Presented to each Nipawin and Tisdale Corps, 24 December 2007
Presented to CFOT chapel in Winnipeg, December 2006
By Captain Michael Ramsay
Click here to read the 2012 version: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/12/matthew-118-25-do-you-believe-in-dreams.html
Today, on this Christmas Eve, as we look forward to the joy of tomorrow: Christmas Day, the celebration of the incarnation and the advent and of Christ, let us for a moment focus on from our passage today, Joseph, the man, the husband of Mary.
Oh how it must have been for him. Oh how it must have been for him.
Pretend with me for a moment that you are he, pretend.
He was engaged to be married to Mary. They were one unit in everyone’s eyes.
The problem is that they have not become one yet ‘in the Biblical sense’
And Mary – and Mary is now pregnant.
Really – two questions arise.
One, what to do? Joseph is just and merciful. He does not want to expose her to public disgrace. He does not want her to die – because that is what will happen if she is exposed in this way – he does not want her to die.
He also does not have it in mind to fully marry her. He has done nothing wrong and this would be a tacit admission of guilt. What should he do? What would you do?
He comes up with the idea to put her away quietly – sparing her life and his reputation BUT there is another question:
Whose is it? Should He believe the divine conception story? That God overshadowed her; would you?
Well he does and he has a lot of help in doing this…He has vivid dreams and Angels coming to visit him. So he does. He believes it.
So the first question arises again…what to do? Really! His betrothed is impregnated by God what should he do?
Does he deign to be the step-father to God’s own Son, the child-King? Does he hold himself so high? What can he do? He can’t be father to God’s son, can he? Could you?
Again, in Joseph’s dream, the angel tells him to marry Mary. The angel then tells him that he must name the boy Jesus for Jesus will save the people from there sins…
Now this all comes in a dream…in a dream…do you believe your dreams? Do you?
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Well Joseph does… it says that when Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Joseph had faith and was faithful. As we offer our songs to the Lord today and as we read through the Holy Scriptures together please bear in mind the faith of Joseph.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Luke 1:26-37: Do You Believe?
Presented to the Nipawin Corps 24 December 2008
and the Swift Current Care Centre (abridged), 17 December 2011
and Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 24 December 2011
by Captain Michael Ramsay
Luke 1:26: In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,
This sixth-month referred to here by Luke is the sixth month of Elisabeth’s pregnancy. Elisabeth, as we know from earlier in this chapter of Luke, is Mary’s relative but Mary was quite young and Elisabeth and her husband Zechariah were old and 3 months from now Elisabeth is about to have a baby. The messenger, the angel who went to speak to Elisabeth’s husband was Gabriel. Here Gabriel is bringing another message from God about a miraculous birth but this time he is bringing the message of a very significant birth to a very insignificant fishing town, in an insignificant region, of insignificant Palestine (John 1:36).
Gabriel, the angel, the messenger of God is bringing this message…
Verse 27: to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant. of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
Mary was a young woman. Mary was a virgin. Mary was pledged, betrothed, engaged to be married to Joseph. Now Joseph was a descendant of King David. King David was the first king of an hereditary dynasty that lasted for the better part of a millennium. Now Palestine is occupied. It is prophesied that her deliverer will be a member of the southern tribe of Judah and a descendant of King David. And Joseph – and any of his legal children – even though he is living in the north, Joseph is a descendent of David and Joseph is betrothed to be married to Mary (Cf. 1:32, 2:4).
Now betrothal is not quite like engagements of today. In those days a man and his wife were committed to each other at the engagement ceremony.[1] They did have a public ceremony with witnesses and the more. They did each gain a marital status, complete with rights and responsibilities and if Joseph had died after their engagement ceremony but prior to their marriage ceremony, Mary would still be considered a widow with all the responsibilities and rights (or lack thereof) of a widow. The betrothal was very different then anything we have today and even though Mary would be Joseph’s legal wife, after this engagement ceremony rather than going off to live with one’s husband, the wife usually returned to her father’s household for a period of up to a year.[2] It was different than today.
But this was Mary’s situation when…
Verse 28: The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.”
There are a few things here that need examining by us – not the least of which is the idea of an angel coming to speak to Mary. We must remember that the word for ‘angel’ (aggelos) simply means messenger. We also know from elsewhere in the scriptures that there are times when people –like Gideon (Judges 6); like Manoah and his wife, Samson’s mother (Judges 13); possibly like Jacob at Jabbok (Gen. 32), and even like Abraham (Gen. 13); did not realize that they were entertaining heavenly messengers. They did know they were dealing with angels as we immediately think of angels. It is possible that Mary did not recognise Gabriel as a heavenly messenger from God yet.
The Pharisees at this time certainly had developed a theology of angels providing a form of mediation between God and human beings but not everyone ascribed to it at this time and indeed angles were indeed rare in the understanding of early Judaism.[3] It is quite possible that she did recognise him as such it would be understandable that…
Luke 1:29: Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
It is equally likely though that she did recognise Gabriel as an angel, as a spiritual being, and this in and of itself was not necessarily comforting. In our day and age we often think of angels as nice spirit-beings (usually in the form of a woman with wings and a ring or a halo over her head) and just about incapable of deviating from the perfect will of God. This is not how people saw angels in Mary’s time though. Angels were seen as free moral agents who would just as likely appear to do you harm as to do you good.
The Apostle Paul, a later contemporary of Mary, writes about angels a few times in his letters that have been preserved in the New Testament. None of these accounts is very flattering at all (Romans 8:38-39; Galatians 3:19-20; Colossians 2:18-19). At best he portrays angels as these free creatures who can to either uphold or oppose the work of God.[4]
There is also a story of Tobit, in the Apocrypha, with which Mary was more than likely very familiar. This story is about an angel who shows up on a bride’s wedding night and kills her husband.[5] Angels were certainly not always seen as good.
So, there is some reason why at the appearance of Gabriel, that Mary might be troubled…
Luke 1:30: But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God.
This reminds us of the earlier story of her relative Elisabeth’s husband who was indeed chosen for a purpose by God and notified through this very same angel only a few short verses before.
And just like the Priest Relative and his wife, Mary is told that…
Verse 31: You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.
Like Gabriel told Zechariah exactly what he was to name his son (1:13), he also dictated to Mary, what it was that her son was to be called. Mary was to name her son ‘Jesus’, which is the Greek version of the Hebrew name ‘Yeshua’ or ‘Joshua’ and this name means ‘YHWH is help or salvation’ or ‘the one through whom YHWH brings salvation’[6] (cf. Matt 1:22). And we know that just as Joshua led the people of Israel into the promised land. Jesus leads humankind into the eternal promised land.
Jesus is to be the Messiah…
Verse 32: He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,
Joseph is of the house of David, in the clan of Judah. Jesus is of the clan of Judah and the house of David. The expected Messiah, the Christ is to be of the house of David, the clan of Judah (Cf. vv.32-33; 2 Sam 7; Isaiah 9:7; Heb 1:5;)…
Verse 33: and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
We know now that, this side of the cross, after the resurrection, we know that indeed Jesus will reign forever as the wonderful counsellor, mighty God, and Prince of Peace whose government will never stop ruling and being peaceful as the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 9:6-7) tells us, but Mary did not necessarily know this;
So it is understandable that she questions the angel…
Verse 34, “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
There are times when the word virgin can be translated simply as young woman. There are other times when the word specifically refers to what we – in our world – would use it to mean: a woman who has not been with a man. Certainly here the author of ‘Luke’ is making it known that May has not known a man in that way[7]…
Verse 35: The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
This was to be no ordinary bi rth and even as miraculous as is the birth of John the Baptist to an elderly couple (1:57ff.), the birth of God’s own son to a virgin is even more miraculous. The Holy Spirit, who was there at the creation of the world (Genesis 1:2; John 1; Cf. also Exodus 40:35; 1 Kings 8:10; Ezekiel 26:14; Haggai 2:6-7) is present in the conception of Jesus as it is written.
As a way of verifying all this – which must be quite something for Mary to understand, after all Mary is just a very young women about to be married – as a way of verifying this almost incredible experience to Mary, that all she is seeing, hearing, and experiencing here is true, the angel, Gabriel, tells her about her relative Elisabeth. Mary did not necessarily know that her much older relative was going to have a baby. She does now because Gabriel tells her that…
Verse 36: Even Elisabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month.
This is a sign to Mary. Mary should believe. Mary has been chosen of God, not because of anything that it is recorded that she did.[8] She was chosen by grace just like we are chosen by grace and Mary does believe the angel Gabriel…
Verse 37: For nothing is impossible with God.”
This is true and so the question for us today is just this. Do we believe in angels? Do we believe in heavenly messages and do we believe in miracles from God? Do we know that nothing is impossible with God? Do we really know and believe?
http://www.sheepspeak.com/
---
[1] E. Earle Ellis, 71.
[2] R. Alan Culpepper, 51.
[3] Craddock, 27.
[4] Craddock, 27.
[5] R. Alan Culpepper, 51.
[6] Lenski, 65; Ellis, 73.
[7] Culpepper, 51. Lenski, 69; Cf. Ellis, 75, for an interesting discussion on the placement of this verse in the text.
[8] Cf. Craddock 27-28.
and the Swift Current Care Centre (abridged), 17 December 2011
and Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 24 December 2011
by Captain Michael Ramsay
Luke 1:26: In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,
This sixth-month referred to here by Luke is the sixth month of Elisabeth’s pregnancy. Elisabeth, as we know from earlier in this chapter of Luke, is Mary’s relative but Mary was quite young and Elisabeth and her husband Zechariah were old and 3 months from now Elisabeth is about to have a baby. The messenger, the angel who went to speak to Elisabeth’s husband was Gabriel. Here Gabriel is bringing another message from God about a miraculous birth but this time he is bringing the message of a very significant birth to a very insignificant fishing town, in an insignificant region, of insignificant Palestine (John 1:36).
Gabriel, the angel, the messenger of God is bringing this message…
Verse 27: to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant. of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
Mary was a young woman. Mary was a virgin. Mary was pledged, betrothed, engaged to be married to Joseph. Now Joseph was a descendant of King David. King David was the first king of an hereditary dynasty that lasted for the better part of a millennium. Now Palestine is occupied. It is prophesied that her deliverer will be a member of the southern tribe of Judah and a descendant of King David. And Joseph – and any of his legal children – even though he is living in the north, Joseph is a descendent of David and Joseph is betrothed to be married to Mary (Cf. 1:32, 2:4).
Now betrothal is not quite like engagements of today. In those days a man and his wife were committed to each other at the engagement ceremony.[1] They did have a public ceremony with witnesses and the more. They did each gain a marital status, complete with rights and responsibilities and if Joseph had died after their engagement ceremony but prior to their marriage ceremony, Mary would still be considered a widow with all the responsibilities and rights (or lack thereof) of a widow. The betrothal was very different then anything we have today and even though Mary would be Joseph’s legal wife, after this engagement ceremony rather than going off to live with one’s husband, the wife usually returned to her father’s household for a period of up to a year.[2] It was different than today.
But this was Mary’s situation when…
Verse 28: The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.”
There are a few things here that need examining by us – not the least of which is the idea of an angel coming to speak to Mary. We must remember that the word for ‘angel’ (aggelos) simply means messenger. We also know from elsewhere in the scriptures that there are times when people –like Gideon (Judges 6); like Manoah and his wife, Samson’s mother (Judges 13); possibly like Jacob at Jabbok (Gen. 32), and even like Abraham (Gen. 13); did not realize that they were entertaining heavenly messengers. They did know they were dealing with angels as we immediately think of angels. It is possible that Mary did not recognise Gabriel as a heavenly messenger from God yet.
The Pharisees at this time certainly had developed a theology of angels providing a form of mediation between God and human beings but not everyone ascribed to it at this time and indeed angles were indeed rare in the understanding of early Judaism.[3] It is quite possible that she did recognise him as such it would be understandable that…
Luke 1:29: Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
It is equally likely though that she did recognise Gabriel as an angel, as a spiritual being, and this in and of itself was not necessarily comforting. In our day and age we often think of angels as nice spirit-beings (usually in the form of a woman with wings and a ring or a halo over her head) and just about incapable of deviating from the perfect will of God. This is not how people saw angels in Mary’s time though. Angels were seen as free moral agents who would just as likely appear to do you harm as to do you good.
The Apostle Paul, a later contemporary of Mary, writes about angels a few times in his letters that have been preserved in the New Testament. None of these accounts is very flattering at all (Romans 8:38-39; Galatians 3:19-20; Colossians 2:18-19). At best he portrays angels as these free creatures who can to either uphold or oppose the work of God.[4]
There is also a story of Tobit, in the Apocrypha, with which Mary was more than likely very familiar. This story is about an angel who shows up on a bride’s wedding night and kills her husband.[5] Angels were certainly not always seen as good.
So, there is some reason why at the appearance of Gabriel, that Mary might be troubled…
Luke 1:30: But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God.
This reminds us of the earlier story of her relative Elisabeth’s husband who was indeed chosen for a purpose by God and notified through this very same angel only a few short verses before.
And just like the Priest Relative and his wife, Mary is told that…
Verse 31: You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.
Like Gabriel told Zechariah exactly what he was to name his son (1:13), he also dictated to Mary, what it was that her son was to be called. Mary was to name her son ‘Jesus’, which is the Greek version of the Hebrew name ‘Yeshua’ or ‘Joshua’ and this name means ‘YHWH is help or salvation’ or ‘the one through whom YHWH brings salvation’[6] (cf. Matt 1:22). And we know that just as Joshua led the people of Israel into the promised land. Jesus leads humankind into the eternal promised land.
Jesus is to be the Messiah…
Verse 32: He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,
Joseph is of the house of David, in the clan of Judah. Jesus is of the clan of Judah and the house of David. The expected Messiah, the Christ is to be of the house of David, the clan of Judah (Cf. vv.32-33; 2 Sam 7; Isaiah 9:7; Heb 1:5;)…
Verse 33: and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
We know now that, this side of the cross, after the resurrection, we know that indeed Jesus will reign forever as the wonderful counsellor, mighty God, and Prince of Peace whose government will never stop ruling and being peaceful as the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 9:6-7) tells us, but Mary did not necessarily know this;
So it is understandable that she questions the angel…
Verse 34, “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
There are times when the word virgin can be translated simply as young woman. There are other times when the word specifically refers to what we – in our world – would use it to mean: a woman who has not been with a man. Certainly here the author of ‘Luke’ is making it known that May has not known a man in that way[7]…
Verse 35: The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
This was to be no ordinary bi rth and even as miraculous as is the birth of John the Baptist to an elderly couple (1:57ff.), the birth of God’s own son to a virgin is even more miraculous. The Holy Spirit, who was there at the creation of the world (Genesis 1:2; John 1; Cf. also Exodus 40:35; 1 Kings 8:10; Ezekiel 26:14; Haggai 2:6-7) is present in the conception of Jesus as it is written.
As a way of verifying all this – which must be quite something for Mary to understand, after all Mary is just a very young women about to be married – as a way of verifying this almost incredible experience to Mary, that all she is seeing, hearing, and experiencing here is true, the angel, Gabriel, tells her about her relative Elisabeth. Mary did not necessarily know that her much older relative was going to have a baby. She does now because Gabriel tells her that…
Verse 36: Even Elisabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month.
This is a sign to Mary. Mary should believe. Mary has been chosen of God, not because of anything that it is recorded that she did.[8] She was chosen by grace just like we are chosen by grace and Mary does believe the angel Gabriel…
Verse 37: For nothing is impossible with God.”
This is true and so the question for us today is just this. Do we believe in angels? Do we believe in heavenly messages and do we believe in miracles from God? Do we know that nothing is impossible with God? Do we really know and believe?
http://www.sheepspeak.com/
---
[1] E. Earle Ellis, 71.
[2] R. Alan Culpepper, 51.
[3] Craddock, 27.
[4] Craddock, 27.
[5] R. Alan Culpepper, 51.
[6] Lenski, 65; Ellis, 73.
[7] Culpepper, 51. Lenski, 69; Cf. Ellis, 75, for an interesting discussion on the placement of this verse in the text.
[8] Cf. Craddock 27-28.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 (23&24): The 7 P’s and the Pi
Presented to The Salvation Army, Nipawin Corps 14 December 2008
Presented to Swift Current Corps, 11 December 2011
and 614 Warehouse Mission in Toronto, 17 December 2017
by Captain Michael Ramsay
This in the 2011 version, to view the 2011 version click HERE: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2011/12/1-thessalonians-516-24-7-ps-and-pi-of.html
I don’t know if you have ever seen those motivational speakers on TV or in person. I have had some jobs in the past where they send someone in to rally the troops. They usually have – in the old days flip charts – these days PPT or DVD, lots of props and some way that they want you to remember what it is they are trying to motivate you to do. Sometimes it is just repetition.[1]
One thing that people often use is acronyms – you spell out a word and every letter stands for something else. Here I’ll give you some famous acronyms and you tell me if you know what they mean:
1) ASAP 2) NATO 3) NHL 4) MYOB 5) TSA
Sometimes they just have a list with each item in the list staring with the same letter or sound like – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Four H, or can anyone tell me the 3 R’s from school? Notice that only one of them starts with R. Who can tell me what that one is?
Paul here in our scripture passage today uses some of these very techniques and in the section that we are looking at Paul gives us the 7 Ps (Pi) of preparing for Christ’s return.[2] Now Paul knows that Jesus may come back at any moment and so he comes up with this way for us to remember how to be prepared for this event.
The First P is… Rejoice Always – In Greek it starts with a P – or a Pi anyway, the Greek equivalent of our P. So the first P (or piece of Pi) is Rejoice Always.
P #1 = Rejoice Always
Rejoice Always (Thess 5:16, 18; cf. DT. 12:7,18; 1 Chron 16:10, 31; Psalm 40:16; Lk 10:20; John 16:22; Romans 5:1-5; Philip 4:4; Col 1:24; 1 Pet 1:26, 4:13). Not about everything but in all circumstances, Paul says. This is important. This is because of the faith that we have that with God all things are possible (Matt 19:26; Mark 10:27). We know that the war is already won (1 Cor.15; 1 John 5:4). Nothing that happens here on earth, in our lives, can change the Salvation provided from the Lord. Nothing. (The only question is whether we take advantage of it or not!)
I think of Major Neil Voice who recently received his promotion – his promotion to glory. When he passed away, I heard that indeed his memorial service was a celebration (with a full brass band and everything!) of the fact that he served God well while he was on earth and now he gets to spend eternity with the Lord. This should not and indeed does not take away at all from the legitimate grief and appropriate laments from those who love Neil but it is a great example of the hope that we all have in Christ (1 Thess. 1:3; 2 Thess. 2:16). Neil has gone on ahead. After leaving his sickness behind him (Romans 21:4), probably the very next thing he heard was “well done my good and faithful servant” (Matt 25:21-23). Christ died and rose again so that we all could live and indeed this is something to be joyful about (John 10:10; John 15:15).
I think of my cousin who was also promoted to glory earlier this year. She left many loving friends and family members behind, including two very young children but I understand that neither her faith nor the faith of her husband waivered at all. Hard things happen[3] but we know that in the end everything will be okay for those who love the Lord so indeed we can always celebrate that joy of our salvation, even as we lament, even as we mourn, and even if we are sad we can still rejoice (2 Cor. 6:10) because God is good and God has provided our salvation for us.
So the first P is Rejoice always
The second P (or Pi) is Pray without ceasing: It actually starts with a ‘p’ in English (1 Thess. 5:17; Cf. Acts 12:7; Ro. 1:9, 2 Tim 1:3)
Now we know that our salvation comes from the Lord. We know that He is indeed looking out for us and so we pray continuously and we do give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for us.
We know that we are in a spiritual battle. We know that we fight not as much against flesh and blood as against powers and principalities (Eph 6:12ff; cf. Ro. 8:38; 1 Pet 3:22). We know that there is opposition to the gospel. We know that even though this is good news, there are people who hate the truth and people who hate the givers of the truth. John refers to many of these people as antichrists (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 2:1-7; cf. 1 Cor. 6:22). There are people who have left the faith, ignore what is obvious and attack us instead. Because the devil, antichrists, and more and more people, and more and more things in this world seem to attack us, our beliefs, and our God – because we are constantly under attack, we need to keep in constant communications with God and that is what prayer is – communication with God.
When soldiers are in the heat of battle, bombs are going off, planes are coming in from a distance, and they cannot tell friend from foe and they cannot see what is even coming at them – what do they need? They need good communication with the base. They need good communication with one who can see the battlefield and this is what prayer is – it is keeping in touch with God; it is following Jesus into battle. If we fail to pray, if we forget to pray, we are like the soldier who stumbles blindly out of the trenches knowing neither at whom he is shooting nor who is shooting at him. This soldier cannot survive for long and – even though the war is already won (2 Cor. 6:2, 1 Cor. 15:2, Eph. 2:8, 1 Pet. 1) people are still perishing and we cannot survive for long without the Lord.[4] We need the Lord’s guidance, the Lord’s strength, and the Lord’s sacrifice so that indeed we can all live – and for this, we should be constantly giving thanks.
That brings us to our third piece of pi, our third P = Give Thanks in all circumstances (Thess. 5:16, 18; cf. DT. 12:7,18; 1 Chron. 16:10, 31; Psalm 40:16; Lk. 10:20; John 16:22; Romans 5:1-5; Philip 4:4; Col 1:24; 1 Pet 1:26, 4:13).
This attitude of thanksgiving is so important. The Lord loves us. Now like we said about our saved loved ones who pass on, we are not thankful by any means that they are gone but we do know that they have moved on to something better – no more sickness, no more death, no more tears (Rev 21:4) and we do know that even though we miss our loved ones – God will never leave us nor forsake us (Dt. 31:6; Heb. 13:5). He will not give us more than we can bear. God loves us (John 3:16-17; 5; 15; 1 John 4). He loves all of us and He manages to work together even the most unpleasant situations somehow, someway for His Kingdom purposes, and because of this we can indeed be thankful in all circumstances.
P1 = Rejoice always
P2 = Pray without ceasing
P3 = Give thanks in all circumstances
P4 = Do not quench the Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19; cf.1 Thess.1:5,6,7)
Now apparently when Paul was writing this letter there were some ‘wakkos’ predicting the time and the day of the end of the world (cf. Mark 13:32-33) and there were ‘weirdos’ who would do fake healings, false prophecies, etc. They were snake-oil salesmen as it were.[5] And some of these people were leading people astray and some of these people just plain looked silly and for no easily discernable heavenly purpose. Some things never change! There is a difference between being a fool for the gospel and just plain being a fool.[6] Now Paul knew this and Paul knew that in reaction to these people could go too far in the other direction.
I was raised in the Western Canadian Baptist tradition – the Lord taught me a lot and I have a great respect for the many Christians who earnestly serve the Lord there. It has been said that the only time a Baptist raises his hand in church is to ask permission to go to the bathroom. (This joke probably represents the extreme!) I went to a church service once and I remember someone visiting asking if it had charismatic style worship at all; the response was that the Holy Spirit showed up just the other night in an evening service but - don’t worry – the pastor asked him to leave. I have certainly been in more than one service like this (in churches of different denominations) that indeed when the Spirit does show up, people don’t know what to do – and this is what Paul is telling us about with the fourth P. He is saying don’t quench the Spirit.
So what are our Ps? –
P1 = Rejoice always
P2 = Pray without ceasing
P3 = Give thanks in all circumstances
P4 = Do not quench the Spirit
That brings us to P5, which builds on P4 very nicely. We have to be careful not to quench the spirit and we have to make sure that we, P5 = Do not despise the words of the prophets
Like we said. There are so many false prophets out there. We spoke two weeks ago about these people who are endlessly predicting the time and date for the end of times even when the Bible tells us not to do so (Mark 13:32-33). There are all these false prophets out there and prophets who make mistakes as well – and the media loves these guys because they can use them to make us look like a bunch of liars and fools. But the truth is, that yes, as John says, there are many antichrists pretending to know what they do not know. There are many false prophets tickling our ears for the purpose of financial gain or to lead us astray but indeed Paul says, there are real prophets – and we should not despise their words…
And this brings us to P6 = But test everything, hold onto what is good (1 Thess. 5:21). This is one of the most important things, I think. This is one of the primary reasons that we were given the Bible as it is, I imagine; so that indeed we can and will test things and see what is right and what is not. We must be like the Bereans (Acts 17:10-15). Paul applauded them – the Christians in the town of Berea – for this very thing. They did not accept what he was telling them simply because he was telling it to them; they put him to the test. They searched the scriptures; we need to search the scriptures. It is very important. Smart people sometimes make mistakes. Good people sometimes make mistakes and when we hear someone utter what we think may be a mistake we need to look it up in the Bible. We need to pray about it. We need to then approach them about it – because if they are wrong, they need to change and if we are wrong, we need to change and either way as we are smart enough to test what is good and what is evil we will indeed grow – provided we try to, P7 = Abstain from every form of evil.
P7 = Abstain from every form of evil. This is holiness. God tells us to be holy (1 Peter 1:15, Lev 11:44,45; 19:2; 20:7). God tells us to be perfect (2 Cor. 13; Col. 1:28; Hebrews 11,12). John Wesley argued that this involves more than just avoiding vices. He says, quoting a heathen Epicurean poet, in a sermon entitled, ‘The Almost Christian’ that “Good men avoid sin from the love of virtue. Wicked men avoid sin from a fear of punishment.”[7] Avoiding evil and avoiding it because of a legitimate love of God is very important. It is very important and the opposite of what some people suggest - though it is not true - that we all sin all the time, because if we did, God would never tell us to be holy just as He is holy and He would never tell us to be even perfect – but He does. God doesn’t set people up for failure. He is a loving God. He would never ask from us that which is impossible. After all with God all things are possible, and in verses 23 and 24 He tells us how it is indeed possible to be perfect even as God is perfect. He says He will do it. God himself will sanctify us through and through, keeping us blameless until the return of Christ. So this is exciting. We don’t need to sin. We don’t need to return to bad habits. We can rely on God, He will lead us through the 7 P’s (Pi’s) in each one of our lives and indeed He will make us holy.
So then as we prepare to meet Christ very soon, as we celebrate his coming 2000 years ago in a manger and as we look forward to his return from above anytime now. Let us turn to God and in the process make sure that we are prepared. Let us give P’s a chance. Let us not have any Pi missing as we present our lives holy unto God as a living sacrifice, trusting that He will preserve us blameless until the end of the age.
Let us pray.
---
[1] like the New Conservative Party of Canada re: coalitions, wiretaps, and election fraud – where they repeat something enough times that even though you know its not true you start to believe it anyway.
[2] Beverly Roberts Gaventa, First and Second Thessalonians (Interpretation: Grand Loisville, Kentucky, USA: John Knox Press, 1998), 84.
[3] Rober L. Thomas. The Expositor's Bible Commentary. Pradis CD-ROM:1 3. Responsibilities to oneself (5:16-18), Book Version: 4.0.2: ‘A final member of this triplet for personal development is "Give thanks in all circumstances." No combination of happenings can be termed "bad" for a Christian because of God's constant superintendence (Rom 8:28). We need to recognize that seeming aggravations are but a temporary part of a larger plan for our spiritual well-being. Out of this perspective we can always discern a cause for thanks.’
[4] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay. “Romans 13:11-14: Victory: The Final Whistle” Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/12/victory-final-whistle-romans-1311-14.html
[5] Beverly Roberts Gaventa, 84. Cf. Also. Captain Michael Ramsay, Mark 13: 24-37: Hope for a Happy New Year: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/11/mark-1332-37-hope-for-happy-new-year.html
[6] But cf. Mark Chapman, “Mark 1:1-8,” The Expository Times, Volume 120, number 2, ed. Paul Foster, John Riches, Karen Wenell, (London: 2008): 79-80.
[7] John Wesley, “The Almost Christian.” Cited from Outler & Heitzenrater 1991,67.
Presented to Swift Current Corps, 11 December 2011
and 614 Warehouse Mission in Toronto, 17 December 2017
by Captain Michael Ramsay
This in the 2011 version, to view the 2011 version click HERE: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2011/12/1-thessalonians-516-24-7-ps-and-pi-of.html
I don’t know if you have ever seen those motivational speakers on TV or in person. I have had some jobs in the past where they send someone in to rally the troops. They usually have – in the old days flip charts – these days PPT or DVD, lots of props and some way that they want you to remember what it is they are trying to motivate you to do. Sometimes it is just repetition.[1]
One thing that people often use is acronyms – you spell out a word and every letter stands for something else. Here I’ll give you some famous acronyms and you tell me if you know what they mean:
1) ASAP 2) NATO 3) NHL 4) MYOB 5) TSA
Sometimes they just have a list with each item in the list staring with the same letter or sound like – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Four H, or can anyone tell me the 3 R’s from school? Notice that only one of them starts with R. Who can tell me what that one is?
Paul here in our scripture passage today uses some of these very techniques and in the section that we are looking at Paul gives us the 7 Ps (Pi) of preparing for Christ’s return.[2] Now Paul knows that Jesus may come back at any moment and so he comes up with this way for us to remember how to be prepared for this event.
The First P is… Rejoice Always – In Greek it starts with a P – or a Pi anyway, the Greek equivalent of our P. So the first P (or piece of Pi) is Rejoice Always.
P #1 = Rejoice Always
Rejoice Always (Thess 5:16, 18; cf. DT. 12:7,18; 1 Chron 16:10, 31; Psalm 40:16; Lk 10:20; John 16:22; Romans 5:1-5; Philip 4:4; Col 1:24; 1 Pet 1:26, 4:13). Not about everything but in all circumstances, Paul says. This is important. This is because of the faith that we have that with God all things are possible (Matt 19:26; Mark 10:27). We know that the war is already won (1 Cor.15; 1 John 5:4). Nothing that happens here on earth, in our lives, can change the Salvation provided from the Lord. Nothing. (The only question is whether we take advantage of it or not!)
I think of Major Neil Voice who recently received his promotion – his promotion to glory. When he passed away, I heard that indeed his memorial service was a celebration (with a full brass band and everything!) of the fact that he served God well while he was on earth and now he gets to spend eternity with the Lord. This should not and indeed does not take away at all from the legitimate grief and appropriate laments from those who love Neil but it is a great example of the hope that we all have in Christ (1 Thess. 1:3; 2 Thess. 2:16). Neil has gone on ahead. After leaving his sickness behind him (Romans 21:4), probably the very next thing he heard was “well done my good and faithful servant” (Matt 25:21-23). Christ died and rose again so that we all could live and indeed this is something to be joyful about (John 10:10; John 15:15).
I think of my cousin who was also promoted to glory earlier this year. She left many loving friends and family members behind, including two very young children but I understand that neither her faith nor the faith of her husband waivered at all. Hard things happen[3] but we know that in the end everything will be okay for those who love the Lord so indeed we can always celebrate that joy of our salvation, even as we lament, even as we mourn, and even if we are sad we can still rejoice (2 Cor. 6:10) because God is good and God has provided our salvation for us.
So the first P is Rejoice always
The second P (or Pi) is Pray without ceasing: It actually starts with a ‘p’ in English (1 Thess. 5:17; Cf. Acts 12:7; Ro. 1:9, 2 Tim 1:3)
Now we know that our salvation comes from the Lord. We know that He is indeed looking out for us and so we pray continuously and we do give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for us.
We know that we are in a spiritual battle. We know that we fight not as much against flesh and blood as against powers and principalities (Eph 6:12ff; cf. Ro. 8:38; 1 Pet 3:22). We know that there is opposition to the gospel. We know that even though this is good news, there are people who hate the truth and people who hate the givers of the truth. John refers to many of these people as antichrists (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 2:1-7; cf. 1 Cor. 6:22). There are people who have left the faith, ignore what is obvious and attack us instead. Because the devil, antichrists, and more and more people, and more and more things in this world seem to attack us, our beliefs, and our God – because we are constantly under attack, we need to keep in constant communications with God and that is what prayer is – communication with God.
When soldiers are in the heat of battle, bombs are going off, planes are coming in from a distance, and they cannot tell friend from foe and they cannot see what is even coming at them – what do they need? They need good communication with the base. They need good communication with one who can see the battlefield and this is what prayer is – it is keeping in touch with God; it is following Jesus into battle. If we fail to pray, if we forget to pray, we are like the soldier who stumbles blindly out of the trenches knowing neither at whom he is shooting nor who is shooting at him. This soldier cannot survive for long and – even though the war is already won (2 Cor. 6:2, 1 Cor. 15:2, Eph. 2:8, 1 Pet. 1) people are still perishing and we cannot survive for long without the Lord.[4] We need the Lord’s guidance, the Lord’s strength, and the Lord’s sacrifice so that indeed we can all live – and for this, we should be constantly giving thanks.
That brings us to our third piece of pi, our third P = Give Thanks in all circumstances (Thess. 5:16, 18; cf. DT. 12:7,18; 1 Chron. 16:10, 31; Psalm 40:16; Lk. 10:20; John 16:22; Romans 5:1-5; Philip 4:4; Col 1:24; 1 Pet 1:26, 4:13).
This attitude of thanksgiving is so important. The Lord loves us. Now like we said about our saved loved ones who pass on, we are not thankful by any means that they are gone but we do know that they have moved on to something better – no more sickness, no more death, no more tears (Rev 21:4) and we do know that even though we miss our loved ones – God will never leave us nor forsake us (Dt. 31:6; Heb. 13:5). He will not give us more than we can bear. God loves us (John 3:16-17; 5; 15; 1 John 4). He loves all of us and He manages to work together even the most unpleasant situations somehow, someway for His Kingdom purposes, and because of this we can indeed be thankful in all circumstances.
P1 = Rejoice always
P2 = Pray without ceasing
P3 = Give thanks in all circumstances
P4 = Do not quench the Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19; cf.1 Thess.1:5,6,7)
Now apparently when Paul was writing this letter there were some ‘wakkos’ predicting the time and the day of the end of the world (cf. Mark 13:32-33) and there were ‘weirdos’ who would do fake healings, false prophecies, etc. They were snake-oil salesmen as it were.[5] And some of these people were leading people astray and some of these people just plain looked silly and for no easily discernable heavenly purpose. Some things never change! There is a difference between being a fool for the gospel and just plain being a fool.[6] Now Paul knew this and Paul knew that in reaction to these people could go too far in the other direction.
I was raised in the Western Canadian Baptist tradition – the Lord taught me a lot and I have a great respect for the many Christians who earnestly serve the Lord there. It has been said that the only time a Baptist raises his hand in church is to ask permission to go to the bathroom. (This joke probably represents the extreme!) I went to a church service once and I remember someone visiting asking if it had charismatic style worship at all; the response was that the Holy Spirit showed up just the other night in an evening service but - don’t worry – the pastor asked him to leave. I have certainly been in more than one service like this (in churches of different denominations) that indeed when the Spirit does show up, people don’t know what to do – and this is what Paul is telling us about with the fourth P. He is saying don’t quench the Spirit.
So what are our Ps? –
P1 = Rejoice always
P2 = Pray without ceasing
P3 = Give thanks in all circumstances
P4 = Do not quench the Spirit
That brings us to P5, which builds on P4 very nicely. We have to be careful not to quench the spirit and we have to make sure that we, P5 = Do not despise the words of the prophets
Like we said. There are so many false prophets out there. We spoke two weeks ago about these people who are endlessly predicting the time and date for the end of times even when the Bible tells us not to do so (Mark 13:32-33). There are all these false prophets out there and prophets who make mistakes as well – and the media loves these guys because they can use them to make us look like a bunch of liars and fools. But the truth is, that yes, as John says, there are many antichrists pretending to know what they do not know. There are many false prophets tickling our ears for the purpose of financial gain or to lead us astray but indeed Paul says, there are real prophets – and we should not despise their words…
And this brings us to P6 = But test everything, hold onto what is good (1 Thess. 5:21). This is one of the most important things, I think. This is one of the primary reasons that we were given the Bible as it is, I imagine; so that indeed we can and will test things and see what is right and what is not. We must be like the Bereans (Acts 17:10-15). Paul applauded them – the Christians in the town of Berea – for this very thing. They did not accept what he was telling them simply because he was telling it to them; they put him to the test. They searched the scriptures; we need to search the scriptures. It is very important. Smart people sometimes make mistakes. Good people sometimes make mistakes and when we hear someone utter what we think may be a mistake we need to look it up in the Bible. We need to pray about it. We need to then approach them about it – because if they are wrong, they need to change and if we are wrong, we need to change and either way as we are smart enough to test what is good and what is evil we will indeed grow – provided we try to, P7 = Abstain from every form of evil.
P7 = Abstain from every form of evil. This is holiness. God tells us to be holy (1 Peter 1:15, Lev 11:44,45; 19:2; 20:7). God tells us to be perfect (2 Cor. 13; Col. 1:28; Hebrews 11,12). John Wesley argued that this involves more than just avoiding vices. He says, quoting a heathen Epicurean poet, in a sermon entitled, ‘The Almost Christian’ that “Good men avoid sin from the love of virtue. Wicked men avoid sin from a fear of punishment.”[7] Avoiding evil and avoiding it because of a legitimate love of God is very important. It is very important and the opposite of what some people suggest - though it is not true - that we all sin all the time, because if we did, God would never tell us to be holy just as He is holy and He would never tell us to be even perfect – but He does. God doesn’t set people up for failure. He is a loving God. He would never ask from us that which is impossible. After all with God all things are possible, and in verses 23 and 24 He tells us how it is indeed possible to be perfect even as God is perfect. He says He will do it. God himself will sanctify us through and through, keeping us blameless until the return of Christ. So this is exciting. We don’t need to sin. We don’t need to return to bad habits. We can rely on God, He will lead us through the 7 P’s (Pi’s) in each one of our lives and indeed He will make us holy.
So then as we prepare to meet Christ very soon, as we celebrate his coming 2000 years ago in a manger and as we look forward to his return from above anytime now. Let us turn to God and in the process make sure that we are prepared. Let us give P’s a chance. Let us not have any Pi missing as we present our lives holy unto God as a living sacrifice, trusting that He will preserve us blameless until the end of the age.
Let us pray.
---
[1] like the New Conservative Party of Canada re: coalitions, wiretaps, and election fraud – where they repeat something enough times that even though you know its not true you start to believe it anyway.
[2] Beverly Roberts Gaventa, First and Second Thessalonians (Interpretation: Grand Loisville, Kentucky, USA: John Knox Press, 1998), 84.
[3] Rober L. Thomas. The Expositor's Bible Commentary. Pradis CD-ROM:1 3. Responsibilities to oneself (5:16-18), Book Version: 4.0.2: ‘A final member of this triplet for personal development is "Give thanks in all circumstances." No combination of happenings can be termed "bad" for a Christian because of God's constant superintendence (Rom 8:28). We need to recognize that seeming aggravations are but a temporary part of a larger plan for our spiritual well-being. Out of this perspective we can always discern a cause for thanks.’
[4] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay. “Romans 13:11-14: Victory: The Final Whistle” Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/12/victory-final-whistle-romans-1311-14.html
[5] Beverly Roberts Gaventa, 84. Cf. Also. Captain Michael Ramsay, Mark 13: 24-37: Hope for a Happy New Year: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/11/mark-1332-37-hope-for-happy-new-year.html
[6] But cf. Mark Chapman, “Mark 1:1-8,” The Expository Times, Volume 120, number 2, ed. Paul Foster, John Riches, Karen Wenell, (London: 2008): 79-80.
[7] John Wesley, “The Almost Christian.” Cited from Outler & Heitzenrater 1991,67.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Mark 13:32-37: Hope for a Happy New Year!
Presented to each the Nipawin and Tisdale Corps 30 November 2008
Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 27 Nov 2011
To view the 2011 version click HERE.
by Captain Michael Ramsay
Happy New Year! Does anyone know why I would wish you a happy New Year today? Today is the beginning of Advent. In traditional liturgical churches, advent is the beginning of the church year where we celebrate the first coming of Christ and celebrate the hope that is in his anticipated return. Now often at New Year there are all kinds of year-end quizzes; so I thought that I would put a little tongue-in-cheek quiz together for us based on our text today.
What do these dates have in common: 8:00 AM October 19, 1533; April 5, 1534; March 21 and October 22, 1844; Sept. 10, 1979; Dec. 31, 1981; Sept 11 -13, 1988; March 31, 1991; October 20, 1997; December 12, 2012?
A: They are various people’s predictions for the end of world date.
What do these people have in common: Nero, the Pope, Mikhail Gorbachev, Prince Charles, the US President (elect), David Hasselhoff?[1]
A. They were/ are various people’s predictions for the arch-anti-Christ.
Now this next question is a good one. It is a riddle –you’ll have to pay attention. Someone has figured out a way to ‘out’ the beast of Revelation and solve the riddle of ‘666’ – let’s see together of we can solve the riddle and figure out who is the beast of John’s Apocalypse?
Given that 666 is the number of the Beast, First we must break that number down into its component parts in such away that when we add them back together, they will total 666.
I’ll give you this part: 100. 5. 5. 50. 500 .1 .5
Let’s do the math to prove we are right: so we have 100 + 5 =105 + 5 = 110 + 50 = 160+500=660+5+1= 666
So then mathematically proving as we did that these are the component parts of the number of the beast, we will need to translate them into Roman numerals as that was what they wrote with back then: So, does anyone know the symbol for:
100 = C
5 = V
5 = V
50 = L
500 = D
1 = I
5 = V
CV VL DIV
Now if we expand this using new web-based lettering for reassembling fragmented texts, we get the following:
CVT PVRPL DINSVR
Accounting for the fact that Roman lettering had no U and used a V instead and adding the missing vowels, we find out from this the one that the number points to as the beast…it is…
A CUTE PURPLE DINOSAUR; and we all know who the cute purple dinosaur who is leading children astray… Barney the dinosaur! “I love you; you love me!’
This tongue-in-cheek mathematical proof was published in Science Askew in 2001. (see appendix 1)
This is silly right…we all know that an imaginary purple dinosaur is not the Anti-Christ…anymore than David Hasselhoff or the mayor of Tisdale, or whomever.
About the end of times too, our text today (Mark 13:24-37) says clearly in verses 32 and 33: “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come….”
The question is then instead of just hoping and getting ready for Christ’s return, why do so many people waste our time with this end-of-time stuff? I don’t think that I have ever gone an entire year without hearing someone thinking that they are smarter than God incarnate, Jesus, and telling the whole part of the world that they are able to reach that they have solved the puzzle about the end of time.
Not too long ago, I heard an American preacher being played on the local Christian station (Lighthouse FM) going on and on about how the current leader of Syria is the anti-Christ who will usher in the end of times at such and such a date. Before the US invasion of Iraq, I heard of a number of these so-called ‘Christian preachers’ tell people that they know the unknowable day and hour and that Saddam, as their country’s contemporary adversary must be the antichrist. Dante, himself, located many prominent churchmen of his day in Hell, as did some Reformers and Counter-Reformers in the Reformation and Catholics and Orthodox at the time of the East-West Schism…
Why do people profess to know what they do not know? Why do they pretend to know what the Bible records that we cannot know?[2]
I don’t know. After all, of course, we all know from 1 John 2:18ff that we should not be led astray by this kind of talk and John says that there are many antichrists and that anyone who denies Jesus as Lord is an antichrist who must and will be overcome (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3) and 2 John 2:1-7 says this:
[There are] Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.
Anyone, anyone who does not continue in the faith but rather teaches against it is an antichrist, John says. And Jesus says about this end of times: “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come….”
This is important: I think we often get distracted by adiaphorons,[3] which are matters of indifference really.[4] We get distracted by what Timothy refers to as a ‘vain jangling’ (KJV) or ‘meaningless talk’ (1 Timothy 1:3-8, NIV, NRSV). We really shouldn’t worry about who is an arch-end-of-times-antichrist (should there even be one) or on what date and at what time the world may end (Matt 6:25ff; Luke 12:22ff; cf. Matt 10:19, 13:11; Luke 12:11, 21:14; cf. also, in contrast, Philippians 4:4; cf. Matt 5:12; Luke 6:23; John 16:22; Ro 5; Philippians 2:17-18, 3:1; 1 Pet 4:13) we really must remember that ‘no one knows the time or the hour’ and we must instead just put our hope in the return of Christ and make sure that we are ready for it (Mark 13:22).
Actually as I say this I am reminded of a person I know on the west coast, Michael Collins; he is quite an evangelist. He is a Salvationist and he has a love for the Lord and a passion for souls. He actually does have a rather long spiel where he states the he does know when Jesus is coming back. As part of his spiel he tells us how much he has studied eschatology, the end of times, and that he is convinced that he knows when Jesus is coming back based right in the scriptures (Mt 24:32-35,36-51; 25:1-13, 14-30; Mark 13:28-37,…) He says without a doubt Jesus is coming back and he knows when - He says Jesus is coming back ….. soon. And this is true.
We know this to be true. Jesus will come back like a thief in the night (Matt 24:33; 1 Thess 5:2); he will come back when no one expects him, and he is coming back soon (Mark 13:22;Matt 24:43,44; 25:1-13). And this is the truth of our text today – Jesus says he is coming back and he is coming back soon. Our hope comes from Jesus and our hope will be realised as it is in him; as this is the case, are we ready?
I had mentioned that today is indeed the Christian New Year and New Years is often a time to look forward in hopes of a better world and to reflect upon what has transpired in the year before; As our hope is in Jesus, are we ready for his return?
Do we believe that tomorrow really Jesus might just come back, that the world and/or my life here might end tomorrow? If we did know this for sure would we, would I do anything different?
As our hope is in Christ, we know that if we deny Jesus, he will deny us (Matt 10:33); so looking back today, as we embark on this Christian New Year, how have we done in this past year at being bold for the gospel (Philippians 1)?[5] Have we shown that we have hope in Jesus? And in this New Year ahead how can we show that we have this hope in Jesus? If Jesus comes back this afternoon, are we ready? Will we go with him off to eternal life?
In John, Chapter 3, as we read last week, the Pharisee, Nicodemus, comes to Jesus. Jesus tells him that if he hopes to see the Kingdom of God then he must be born again (of the Spirit) and truly believe in God’s son. (Cf. also John 5, 6, 12, 17:1b-4; Acts 13; Gal 6:8; 1 Tim 1,6; Titus; 1 John.) This past year have we given any reasons for someone to believe that we may have indeed been born again? Are we any different than anyone else? Do we rely on God’s Spirit? And in this year ahead how can we show this hope we have in Jesus?
In Luke 10, someone also asks Jesus what he must do to fulfil the hope of eternal life. Jesus affirms that we must “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’” (Cf. 1 John 3:15). As an example of loving ones neighbour, Jesus tells the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan’ where one puts his life and finances on the line for a stranger when no one else will help him (Luke 10:25-37). This past year how have we done at loving God and loving our neighbours in this way? Have we, in Jesus’ name, put ourselves on the line for others? Do we have this hope in Jesus? In this upcoming Christian year how do we resolve to show this hope we have in Jesus?
Matthew records the parable of the sheep and the goats (Matt 25:31ff.). In this parable two groups of people bow before the Lord as King. One goes off to eternal salvation and the other to eternal damnation; the difference…The one group, whose hopes were realised, served the Lord by, when someone was hungry giving them me something to eat, when one was thirsty giving them something to drink, when someone was a stranger inviting them in, when someone needed clothes clothing them, when someone was sick looking after them, when one was in prison coming to visit him. For we serve the Lord by serving each other in this way. Have we shown that we have this hope in Christ? Let us resolve to serve the Lord this year and that indeed we do have our hope in Christ.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke each record that a rich man asks Jesus this same question about what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus answers here as well, that among other things, we must love our neighbour. The man replies that he has kept all the commandments and loved his neighbour –what else is there he asks, what else? Jesus replies, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Those who have sacrificed, those who have left their families, possessions, and very lives because of Jesus are indeed the ones whose hope is in the Lord;[6] they are the ones who believe in the Lord; they are the ones who will inherit eternal life (Matthew 19:13-30; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18).
Have we been willing to, as it says in Matthew 19:29, leave our houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for Jesus’ sake so that we will inherit eternal life. Are we willing to?
How do we show the love for and the hope we have in Jesus?
This is the beginning of the New Year so let’s make a resolution, we know that Jesus is coming back soon; so let us resolve to be ready to meet him by indeed loving him more than ourselves, our earthly families, or our possessions. Let us indeed place our hope in Christ Alone.
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APENDIX 1
Is Barney the Anti-Christ?
Given: Barney is a CUTE PURPLE DINOSAUR
Prove: Barney is satanic
The Romans had no letter 'U', and used 'V' instead for
printing, meaning the Roman representation would for
Barney would be: CVTE PVRPLE DINOSAVR
CVTE PVRPLE DINOSAVR
Extracting the Roman numerals, we have:
C. V. V. L. D. I. V.
And their decimal equivalents are:
100. 5. 5. 50. 500 .1 .5
Adding those numbers produces: 666.
666 is the number of the Beast.
Proved: BARNEY IS SATAN! – (2001 book Science Askew)
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[1] Cf: End of time predictions: http://www.bible.ca/pre-date-setters.htm David Hasselhoff: http://www.esquilax.com/baywatch/ Barney the dinosaur: http://www.comedycorner.org/20.html Gorbachev: Robert Faid 1988 http://www.scatteredsheep.com/perilous_times/antichrist/antichrist.htm Prince Charles, Pope JP II
[2] Whenever I hear someone say that the world will end on this day or that day or so-and –so is the anti-Christ, I wonder if they themselves by intentionally saying what the Bible expresses is not true - sometimes I wonder if indeed these people may indeed be antichrists themselves…at the very least they are very confused.
[3] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay. 1 Corinthians 7 21-24:Don’t Worry, Be Happy; It’s Just Adiaphoron. Sermon presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on August 31, 2008. Available on-line at: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/08/1-corinthians-7-21-24dont-worry-be.html
[4] For example the seemingly endless discussions on ‘pre-trib’, ‘post-trib’, and ‘amillennialism.’
[5] We know that as Jesus says, if we love him we will obey his commands (John 15; cf. Rom 2:7; Jude 1:21)? This includes loving God, loving our neighbour, and laying down our lives for Jesus? How have we done this past year laying down our lives for others and for Jesus? How well have we done at listening to and obeying God’s commands rather then just man’s or our own whims and personal values?
[6]Of all that we have, we are merely managers / stewards anyway; everything of ours ultimately belongs to God.
Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 27 Nov 2011
To view the 2011 version click HERE.
by Captain Michael Ramsay
Happy New Year! Does anyone know why I would wish you a happy New Year today? Today is the beginning of Advent. In traditional liturgical churches, advent is the beginning of the church year where we celebrate the first coming of Christ and celebrate the hope that is in his anticipated return. Now often at New Year there are all kinds of year-end quizzes; so I thought that I would put a little tongue-in-cheek quiz together for us based on our text today.
What do these dates have in common: 8:00 AM October 19, 1533; April 5, 1534; March 21 and October 22, 1844; Sept. 10, 1979; Dec. 31, 1981; Sept 11 -13, 1988; March 31, 1991; October 20, 1997; December 12, 2012?
A: They are various people’s predictions for the end of world date.
What do these people have in common: Nero, the Pope, Mikhail Gorbachev, Prince Charles, the US President (elect), David Hasselhoff?[1]
A. They were/ are various people’s predictions for the arch-anti-Christ.
Now this next question is a good one. It is a riddle –you’ll have to pay attention. Someone has figured out a way to ‘out’ the beast of Revelation and solve the riddle of ‘666’ – let’s see together of we can solve the riddle and figure out who is the beast of John’s Apocalypse?
Given that 666 is the number of the Beast, First we must break that number down into its component parts in such away that when we add them back together, they will total 666.
I’ll give you this part: 100. 5. 5. 50. 500 .1 .5
Let’s do the math to prove we are right: so we have 100 + 5 =105 + 5 = 110 + 50 = 160+500=660+5+1= 666
So then mathematically proving as we did that these are the component parts of the number of the beast, we will need to translate them into Roman numerals as that was what they wrote with back then: So, does anyone know the symbol for:
100 = C
5 = V
5 = V
50 = L
500 = D
1 = I
5 = V
CV VL DIV
Now if we expand this using new web-based lettering for reassembling fragmented texts, we get the following:
CVT PVRPL DINSVR
Accounting for the fact that Roman lettering had no U and used a V instead and adding the missing vowels, we find out from this the one that the number points to as the beast…it is…
A CUTE PURPLE DINOSAUR; and we all know who the cute purple dinosaur who is leading children astray… Barney the dinosaur! “I love you; you love me!’
This tongue-in-cheek mathematical proof was published in Science Askew in 2001. (see appendix 1)
This is silly right…we all know that an imaginary purple dinosaur is not the Anti-Christ…anymore than David Hasselhoff or the mayor of Tisdale, or whomever.
About the end of times too, our text today (Mark 13:24-37) says clearly in verses 32 and 33: “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come….”
The question is then instead of just hoping and getting ready for Christ’s return, why do so many people waste our time with this end-of-time stuff? I don’t think that I have ever gone an entire year without hearing someone thinking that they are smarter than God incarnate, Jesus, and telling the whole part of the world that they are able to reach that they have solved the puzzle about the end of time.
Not too long ago, I heard an American preacher being played on the local Christian station (Lighthouse FM) going on and on about how the current leader of Syria is the anti-Christ who will usher in the end of times at such and such a date. Before the US invasion of Iraq, I heard of a number of these so-called ‘Christian preachers’ tell people that they know the unknowable day and hour and that Saddam, as their country’s contemporary adversary must be the antichrist. Dante, himself, located many prominent churchmen of his day in Hell, as did some Reformers and Counter-Reformers in the Reformation and Catholics and Orthodox at the time of the East-West Schism…
Why do people profess to know what they do not know? Why do they pretend to know what the Bible records that we cannot know?[2]
I don’t know. After all, of course, we all know from 1 John 2:18ff that we should not be led astray by this kind of talk and John says that there are many antichrists and that anyone who denies Jesus as Lord is an antichrist who must and will be overcome (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3) and 2 John 2:1-7 says this:
[There are] Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.
Anyone, anyone who does not continue in the faith but rather teaches against it is an antichrist, John says. And Jesus says about this end of times: “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come….”
This is important: I think we often get distracted by adiaphorons,[3] which are matters of indifference really.[4] We get distracted by what Timothy refers to as a ‘vain jangling’ (KJV) or ‘meaningless talk’ (1 Timothy 1:3-8, NIV, NRSV). We really shouldn’t worry about who is an arch-end-of-times-antichrist (should there even be one) or on what date and at what time the world may end (Matt 6:25ff; Luke 12:22ff; cf. Matt 10:19, 13:11; Luke 12:11, 21:14; cf. also, in contrast, Philippians 4:4; cf. Matt 5:12; Luke 6:23; John 16:22; Ro 5; Philippians 2:17-18, 3:1; 1 Pet 4:13) we really must remember that ‘no one knows the time or the hour’ and we must instead just put our hope in the return of Christ and make sure that we are ready for it (Mark 13:22).
Actually as I say this I am reminded of a person I know on the west coast, Michael Collins; he is quite an evangelist. He is a Salvationist and he has a love for the Lord and a passion for souls. He actually does have a rather long spiel where he states the he does know when Jesus is coming back. As part of his spiel he tells us how much he has studied eschatology, the end of times, and that he is convinced that he knows when Jesus is coming back based right in the scriptures (Mt 24:32-35,36-51; 25:1-13, 14-30; Mark 13:28-37,…) He says without a doubt Jesus is coming back and he knows when - He says Jesus is coming back ….. soon. And this is true.
We know this to be true. Jesus will come back like a thief in the night (Matt 24:33; 1 Thess 5:2); he will come back when no one expects him, and he is coming back soon (Mark 13:22;Matt 24:43,44; 25:1-13). And this is the truth of our text today – Jesus says he is coming back and he is coming back soon. Our hope comes from Jesus and our hope will be realised as it is in him; as this is the case, are we ready?
I had mentioned that today is indeed the Christian New Year and New Years is often a time to look forward in hopes of a better world and to reflect upon what has transpired in the year before; As our hope is in Jesus, are we ready for his return?
Do we believe that tomorrow really Jesus might just come back, that the world and/or my life here might end tomorrow? If we did know this for sure would we, would I do anything different?
As our hope is in Christ, we know that if we deny Jesus, he will deny us (Matt 10:33); so looking back today, as we embark on this Christian New Year, how have we done in this past year at being bold for the gospel (Philippians 1)?[5] Have we shown that we have hope in Jesus? And in this New Year ahead how can we show that we have this hope in Jesus? If Jesus comes back this afternoon, are we ready? Will we go with him off to eternal life?
In John, Chapter 3, as we read last week, the Pharisee, Nicodemus, comes to Jesus. Jesus tells him that if he hopes to see the Kingdom of God then he must be born again (of the Spirit) and truly believe in God’s son. (Cf. also John 5, 6, 12, 17:1b-4; Acts 13; Gal 6:8; 1 Tim 1,6; Titus; 1 John.) This past year have we given any reasons for someone to believe that we may have indeed been born again? Are we any different than anyone else? Do we rely on God’s Spirit? And in this year ahead how can we show this hope we have in Jesus?
In Luke 10, someone also asks Jesus what he must do to fulfil the hope of eternal life. Jesus affirms that we must “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’” (Cf. 1 John 3:15). As an example of loving ones neighbour, Jesus tells the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan’ where one puts his life and finances on the line for a stranger when no one else will help him (Luke 10:25-37). This past year how have we done at loving God and loving our neighbours in this way? Have we, in Jesus’ name, put ourselves on the line for others? Do we have this hope in Jesus? In this upcoming Christian year how do we resolve to show this hope we have in Jesus?
Matthew records the parable of the sheep and the goats (Matt 25:31ff.). In this parable two groups of people bow before the Lord as King. One goes off to eternal salvation and the other to eternal damnation; the difference…The one group, whose hopes were realised, served the Lord by, when someone was hungry giving them me something to eat, when one was thirsty giving them something to drink, when someone was a stranger inviting them in, when someone needed clothes clothing them, when someone was sick looking after them, when one was in prison coming to visit him. For we serve the Lord by serving each other in this way. Have we shown that we have this hope in Christ? Let us resolve to serve the Lord this year and that indeed we do have our hope in Christ.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke each record that a rich man asks Jesus this same question about what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus answers here as well, that among other things, we must love our neighbour. The man replies that he has kept all the commandments and loved his neighbour –what else is there he asks, what else? Jesus replies, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Those who have sacrificed, those who have left their families, possessions, and very lives because of Jesus are indeed the ones whose hope is in the Lord;[6] they are the ones who believe in the Lord; they are the ones who will inherit eternal life (Matthew 19:13-30; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18).
Have we been willing to, as it says in Matthew 19:29, leave our houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for Jesus’ sake so that we will inherit eternal life. Are we willing to?
How do we show the love for and the hope we have in Jesus?
This is the beginning of the New Year so let’s make a resolution, we know that Jesus is coming back soon; so let us resolve to be ready to meet him by indeed loving him more than ourselves, our earthly families, or our possessions. Let us indeed place our hope in Christ Alone.
--------
APENDIX 1
Is Barney the Anti-Christ?
Given: Barney is a CUTE PURPLE DINOSAUR
Prove: Barney is satanic
The Romans had no letter 'U', and used 'V' instead for
printing, meaning the Roman representation would for
Barney would be: CVTE PVRPLE DINOSAVR
CVTE PVRPLE DINOSAVR
Extracting the Roman numerals, we have:
C. V. V. L. D. I. V.
And their decimal equivalents are:
100. 5. 5. 50. 500 .1 .5
Adding those numbers produces: 666.
666 is the number of the Beast.
Proved: BARNEY IS SATAN! – (2001 book Science Askew)
----
[1] Cf: End of time predictions: http://www.bible.ca/pre-date-setters.htm David Hasselhoff: http://www.esquilax.com/baywatch/ Barney the dinosaur: http://www.comedycorner.org/20.html Gorbachev: Robert Faid 1988 http://www.scatteredsheep.com/perilous_times/antichrist/antichrist.htm Prince Charles, Pope JP II
[2] Whenever I hear someone say that the world will end on this day or that day or so-and –so is the anti-Christ, I wonder if they themselves by intentionally saying what the Bible expresses is not true - sometimes I wonder if indeed these people may indeed be antichrists themselves…at the very least they are very confused.
[3] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay. 1 Corinthians 7 21-24:Don’t Worry, Be Happy; It’s Just Adiaphoron. Sermon presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on August 31, 2008. Available on-line at: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/08/1-corinthians-7-21-24dont-worry-be.html
[4] For example the seemingly endless discussions on ‘pre-trib’, ‘post-trib’, and ‘amillennialism.’
[5] We know that as Jesus says, if we love him we will obey his commands (John 15; cf. Rom 2:7; Jude 1:21)? This includes loving God, loving our neighbour, and laying down our lives for Jesus? How have we done this past year laying down our lives for others and for Jesus? How well have we done at listening to and obeying God’s commands rather then just man’s or our own whims and personal values?
[6]Of all that we have, we are merely managers / stewards anyway; everything of ours ultimately belongs to God.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
John 3:16-21: For God so loved the world...
Presented to each the Nipawin and Tisdale Corps 23 November 2008, Swift Current Corps on 12 March 2011, Warehouse Mission on Toronto 07 May 2017 and Alberni Valley Ministries on 18 Aug 2018 by Captain Michael Ramsay
John 3:16 is among the verses in the Bible that almost everyone knows. If people memorize no other verse in the Bible they usually memorize this one. Let’s all say John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son that whosever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life, John 3:16.”
The fact that we pretty much all know it is neat because in this Salvation Army hall today, we have people of many different ages from different parts of the country who were brought up in many different traditions: The Salvation Army –of course- Baptist, Roman Catholic, Apostolic – there are even people here who were raised in the Atheist religion and yet we all know John 3:16 by heart. I think that is neat and it points to its importance. Martin Luther said of John 3:16 that the verse flows like milk and honey and its words are “able to make the sad happy, [and] the dead alive if only the heart believes them firmly”[1] whoever believes in Jesus will not perish but have everlasting life. This is important (cf. TSA d. 6).
Because it is so important, we all know it and indeed we all have seen it many places... There was a time too when it seems that you couldn’t turn on a sporting event even without seeing someone hold up a sign that said ‘John 3:16’ on it. Do you remember that? Has anyone seen that? Do you know the story about how that got started? I ran across a version of this event by Dr. David Wendel when I was doing my research. He says:
A man tried to make his mark on society by attending sporting events, getting on camera, and holding up a sign that said, "John 3:16". The fellow's name is Rollen Stewart, whose story is told in a documentary titled, "The Rainbow Man/John 3:16", made by San Francisco filmmaker, Sam Green.
Steward had problems and it seems Stewart's problems started during his childhood. His parents were alcoholics, his father died when he was seven, his mother was killed in a house fire when he was 15 and that same year his sister was strangled by her boyfriend. Rollen got into drag racing in high school, married his girlfriend, and opened a racing shop. Then his wife left him, he sold the shop, moved to the mountains, became a marijuana farmer, tried to grow the world's longest moustache, and watched a lot of TV.
In 1976, hoping to gain some attention, he had the idea to become famous by constantly popping up in the background of TV sporting events. So, putting on a rainbow-coloured wig and carrying a battery powered TV to keep track of the cameras, he would wait for his moment, then jump in to the camera frame-smiling and giving a big ‘thumbs-up’. It didn’t work.
But in his depression after the 1980 Super Bowl, he had a conversion experience while watching a TV preacher in his hotel room. At which point, he began showing up at sporting events wearing T-shirts emblazoned with "Jesus Saves", and holding that now famous sign which reads, "John 3:16". Later accompanied by his second wife, he spent his time traveling to sporting events around the country, living in his car, existing on just savings and donations. All in all, he figures he was seen at more than a thousand sporting events – Until his wife left him because he supposedly choked her for holding up a sign in the wrong location; his car was totalled by a drunk driver, his money ran out, and he wound up homeless in L.A.
Feeling harassed and convinced that the end was near, he then set off a string of bombs in a church, a Christian bookstore, a newspaper office, and other locations. He sent out apocalyptic letters warning of the end time and compiled a hit list of preachers. On September 22, 1992, Rollen, the man who brought the gospel in John 3:16 to the American sports fan, believing in the Rapture, that it was only six days away, and wanting to make a big media splash, he took a maid and two labourers hostage in an LA airport hotel, and demanded a three-hour press conference. Instead, the police threw in a grenade, kicked down the door, and Rollen is now serving three life-sentences for kidnapping. [2]
As Paul Harvey would say…now you know the REST of the story.
It is interesting that God can use any of us to do His will and any of us, even those of us who have been used by God, can fall to temptation. None of us is immune to temptation. In our world we have seen many people who served the Lord fall. I can remember the 1980s when it seemed for a while that every Christian that ever appeared on TV was winding up in the courts, in jail, in scandals, or just plain in need of special jackets and padded cells.
There have been many people in history who like Mr. Stewart who even after they ‘find God’ – after they realise that God so loved that world that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, that stumble. They turn away from the light into the darkness; they succumb to the world.
John 3:17 records for us that Jesus did not come to condemn the world but rather He came so that the world may be saved through Him. Verse 18 tells us that any of us who actually believe in Jesus are not condemned but saved. Any of us who actually put our faith in Jesus are not condemned. And as we read last week (November 2008), any of us who love Jesus, any of us who are his friends, will naturally do his will which is indeed the will of the Father (John 15:9-17,23; John 14:7-12).
It is interesting that John 3:16 says that Jesus died for the whole world. The Greek word for world here is ‘Kosmos’.[3] It refers to all civilization or all humankind. He died for us all so that we can now all live life abundantly and freely follow God’s will (cf. TSA d. 6). There is no need for any to perish but yet some people do.
Now I must confess to you that this is something that I really do not understand. Unlike Susan and others in this room who have had wonderful turn-arounds in their lives as they moved from Hell to Heaven; damnation to salvation; as they moved from serving themselves to serving God; unlike those that have had these glorious later in life conversion experiences – the Lord permitted me the privilege of never really knowing life without Him. I remember experiencing the warming of my heart, that John Wesley speaks of, as a child of six years old or so. Both before and much since I confess (as there have been many years now) I have sinned. Sure I have made some dramatic mistakes in my life and sure I am only saved, as are we all, by the grace of God. I thank the Lord for His grace in my life and since I was a small child, I have claimed His promise many times that whosever believes in Jesus will not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16) and whoever loves the Lord will obey His commandments (John 14:15). To me this seems so simple. The Gospel (Good News) is so simple. Jesus loves us; whoever loves and obey Jesus will have eternal life.
The question that seems much more difficult for many people though is, ‘Why do people then go to Hell?’ If Jesus loves the whole world and He didn’t come to condemn it but to save us why are some people not saved? Why? If Jesus died for everyone and salvation is so simple – all we have to do is believe in Him – why do some people fall and why do some people, as it says in verse 18, stand condemned?
I imagine that everyone has heard even people who profess to believe in God, claim that they don’t believe in the devil. I imagine everyone here has heard a person claim that they don’t believe in sin. I imagine that everyone here has heard someone declare that they don’t believe in Hell or even in Jesus because, “How can a supposedly loving God condemn people to Hell?”
Well, He doesn’t. You heard me right but listen carefully to what I am saying here… Jesus doesn’t condemn people to Hell. Hell is real but Jesus does not send people there. Those who are going there make that decision all on their own. Those who stand condemned condemn themselves by denying (like the Apostle Paul makes clear in Romans Chapters 1 and 2) what is plainly obvious to everyone.[4] I truly believe that God gives us all we need to know in this life from our experiences and even creation itself (cf. Romans 1:18-24) and indeed there will still be a time when every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Romans 14:11, Philipians 2:10) and then some, some who believe in the Lord and obey His commandments will go off to spend eternity with Him[5] and some, some who deny Christ (Matthew 10:33) and do not obey His commandments (John 14:15), some who simply refuse His love will go off to the hear the weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mathew 25:31ff). This is sad.
This is particularly sad because we know that God loves us. Verse 3:16 says that He loves the entire ‘Kosmos’.[6] He loves us so much that He laid down His life for us (John 15). God loves us so much that He sent His only begotten, his only natural, his only sired Son to die so that we may live.
I can’t imagine how much this must hurt God that some of us do actually perish. I am a parent. Many of us are parents here. Think about this scenario for a moment. The house across the street is on fire; there are children asleep in that house. Your child is able to save them. Your son or daughter – your ONLY son or daughter can reach them so you encourage her “…Go, go, go! Save those people.”
Your daughter goes. She goes. She suffers every peril in that burning house that everyone else in there is suffering (Cf. 1 Corinthians 10:14; Luke 4). There is the smoke – the deadly smoke, there is the fire, and there are the falling beams. She is successful. She gets to where the children are. She can see them. She is able to make an opening in the wall. She points them to the way out. She yells for them to walk through the opening in the wall. She has made a clear path so that all of the kids can be saved - and then she dies. Your daughter dies so that all these kids can be saved. Your child dies so that none of these kids need to die but – here’s the kicker: the children did not want to be saved. They died. She died so that they could be saved but – on purpose – they died. They did not need to die but they chose not to walk through the opening. They chose to die. Your daughter dies for them and they all die anyway; they refused to be saved.
This is what it is like for God when our loved one’s reject Him. He sent His son to this earth that is perishing. He sent His Son to this house that is on fire – and His Son died so that we may live but yet some still refuse His love for us and some still reject His Salvation. He sent Jesus not to condemn us to burn in the eternal house fire but to save us but like those children some of us refuse to obey Him and walk to safety. Some of us simply refuse to walk through that opening that Jesus died to make. John 3:18: “Those who believe in Him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already…” of their own accord because, 3:19, “people loved darkness rather than light.”
But today for those of us here I want to share the good news of John 3:16-17. Sure the house is on fire, sure Jesus died, but we, as long as we are still breathing have the opportunity to walk through the hole in the wall that He created through His death and resurrection. We can walk through the wall from certain death to certain life. All we need to do is believe in Him, obey Him, and walk through that wall to eternal life with the Father because “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:17). “For God so loved the world that He gave His only [begotten] Son, so that everyone who believe in Him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16).
---
[1] Martin Luther. Quoted in Lenki. P. 258.
[2] The Rev. Dr. David M. Wendel. "John 3:16" Saint Luke's Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado.February 17, 2008: http://www.saintlukes-cs.org/sermons/sermons-2008/Lent_II_08.shtm. Note I have only edited it very slightly here for stylistic purposes.
[3] Gail O’Day. NIB IX: The Gospel of Luke, The Gospel of John. ‘John’, p.552.
[4] Cf. Michael Ramsay. “Paul and the Human Condition as Reflected in Romans 1:18-32 and 2:1-16”. Available on-line at: http://www.sheepspeak.com/NT_Michael_Ramsay.htm#Paul%20and%20the%20Human%20Condition
[5] Cf. N.T. Wright, “Romans and the Theology of Paul,” Pauline Theology, Volume III, ed. David M. Hay & E. Elizabeth Johnson, (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995): 37.
[6] Gail O’Day. NIB IX: The Gospel of Luke, The Gospel of John. ‘John’, p.552.
John 3:16 is among the verses in the Bible that almost everyone knows. If people memorize no other verse in the Bible they usually memorize this one. Let’s all say John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son that whosever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life, John 3:16.”
The fact that we pretty much all know it is neat because in this Salvation Army hall today, we have people of many different ages from different parts of the country who were brought up in many different traditions: The Salvation Army –of course- Baptist, Roman Catholic, Apostolic – there are even people here who were raised in the Atheist religion and yet we all know John 3:16 by heart. I think that is neat and it points to its importance. Martin Luther said of John 3:16 that the verse flows like milk and honey and its words are “able to make the sad happy, [and] the dead alive if only the heart believes them firmly”[1] whoever believes in Jesus will not perish but have everlasting life. This is important (cf. TSA d. 6).
Because it is so important, we all know it and indeed we all have seen it many places... There was a time too when it seems that you couldn’t turn on a sporting event even without seeing someone hold up a sign that said ‘John 3:16’ on it. Do you remember that? Has anyone seen that? Do you know the story about how that got started? I ran across a version of this event by Dr. David Wendel when I was doing my research. He says:
A man tried to make his mark on society by attending sporting events, getting on camera, and holding up a sign that said, "John 3:16". The fellow's name is Rollen Stewart, whose story is told in a documentary titled, "The Rainbow Man/John 3:16", made by San Francisco filmmaker, Sam Green.
Steward had problems and it seems Stewart's problems started during his childhood. His parents were alcoholics, his father died when he was seven, his mother was killed in a house fire when he was 15 and that same year his sister was strangled by her boyfriend. Rollen got into drag racing in high school, married his girlfriend, and opened a racing shop. Then his wife left him, he sold the shop, moved to the mountains, became a marijuana farmer, tried to grow the world's longest moustache, and watched a lot of TV.
In 1976, hoping to gain some attention, he had the idea to become famous by constantly popping up in the background of TV sporting events. So, putting on a rainbow-coloured wig and carrying a battery powered TV to keep track of the cameras, he would wait for his moment, then jump in to the camera frame-smiling and giving a big ‘thumbs-up’. It didn’t work.
But in his depression after the 1980 Super Bowl, he had a conversion experience while watching a TV preacher in his hotel room. At which point, he began showing up at sporting events wearing T-shirts emblazoned with "Jesus Saves", and holding that now famous sign which reads, "John 3:16". Later accompanied by his second wife, he spent his time traveling to sporting events around the country, living in his car, existing on just savings and donations. All in all, he figures he was seen at more than a thousand sporting events – Until his wife left him because he supposedly choked her for holding up a sign in the wrong location; his car was totalled by a drunk driver, his money ran out, and he wound up homeless in L.A.
Feeling harassed and convinced that the end was near, he then set off a string of bombs in a church, a Christian bookstore, a newspaper office, and other locations. He sent out apocalyptic letters warning of the end time and compiled a hit list of preachers. On September 22, 1992, Rollen, the man who brought the gospel in John 3:16 to the American sports fan, believing in the Rapture, that it was only six days away, and wanting to make a big media splash, he took a maid and two labourers hostage in an LA airport hotel, and demanded a three-hour press conference. Instead, the police threw in a grenade, kicked down the door, and Rollen is now serving three life-sentences for kidnapping. [2]
As Paul Harvey would say…now you know the REST of the story.
It is interesting that God can use any of us to do His will and any of us, even those of us who have been used by God, can fall to temptation. None of us is immune to temptation. In our world we have seen many people who served the Lord fall. I can remember the 1980s when it seemed for a while that every Christian that ever appeared on TV was winding up in the courts, in jail, in scandals, or just plain in need of special jackets and padded cells.
There have been many people in history who like Mr. Stewart who even after they ‘find God’ – after they realise that God so loved that world that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, that stumble. They turn away from the light into the darkness; they succumb to the world.
John 3:17 records for us that Jesus did not come to condemn the world but rather He came so that the world may be saved through Him. Verse 18 tells us that any of us who actually believe in Jesus are not condemned but saved. Any of us who actually put our faith in Jesus are not condemned. And as we read last week (November 2008), any of us who love Jesus, any of us who are his friends, will naturally do his will which is indeed the will of the Father (John 15:9-17,23; John 14:7-12).
It is interesting that John 3:16 says that Jesus died for the whole world. The Greek word for world here is ‘Kosmos’.[3] It refers to all civilization or all humankind. He died for us all so that we can now all live life abundantly and freely follow God’s will (cf. TSA d. 6). There is no need for any to perish but yet some people do.
Now I must confess to you that this is something that I really do not understand. Unlike Susan and others in this room who have had wonderful turn-arounds in their lives as they moved from Hell to Heaven; damnation to salvation; as they moved from serving themselves to serving God; unlike those that have had these glorious later in life conversion experiences – the Lord permitted me the privilege of never really knowing life without Him. I remember experiencing the warming of my heart, that John Wesley speaks of, as a child of six years old or so. Both before and much since I confess (as there have been many years now) I have sinned. Sure I have made some dramatic mistakes in my life and sure I am only saved, as are we all, by the grace of God. I thank the Lord for His grace in my life and since I was a small child, I have claimed His promise many times that whosever believes in Jesus will not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16) and whoever loves the Lord will obey His commandments (John 14:15). To me this seems so simple. The Gospel (Good News) is so simple. Jesus loves us; whoever loves and obey Jesus will have eternal life.
The question that seems much more difficult for many people though is, ‘Why do people then go to Hell?’ If Jesus loves the whole world and He didn’t come to condemn it but to save us why are some people not saved? Why? If Jesus died for everyone and salvation is so simple – all we have to do is believe in Him – why do some people fall and why do some people, as it says in verse 18, stand condemned?
I imagine that everyone has heard even people who profess to believe in God, claim that they don’t believe in the devil. I imagine everyone here has heard a person claim that they don’t believe in sin. I imagine that everyone here has heard someone declare that they don’t believe in Hell or even in Jesus because, “How can a supposedly loving God condemn people to Hell?”
Well, He doesn’t. You heard me right but listen carefully to what I am saying here… Jesus doesn’t condemn people to Hell. Hell is real but Jesus does not send people there. Those who are going there make that decision all on their own. Those who stand condemned condemn themselves by denying (like the Apostle Paul makes clear in Romans Chapters 1 and 2) what is plainly obvious to everyone.[4] I truly believe that God gives us all we need to know in this life from our experiences and even creation itself (cf. Romans 1:18-24) and indeed there will still be a time when every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Romans 14:11, Philipians 2:10) and then some, some who believe in the Lord and obey His commandments will go off to spend eternity with Him[5] and some, some who deny Christ (Matthew 10:33) and do not obey His commandments (John 14:15), some who simply refuse His love will go off to the hear the weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mathew 25:31ff). This is sad.
This is particularly sad because we know that God loves us. Verse 3:16 says that He loves the entire ‘Kosmos’.[6] He loves us so much that He laid down His life for us (John 15). God loves us so much that He sent His only begotten, his only natural, his only sired Son to die so that we may live.
I can’t imagine how much this must hurt God that some of us do actually perish. I am a parent. Many of us are parents here. Think about this scenario for a moment. The house across the street is on fire; there are children asleep in that house. Your child is able to save them. Your son or daughter – your ONLY son or daughter can reach them so you encourage her “…Go, go, go! Save those people.”
Your daughter goes. She goes. She suffers every peril in that burning house that everyone else in there is suffering (Cf. 1 Corinthians 10:14; Luke 4). There is the smoke – the deadly smoke, there is the fire, and there are the falling beams. She is successful. She gets to where the children are. She can see them. She is able to make an opening in the wall. She points them to the way out. She yells for them to walk through the opening in the wall. She has made a clear path so that all of the kids can be saved - and then she dies. Your daughter dies so that all these kids can be saved. Your child dies so that none of these kids need to die but – here’s the kicker: the children did not want to be saved. They died. She died so that they could be saved but – on purpose – they died. They did not need to die but they chose not to walk through the opening. They chose to die. Your daughter dies for them and they all die anyway; they refused to be saved.
This is what it is like for God when our loved one’s reject Him. He sent His son to this earth that is perishing. He sent His Son to this house that is on fire – and His Son died so that we may live but yet some still refuse His love for us and some still reject His Salvation. He sent Jesus not to condemn us to burn in the eternal house fire but to save us but like those children some of us refuse to obey Him and walk to safety. Some of us simply refuse to walk through that opening that Jesus died to make. John 3:18: “Those who believe in Him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already…” of their own accord because, 3:19, “people loved darkness rather than light.”
But today for those of us here I want to share the good news of John 3:16-17. Sure the house is on fire, sure Jesus died, but we, as long as we are still breathing have the opportunity to walk through the hole in the wall that He created through His death and resurrection. We can walk through the wall from certain death to certain life. All we need to do is believe in Him, obey Him, and walk through that wall to eternal life with the Father because “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:17). “For God so loved the world that He gave His only [begotten] Son, so that everyone who believe in Him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16).
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[1] Martin Luther. Quoted in Lenki. P. 258.
[2] The Rev. Dr. David M. Wendel. "John 3:16" Saint Luke's Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado.February 17, 2008: http://www.saintlukes-cs.org/sermons/sermons-2008/Lent_II_08.shtm. Note I have only edited it very slightly here for stylistic purposes.
[3] Gail O’Day. NIB IX: The Gospel of Luke, The Gospel of John. ‘John’, p.552.
[4] Cf. Michael Ramsay. “Paul and the Human Condition as Reflected in Romans 1:18-32 and 2:1-16”. Available on-line at: http://www.sheepspeak.com/NT_Michael_Ramsay.htm#Paul%20and%20the%20Human%20Condition
[5] Cf. N.T. Wright, “Romans and the Theology of Paul,” Pauline Theology, Volume III, ed. David M. Hay & E. Elizabeth Johnson, (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995): 37.
[6] Gail O’Day. NIB IX: The Gospel of Luke, The Gospel of John. ‘John’, p.552.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
John 15:9-17: Greater love has no man...
Presented to each the Nipawin and Tisdale Corps, 15 November 2008
Presented to Swift Current Corps, 08 November 2009
Presented to Warehouse 614, 05 November 2017
Presented to Swift Current Corps, 08 November 2009
Presented to Warehouse 614, 05 November 2017
Presented to Alberni Valley Ministries, 05 November 2023
by Captain (then Major) Michael Ramsay
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends, John 15:13.
This is a season of remembrance in the Church. In Canada and other nations that fought in World War One it has been a time to reflect on the sacrifice of our soldiers, and our citizens who lived during that era and the times of conflict since. This is a time to reflect upon sacrifice as in a few very short weeks we are going enter into the advent season where we will remember the coming of Jesus as a small child and look forward – very soon - to His return in power. He lived, sacrificed and died for us, his friends.
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends, John 15:13.
On November 11, 1918, the armistice was signed to end the Great War, the war to end all wars – the First World War. Canadians, our friends and our family, in service to God, King, and country, marched overseas to lay down their lives for our friends
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.
On November 11, 1813, almost 200 years ago now, Canadians repulsed an horrific enemy invasion in the Battle of Crysler Farm – this was the last serious attempt to conquer Canada militarily. We did this with the help of our friends, the British and the First Nations. We laid down our life for our family. They laid down their life for us, their friends. This is outside the timeframe of the State mandate for Canadian Remembrance Day ceremonies as is the Boer War, a few years later (1899-1902), but…
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.
On our November 11th ceremonies we remember our friends and families who headed overseas in the World War I and again in what is remembered now as World War II, in service to God, to King, and to country to lay down their lives for their friends. Many of us have friends and family who marched out of Saskatchewan here to offer their lives up for their friends. My grandmother’s brother who left from Silver Stream near here never spoke of the day they were surrounded by the Germans right up until he died a few years ago.
My own grandfather returned home to Saskatchewan from California, where he was working when war broke out, so that he could serve God, King and country in the Second World War. He eagerly grabbed some friends of his from Cut Knife and they drove over the Rockies to enlist. Of all of them that enlisted that day with my grandfather, I believe, only he lived to see the end of the war.
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.
The Salvation Army and other volunteers were present in both these wars – in the trenches -offering both support and the love of God to the soldiers.
In World War One The Canadian Salvation Army was part of a ministry that included over 200 recreational huts, 40 rest homes, 96 hostels, and more than 1200 volunteers. The Canadian Salvation Army sent military chaplains to the frontlines and helped operate these huts, canteens, rest facilities, and more.
Of our service in the Second World War, General Harry Crerar - Former Commander of the First Canadian Army, - said, “It would be easier to forget one's name than fail to remember the times without number when the Salvation Army was, in truth, our comforter and friend.”[1]
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.
At the conclusion of the Second World War some allies turned foes and some foes turned friends in the Cold War that ensued and again Canadians headed overseas – this time to Korea – to offer our lives on behalf of our allies and to lay down our lives for our friends. We remembered these people this past week, on Remembrance Day.
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.
As this Cold War progressed, Canadians continued to stand beside our allies but we also donned blue barrettes for the first time, intentionally standing between warring factions, some with legitimate grievances, protecting and reconciling populations, and still offering our lives for our friends. We remembered them this week as well.
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.
2000 years ago, Jesus died on the cross so that we all may live.
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.
Now, through the real horrors of the wars of the twentieth century and earlier a great thing happened: Canada’s primary foes during 1814, 1914, and 1944 are now some of our closest friends and allies. Our soldiers laid down their lives for us, their friends. And they laid down their lives so that we could be reconciled to our brothers and sisters. Canada is reconciled to her old foes and united with them more than ever because of the sacrifice of our friends, siblings, parents, grandparents, and our veterans. Thanks be to God for this reconciliation.
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.
And, of course, it was through Jesus’ death and resurrection that we all may experience this same reconciliation with God. John 15:13 records a part of Jesus’ farewell discourse to his disciples. He is giving them instructions before he voluntarily marches off to His death for them and for us.
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.
Jesus says, verses 12-15:
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
Jesus laid down his life for us and he now asks the same of us. Do we love our God and do we love our neighbour? Are we experiencing that reconciliation for which He died? Are we a friend of Jesus? We know that if we deny Jesus before the world that He will deny us before the Father (Matthew 10:33). Are we a friend of Jesus? And, if we claim we are, are we willing to lay down our life for our neighbour, for our God, and for our friends like Jesus commands? Jesus after commanding this reminds us that indeed, “You are my friends if you do what I command.”
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.
Remember that Jesus died so that we may live. Remember that Jesus died so that we may live lives reconciled with God and with our real family, our brothers and sisters in Christ, the family of God. Remember to that though this Salvation War is won, the battles still rage daily and these seemingly never-ending battles are not merely with flesh and blood but are in reality truly waged against other powers and principalities (Ephesians 16:11-13).
And as in the last couple of weeks we have spoken about tests (2 Corinthians 13) and results of tests (Amos 3:2), John reminds us of the test that Jesus offers to us, He says, “… If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me ” (John 14:23-24). And Jesus said, “Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.”
Even more than the sacrifice of many of our servicemen and women whom we remembered this past week with real respect and with deep gratitude, Jesus, the Son of God, died so that we can live (and live abundantly) reconciled lives. Jesus laid down his life for us, his friends, and not unlike the sacrifices of many people whom we remembered this past week who died that we may be reconciled with our old foes, Jesus died so that we can be reconciled with God.
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.
So today I urge us all not to let Jesus’ death to have been in vain in our own lives. If there is anything between our neighbour and us, if there is anything standing in the way of our reconciliation, today let us lay it aside. If there is any aspect of our lives that we have not offered up fully to God so that we are not fully living out that reconciliation with God, today let us cast it aside. If there is any sin in our life that we have not confessed to God, let us today take this time, confess it to Him, and experience the abundant joy that comes with reconciliation.
If there are any here today who have in our lives not been living to keep His commandments, if there are any here today who have not been willing to lay down their lives for each other and for God, I invite anyone here today to come forward and pray at the cross of Jesus. May we never forget His sacrifice.
Greater love has no one than to lay down his life for his friends.
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[1] http://www.civilization.ca/splash.html
by Captain (then Major) Michael Ramsay
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends, John 15:13.
This is a season of remembrance in the Church. In Canada and other nations that fought in World War One it has been a time to reflect on the sacrifice of our soldiers, and our citizens who lived during that era and the times of conflict since. This is a time to reflect upon sacrifice as in a few very short weeks we are going enter into the advent season where we will remember the coming of Jesus as a small child and look forward – very soon - to His return in power. He lived, sacrificed and died for us, his friends.
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends, John 15:13.
On November 11, 1918, the armistice was signed to end the Great War, the war to end all wars – the First World War. Canadians, our friends and our family, in service to God, King, and country, marched overseas to lay down their lives for our friends
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.
On November 11, 1813, almost 200 years ago now, Canadians repulsed an horrific enemy invasion in the Battle of Crysler Farm – this was the last serious attempt to conquer Canada militarily. We did this with the help of our friends, the British and the First Nations. We laid down our life for our family. They laid down their life for us, their friends. This is outside the timeframe of the State mandate for Canadian Remembrance Day ceremonies as is the Boer War, a few years later (1899-1902), but…
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.
On our November 11th ceremonies we remember our friends and families who headed overseas in the World War I and again in what is remembered now as World War II, in service to God, to King, and to country to lay down their lives for their friends. Many of us have friends and family who marched out of Saskatchewan here to offer their lives up for their friends. My grandmother’s brother who left from Silver Stream near here never spoke of the day they were surrounded by the Germans right up until he died a few years ago.
My own grandfather returned home to Saskatchewan from California, where he was working when war broke out, so that he could serve God, King and country in the Second World War. He eagerly grabbed some friends of his from Cut Knife and they drove over the Rockies to enlist. Of all of them that enlisted that day with my grandfather, I believe, only he lived to see the end of the war.
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.
The Salvation Army and other volunteers were present in both these wars – in the trenches -offering both support and the love of God to the soldiers.
In World War One The Canadian Salvation Army was part of a ministry that included over 200 recreational huts, 40 rest homes, 96 hostels, and more than 1200 volunteers. The Canadian Salvation Army sent military chaplains to the frontlines and helped operate these huts, canteens, rest facilities, and more.
Of our service in the Second World War, General Harry Crerar - Former Commander of the First Canadian Army, - said, “It would be easier to forget one's name than fail to remember the times without number when the Salvation Army was, in truth, our comforter and friend.”[1]
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.
At the conclusion of the Second World War some allies turned foes and some foes turned friends in the Cold War that ensued and again Canadians headed overseas – this time to Korea – to offer our lives on behalf of our allies and to lay down our lives for our friends. We remembered these people this past week, on Remembrance Day.
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.
As this Cold War progressed, Canadians continued to stand beside our allies but we also donned blue barrettes for the first time, intentionally standing between warring factions, some with legitimate grievances, protecting and reconciling populations, and still offering our lives for our friends. We remembered them this week as well.
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.
2000 years ago, Jesus died on the cross so that we all may live.
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.
Now, through the real horrors of the wars of the twentieth century and earlier a great thing happened: Canada’s primary foes during 1814, 1914, and 1944 are now some of our closest friends and allies. Our soldiers laid down their lives for us, their friends. And they laid down their lives so that we could be reconciled to our brothers and sisters. Canada is reconciled to her old foes and united with them more than ever because of the sacrifice of our friends, siblings, parents, grandparents, and our veterans. Thanks be to God for this reconciliation.
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.
And, of course, it was through Jesus’ death and resurrection that we all may experience this same reconciliation with God. John 15:13 records a part of Jesus’ farewell discourse to his disciples. He is giving them instructions before he voluntarily marches off to His death for them and for us.
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.
Jesus says, verses 12-15:
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
Jesus laid down his life for us and he now asks the same of us. Do we love our God and do we love our neighbour? Are we experiencing that reconciliation for which He died? Are we a friend of Jesus? We know that if we deny Jesus before the world that He will deny us before the Father (Matthew 10:33). Are we a friend of Jesus? And, if we claim we are, are we willing to lay down our life for our neighbour, for our God, and for our friends like Jesus commands? Jesus after commanding this reminds us that indeed, “You are my friends if you do what I command.”
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.
Remember that Jesus died so that we may live. Remember that Jesus died so that we may live lives reconciled with God and with our real family, our brothers and sisters in Christ, the family of God. Remember to that though this Salvation War is won, the battles still rage daily and these seemingly never-ending battles are not merely with flesh and blood but are in reality truly waged against other powers and principalities (Ephesians 16:11-13).
And as in the last couple of weeks we have spoken about tests (2 Corinthians 13) and results of tests (Amos 3:2), John reminds us of the test that Jesus offers to us, He says, “… If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me ” (John 14:23-24). And Jesus said, “Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.”
Even more than the sacrifice of many of our servicemen and women whom we remembered this past week with real respect and with deep gratitude, Jesus, the Son of God, died so that we can live (and live abundantly) reconciled lives. Jesus laid down his life for us, his friends, and not unlike the sacrifices of many people whom we remembered this past week who died that we may be reconciled with our old foes, Jesus died so that we can be reconciled with God.
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.
So today I urge us all not to let Jesus’ death to have been in vain in our own lives. If there is anything between our neighbour and us, if there is anything standing in the way of our reconciliation, today let us lay it aside. If there is any aspect of our lives that we have not offered up fully to God so that we are not fully living out that reconciliation with God, today let us cast it aside. If there is any sin in our life that we have not confessed to God, let us today take this time, confess it to Him, and experience the abundant joy that comes with reconciliation.
If there are any here today who have in our lives not been living to keep His commandments, if there are any here today who have not been willing to lay down their lives for each other and for God, I invite anyone here today to come forward and pray at the cross of Jesus. May we never forget His sacrifice.
Greater love has no one than to lay down his life for his friends.
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---
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[1] http://www.civilization.ca/splash.html
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Amos 3:2: ...Therefore I Will Punish You
Presented to each the Nipawin and Tisdale Corps 09 November 2008
by Captain Michael Ramsay
2 Corinthians 13:5-7: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are living by faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ is in you? – unless, indeed, you fail to meet the test. I hope that you will find that you will not fail.”
Reading this made me realize that we have not had a test in a while – so in the spirit of Disneyworld from where we have just returned I have a little riddle for you.
Show pictures of Captain Hook and other Pirates.
If you saw a ship like this with a crew of men with hooks for hands, pegs for legs, and patches over their eyes ....
What do you think would be on their flag?
Artificial legs, hands, and missing eyes…
Today I was specifically going to speak about the test we read about in 2 Corinthians but I thought that this related to an area that I have studied quite a bit over the years that might provide a good bit of background for us first with another test of sorts – or at least the results of one: Amos three verse two. I think we might find that it actually does relate to our test of 2 Corinthians, which we should get an opportunity to look at in a couple of weeks.
Amos 3:2 states that: You only have I known (chosen, NIV) of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
Amos was a prophet sometime around 750-760 BCE – Israel was spilt into 2 countries at this time: Israel and Judah [Uzziah was the King of Judah and Jereboam was the King of Israel.][1] After the death of Solomon, you will remember, Israel had a civil war and broke into North and South sort of like the American civil war with the Confederacy vs. the Union, or North and South Vietnam before they were unified under Ho Chi Min, or North and South Korea, China and Taiwan of today, or East and West Germany of the Cold War. Like the Germans, they really are one people, Israel and Judah, they are just politically divided right now[2] when Amos gives his message and he really does address them here as one people, a people chosen by God.[3]
That being said it is interesting because Israel is divided in the time of Amos like Germany was during the Cold War. Amos was from the South and he came with his message that God was going to punish the people but he told that message to the king of the North. That would be like someone from East Germany going to the West Germans to tell them that God was going to punish them – or like someone from New York bringing this message to Texas, or even someone from Quebec bringing that message to the prairies. It just wouldn’t be appreciated and it wasn’t.[4]
Nonetheless this message of Amos is for all of God’s people here (and I submit now, as well) and He says, “You only have I known (chosen, NIV) of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
The word for known/chosen here is ‘yada’ and it refers to an intimate kind of relationship. It is like when elsewhere in the Old Testament people ‘know’ their wives or husbands. It is the same way God said that he knew/chose Jeremiah even before he was born. It refers to the very intimate purpose for which Israel was chosen that, as inheritors of Abraham’s promise (Gen 12:3), all the nations of the earth would be blessed through them. This was what they were elected for; this is what made them special, the fact that God knew them and that He specifically chose to bless the world through Abraham, Isaac and Israel - which He did. He fulfilled His promise for the world (John 3:16) to Abraham through Israel by Jesus Christ.
There was more than this too. God not only promised his people chosen for this object that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through them (Gen 12:3), which was completed as Jesus declared ‘it is finished’ on the cross (John 19:30) and later rose from the dead. This covenant purpose is fulfilled (cf. Matt 5:18) but that happens long after Amos and there was another part their election that Amos was looking at too. Israel held very tightly to the promise that they would possess their promised land (Gen 15; Exod 19:5).[5] They held so tightly to this that, it seems, that at times they forgot that the acquisition of their promised land was fulfilled already and, if anything, the retention of it was conditional (cf. Amos 3:15).[6]
It is like a parent promising her child dessert if she cleans her room. She only actually gets the dessert if the room is actually clean!
Like this, with Amos’ Israel, if they remain faithful they will reap the benefits of their covenant but if they don’t, precisely because “You only have I known (chosen, NIV) of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” Now remember that the word for ‘known’ is ‘yada’; this word also means ‘chosen’ and this special ‘yada’ relationship goes both ways. If Israel is faithful they receive the due rewards but if not – precisely because He ‘yada’ knows them in this way –God will punish Israel for failing to do what they are ‘yada’ chosen to do.
It is like a parent speaking to her child again…I have spent a lot of time with my children these past two weeks… the child who has friends over complains that she is the only one to ever get in trouble. She says everyone else was yelling – or using paints in their good clothes or hitting their sister or whatever –no one else helped clean her room so why is she the only one who doesn’t get dessert when her room isn’t clean …Because you are my child and the others aren’t and I asked you specifically to clean your room, that’s why. It is because our children are ‘yada’ known by us, their parents, and ‘yada’ chosen by us for obedience that they get in trouble for their iniquities.
It is the same with the Roughriders fans, they aren’t going to punish the BC Lions quarterback for a terrible pass because they haven’t ‘yada’ chosen or even cheered for him to make that pass but when the Roughriders make a serious mistake…it is a different story. The Calgary Flames too provide an example of this in that often boo their own team when they have a bad game in a way that they don’t boo visitors.
Likewise in the churches today: we know that going to church and doing the right things won’t save anyone from hell. It is being part of God’s family that saves us. It is who we know and what He did for us that gets us into heaven but once He has let us in, we should follow His house rules. If we refuse to follow our Heavenly Father than it is like we are rejecting Him and there are consequences for that: Amos 3:2: “You only have I known (chosen, NIV) of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
It is the same with Israel in Amos’ time (cf. Lamentations 4:22; Ezekiel 34; Joel 2:18ff; Matt 25:31ff.). When they are chosen, when we are elected for a task there are certain house rules, certain responsibilities that come with it. Amos mentions in 2:6ff some of these responsibilities.[7]
6 This is what the LORD says:
"For three sins of Israel,
even for four, I will not turn back {my wrath}.
They sell the righteous for silver,
and the needy for a pair of sandals.
7 They trample on the heads of the poor
as upon the dust of the ground
and deny justice to the oppressed.
Father and son use the same girl
and so profane my holy name.
8 They lie down beside every altar
on garments taken in pledge.
In the house of their god
they drink wine taken as fines.
9 "I destroyed the Amorite before them,
though he was tall as the cedars
and strong as the oaks.
I destroyed his fruit above
and his roots below.
10 "I brought you up out of Egypt,
and I led you forty years in the desert
to give you the land of the Amorites.
11 I also raised up prophets from among your sons
and Nazirites from among your young men.
Is this not true, people of Israel?"
declares the LORD.
12 "But you made the Nazirites drink wine
and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.
What are the sins of God’s chosen people for which he will not turn back his wrath (Amos 2:6) for which He will punish them?
They value capital more than social; they value money and possessions more than people. The way the nation of Israel was set up at that time some could amass wealth (silver) well others were left to become poor (Amos 2:6) – maybe like some countries or churches in this day and age that claim or once claimed to be Christian. Israel’s (maybe not unlike some countries/churches of today) economic and political system had come to be in such a state that only the wealthy could afford justice (verse 7) and that rather than using the wealth that God has given them to help the poor they use it to indulge themselves (cf. Amos 4:3) and in the process profane the name of God.
It is interesting: 2:7, Amos speaks of father and son using the same girl and Verse 8 talks about them lying down beside the altar itself on clothes taken in pledge [and then it says that they also take what is offered to God in the way of a ‘fine wine’]. In Mosaic Law (Dt 24:12 ;Exod 22:25-27, 23:11),God makes it clear that He has a special affinity for the poor (cf. Exod 23:11; Prov 29:14; Isa 10:2, 11:4. 41:17; 58:7,…) who will always be with us (Matt 26:11, Mark 14:7); [it is probably to ensure that as his children we reflect His special love for them].
In Exodus 22:25-27 (cf. Dt 24:12), It states point-blank that one is not supposed to charge interest on loans to the poor and that if their coats are taken as collateral they must be returned by sundown.
Verses 7 and 8 of our text say: “…Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name. They lie down beside every altar on [these] garments taken in pledge.” Amos is accusing God’s chosen people here of defiling His temple and forsaking the poor: failing to love their neighbour, and failing to love God.[8]
Now because God ‘yada’ knows Israel and as a result of its unfaithfulness and this neglect for their poorer neighbour, the Israelites are removed from the land promised to them. They didn’t clean their room before dinner and so they did not get the dessert that was prepared for them. Their continued blessing in this way here is conditional: their being chosen in and of itself certainly does not save them from God’s wrath anymore than someone else’s not being chosen. God, after all, desires that not one should be lost.
But because, Amos 3:2, “You only have I known (chosen, NIV) of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities,” it means that Israel’s and our election - because we are grafted into the promise (Romans 11) – our ‘election’ does not mean protection from God’s wrath if we continue to disobey Him and/or our election is truly conditional upon upholding our part of the agreement (James 2). Being the chosen people, or simply calling ourselves Christian, is really no protection from the wrath of God (cf. Romans 2).[9]
And even more that that: As you and I have been chosen for a relationship and a task, if we wilfully neglect that (Matt 25:31ff.), like the goats in the parable of the sheep and the goats, we will be cast away to where there is a weeping and a gnashing of teeth because ‘you only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.’
But too we remember that as we are His children, God doesn’t want to cast us away. He loves us and as it says in proverbs, “spare the rod and spoil the child” (cf. Prov. 22:15, 23:13, 29:15). His discipline in our lives is because He loves us and so that we will not neglect our neighbour, our God, and our own salvation. It is because He loves us, because He knows us of all the families on the earth that indeed He disciplines us.
We know that are saved because of what Jesus did for us on the cross; and we know that because He knows and loves us, if we sin, there are consequences because God is faithful (cf. Rom 3:3,4) and He doesn’t want us to be cast aside. He disciplines us when we do wrong, always giving us opportunity to repent, always hoping that we will return again to loving and serving Him.
The book of Amos itself even ends on a note of reconciliation. Israel was faithless but God is faithful and this is an important. Even though Israel sinned and forfeited their promised land, Amos does point to the hope of a future restoration[10] and that future restoration is in Christ. So as sure as when we are unfaithful we are deserving of punishment, as we return to God, and as we love our neighbour as ourselves, God is faithful and He will forgive us our sins and we will experience the full benefits of our covenant with God.
Even though Israel sinned and was removed from their promised land, even though humankind sinned and Jesus died for those sins.[11] Even though we are sometimes faithless and our works do not always reflect our status, God is faithful. He will never leave us nor forsake us. As long as we have a breath in our body we have to opportunity to return to God and be saved!
Let us pray.
---
[1] Karl Moller. “‘Hear This Word Against You’: a Fresh Look at the Arrangement and the Rhetorical Strategy of the Book of Amos,” Vetus Testamentum 50, no. 4 (2000):343
[2] And his prophecy, when he says ‘you only have I known among the nations’ – his message is meant for both Israel and Judah. It is addressed to greater Israel as it were.
[3] Douglas Stuart, Amos. (Word Biblical Commentary 31. Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1987), 321.
[4] cf. Donald E. Gowan, Amos. (NIB 7. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1996),340 and Roland Kenneth Harrison. Introduction to the Old Testament. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977),884.
[5] Cf. Thomas E. McComiskey, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Amos/Introduction to Amos/Theological Values of Amos/The doctrine of election in Amos, Book Version: 4.0.2
[6] cf. Donald E. Gowan, Amos. (TNIB 7. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1996), 383, 347; Douglas Stuart. Amos. (WBC 31: Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1987), 333, 338, 368;
[7] This is important but not only for Israel but also for us as well because some of these things that Amos tells Israel that they are responsible for as the people chosen to fulfil God’s blessing to the world, Matthew tells us that we are responsible for too as inheritors of that great commission (cf. Matt 25:31ff; 28:16ff).
[8] And if we flip to the first paragraph of Chapter Four, it is stated explicitly why Israel is to be punished and what shall be its punishment. It is because even though God has offered them a special covenant, they oppress the poor, crush the needy, indulge themselves at the expense of the poor and as a result, it is written that “the Lord God has sworn by his holiness: The time is surely coming upon you, when they shall take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks.” Israel was chosen for a purpose and with that comes responsibility. We are chosen and with that comes a responsibility as well: because ‘you only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.’
[9] http://www.sheepspeak.com/OT_Michael_Ramsay.htm
[10]http://www.sheepspeak.com/OT_Michael_Ramsay.htm#therefore%20I%20will%20punish%20you
[11] Michael Ramsay. Covenant: When God is Bound...a look at Genesis 15:7-21. Journal of Aggressive Christianity, Issue 52, December 2007 – January 2008, pp 5-10. Available on-line at http://www.armybarmy.com/pdf/JAC_Issue_052.pdf
by Captain Michael Ramsay
2 Corinthians 13:5-7: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are living by faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ is in you? – unless, indeed, you fail to meet the test. I hope that you will find that you will not fail.”
Reading this made me realize that we have not had a test in a while – so in the spirit of Disneyworld from where we have just returned I have a little riddle for you.
Show pictures of Captain Hook and other Pirates.
If you saw a ship like this with a crew of men with hooks for hands, pegs for legs, and patches over their eyes ....
What do you think would be on their flag?
Artificial legs, hands, and missing eyes…
Today I was specifically going to speak about the test we read about in 2 Corinthians but I thought that this related to an area that I have studied quite a bit over the years that might provide a good bit of background for us first with another test of sorts – or at least the results of one: Amos three verse two. I think we might find that it actually does relate to our test of 2 Corinthians, which we should get an opportunity to look at in a couple of weeks.
Amos 3:2 states that: You only have I known (chosen, NIV) of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
Amos was a prophet sometime around 750-760 BCE – Israel was spilt into 2 countries at this time: Israel and Judah [Uzziah was the King of Judah and Jereboam was the King of Israel.][1] After the death of Solomon, you will remember, Israel had a civil war and broke into North and South sort of like the American civil war with the Confederacy vs. the Union, or North and South Vietnam before they were unified under Ho Chi Min, or North and South Korea, China and Taiwan of today, or East and West Germany of the Cold War. Like the Germans, they really are one people, Israel and Judah, they are just politically divided right now[2] when Amos gives his message and he really does address them here as one people, a people chosen by God.[3]
That being said it is interesting because Israel is divided in the time of Amos like Germany was during the Cold War. Amos was from the South and he came with his message that God was going to punish the people but he told that message to the king of the North. That would be like someone from East Germany going to the West Germans to tell them that God was going to punish them – or like someone from New York bringing this message to Texas, or even someone from Quebec bringing that message to the prairies. It just wouldn’t be appreciated and it wasn’t.[4]
Nonetheless this message of Amos is for all of God’s people here (and I submit now, as well) and He says, “You only have I known (chosen, NIV) of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
The word for known/chosen here is ‘yada’ and it refers to an intimate kind of relationship. It is like when elsewhere in the Old Testament people ‘know’ their wives or husbands. It is the same way God said that he knew/chose Jeremiah even before he was born. It refers to the very intimate purpose for which Israel was chosen that, as inheritors of Abraham’s promise (Gen 12:3), all the nations of the earth would be blessed through them. This was what they were elected for; this is what made them special, the fact that God knew them and that He specifically chose to bless the world through Abraham, Isaac and Israel - which He did. He fulfilled His promise for the world (John 3:16) to Abraham through Israel by Jesus Christ.
There was more than this too. God not only promised his people chosen for this object that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through them (Gen 12:3), which was completed as Jesus declared ‘it is finished’ on the cross (John 19:30) and later rose from the dead. This covenant purpose is fulfilled (cf. Matt 5:18) but that happens long after Amos and there was another part their election that Amos was looking at too. Israel held very tightly to the promise that they would possess their promised land (Gen 15; Exod 19:5).[5] They held so tightly to this that, it seems, that at times they forgot that the acquisition of their promised land was fulfilled already and, if anything, the retention of it was conditional (cf. Amos 3:15).[6]
It is like a parent promising her child dessert if she cleans her room. She only actually gets the dessert if the room is actually clean!
Like this, with Amos’ Israel, if they remain faithful they will reap the benefits of their covenant but if they don’t, precisely because “You only have I known (chosen, NIV) of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” Now remember that the word for ‘known’ is ‘yada’; this word also means ‘chosen’ and this special ‘yada’ relationship goes both ways. If Israel is faithful they receive the due rewards but if not – precisely because He ‘yada’ knows them in this way –God will punish Israel for failing to do what they are ‘yada’ chosen to do.
It is like a parent speaking to her child again…I have spent a lot of time with my children these past two weeks… the child who has friends over complains that she is the only one to ever get in trouble. She says everyone else was yelling – or using paints in their good clothes or hitting their sister or whatever –no one else helped clean her room so why is she the only one who doesn’t get dessert when her room isn’t clean …Because you are my child and the others aren’t and I asked you specifically to clean your room, that’s why. It is because our children are ‘yada’ known by us, their parents, and ‘yada’ chosen by us for obedience that they get in trouble for their iniquities.
It is the same with the Roughriders fans, they aren’t going to punish the BC Lions quarterback for a terrible pass because they haven’t ‘yada’ chosen or even cheered for him to make that pass but when the Roughriders make a serious mistake…it is a different story. The Calgary Flames too provide an example of this in that often boo their own team when they have a bad game in a way that they don’t boo visitors.
Likewise in the churches today: we know that going to church and doing the right things won’t save anyone from hell. It is being part of God’s family that saves us. It is who we know and what He did for us that gets us into heaven but once He has let us in, we should follow His house rules. If we refuse to follow our Heavenly Father than it is like we are rejecting Him and there are consequences for that: Amos 3:2: “You only have I known (chosen, NIV) of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
It is the same with Israel in Amos’ time (cf. Lamentations 4:22; Ezekiel 34; Joel 2:18ff; Matt 25:31ff.). When they are chosen, when we are elected for a task there are certain house rules, certain responsibilities that come with it. Amos mentions in 2:6ff some of these responsibilities.[7]
6 This is what the LORD says:
"For three sins of Israel,
even for four, I will not turn back {my wrath}.
They sell the righteous for silver,
and the needy for a pair of sandals.
7 They trample on the heads of the poor
as upon the dust of the ground
and deny justice to the oppressed.
Father and son use the same girl
and so profane my holy name.
8 They lie down beside every altar
on garments taken in pledge.
In the house of their god
they drink wine taken as fines.
9 "I destroyed the Amorite before them,
though he was tall as the cedars
and strong as the oaks.
I destroyed his fruit above
and his roots below.
10 "I brought you up out of Egypt,
and I led you forty years in the desert
to give you the land of the Amorites.
11 I also raised up prophets from among your sons
and Nazirites from among your young men.
Is this not true, people of Israel?"
declares the LORD.
12 "But you made the Nazirites drink wine
and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.
What are the sins of God’s chosen people for which he will not turn back his wrath (Amos 2:6) for which He will punish them?
They value capital more than social; they value money and possessions more than people. The way the nation of Israel was set up at that time some could amass wealth (silver) well others were left to become poor (Amos 2:6) – maybe like some countries or churches in this day and age that claim or once claimed to be Christian. Israel’s (maybe not unlike some countries/churches of today) economic and political system had come to be in such a state that only the wealthy could afford justice (verse 7) and that rather than using the wealth that God has given them to help the poor they use it to indulge themselves (cf. Amos 4:3) and in the process profane the name of God.
It is interesting: 2:7, Amos speaks of father and son using the same girl and Verse 8 talks about them lying down beside the altar itself on clothes taken in pledge [and then it says that they also take what is offered to God in the way of a ‘fine wine’]. In Mosaic Law (Dt 24:12 ;Exod 22:25-27, 23:11),God makes it clear that He has a special affinity for the poor (cf. Exod 23:11; Prov 29:14; Isa 10:2, 11:4. 41:17; 58:7,…) who will always be with us (Matt 26:11, Mark 14:7); [it is probably to ensure that as his children we reflect His special love for them].
In Exodus 22:25-27 (cf. Dt 24:12), It states point-blank that one is not supposed to charge interest on loans to the poor and that if their coats are taken as collateral they must be returned by sundown.
Verses 7 and 8 of our text say: “…Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name. They lie down beside every altar on [these] garments taken in pledge.” Amos is accusing God’s chosen people here of defiling His temple and forsaking the poor: failing to love their neighbour, and failing to love God.[8]
Now because God ‘yada’ knows Israel and as a result of its unfaithfulness and this neglect for their poorer neighbour, the Israelites are removed from the land promised to them. They didn’t clean their room before dinner and so they did not get the dessert that was prepared for them. Their continued blessing in this way here is conditional: their being chosen in and of itself certainly does not save them from God’s wrath anymore than someone else’s not being chosen. God, after all, desires that not one should be lost.
But because, Amos 3:2, “You only have I known (chosen, NIV) of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities,” it means that Israel’s and our election - because we are grafted into the promise (Romans 11) – our ‘election’ does not mean protection from God’s wrath if we continue to disobey Him and/or our election is truly conditional upon upholding our part of the agreement (James 2). Being the chosen people, or simply calling ourselves Christian, is really no protection from the wrath of God (cf. Romans 2).[9]
And even more that that: As you and I have been chosen for a relationship and a task, if we wilfully neglect that (Matt 25:31ff.), like the goats in the parable of the sheep and the goats, we will be cast away to where there is a weeping and a gnashing of teeth because ‘you only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.’
But too we remember that as we are His children, God doesn’t want to cast us away. He loves us and as it says in proverbs, “spare the rod and spoil the child” (cf. Prov. 22:15, 23:13, 29:15). His discipline in our lives is because He loves us and so that we will not neglect our neighbour, our God, and our own salvation. It is because He loves us, because He knows us of all the families on the earth that indeed He disciplines us.
We know that are saved because of what Jesus did for us on the cross; and we know that because He knows and loves us, if we sin, there are consequences because God is faithful (cf. Rom 3:3,4) and He doesn’t want us to be cast aside. He disciplines us when we do wrong, always giving us opportunity to repent, always hoping that we will return again to loving and serving Him.
The book of Amos itself even ends on a note of reconciliation. Israel was faithless but God is faithful and this is an important. Even though Israel sinned and forfeited their promised land, Amos does point to the hope of a future restoration[10] and that future restoration is in Christ. So as sure as when we are unfaithful we are deserving of punishment, as we return to God, and as we love our neighbour as ourselves, God is faithful and He will forgive us our sins and we will experience the full benefits of our covenant with God.
Even though Israel sinned and was removed from their promised land, even though humankind sinned and Jesus died for those sins.[11] Even though we are sometimes faithless and our works do not always reflect our status, God is faithful. He will never leave us nor forsake us. As long as we have a breath in our body we have to opportunity to return to God and be saved!
Let us pray.
---
[1] Karl Moller. “‘Hear This Word Against You’: a Fresh Look at the Arrangement and the Rhetorical Strategy of the Book of Amos,” Vetus Testamentum 50, no. 4 (2000):343
[2] And his prophecy, when he says ‘you only have I known among the nations’ – his message is meant for both Israel and Judah. It is addressed to greater Israel as it were.
[3] Douglas Stuart, Amos. (Word Biblical Commentary 31. Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1987), 321.
[4] cf. Donald E. Gowan, Amos. (NIB 7. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1996),340 and Roland Kenneth Harrison. Introduction to the Old Testament. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977),884.
[5] Cf. Thomas E. McComiskey, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Amos/Introduction to Amos/Theological Values of Amos/The doctrine of election in Amos, Book Version: 4.0.2
[6] cf. Donald E. Gowan, Amos. (TNIB 7. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1996), 383, 347; Douglas Stuart. Amos. (WBC 31: Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1987), 333, 338, 368;
[7] This is important but not only for Israel but also for us as well because some of these things that Amos tells Israel that they are responsible for as the people chosen to fulfil God’s blessing to the world, Matthew tells us that we are responsible for too as inheritors of that great commission (cf. Matt 25:31ff; 28:16ff).
[8] And if we flip to the first paragraph of Chapter Four, it is stated explicitly why Israel is to be punished and what shall be its punishment. It is because even though God has offered them a special covenant, they oppress the poor, crush the needy, indulge themselves at the expense of the poor and as a result, it is written that “the Lord God has sworn by his holiness: The time is surely coming upon you, when they shall take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks.” Israel was chosen for a purpose and with that comes responsibility. We are chosen and with that comes a responsibility as well: because ‘you only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.’
[9] http://www.sheepspeak.com/OT_Michael_Ramsay.htm
[10]http://www.sheepspeak.com/OT_Michael_Ramsay.htm#therefore%20I%20will%20punish%20you
[11] Michael Ramsay. Covenant: When God is Bound...a look at Genesis 15:7-21. Journal of Aggressive Christianity, Issue 52, December 2007 – January 2008, pp 5-10. Available on-line at http://www.armybarmy.com/pdf/JAC_Issue_052.pdf
Saturday, October 18, 2008
2 Corinthians 5:6-10: Home and Away Series
Presented to each the Nipawin and Tisdale Corps 19 October 2008
by Captain Michael Ramsay
To view a version shared with Alberni Valley Ministries on 25 August 2019, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2019/08/2-corinthians-56-10-home-and-away.html
Hockey season has started here again. It is neat hearing all the excitement of some of the kids in town around the Hawks (Trojans) games and the team. As a kid, I remember going out to the arena to watch junior hockey games (The Victoria Cougars) with my dad - it was a big deal. As a kid the excitement is intense. The excitement is amazing when you go out to cheer for the home team.
Years later, when I was working for the College (CPCI), I can remember the excitement of taking a number of our Japanese students to a couple of play-off games for the Mann Cup final of box lacrosse. I don’t know if anyone here knows anything about box lacrosse – but the Mann Cup is pretty important. It is the Grey Cup of lacrosse.
I can remember that at first I didn’t really realize what a big deal the final series was – I thought that I could just get someone to swing by and get tickets for the final home and away series so I asked Susan to just go down and pick us up some tickets on her way to wherever she was going. Well there must have been five to six thousand people lined up (at least!) to try and get one of the remaining tickets. Susan crowded in the line-up there for hours as the line moved slowly forward until, I think, she had to go to her job or something; so I traded off and went down to the arena myself.
Shortly afterwards my cell phone rang. It was Susan; she just heard on the radio that you could buy the tickets over the phone now and praise the Lord this was in the days before everyone had cell phones; so, now not only was I waiting in line but I was calling from my phone and I had my whole staff at the office and Susan trying to get through on the phone, all the time I am moving closer and closer to those last remaining tickets with less and less of them available all the time. It got down to there being very few tickets left and I wasn’t even near enough the ticket spot to see it yet when my phone rang – it was Susan, we got the tickets! I cheered as I took the victory tour, and embarked on the challenge of moving through the crowd like a Salmon swimming against the current.
This victory of just getting the tickets was almost as exciting as when our guys won the cup. Play-offs: They are exciting when you hear your team win on the radio when they are away. They are exciting to see your team win on TV but there is nothing like seeing the victory of home team live or in my case even the victory of being able to get the tickets to watch the home team play live. Our text today is talking about that a little bit too. 1 Corinthians 5:6-10:
6Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7We live by faith, not by sight. 8We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
Paul is talking about a home and away series of sorts (cf. Eph. 218-20; Phil 3:20). He says that though we are in the body right now and playing an away game as it were (because we are away from the Lord), the final game will be a home game (cf. 1 Thess. 4:17; Philippians 1:23). In the end we will be playing before the Lord. Paul is saying very much that it is like a championship series and right now we are playing in an away game. Right now in this away game of the home-and-away series, in this game of our life, we may be dying but the home game is coming. The home game is to be played in heaven (or on the new earth as the case may be) and that is when our performance will be judged and we’ll receive whatever is due us (2 Cor. 5:10).
Look at verse 10. Paul is writing to Christians and he says that we all must appear before that judgement seat at the next game when the trophy is to be awarded. We don’t get a bypass on judgement just because we are Christians as some people suggest (cf. 1Cor 3:10-15 and Rom 14:10-12). Just because we are on Christ’s team doesn’t mean we get to sit out the rest of this game on the bench either. We can’t stop playing if we want to get that trophy, even if it seems like we might be losing, even if it seems that we aren’t playing our best, even if all the fans seem to be cheering against us. Even if we are a little injured, we have to keep playing and sometimes it’s difficult.
Sometimes our opponent seems to be winning. Sometimes it seems that no matter what we do, sometimes, to use a baseball analogy, sometimes it seems every time we swing, we miss. Sometimes it seems that we just strike out. Sometimes it seems that events or the devil get the upper hand.
The devil is pitching for the other team. Sometimes he throws some curve balls. He even threw some at Jesus during the away game. We know that Jesus suffered the temptations known to man and that Jesus prevailed (Cf. Matt. 4, Mk 1, Lk. 4, 1 Cor. 10:12-14, James 1:1-3) but do you remember the story of the devil’s attempt to tempt Jesus in the desert (Matt. 4, Mk 1, Lk. 4)? As part of this, the devil says to Jesus, Luke 4:5-6, I will give you all of the power, all countries (kingdoms) in the world. I will give you all this authority, he says, “it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I please. If you then worship me it will be yours.” The devil says all of this as he is trying to knock Jesus out of the away game. The devil doesn’t want Jesus to play in the game. He doesn’t want Him to make it home. He is trying to throw Him off or maybe – for an even better analogy - he is even trying to offer Him a buy-out or an early retirement package of sorts.
Satan offers Jesus everything and it seems to be a pretty good offer because in a sense the devil is right. He has been given authority on earth (John 12:30-32, 14:29-31, 16:11)– you don’t have to look so far with all the wars, violence, and starving people around (even though God has given us more than enough to solve all of these problems), You don’t have to look too far to see the trouble that we people are causing here because as the scriptures say the devil is the ‘prince of this age,’” (John 12:30-32, 14:29-31, 16:11) and because we fall victim to his pitches.
The devil tried to knock Jesus out of the away game with temptations; are there times when even though we know Jesus has already won the series between the cross and the empty tomb, are there ways that we can be knocked off our game with a temptation not to play anymore? Are there are times when, even though we know Jesus has already won the series, we just don’t want to get in and play anymore? Are their times when we are tempted to take the devil’s early retirement package rather than to stay and play the final game?
What are some of the pitches that he throws that might make us want to retire in this, the away game? Do you ever just get tired? Do you ever wonder why should I be so good? Why should I be honest if everyone else is cheating? Why should I read the Word? Why should I go to church? Why should I have to everything that I do? – Even, why should I even bother getting up in the morning because nothing changes anyway? The devil throws some tough pitches.
These past couple of weeks I have walked with people in real crises. As I was ministering on Galveston Island after Hurricane Ike struck. People lost their homes, their jobs, and their families… Do you ever feel like giving up? Do you ever feel like giving in? The temptation to not read your Bible; the temptation to not pray; the temptation to hide, the temptations not to get up in the morning, the temptation not to bother, the temptation to turn to self-indulgences and addictions and fear…the temptation to give up. These are all pitches that the devil throws our way in the away game and it gets stressful and the thing about the away game is that at times – it feels as if we are all alone – it feels as if no one is on our side – it can be almost like everyone is cheering against us.
We need to persevere though - There is good news and that good news is that the final game is coming. Those of us that keep playing, those of us that keep pressing on towards the goal (Phil 3:14; 1 Cor. 9:24; Cf. Col 2:18); those of us who don’t give up; those of us who – like it says in verse nine – those of us who make it our goal to please Jesus (who is both our coach and our star player, btw); those of us who make it our aim to please Christ who has already won the victory; we are going to play in the home game when the trophy is awarded. We are going to stand before the judge. We are going to be given the prize for playing on the winning team – provided we keep playing – provided we don’t give up – provided we don’t take the devil’s early retirement package, as good as it may seem. If we stay with Christ we will claim the victory.
Jesus has already won the series. Remember that. Remember that even though Satan is the ‘prince of this age’ as it says in John, and even though he does have some power given to him from above and even though his offers are real, and even though they can sound pretty good - remember that he is just the prince of this age, He is not the king of the age to come.
God is. Jesus is. Therefore, we should remember that when the devil throws these pitches, as Jesus states in Luke 4:8, we should respond and ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only’. Satan, with as much power as he seems to have on this continent and in this world, Satan is just like a bad manager while the boss is away. And you know what happens to a bad manager when the boss comes back? He gets fired and Jesus is coming back and when he does the devil and his angles, will be fired in the eternal lake of fire.
Jesus has already won the victory. Even though the away game may be a tough haul that the home game is still ahead and even then that Jesus has already won the victory so we should not give up. This away game is almost over and the series has been won already. Don’t give in to temptation to quit. Stay the course. Don’t take the buy-out. Like it says in Verse 9, “whether we are home or away we make it our aim to please Him.” We should make it our aim to please the LORD.
So when the devil tosses you balls of self-doubt, when the devil tosses you balls of blame and temptation, hit them out of the park. Remember that Christ has already won the victory. We are just waiting for the cup to be awarded. When you are tempted to give up, when we are tempted to sin. Stand firm, the prize has been won and it is waiting for us. Let’s have a strong finish to our game.
In this away game of our lives, we don’t need to give in to sin. We do need to be holy (1 Peter 1:15, Lev 11:44,45; 19:2; 20:7). We can be perfect (2 Cor. 13; Col. 1:28; Hebrews 11,12;) not by ourselves but with the Lord’s help. He will do it (1 Thess 5:23-24). He has won the victory. We just need to rely on God and on His scriptures. The Spirit will let us endure any temptation as we stand firm we will indeed enjoy the victory!
Like it says in James 1:12, ‘Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.’ Don’t give up, remain in the spirit, even if you slip up, remain in the spirit and as you do you will find that you read the scriptures, trust in God, endure the temptations, persevere, hit the devil’s pitches out of the park and claim the victory!
Let us pray. This prayer for us from 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, ‘May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you (us) through and through. May your (our) whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.’
by Captain Michael Ramsay
To view a version shared with Alberni Valley Ministries on 25 August 2019, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2019/08/2-corinthians-56-10-home-and-away.html
Hockey season has started here again. It is neat hearing all the excitement of some of the kids in town around the Hawks (Trojans) games and the team. As a kid, I remember going out to the arena to watch junior hockey games (The Victoria Cougars) with my dad - it was a big deal. As a kid the excitement is intense. The excitement is amazing when you go out to cheer for the home team.
Years later, when I was working for the College (CPCI), I can remember the excitement of taking a number of our Japanese students to a couple of play-off games for the Mann Cup final of box lacrosse. I don’t know if anyone here knows anything about box lacrosse – but the Mann Cup is pretty important. It is the Grey Cup of lacrosse.
I can remember that at first I didn’t really realize what a big deal the final series was – I thought that I could just get someone to swing by and get tickets for the final home and away series so I asked Susan to just go down and pick us up some tickets on her way to wherever she was going. Well there must have been five to six thousand people lined up (at least!) to try and get one of the remaining tickets. Susan crowded in the line-up there for hours as the line moved slowly forward until, I think, she had to go to her job or something; so I traded off and went down to the arena myself.
Shortly afterwards my cell phone rang. It was Susan; she just heard on the radio that you could buy the tickets over the phone now and praise the Lord this was in the days before everyone had cell phones; so, now not only was I waiting in line but I was calling from my phone and I had my whole staff at the office and Susan trying to get through on the phone, all the time I am moving closer and closer to those last remaining tickets with less and less of them available all the time. It got down to there being very few tickets left and I wasn’t even near enough the ticket spot to see it yet when my phone rang – it was Susan, we got the tickets! I cheered as I took the victory tour, and embarked on the challenge of moving through the crowd like a Salmon swimming against the current.
This victory of just getting the tickets was almost as exciting as when our guys won the cup. Play-offs: They are exciting when you hear your team win on the radio when they are away. They are exciting to see your team win on TV but there is nothing like seeing the victory of home team live or in my case even the victory of being able to get the tickets to watch the home team play live. Our text today is talking about that a little bit too. 1 Corinthians 5:6-10:
6Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7We live by faith, not by sight. 8We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
Paul is talking about a home and away series of sorts (cf. Eph. 218-20; Phil 3:20). He says that though we are in the body right now and playing an away game as it were (because we are away from the Lord), the final game will be a home game (cf. 1 Thess. 4:17; Philippians 1:23). In the end we will be playing before the Lord. Paul is saying very much that it is like a championship series and right now we are playing in an away game. Right now in this away game of the home-and-away series, in this game of our life, we may be dying but the home game is coming. The home game is to be played in heaven (or on the new earth as the case may be) and that is when our performance will be judged and we’ll receive whatever is due us (2 Cor. 5:10).
Look at verse 10. Paul is writing to Christians and he says that we all must appear before that judgement seat at the next game when the trophy is to be awarded. We don’t get a bypass on judgement just because we are Christians as some people suggest (cf. 1Cor 3:10-15 and Rom 14:10-12). Just because we are on Christ’s team doesn’t mean we get to sit out the rest of this game on the bench either. We can’t stop playing if we want to get that trophy, even if it seems like we might be losing, even if it seems that we aren’t playing our best, even if all the fans seem to be cheering against us. Even if we are a little injured, we have to keep playing and sometimes it’s difficult.
Sometimes our opponent seems to be winning. Sometimes it seems that no matter what we do, sometimes, to use a baseball analogy, sometimes it seems every time we swing, we miss. Sometimes it seems that we just strike out. Sometimes it seems that events or the devil get the upper hand.
The devil is pitching for the other team. Sometimes he throws some curve balls. He even threw some at Jesus during the away game. We know that Jesus suffered the temptations known to man and that Jesus prevailed (Cf. Matt. 4, Mk 1, Lk. 4, 1 Cor. 10:12-14, James 1:1-3) but do you remember the story of the devil’s attempt to tempt Jesus in the desert (Matt. 4, Mk 1, Lk. 4)? As part of this, the devil says to Jesus, Luke 4:5-6, I will give you all of the power, all countries (kingdoms) in the world. I will give you all this authority, he says, “it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I please. If you then worship me it will be yours.” The devil says all of this as he is trying to knock Jesus out of the away game. The devil doesn’t want Jesus to play in the game. He doesn’t want Him to make it home. He is trying to throw Him off or maybe – for an even better analogy - he is even trying to offer Him a buy-out or an early retirement package of sorts.
Satan offers Jesus everything and it seems to be a pretty good offer because in a sense the devil is right. He has been given authority on earth (John 12:30-32, 14:29-31, 16:11)– you don’t have to look so far with all the wars, violence, and starving people around (even though God has given us more than enough to solve all of these problems), You don’t have to look too far to see the trouble that we people are causing here because as the scriptures say the devil is the ‘prince of this age,’” (John 12:30-32, 14:29-31, 16:11) and because we fall victim to his pitches.
The devil tried to knock Jesus out of the away game with temptations; are there times when even though we know Jesus has already won the series between the cross and the empty tomb, are there ways that we can be knocked off our game with a temptation not to play anymore? Are there are times when, even though we know Jesus has already won the series, we just don’t want to get in and play anymore? Are their times when we are tempted to take the devil’s early retirement package rather than to stay and play the final game?
What are some of the pitches that he throws that might make us want to retire in this, the away game? Do you ever just get tired? Do you ever wonder why should I be so good? Why should I be honest if everyone else is cheating? Why should I read the Word? Why should I go to church? Why should I have to everything that I do? – Even, why should I even bother getting up in the morning because nothing changes anyway? The devil throws some tough pitches.
These past couple of weeks I have walked with people in real crises. As I was ministering on Galveston Island after Hurricane Ike struck. People lost their homes, their jobs, and their families… Do you ever feel like giving up? Do you ever feel like giving in? The temptation to not read your Bible; the temptation to not pray; the temptation to hide, the temptations not to get up in the morning, the temptation not to bother, the temptation to turn to self-indulgences and addictions and fear…the temptation to give up. These are all pitches that the devil throws our way in the away game and it gets stressful and the thing about the away game is that at times – it feels as if we are all alone – it feels as if no one is on our side – it can be almost like everyone is cheering against us.
We need to persevere though - There is good news and that good news is that the final game is coming. Those of us that keep playing, those of us that keep pressing on towards the goal (Phil 3:14; 1 Cor. 9:24; Cf. Col 2:18); those of us who don’t give up; those of us who – like it says in verse nine – those of us who make it our goal to please Jesus (who is both our coach and our star player, btw); those of us who make it our aim to please Christ who has already won the victory; we are going to play in the home game when the trophy is awarded. We are going to stand before the judge. We are going to be given the prize for playing on the winning team – provided we keep playing – provided we don’t give up – provided we don’t take the devil’s early retirement package, as good as it may seem. If we stay with Christ we will claim the victory.
Jesus has already won the series. Remember that. Remember that even though Satan is the ‘prince of this age’ as it says in John, and even though he does have some power given to him from above and even though his offers are real, and even though they can sound pretty good - remember that he is just the prince of this age, He is not the king of the age to come.
God is. Jesus is. Therefore, we should remember that when the devil throws these pitches, as Jesus states in Luke 4:8, we should respond and ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only’. Satan, with as much power as he seems to have on this continent and in this world, Satan is just like a bad manager while the boss is away. And you know what happens to a bad manager when the boss comes back? He gets fired and Jesus is coming back and when he does the devil and his angles, will be fired in the eternal lake of fire.
Jesus has already won the victory. Even though the away game may be a tough haul that the home game is still ahead and even then that Jesus has already won the victory so we should not give up. This away game is almost over and the series has been won already. Don’t give in to temptation to quit. Stay the course. Don’t take the buy-out. Like it says in Verse 9, “whether we are home or away we make it our aim to please Him.” We should make it our aim to please the LORD.
So when the devil tosses you balls of self-doubt, when the devil tosses you balls of blame and temptation, hit them out of the park. Remember that Christ has already won the victory. We are just waiting for the cup to be awarded. When you are tempted to give up, when we are tempted to sin. Stand firm, the prize has been won and it is waiting for us. Let’s have a strong finish to our game.
In this away game of our lives, we don’t need to give in to sin. We do need to be holy (1 Peter 1:15, Lev 11:44,45; 19:2; 20:7). We can be perfect (2 Cor. 13; Col. 1:28; Hebrews 11,12;) not by ourselves but with the Lord’s help. He will do it (1 Thess 5:23-24). He has won the victory. We just need to rely on God and on His scriptures. The Spirit will let us endure any temptation as we stand firm we will indeed enjoy the victory!
Like it says in James 1:12, ‘Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.’ Don’t give up, remain in the spirit, even if you slip up, remain in the spirit and as you do you will find that you read the scriptures, trust in God, endure the temptations, persevere, hit the devil’s pitches out of the park and claim the victory!
Let us pray. This prayer for us from 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, ‘May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you (us) through and through. May your (our) whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.’
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