“Salvation Through the Son of God”

Scripture:  1 Peter 3:18-22,  Mark 1:9-15

 Today is the first Sunday in Lent, and for the next 5 weeks, we will be considering several of the Gifts of God that come to us by faith in Jesus.  It would be nearly impossible to look at all of them, but I hope that these will be a fairly good representation of what God desires for our lives, or at least that it would be a good beginning for our own personal studies!

 But beyond this, what might the season of Lent also mean for us?  The word itself comes from a root word meaning “Spring”, which has historically been a time of preparation for Easter, just as spring time is preparation for the summer.  Lent remembers the time of Jesus’ ministry, from the day of His baptism by John in the Jordan and His subsequent time of temptation by Satan in the wilderness, until the day of His triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

 On an individual basis, Lent has also been a time of fasting, prayer, and baptisms, which many Christians continue to observe even today.  But regardless of the formal preparations that we undertake, Lent should always be a time for reflection on the life we live, and how we should be growing in faith and obedience through our walk with the Risen Lord.  And when we remember all that Jesus went through during His life here on earth - teaching us, and sacrificing for us, and preparing the possibility of salvation for our unworthy lives, this should also be a season of great humility and sorrow, while at the same time, bringing a great sense of joy to each and every heart who loves the Lord. 

 Through Jesus Christ, God has taken our sin upon Himself, and when we come to Him in faith, we need to know that our errancy and failure to follow His way has been buried in the pit for all time.  That is just how much the Lord loves even the worst of humanity.

 Read 1 Peter 3:18-22

 This is one of the points that many folks struggle with – the thought that our Holy and Almighty God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, willingly suffered and died for our sins.  They can’t quite grasp the fact that Perfection had to suffer in order that the imperfect could be made worthy!  I will readily admit that this is anything but obvious and logical to the human mind, but it is also absolutely Godly in that someone had to pay the penalty for every sin that was ever committed by every person who has ever been part of this world!  And who else could pay the price for everyone who had ever lived, as well as everyone who would one day live, and to do it in a single, perfect act?  Flesh had to be sacrificed, but only God could make the ultimate sacrifice once and for all.  And who would be the only one who fit the requirement?  Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man, the perfect One to be our Sacrificial Savior!

 So is that all there is to it?  Can we now go on living in any way that we wish, while God is seeing to it that we will never have to suffer again?  Of course not!  Jesus lived among us as our friend, while He also lived as the servant of His Father God.  His presence in this plane of existence wasn’t solely to be our substitution at Calvary, and definitely not to make this life painless and perfect, but rather to teach us how to live in a Christ-like way.  He came to us to be an example of how to live a Godly life.  But was His example solely to show us how to live in the here-and-now?

 His life, suffering, death, and resurrection was also meant to be a promise, that even though all who believed and followed in His ways would also have to live, suffer and die as He did, they would also have God’s assurance of life again with Him in glory!  Eternal life was never meant to be lived in the same way that we live now – it will be one of Godly perfection, without all of the pain and uncertainty that this world brings to us.

 Read Mark 1:9-15

 Flash back to the beginning of Christ’s ministry with His baptism!  Baptism is, traditionally, a time of repentance and commitment, so the question that many have asked throughout the years,  is “why did Jesus need to be baptized?”  He had no sin to repent of, and He is God, so how could He make an even greater commitment to His Father?  The thing we have to remember is that Jesus was not only fully God, but also fully Man, and it was the humanity that lived within Him that allowed Him to be tempted by Satan.  He never gave in to the ways of the prince of Darkness, but if He was totally focused on the task that God had laid out for Him, why would He sweat drops of blood while praying at Gethsemane, and why would He ask the Father during that time, that if it was His will, that the cup of suffering be taken from Him, and why would He need to have His disciples pray with Him during that time if He had the power of God already within Him?

 Have you ever thought about the fact that it was His humanity, as well as our humanity that gets in the way of the Lord’s work within us, that it is this weakness that Satan uses to tempt and confuse us?  But it is also, without a doubt, the Godliness that becomes ours by faith that sustains us and empowers us to withstand the lies and evil desires that the Darkness uses to make us doubt the Lord. 

 Mark tells us that it was at the time of the Lord’s baptism that the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon the Christ that day, proclaiming that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah, the one sent from God, to make all things right through Godly love.  It was in dedication and vision that ministry began for the Lord, and with the Father’s blessing of - “with you I am well pleased.” – that both the relationship and the task was firmly established.

 During these 40 days of wilderness isolation, Jesus was never alone – wild animals who never harmed Him were all around, angels were present to care for His needs, and of course, Satan was right there, tempting and challenging and doing his worst to try to confuse the Lord as to the truth that His Father had already set down for the people.  Some may feel that since Jesus was able to counter Satan’s lies at every turn, that apparently He had broken the power of the Dark Angel at the baptism.  But if that had happened, there would never have been any temptation.  The truth is that the divine relationship that had been reaffirmed gave Him the wisdom and courage to stand firm in the truth of God.  Satan is always defeated by faith and overpowered by trust in God.

 And after John the Baptist was taken away, Jesus’ preaching began where John had left off.  John’s baptism was always about confession, repentance and forgiveness through the One who was soon to come. (Mark 1:4-7)  This is the One who could reverse the effects of a millennia of sin and evil, this would be the One who would set the record straight regarding the truth of God’s word, and the hope of salvation, and the way of eternal life, and what a righteous life would look like, and just who and what the Messiah of God would bring to the people of earth, and who would really be welcomed into the glory of God’s Kingdom, and who would proclaim the Good News for believers, and, with authority, that “the Kingdom of God is near”.

 In the final measure of faith in Jesus Christ, the Lord God Almighty will never leave any doubt to clog up our mind and heart.  Faith, trust and obedience to Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man, is always the answer to every question that may confuse us in the issues regarding faith.  

For Jesus is the only way, and there will never be any other. 

“Give Them Your Best, The Rest is All Junk"

 Scripture:  Matthew 5:10, Matthew 7:7-14, 2 Timothy 2:14-16, 19

Read Matthew 5:10

 In this, our 8^th Beatitude, we see that it actually represents a number of passages in scripture that refer to persecution, and each is in reference to the faithful who are, or will be, oppressed by people of the world.  This isn’t a simple hatred that is being meted out upon random folks who are different – it is a tyranny that is directed intentionally and solely toward followers of Jesus Christ.

 At the beginning of this series, we considered the promise contained in the first Beatitude, that “the poor in spirit” would be blessed through being welcomed into “the kingdom of heaven”.  And here, Jesus is offering an expanded example of what being His follower is all about.  Not only are we to be humble in this life, but we are also to be prepared to be opposed at every turn and in every difference that the world can conger up.  And in doing so, they will be missing out on the most significant blessing that Life can bring.

 Being a follower of Jesus Christ requires that we take on an entirely new approach to living this life – that whatever was in our life before can never be what we claim for the rest of this existence.  And the Church has an obligation to point out that difference to not only believers, but to all who are living in diverse ways, encouraging then to leave the “broad” ways of earth, and to begin following the “narrow: way of Jesus. (Matthew7:13-14)

 Read Matthew 7:7-8

 I think we all have known someone who, when we either invited them to join us in worship, or even spoke about our faith in Christ, their response was probably something like “Oh, I’m so far gone that it wouldn’t do me any good!”  However, this passage would tell us, as well as those other people, an entirely different story.

 Jesus offers everyone a new hope in Him, through three actions on our part.  The first is to “ask” the Lord for forgiveness and to be welcomed to His way through prayer.  The second is to “seek” an understanding of all that He has taught and all of the instructions that God has given to us through the many years since creation.  And the third is to “knock”, which is different from the “asking”.  This last point is vividly demonstrated in that famous painting entitled “The Light of the World” by William Holman Hunt.  Most versions of this event show the Lord standing at a door that is overgrown and obviously had never been opened for a long time.  The door has no doorknob on the outside, and can only be opened from the inside.  (Revelation 3:19-20)

 Interestingly though, the words of Jesus that we just read say that it is us who are to do the “knocking”!  For just a moment, think about the purpose of knocking on a door.  It’s to let those who are inside the house know that someone has come to see them, and would like to be welcomed into their presence.  In the context of asking and seeking, our knocking, the desire to come into God’s presence, is symbolic of our faith and commitment to live in Him.  And when Jesus is depicted as the One who is doing the knocking, He is saying that He, too, wishes to live in us.  The relationship is being defined as two-way – that we must be living in Christ, and must welcome Him and His Life into us. (John 14:16-18)

 Read Matthew 7:9-12

 These words imply that there is goodness within us all, and yet, the “evil” that is so prevalent in our lives tends to overshadow everything good that we may be doing for others.  When we “ask” and welcome Jesus to intimacy within our life, we also begin to understand the evil that is destroying us, and Christ brings us an opportunity to reverse that trend.  And in verse 12, He gives us a “new rule” to live by, that we should be seeing our life through the tentative example of how we should desire to have others see us, and treat us. 

 This “Golden Rule”, as we have come to know it, is calling us to live in the “goodness” that comes by faith in Jesus, and not just in the human goodness that may already exist within our life.  The problem with the way that many people interpret these words is that the way we want to be treated is seldom, if ever, the same way that God wants us to live. 

 One of the Old Testament passages that I think we all should work to not only memorize, but to live, is in Isaiah 55:8-11 where we read these words from God – “⁸ ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord.  ⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  So the point that I’m trying to make is that our perception of how “goodness” may be defined, is nowhere even close to the way that the Lord’s goodness can change and prepare us for eternity.

 So Christ’s call on us to do as we desire others to do to us, is not a call that is on all people, but is one that is for those who already live in Christ Jesus, and who call Him Lord.  It must always be in His way that we should desire others to treat us.

 Read Mathew 7:13-14

 This discussion of “gates” is further defined in the “I AM” statement in which Jesus tells us that He is the Good Shepherd of our lives.  In that passage from John 10:1-18, He also says that not only is He the “keeper” of the gate, but that He IS the gate that protects His “flock”.  It is “narrow” by the standard that the world would create, for they believe that the way to God can be by many means, and through many ways, and that a “gate” that is narrow is just too limiting for the people of this world, and would exclude the beliefs of those who follow other ways.

 But just how narrow is the Gate of Christ?  It is certainly wide enough to allow and welcome ALL who desire to live a life of righteousness through Him!  However, the smallness that is referred to, I suppose, is because the world’s approach to faith includes such diverse and wide-ranging ideologies that they all exclude the way and name of Jesus, in favor of every other approach that has ever been conceived by them!

 The name and way of Jesus is the only one that leads us into the path of righteousness, and therefore is the only way that can lead us to the kingdom of heaven.  God has created all that is, seen and unseen, and it is, by all wisdom and reason, His place to define what the Truth is, and that through His Truth, who and how we are to find our way into His grace.

 Read 2 Timothy 2:14-16, 19

 Two quick points before we conclude today’s message.  First, the Church should never simply remember what the Bible reveals about Jesus, we should also be reminding each other what the truth of God has prepared for all who come to Jesus in faith.  And second, the “wide gate” that the world believes to be so important, is nothing more than the “godless chatter” that deceives and divides us, and leads the world into greater and greater godless waywardness. 

 God is firm - never changing from one day to the next.  And just as Jesus knows every one of His sheep by name (John 10:3), God, in His eternal and divine Fullness, knows all who confess the name of Jesus as their Lord and their Savior.  Jesus is the Way, and He is the Gate to God’s kingdom – for no one who is not on His way or seeking entry through His Gate, will ever know the glory of God for their lives.

 And that will be the shame of all shames.

"The Purer Kind of Love"

Scripture:   Matthew 5:9, Matthew 5:43-48, John 11:32-40

 Read Matthew 5:9

 In today’s Beatitude, the 7^th in our series, we consider what depth of love will be required in our lives, if we are to be an example of Godly peace - not only within our families and friends, but to our nation and throughout the world.  Love should never be limited by our predisposed attitudes about others, but if it is, the Lord’s peace will never be sufficiently complete in our lives to inspire others to seek His way for themselves.

 In previous examinations of other Beatitudes, we have discovered that shallow considerations and applications of our faith will never be adequate to meet the expectations that Jesus has for our life of obedience (Matthew 28:18-20).  And I will say it once again – that a singular and outward appearance of faithful living will never reach into the hearts and spirits of the world, for they can see through the half-hearted efforts that we offer, and then, just as they always have, will resort to calling us out as “hypocrites”!  And rightly so!  The word itself comes from a Greek reference to the ancient Greek theater, where the actors were all men, and to give the appearance of defining themselves as others, especially as women or animals, they wore masks to reveal the character they were representing.  And the word “hypocrite”, or at least the ancient Greek word that our word comes from, means “the one behind the mask”.

 Jesus would have us know that those who claim to be His people must never be caught hiding behind a mask that defines them as one of the world’s.

 Read Matthew 5:43-48

 When Jesus tells us that we are to love our enemies, He isn’t simply referring to those who may have attached us, but to all who aren’t like us, or who think differently than we do, or deny the truths that we hold dear!  As an example, for Israel in His day, He may have been referring to the Romans, or the Samaritans, or to every non-believer who may have entered into their lives!

 For us in our day, it may be a bit more complicated, as each of us may have a different list of who we just might have to change our attitudes toward.  It could be those who insult us or cause us problems at work; it could be those who hold to a different political or religious ideology than we do; and it would definitely include the people of any other nation that may have aspirations of negatively impacting our way of life.  You’ll notice that it isn’t just those whom we know, or even those whose names we know.  It includes everyone whom we may have a differing of opinion with!

 And His call for us to “pray for those who persecute” us is going to be just as difficult, if not more so!  For the prayer that we are to offer on their behalf is not for them to suffer in return, or even that their persecution would end, but for a blessing that will lead them to the way of Jesus Christ!  And the difficulty will be made even greater, for there is no other faith or law that would require the same of others.  For as we are to love and pray for a faithful desire in their heart, their hatred for us will never cease until God’s time is right for either their conversion or their judgment.

 The Lord never gives us any rationale or hope within these commands, other than it is His will for our lives.  If we are to be His, we must be prepared to live in the way that He defines.  And at the very end of His call, Jesus challenges us to “be perfect” as the Father is perfect.  I expect that neither Jesus nor the Father ever expect that we will even come close to living that kind of perfection, but I do believe that they want us to set it as a goal within our faith walk, and to come closer to their perfection every day of our life.  For if we don’t love others as Jesus does, how could we possibly have the peace of God in our lives, and beyond that, to be able to offer to others that same peace? 

 The point is that we won’t, and we can’t!

 Read John 11:32-40

 The question that many have asked through the years, including a number of Biblical scholars, is this - what is happening here that has caused Jesus to be so “moved … and troubled”?  The commentaries have a lot of possible explanations, with little agreement on what the reason may actually be.  So I may as well enter the mix, and offer my thoughts on what has caused Jesus to have such a troubled spirit!

 First of all, it seems that for everyone, including Mary, and her sister Martha in an earlier verse in this chapter (11:21), as well as the bystanders at the tomb – none of them even tried to understand why Jesus didn’t just get there before Lazarus died, to save him from the agony of death!  Throughout Jesus’ 3 years of ministry, He had repeated revealed that He was bringing an entirely new way for the people of earth.  But this newness would not only be opposed, but it would be misunderstood over and over again.

 So what was the purpose that eluded everyone, including His own disciples?  That this delay was to let all believers observe “the glory of God” that was coming through Him.  So the vitally important question for us today, is this – “have you experienced the glory of God in Christ for yourself?”  If you have only heard about it, if you have only read about it, if you have only known others who have seen it, what have you been waiting for?  Why are you causing Jesus to experience even more ”trouble” in His Being? 

 Consider all that He has done for your and others benefit – it all began when He left His glory behind, to come to this place in a human form that we should have been comfortable with, but to be denied the honor, glory and love that He so richly deserves - simply to be betrayed, and denied, and ridiculed, and humiliated, and falsely accused, and executed as a criminal – all so that He might have the opportunity to share the truth of God’s love with us, and to be the way of peace and forgiveness and salvation for all who will believe! 

 And everything that Jesus did and taught was to prepare us to carry on in the ministry that He was beginning.  How many fully believed all that He stood for at the moment of His death?  How about on the day of His resurrection?  How about by the time of His ascension to return to His heavenly home?  Before the outpouring of God’s Spirit at Pentecost, we read in Acts 1:15 that there were only “about 120” believers still gathering together in the name of Jesus!  Only 120!

 And how many had seen His healings, and heard His preaching and teaching and promises?  Countless tens of thousands!  How many have heard or read of the truths that He offered over the past 2,000 years or so?  I think it would be conservative to say countless billions!  And how many will escape the coming wrath of God’s Judgment?  In Romans 5:9 we read “ ⁹ Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! ¹⁰ For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”

 The only ones who will see glory on that Day, will be those who have claimed the salvation which only comes through faith in the Divine Blood that Jesus shed at Calvary.  By faith in Christ, we may be persecuted, we may be hated and denied, we may be assaulted for our faith, we may even loose our life, but the world only has authority over our humanity, and is powerless to affect, to any degree, our salvation and eternal life.  (Matthew 10:38-40)

 Have you loved in the purer way of Jesus?  If not, maybe the time has come – before it is too late!

"Revealing the Fullness of Glory"

 Scripture:   Matthew 5:8; Matthew 5:21-26; Acts 15:8-11

 Read Matthew 5:8

 In this, the 6^th of Jesus’ Beatitudes, we read that only the “pure in heart” will ever have the opportunity to “see God”.  But this statement should raise at least one question in our minds – and that is, “what does having a pure heart require for our lives?”.  That’s a pretty good question – I’m glad you asked!

 The truth is that “purity of heart” goes far beyond the simple elimination of sinful thoughts and actions from our life.  This purity involves the quality of life that we have, and live, and reveal to others through our love of God in Christ Jesus.  In Galatians1:8-10, we discover that if we are listening to, and accepting any word that does not match what the prophets have proclaimed to the people, or what the epistle writers have shared with the Church, or what Jesus has taught us, we are no longer living with a pure heart.  In another sense, later in Matthew’s gospel (6:22-24), the Lord tells us that it is impossible to serve two masters – that we can only love one at a time.  And that when we turn to a false “master” for life, that our entire body will be filled with darkness!

 James 4:7-8 also reminds us that we should be “⁷ Submit(ing) ourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”  Purity of heart is only available to us through faith in Jesus Christ and obedience to the Word of God, for double-mindedness, which today we might refer to as “straddling a fence”, will only serve to corrupt any faith that we might have once had, and will destroy any hope of ever passing through the Judgment unscathed.

 A purified heart from Jesus is the only way.

 Read Matthew 5:21-26

 As Jesus ventures further into His Sermon, we discover that a wholesome relationship with God demands a wholesome relationship with each other.  In Matthew 22:34-40, we find Jesus being tested by the Pharisees, and being asked what, in His opinion, is the greatest commandment.  He replies that there are two that are mutually dependent upon each other – that the first is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind, and that the second is to love your neighbor as yourself.  The point is that if we aren’t loving both, then we aren’t loving either.

 Jesus continues with some examples of what loving God and neighbor is all about.  He mentions “murder”, which of course, is condemned in the 6^th of the commandments (Exodus 20:1-17), with murder being the taking of a life solely for your own benefit and advantage.  But Jesus tells us that general obedience of this command isn’t enough, that an anger that is never delt with is just as bad.  Ephesians 4:25-27 tells us that anger is going to happen in our lives, but that to let it fester beyond the end of that day is nothing short of a sin.

 The second example involves our relationship with other persons, and the terms brothers and sisters refer specifically to other men and women of faith – not simply blood relatives, and not all of humanity, but those who also believe in Jesus.  We need to take note of the fact that in this passage, Jesus is speaking to other Jews, and that He is referring to the law of Israel –Torah.  But in our situation as faithful believers in Jesus, this call is directed toward all who have put their life and trust in Christ.

 And if there are any unresolved issues between us as we begin to come before the Lord, whether in worship or in offering some other gift to God, we are to resolve our differences before completing our offering.  It would appear that Jesus feels that if believers are experiencing differences with each other, either in life or in faith, that have caused divisiveness between them, they need to take care of them before coming to the Father.  If not, then how can our worshipful gifts have any significance before the Lord?

 And what if we don’t work for a resolution?  Does it effect the depth of our love for God?  Does it diminish the heart-felt honesty of our offering?  We must always remember that the “Greatest Commandment” has two parts to it – loving God with every ounce of our being, and loving our brothers and sisters in faith as much as we love ourselves!  Without them both, we have nothing!

 And the third example?  Jesus is telling us that while we still live within the kingdom of earth, we also live, by faith, in the kingdom of God.  So He is also offering us some divine advice on the best way to live in the here and now!  I think that His point is that human judgement has no claim on being perfect, and especially in that they offer no assurance that their decisions will even be just.  So what is the best way to resolve our worldly conflicts?  To work it out the best that we can with whoever we are in conflict with.  And, when it is all possible, I truly believe that this would achieve the best resolution that we could ever hope for!

 When purity has filled and changed our heart, whether we are dealing with worldly issues or those related to our faith, God’s pure and perfect way will always work to our benefit.

 Read Acts 15:8-11

 Peter hadn’t always been a strong advocate for welcoming gentiles into the faith, until, that is, the day when the Lord gave him a vision of a large sheet being let down from heaven, containing all kinds of animals, both those that were acceptable in the Law and those that were not.  And in that vision, Peter discovered that it was God’s will that not only Jews could be welcomed into glory, but so could gentiles.  It was within minutes of that revelation that the servants of Cornelius, a Roman military officer, came to invite him to come to his home to teach him and his household about Jesus. (Acts 10:1-48)  This was a landmark moment and turning point for Peter.

 And now he was using the very proof that had always been the affirmation that the Jews alone had been chosen for salvation – that it was the Holy Spirit’s filling that affirms us within God’s will, and not human understanding or desire.  We all know that salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ, as well as obedience and trust in all that He taught us, but Peter had to put his faith into the proper perspective, and when he did, everything was made new.

 Peter offers the thought that it is God, and only God, who truly knows the heart of all people, and never shows favoritism to any group of people over any other – it is always about faith in the Son of God.  And when we believe in Him, it is the Lord who purifies our hearts and forgives our sins.  It is the Lord God who fills us with His Spirit.  It is God Himself who makes us equal in His eyes and heart, and who calls the faithful to see each other in the same way.

 “Blessed are the pure of heart…”, for by the will and work of God, we shall be made worthy, and allowed into His presence on the day when He finally overcomes and banishes evil from our lives.  And that will be a day of great rejoicing, as well as great mourning.  And life, as everyone will know, will never be the same again.

 May the presence of God’s Holy Spirit fill our lives to overflowing with glory, this very day.