Ezekiel 2:3-8, 3:4-11: Working with Dad.

Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 17 September 2023

 

God is sovereign. Do we know what that means? It means that in any situation God is in charge. God is the boss … and more. The job He wants done will get done. His business is always successful. The question is simply do we work for the boss or not?

 

The Salvation Army Doctrines 6 and 9 read:

• ·       We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has by His suffering and death made an atonement for the whole world so that whosoever will may be saved.
• ·       We believe that continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ.

 

Monday, I heard these two stories from two different people within moments of each other. First, Rena came to chat with me. She shared that on a particular day, she was able to pray with a friend about their family member whom Rena did not know. Later in that same day she met that very family member! God then used Rena to connect with her friend again and now whatever happens, I am sure Rena will continue to pray for them and Rena will forever be a part of that miracle and all of them and each of them will see some of where the hand of God is moving. At the very least God has used this Divine encounter to encourage those who needed encouragement and I am very sure God will use that meeting to inspire more prayers, more support, and more miracles!

 

Within moments of that, Nancy, our Admin person at the Army here shared with me this story: She was called for jury duty. And of all the people that I have heard who have been called for jury duty in all my years living in this community she is the first one who actually had to show up in person. When myself, Susan, Lisa were all called, we each showed up to see a sign on the door that read that jury selection was cancelled for the day. This was not the case for Nancy. Now I don’t know whether this was good news or not because I don’t know whether she was eager, willing, or wanting to do jury duty or not.

 

On the day in question she showed up, was let into a room with a bunch of other people, and then they had a lottery of sorts. They drew 12 names to be on the jury (or more, I do not know) and the rest of them were told to wait around in case one of those chosen was disqualified. Most people went outside. Nancy returned to the courtroom. Lo and behold, the accused was able to come out from behind the plexiglass cage and walk out into the courtroom. Nancy could see that she was obviously distressed and asked her if she was a praying woman and if she was could she pray for her. She did. She was able to pray with this woman in her time of real significant need. She was used by God to offer some comfort and access to the Lord’s strength in the lady’s time of need. Now whatever happens in this trial: whether the woman is convicted, absolved, imprisoned, released or something else; Nancy will inevitably be praying for this woman. And whatever miracles the Lord performs in her life from this point on, Nancy was able to be a part of it.

 

God has used Nancy and Rena and the others in these stories to do His will. They were invited to participate in praying with people and in following God’s lead and they chose to do so. Forever they then will experience the blessings related to that.

 

I think that is the way that the Lord works with us all every single day – just maybe sometimes not as noticeably as it was this past week with Rena and Nancy. God loves us all and as a result, He not only wants us to be with Him, He wants us to be a part of what He does! This is important!

 

This is something I think that our society is losing as we drift further from God in our community. We have less people volunteering for things. More people want to exchange everything for money – they sell things they don’t need any more instead of giving them away; they want to be paid for everything that they do – and they want to make sure that they are paid what they are worth! (Whatever that is!? Like a monetary value can be attached to our time and effort... that whole idea sounds ludicrous to me.)

 

Do you know what both the richest and the poorest people in our country have in common? Neither of them have to work! Rich people fly of to Paris for lunch and poor people walk down to the Bread of Life. Most rich people make their money from ‘investments’ – whatever that is – not producing anything at all, just making money off the work of others.

 

Poor people; people struggling with addiction, people struggling with unemployment, people living with physical disabilities, people living with mental health issues… I think we do all of us a big disservice when we don’t let each other work. We strip all meaning from our lives. I think this is very, very wrong. I am always encouraging our folks to let people volunteer.

 

God doesn’t need any of us to accomplish what He wants accomplished. God can do anything. God just loves all of us. And as a result, God lets us join Him in His work that He is doing. God is taking care of the lady Nancy met who is charged with murder and God is taking care of everyone else related to that case. He didn’t need to ask Nancy to pray for her and He didn’t need any prayers to help this lady. God however let Nancy pray with her. God loves Nancy (just like He loves that lady) so God gave Nancy the opportunity to help this lady when she is in significant need.

 

God loves us and so He wants to work with us. He wants to spend quality time with us working on something meaningful. Some of the most wonderful times in my life have been working alongside my children at Toy Runs, Fall Fairs, Parades, Food Drives, Soap Box Derbies, Christmas Meals, Kettles, and many other things. My children have been helping me out since they were in pre-school or before. Maybe sometimes I didn’t need their help to get done what needed to be done but I did need their help for the experience of us working together to serve God by serving our neighbours. We build memories and a relationship through loving God and loving others.

 

No one needs to starve in our world much less our country. God has provided enough food for everyone to be taken care of – it is the same with shelter and other necessities. God has provided for each and every person on this planet. There are more than enough resources. God loves each and every person – if He didn’t He could just place our food in front of us like a guard and slide it under the door of a prison cell never engaging with us whatsoever.

 

God loves each and every person though so He chooses not to do it that way. God wants to involve us in what He is doing. He hands us the food and tells us to pass it on to one another. He does that because He loves us.

 

I am going to tell you one more story. When I was young my father was watching some telethon on TV and I was there. They were asking for money. My dad then took out $5 and gave it to me for helping with the yard work for the summer. He said I could spend it on anything that I wanted to spend it on. I knew he was watching the telethon. He said I could spend it on absolutely anything that I wished. I could see that the telethon was on. He told me that I could have it now. I knew that he wanted me to donate it to the telethon. He told me that money was up to me to figure out how to spend as he dialed the 1-800 number to the telethon. He told me that really I could spend it on whatever I liked as he handed me the phone. And  - though I was really tempted not to - after all of these not so subtle hints I donated the money to the telethon. As a result, yes the people who received money from the telethon benefited but even more than that, I did. I remember this moment to this very day. My dad could have given that $5 directly to the telethon and sure they could have and would have and did use it – but this way its use was magnified – as this little encounter affected me – and by extension everyone that I have ever helped in my entire life (and I work with The Salvation Army!) and probably that donation was magnified 1000 times over.

 

This is the same with God and us. God loves us and wants to involve us in what He is doing. He has given you a metaphorical $5 and He wants you to feed your neighbour with it; will you do it? He has given you a gift of something else and He wants you to pray for your neighbour with it; will you do it? God has given you something else and He wasn’t you to talk to your neighbour; will you do it? God wants to spend time with you as you spend time with your neighbour – working alongside them, helping them, praying for and with them; will you do it?

 

My friends this is integral to the Christian faith. God doesn’t need us to do anything. But because God loves us He wants to spend time with us doing what He loves to do. He loves us so He wants to work alongside us helping our fellow person who is in need in our community – and you know what – when we do that, do you know who gains the most in this encounter? Not the person you are supposed to help (though they gain too). It is us – and God. Because we get to spend time working together helping and loving others and each other.

 

Let us pray.

Ezekiel 3:1-21 (1 Corinthians 10:11-13 ) Sign on the Staircase

Presented to TSA Corps 614 Regent Park, Toronto; 26 July 2015 and Alberni Valley Ministries, 27 August 2023, by Captain (Major) Michael Ramsay

As many of you know we were at Boundless, the international congress of The Salvation Army in London and then we took our holidays: one week in England and another week in Scotland. (Susan and Sarah-Grace are still away.) It was a great time.

Our passage today, 1 Corinthians 10, addresses heritage among other things. When we were in the UK our family was able to explore a little bit of our family heritage. I believe that our family has been in North America for 200 to 300 years but originally the Ramsay side of our family was from Scotland. And so the tie I am wearing today is actually my family tartan from Scotland. I do have a kilt and I considered wearing that today but I thought that might be a little over the top when speaking with you for just second time.

It was great being able to see where the Ramsay family originally came from. We saw the ancient Ramsay castle at Dalhousie and Rebecca especially was good at finding family names in cemeteries, churches, and museums. I remember when we were looking for famous Ramsays (and other related family names) in one museum, I actually found a 'Captain Ramsay'. Since my name and title is also Captain Ramsay I thought this was great so I took a picture of the display with Captain Ramsay's name on it. Rebecca then pointed out that maybe I don’t want to share this picture as she read to me what that Captain Ramsay was famous for: He was a human trafficker. This was an anti-slavery wall and this Captain Ramsay was captain of a slave ship. So while I posted a lot of pictures on facebook, I decided that maybe that wasn’t the best one to share.

Obviously then, the Ramsay clan, just like the Israelite clans had some dark history, as well as some bright spots reflecting the light of God.  There are some more famous Ramsays people may know: There is Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay. I don’t know if that name means anything to anyone but he was the person in charge of the Normandy landings on D-Day. He was the one tasked with ushering in the beginning of the end of Nazi control of Western Europe even as Russia was driving the German forces from the East.  There was also a very famous artist Allan Ramsay. But the most famous Ramsay of all – of course – is that rather animated contemporary Scottish chef: Gordon Ramsay who does all of those kitchen shows. I can’t tell you how many times I have been asked if he is any relation. As far as I know I have no relationship to him other than the surname.

We saw some more of our family's Christian heritage there too: we saw the Ramsay Crest on a big stained glass window in what is historically Edinburgh’s main Christian Church. The family motto on our crest is ‘Prayer and Work’: a good motto to aspire to, for sure. We even saw the family chapel in the Ramsay castle at Dalhousie.

There were some other interesting things about exploring the old Ramsay  castle as well. They had falcons and owls that people could fly on the grounds; so Rebecca, Sarah-Grace, and Heather actually got to hold and pet a real live hunting owl – that was neat! We were even able to explore the grounds and take lots of great pictures. Our children were always very good about standing here and there so we could get their photos with the castle in the background – even once they quite accidentally stood nicely in a poison ivy patch – sorry about that Rebecca and Heather.  The castle was great. It even has secret passages: entrance ways and stairs hidden in floors and a secret doorway in a bookcase just like in some old movies. One thing I found particularly interesting was when we were exploring a back staircase at the castle: there was a sign that said, ‘turn left for the Spa, turn right for the dungeon/torture chamber. I would hate to make that wrong turn.

Warning us not to make wrong turns is somewhat what our pericope today is about. We would hate to walk the staircase of our life hoping for the eternal spa and turn into the eternal dungeon by accident. Now of course, God isn’t as arbitrary as that. He is not going to let us wander into an eternal dungeon by accident: He does a lot to point us to the freedom and Salvation that comes from Christ alone. He posts many such signs as the dungeon/spa sign on the walls of our lives.

1 Corinthians 10:11 tells us that one such sign pointing us away from the dungeon, towards the eternal spa is the experience of those who have gone before us. The Apostle Paul walks us through a little bit of our heritage as a people of God. (I understand a couple of weeks ago Calvin walked everyone through a little bit of that as well as he spoke about the heroes of the faith in the book of Hebrews.) As recorded in 1 Corinthians 10 here, Paul draws our attention to some of the warning signs that are the errors Israel has made, in the hopes that we will not make that same wrong turns in our life (10:6-10). God through Paul reminds us that 20 000 people died in a single day while involved in some sexual sin. He reminds us that on another occasion, people complained against God so grievously that even venomous snakes rose up, bit them and they died and kept dying until God lifted up the bronze Nehustan (as a foreshadowing of Christ) to save them as they cast their eyes upon him.

As well as these warning signs about the perils of the dungeon, Paul gives us signs of encouragement about how we can trust and follow God to the eternal spa even as we go through very difficult passages.[1] Paul draws our attention to the sign of the fiery cloud leading the Hebrews out of Egypt, the parting of the sea, the manna they ate and the water from the rock they drank in the desert (1 Corinthians 10:1-4). These are all signs pointing us to the spa, the grace of God we can experience now and forever as we walk with Him through our life.

That all being said, Paul knows– just like Iris reminded us in her devotional thought this past Wednesday on Philippians 4 – that sometimes the staircases we navigate in our life, sometimes these staircases get pretty tight. Sometimes the walk down the stairs of this life can be dark and scary and sometimes we need the encouragement of 1 Corinthians 10:12, to watch our step so we do not fall. Sometimes there is barely any room to move; sometimes these staircases can get pretty dark. Sometimes we have to squint and sometimes I know that there are times when some have wondered if they can even still see the light of God at all through the troubles, trials, and tribulations that can sometimes line the walls of our lives. Last time I was blessed to speak with you here, we chatted about the trauma that Noah and his family must have experienced as they passed through the flood even as they were delivered unto Salvation. 

Now, I know that there are many of us here who have gone through some really serious trials, temptations, troubles, and test. Some comparably minor tests for Susan. the children, and I arose even as we were at the conference in London and then on our furlough in the U.K. When we arrived in a strange city, in a strange country, in a daze after an all-night flight and with three children in tow, our hotel had given our room away. We had no place to stay. Even though we had booked it months in advance, even though we had called to confirm more than once, even though we had even sent email to confirm our room in writing, they gave it away and here we are in a foreign city, in a foreign land with no place to stay and when we try to call for help we can’t even get our phones to work! Then as we are trying to rent a car and as we are trying to get some food to eat and other things, neither our credit cards nor our debit cards will work! so here we were in a foreign city, in a foreign country with no transportation, no money, and no place to stay.[2] So what did we do? We prayed... and I called my mother.

God took care of us.  We also contacted Patricia and Iris, whom we had just met, and others to pray for us and God led us to Major Linda Budgell, whom we have never met before, and she knew of a room that a single Salvation Army Officer was unable to use and the hotel was gracious enough to let us fill up every free space on the floor of that small room with extra beds so that all five of us could fit there until the conference was over.

Now we were staying in London for another week beyond the length of the conference so when the conference was over we were in the same predicament: homeless, nowhere to go. God took care of us. I ran into Captains Curtis Cartmel and Rachelle Lamonte, whom I had never met before, and they told us that Majors Al and Karen Hoeft –are staying at an apartment rented by The Salvation Army in Barking, London. They were leaving London the very same day that we were without a place to stay and, Nigel Shultz, the Corps Officer from Barking, whom we had never met before, told us that we could use it for the rest of the time we were in London – for Free! God took care of us.

And there is more: our bank cards and credit cards: they still wouldn’t work. The computer chip technology they use in the UK is incompatible with our cards and VISA was no help and we certainly did need access to funds to survive. God took care of us. Even as I couldn’t use debit, PTL, my bank card still worked in some machines and our credit cards would work so long as they entered them in by hand. We were okay. God took care of us and when Susan and the Sarah-Grace were stranded and we couldn’t get our phones to work to reach the hotel in Venice where they were headed, God took care of us. We couldn’t reach the hotel from Scotland but my mother could from Victoria in Canada here; so she spoke to the hotel on our behalf and they held the room to the last possible moment and just as they were about to lock up for the night, Susan and Sarah-Grace arrived safe and sound. God took care of us.

Now as harrowing as our time was, I know for others here there have been even more harrowing times. I was chatting with John this week about a friend he is planning to visit in prison. I know that as I have visited friends in prison some of my struggles suddenly seemed minor compared to some of theirs and I know that as I was reading the Words of Life – a devotional book written by Major Bev Ivany – She spoke about a murder that affected many in this 614 community a while ago. Calvin shared with us on Thursday about his friend who has just had a terrible stroke and now is only able to speak two words: yes or no, in Japanese. Calvin spoke of the comfort that the Lord offered through the Psalms at this time. This week also I listened to a maiden speech by a SNP politician who referenced her friend who was struggling to survive so much so that he even passed out from hunger when going to see a government welfare worker and then the result of his seeking government help after a this long ordeal: they financially penalized this man who already couldn’t even afford to eat. I know that there are real struggles that real people are really going through everyday but we don't need to be tempted to give up, to throw in the towel. We don't need to be tempted to wander in the dungeon.[3]

It is in this very serious context of our real life that we are really given some very real hope both for eternity and today as well. 1 Corinthians 10:13: 'No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing He will also provide the way out so that you may [you will!] be able to endure it.'[4] Like with the stories we've shared today of God helping us in and through our struggles and there are many more even this week. One example I don't have time to share relates to the miracles surrounding the girl from Oklahoma who suffered the burn but God provided for her and her team mates the way and strength to get through and in miraculous fashion too! The Lord gives us hope in the midst of even adversity in our life.

The hope is that the Lord will comfort, sustain, and even transform me completely and totally even as I experience all of the trials that are part of my life. This hope is that the Lord will comfort, sustain, and even transform you completely and totally even as you experience all of the very real trials that are part of your life. This hope is that the Lord will comfort, sustain, and even transform each of us completely and totally even as we experience all of the trials that are a very real part of each and every one of our lives. And this hope is that the Lord will comfort, sustain, and transform even this whole country as we experience all of the trials that are a very real part of each and every one of our lives. And this hope that the Lord will comfort, sustain, and transform even the whole world completely and totally even as people everywhere experience all of the trials that our part of our life. And our hope in the Lord does NOT disappoint! And as we are faithful and follow Him we will be a part of that hope that He offers to all people.[5]

A picture that I love is on a wall in my in-laws home. It is of the Reverend Tommy Douglas; it says, “Courage, my friends; 'tis not too late to build a better world.” Another quote that resonates strongly with me is from Jack Layton’s farewell letter to Canadians; he wrote “My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.” The Apostle Paul offers us this same encouragement and more and I promise you that as difficult as the staircase of our life may be at times that there is no testing that has overtaken us that God has not already escorted someone safely through before; so as dark as our life may seem at times, we can keep on keeping on, serving God through loving our neighbour because God is faithful and He will see us through even the most difficult circumstances of this life. And as we serve Him in the midst of our very real struggles I know that He will comfort and sustain us and I believe that, as recorded in Isaiah 61:1-4, He will use even us to transform the whole world; rebuilding the ancient ruins, restoring the places long devastated, and renewing the ruined cities that have been ruined for generations.

Let us pray.

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[1] Cf. Cf. Harold W. Mare, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:1 Corinthians/Exposition of 1 Corinthians/VII. Paul's Answers to Questions Raised by the Church (7:1-14:40)/B. Instructions Concerning Christian Freedom: Its Privileges and Responsibilities (8:1-11:1)/4. Warning: Israel's lack of self-restraint (10:1-13), Book Version: 4.0.2

[2] Cf. NT Wright, Paul for Everyone: 1 Corinthians (Louisville, Kentucky, USA:WJK, 2004), 128 and Simon J. Kistemaker, 1 Corinthians (NTC: Grad Raoids Michigan: Baker Academic, 2007), 331.  The temptation to grumble or have faith is key to understanding this pericope, I believe.

[3] Cf. NT Wright, Paul for Everyone: 1 Corinthians (Louisville, Kentucky, USA:WJK, 2004), 128 and Simon J. Kistemaker, 1 Corinthians (NTC: Grand Rapids Michigan: Baker Academic, 2007), 331.  The temptation to grumble or have faith is key to understanding this pericope, I believe.

[4] Richard B. Hays, First Corinthians (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky, JKP, 1997), 166 and NT Wright, Paul for Everyone: 1 Corinthians (Louisville, Kentucky, USA:WJK, 2004), 129

[5] Cf. J. Paul Sampley, 1 Corinthians, (NIB: Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2002), 915.