon wrote, and the Beatles recorded, a song that would top the charts. And while it was definitely secular in nature, it also has a deeply profound message for Christians everywhere and throughout time. The song is “Nowhere Man”, and since it may have been a while since you’ve heard the words, listen to them once again, but this time, as a message from God:
He's a real nowhere man, Sitting in his Nowhere Land,
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody.
Doesn't have a point of view, Knows not where he's going to,
Isn't he a bit like you and me?
Nowhere Man please listen, You don't know what you're missing,
Nowhere Man, the world [eternity] is at your command!
He's as blind as he can be, Just sees what he wants to see,
Nowhere Man can you see Me at all?
Nowhere Man, don't worry, Take your time, don't hurry,
Leave it all till somebody else lends you a hand! Think about that one for a moment!
Doesn't have a point of view, Knows not where he's going to,
Isn't he a bit like you and me?
Nowhere Man please listen, you don't know what you’re missing
Nowhere Man, the world [eternity] is at your command!
He's a real Nowhere Man, Sitting in his Nowhere Land,
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody.
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody.
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody!
Have you ever felt that you’re on that path to “Nowhere”, making plans that “Nobody” will ever benefit from? Maybe you feel that today and you haven’t got a clue as to where you are or where you’re headed! A week and a half ago, when we were on our way to Niagara Falls, Christopher was sitting next to me in the car. I was taking some back road shortcuts that I had learned years ago, and Chris turned to me and asked, with some concern in his voice, “Are we on the right road?” I replied, jokingly, “I don’t know, but aren’t we’re making great time?” I don’t think he was impressed!
But that’s the way of the world. The scenery may be interesting, the road smooth, the travel expeditious, but it leads us absolutely nowhere, and we just may be getting “nowhere” in record time!!
- We need to stop trying to make our own decisions regarding life now and for tomorrow.
- We need to put our trust in God instead of in the false prophets of earth.
- We must learn to follow God and His glorious angel, and believe that His way is the only way for us.
- We need to believe that His Word, set down for us thousands of years ago, is still vibrant and vital and true, and that neither we nor anyone else, has the right to rewrite His instructions for life to make them more palatable and plausible for others.
If we keep His Way foremost in our life, we will never find ourselves hopelessly lost and at a dead end. Jesus Christ is God in the Flesh - and He alone is the guide for our journey through around and over the pitfalls of earth.
If we Trust in Him,
If we Believe in Him,
If we Walk with Him, and
If we Rejoice in Him, today and every day, then we will discover the glory of that eternal Promised Land, and we will never get lost!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
"Starvation in the World, Feasting in the Lord"
Scripture: Exodus 16:1-31
This is the second in our series that compares the hollowness of the world to the fullness of God. Today we consider the way we are fed by them both and the quality of their nourishment.
A story:
Although Meriwether Lewis [of Lewis and Clark fame] never acknowledged it, obviously the Corps of Discovery could not have gotten through the winter on the Pacific coast without the Clatsops and Chinooks. They provided priceless information - where the elk were, where the whale had come ashore, who the ships' captains were and when they came - along with critical food supplies. It was only thanks to the natives' skills as fishermen and root collectors that the Americans were able to survive.
Lewis called them savages, even though they never threatened - much less committed - acts of violence, however great their numerical advantage. Their physical appearance disgusted him. He condemned their petty thievery and sexual morals, and their sharp trading practices. Except for their skill as canoe-builders, hat-makers, and woodworkers, he found nothing to admire in his winter neighbors.
And yet the Clatsops and Chinooks, without rifles, managed to live much better than the Americans did on the coast of the Pacific Northwest. They had mastered the environment far better than the men of the expedition managed to do. The resources they drew on were renewable, whereas the Americans had shot out all the elk in the vicinity in just three months. With the coming of spring, the Corps of Discovery had no choice but to move on. The natives stayed, living prosperous lives on the riches of the Pacific Northwest, until, that is, the white man's diseases got them.
-Stephen E. Ambrose, “Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West” (New York: Touchstone, 1996), 341.
How could 2 peoples live in the same area at the same time, with one of them being able to thrive and feast, while the other struggled and nearly starved? The same God provided sustenance for them both, but one saw His bounty, the other only saw desolation.
Read Exodus 16:1-5
The people said that their oppression in Egypt was preferable to freedom in the desert (where have we heard that one before!) because, “back there”, they had all the food that they wanted. Of course, they had forgotten what their ordeal in slavery was really like – Exodus 2:23-24 tells us that the people were “groaning in their slavery – whether they had enough food or not, their lives, apparently, were miserable and unbearable. But God heard that “groaning, and put His plan in motion to gain them their freedom, but just a few short months later, they wished that the Lord had killed them in Egypt?
Had they really been feasting in captivity, but now starving in their freedom? The point is that God hears all of our “groanings”, and is always ready to do something about it. For Israel, He would provide them with all the food they wanted – meat and bread. He hears our groaning, too, and will satisfy our needs just as He did for Israel. It isn’t always exactly what we think we need, and it isn’t always on our schedule, and it isn’t always on our conditions, but He is always there for us, giving us all that we need, and more.
Always exactly what God alone knows we need, always at the exact time that God alone knows we need it, always in the perfect way that God alone understands it.
- He would rain down bread for the people – not on some random basis, but every morning.
- He would give them enough for each day – they didn’t have to store it, and they didn’t have to preserve it, they didn’t have to ration it. It would be there for them.
- And the only change was, that on the day before Sabbath, they were to collect twice as much.
Perfect in amount, perfect in timing, perfect in circumstance. And this would be a test of how well the people listened and trusted!
Read Exodus 16:6-15a
Why? Because God heard the “groaning” of Israel. They had an overwhelming need, a need that must be satisfied or the people would perish, and He met that need. Meat in the evening, bread in the morning, and always enough to satisfy them for the entire day. In the evening, the quail would cover their encampment, and they could collect as much as they needed. The bread would come in the morning’s dew, and when it evaporated, the food would remain behind. And on top of that, His glory would appear in the cloud as proof of His benevolence.
Has the Lord’s presence ever come to you in some unexpected way? Perhaps even in the exact way that you prayed for, even though that isn’t precisely what you wanted? (You know the old saying “Be careful of what you pray for – you just might get it!”) Sometimes our prayers are closer to the truth of our needs that our thoughts and desires are!
God always hears our groaning, and He always knows our needs, and He always supplies those needs, one way or another. And if we only open our eyes to the situation, we, too, will experience His Glory.
And the people would ask “What is it?” when they saw those flakes on the ground, and that is what manna means. And even though the menu wouldn’t change for the next 40 years, its nourishment would sustain the nation throughout their entire wilderness journey. So when God answers our prayers in an unusual or unexpected way, we, too, can call it “manna” – God’s glory that is sent to uphold us.
Read Exodus 16:15b-31
Remember in verse 4, when we read “In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.”?
This really was a test of faith. “Take what you need for 1 day, and no more. You will get a new opportunity each day to refill your baskets with fresh bead.”
And the bread would last as long as they needed it – one day, and no longer, except for the Sabbath, and then it would last for two days. And if they took more than they needed? It would only be sufficient. And if they didn’t take enough? It would suffice! And if they took enough for more days than necessary, it would rot!
For those who forgot to take 2 days worth on Friday, they would soon discover that God meant what He said. I imagine that there might have been a few empty bellies the first week or two, as well as a few red faces when they thought that they had stored up a reserve larder during the other 5 days. Did they think He was joking when He said “You only need to take 1 day’s worth of bread on Sunday through Thursday, and 2 days worth on Friday.”? He wasn’t, and while many failed the test, God never failed them! Day after day, month after month, year after year, through faithful times as well as faithless ones - the quail came every evening and the manna every morning, for 40 years!
And the Lord never fails us! Do we believe God when He tells us that He, and He alone, is sufficient for our every need? Paul would write to the church at Corinth about a personal trial that he suffered with. He had prayed 3 times that God might take that “thorn in the flesh” away from him and relieve him of that torment, but the reply that he received wasn’t one of healing, but rather this: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9)
The Lord knows our every weakness, even before we do. It could be as devastating as “How am I ever going to pay the mortgage this month?”, or “I only have enough money this week to buy either food or my medicine. Which do I get?” And it could be as small a thing as “Now where did I leave my glasses?” And it is His power that cares for our needs – perfectly!
Starvation comes in many forms, you know. It doesn’t always just indicate a lack of food - it can also be a lack of faith, lack of resources, lack of hope, lack of friendship, lack of employment, lack of money, lack of energy, even a lack of health.
Remember the story about the Lewis & Clark expedition? There was a severe lack of food for the explorers, or so they thought. The natives had enough, but that’s because they knew where to look for it and were grateful. They were thriving, while the explorers were struggling. The natives were feasting while the white men were starving. What was the difference?
The Clatsops and the Chinooks knew what food is. They didn’t focus their lives in a narrow way – they gratefully accepted whatever was provided to them and they even showed these strangers where to find it. But the Corps of Discovery had preconceived notions of what food was and which food they would accept and eat, and they nearly died from their myopia.
The world sees one way and only one way, and that is their way! It is the way that they have decided is correct, and they have no intention of deviating from their preconceived path. They may have to exist in captivity, in bondage to their ill conceived ideas and notions, but at least they will have their kind of food!
“Don’t give me that spiritual nonsense. Don’t tell me that some Being that I can’t even see, hear, or touch knows better than I do. Captivity in my ‘Egypt’ is far better than freedom in your desert!”
Spiritual starvation is all around us, my friends. And like the natives of the Pacific Northwest in the early 19th century, we, too, can only show others where the best nourishment is. We can’t make them accept it, we can’t make them eat it, we can’t even drag them to the table to see it. But we can explain what this heavenly food can do for them. That the Living Water and Bread of Life isn’t just some zealous, religious bantering – it’s a promise that comes directly from the Creator of heaven and earth, from the Savior of all who would believe. The nourishment that is Jesus Christ is given that all who receive will no longer want, that all who will eat will no longer starve.
When others ask about your faith, tell them that you believe in manna – the life giving bead that comes every single day, right on time, and only from God Himself. And that it is just lying there, waiting to be collected by anyone who will accept it.
Let “Manna” be your watch word, may it satisfy your every need, and may it reveal the glory of God to our starving world.
This is the second in our series that compares the hollowness of the world to the fullness of God. Today we consider the way we are fed by them both and the quality of their nourishment.
A story:
Although Meriwether Lewis [of Lewis and Clark fame] never acknowledged it, obviously the Corps of Discovery could not have gotten through the winter on the Pacific coast without the Clatsops and Chinooks. They provided priceless information - where the elk were, where the whale had come ashore, who the ships' captains were and when they came - along with critical food supplies. It was only thanks to the natives' skills as fishermen and root collectors that the Americans were able to survive.
Lewis called them savages, even though they never threatened - much less committed - acts of violence, however great their numerical advantage. Their physical appearance disgusted him. He condemned their petty thievery and sexual morals, and their sharp trading practices. Except for their skill as canoe-builders, hat-makers, and woodworkers, he found nothing to admire in his winter neighbors.
And yet the Clatsops and Chinooks, without rifles, managed to live much better than the Americans did on the coast of the Pacific Northwest. They had mastered the environment far better than the men of the expedition managed to do. The resources they drew on were renewable, whereas the Americans had shot out all the elk in the vicinity in just three months. With the coming of spring, the Corps of Discovery had no choice but to move on. The natives stayed, living prosperous lives on the riches of the Pacific Northwest, until, that is, the white man's diseases got them.
-Stephen E. Ambrose, “Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West” (New York: Touchstone, 1996), 341.
How could 2 peoples live in the same area at the same time, with one of them being able to thrive and feast, while the other struggled and nearly starved? The same God provided sustenance for them both, but one saw His bounty, the other only saw desolation.
Read Exodus 16:1-5
The people said that their oppression in Egypt was preferable to freedom in the desert (where have we heard that one before!) because, “back there”, they had all the food that they wanted. Of course, they had forgotten what their ordeal in slavery was really like – Exodus 2:23-24 tells us that the people were “groaning in their slavery – whether they had enough food or not, their lives, apparently, were miserable and unbearable. But God heard that “groaning, and put His plan in motion to gain them their freedom, but just a few short months later, they wished that the Lord had killed them in Egypt?
Had they really been feasting in captivity, but now starving in their freedom? The point is that God hears all of our “groanings”, and is always ready to do something about it. For Israel, He would provide them with all the food they wanted – meat and bread. He hears our groaning, too, and will satisfy our needs just as He did for Israel. It isn’t always exactly what we think we need, and it isn’t always on our schedule, and it isn’t always on our conditions, but He is always there for us, giving us all that we need, and more.
Always exactly what God alone knows we need, always at the exact time that God alone knows we need it, always in the perfect way that God alone understands it.
- He would rain down bread for the people – not on some random basis, but every morning.
- He would give them enough for each day – they didn’t have to store it, and they didn’t have to preserve it, they didn’t have to ration it. It would be there for them.
- And the only change was, that on the day before Sabbath, they were to collect twice as much.
Perfect in amount, perfect in timing, perfect in circumstance. And this would be a test of how well the people listened and trusted!
Read Exodus 16:6-15a
Why? Because God heard the “groaning” of Israel. They had an overwhelming need, a need that must be satisfied or the people would perish, and He met that need. Meat in the evening, bread in the morning, and always enough to satisfy them for the entire day. In the evening, the quail would cover their encampment, and they could collect as much as they needed. The bread would come in the morning’s dew, and when it evaporated, the food would remain behind. And on top of that, His glory would appear in the cloud as proof of His benevolence.
Has the Lord’s presence ever come to you in some unexpected way? Perhaps even in the exact way that you prayed for, even though that isn’t precisely what you wanted? (You know the old saying “Be careful of what you pray for – you just might get it!”) Sometimes our prayers are closer to the truth of our needs that our thoughts and desires are!
God always hears our groaning, and He always knows our needs, and He always supplies those needs, one way or another. And if we only open our eyes to the situation, we, too, will experience His Glory.
And the people would ask “What is it?” when they saw those flakes on the ground, and that is what manna means. And even though the menu wouldn’t change for the next 40 years, its nourishment would sustain the nation throughout their entire wilderness journey. So when God answers our prayers in an unusual or unexpected way, we, too, can call it “manna” – God’s glory that is sent to uphold us.
Read Exodus 16:15b-31
Remember in verse 4, when we read “In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.”?
This really was a test of faith. “Take what you need for 1 day, and no more. You will get a new opportunity each day to refill your baskets with fresh bead.”
And the bread would last as long as they needed it – one day, and no longer, except for the Sabbath, and then it would last for two days. And if they took more than they needed? It would only be sufficient. And if they didn’t take enough? It would suffice! And if they took enough for more days than necessary, it would rot!
For those who forgot to take 2 days worth on Friday, they would soon discover that God meant what He said. I imagine that there might have been a few empty bellies the first week or two, as well as a few red faces when they thought that they had stored up a reserve larder during the other 5 days. Did they think He was joking when He said “You only need to take 1 day’s worth of bread on Sunday through Thursday, and 2 days worth on Friday.”? He wasn’t, and while many failed the test, God never failed them! Day after day, month after month, year after year, through faithful times as well as faithless ones - the quail came every evening and the manna every morning, for 40 years!
And the Lord never fails us! Do we believe God when He tells us that He, and He alone, is sufficient for our every need? Paul would write to the church at Corinth about a personal trial that he suffered with. He had prayed 3 times that God might take that “thorn in the flesh” away from him and relieve him of that torment, but the reply that he received wasn’t one of healing, but rather this: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9)
The Lord knows our every weakness, even before we do. It could be as devastating as “How am I ever going to pay the mortgage this month?”, or “I only have enough money this week to buy either food or my medicine. Which do I get?” And it could be as small a thing as “Now where did I leave my glasses?” And it is His power that cares for our needs – perfectly!
Starvation comes in many forms, you know. It doesn’t always just indicate a lack of food - it can also be a lack of faith, lack of resources, lack of hope, lack of friendship, lack of employment, lack of money, lack of energy, even a lack of health.
Remember the story about the Lewis & Clark expedition? There was a severe lack of food for the explorers, or so they thought. The natives had enough, but that’s because they knew where to look for it and were grateful. They were thriving, while the explorers were struggling. The natives were feasting while the white men were starving. What was the difference?
The Clatsops and the Chinooks knew what food is. They didn’t focus their lives in a narrow way – they gratefully accepted whatever was provided to them and they even showed these strangers where to find it. But the Corps of Discovery had preconceived notions of what food was and which food they would accept and eat, and they nearly died from their myopia.
The world sees one way and only one way, and that is their way! It is the way that they have decided is correct, and they have no intention of deviating from their preconceived path. They may have to exist in captivity, in bondage to their ill conceived ideas and notions, but at least they will have their kind of food!
“Don’t give me that spiritual nonsense. Don’t tell me that some Being that I can’t even see, hear, or touch knows better than I do. Captivity in my ‘Egypt’ is far better than freedom in your desert!”
Spiritual starvation is all around us, my friends. And like the natives of the Pacific Northwest in the early 19th century, we, too, can only show others where the best nourishment is. We can’t make them accept it, we can’t make them eat it, we can’t even drag them to the table to see it. But we can explain what this heavenly food can do for them. That the Living Water and Bread of Life isn’t just some zealous, religious bantering – it’s a promise that comes directly from the Creator of heaven and earth, from the Savior of all who would believe. The nourishment that is Jesus Christ is given that all who receive will no longer want, that all who will eat will no longer starve.
When others ask about your faith, tell them that you believe in manna – the life giving bead that comes every single day, right on time, and only from God Himself. And that it is just lying there, waiting to be collected by anyone who will accept it.
Let “Manna” be your watch word, may it satisfy your every need, and may it reveal the glory of God to our starving world.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
"Danger in the World, Salvation in the Lord"
Scripture: Exodus 14:1-31
Sermons for the next 4 weeks will be a series based on comparisons between how Christians will experience the world and how we must experience God. All 4 weeks will be Old Testament readings for several reasons: first, I haven’t done much with the OT, and feel that we need to be in the Hebrew texts as much as we are in the New Testament; and second, the world’s influence in the lives of Israel is extremely graphic, and the OT holds many lessons for Christians of today. They are not out of date!
And so we begin with the “danger” that comes at us from the world.
Israel and his family were invited to relocate to Egypt for one reason – the entire region was suffering from a famine, but Egypt had been preparing for this time for seven years. One of his own sons – Joseph – had been instrumental in these preparations, and while they were never intended to be salvation for others, the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would owe their lives to the Godly mercy that placed Joseph in a position to serve many, including his family.
But salvation from the famine would erode, and soon the dangers would return. Slavery and oppression would replace starvation for many years, but even that couldn’t stand for long against the might of the great Yahweh. After 10 plagues had come against Egypt through the faith of Moses - a stammering murder, an outcast of the royal family and a descendant of Levi (who says God doesn't have a sense of humor?) - the people are allowed to leave their bondage and begin their long trek to the land promised to them hundreds of years before.
But, as we all know, evil has never quite been defeated – not in the lives of Israel, and not in our lives today. Just when we think that a “danger” has been eliminated, a new threat crops up – and usually turns out to be one that is even more deceitful, more destructive, than the last.
Read Exodus 14:1-9
The problem with danger is that it has so many different faces! If it all had a common appearance, if it had one brand, one manifestation, we could see it coming and take action to avoid it, or at least prepare to take it on. But it always comes at the worst possible time, promising the worst possible consequences. And there never seems to be a single thing that we can to do stop it! But God can never be deterred from helping us, even though we have trouble seeing Him at the time!
This past Friday, I had a similar situation. My son, Nathan, and I spent the day chipping up a number of piles of brush. We quit at about 3:30, intending to have the rented chipper back in Binghamton by 5:00. We were preparing to unload the last of 4 truck loads of chips when the front wheel on my truck fell off! Yes, fell off! Not the tire, the entire wheel. It seemed to be just about the worst thing that could have happened.
And then, I started to consider how it could have been worse. If it had happened 30 minutes earlier, we would have been up in the woods, making it nearly impossible to get the loaded truck out. If it had happened 30 minutes later, we would have been on Route 17, traveling 60 miles and hour, pulling the rented chipper behind us. Either way, it would not have had happy consequences. And as I considered where the wheel had actually broken, I realized that we were right next to the storage area for the chips, which we were able to unloaded manually in about 20-30 minutes, and very near to the drive way which will make it easier for the tow truck to drag my “3 wheeled vehicle” to safety.
All I need now is someone with a 2” ball on their truck to help return the chipper to Binghamton on Monday, and I expect that God is in the process of preparing that, too.
It won’t be resolved with an inexpensive solution, but it is resolvable, thanks be to the Lord!
(Subsequent Note: my sister in law had a 2" ball on her truck, AAA will pay for the entire towing effort, and the mechanic found a used front end, and installed, will be under $1,000!)
And Israel, if they only had known the plan that God was working, would have been amazed and far more faithful in their attitudes!
Read Exodus 14:10-14
We know that God will fight for us, but we always seem to have trouble seeing it. And because we don’t understand, and because we have such limited vision, we tend to believe that God just may not be on the job in our particular circumstance! Israel was scared stiff at the sight of the Egyptian army, and rightly so! When they left their homes of 400 hundred years, they had some gold and silver, and a very large number of people, but practically nothing that could be considered as weapons! How could they possible be victorious over 600 of the best fighting machines and 1,200 to 1,500 of the best fighting men, not to mention all of the other men and equipment, that the world had ever seen?
The answer is that they couldn’t! They were facing an insurmountable danger unlike any that they had ever seen. Right now, the bonds of slavery that they had left in Egypt were beginning to look pretty good to them. “It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
Have you been there? Traveling closely with the Lord, when suddenly, (if you’ll pardon the expression) all hell breaks loose! “I’ve been serving you Lord, just as you asked me too, but now in my darkest time, You seem to be nowhere in sight! I would have been better off to just do things my own way!”
But God is there, working, resolving, caring, blessing.
“The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
He fights for us, He heals us, He restores us, He saves us – He is always there when we need Him, and He is still there when we no longer see any possibility of gaining our own salvation. We just need to be still, and patient, and let our God work His plan!
Read Exodus 14:15-20
God had hardened the heart of Pharaoh so that he would chase the Israelites. For some unknown reason, God, apparently and intentionally, placed the people at risk of being captured and returned to slavery! And now the hearts of the pursuing army were hardened so that they, too, would never give up the pursuit. Why in the world does God do things like that? Well, the truth is that God’s Ways aren’t “in the world”, and that’s why they always seem so strange to us! His intention in this instance, if I may be so bold as to try to offer an explanation of God’s ways, appears focused on destroying the military capability of Egypt, showing Israel that there is no limit to what their Lord can, and will, do for them!
And in time, His salvation is laid out that all of the people might see.
Read Exodus 14:21-31
And now that Israel has received the entire perspective of what God is doing for them, they rejoice, and, finally, place their entire trust in Him and in God’s servant Moses. Of course, we know that this trust would only be temporary, that it would only last until the next terrible danger confronts them, and they see no way that it could possibly have a good outcome, and once again, they decide that God is not with them.
The truth is that God is always with us! Not only when we feel His presence, not only when we see Him at work, not only when we have complete trust in His ways, but even in those times when we have no idea as to what God is up to and can’t even imagine how this is all going to play out. Those are the times that the dangers that confront us haven’t got a chance of succeeding.
Those are the times that our salvation is closer than ever before. Those are the times when our praises should be ringing out the loudest! Jeremiah 29:11 gives us the eternal promise that we need to be reminded of every day. “For I know the plans I have for you” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
This part of the passage is fairly well known, but it continues “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.“
Christ’s Salvation is always the plan, and the world’s dangers haven’t got a chance! But we need to keep our eyes focused properly – not on the things of earth, but the things of God. We need to constantly be reminded that dangers are of the world, not of God, and that the fullness of Salvation is only in Christ Jesus and is no where to be seen in the world. In no thing, and in no one, else. Only in Christ.
So, what have we learned from Israel’s dramatic rescue from Pharaoh? Let’s continue in our understanding that Pharaoh represents the world and it’s ways:
1. The world is selfish, God is generous. Pharaoh was only interested in preserving his power over those who he had enslaved. God wanted something better for those same people. Pharaoh is about “me”, God is about “you”.
2. The world wants us to doubt both ourselves and our Lord and to be filled with fear. God wants us to put our trust in Him and to receive overwhelming joy. The strength and reputation of Pharaoh’s army caused Israel to forget just who God is, and fear of the world replaced trust in Yahweh. People will always be better off if they fear God and distrust the world.
3. The world’s plan will have to change on a continuing basis, and at times will seem incomprehensible. God’s plan, on the other hand, never changes, but at times will also seem incomprehensible! Pharaoh’s plan of oppression needed revision time and time again – when “Plan A” failed, he had to turn to “Plan B”, and when that didn’t work out, to “Plan C”, and so on. God’s plan of salvation, though, is a constant - it will never fail us, and it will never be changed! The only thing that must happen is that we have to accept it.
4. Our trust in God will waiver, and at times, will fall far short. But God’s love for us is unyielding and unchanging. Israel, God’s own chosen, would prefer the pain of slavery and domination and cruelty in Egypt over the uncertainty of their Lord, but when the great plan of rescue from Pharaoh’s clutches was revealed, their praises were once again raised to the heavens.
And the “Pharaoh” of today is no different than the one of 1,200 BC. Pharaoh wants us to shun the love and glorious plan that our God has set in motion, in favor of the dangerous worldly path that is our alternate route. Pharaoh’s way leads no where – it’s a dead end. God’s way is eternal and will never end. Pharaoh is unforgiving – punishment is our only certainty in him, while God’s way is forgiveness – over and over again.
When our back is up against the sea, and the warriors of the world are in our face, and destruction seems to be the only possible outcome, will we, too, prefer Pharaoh’s slavery? Or will we praise our Lord for the salvation that we still don’t understand, but continue to place our hope in?
Which will it be?
Sermons for the next 4 weeks will be a series based on comparisons between how Christians will experience the world and how we must experience God. All 4 weeks will be Old Testament readings for several reasons: first, I haven’t done much with the OT, and feel that we need to be in the Hebrew texts as much as we are in the New Testament; and second, the world’s influence in the lives of Israel is extremely graphic, and the OT holds many lessons for Christians of today. They are not out of date!
And so we begin with the “danger” that comes at us from the world.
Israel and his family were invited to relocate to Egypt for one reason – the entire region was suffering from a famine, but Egypt had been preparing for this time for seven years. One of his own sons – Joseph – had been instrumental in these preparations, and while they were never intended to be salvation for others, the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would owe their lives to the Godly mercy that placed Joseph in a position to serve many, including his family.
But salvation from the famine would erode, and soon the dangers would return. Slavery and oppression would replace starvation for many years, but even that couldn’t stand for long against the might of the great Yahweh. After 10 plagues had come against Egypt through the faith of Moses - a stammering murder, an outcast of the royal family and a descendant of Levi (who says God doesn't have a sense of humor?) - the people are allowed to leave their bondage and begin their long trek to the land promised to them hundreds of years before.
But, as we all know, evil has never quite been defeated – not in the lives of Israel, and not in our lives today. Just when we think that a “danger” has been eliminated, a new threat crops up – and usually turns out to be one that is even more deceitful, more destructive, than the last.
Read Exodus 14:1-9
The problem with danger is that it has so many different faces! If it all had a common appearance, if it had one brand, one manifestation, we could see it coming and take action to avoid it, or at least prepare to take it on. But it always comes at the worst possible time, promising the worst possible consequences. And there never seems to be a single thing that we can to do stop it! But God can never be deterred from helping us, even though we have trouble seeing Him at the time!
This past Friday, I had a similar situation. My son, Nathan, and I spent the day chipping up a number of piles of brush. We quit at about 3:30, intending to have the rented chipper back in Binghamton by 5:00. We were preparing to unload the last of 4 truck loads of chips when the front wheel on my truck fell off! Yes, fell off! Not the tire, the entire wheel. It seemed to be just about the worst thing that could have happened.
And then, I started to consider how it could have been worse. If it had happened 30 minutes earlier, we would have been up in the woods, making it nearly impossible to get the loaded truck out. If it had happened 30 minutes later, we would have been on Route 17, traveling 60 miles and hour, pulling the rented chipper behind us. Either way, it would not have had happy consequences. And as I considered where the wheel had actually broken, I realized that we were right next to the storage area for the chips, which we were able to unloaded manually in about 20-30 minutes, and very near to the drive way which will make it easier for the tow truck to drag my “3 wheeled vehicle” to safety.
All I need now is someone with a 2” ball on their truck to help return the chipper to Binghamton on Monday, and I expect that God is in the process of preparing that, too.
It won’t be resolved with an inexpensive solution, but it is resolvable, thanks be to the Lord!
(Subsequent Note: my sister in law had a 2" ball on her truck, AAA will pay for the entire towing effort, and the mechanic found a used front end, and installed, will be under $1,000!)
And Israel, if they only had known the plan that God was working, would have been amazed and far more faithful in their attitudes!
Read Exodus 14:10-14
We know that God will fight for us, but we always seem to have trouble seeing it. And because we don’t understand, and because we have such limited vision, we tend to believe that God just may not be on the job in our particular circumstance! Israel was scared stiff at the sight of the Egyptian army, and rightly so! When they left their homes of 400 hundred years, they had some gold and silver, and a very large number of people, but practically nothing that could be considered as weapons! How could they possible be victorious over 600 of the best fighting machines and 1,200 to 1,500 of the best fighting men, not to mention all of the other men and equipment, that the world had ever seen?
The answer is that they couldn’t! They were facing an insurmountable danger unlike any that they had ever seen. Right now, the bonds of slavery that they had left in Egypt were beginning to look pretty good to them. “It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
Have you been there? Traveling closely with the Lord, when suddenly, (if you’ll pardon the expression) all hell breaks loose! “I’ve been serving you Lord, just as you asked me too, but now in my darkest time, You seem to be nowhere in sight! I would have been better off to just do things my own way!”
But God is there, working, resolving, caring, blessing.
“The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
He fights for us, He heals us, He restores us, He saves us – He is always there when we need Him, and He is still there when we no longer see any possibility of gaining our own salvation. We just need to be still, and patient, and let our God work His plan!
Read Exodus 14:15-20
God had hardened the heart of Pharaoh so that he would chase the Israelites. For some unknown reason, God, apparently and intentionally, placed the people at risk of being captured and returned to slavery! And now the hearts of the pursuing army were hardened so that they, too, would never give up the pursuit. Why in the world does God do things like that? Well, the truth is that God’s Ways aren’t “in the world”, and that’s why they always seem so strange to us! His intention in this instance, if I may be so bold as to try to offer an explanation of God’s ways, appears focused on destroying the military capability of Egypt, showing Israel that there is no limit to what their Lord can, and will, do for them!
And in time, His salvation is laid out that all of the people might see.
Read Exodus 14:21-31
And now that Israel has received the entire perspective of what God is doing for them, they rejoice, and, finally, place their entire trust in Him and in God’s servant Moses. Of course, we know that this trust would only be temporary, that it would only last until the next terrible danger confronts them, and they see no way that it could possibly have a good outcome, and once again, they decide that God is not with them.
The truth is that God is always with us! Not only when we feel His presence, not only when we see Him at work, not only when we have complete trust in His ways, but even in those times when we have no idea as to what God is up to and can’t even imagine how this is all going to play out. Those are the times that the dangers that confront us haven’t got a chance of succeeding.
Those are the times that our salvation is closer than ever before. Those are the times when our praises should be ringing out the loudest! Jeremiah 29:11 gives us the eternal promise that we need to be reminded of every day. “For I know the plans I have for you” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
This part of the passage is fairly well known, but it continues “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.“
Christ’s Salvation is always the plan, and the world’s dangers haven’t got a chance! But we need to keep our eyes focused properly – not on the things of earth, but the things of God. We need to constantly be reminded that dangers are of the world, not of God, and that the fullness of Salvation is only in Christ Jesus and is no where to be seen in the world. In no thing, and in no one, else. Only in Christ.
So, what have we learned from Israel’s dramatic rescue from Pharaoh? Let’s continue in our understanding that Pharaoh represents the world and it’s ways:
1. The world is selfish, God is generous. Pharaoh was only interested in preserving his power over those who he had enslaved. God wanted something better for those same people. Pharaoh is about “me”, God is about “you”.
2. The world wants us to doubt both ourselves and our Lord and to be filled with fear. God wants us to put our trust in Him and to receive overwhelming joy. The strength and reputation of Pharaoh’s army caused Israel to forget just who God is, and fear of the world replaced trust in Yahweh. People will always be better off if they fear God and distrust the world.
3. The world’s plan will have to change on a continuing basis, and at times will seem incomprehensible. God’s plan, on the other hand, never changes, but at times will also seem incomprehensible! Pharaoh’s plan of oppression needed revision time and time again – when “Plan A” failed, he had to turn to “Plan B”, and when that didn’t work out, to “Plan C”, and so on. God’s plan of salvation, though, is a constant - it will never fail us, and it will never be changed! The only thing that must happen is that we have to accept it.
4. Our trust in God will waiver, and at times, will fall far short. But God’s love for us is unyielding and unchanging. Israel, God’s own chosen, would prefer the pain of slavery and domination and cruelty in Egypt over the uncertainty of their Lord, but when the great plan of rescue from Pharaoh’s clutches was revealed, their praises were once again raised to the heavens.
And the “Pharaoh” of today is no different than the one of 1,200 BC. Pharaoh wants us to shun the love and glorious plan that our God has set in motion, in favor of the dangerous worldly path that is our alternate route. Pharaoh’s way leads no where – it’s a dead end. God’s way is eternal and will never end. Pharaoh is unforgiving – punishment is our only certainty in him, while God’s way is forgiveness – over and over again.
When our back is up against the sea, and the warriors of the world are in our face, and destruction seems to be the only possible outcome, will we, too, prefer Pharaoh’s slavery? Or will we praise our Lord for the salvation that we still don’t understand, but continue to place our hope in?
Which will it be?
Sunday, August 9, 2009
“A Prayer for the Church”
Scripture: Ephesians 3:14-21
The story is told of a man who came home one day to find that his wife had hung a plaque on the wall which read, “Prayer changes things”. Within 24 hours the plaque had been removed. She asked her husband, “What's wrong? Don't you like prayer?” He said, “Sure, I like prayer. I don't like change.”
Prayer changes us.
Prayer changes others.
Prayer changes situations.
Prayer changes the church.
Prayer changes the world.
Too many Christians are one-prayer members (as someone has described them) of the church, living off of prayers prayed long ago or a single prayer prayed over and over.
James A. Harnish (Hyde Park Church, Tampa, Florida) Homiletics On-Line
Now personally, I think that prayers which were prayed many years ago never become irrelevant. If God’s answer to the situation has yet to be revealed, continue to pray until either the prayer is answered, or you are lead to pray in a different manner.
If you have a prayer that is especially comforting, such as the LORD’s Prayer, why not pray it continuously.
The words of the prayer aren’t what is important – the fact that we are praying is the critical issue, and as long as we are listening for God’s answer, and not for the answer that we want to hear, we’re on the right track. The changes that prayer accomplishes are just as we read earlier – and no where in that list do we read “Prayer changes God!” It changes us, it changes others, it changes the church, and it changes the things of this world – but it never changes God! Amen?
So for today, I would like to look at this prayer that Paul prayed, to consider what changes he may be looking for, and where the changes might be coming.
V. 16 – His prayer begins with “That out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being...”
This part of the prayer is asking for power in the church, distributed by the Holy Spirit through each and every member of the Body of Christ. And this power comes directly from God - not by earning it, not because we deserve it, not because we are in desperate need of it (even though we are!). The power comes simply because our LORD CAN give it, and He has the greatest desire to do just that! I also find it interesting that even though we are called to have a “servant’s heart”, we are also given great power. But then, maybe that’s not so surprising – have you ever tried being a servant, in a power hungry world, without an inner spiritual power for your own? It’s impossible! The Church is all about power, but certainly not the power that the world is striving for, but a power to follow God’s will. Paul is praying that we will receive that very Divine power, and why?
V. 17a – “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”
The power is given so our faith will be strong. All too often, Christians think that this “strength” is for our life, our service, our mission, but the truth is that it is given that our faith will be sufficient to invite Christ into our hearts! First strength, then faith, then Christ, that we might be changed!
One of the accusations that have always been leveled at the Church is that only the weak and pitiful need Jesus – that if you’re strong, you can get by very well all by yourself. The truth is that it takes tremendous strength to remain faithful in Christ, especially when the weight of the world is coming against you.
Personally, I believe that it is only the “foolish” who try to do it all on their own (and that comes from first hand knowledge!), and I’m grateful that Christ, and Paul, and all the saints of the Church, keep the Church itself bathed in prayer. And when we do, what comes from it?
V. 17b-18 – “17aThat you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.”
The power that comes in prayer not only conveys our needs and desires to God, but it returns blessings upon blessings to the prayerful. It is a two way conversation, and the LORD is constantly giving us insight into His glory. Through prayer, we discover over and over again, that the love of Christ is not shallow – that it wider and longer and higher and deeper than we can possibly imagine. It has possibilities that extend far beyond our needs. It has purpose and focus that exceeds our ability to understand. It touches people in ways that astound us. It changes lives completely and wholly.
The love of Christ, through the power of prayer, is displayed in ways that we should never miss, and yet, we still don’t understand that kind of love – we are incapable of understanding that kind of love. Paul wants us to experience God’s love.
V. 19 – “To know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
Paul reminds us that we don’t have to understand God’s love to receive it and appreciate it! We simply need to acknowledge it. And we are filled to overflowing with the “fullness of God”. Think for just a minute about what this might mean for us – that we may receive the “fullness of God”! Are we ready for that? Are we prepared to use that? We might be a little hesitant in claiming that degree of divine power, but Paul seems to be saying “We are ready, without a doubt!”
We need to trust that God hasn’t made a mistake in choosing to give His overwhelming strength and love to the likes of us. We need to be ready to boldly accept it, to rejoice in the gift, and to begin to use it and share it and give it away as soon as is humanly possible!
The old saying tells us that “we can’t out give God”! And the more we give His Grace and power and love away, the more He refills us to His fullness. So what does that mean for our lives and the lives of those we know?
V. 20– “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work with us,”
It means that the faithfulness that is reflected in our lives will allow Christ to work such incredible blessings that even the secular world can’t miss them and will be utterly amazed! And it all begins with a humble, but confident prayer.
Remember that Jesus was severally limited by the lack of faith in people. Miracles couldn’t be completed, healings didn’t happen, lives weren’t changed without belief in what Christ could do.
Isn’t it incredible that the One who is able to do “immeasurably more than we could ever ask for, or even imagine asking for”, would be restricted by our simple lack of faith in Him? The extent of Christ’s work in the world is in direct proportion to the power that is at work in each of us. The faith that exists in the Church is the enabling factor for Christ. And that means each of us – our faith – our belief – our Christian boldness – our prayers – are an integral and vital part of Christ’s mission to the world.
We pray for each other, we pray for healing, we pray for ministries, but how often do we pray for the spiritual health of the Church?
How often do we give praises for the blessings that have already come, but forget to pray that God might use us in new and even greater ways?
How often do we pray for those who live and think and believe the same way we do, but seldom, if ever, raise a single word of blessing for those who think differently than we do, who take a stand in direct opposition to our beliefs, who try to shout us down and even persecute us?
Christ is in the “miracle” business, and His glory can only come through the faith that is being lived out in each of us, His Church.
Where do we put our trust and where do we put our faith?
In earthly power?
In worldly prestige?
In money?
In human promises?
In our own pride and arrogance?
The story is told of a Hindu yogi, a mystic who devoted his life to prayer and holy thought. And through his discipline, he was able to do remarkable things, [or so] it was rumored. Finally he decided to let the people see him in action. He announced that he was going to walk on water. He sent out invitations to [hundreds] of the cream of Bombay society, charging them as much as $100 a ticket. And the people came, eager to see a miracle with their own eyes.
They weren't disappointed. The yogi truly looked like a mystical vision. He stood on the side of a five-foot-deep pond, his beard flowing over his chest, his robes flowing to the ground. He lowered his head in silent prayer, then lifted it. He was ready to walk on water. The crowd leaned forward [with great anticipation] as he stepped confidently over the pond.
Then he sank. -Ross and Kathryn Petras,
The 176 Stupidest Things Ever Done (New York: Doubleday, 1996), 115.
The yogi had intended to gain glory for himself, and failed miserably! But when we get out of the way and give all the glory to God in Jesus Christ, nothing is impossible.
V.21 – “To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen and Amen.”
Our prayer for the Church is that our faith will be in Christ, that God’s will be done, and that all glory will come to Him.
The story is told of a man who came home one day to find that his wife had hung a plaque on the wall which read, “Prayer changes things”. Within 24 hours the plaque had been removed. She asked her husband, “What's wrong? Don't you like prayer?” He said, “Sure, I like prayer. I don't like change.”
Prayer changes us.
Prayer changes others.
Prayer changes situations.
Prayer changes the church.
Prayer changes the world.
Too many Christians are one-prayer members (as someone has described them) of the church, living off of prayers prayed long ago or a single prayer prayed over and over.
James A. Harnish (Hyde Park Church, Tampa, Florida) Homiletics On-Line
Now personally, I think that prayers which were prayed many years ago never become irrelevant. If God’s answer to the situation has yet to be revealed, continue to pray until either the prayer is answered, or you are lead to pray in a different manner.
If you have a prayer that is especially comforting, such as the LORD’s Prayer, why not pray it continuously.
The words of the prayer aren’t what is important – the fact that we are praying is the critical issue, and as long as we are listening for God’s answer, and not for the answer that we want to hear, we’re on the right track. The changes that prayer accomplishes are just as we read earlier – and no where in that list do we read “Prayer changes God!” It changes us, it changes others, it changes the church, and it changes the things of this world – but it never changes God! Amen?
So for today, I would like to look at this prayer that Paul prayed, to consider what changes he may be looking for, and where the changes might be coming.
V. 16 – His prayer begins with “That out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being...”
This part of the prayer is asking for power in the church, distributed by the Holy Spirit through each and every member of the Body of Christ. And this power comes directly from God - not by earning it, not because we deserve it, not because we are in desperate need of it (even though we are!). The power comes simply because our LORD CAN give it, and He has the greatest desire to do just that! I also find it interesting that even though we are called to have a “servant’s heart”, we are also given great power. But then, maybe that’s not so surprising – have you ever tried being a servant, in a power hungry world, without an inner spiritual power for your own? It’s impossible! The Church is all about power, but certainly not the power that the world is striving for, but a power to follow God’s will. Paul is praying that we will receive that very Divine power, and why?
V. 17a – “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”
The power is given so our faith will be strong. All too often, Christians think that this “strength” is for our life, our service, our mission, but the truth is that it is given that our faith will be sufficient to invite Christ into our hearts! First strength, then faith, then Christ, that we might be changed!
One of the accusations that have always been leveled at the Church is that only the weak and pitiful need Jesus – that if you’re strong, you can get by very well all by yourself. The truth is that it takes tremendous strength to remain faithful in Christ, especially when the weight of the world is coming against you.
Personally, I believe that it is only the “foolish” who try to do it all on their own (and that comes from first hand knowledge!), and I’m grateful that Christ, and Paul, and all the saints of the Church, keep the Church itself bathed in prayer. And when we do, what comes from it?
V. 17b-18 – “17aThat you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.”
The power that comes in prayer not only conveys our needs and desires to God, but it returns blessings upon blessings to the prayerful. It is a two way conversation, and the LORD is constantly giving us insight into His glory. Through prayer, we discover over and over again, that the love of Christ is not shallow – that it wider and longer and higher and deeper than we can possibly imagine. It has possibilities that extend far beyond our needs. It has purpose and focus that exceeds our ability to understand. It touches people in ways that astound us. It changes lives completely and wholly.
The love of Christ, through the power of prayer, is displayed in ways that we should never miss, and yet, we still don’t understand that kind of love – we are incapable of understanding that kind of love. Paul wants us to experience God’s love.
V. 19 – “To know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
Paul reminds us that we don’t have to understand God’s love to receive it and appreciate it! We simply need to acknowledge it. And we are filled to overflowing with the “fullness of God”. Think for just a minute about what this might mean for us – that we may receive the “fullness of God”! Are we ready for that? Are we prepared to use that? We might be a little hesitant in claiming that degree of divine power, but Paul seems to be saying “We are ready, without a doubt!”
We need to trust that God hasn’t made a mistake in choosing to give His overwhelming strength and love to the likes of us. We need to be ready to boldly accept it, to rejoice in the gift, and to begin to use it and share it and give it away as soon as is humanly possible!
The old saying tells us that “we can’t out give God”! And the more we give His Grace and power and love away, the more He refills us to His fullness. So what does that mean for our lives and the lives of those we know?
V. 20– “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work with us,”
It means that the faithfulness that is reflected in our lives will allow Christ to work such incredible blessings that even the secular world can’t miss them and will be utterly amazed! And it all begins with a humble, but confident prayer.
Remember that Jesus was severally limited by the lack of faith in people. Miracles couldn’t be completed, healings didn’t happen, lives weren’t changed without belief in what Christ could do.
Isn’t it incredible that the One who is able to do “immeasurably more than we could ever ask for, or even imagine asking for”, would be restricted by our simple lack of faith in Him? The extent of Christ’s work in the world is in direct proportion to the power that is at work in each of us. The faith that exists in the Church is the enabling factor for Christ. And that means each of us – our faith – our belief – our Christian boldness – our prayers – are an integral and vital part of Christ’s mission to the world.
We pray for each other, we pray for healing, we pray for ministries, but how often do we pray for the spiritual health of the Church?
How often do we give praises for the blessings that have already come, but forget to pray that God might use us in new and even greater ways?
How often do we pray for those who live and think and believe the same way we do, but seldom, if ever, raise a single word of blessing for those who think differently than we do, who take a stand in direct opposition to our beliefs, who try to shout us down and even persecute us?
Christ is in the “miracle” business, and His glory can only come through the faith that is being lived out in each of us, His Church.
Where do we put our trust and where do we put our faith?
In earthly power?
In worldly prestige?
In money?
In human promises?
In our own pride and arrogance?
The story is told of a Hindu yogi, a mystic who devoted his life to prayer and holy thought. And through his discipline, he was able to do remarkable things, [or so] it was rumored. Finally he decided to let the people see him in action. He announced that he was going to walk on water. He sent out invitations to [hundreds] of the cream of Bombay society, charging them as much as $100 a ticket. And the people came, eager to see a miracle with their own eyes.
They weren't disappointed. The yogi truly looked like a mystical vision. He stood on the side of a five-foot-deep pond, his beard flowing over his chest, his robes flowing to the ground. He lowered his head in silent prayer, then lifted it. He was ready to walk on water. The crowd leaned forward [with great anticipation] as he stepped confidently over the pond.
Then he sank. -Ross and Kathryn Petras,
The 176 Stupidest Things Ever Done (New York: Doubleday, 1996), 115.
The yogi had intended to gain glory for himself, and failed miserably! But when we get out of the way and give all the glory to God in Jesus Christ, nothing is impossible.
V.21 – “To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen and Amen.”
Our prayer for the Church is that our faith will be in Christ, that God’s will be done, and that all glory will come to Him.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Living Beyond the Darkness
Scripture Text: Ephesians 4:17-24
This issue of “darkness” always seems to create problems for us, especially when it is used to compare non believers to Christians. To help understand this issue of "dark" a little better, I would like to read the first few verses of the Bible:
Genesis 1:1-5a “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day’, and the darkness he called ‘night’.”
As God began His creation, it all started with darkness. How many of us, as children, and possibly even later in life, didn’t like the dark? The problem with the darkness is that you have no perspective, no reference, no vision of what surrounds you. If we try to move through a dark room, we trip over things that have been in that same spot for years! We can’t see the dangers, and we can’t see the things we seek.
When I was in my teens, a bunch of friends and I liked to play “hide and go seek”. Now our game was a little different than the standard version. We played it in the summer, when there was no school, the curfews were later, and we played our game in the dark. If you think hide and seek is tough in the daylight, you should try it at night. And I lived in the country - no street lights back in those days! Trust me – it took a whole different skill set to win at this new approach!
And the Genesis passage tells us that “the earth was formless and empty”. The things needed to form earth and the universe were all in place, but the Lord hadn’t done anything with them, yet. It was all there, but in a state of total chaos.
When I was growing up, my brothers and I had boxes of tinker toys and Lincoln logs – today, it’s Legos and other building sets. When we dump them out of the box, all of the components are there for houses or cars or castles or Ferris wheels, but I defy the most casual observer to identify any of those structures PRIOR to assembly! The one who will build can see the end product, even while it’s still in it’s ‘chaotic state”, but no one else can.
God knew full well what creation would look like when it was finished, but we have no idea what it will be like. Seeing in the Light, versus seeing in Darkness
Paul compares the life of non believers to the first moment of creation. He tells us that “They are darkened in their understanding”. Darkness keeps us from fully understanding where we are, or knowing how to get to where we want to go, or even knowing what we can expect along our journey.
The non believer is on his own – he is separated from God, and that can never be good!
Paul also tells us that while we are still the “darkened ones”, we have no sensitivity to what is right and what is wrong. We have no sense of what is up or down, what is in front of us, or to the left or right of our path. We don’t know if we are near goodness or if we are flirting with evil – we simply take whatever we blindly grasp.
Non believers have no moral compass, and no guide to help them choose wisely during their journey.
Now it’s true that Christians don’t always know where they are being lead, or what task may be waiting for them, but the one big advantage that believers have is that they have the Holy Spirit to guide them, just as in creation when the “Spirit of God was hovering over the dark waters” as Day 1 began.
Have you ever played the game where you are blindfolded, and another person introduces you to various smells and tastes and textures? As they tell you about the object, they can either tell you the truth, or can make up a story about it.
- They may put an orange in your hand, and tell you that it is a ball, and that you should bounce it on the floor and catch it when it returns. But if you try, you quickly discover that it’s not going to bounce – it’s going to “splat”!
- You might be handed a hard boiled egg, but told that it is a fresh egg and that you are to break it into a pan. You can hit that egg all day long, and it will never open up until you totally destroy it!
The game is funny when we are told a lie about the object, but in our human lives, it is never funny when we are lead away from God, and the Holy Spirit never leads us astray; He never leads us to a false conclusion, never to a dangerous consequence. God never lies to us, and He never plays games with us. And personally, I think I prefer the Spirit’s leading me through the darkness, instead of my being able to see where I’m going. If I had “future vision”, I probably would be trying to chart my own course in a totally different direction, and I also know that the journey would end up no where near to where God wants me to go!
Paul continues in his letter that, as Christians, we are taught to put our old lives and ways and fears behind us. We no longer depend on our own senses for guidance. We no longer have to trust that where we are is where we are supposed to be. We no longer have to believe that whatever we have blindly picked up, whether it is a habit, or a temptation, or a false belief, must be good simply because it is now ours.
And not only do we now have a renewed vision of our world, but we also have the opportunity and obligation to lead others through their darkness. The Spirit guides us, and we guide others until they come to trust in the guiding of the Spirit for their own lives. We have to be careful, though, that we always give truthful directions and explanations. When we walk through the darkness, fear of uncertainty can deafen us to the true path, and we have to be very careful that we stay on track. We have to listen carefully and closely to the Spirit’s leading.
Mother Teresa offered us some good advice – she said:
We need to find God, and God cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grow in silence; see the stars, the moon, the sun, how they move in silence. Is not our mission to give God to the poor in the slums? Not a dead God, but a living, loving God. The more we receive in silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life. We need silence to be able to touch souls. The essential thing is not what we say, but what God says to us and through us. All our words will be useless unless they come from within - words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.
(quoted in James Roose-Evans, The Inner Stage [Cambridge, Mass.: Cowley Publications, 1990], 130)
Just because life sometimes seems to be like a game of hide and seek in the dark, it doesn’t mean that we have to constantly be stumbling around. We have the very Spirit of God with us – hovering around us at every moment, and just waiting for us to reach out for His leading.
This issue of “darkness” always seems to create problems for us, especially when it is used to compare non believers to Christians. To help understand this issue of "dark" a little better, I would like to read the first few verses of the Bible:
Genesis 1:1-5a “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day’, and the darkness he called ‘night’.”
As God began His creation, it all started with darkness. How many of us, as children, and possibly even later in life, didn’t like the dark? The problem with the darkness is that you have no perspective, no reference, no vision of what surrounds you. If we try to move through a dark room, we trip over things that have been in that same spot for years! We can’t see the dangers, and we can’t see the things we seek.
When I was in my teens, a bunch of friends and I liked to play “hide and go seek”. Now our game was a little different than the standard version. We played it in the summer, when there was no school, the curfews were later, and we played our game in the dark. If you think hide and seek is tough in the daylight, you should try it at night. And I lived in the country - no street lights back in those days! Trust me – it took a whole different skill set to win at this new approach!
And the Genesis passage tells us that “the earth was formless and empty”. The things needed to form earth and the universe were all in place, but the Lord hadn’t done anything with them, yet. It was all there, but in a state of total chaos.
When I was growing up, my brothers and I had boxes of tinker toys and Lincoln logs – today, it’s Legos and other building sets. When we dump them out of the box, all of the components are there for houses or cars or castles or Ferris wheels, but I defy the most casual observer to identify any of those structures PRIOR to assembly! The one who will build can see the end product, even while it’s still in it’s ‘chaotic state”, but no one else can.
God knew full well what creation would look like when it was finished, but we have no idea what it will be like. Seeing in the Light, versus seeing in Darkness
Paul compares the life of non believers to the first moment of creation. He tells us that “They are darkened in their understanding”. Darkness keeps us from fully understanding where we are, or knowing how to get to where we want to go, or even knowing what we can expect along our journey.
The non believer is on his own – he is separated from God, and that can never be good!
Paul also tells us that while we are still the “darkened ones”, we have no sensitivity to what is right and what is wrong. We have no sense of what is up or down, what is in front of us, or to the left or right of our path. We don’t know if we are near goodness or if we are flirting with evil – we simply take whatever we blindly grasp.
Non believers have no moral compass, and no guide to help them choose wisely during their journey.
Now it’s true that Christians don’t always know where they are being lead, or what task may be waiting for them, but the one big advantage that believers have is that they have the Holy Spirit to guide them, just as in creation when the “Spirit of God was hovering over the dark waters” as Day 1 began.
Have you ever played the game where you are blindfolded, and another person introduces you to various smells and tastes and textures? As they tell you about the object, they can either tell you the truth, or can make up a story about it.
- They may put an orange in your hand, and tell you that it is a ball, and that you should bounce it on the floor and catch it when it returns. But if you try, you quickly discover that it’s not going to bounce – it’s going to “splat”!
- You might be handed a hard boiled egg, but told that it is a fresh egg and that you are to break it into a pan. You can hit that egg all day long, and it will never open up until you totally destroy it!
The game is funny when we are told a lie about the object, but in our human lives, it is never funny when we are lead away from God, and the Holy Spirit never leads us astray; He never leads us to a false conclusion, never to a dangerous consequence. God never lies to us, and He never plays games with us. And personally, I think I prefer the Spirit’s leading me through the darkness, instead of my being able to see where I’m going. If I had “future vision”, I probably would be trying to chart my own course in a totally different direction, and I also know that the journey would end up no where near to where God wants me to go!
Paul continues in his letter that, as Christians, we are taught to put our old lives and ways and fears behind us. We no longer depend on our own senses for guidance. We no longer have to trust that where we are is where we are supposed to be. We no longer have to believe that whatever we have blindly picked up, whether it is a habit, or a temptation, or a false belief, must be good simply because it is now ours.
And not only do we now have a renewed vision of our world, but we also have the opportunity and obligation to lead others through their darkness. The Spirit guides us, and we guide others until they come to trust in the guiding of the Spirit for their own lives. We have to be careful, though, that we always give truthful directions and explanations. When we walk through the darkness, fear of uncertainty can deafen us to the true path, and we have to be very careful that we stay on track. We have to listen carefully and closely to the Spirit’s leading.
Mother Teresa offered us some good advice – she said:
We need to find God, and God cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grow in silence; see the stars, the moon, the sun, how they move in silence. Is not our mission to give God to the poor in the slums? Not a dead God, but a living, loving God. The more we receive in silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life. We need silence to be able to touch souls. The essential thing is not what we say, but what God says to us and through us. All our words will be useless unless they come from within - words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.
(quoted in James Roose-Evans, The Inner Stage [Cambridge, Mass.: Cowley Publications, 1990], 130)
Just because life sometimes seems to be like a game of hide and seek in the dark, it doesn’t mean that we have to constantly be stumbling around. We have the very Spirit of God with us – hovering around us at every moment, and just waiting for us to reach out for His leading.
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