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Sunday, September 29, 2013

“Called to Proclaim His Righteousness”


Scripture: Ezekiel 3:17-27

Last week, we saw that Ezekiel, a priest of Israel, had been called to speak the Lord’s words to the nation, and that they weren’t going to be words that the people would be anxious to hear. God told him that they would be words of “lament and mourning and woe”. (Ezekiel 2:10) Not exactly the words that anyone would want to hear, but they were the very ones that the people needed to hear.
God is always faithful to give us all that we need, whether we feel we need it or not! That is the righteous nature of the Lord. He never back peddles, he never hedges, he never softens the message, he is never politically correct – he is always true and faithful. In Matthew 5:37, Jesus tells us that we never have to swear an oath of truth – that we only need to “let our yes be yes, and our no, no”. And he never expects us to do something that he wouldn’t do – his yes means just that, and his no is just as absolute. And when he tells the prophet to deliver his message to Israel, the message is a Godly truth regardless of the way that we want to take it.

Read Ezekiel 3:17

Two thoughts on this verse –
First, The prophet is called to be “a watchman for the house of Israel”. Ezekiel is being given a great responsibility as the Lord’s messenger - he is called to be a watchman. A watchman is one who is on guard for the camp. He is alert for danger coming from the outside; he is responsible to warn the camp of the approach of any enemy; he is to be the first line of defense for the people. The prophet, and actually any “servant of the Lord”, is to be on the alert for the enemy’s incursion into our lives, and to let the community know of every impending threat. But in Ezekiel’s case, the enemy was already in the heart of the nation – Israel and Judah had both been defeated in battle and had been taken into captivity, and Ezekiel’s job was to help them to recover from the calamity that had been their downfall, and to begin their journey back into God’s good grace.
And second, he was to receive the message that Jehovah God would give him, and to share it – repeat it – word for word, with the nation’s people. He wasn’t to make changes, he wasn’t to make additions, he wasn’t to leave anything out. The message would be complete in the precise way that the prophet would soon receive it, and his job was to pass it on in its entirety.

The Lord was very intentional in letting Ezekiel know that his sole responsibility was to be faithful to the word he was given. All too often, the people – those in that day and those in this day – feel that they know better than the word, that it falls short of what it should be, and they make all kinds of “corrections” and excuses to make the message more to their personal liking. God was not about to let this “son of man” have any flexibility in what he was about to share with the nation, and I believe the message for us today is that we have that same restriction – to share the message exactly as the Lord gives it to us. And the prophet was to get an object lesson regarding this responsibility.

Read Ezekiel 3:18-19

Not only are the servants of God to warn others of the sin in their lives, but they are to work diligently to lead the people away from their sinfulness. Sin is that other person’s problem, not the messengers, and if they fail to heed the warning, the penalty is theirs alone. But the problem for us is that if the messenger fails to offer a warning of the consequences of the sin, or fails to try to lead the person back into a life of grace, he, too, will be found guilty, and will pay his (or her!) own penalty.

Failure to follow is never an option – at least not in our relationship with Almighty God. When he calls us to do a task for him, the expectation is that we will do exactly as is required – no ifs, ands or buts! But many folks don’t understand this. The general sense is that we already know what the people need to hear, and we miss the bulk of God’s call, and we fill in the blanks from our own reservoir of inadequate and insufficient knowledge. And we fail the Lord miserably!

Sin - one, and righteousness - zero.

Read Ezekiel 3:20-21

It doesn’t make any difference if our nature is that of evil or righteousness – if we find ourselves far from his grace, then our hope in him is in jeopardy. And regardless of the quality of person’s past or present life, we are responsible for their relationship in the Lord. After Cain had taken the life of his brother Abel, God asked him where his brother was. Cain’s reply was “Am I my brother’s keeper?” And God’s answer was, in essence, “Yes - you are!” (Genesis 4:1-16) The answer was true, and is true to this day. Each of us is responsible for the lives of our brothers and sisters, and if we don’t hold the body accountable, then who will?
I know that this is never an easy task – I’ve been there and it wasn’t. But I also know that if we step out in faith, certain of what the Lord is asking of us, that we will receive a peace and assurance that will carry us through the call, and even beyond.
Give the Lord a chance to show you just how faithful he is!

Read Ezekiel 3:22-27

The Shekinah Glory – God radiance – was waiting for Ezekiel to come to him. And even as the chosen one falls head long on the ground to show honor to his Lord, he doesn’t remain there long, as the Glory lifts him to his feet once more.
And just a brief word on his being forced to stand. When the days of synagogue came to be, those who were listening to the teaching always stood. Standing apparently, was a sign of both attention and respect. Today, we do this in just the reverse order, but the point is that God was speaking and Ezekiel was listening, and this posture showed a far greater honor to the Lord than if the prophet had laid prone on the earth in front of the King. The Lord’s messenger was to hear every word and was not to miss a single one simply because he was filled with overwhelming awe.
And as he listened, he learned one more thing. Not only was Jehovah’s word the authority for his ministry, and not only was he to be a servant to that word, but he was to speak and act in the Lord’s time, and not in his own. As we journey through this book, we will see a lot of symbolism, and this passage is one of the first. Commentaries weren’t very helpful in explaining who specifically was doing the binding, so I’ll offer my own thoughts.
I believe that the Lord is telling Ezekiel that “The people won’t want to hear what you have to say, and they will try to prevent you from delivering my message. And even though I have demanded that you be perfectly faithful in telling them my truth, I will let you know when the time is right to give them my word.” The people would object and God would restrain the prophet from protesting until the time was right, and then he would be freed from all restrictions and would be allowed to speak the Lord’s words to “that rebellious house”.

And once the messenger is set free to prophesy, the people had better be ready to listen. Jesus Himself used the phrase a number of times – “he who has ears, let him hear”. (Matthew 11:11-15, etal) Note well that God doesn’t say “If you are interested in hearing what I have to say, then please listen.”, and he doesn’t say “If you like what you hear, then live these words.”. What he says is much more definitive - “If you have even the ability to hear, then you had better pay attention to what my servant has to say!

This passage is as much for the people of today as it was for those living in the 5th century BC. First, for all who have been called to carry the Lord’s message, listen to him. Know what you are to say, know who you are to say it to, and know when it is to be delivered. And above all else, don’t hesitate, don’t delay, and don’t change the word.
And second, if you are the recipient of the message, you had better be listening with both ears wide open!
The call to carry God’s word must never be seen as a burden on our lives. When it is given, it is a blessing. When we are told to deliver God’s word to the lives of others, it is an honor. And when his word is given to us as correction, we should listen and be grateful. And in all circumstances, we had better not ignore it.

Our Lord could so very easily have done all the delivering by himself, but he doesn’t. He uses the likes of you and me to bring grace and mercy and blessing to the people of earth, and we must never shirk our responsibility as members of his body in this place.

Proclaim his glorious word and be blessed, that you might bring the Lord’s blessing to others. Amen.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

“Do Not Be Afraid”


Scripture: Ezekiel 1:28-3:3

We have been talking about faith during the past several weeks, and today, we begin to see an example of faith in action. I left you with a question last week that I hope you have been considering – “What does your Christian faith mean to you?”, and I hope that in your ponderings you have discovered at least this one aspect of faith – that it must be active, that it can never take you to a place where you are content to just sit back and enjoy your faith. I received one email from a parishioner this week who obviously put a lot of thought and prayer into the question, and in return, discovered quite a bit about faith in her life. And I greatly appreciate that note.
And of course, faith is more than just being “active”, but the aspects of faith that may have been revealed to you must be active. Today, we begin a series on the book of Ezekiel that will show how God spoke many truths to one of the major prophets, and how he was called to share those truths with his fellow countrymen who were being held captive in Babylon at the time.

It is seldom that people want to hear when God sends corrective advise, and even less so when he wants us to share that word with others. Such was the case for Ezekiel.

Read Ezekiel 1:28b - 2:2

When God calls us to do something, I don’t think he ever sees it as a request or a suggestion! It is the Lord’s intention that whoever is called will do exactly what is needed! We don’t get to evaluate the call, we don’t get to modify the message to make it more palatable, and we don’t get to choose the best time to go out and speak it.
Ezekiel may have been sitting down one evening, perhaps relaxing, perhaps repairing a tool, perhaps even having a meal. But when the Lord began to speak, everything else became irrelevant and stopped immediately. He had noticed a huge storm coming toward him from the north, and in the middle of it were four winged creatures who preceded the appearance of Almighty God. And Ezekiel would not be allowed to sit during the Lord’s discourse – the Spirit came over him, and promptly put him on his feet. He was going to pay attention, one way or another!

That’s how God seemed to get the people’s attention in the Old Testament days. But this style was only used on a select few – those who were selected to carry Jehovah’s message to the rest of the nation. By the time we get to the New Testament, he still taught the apostles’ his lessons in dramatic ways, but gearing his style to the needs of the person – such as Peter’s vision of a sheet, versus Paul’s being blinded. But one way or another, the Lord always gets the messenger’s attention!

But today, the Lord’s methods seem to be a bit more subtle. No more standing us upright on our feet, no more dramatic and unmistakable visions, no more blindness – he seems to speak to us in indirect ways – through every day means such as a radio or TV show, through the gentle words of a friend, and sometimes even in a sermon! But the point here is that when God speaks, we had better be ready to listen. We may not be comfortable with the messages we receive and with the calls placed on our lives, but we had better listen and we had better respond, just the same.

Read Ezekiel 2:3-5

Put yourself in the prophet’s sandals for a moment. You are quietly minding your own business, when suddenly you are surrounded by four heralds of God, you are forced to your feet by the Holy Spirit, and the Lord begins to instruct you as to what you are going to do in his name. Just another, normal, routine day in your life, right? Hardly!
And then you get your assignment - He tells you that you will be carrying his message to the very people who have never listened to him before. They have defied him, ignored him, insulted him, and turned away from him to embrace the evils of the world. And they aren’t going to listen to you either, but you must go and tell just the same. And whether they listen or not, they will know that you are the Lord’s messenger, and that the message truly is for them.

Scared yet? Concerned that the Lord just may have made one gigantic mistake in giving this to you?

Pastor and writer William Coffin writes:
Fear distorts truth, not by exaggerating the ills of the world . . . but by underestimating our ability to deal with them . . . love seeks truth, fear seeks safety.

--William Sloane Coffin, “The Courage to Love” (New York: Harper and Row, 1982), 60.


Whenever and whatever the Lord asks of us should be a reason for joy! Think about it – you have been chosen by God as the best choice for the task that is at hand! “But”, you think, “I don’t know how to do that! I don’t have the skills to do that! What if I fail? What if I blow it?” The truth is that none of that matters, because if the Lord calls us to do something, we are better off if we don’t know how to do it – it is then that we have to let him do it through us! And he will let us know that.

Read Ezekiel 2:6-8

Whether they listen or not, just tell them. Remember, though, that you can’t go against his call on your life. Just do it, and don’t be afraid of what you have to tell them!

That has always been the tough part for me – doing it whether someone is listening or not. My first real venture into ministry was when I received a call from the Broome County Council of Churches, asking me to begin leading worship at Sullivan Park Nursing Home. Some of you have lead worship in nursing homes before, and you know that these aren’t the most pleasant places. Many homes have that “odor” about them, and the people moan and carry on, and they doze off while you are speaking, and they get a glazed look in their eyes, and they don’t seem to hear a single word you say. And you wonder why you are even there. And then you begin the hymn “Amazing Grace”, or “Blessed Assurance”, or one of the other familiar oldies, and every single person is with you. Or you begin to say the Lord’s Prayer, and again, every person in the room is saying it with you. And then you understand – it has nothing to do with what you think they should hear – it’s what God will be saying to them through you.
Pastoral ministry is similar – when you first begin, you have grandiose ideals and expect that you are going to inspire the congregation with all sorts of good news. You won’t, though, but every once in a while, someone comments on a message that you offer, or rather that the Spirit delivers though you, and it suddenly all seems worthwhile – even when the message that the person received wasn’t what you said! The Spirit works in strange ways!!

Ezekiel knew right from the start that many of the people weren’t going to listen, but he also knew that he had to go just the same. The prophet had faith – faith that God would be going with him, that God would be giving him just the right words to say, that success or failure had nothing to do with him – all he had to do is say the words that the Lord gave him, at the time the Lord wanted it said, and to the people the Lord wanted to hear it. All Ezekiel had to do was to go and speak, and Almighty God would do everything else.
But what was he to say?

Read Ezekiel 2:9-3:3

Words of “lament, mourning and woe” – not exactly great news for Israel! But they were the very ones that the Lord needed to have delivered by Ezekiel. But what about words of love and joy and celebration? Not yet – now was the time for words of agony, and Ezekiel would have to go just the same.
And they aren’t the kinds of words that we like to deliver, either. But the Lord’s words are always the right words to say, just the same. But should it matter to us? What difference should it make whether the message God wants us to deliver are words of joy or words of disappointment?
They are his words, his message, his heart that we carry, not ours. And the prophet is told to consume the words, and he discovers that God’s words of lament, mourning and woe are just as sweet as any other word that he might receive.

Have you ever thought of it that way? That the joy we experience in service to our Lord isn’t in the message, but simply in the service itself? It isn’t about the words, or the service, or the compassion, or the gift – it is about sharing them in the name of Jesus Christ. We don’t need to worry about acceptance or rejection, we don’t have to be concerned with the victory or the failure, we don’t have to worry whether the folks choose to listen or not– we just have to deliver!

That is what takes the fear and the apprehension and the reluctance and the sense of inadequacy away. If the Lord calls us to do something, he will also provide the words or the skill or the love or the grace and mercy, or anything else that we will need to deliver. No longer is there any reason to fear speaking of the wonderful gift of Jesus, no reason to fear inviting someone to give themselves to the Lord, no reason to fear encouraging them to come to worship with you.
Let Jesus’ words ring in your heart – “Peace be with you!” He said that phrase over and over when he began to appear to the disciples after his resurrection. “Peace be with you.” That means that there is nothing to fear – not his abrupt and unexpected appearance in your life, not his call to service in his name (even though it was the last thing you wanted to hear), not his giving of a task that there is no way that you could ever accomplish it, not the message that someone will definitely NOT want to hear, but one that must be shared anyway. Peace, not fear, is what Jesus offers us. Claim it, celebrate it, and above all else, share it.

And for the next few weeks, we will follow Ezekiel as he shares the “sweetest words” of God with the people of captive Israel.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

“All in for Us!”


Scripture: Luke 15:1-10

Last week, we considered the question “What does Christian faith mean to me?”, and we discovered that it means we must give it our all, that a shallow faith, a hollow faith, an on again-off again kind of faith just won’t do. As a matter of fact, we read in Revelation 3:16 that a lukewarm faith is even worse that no faith at all! Jesus spent his entire ministry showing the people that faith must be a condition of “all in”, and that anything less is the same as “all out”.
Why would God expect so much from us? Could it be that unless we have given ourselves completely to him, our dedication is incomplete? Our focus on him is less than adequate? Remember that in Matthew 6:24, Jesus told the people that they can’t serve two masters – that they can only serve one, love only one.
We can love the world, or we can love the Lord – we can’t love both. And Jesus had to do this very thing, too – he couldn’t love glory and humanity at the same time, he couldn’t live in heaven and teach us at the same time, so he set it all aside for 33 years, and he came to teach us about relationships, to explain the path to glory for us, to redeem us from our sinfulness, to be the sacrifice that would free us from death, and to create a life in eternity for us.

The Church constantly reminds us that we must give our all to the Lord, because he gave us his all first!

Read Luke 15:1-2

That’s the difference between a life in the law and a life in faith – the law defines what condemns, while faith defines what redeems! That’s why the Pharisees, and other learned people throughout the ages, have always struggled with faith. Their vision was clouded with all that was wrong, and had no room for what was right.
You see, Jesus never let the law limit him or deter him or discourage him from reaching out to every person – the sick, the crippled, the rejected, the despised, the unworthy, the sinner. He sought the company of those who the world turned away, and he loved the very ones who others refused, and even feared, to love.

There is a story that one Easter morning, the local church was filled to the rafters with some of the best dressed people you will ever meet. Double breasted, 3 piece, and very expensive suits were worn by all of the men, the finest dresses and the most beautiful hats adorned all of the women, and every child in the church was decked out in their new clothes.
But just as worship was about to begin, a young man entered the sanctuary wearing the poorest and most tattered shirt and pants you had ever seen. He proceeded up the center aisle, looking first to one side, then the other, hoping to find a place to sit, but none were offered. He finally arrived at the front of the church, and with no seat in sight, he simply sat down on the floor.
A murmur began to run through the congregation, hoping that someone – ANYONE - would set this nere-do-well in his place. Just then, the elderly head usher began to hobble slowly down to the front of the church, and the people were all elated. “This man will let this upstart know just what is what!”
As the usher reached the front of the church, he bent down beside the young man, and the church became perfectly still, eager to hear the words of condemnation. Then this elderly man, dressed in his best suit, bent his knees and sat down next to the ragged visitor.
The pastor stood up to begin the service and said “Today’s text is from John 13: 34 - ‘I give you a new commandment, that you should love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.’ And then he said ‘Our message for today is before you.’”

That is the extent that Jesus always went to in order to show love to those we refuse to love. All in for every body.

Read Luke 15:3-7

This is the first of three parables that Jesus told regarding the lost of earth, and you should know that being described as “sheep” should never be taken as a compliment! They are less than bright, they have a propensity to wander away from the flock, and when they eat, they put their heads down, and as long as there is something green in front of them, they keep eating, And to make matters worse, shepherds were, themselves, far from being a respectable segment of society. They were dirty, smelly, and because they almost always had blood on them, they were considered religiously “unclean”. And these are the images that he offers – that of shepherd which Jesus would take for himself, and that of “sheep” which he assigns to us.

And why not? Those are the very thoughts that many in the world have of the Lord and his followers. Jesus is hated, despised, rejected, and ridiculed by the world, when he could just as easily have retained glory and honor and praise in heaven, and those who follow him get the same. But his time here was not spent in vain – he came to save the lost of earth, and rejoices over every single one who allows him to carry them to safety.

But who are those ninety nine? Jesus is most likely making this connection to the Pharisees. He has turned the tables on those “holy and righteous men” of Israel, and is now telling them that God will leave those who think that they have gained God’s pleasure by being good, and is now going to help those who are willing to acknowledge that they are not who and what they should be.

And the Pharisees must have cringed! Not only has Jesus set God in the place of a despised shepherd, but he lets them know that God finds no joy in them! And notice that the Shepherd never returns to the flock – he goes to celebrate with the one that is found.
Outcasts 1, Righteous 0.

Read Luke 15:8-10

The woman discovers that one of her coins is missing. It may have been her only savings, and may even have been what was left of her dowry. It wasn’t worth a lot of money – perhaps a day’s wages, but it was worth a lot to her.
The houses in that day would be extremely simple – one door, generally one room, and it may have had a window. It was dark and barren, and a coin could have blended in very well with the dirt floor. So she does three things – first, she lights a lamp, then she sweeps the floor, and finally, she searches diligently.
Remember that Jesus’ parables, while they always had an earthly component, were also intended to have a spiritual context to them. In this case, consider that we are the coin, and the Lord is the woman.
- She lights a lamp Luke 1:79 reads “By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.” The Light of God comes into the world, but unless we allow him to shine on our lives, we can, by our own decision, choose to remain in the dark.
- she sweeps the house – the Light reveals a lot of clutter and useless objects, and Jesus comes to cleanse our lives of everything that is worthless.
- she searches carefully until she finds it – God never ceases to search for the lost of earth, and will continue to do so right up until the day of reckoning.

And just as in the previous parable, the woman calls out to those who will celebrate with her, and seems to completely forget the other 10 coins. The ninety nine sheep, and the nine coins bring no joy, but the one that was found in each story deserved the joy of all who would understand.

Interestingly, these stories make no follow-up mention of either the rest of the flock or the 9 remaining coins – they simply drop out of context. The parables are not only about the redemptive act that found the lost, but also is a subtle call - a reminder - to the rest, that rejoicing is only for the found, and not for the smug and self-secure.

Jesus gave up everything for the people of earth – the wealthy and the poor, the righteous and the sinful, the ninety nine as well as the one. He surrendered his Godliness in exchange for humanness; he set honor aside so that he might be hated and beaten; he traded glory for pain; and he gave his life so that others might live. There was no one that was hated by the Lord, no one who asked was shut out, no one was turned away from his grace, no one was deemed unworthy of his mercy, and no one had to prove themselves to him. He is the proof of salvation for the world.

Who are we? Are we the “Good Samaritan”, or the righteous ones who passed by on the other side of the road? (Luke 10:30-35) Are we the ninety nine who are content with who we are, or are we prepared to admit that we have wandered away and don’t know the way home? Are we the hundreds who sit smugly in the honors that we have gained, or the one who went to show love to the outcast?

What does Christian faith mean to you? Do you give your all for others in the example of Jesus Christ, or do you live self-assured and confident in the example of the Pharisees?
Remember Micah 6:8“And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humble with your God.”
Are the angels rejoicing over you? If not, why not?

Sunday, September 8, 2013

“All in for Jesus!”


Scripture: Luke 14:25-33

After 4 weeks of talking about faith – what it is, where it comes from, what it brings to our lives, and what our obligation is in faith, here is the test – “What does Christian faith mean to you?”

Hebrews 11:1 tells us that “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Faith is a gift from God; faith is beyond our reasoning and understanding; faith is knowing, without question, that the unknown and the unseen is absolutely true; faith is trusting that the Giver of faith is also the one who we have faith in; faith is giving the Lord 100% of our life, and nothing less can ever be sufficient.

Faith is a blessing, a joy, a sense of worthiness, a commitment, and it leads to action that occurs without a plan in our mind and without an outcome in our heart. Faith is the center piece of our Christian walk, and without faith for guidance, our walk can never bring glory to Christ.

But the one thing that faith can never be is half-hearted. The Lord tells us in Revelation 3:16Because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” This should not be a pleasant thought for any of us! There can never be a fence sitter in Christian faith!

Read Luke 14:25-27

The crowds were always looking for something from Jesus. Teaching, healing, forgiveness, new life, relief from an oppressive life – the list could go on and on! But for the vast majority of people, their expression of faith was always one sided. They wanted Jesus to do many things for them - and truly believed that he could - but that was as far as they could take it – they weren’t prepared to give him anything in return.
And so, he begin to teach them the reality of faith – that if they had any expectation of receiving from him, they needed to be prepared to surrender their all to him. If he received only a little bit of their lives, then he would only be able to do a little bit for their lives. We can’t hold back on most of our life and still expect Jesus to give his all for us. Hence the theme of this passage – “If you don’t -- , then you can’t be my disciple!”

But the lesson is a hard one to learn, if we take it literally. Do we really have to hate our family if we are to truly love the Lord? Must we plan to die at the hands of those who oppose Christians when we follow Jesus’ teaching and the Spirit’s leading? A lot of folks stumble over this, and they shouldn’t.
Jesus is a loving Lord, and he would never expect us to hate those who are closest to us, or anyone else for that matter. He even tells us that we are to love our enemies! (Matthew 5:44) So what is this all about? It is about an extreme in comparison between the things and the people we love on earth, and the One we choose to love in heaven. When push comes to shove, and it most assuredly will, who will we choose? Will we let our love for the things of this realm take precedence over the call of Christ? Who is going to get first billing?
Jesus wants us to understand that if we don’t put him first all the time, then we haven’t given him our all. Faith must be that absolute!

His words were never intended to mean that we must literally hate, despise, reject, disown, our family, our life, and everything that is of earth! His words were never intended to mean that we will die a horrible death when we follow him! He wants us to be so committed to him that we put our earthly loves, and fears, behind our dedication to him.

Read Luke 14:28-33

He offers this teaching so that the people - and in this instance it was a very large crowd – would understand just what it was that they were asking for. Did they realize that there was a part that they must play as well?

On the eve of the invasion of Europe in World War II, General Dwight Eisenhower prepared two press releases to be given out at the conclusion of the D-Day operation. The first was an announcement that the effort had succeeded and it praised the troops for a victorious effort. The second was notice of defeat, in which he would take complete and personal responsibility for the failure in battle and the excessive loss of life. He knew the cost, he accepted the cost, and he put his all into the decision to proceed. There was no question in his mind that the invasion had to be tried, but the outcome was very much in question! And the Supreme Commander was prepared for either outcome.

Jesus offers two analogies to demonstrate the extent of the issue to the people – the first relates to a construction project, and the second to the preparations for battle.

Construction projects fail all the time and for many different reasons, the least of which is poor financing. Design failures occur because of inexperienced engineers, site selection is inadequate because the soil conditions weren’t evaluated properly, the building itself fails because someone tried to cut corners to save money, and of course – the point that Jesus is making - the actual cost of the construction exceeds the resources available to finance the project. Construction of a building can be a monumental task, and if every detail isn’t carefully worked out, catastrophe will almost always be the result. Shame and ridicule will be the least of the owners concerns – human misery, loss of employment, injury and even loss of life must also be understood to be a possibility. There’s a lot to take into account.

But as critical as details are in a building project, they are even more important when planning for military action. Every detail, every possibility, every move by the opposing force must be planned for and nothing can be left to chance. The most successful battles, those such as D-Day and Operation Desert Storm, were thoroughly planned out and prepared for, and in the long run, both were victorious. But when battle plans are rushed, or the details overlooked, or the possibilities are ignored, the result will be disastrous. And far more than ridicule or humiliation will come to the army involved!

Jesus wanted the people to know that knowledge of what they were committing to was just as important in faith as it is in building a house or planning a battle. You can never begin expecting great victories without understanding the cost of that victory. We usually see salvation as free, and rightly so. It has been bought and paid for by God Himself, but it requires a complete and total dedication on our part, and in that, it isn’t free.
It requires that we give our all to the Lord, and not just a token effort. It means that we can’t be satisfied with an hour, give or take, on Sunday, and an hour or two during the week for a meeting or bible study. It means that we live our entire life, every minute of every hour of every day, for Christ and his glory!

When Jesus came to earth, he didn’t come with some pie-in-the-sky attitude of great success, or some Pollyanna-ish mindset that it would be a lot of fun, and that people would hang on his every word, and would flock to his side at every turn. God knew how humanity was going to react to his presence among them – he knew that they / WE would be skeptical, that we would hesitate, that we would be hard to convince - but he was prepared to live it out just the same, and he was prepared to give us his all just the same - all so that we might, one day, share in his victory of life over death.

Read Luke 14:34-35

Can you imagine “unsalty” salt? Tasteless, ineffective, and useless. Good for nothing. Fit only for the trash heap! Jesus says that a weak, halfhearted, compromised faith is no better than that. Now, one more time, “What does Christian faith mean to you?”
Are you in 100%, or are you still hedging your bet? Do you think, as so many others do, that because Jesus is so loving and passionate for humanity that he would never actually let us fall away to the pit? Do you think, as many others do, that there is still time to enjoy the ways of earth while you put off that decision for Christ to a later day? Do you think, as many others do, that any expression of faith is just as good as faith in Christ? Jesus tells us that we don’t get to define faith – only God does. We only get to choose it or reject it.
Remember the “unsalty” salt? “Unfaithful” faith is no different. Make your decision for Christ – and make it complete!

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Sunday, September 1, 2013

“The Obligations of Faith”


Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-13

For the past three weeks, we have considered God’s great gift of faith. We’ve discovered that it’s a gift we could never afford, even if we had the resources to buy it; that it’s a gift that we could never define, create, imagine, or understand, even if we knew what it was all about.
We have seen faith described as “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1) In other words, it cannot be purchased, it cannot be earned, it cannot be defined, and it definitely cannot be understood – but in spite of all the uncertainty that surrounds faith, we are to be absolutely confident in it and unquestionably certain that it is true.

Why should anyone be so trusting of such a nebulous concept? Unfortunately, many aren’t! But praise God, many are. Why do we believe? Because we see it as the promise and gift of our unfailing and Almighty God, and we find life in him as our Lord and Savior.

But is that all there is to this issue? Is the receiving of the gift all that is required? In all honesty, no! Once the gift is received, it can never be left to work all by itself, with absolutely no involvement on our part! A lot of folks that I know would like it to be this way, and even live their life as though it was true, but they’ve been deceived. Faith has been freely given, but if we don’t live it, and use it, and share it, we could very well fail to keep it.

Today, we consider the responsibilities of faith.

Read Hebrews 12:1-3

“Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” It would seem that faith may have some obstacles associated with it! But isn’t this God’s gift to us? Why would he give us a gift that could be defeated? Upset? Restricted?
Because he has a great and glorious plan that is far beyond our understanding, and because he also gave us a gift called “free will”! We get to choose! Right or wrong, we choose.

I’ve been working up in my woods, trying to clear out the brush and scrub pines to open it up for the hardwoods to grow. I’ve made some progress over the years, but the problem is that the areas that have already been addressed still need to have attention paid to them every summer. Saplings still continue to spring up, dead limbs continue to fall, and areas that I haven’t gotten to yet continue to get worse. After I go through and clean things up each year, it looks pretty good for a while, but before long, the ugliness begins to reappear.

That’s what the writer of Hebrews is trying to tell us – when we first claim Christ as Lord and Savior, we feel pretty good about our new life. But before long, the obstacles, the old hindrances, the sins that we thought were gone begin to encroach on our new, our restored, our recreated lives. We must remember that we have a part in this new walk, and we have to be deliberate in choosing and re-choosing Jesus every day.
And we are told that we must run this race of faith with perseverance – that we can’t slacken our pace, we can’t get discouraged, we can’t take our course for granted – we need to be intentional and faithful in the tasks set before us, and to avoid the pitfalls that come with “free will” – remember that its free, not perfect!

Billy Graham writes:
The destiny of men and of nations is always being decided. Every generation is crucial; every generation is strategic. But we are not responsible for the past generation, and we cannot bear full responsibility for the next one. However, we do have our generation! God will hold us responsible at the Judgment Seat of Christ for how well we fulfilled our responsibilities and took advantage of our opportunities.
--Billy Graham, Just As I Am: The Autobiography of Billy Graham (New York: HarperCollins, 1997), 565.

Our faith is in Christ, we must respond with Christ, and we will be answerable to Christ. We read that Jesus is not only the author of our faith – the one who created it and granted it – but he is also the one who we turn to, to help us clean up the messes that either we create, or allow others to create, in our lives. And for anyone who may think that faith was developed in the sanctity and purity of heaven, we are reminded that it came to be right here on earth! It is in the teachings that Jesus offered, it is in the scorn and humiliation that he endured, it is in the agony of Calvary that he freely accepted, and it is in the resurrection that proved it all. He endured the hatred of the world, so that we might enjoy the fullness of joyful passion of heaven with him.

Read Hebrews 12:4-6

Not only do we have to stand up to the adversity that comes from the world on a daily basis, not only must we be constantly on the lookout for the encroachment of sinful ways, and prepared to resist these temptations, but we must also be ready to receive the discipline and correction that comes from Christ when we fail to live up to our call in faith.

I know that it will be hard to believe, but when I was young, I tended to need correction, almost on a daily basis! For some strange reason, I was always pushing the envelope of “goodness”, and Mom and Dad, usually Dad, had to bring me back into line. You would think I would learn after a while, but learning is a difficult process, especially when you think you “know it all”!
Mom and Dad’s ways were strange in those younger years, but after I joined the Navy, and would come home on leave from time to time, I discovered that they, somehow, had managed to get smarter during the months I was gone. I guess that proves that God was working in their lives!

I think our life in the Lord is very similar – we think that we’re pretty smart, and that we can make our own decisions. It’s a lie, of course, but if we constantly try to run our “faith race” to the best of our abilities, even though we may not always understand God’s ways, we will come to realize that they are the best ways. And as we grow in faith, and become more Christ-like in our walk, we begin to unwrap the person we were created to be.

This is a story floating around about the first President Bush. He was supposedly visiting a nursing home, where he took the hand of an elderly man walking the halls and asked kindly, “Sir, do you know who I am?”
The man replied, “No, but if you ask the nurses they can tell you.”

If you lay on others the responsibility for your identity, you might be shocked at what identity they give to you.
- Homelitics Online.


Don’t be shocked at who the Lord wants you to be – let him be the judge!

Read Hebrews 12:7-13

I have to admit that I have never enjoyed discipline. I didn’t like it when I was growing up, I didn’t like it in the service, I didn’t like it in my job, and I don’t always like it in faith. But I know that it is always necessary, and I have seldom been corrected for something that I didn’t do.
Discipline is all about eliminating those things that make us less, and changing us to make us all that we can be. Whether it is while we are young and still growing, or when we are more mature and are still in need of growth, it is one of the obligations that we accept when we claim Jesus. Before Christ, we are who we think we need to be – but in Christ, we become who he wants us to be, and that is to be more like him.

Larry Davis tells a very appropriate story about obstacles that need to be eliminated.
The musicians at a nightclub were complaining about an old piano. The keys would often stick, and the sound was truly hideous. After months of listening to the grumbling and whining, the owner finally decided to do something about it ... he sent the piano out to be painted.

Painted? Painted? What good would that do? Yet as Christians we often settle for a paint job when what we really need is to be re-tuned. It’s easy to play Christian without actually acting like one.
- We seek comfort ... instead of a challenge.
- You want rest ... not responsibility.
- I all too readily accept peace ... and surrender my passion for God.
- We look for a paintbrush rather than a toolbox.
-Larry Davies, “Pianos, rats and born again,” Sowing Seeds of Faith, August 13, 2002, sowseeds@nesbeonline.com.

Change is our greatest obligation in faith. We are no longer in charge of our life, for in Christ, we don’t get to make the rules any more, we don’t get to set the standards, we don’t get to determine the route and the path of our life’s walk, and we don’t get to choose our new image. As a matter of fact, when we try to improve on God’s ways and attempt to create our own Christian image, we tend to do just the opposite – we wind up making ourselves into something that has little or no resemblance to Jesus. We need to “Throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and … run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Marked out for us, not of our own determination!

It is never easy, but letting Jesus remake us in his image, and letting him determine the direction for our lives, and turning to him for our way to eternity, that will be the most blessed thing that we will ever do. Let him make the repairs, and forget about your paint brush! He will make us work wonderfully and look beautiful!