Luke 11:14-28: The Parable of the Haunted House

Presented to Swift Current Corps 31 October 2010; Corps 614 Regent Park Toronto, 01 November 2015; and Alberni Valley Ministries, 31 October 2021 by Captain Michael Ramsay

 

This is the 2021 Version presented to Alberni Valley Ministries. Links to the other versions are listed at the conclusion of this post. (There is also a video below, if you would prefer to see and hear this message)

 

Today is October 31^st so I thought that it would be good to start off with an October 31^st quiz today:

 

1)     What historic event happened in Wittenburg on this date in 1517? (Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church.)

2)     True or False: Ghosts are mentioned in the Bible. (True, especially The Holy Ghost in the Authorized Version)

3)     True or False: A king of Israel went to a witch to speak with the spirit of a dead person (True, 1 Samuel 28).

a.      Bonus Marks name the King (Saul), the dead person (Samuel), and the witch (the Witch of Endor)

4)     How many people can you name who the Bible records God used to raise others from the dead?

a.      God used Elijah to raise the son of the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:17-23),

b.     God used Elisa to raise the Shunammite woman's son (2 Kings 4:32-37);

c.      There was the man they through into Elisha’s grave (2 Kings 13:21)

d.     Jesus raised:

                                                    i.     the widow's son (Luke 7:12-15),

                                                  ii.     Jairus' daughter (Luke 8:49-55),

                                                iii.     Lazarus (John 11:43,44),

e.      God uses Peter to raise Dorcas (Acts 9:37-40)

f.      Paul raised Eutychus (after he had bored him to death? Acts 20:9-12)

5)     The man possessed by so many demons that they called themselves Legion, where did he live? (In the tombs, the graveyard near Gerasenes; Mark 5:1,2, Luke 8:26-27)

6)     True or False: Jesus tells a parable about a haunted house? (True, Matthew 12:25-29, Mark 3:23-27, Luke 11:17-22)

 

The parable in Luke talks about a demon-possessed man and a demon-possessed house. Luke 11:24-26: “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.” The house is haunted by more demons than it was in the first place. This is in the Parable of the Haunted House.

 

There are many important things to come out of this Parable of the Haunted House. We obviously don’t have time today to spend on all of them. One of the key things to come out of this parable is that God is more important than anyone in the Christian’s life. This is highlighted in the Mark’s version (Mark 3:20-35). We are not to be distracted from serving the Lord by anyone – not even our family. This is very important.

 

About the Haunted House, Luke 11:17-18, “…Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? ...” And Luke 11:23, Jesus says, “He who is not with me is against me” Jesus is drawing the line here. He is being quite clear. Jesus has had a serious accusation levelled against him. He has been accused of exorcising demons by demonic power.

 

Jesus is accused of driving out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons (Luke 11:15, Matthew 12:24, Mark 3:22). We are familiar with the term Beelzebub, right? Milton named one of his characters in ‘Paradise Lost’ Beelzebub. In Milton’s story he was the devil’s henchman but Beelzebub here in scriptures isn’t the right-hand man of the devil. Beelzebub is the devil himself. Beelzebub is another name for the Satan. We remember that the ancient Israelites – long before the time of Jesus’ birth– were often split between those who worshipped YHWH and those who worshipped a Canaanite god by the name of Baal. One of the names people who worshipped Baal used to call him was Baal-Zebul - which literally means ‘Baal the Prince’ (Cf. 2 Kings 1:6; Matthew 10:25; 12:24,27; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15, 18-19). Knowing this, the people who didn’t worship Baal gave the Canaanite god a nickname. They called him Baal-Zebub, which sounds like Baal-Zebul, ‘Baal the Prince’, but in reality means Baal, Lord of the flies; Baal the pest; or Baal, Lord of the dung heap. It wasn’t a favourable name, Baal-Zebub. It was a derogatory name. By Jesus time, with Baal-worship relegated to the dustbin of history but they couldn’t let this good nickname go to waste though; so they applied it to the devil, Satan inherited this nickname. Beelzebub, in the first century CE, was a common derogatory name for Satan. Jesus in our text here is being accused of working for the devil.

 

In our society today we think nothing of people dressing up like evil characters or using the language of demon-possession and witchcraft: we hear it everyday on TV, radio, in pop culture and in casual colloquial language. There were on TV last night alone dozens of movies and TV shows trivializing or glorifying evil. It is so common in our contemporary Canadian society that many times we don’t even twig when we hear references to sorcery or divination but it was very different in Jesus’ day.

Witchcraft was punishable by death (1 Samuel 28:9, Galatians 5:20). These religious teachers who are accusing Jesus of being an agent of evil here cannot be left to make these remarks unchallenged. It must be addressed. They are accusing Jesus of divination, of witchcraft, of sorcery, and in those days people won’t stand by and let that evil go unchecked. 

 

Jesus doesn’t stand by and let these accusations stand. Knowing their thoughts Jesus tells them: “…Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub. Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges” (Luke 11:17-19; cf. Matthew 12:15-17, Mark 3:23-26). Jesus tells them that if he is driving out evil with evil than his opponents are doing exactly the same thing when they perform exorcisms and even more than that Jesus says, one won’t and one can’t even drive out evil with evil: a house divided against itself will fall. Jesus says, Verses 21-22, “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armour in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils (Luke 11:21-22; cf. Matthew 12:29, Mark 3:27)” And, Verses 24-26, “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first” (cf. TSA Doctrine 9). These are the only two options. A divided house cannot stand. So just like an American president said not too many years ago as they were embarking on one of their many wars, “You are either with us or against us.” Jesus says, Luke 11:23, “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.”

 

Well, on this Halloween Day, on this Reformation Day, 2000 ₊ years after the birth of our Lord, where do we stand? Are we with him or are we against him? Jesus defeated sin and death between the cross and the empty tomb (TSA Doctrine 6) but if we look back in our text to Luke 11:27, we notice that a woman who hears what Jesus is saying and who witnesses what Jesus is doing; she calls out to him, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” Jesus then gives her an answer which should be our answer to the deliverance he has offered each of us through his death and resurrection. Jesus replies, Luke 11:28, “blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” Luke 11:23, “He who is not with me is against me.”

This is the choice set before us today. We can ask Jesus to sweep our life clean of the demons that haunt us – whatever it is that is troubling us - and he will. But in that we have to choose whom we will serve. We can serve ourselves, our own desires, we can serve the Enemy; we can invite the demons back in to haunt our lives again or we can serve the Lord and live life abundantly (TSA Docs 6 and 8).

 

Please remember too that any and all of us can ask our Lord Jesus to come and clean our haunted houses of whatever is haunting us. Even if he has already cleaned it once or a hundred times and we have subsequently messed it up. While we still have breath in our body, we can invite him back into our lives to clean them up and sort us out and then, we can continue on to receive the Lord’s blessing of eternal life, Luke 11:28, “blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” As we do this, we will continue in the blessing of the Holy Spirit. This is holiness and this holiness is available to all of us but we must make a choice (cf. TSA Doctrine 10). And, as Joshua said on the very border of the Promised Land, when faced with this very choice, Joshua said ‘as for me and my house we will serve the Lord’ (Joshua 24:15) and I pray that that will be the same response for each and all of us today.

 

Let us pray.

Swift Current 2010: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2010/10/luke-1114-28-matthew-1225-29-parable-of.html

Toronto: 2015: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2015/10/luke-1114-28-haunted-house.html

Convicted. James 1:2-8

 Presented to the Port Alberni Men's Breakfast at Grace Point Church, 30 October 2021, by Captain Michael Ramsay

 

Oct. 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the church door. Jan. 3, 1521, Luther was excommunicated after he had a number of Papal bulls burned and was investigated by the Inquisition; 1521 saw the Diet of Worms and Luther’s kidnapping by Fredrick and by 1524 the religious wars were well underway in Europe. Though not a soldier, Luther was very active in inciting military engagements.

Luther rejected the authority of the Pope, agreed to the principles of Sola Scriptura and justification by faith; rejected the seven sacraments, church tradition, the prohibition to marry for clergy; and he emphasized the power of the Word of God.

Erasmus: His Textus Receptus (1516) was a very important translation of the NT. He was one of the first reformers. Luther was quite upset with Erasmus as Erasmus spoke about good works being shown by those who are saved. Luther really tried to divide faith and deeds – thus he did not like the Book of James very much at all. Erasmus really tried to reconcile the growing violent rifts between the established church and the Reformers.

Wycliffe translated the Bible into English. He wrote, "Englishmen learn Christ's law best in English. Moses heard God's law in his own tongue; so did Christ's apostles." 43 years after his death, officials dug up his body, burned his remains, and threw the ashes into the Swift River. Wycliffe's teachings, however, though suppressed, continued to spread.

Henry VIII: In 1521 After writing Defence of the Seven Sacraments in opposition to Luther, Henry VIII of England was rewarded with the title Defender of the Faith by Pope Leo X. However, he later began the English Reformation in 1534 because the Pope would not grant him a marriage annulment. His marriage to Catherine of Aragon was then declared null and void by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury in defiance of the Catholic church – and the fight was on! King Henry VIII rejected the Pope's authority and created the Church of England.

Thomas More (1478-1535) wrote Utopia and was close to Henry VIII for a long time but was executed on the orders of Henry VIII for refusing to support the English Reformation.

William Tyndale (c. 1494-1536) published a translation of the New Testament in English. In 1536 Tyndale was executed. William Tyndale was burnt at the stake for heresy. His final words were: Lord! Open the King of England's eyes.

John Calvin - 1509-1564 - Perhaps the most important aspect of Calvin’s theology was his analysis of the doctrine of Predestination. Calvin argued that salvation was something not freely chosen, rather individuals were elected to it by God. These individuals (the elect) are known only to God. TULIP

·       T: Total Depravity

·       U: Unconditional Election

·       L: Limited Atonement

·       I: Irresistible Grace

·       P: Perseverance of the Saints

John Knox – Brought Calvinism to Scotland. His name is synonymous with Presbyterianism.

John Wesley – Successfully argued against TULIP – Emphasized the personal relationship with Jesus Christ; he and his brother were used by God to start a massive revival in England. He opposed the evils of the American revolution; he was not a fan of democracy and was used by God to spare England from all the horrors of the Atheist/ Deist French and American Revolutions. Methodism follows Wesley.

Zwingli – the grandfather of reformed Theology. Politics, religion, and even soldiery became forever mixed for the Great Minister of Zurich. He died in battle fighting against his countrymen in October of 1531 at the age of 47.

Zwingli and Martin Luther were born on the very same day: 01 January 1484.They agreed on many things but finally did break irreconcilably. Intermediaries could not bring them together which is interesting since the issue that they broke over has been considered by many to be a matter insignificance: they broke over an understanding of Christ's role in the bread and the wine of communion. Both men rejected transubstantiation. Luther argued that when one consumed the bread and wine there was no change in their substance, but there was an addition of the elements of the body of Christ to them.”  Zwingli recognized the Lord’s Supper as purely a symbolic act, rejecting 'real presence' all together. The rift between these two great Reformers continued un-mended. Not even Zwingli's violent death appeased Luther. The unforgiving Luther said, that “his death was merely the removal of another fanatic. Zwingli resorted to the sword and received his just reward.” Worst of all, Luther proclaimed, Zwingli “was no fellow Christian.”

Here we have some significant people whom the Lord used to shape the world and His church. Some of them did some very good things and some very bad things. Some of them died violent deaths. Some of them died for political reasons, some of the died for personal reasons, some of them were martyrs for the faith. They lived in violent times when good church men were divided over political, military, and spiritual issues.

It is the same in the Church today. Covid has divided the churches and has caused many to be uncharitable to each other. It has forced us to decide whether we are men of conviction or not and what our conviction looks like. We face real serious moral dilemma.

During the period of the lockdown when the churches were told we couldn’t meet to worship, many churches and many pastors made many different decisions. Some were probably right. Some may have been wrong.  What made me sad was when people in the churches in our country attacked one another, instead of building one another up in service to Christ. We all had to decide then, like we still need to decide now, if we were people of conviction who were prepared to stand up for the Gospel of Christ or not.

Our congregation with the approval of the government and after multiple inspections, we continued to meet. We were allowed to meet because while we were listening to messages and worship music, we were making food to feed the hungry. We then delivered the meals to homeless and other people in our community. We felt strongly convicted that we needed to continue to meet as the Church to worship God in this way. We followed our convictions. God is good: we were able to navigate that storm by being wise as serpents and gentle as doves. I hope and I trust that churches and Christians who made other choices did so also under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. I hope and I trust we all are men who follow the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

This week I came to a head with some people who work for a level of government. We have a contract with them. A government employee and his advisors were all of a sudden trying to force us to hand out crack pipes and needles to people who were struggling to remain sober and safe – or they wouldn’t fund us. This would do so much damage to many vulnerable people. Praise God, as we remained firm in our convictions to stand up to those who seemed to be in authority on behalf of those struggling with addiction, the Lord delivered us. God let the employee’s supervisor overrule the employee and his advisors whose advice would hurt many people. God saved our people.

Now, still in our pandemic, I face another moral dilemma and I am not 100% sure what I should do. (I would like you men to pray for me.) The Salvation Army’s Canadian Headquarters is requiring all our staff and our officers to be double vaccinated in order to continue to serve God in in-person ministry. I am double vaccinated. I feel for my colleagues and certainly the staff under my care who are unable to be vaccinated for reasons of health, mental health, and/or conscience. I feel convicted to stand up for them, to help them, and I am willing; but how?  The devil has taken the opportunities afforded him during covid to try to divide the Church and the churches. This vaccine mandate has possibly caused a real rift even in our organization. I need to continue to discern where and how the Lord is leading me.

These are some of my struggles, my friends. I hope I am always faithful to my convictions. Tomorrow is Reformation Day. The Reformation was a major rift in the Christian Church that caused the deaths of many people and hopefully much good as well. Many Reformers died for their convictions. Some died fighting with each other or for matters of little or no significance. Some died for personal gain. Some of the Reformers, however, died well. They died – as they lived - for the gospel of Christ. I hope I always live for the Gospel of Christ.

We are faced with times of division in our churches today – not just around covid and vaccines but around many other things. There are many issues and struggles facing us in the church today. So today I encourage you to seek God, hear what He is telling you and to do what He is convicting you to do. Pray for me that I will be firm in my conviction to follow Christ faithfully through these times -and that I will be able to always discern where He is leading me - and I will pray the same for you.

www.sheepspeak.com

https://www.facebook.com/Salvogesis

Psalm 126: Imagine

Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 24 October 2021, by Captain Michael Ramsay

1 When the Lord restored the people,

we were like those who dream.

2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,

and our tongue with shouts of joy;

then it was said among the nations,

“The Lord has done great things for them.”

3 The Lord has done great things for us,

and we rejoiced.

4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord,

like the watercourses in the Negeb.

5 May those who sow in tears

reap with shouts of joy.

6 Those who go out weeping,

bearing the seed for sowing,

shall come home with shouts of joy,

carrying their sheaves.

 

Imagine this with me. You get up and get ready for your day. You head out to pick up some groceries before doing whatever else you have planned for the day. You don’t have a mask. You don’t go back to your car to get a mask; you don’t have one there either. You don’t go all the way back home; you have no idea where one might be there even though not long ago you had 2 or 3 readily accessible everywhere. You don’t have a mask. You don’t know where you might find one. But here is the thing – imagine this: You don’t need a mask. You don’t have to look for one because no one asks for you to wear one. 

 

Imagine then that you go for brunch with a friend. The is no hand sanitizer at the door. There are no directional arrows on the floor or the wall. No one meets you at the door or at your table asking to see your papers or scan your vaccine passport. Imagine that the table next to you is full of your friends. Imagine that you shake hands with your friends or even –if you are a hugger – hug. Imagine your friends ask you to join them. Imagine that the waitstaff pulls a table up to theirs for you and your friends to all sit down together. Imagine that you go up to the counter to pay the bill when you are done and there is no plexiglass separating you and the host or hostess. 

Imagine then that you go to a coffee shop with a friend later in the day. You drive there while listening to the radio and you don’t hear about any new covid-19 cases. You get to the coffee shop early so you check your phone or a newspaper while you are waiting and you see no news of a pandemic. You wait in line and are so close that you accidently touch the person in front of you – and neither of you notices! Imagine that as you stand in this line while people are talking all around you and you don’t hear anyone complaining about daily or weekly changes to the rules that guide our society. Your friend arrives, the two of you have a conversation and out of nowhere Covid-19 does come up in the conversation but neither of you can remember the names Dr. Bonnie, Dr. Tam, or Dr. Fauci or Dr. whomever else. 

Imagine then that you go home at night – you are afraid to go to sleep because you may wake up and realize this is all just a dream. You wake up the next morning... and... it’s true. Covid-19, the pandemic is just a memory. People’s fear and anguish about the virus is just a memory. People’s confusion and anger about what to do about it is just a memory.  

This Psalm is very much like that. It was probably written either while or just after the people of Israel were in exile or when they were in some other significant predicament.  The people of Israel were experiencing or anticipating a ‘new normal’ with all of the challenges that that inevitably held. Not everyone survived the exile. People in subsequent generations suffered and died. Individuals never saw their homes again. It got to the point where people thought that the time that they were going through was never going to end – and then it did. They got through it.

God got them through it. This was very likely a psalm that was sung regularly by pilgrims as they approached Jerusalem remembering and praising God for seeing them through this time.  When people did return it was not the same as before. There were many challenges ahead. But today in this psalm there is much celebration! God has delivered them just as God is delivering and will deliver us through the pandemic

Just like we can imagine the joy in our lives when this pandemic comes to an end, the author of this psalm captured the moment of excitement for the people. It is like the end of a war or the end of a plague, a global pandemic. We are in that moment now of dreaming of times to come, like many did in the Bible and many have done since and before. It is important that psalms like this are recorded and repeated (as they were)  because soon people forget about all the things that people suffered through and in times of prosperity people forget about all that God has brought us through – how faithful He is to us. It doesn’t take long to forget. But we need to remember because remembering is hope for we know that just as God has got us through predicaments in the past, He will get us through predicaments in the future and He will get us through this one now.  He is faithful!

Picture yourself in the hopefully very near future, months from now even when this is all over. Now imagine a year or two down the road. Imagine explaining to someone a few years from now about what it was like when the whole world once-upon-a-time had a lockdown. Imagine explaining to them how people had to isolate for two weeks if they went to certain places or saw certain people. Imagine explaining that all school was homeschool or online from Spring break until the end of the 2019-2020 school year. Imagine explaining to people how churches, restaurants, businesses, and many other things were actually forcibly shut down for months. Imagine explaining to people how you weren’t allowed to visit your parents and grandparents in seniors’ homes for months on end. Imagine explaining that some people were actually denied their last rites (or equivalent) by Health Authority staff or administrators. Imagine explaining to people that you weren’t even allowed to visit your sick and injured children in the hospital. Imagine explaining that there were actually many people who never or very rarely even left their homes for the better part of a year or more. Imagine explaining to someone that many people stopped going to work and either quit, went on leave, or worked from home for a long time, a year or more without going into the office. Imagine trying to explain to people that after the businesses slowly opened that your friend lost their job because they couldn’t actually get a government approved injection. Imagine telling someone how you personally were turned away from a restaurant once because your phone died and you forgot your laminated version of a vaccine passport. Imagine explaining to someone a few years from now what a vaccine passport even is! Imagine explaining to someone that feeling you have when you walk all the way across a parking lot to the store only to get to the door, realize that you don’t have a mask, and have to walk all the way back to your car. Imagine explaining to someone that – yes – you actually did have a facemask in your car. Imagine showing someone pictures of the different masks and visors we wore. Imagine Covid-19 as a distant memory. Imagine being able to gather and celebrate and enjoy life without so much of a thought to any of these things. Imagine the pandemic as a memory that fades so much that we actually have to strain to remember the details of the plague! Imagine! Imagine when we will say:

 

Psalm 126

1 When the Lord restored us,

we were like those who dream.

2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,

and our tongue with shouts of joy;

then it was said among the nations,

“The Lord has done great things for them.”

3 The Lord has done great things for us,

and we rejoiced.

 

 Let it be, Lord; Let it be. Verse 4ff: 

 

4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord,

like the watercourses in the Negeb.

5 May those who sow in tears

reap with shouts of joy.

6 Those who go out weeping,

bearing the seed for sowing,

shall come home with shouts of joy,

carrying their sheaves.

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com

www.facebook.com/Salvogesis

Mark 10:1-45: The Left and Right Privilege

Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 17 October 2021 by Captain Michael Ramsay

This is a very interesting passage. You need to picture this. Jesus has been teaching. His disciples are with him. They are helping. They are assisting. They are doing what needs to be done. They all serve Jesus but there isn’t really a hierarchy among the 12 of them; though some do have specific responsibilities: Home League, YPS, CSM, CFS, … okay maybe not these roles but they are a team working with Jesus as he is preaching, serving, and teaching. Jesus is a popular speaker, and he is on a speaking tour travelling from the north to the south, with his final show to be in Jerusalem in Judea. Jesus is not only teaching the large crowd of disciples, students, adherents, and interested public who come to hear him speak on his cross-Palestine tour, he is also teaching his 12 especially selected disciples, the ones with whom he will leave his ministry when he retires, is promoted, gets his raise (from the dead) and goes to be with the Father.

In the early part of Chapter 10 leading up to our passage today, Jesus has been teaching about some very important things. This chapter opens with Jesus telling the crowds and the Pharisees, that contrary to their laws, divorce is a non-starter with Jesus. He said that marriage is ordained by God and people cannot tear apart what God put together. Jesus forbids divorce.[1] He goes even one step farther when he is alone with his disciples: he says that if you remarry after you are divorced you are guilty of adultery. This may not sound like much to us today but then and there adultery was a serious legal matter: you could be killed for adultery. Jesus said if you get remarried you are guilty of a capital crime. I believe he does this to protect women.[2] They were very vulnerable to exploitation in the first century but that is another sermon for another time.[3] There is more than that too because some of the most significant victims of divorce, even still today, are children.[4]

After Jesus addresses the fate of vulnerable in and out of marriage; some moms, dads, or others who are there in the crowd with their children (children are always vulnerable and on the outside of adult activities) bring the kids to Jesus.[5] The disciples with Jesus try to stop this so that Jesus can deal with some ‘more important’ things – adult talk, or get back to what he was teaching about before he was so noticeably interrupted, or something else. Jesus stands up for the children the same way he stood up for the vulnerable by prohibiting divorce. He exalts the children. He notes that the children are coming to him with no agenda of their own. They are just coming to see him, like a little child who will hug a mascot of a character they love, or an even younger child whose face just lights up when they see their parents or even hears their voice. If we come to God like this, if we are like this, we will inherit the Kingdom of God ourselves.

A rich person probably saw this and was obviously quite concerned: he ran up to Jesus as he started on his way, it says, and fell on his knees before him, He is probably picking up on this theme: vulnerable are protected, excluded are exalted – what about him? What about the privileged people? Then, like now, it is the wealthy -far more than any other group - who have all the advantages in society. If you are part of the privileged group called ‘wealthy’, that is a trump card that cancels out any non-privileged cards you might have in your hand. (Again, this, like the preceding two pericopes, is a whole sermon series on its own.) Jesus tells this person whom I believe comes to Jesus with a very sincere heart, that he needs to give away not only all his privilege, all his excess; Jesus says he has to give away all his security, and become completely vulnerable to receive Jesus’ protection. The man is understandably heart-broken, sad. The disciples are understandably worried even; They ask in essence, ‘who is willing to do this? to give up everything? Anyone? Us even?’ They come right out and exclaim, Verse 26, ‘Who then can be saved?! Anyone?’

Jesus says no; with man this is impossible. He then offers them this: with God nothing is impossible. God can save them. Those who give up everything, who are vulnerable and thus rely fully on God can be saved. Peter then I imagine nervously checks with Jesus, Verse 28, ‘we have left everything to follow you…’. Can we be saved? Only those fully relying on God are saved in this discourse – but God can do anything. Jesus does put the disciples’ minds at ease, Verses 29-31, “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

It is after this, and after Jesus tells them some of the horrible things he is about to suffer by way of the crucifixion, et cetera that Mark tells us about the conversation that we read earlier today.

Verse 35: Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

Jesus has just been teaching to the crowds and all the disciples about how the vulnerable are protected, the excluded are exalted, the disadvantaged will be advantaged, those who seek for themselves will be left outside by themselves and then these two brothers (whom Jesus loves) come to Jesus seeking left and right privilege for themselves! Do they learn nothing from what Jesus teaches them?[6] Do we learn nothing from what Jesus teaches us?

Verse 38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”

39 “We can,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with,

This cup is of course persecution and death; as Jesus said, Verses 33-34, he will be condemned to die, handed over to others, mocked, spat open, flogged and killed. This is the cup from which Jesus will drink before he heads into his glory through the resurrection. This is the cup from which the disciples may drink.[7] Jesus says, Verse 40, “but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.” And, of course, the people on Jesus left and right, as he moved into His Glory were the thieves on the cross. At least one of whom joined him in Paradise very quickly thereafter.

          When the rest of the disciples hear that James and John were seeking privilege for themselves, when they hear that they want to be assured status as teacher’s pet. When they hear that James and John are trying to exalt themselves above everyone else – and especially the 10 of them! - they get quite upset. Verse 41, When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John.

I imagine, they are all quite excited now! So Jesus puts all their minds at rest. Verse 42ff:

 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

This is important. Everyone here, I think you have been doing great. Especially through Covid-19 (and other times), not worrying about yourself but going out of your way to include and involve others.

When people were most afraid of Covid-19 in our community, when people were most vulnerable; you were making food for people, you were handing out food to the most vulnerable; you were making food for those removed from society; you were going on the truck delivering meals to people in places where (even not during a pandemic) others are afraid to go. You prayed with people. You did not stop gathering as some churches got into a habit of doing, but you met together, even daily, you met together as the Church to serve God by serving your neighbour!

We have been blessed with a great opportunity to serve God and our neighbour through the pandemic but even beyond the plague; many of you here given up a lot in your life to serve God in community here for many, many years. Some of you have served God in full-time ministry for a time; many of you have served him full-heartedly in ministry while you were employed at other things. Many of you have given up hours and hours and days and days over many, many years serving God in the Church, in community. Many of you have led people to Christ. Many of you have taught people the Scriptures. Many of you have discipled children, women, men, and others. Many of you have fed and cared for those in need. Many of you have tithed religiously for your whole Christian life. Many of you have been willing to go without, so that you can faithfully give to God and the Church, and His ministry. This is what salvation looks like! This is what many of you are continuing to do and that is what many of you are continuing to experience!

This is my encouragement to you. Sometimes we get tired. Sometimes I get tired. Sometimes we are tempted to throw in the towel. Sometimes we can be tempted to look at friends, family members, or peers who have not given up their life in service to God and the Kingdom the way you here have. Sometimes we can look at them and then look at ourselves and wonder, is it worth it?

It is. It really is. Persevere my friends, persevere.  You are doing God’s work. This is what it looks like when you are saved![8] Jesus loves you and he will get you through everything and I know that many of you have given up much for Jesus and for the Kingdom and I would like to leave you with these words for you to reflect on whenever you need to be reminded of them, Mark 10: 29-31, “Truly I tell you…no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life...”

So my friends, keep up the good work. Jesus loves you and he will see you through to victory. He promises.

 

Let us pray.

 

---

[1] Cf. Victor Babajide Cole, “Mark 10:1-12: Teaching on Divorce” in Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 1214.

[2] Cf. David Smith, Mark: A Commentary for Bible Students (Indianapolis, USA: Wesleyan Publishing house, 2007), 191.

[3] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, "Matthew 5: Jesus' Election Speech and Moore," Sheepspeak.com, 27 October 2019, https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2019/10/matthew-5-jesus-election-speech-and.html

[4] Cf. NT Wright, Mark for Everyone (Louisville, US: WJK, 2004), 133.

[5] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, "As Christians do we have a responsibility to take care of the poor?" Nipawin Journal, January 2008. Cited from Sheepspeak.com, http://sheepspeak.com/sasknews.htm#poor

[6] Cf. David Smith, Mark: A Commentary for Bible Students (Indianapolis, USA: Wesleyan Publishing house, 2007), 200.

[7] Cf. Victor Babajide Cole, “Mark 10:35-45: The Request of the Zebedee Brothers”, Africa Bible Commentary (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 1215.

[8] Cf. David Smith, Mark: A Commentary for Bible Students (Indianapolis, USA: Wesleyan Publishing house, 2007), 204.

Thanksgiving: The Secret to Survival (Philippians 4:4-7, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, Ephesians 5:19-20, Colossians 3:17)

Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 12 October 2021 (Thanksgiving) by Captain Michael Ramsay

 

Today is Thanksgiving Sunday. Thanksgiving in Canada is to a “day of general thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed.” [1] When we were on the prairies, this took on a whole new meaning to me. We came to know a little more what was meant by planting season and harvesting season and we could even tell you what kind of combine you were driving based on the colour of the vehicle. Thanksgiving for the harvest was a real part of life.

 

            Today, in the context of what is going on in the world and in the Army, I want to spend a little bit of time chatting about the power of a spirit of thanksgiving in our lives. It really is something that God can use to get us through even the darkest of times. This is what a spirit of thanksgiving looks like:

 

• Philippians 4:4-7: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
• 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
• Ephesians 5:19-20: Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• Colossians 3:17: And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

 

For those of us who were here last week, I shared a lot of the anguish and personal struggles that I am still having relating to Covid-19, Vaccine Mandates, The Salvation Army, my responsibilities to God, the Army, and the people under my care.[3] There is more as well.

 

            The previous few weeks have been tough and I know that the past year and a bit has been tough on a lot of people. Orange shirt day the other week was very significant. We marked the truth of a very real tragedy.

 

            The pandemic is not seemingly getting any better. It is still here. People are getting sick. People are dying. People are being discriminated against. People are being persecuted. Community is being destroyed. People are being laid off.

 

There are people who may need to be laid off, put on leave or even fired here. Employees and volunteers are not around. I can’t even hire the people I need to hire now. In some cases people can’t afford to work. I know of one person who is not working because in order to be able to afford dental, he needs to be on social assistance. He is being removed from being able to contribute to the work force, to society as an employee. I know others who simply because they are unable to be vaccinated are being removed from community in that same very way.

 

The debt that our country has acquired during this plague is beyond what can be even understood in terms of trying to pay it back – and the basic needs we will have to go without in the future if that is ever going to happen is terrifying.

 

Violence is really bad both in word and in deed in our world. Social media hate is choking so many people. And hearing from people who live in the US, I get the impression that the violence is so out-of-control down there that it is dangerous to even be outside in the evenings in many of their metropolitan areas.

 

The opioid crisis in BC and Port Alberni is beyond comprehension. I can go on. I won’t. We all know these are scary times. The question is, in these scary, difficult times, how can we get through it? How can we survive?

 

            In these scary times God, through Paul’s letters offers us some ways we can get through this. Paul talks about a spirit of thanksgiving and rejoicing. He offers us this council about how to get through tough times. He says, among other things:

 

• Rejoice always,  
• pray continually,
• Let your gentleness be evident to all
• give thanks in all circumstances.

 

REJOICE ALWAYS

The first secret to surviving difficult times is to rejoice always. If we can find something to rejoice in each day and if we can focus upon that rather than on all the things pulling us down, our spirit we be lifted up and we can get through it.

 

PRAY CONTINUALLY

Another vital key to survival is prayer. Prayer is extremely important. I can’t tell you the number of people I have had the chance to pray with in this last little while: people who are missing loved ones; people who have lost loved ones; people who are concerned about serious health issues - and then there are those who have come to me in much anguish and tears due to discrimination and persecution for their beliefs and -of course, as we are in a pandemic – there are those as well who are afraid for their lives. I thank all those who have been praying for me as well. With all the things that I have had on my heart and mind, I certainly need it. Prayer is vital to survival. As we pray together, we are joined to God with one another in a bond as strength. Let us not stop praying for one another together.

 

BE GENTLE

That brings us to another very important part of living with a spirit of thanksgiving that is key to surviving our struggles in community and even in the Church and that is to be gentle with one another. This can be difficult. By common consent, we are a divided people right now. Name your issue, people are polarized. People are upset. People are angry. People are afraid. Watch the different news channels, scroll through social media. Society is divided. The church is divided. Even clergy and Officers in our own Salvation Army are divided.

 

 I have prayed many times with my colleagues over the previous couple of weeks – more than ever before. Because of this, relating to one issue (Covid-19 and vaccine mandates) in particular, one Officer has recently arranged the opportunity for all of the Officers in BC to come together in a prayer zoom meeting this upcoming week. I hope we do. Prayer is so important – but there have already been some apparently snarky, seemingly self-righteous responses to even that invitation to prayer. This is tragedy. Officers, spiritual leaders we need to be gentle with one another; congregation members, we need to be gentle with one another; staff members, we need to be gentle with one another; family members, we need to be gentle with one another; friends and social media friends, we need to be gentle with one another if we hope to survive. We need to be gentle with one another. We need to be thankful for one another. We need to be thankful for what God is doing through each and everyone of us.

 

BE THANKFUL

The spirit of thankfulness. This spirit of Thanksgiving is so important to our very survival. When everything around us seems to be crashing down and everyone seems to be unkind and violent in thought, word, and deed; it is imperative that we find what is right and thank God for that!  If we only focus on all the trials and tribulations around us, we will be swallowed up by them. If we just look at the storms of life, we will miss the lifeboat. Mark my words, my friends, the chaos of our world is a turbulent as a storm at sea. You or I may even have been tossed overboard and maybe we are gasping for air trying to survive. If we just focus on the waves of all that is going wrong that is all we will see.

 

If we, however quickly, scan the horizon looking for the things God is sending us that can pull us through, we will be okay. Look around: see the miracles that are happening on a daily basis; see the people God is using for good in the world; notice how He is using you and others to help people; It is only when we look for and focus on the good things that God as provided for our salvation that we can grab a hold of them. This is what will create in us a thankful heart and a joyful spirit, this is what will make it so that we don’t need to be anxious in anything.

 

On this Thanksgiving Day in Canada, I would like to encourage us to look around for the things we can be thankful for, the ways that God is seeing us through the storm and thank Him for them. For if we can thank the Lord for what He is doing in those beside us while the whole world seems to be in chaos, if we can thank the Lord for the daily miracles that we see, if we can thank the Lord for each other and what the Lord is doing through each and every one of us than we might just get through this.

 

Let us pray

 [1] Quote from an act of the Canadian parliament 31 January 1957

BENEDICTION:

Philippians 4:4-7: Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 

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1 Kings 13: Trying to Avoid a Lion.

Presented the Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 03 October 2021, by Captain Michael Ramsay [1] 

 

I think this is a very significant passage. A prophet, a person of God, is used mightily by God to do amazing things (like we have been here) [2]. He was even used to shrivel up the king’s hand and then restore it! God told this prophet that then he was supposed to go straight home without stopping. The king, the government, they wanted the prophet to stay and have dinner with them.[3] The prophet said ‘no’. He was faithful to God in the face of the Government. 

Part way home, an older prophet tells the younger prophet that God has told him that he is supposed to stop and have dinner with him. The younger prophet, who had just successfully stood up to the government and refused to be delayed in returning home, now defers to the senior prophet and does the opposite of what God wants him to do. He follows a man of God instead of following God – because of this, the younger prophet suffers the consequences. In this case, he is killed by a lion [4]. 

This is important: The message of this story isn’t about the senior prophet. Even if he was lying, he was still used by God. This story isn’t about a bad prophet who lies. The story does not say that the senior prophet was bad at all. This story is about a young prophet who, instead of doing what God tells him, does what a man of God tells him and so is killed by a lion. 

We serve in an hierarchical organization. I have great respect for people who are in my upline. Our AC is very competent. She knows a lot. Our DC and his wife are both amazing officers. They are two of the best preachers in The Salvation Army world. We served together in BC years ago; we then served together on the prairies; and then in Toronto and now in BC again. Jamie was instrumental in bringing Susan and I here to Port Alberni. I have a lot of respect for he and Anne and I have nothing bad to say about either of them. Our current Personnel Secretary, we also served with in BC and the Prairie Division as well as in Toronto. His wife, Lynn was a major support to my wife and I during some very significant times in our lives. I have nothing bad to say about them. God used the Braunds and the Armstrongs in our lives and in our ministries. They are amazing people. 

The younger prophet in this story respected the senior prophet; however, in his case he knew in his heart what God wanted him to do and he didn’t do it.  

The Salvation Army plans to implement a policy that troubles me greatly whereby people who are unable to be vaccinated will no longer be able to be a part of our community: they can no longer work or volunteer with us. This vaccine mandate seems to go against what I believe the Lord is speaking to me. I don’t believe that whoever proposed this policy is necessarily disobeying God, but I do believe God is telling me not to have any part of it – maybe at the risk of being killed by a literal or a metaphorical lion. I need your prayers as all of us Officers try to figure out what to do about this vaccine mandate that troubles so many of us. 

The vaccine mandate objectifies people: anyone can come to church, the store, and the soup kitchen to spend money or be waited upon, but only some people are deemed worthy enough to actually participate in our community. The policy will require our employees and volunteers to be injected with two doses of one of the government-approved vaccines by November 14, 2021. If they are not injected, they can be removed from the premises, they can be placed on unpaid leave of absence, they can be in essence fired without even receiving severance pay (because they will technically still be employees).  

Clients, as well, will be removed from our team here. One of the strengths of The Salvation Army is that those of us at our lowest points are able to find a place where we belong and where we can contribute. The proposed mandate states that conscientious objectors to the vaccine, people with legitimate health concerns, and people with mental health barriers that interfere with their ability to be injected with government approved drugs will be longer be able to be part of our community. They will be free to drink coffee across the table from us, but they will not be permitted to serve the coffee or clean up someone’s spill for them. We can do things to them but not with them. We will thereby objectify them. 

We just had orange shirt day in our country. This Thursday we heard many horror stories of people who were told they were no longer invited to be a contributing part of society. 

I am double vaccinated. I am because I work with vulnerable people, many of whom cannot or will not be vaccinated for many different reasons.  

I, like every Officer across this country I am sure, am praying and thinking about this a lot.  I have no condemnation for THQ. If they are doing something wrong that is between them and God, if not then all is good for them. I am concerned about my obedience to God. If I implement the proposed vaccine mandate, am I disobeying God the same way the younger prophet did in our story today? Am I liable to be eaten by a real or metaphorical lion? I don’t want to disobey God. 

This is my Officer Covenant that I signed with God 15 years ago this June. It reminds me that I promised, among other things, “to care for the poor, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, love the unlovable and befriend those who have no friends.” Who has less friends these days than those who hold minority opinions about vaccinations?  

I am struggling. I want to obey my senior officers, but I don’t believe I can remove those from our community who cannot be vaccinated. They are, in many cases, those who have no friends. Those that work for me are under my care. Can I deprive someone who is under my care access to a community of Christ? 

I had a close friend in Toronto who died of AIDS. The discrimination that he suffered due to his health should be in the memories of any of us who lived through the AIDS scare. Our society was terrified. People with HIV/AIDS, a contagious health condition, lost so much, including their jobs, their volunteer work, and their ability to participate in society.   Maybe we have now forgotten what it was like. People with HIV serve all over this country today; maybe even here in this ministry unit; we do not ask for proof of their taking medication. We are not even allowed to ask about their medical status. How can we now be asked to discriminate against even healthy people who do not want to share their medical history with us and/or do not wish to be injected with government approved drugs? 

I do not believe that I can morally remove someone’s employment, volunteer work, ability to be part of a team simply because they make a health decision that might be disagreeable to some, or even to most.  By removing someone from their job for making different medical choices than my own, I would be doing to them what was done to my friend years ago.   

In Winnipeg, I volunteered alongside a senior gentleman in prison ministry at Stony Mountain Penitentiary. The reason he was involved in prison ministry was that during WWII, he was a conscientious objector. They locked him in that very same jail because his values and beliefs were different than the majority of people – and he suffered in the ways that people who are in jail suffer!    

I do not believe I can discriminate against people who conscientiously object to the vaccine. To force someone to go against their deeply held convictions or to lose their employment, and ability to contribute as part of a team because they stand by a deeply held conviction that might be disagreeable to some, or even to most, I don’t believe I can do that.   

We have an employee who was double vaccinated. She has lost her sense of smell and her sense of taste. In tears she told me that if she had the choice again to be vaccinated or not, she would not under any circumstance. We have another employee who’s relative was previously fit, healthy, and active, who is now a paraplegic due to the vaccine. We have staff and employees who are not willing to take that risk. Who am I to take away their livelihood, their inclusion in our team here, because they are unwilling to risk their lives?  

We have many members of our team here who are on the margins of society; we have people who are coming out of addiction; we have friends with mental health issues; we have friends with deeply held convictions; we have many people who we have been walking alongside. Our friends have come from just receiving our services, to volunteering as they are able, some to employment, and all to being fully contributing members of our community here. I cannot tell our friends that they are no longer welcome to contribute alongside us helping others in need. I cannot tell them they are no longer part of us, can I?   

I have no condemnation for those who disagree with me. I also have no condemnation for those above me in the hierarchy. I do, however, feel I have a duty to protect those I am responsible for in our structure to include the outcast, to include the excluded.

My Officers’ Covenant is very important to me. This covenant that I made with God requires me to ‘love the unlovable’. The vaccine mandate will remove from our community people who need you, people who need me, and people who need Christ. Like many other Officers across this country, right now I do not believe that I can be faithful to God and the oath I took to Him and at the same time support the vaccine mandate.    

I don’t know what is going to happen. Maybe God will permit me to turn away the people THQ wants me to turn away. Maybe God will change THQ’s minds before the policy is fully implemented; but as it stands, I feel that if I stay with the mandate, even at DHQ’s insistence, rather than go with God’s leading, I will need to be on the lookout for metaphorical, if not literal lions.  

It is my hope that whatever choices any of us make about anything - and they may be different than others' choices - that we always do so without hesitation and under the direction and guidance of our Lord.

Let us pray. 

[1] See Captain Michael Ramsay, "1 Kings 13: Lion for Prophet" for a more in-depth analysis of this pericope, (Sheepspeak.com, The Salvation Army, 25 November 2012) Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2012/11/1-kings-13-lion-for-prophet.html

[2] R. D. Patterson and Hermann J. Austel, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:1 Kings/Notes to First Kings/First Kings 13 Notes/First Kings Note 13:1, Book Version: 4.0.2: If Josephus's suggestion (Antiq. VIII, 240-41 [ix.1]) that the prophet's name was Yadon is accepted, he may perhaps be connected with the Iddo mentioned as a chronicler of the events of Abijah's day (2 Chronicles 13:22).

[3] Donald J. Wiseman, 1 and 2 Kings: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1993 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 9), S. 158: If the man of God were to make an agreement or show fellowship (‘eat bread’, vv. 7, 18) with the king, that would have been tantamount to a withdrawal of judgment. The king’s motive could have been ‘to link himself in fellowship with him as a form of insurance’ (Robinson, p. 161; cf. Noth, p. 298), and so to seek for the prophet’s endorsement of his new royal position. The ban on the return route might serve to avoid further contact with a cursed place and people.

[4] Cf. Choon-Leong Seow. The First and Second Book of Kings, (NIB III: Abigdon Press, Nashville, 1999), 108.