Remembrance Day Address 2024 (Romans 5:7-10 and Isaiah 11:6)

Presented to the Alberni Valley community at the Community Remembrance Day Ceremonies at the Glenwood Centre by Major Michael Ramsay, Padre, Royal Canadian Legion Branch 293, on 11 November 2024

 

August 4^th,1914 Canada, as part of the British Empire joined World War One. Four years later, when the fighting ceased on November 11^th, 1918, there were 888,246 Commonwealth soldiers who never returned home – over 18% of them, 160 000, were Canadian, Newfoundland, and First Nations soldiers.

 

Then from September 10^th, 1939, until August 14^th, 1945; 1,159,000 Canadian, Newfoundland and First Nations service people served in World War 2 and when the war was over, a further 44,090 Canadian, Newfoundland and First Nations service people had laid down their lives.

 

Robert (Robin) Watson was just 14 years-old when he joined the Army. On Thursday, at the Field of Honour. we held a memorial service for him; he was 96 years old. He was, I believe, the Valley’s last surviving Word War II veteran.

 

Many people marched out of the Valley to serve God, King, and Country in the first world war, the second world war and the conflicts that followed. In past years here I have shared many of their stories.

 

Today I would like to add to those stories, remembrances of George (Bud) Hamilton, James George, Eduard Clutesi and others. They were among the Nuu-Chah-Nulth soldiers who left the Valley here offering their lives for us, our ancestors, our descendants, our families, our friends and our allies.

 

George, 'Bud' Hamilton, as he was known, was the youngest boy in his family. He was a young Hupacasath man. He was a residential school survivor. Even so, he volunteered to serve with the Canadian forces during the second world war. He was a bright and resourceful young man. On his tests before entering the military, it is recorded that he was above average intelligence.

Letters he wrote home, to his dad Clifford, still exist. He wrote about how he applied to transfer to the navy. He wrote about how he looked forward to going fishing with his dad when he returned home from the war.

 

Bud Hamilton landed at Juno beach with the Canadian Forces on June 6th, 1944. Canadian forces on that day alone suffered 1,096 casualties, 381 of whom were killed in action. By the end of the Battle of Normandy, Canadian casualties exceeded 18,700. George, Bud Hamilton experienced all these horrors and Bud Hamilton survived to fight another day. But then...

 

as fighting continued into Belgium, in one particular small town, an enemy artillery shell exploded very near to him; it severed his spinal cord, and he slowly succumbed to his injuries.

 

He would never go fishing with his dad again.

 

Bud had a daughter whom he never knew. She was born after he died. I understand that she is living today in Idaho with a large family of her own - whom Bud never met.

 

There is also James Goerge. He was the son of Cecil George (George Hamiliton's brother). James was his only child. James survived the war; James made it back and with the money he made, he bought a commercial fishing boat.

One night he tied his fishing boat at a sandbar near where the orange bridge is today. There was an explosion, and he died in his boat that he bought with his pay from serving in the war.

 

I have mentioned Eduard Clutesi before, hereditary chief of the Tseshaht First Nation. [Josh Goodwill, I believe, sits as heredity chief in this seat today.] I will now share a little more of Eduard Clutesi’s story as I have come to understand it.

 

Eduard Clutesi was of superior intelligence, his military tests showed. He was a genius. He taught himself to play violin. He could draw your portrait perfectly. He was very quiet. He did not say much.

 

He served with a mortar unit. This was precise work. It involved intricate mathematical calculations. He served well. He was killed with his mortar unit in the battle of Caen and he was buried with his military comrades in Europe. He never did return.

 

Our First Nations, in many cases, were forced to renounce their status, in order to be enfranchised – until as late as 1960. Yet many, I am told saw the greater good and thus served and found true friendship with their Canadian Comrades and many died for us. Thank you. Thank every veteran who lived fought and in some cased died for us.

 

This week as well as laying to rest a veteran who signed up to serve in the war as a 14-year-old child, I also got news that my sister’s only child passed away suddenly at 22 years of age and it dawned on me that of the 200 000 soldiers who died fighting with the Canadian forces in the World Wars, the majority of them were children – no older than my niece. Canada’s youngest soldier was 10 years old.

 

Our service people, our family members who fought and died; their parents never saw their 22-year-old children, their 26-year-old children, their 17 or there 12-year-old children again.

 

The veterans who served and survived those wars weren’t in their 90s then, like they are now, if they are still around. Mostly, they were children in their 20s or even younger.

 

Our service people who died for us and the veterans who lived and saw them die. Please let us remember them.

 

And in remembrance of those who made the supreme sacrifice, Let us be better men and women, and give us peace in our time.

Lest we forget.

 

We will remember them.

FOR ALL HAVE SINNED: Romans 3:23

Presented to TSA AV Ministries, 10 November 2024, by Major Michael Ramsay. Based on a chapter in his book, Salvogesis’ Guidebook to Romans Road and sermons presented to Swift Current Corps, 12 July 2009 and Warehouse 614 in Toronto, 21 January 2018

 

To view the earlier sermons, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2009/07/romans-322b-23there-is-no-difference.html 

To read ‘Salvogesis’, click here: http://www.sheepspeak.com/ebooks.htm  

 

Romans 3:23:For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

There is a Disney movie entitled The Emperor’s New Groove. In it, some people try to kill the emperor with a magic potion but they get it mixed up and accidentally turn him into a lama instead. As the movie progresses, the emperor attempts to regain his throne and turn back into a person.

There is one clip at the climax of the movie where the emperor finds many bottles of magic potions without labels, all of them mixed up. While the royal guards, who are trying to kill him, are in hot pursuit the lama-as-king hurriedly drinks one potion after another, trying to turn back into a person.  Some potions are betterl than others. One turns him into a turtle (not so good for eluding pursuers). Another turns him into a small bird. Frantically he downs potion after potion: turtle, small bird, giant whale, and then finally he drinks one potion and looks down as he changes and cheers, “Yay! I’m a lama again! . . . Oh wait!” That isn’t what he wanted at all: he still is not a person. In the end all those potions and adventures make no difference

The conclusion of the second chapter of Romans, which we looked at the other week, makes clear that there is no difference when it comes to our salvation: both the Jew and the Gentile stand on equal footing. The Law cannot be the means of Salvation. The Law merely points out sin (Romans 3:20, 2:17-24, 5:20, 7:7-25). For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

So, what is sin?

The Greek word for “sinned” in this passage, hamartanō, carries with it the classic definition of sin that we have heard before: that of “missing the mark.” An archer aims and shoots and the arrow falls short, missing the target.

On the surface this seems innocuous enough but if we find out that that archer is William Tell – famous for shooting apples off people’s heads – and if we learn that the apple is about to be placed on our own heads, all of a sudden this becomes important! You do not want him to miss the mark!

William Tell was to shoot the apples off the heads of his own sons and the consequence of his missing the mark was devastating for both father and son. When we continually sin, the consequences can be fatal. Romans 3 tells us that we have all sinned, fallen short of this Glory of God, and the first 2 chapters of Romans tell us that because of this we may be at considerable risk.

In a story by John Phillips, he tells us:

Paul describes sin as a coming short of the divine standard. Two men went to the recruiting office in London to join the guards regiment. The standard height for a guardsman was a minimum of six feet. One man was taller than the other, but when they were measured officially both were disqualified. The shorter of the two measured only five feet seven inches and was far too short; his companion measured five feet eleven and a half inches and, stretch to his utmost, as he did, he could not make it any more. Nor did his pleas avail. It mattered nothing that his father was a guardsman, that he promised to be a good soldier, that he had already memorized the drills and knew the army regulations by heart. He was short of the standard.[1]

Yes, the taller of the two was taller than his friend (just as some people may seem nicer, better, holier than the rest of us) but in the end it didn’t matter. He still wasn’t tall enough and there was nothing he could do about that. He could not make himself grow any bigger. Thus he failed to obtain his goal. Likewise, it doesn’t matter if we are Jew or Gentile, male or female, employer or employee, a missionary, a relatively good person, or what-have you . . . for we have all sinned and so all fall short (Galatians 3:28).

We can approach this text in different ways. It could be speaking about each of us falling short and missing the mark on our own accord; that happens. Every one of us has transgressed the will of God. This passage might refer simply to the First Sin when Adam and Eve originally disobeyed YHWH in the garden and then tried to hide from Him (Genesis 3): this was St. Augustine’s idea of “Original Sin.”

Biblical scholar N.T. Wright tells us that here the verb “tense is aorist, indicating a single moment . . . [thus] Paul seems to be again thinking of Adam”[3] But F. F. Bruce, argues that Paul also could be referring to the fact that each of us on our own has sinned and therefore failed to make the grade.[2]

Speaking of making the grade: When I was in high school, a fellow student, John, was in my Algebra 11 class. On the last day of Algebra 11 the teacher decided to read out everyone’s mark in descending order from top to bottom. Now this made John very happy because even though he received only 11 percent, he looked over at a friend’s paper and saw just 4 percent marked on it. For once, John’s was not the lowest mark in the class. As the names were read down the list, and all the way down past the failing marks. . . John was getting more and more excited because this time he was not going to have the lowest mark. Silvia 22 percent, John 11 percent . . . and then the moment he was waiting for - and . . . The teacher stopped reading out the marks and dismissed the class. As everyone rushed out of the room, “What about Mike?” John yelled. “What about Mike? Read out Mike’s mark!” The teacher had shown me grace with my meagre 4 percent. He refused to read my mark out loud so poor John, who did manage to fail Algebra 11 again, wound up being at the bottom of the list again. 

Now there are a couple of things to be cleared up here: 

1) In the grand scheme of things it really didn’t matter for John what mark I, or anyone else, earned; John still earned a failing grade. He missed the mark; he had failed to obtain the prize. Just like us. It doesn’t matter if you are a better person than Charlie Manson, Adolf Hitler, Abraham Lincoln, or your next-door neighbour – that is not what is going to “get you into heaven” as they say for “all have sinned and fallen short.” It is not our actions that win us eternal life; it is God’s gift that saves us. Anyone who repents – preceding list included - and accepts Christ may actually be with the Lord.

2) I, who earned 4 percent in the course, passed Algebra 11 in Summer School with an ‘A’ and later went on to actually tutor Algebra 11. I did not actually fail Algebra 11. I did earn 4 percent on the course. But because I realized that I was doing so horribly in Algebra, I had dropped the course and audited it instead. So I had to do all the same homework as everyone else and I wrote all the same tests; and, yes, I fell short just as John did. However, by auditing the course I was spared the failing mark on my report card.

We can each be spared a failing mark even though all of us have sinned and thus failed to obtain a passing mark on our own. In the heavenly classroom, we all score less than a passing mark; we have all fallen short and deserve to fail. But Jesus does not read our marks aloud nor does He condemn us (John 3:17). Like a student auditing a course, He still wants us to carry on and complete it (1 Corinthians 9:24, Galatians 5:7, 2 Timothy 4:7, Hebrews 21:1)! In my case, there was no difference in how the class was passed, whether in the regular school year or summer school. What mattered was that I passed the class; so my 4-percent mark was erased forever from my transcripts and replaced with a mark in the ‘A’ range.

Such is the Biblical idea of justification.  In his work The Shape of Justification N. T. Wright writes, “Justification” is thus the declaration of God, the just judge, that someone is

(a) in the right, that their sins are forgiven, and

(b) a true member of the covenant family, the people belonging to Abraham.

 That is how the word works in Paul’s writings. It doesn't describe how people get in to God’s family; it declares that they are in. That may seem a small distinction, but in understanding what Paul is saying it is vital.[4]

We know that “There is no difference, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:22b-23), and we also know that we “are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). This is good news. Once you take into account that no one knows enough to actually pass the test and merit salvation, then we really do appreciate this grace. Grace is “a gift from God.” It is a present. It is not an award or trophy we can earn like the Grey Cup, the Stanley Cup, the World Cup, or the Super Bowl. Grace is far more precious than those.

It is a special present from Our Father. It is like the gifts I make for my children and family at Christmas time and birthdays. It is the special gifts my kids have made for me. Our salvation is a love present, a special gift from God that He gives us because He loves us.

Now God loves the world so much that He did send his only begotten son to die so that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. He sent His son into the world to save the world, not to condemn the world (John 3:1617). and since He did all that at such a great personal expense, let us please accept that gift today and let us not be ashamed of this good news (Romans 1:1617). May we let all our friends and family know that the Lord our God loves us all.

He has purchased this special gift of salvation for every one of us; let us each accept that love present, that gift of eternal life today. As we accept this supreme gift, our lives will never be the same again. They will change forever, for yes, we have all sinned and fallen short of the grace of God but, Praise the Lord, because our Eternal Life, our Salvation, is a free gift of God.

Let us pray

Romans 2:11—29: Stop ‘In the Name of the Law’.

 Presented to TSA Alberni Valley Ministries, 27 October 2024, by Major Michael Ramsay

Who has had a chance to read through Romans? We have spent the previous 3 weeks here on Chapter 1 of Romans. Who has at least read Chapter 1? This week I will speak on Romans 2 and then next week Susan may do the same or she may still have some things to say about Romans 1 or something else – so this week, if you can spare 10 minutes in your busy lives, I encourage you to read at least Romans 1 and 2. (That is how long it takes to read those two chapters out loud really slowly – 10 minutes.) When you read them, you can also check up on what we are saying in our sermons! Keep us on track!

 

Before we begin today, there is some prerequisite knowledge required; so, let’s have a review quiz. Let’s see how we do. Quiz (Review):

1.     ‘Romans’ is written to people living in what city?

a) Damascus

b)    Rome

c)     Philadelphia

d)    Port Alberni

2.     What is a Jew?

a)    A descendant of Abraham

b)    One who was subject to the Law

c)     One of a people chosen by God to share His message of Salvation

d)    All of the above

3.     What is a Gentile?

a)    Someone who is quiet and calm

b)    A type of flooring

c)     A Greek or other non-Jewish person

d)    Short form of ‘Gentleman’

4. What is the significance of circumcision?

a) A sign of a covenant with Abraham

b) A sign that you are a Jewish male

c) A painful ritual practice

d) All of the above

5. What is the Law?

a) A note to follow ‘So’…’Doh, Rae, mi,,,’

b) Something I fought and it won.

c) Rites and rituals that are an important part of ancient Israelite covenant, culture and tradition.

d) A type of Tee-Dah; a Law-Tee-Dah

6. Who wrote Romans?

a) Roman Polanski

b) Julius Caesar

c) William Shakespeare

d) Paul

7. Who was Paul?

a) A Jew

b) A Roman

c) A Christian

d) All of the above

8. What is a Christian?

a) A follower of the Law

b) A follower of Jesus

c) A follower of Moses

d) A follower on Facebook

The Law comes up a lot in the New Testament. Today we are looking at Romans 2 and how Covenant Law relates to us as Christians. Remind me again: what does Paul mean when he refers to ‘the Law’? 

 

Those of us who have been studying Acts on Tuesday nights at the Gruenhages’ know that the early Christians struggled a lot with whether to follow the Law or not and how to follow it or not follow it. Two weeks ago at Bible study, we spoke about the Council in Jerusalem and how James and the other leaders proclaimed that the Gentiles shouldn’t have to follow the Law – but that they should follow some rules that are included in it? Do we remember what those rules are? (Acts 15:19: “...to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.") And last week in Bible Study we spoke at great length about what Paul had to say about the Law in Galatians 5:2, “Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all” versus what he encouraged Timothy to do, as recorded in Acts 16? What happened to Timothy? Timothy was circumcised (Acts 16:3). This shows some of the early confusion around the role of the Law in the lives of early Christians. It is finally more or less settled as Paul explains it to the Romans here.

Romans Chapter 2, written around the same time as Paul’s letter to the Galatians, and probably after the Council in Jerusalem, gives us a good insight into how the Law applies to believers: both Jews and Gentiles.  Remind me: What is the difference between and Jew and a Gentile? What is the Law again? Reading Verses 11-13:

11 For God does not show favoritism.12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.

 

In this chapter Paul explains that even though they were chosen by God for His purposes that, as Douglas Moo writes, “contrary to popular Jewish belief, the sins of the Jews will not be treated by God significantly different from those of the Gentiles.” [1]  In Verses 12-16 Paul makes it clear that it is not those who hear the Law (Like every Jewish person attending synagogue would regularly) but rather those who obey the Law that are justified – whether they attend synagogue or not or whether they even know about the Law or not (v.13).

 

An analogy to our local laws here today: If our law says that you are not to run a stop sign, the fact that that law exists, and the fact that you know that law says you aren’t supposed to run a stop sign aren’t going to save you. What is going to save you (and others!) is if you don’t run the stop sign!

 

But there is more. Reading Verses 14-16:

14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) 16 This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

 

Verses 14-16 talk about the Gentiles in relation to the Law: even some Gentiles who do not even try to follow or even know Jewish Covenant Law are able to do some of what the Law states.

 

These verses refer to the new covenant of Jeremiah 31:31-34 where it is recorded that the Law will be ‘written on the hearts of the Israelites’ but even more than that, it is reference to the good news of Genesis 12:3: the promise to Abraham that he will be a blessing has been fulfilled – not just for the Jews but for all the nations of the earth.

 

Back to our stop sign analogy: Some people who may not even know the law about stop signs will actually arrive at an intersection and come to a complete stop. They will realize, without anyone telling them, that maybe they shouldn’t drive straight out into the traffic. Paul would say that though they were never told this law, it was indeed written on their heart. I think there are many times in life when you and I probably obey laws by accident. Maybe a speed limit would be a better example: maybe you are driving down the street and never do see the sign but find yourself going the speed limit quite by accident. This is like Gentiles who do not have the Law, following the Covenant Law.

 

 

Verses 17-24:

17 Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God; 18 if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; 19 if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law, do you dishonour God by breaking the law? 24 As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

 

Paul here addresses a Jewish claim that they can ‘know [God’s] will and determine what is best because [they] are instructed in the Law (v.18)” and that they, because they have this Law from God, are even “a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and truth (19-20).” Paul disagrees! He says basically, “How can one claim to be a teacher of a Law when one does not even obey the Law oneself (cf. 2.1)?” Theologian N.T. Wright goes as far as to claim that “if the [Law] was put in place to deal with evil in the world, then the failure of the covenant people [under the Law] to be the light of the world means that the [Law] itself seems to be under threat.”[2] In other words, if the purpose of the Law was to bring salvation to the world then it failed.

 

This would be like if people were bragging that we are the best drivers in the world because we have the most laws: no speeding, no running stop signs, always signal, stop for pedestrians, don’t drive on the sidewalk… but then we don’t follow all those rules. What good are those laws if no one follows them? Paul says that this is what his fellow citizens are indeed doing – claiming to be great because of all these great laws– but then not following them; Claiming to be great because they have THE LAW but then not following it any better than people who don’t have it.

 

This always reminds me of when we or our allies invade yet another  country in the name of 'democracy' and then when it comes to participating in democracy most of us don’t even bother to show up! Most of us don’t attend local political debates and read party platforms so that we can at least cast an educated ballot. And most of us certainly don’t bother to participate in more legitimate or more meaningful avenues of democracy on a regular basis (the VAST majority of people in our country don’t bother to do this at all). This is like the LAW. What good is it to you if you don't participate in it?

 

Verses 25-29:

25 Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. 26 So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? 27 The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker. 28 A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.

 

Verses 25-29 speak specifically about circumcision and the Law. Two groups of people are being addressed. The first is a circumcised people, Jews who do not keep the Law (cf. vv. 25, 26, 27) and the second is an uncircumcised Gentiles who do keep the Law.  Paul points out that the Law of the Covenant is only valuable if you obey the Law and he says that the circumcised Jews are not obeying the Law and thus “The Name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles (v.24; cf. Isaiah 52:5).”

 

The role of Law is to reveal how we are guilty of sin (cf. 2:1, 17-24; 3:19) like our local laws show us how we are guilty of a crime. Covenant Law points out how and where we fall short. It is the ‘doing’ of the law that counts more than having or even knowing the Law (2:13-14,18, 25-26). Both Jews (who received and know the Law) and Gentiles (who don’t and aren’t) are equally able to ‘do’ or ‘not do’ the Law (cf. 2:3, 14-15, 17-14, 25-26, 3:19-31) – just like anyone ,whether they know our laws or not, is equally able to drive through a stop sign or not, or speed through a school zone or not – and just like no one born in this country will probably spend their whole life without breaking the law - no one will likely ever keep all of the Covenant Law.

 

Just like it is really not possible for you and I to obey every law in Canada, even if we know them. And it probably isn’t even possible for us to obey every traffic law. The Lord knows I have had a few tickets and one or two accidents. But if it was possible for anyone not to break the law then they would be able to look down their nose at the rest of us. Likewise, if it was possible not to break the Covenant Law (cf. 3:20), the Gentile who did so without even knowing the Law would stand in judgement of those who did received it, knew it, and don’t follow it (contrast 2:1-3).

 

So, at the conclusion of the second chapter of Romans, it is clear that the Jew and the Gentile stand on equal footing before the Law. Neither of them can be saved by it, whether they know it or not.

 

The Law “cannot be the means of demarcating the true covenant people; they merely point up the fact of sin (3:20). Instead, the covenant faithfulness of the creator of the world is revealed through the faithfulness of Jesus, the Messiah, for the benefit of all, Jew and Gentile alike, who believe.” [3]

 

Salvation, as will be argued later in Romans, comes not through The Law, any laws or anything else. Salvation comes through Christ alone.

 ---

[1] Douglas J. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans (NICNT 6: Grand Rapids, Michigan / Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996), 126. Cf. also NT Wright, The Letter to the Romans (NIB 10: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 440, where he acknowledges that God’s national impartiality was not totally unconsidered in Jewish tradition.

 

[2] N.T. Wright, “Romans and the Theology of Paul,” Pauline Theology, Volume III, ed. David M. Hay & E. Elizabeth Johnson, (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995): 37.

 

[3] Douglas J. Moo, p. 126.

2 Corinthians 5:17, Revelation 21:3b-4: Frankenstein's Creation Resurrected

Presented to TSA Alberni Valley Men's Breakfast, 26 October 2024, by Major Michael Ramsay

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 

 

We went to see Frankenstein the Ballet last night. Does anyone knows that story? The beginning is like the book. Dr. Frankenstein makes a creation out of the parts of corpses who had had terrible things happen in their lives - and then he brings life to the new creation and it becomes whole - with a whole new lease on life. A new chance to live. No matter all the awful stuff that had happened before.

 

Now, the book actually ends poorly after that - but the ballet does not. The ballet includes a story of Giselle. This bride, who herself suffered a horrible fate, learned forgiveness and is resurrected. She meets Fromstein's creation, they fall in love - and start off again, this time living a transformed life.

 

Revelation 21:3b-4: God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

 

No matter what we have done in this life. No matter if we mess up after God has already helped us and transformed us once or a million times; no matter what we have gone through, God can still transform us so that we can get through everything - looking forward to that day when indeed there will finally be no more pain and no more suffering 

www.facebook.com/salvogesis 

Romans 1:16: Thankfully, I am not ashamed of the Gospel.

Presented to TSA Alberni Valley Ministries on Thanksgiving Sunday, 12 October 2024, by Major Michael Ramsay

Click here to view the original, presented to the Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 05 July 2009, by Captain Michael Ramsay: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2009/07/romans-116-i-am-not-ashamed-of-gospel.html 

Click here to read a 11 May 2014 version presented to Swift Current TSA that was based on 1 Corinthians: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2014/05/1-corinthians-117-25-romans-1-and.html 

Click here to read an abridged version presented to Warehouse 614 at River St in Toronto, 14 January 2017: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2018/01/romans-112-17-i-am-not-ashamed-of-gospel.html

Click here to read (and/or order) a copy of "Salvogesis' Guidebook to Romans Road" by Major Michael Ramsay: https://www.facebook.com/RomansGuideBook or http://www.sheepspeak.com/ebooks.htm 

We are continuing our look at Romans this week. Has anyone had a chance to read any of Romans? Don’t worry if you haven’t. You have lots of time (I think): we are still on Chapter 1.

 

Romans 1:16 states, in part: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.

 

Today is Thanksgiving Sunday. Tomorrow, on Thanksgiving Monday, we will have a community meal at the Bread of Life. I love the community celebrations across this country on special days.

 

I remember one community celebration, one Canada Day, when Rebecca was just 2 years old, we went to an event at Fort Rodd Hill in Victoria. They had a lot of things to see and do. We saw people dressed in historic costumes. There were mascots dressed like animals walking around: great for kids, right? There was even one person who was dressed as a tree, giving balloons to children while telling them about the environment. The tree came up to us to say hi and as he leaned over my daughter offering a balloon, he asked her, “Do you like trees?” to which she replied as sweet as can be, “Not trees that talk and walk.”

 

Young children are great for speaking their minds. They are not ashamed to say what they mean. Paul is referring to this in the passage we are looking at here, Romans 1:16: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…”

 

The word gospel is a translation of the Greek word euangelion, which literally means “good news” or “good message.” The word ‘evangelism’ comes from this word ‘euangelion’. In its most basic form, gospel is good news. And what is this good news? This good news is that we can be saved from death. Body and Soul, we  can be raised from the dead to eternal life and even more than that: the gospel is the totality of the Christian message. By the power of God we can begin a new life today! This is good news and we should definitely not be ashamed of this good news! But sometimes, sadly, some of us are.

 

Friends of mine have gone down to Florida this week with The Salvation Army to help with the Hurricane Milton relief. I had the opportunity back in September 2008 to be deployed to Galveston Island in Texas as part of The Salvation Army team after Hurricane Ike stuck: assisting survivors and emergency personnel with emotional and spiritual care. Thankfully, more than 1 million people were saved from that hurricane and flood that followed as they obeyed the evacuation order. But some refused to evacuate. No one needed to die but some refused the chance of salvation. Sadly, around 100 people were found dead as a direct result of the hurricane. Bodies were still being found while I was there. I spoke with people whose family members had refused the offered salvation from the storm and suffered the consequences.

 

Homes were destroyed. Businesses were destroyed. The sewers, the water, and the phones were still not working when we arrived. People were housed in shelters both on and away from Galveston Island. Many still had no place to go. Power was still out in some areas. So even families who did not lose their stoves and refrigerators in the hurricane and the subsequent flood – and most did – were unable to keep or cook any food. On top of this, most didn’t have food and they didn’t have water. Many refrigerators were destroyed and lying on the side of the road to be picked up later as junk.

 

Food and water are a big part of the temporal salvation the Lord provided through The Salvation Army then and there. Here and now, today at the Bread of Life Centre we serve around 700 meals a day to people in need. There, then, we had about 30 food trucks from which we helped to serve approximately 75 000 hot meals every day and gave people water and ice. Ice is very important. The temperature was around 90 degrees Fahrenheit. And the food: many people told me that without The Salvation Army they would not have eaten at all. They would not have survived. We thank the Lord for the service He provided to the community through many people. We prayed for them. We prayed with them. Our work there was very much His work through us. We were able to be a part of people’s salvation from the storm and its effects and more.

 

And that was not the end of our efforts. We were also able to celebrate with people as they committed their lives to the Lord so that they could experience His Salvation forever as well as for now. We were not ashamed of the gospel: we shared the good news and some people grabbed hold of it.

 

In our own daily lives, do we point people to that eternal Salvation or are we ashamed of the gospel? Jesus tells us that if we deny Him before others, He will deny us before God (Matthew 10:33). That sounds fair. Are we bold for the gospel (Philippians 1)? As our friends or colleagues speak about life, do we tell them what we have heard from God and what we have read in the Bible? When someone shares their struggles with us, do we share with them the strength to persevere that Jesus Christ offers? If we feel that God is prompting us to “lead someone to Christ,” do we?

 

There is even more than this: Salvation is about the future and the future begins in the present. The Salvation Army here: we run the soup kitchen and the Shelter at the Bread of Life Centre. Salvation is this: imagine you have a friend living on the street. He is very poor and suffering from various illnesses, struggles, and the most painful of lives, thinking he is alone. Now imagine that you know his father. Imagine you know that his father wants your friend to come home and live with him because his father is very well off and in his father’s house there are many rooms (John 14:2). Imagine you also know his father’s first-born son. Imagine that, knowing his homeless brother is sick and dying, he told you to invite his brother home. Imagine you don’t share this information because you are ashamed. Imagine that every time you see your friend it becomes more and more difficult to share the good news of his father who loves him because you are too embarrassed to admit you have not told him sooner. Imagine he suffers and dies and you didn’t tell him at every opportunity that he could turn to his father and live out the rest of his days in peace and comfort.

 

If that happens, what kind of friend are you? What kind of a friend am I?

 

Please understand me. I am not saying that as you come to know your Heavenly Father you will never suffer loss, tragedy, sadness, or the consequences of your own or someone else’s actions. I am not saying that God offers you a magic potion that makes all the challenges of life disappear. He doesn’t. What He offers you is the opportunity to shelter with Him in the midst of life’s challenges. He will provide for you in your time of need. He offers to be with you in the midst of the reality of life. He offers you the opportunity to be a part of His love forever, to be a part of His future kingdom too where there will be no more tears, no more suffering. This is really something for us to be thankful for on Thanksgiving Sunday here.

 

This is reality: when Christ returns His coming will be like a thief in the night (Matthew 24:42−44). The time and the hour are unknown (Matthew 25:1−13) but we know it is coming and He is coming to judge the living and the dead (Acts 10:42, 2 Timothy 4:1, 1 Peter 4:5). And we have the opportunity to flee the storm forever and go off to eternal peace instead (Matthew 8:12, 13:42, 13:50, 22:13, 24:51, 25:30; Luke 13:28). To know this is good news. As when the hurricane struck Galveston Island, even though 100 people chose to stay behind and perished; even though we met with, spoke with, and prayed with people whose family members chose to reject salvation from the hurricane: everyone had known the storm was coming; everyone could have been saved. And thousands were. That is the good news. We can all be saved.

 

Can you imagine news reporters being so ashamed of the fact the hurricane was coming that they didn’t share the information? Can you imagine meteorologists being so ashamed of the fact that they did not know the exact time and hour the hurricane was going to strike that they told nobody? Can you if imagine your neighbour knew the hurricane was coming and she evacuated but she never told you because she was ashamed that she couldn’t explain exactly why, where, how, and when it was coming? Can you imagine the horror as you look up to see your life being swept away – and no one had ever told you how to be saved because they were ashamed?

 

An eschatological hurricane is coming. Indeed, it has already started. People in this world today are sleeping in their beds, working, playing on their phones, watching a game, doing something else right now and have no idea that the end is coming. People are like the homeless man of our earlier analogy and living their lives away from their Heavenly Father when He wants nothing more than to have them safely at His side. People are out there needing and even wanting us to point them to salvation. So, let’s do that!

 

Today let us be the rescue workers pointing people to safety. None of us knows when our lives are going to end. We may be taken tomorrow. None of us knows when the Lord is returning and bringing with Him the end to our world. But, like the meteorologists watching the storm, we know that the things of this world are going to pass away (Matthew 24:35, Mark 13:31, Luke 21:33, Revelation 21:1) – and we can see that the eschatological rain has started -  so it is our job to share with everyone the good news of the way to Salvation so that others need not perish – and we can take shelter with the Lord from the storms of our very lives today. And it is our responsibility to share this gospel, for the gospel is the power of God for all to be saved both now and forever.

 

On this Thanksgiving Sunday, let us thank God for this, His most precious gift: the gift of His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have ever lasting life and let us look for opportunities to share that good news with others we meet.

 

Let us pray.

Romans 1:20: The Reconciliation of Creation (and more!)

Presented to Alberni Valley Ministries 05 October 2024 and the Nipawin Corps, 07 June 2009, by Major Michael Ramsay

  

This is the 2024 BC Version. To view the 2009 Saskatchewan edition, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2009/06/appeal-of-creation-genesis-1-romans-1.html

   

We just completed a few months of looking at the book of Mark. Did everyone have an opportunity to read it on their own? Susan thought that Romans would be a good next book to look at and as I have written a book on Romans for The Salvation Army I was inclined to agree. (You can read the book here: http://www.sheepspeak.com/ebooks.htm )

 

So this week I get to welcome you to our first stop on this journey through Romans. This is an exciting stop as we can see both Romans 1 and Genesis 1 from this vantage point. Romans 1:20:

 

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities − his eternal power and divine nature − have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

 

This reminds me of a time when my wife Susan and I served as Officers in Nipawin, Saskatchewan. After a day of dealing with another vandalized window at the ministry centre, packing boxes for move day, and writing sermons, we decided to take a short walk in God’s creation. We were depressed, stressed and then… It was amazing. As we walked, our spirits immediately lifted. We strolled around the trees in some of the small forests there. This very beautiful part of the country reminds me in many ways of where I grew up. The trees are not nearly as big nor the forest as thick, but t is quite beautiful.

 

When I was a young adult my friend Dan and I went hiking almost every weekend. I lived in Victoria. He would pick me up after I finished work on Friday nights and we would drive up island as far as we could go, finding new areas to explore. It was a lot of fun. One often experiences the power of God in these times.

 

Stepping out into the wilderness can be like peeling an orange. Much of our life, it seems, has become a peel hiding the beautiful fruit of the Lord’s creation. Our cities and towns have added ever so many layers over God’s creation.

 

We have our warm houses and our heated cars – Susan’s car even has heated seats that Heather likes to turn on! – our paved streets, telephone lines and other wires obscuring the view or more and more being buried beneath the ground; and on the prairies there are ATVs, snowmobiles, and some fancy farm machinery that make life easier but also changes the simpler ways we would otherwise work and play. In our society today we also have the imaginary worlds of television, video games, social media, the Internet, and other entertainment avenues adding a further peel of distance from the realities of God’s creation.

 

Social barriers obscure God’s creation as well. Our education systems let us think that we have solved most of the world’s mysteries all on our own. Our political system leads us to believe that we have absolute control over our own destiny and that we should actually do as we see fit in our own eyes (cf. the sin of Judges, 21:25). We seem to believe western democracy’s line that the majority is right the majority of the time. As we move further and further away from God’s creation physically, spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, and practically, we are enticed more and more to believe the old serpent’s lie that as humankind evolves our “eyes will be opened, and we will be like God” (Genesis 3:5). Stepping out into God’s creation removes the peels from society and allows us to taste the fruit of the Lord (Psalm 34:8). If we don’t do this from time to time, we can fall into the trap described in Romans 1: 18−23 of ignoring and suppressing the obvious truth of God:

 

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities— his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

 

Acclaimed to be wise, Sigmund Freud – the father of modern psychology– actually believed that society had progressed beyond God. He hoped that civilization would quickly progress even further and move beyond its “illusion” of religion the same way one should outgrow a “childhood neurosis.” Freud had faith that eventually humankind would indeed do this. He thought that “nothing can withstand reason and experience and the contradiction that religion offers to both is all too palpable” [1].

 

Moving beyond the ‘illusion’ of God and religion, for Freud, “would be an important advance along the road which leads to being reconciled to the burden of civilization” (P. 41). Freud was not alone in denying the existence of God. Our society seems to want to progress beyond God’s creation -- as if that were possible.

 

Karl Marx says of religion, “Man . . . looked for a superman in the fantastic reality of heaven and found nothing but the reflection of himself.” [2] He says religion is the “opium of the people” and “the abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness” (P. 42).

 

Marx, Freud, and many others who have had a profound influence on the world even into the 21st century seem to have chosen to reject God. Even though, as Romans 1:20 states, “… since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities − his eternal power and divine nature − have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made…”

 

God loves us so much that He made it obvious through this life and all He created that He is God; all we have to do is peel back the artificial barriers we create in life, taste the fruit of Jesus Christ and see that He is good. As important as the peels are and as beneficial as many of our modern manmade developments are, it is just as important to take the time to actually see and taste God’s creation and know how good He is (Psalm 34:8).

 

We read the creation account in Genesis 1, which reminds me of a love letter of sorts akin to the Song of Solomon. Look at how poetically the creation story is related to us in Genesis 1.

·       First, on Day 1, our Heavenly Father creates light and day and night and then,

·       on Day 4, three days later, after creating this environment, He lovingly creates the sun and the moon and the stars to be placed within that light (Gen 1:13-19).

·       Next, on Day 2, our loving creator makes the water and the sky and, three days later,

·       on Day 5, He makes sea creatures to be placed in this sea. Next, He makes birds to soar into the skies God made for them (1:4−8, 20−23).

·       On Day 3, our Heavenly Father gathers together the waters to create dry land.

·       On Day 6, He creates plants and animals to be placed on this land that He made for them. God then creates man and woman in His own image (Genesis 1:9−13, 26−7), blesses them and graciously assigns them the job of filling the earth and taking care of it (Gen 1:28−31). The Lord loves His creation: it is good, and He loves us too.

 

It is obvious that God loves us but – too bad – the story of creation and of Adam and Eve doesn’t end here. As we know, Adam (the first man) disobeyed God and he − instead of taking responsibility for his actions ̶ blamed the woman, Eve, and even God.

 

When confronted with his sin Adam said to God, Genesis 3:12, “The woman you put here with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.” And lest we think the woman was any better than Adam, she responded, in Genesis 3:13, that “the serpent deceived me, and I ate”. This was The Fall. With humankind’s sin, we separated ourselves from God’s creation and from God.

 

Now God, of course, had a remedy for this. He really does desire that all the people of the earth be blessed as He blessed Adam and Eve. Genesis 12:1−3 promises that all the nations of the earth will be blessed through Abraham. And God is faithful to that promise. God sends His only begotten son to die and rise again on the third day, so that we might live and so that we might be reconciled to God and His creation.

 

So the, as we go about our lives, let us take a moment away from our busyness; let us walk outside, and as we walk let us take in the abundant beauty that demonstrates God’s love for us. Let us peel back all that blocks the view of our hearts; let us notice each other, our family, our friends, our animals, our gardens, our plants, and all His creation. Let us notice the sun today and the stars tonight. Let us notice all of this around us; then let us bow our heads and lift our voices in praise of our God because He loved us so much that He sent Jesus Christ, His only begotten son, so that all barriers to salvation would be removed. Now we can be fully reconciled to Him.

 

Monday was Orange Shirt Day, Truth and Reconciliation Day. Many of us from TSA walked along with the crowds to Tseshaht First Nation where we were invited to join in a meal and entertainment as a step towards reconciliation with our brothers and sisters here. As we stroll down the road of Romans through Bible Study a little further in the next few weeks and months, we will consider the eternal reconciliation up ahead at Romans 3:23 and elsewhere. For today. I encourage us all to step outside into the Lord’s glorious creation and thank Him so much for that reconciliation with Him, each other, and all of creation that He offers to us all through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

 

Let us pray.

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