Presented to each the Nipawin and Tisdale Corps 29 July 2007
and Swift Current Corps on 21 March 2010 and 30 Nov 2014
by Captain Michael Ramsay
To view the 2014 version click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2014/11/luke-161-13-sudden-death-overtime-2014.html
I love here it in Saskatchewan. I love everyone here. I love it the Nipawin and Tisdale. You know what though: it’s not the same as Victoria and Vancouver. I love it very much back on the coast too but you know there are few advantages to Nipawin and Tisdale. For instance, here when you come to a stop sign – this will sound bizarre to my friends on the west coast – when you come to a stop sign you actually stop and make sure that you are not going to hit anybody. And it is safe to cross at the crosswalk – again people actually stop. I don’t have to pick up my kids and run across as fast as I possibly can; I love it.
Here, unlike Vancouver also, there aren’t sirens going off 24 hours a day and the other day I went down to the Co-op and, guess what? I found a parking spot. Honestly, there were times in Vancouver where the closest spot I could find to where I was going was as far as the Co-op store is from here. This is true and then it would cost $2.00/hour even to park there. It is a great community here and everyone is so friendly; we love it we really do…
There is one thing I must confess that I miss though – I’m sorry - the radio. Now, the Christian radio station in Nipawin (104.1 FM, http://www.lighthousefm.com/) is great. It really is. On the west coast though we had so many radio stations to choose from. Whatever mood you were in: 24-hour news, talk, 24-hour music of your choice, flip to whatever you want, dedicated sports channels…
When Rebecca was just born, I used to listen to hockey every Friday night. You see. Friday night was my night to be home with Rebecca and clean the house. So I would listen to the junior hockey games on the radio as I was doing the dishes, etc.
I remember this one game. I caught the 3rd period. The home team just dominated. It was three or even four nothing coming into the last minute of play. These players had worked really hard, just dominated and they started celebrating the winning of the last game of their season -(pause)- with one minute left to go. Then the other team scored. Then again; 30 seconds left. Then again; 10 seconds left. It was four nothing less than a minute ago – they were celebrating – now they are up 4-3 with only 5 seconds left and they aren’t so confident – and now there’s a face-off in their own zone. And you know what happens? The away team scores with less than a second left to force sudden-death overtime.
Our team squanders their lead and as a result they face sudden death.
If you’ll turn with me back to Luke chapter 16, the manager we read about also squanders from his position, and now faces sudden death – or sudden unemployment anyway: he is fired.
Jesus tells this parable directly to his disciples right after he tells the story of the prodigal son (cf. R. Alan Culpepper, NIB IX). Remember, the point of that parable (that we looked at earlier today)? What happens when the son squanders what (the) God (figure) gives him? He is forgiven. The parable is about God’s forgiveness of the son who squanders everything on wild (NIV) or dissolute (NRSV) living. As we return to God, He will forgive us whatever we have done.
But this parable raises a question…can we just keep sinning and it doesn’t matter?[1] If we are members of God’s family, his household, can we just squander everything on ‘wild living’ and sin, like the son? After all, the father not only forgave him but also threw a big party in for him. So, why not keep sinning?
And this is a question that Jesus answers right away in this parable[2]: God (the father) in the prodigal story forgives the one that squanders what he is given but God in the manager story does not.
Jesus says, (verses 1 and 2), “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of SQUANDERING (NRSV) his possessions. [same] So he called him in and asked him, ‘what is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.' You face sudden death – sudden unemployment.
The prodigal son is forgiven but the wicked manager is fired. Jesus is stopping any thoughts that we can just keep sinning when we work for God right here. If there are any who think that they can go out and waste everything that God has given them Jesus answers them emphatically… No – No – No, He says, give me an account. [a]
The manager is working for (the) God (figure) –just like the disciples are and just like we are - and now he is fired and he never saw this coming [c].
Verse 3, he asks: “what shall I do now… I’m not strong enough to dig. I’m too proud to beg.” He’s being fired for squandering what God has given him and he probably didn’t see it coming.
Well, how are we doing with what God has given us? We know, of course, that our jobs, our businesses, farms, car, home, family, and all the gifts and talents that we have really all belong to God and we are just managing them until Jesus returns; so, how have we been doing with that?
Are we using them for the Kingdom and God or are we squandering them on ourselves? At anytime, Jesus will come back. At anytime the owner will ask for an account of what we’ve done with his possessions: are we using them for what he wants or are we squandering them on ourselves and on ‘wild living’?
I can think of a time when I was a pre-teen and I was in the living room when my dad was watching some telethon to help the needy kids. He was talking to me about it for a while. Trying to instill the values of helping others – or something like that – and then right when they are asking for money –on purpose – he says, "thanks Mike for all the help you’ve given me working around the yard this summer" ...and he gives me five bucks... while he’s picking up the telephone. He says, "now you can spend this on anything you want"…while he dials…"anything at all…Hello telethon"…and he hands me the phone…immediately, I’m thinking about giving the telethon - $2.50 (or less), but I know what my father is saying that I should do with this money.
Are we doing what our Heavenly Father wants with what He gives us? What are we doing with His money, yes, but also – can you teach? Are you teaching others about Jesus? Are you organised? Are you using administration skills for the Kingdom? Are you are social person? Are you telling people about Jesus and visiting them when they are sick? All of this is included in the first question Jesus is addressing with the parable but he doesn’t stop here.
Look at verses 4-7. These are interesting verses for some sure but let’s see what we can make of them, shall we?[3] The manager says to himself, ‘What shall I do now? — I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
“ ‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied.
“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.’
“Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’ “
‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied.
“He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’
So do you see what the manager is doing here? Now this isn’t his money, remember. This is the master’s money – in one way or another[4] – this is the master’s money and the manager’s plan is to give it away; isn’t this what he got in trouble for in the first place – wasting his master’s money? !!!
Now that he is out on his ear, this is the idea, he slashes what people owe his master, and makes a lot of friends in the process. No kidding… can you imagine? And these are not just small personal loans. This is big business, these amounts, by the way. This isn’t just a family operation. Can you imagine if the CEO of RBC –faced sudden death- can you imagine if he just got his pink slip and went out and cancelled everybody’s mortgage or student loans…no kidding people would like him and offer him jobs. Or like a politician, who looks like he’ll lose an election, bails out big business or privatises something. No kidding someone will offer him a job.
But what is Jesus saying here? Is he saying that it is okay to cheat God like the manager cheats the owner? This is another question inherent to the parable…and look at verse 8. When all this happens and the owner potentially loses the equivalent of millions in the process, it says “the master commended the dishonest manager because he acted shrewdly.” He commended him for wasting his money, which is what he fired him for in the first place. What?!?
So what is Jesus saying? …Is he saying that we can be tricky and waste God’s possessions? Well…no. And this is where the first part of the parable that we spent so much time looking at comes into play. No you cannot waste that which God has given you and Jesus is pretty clear about that. If we can’t be trusted, if we squander what God has given us, we will be fired. We will lose; It is the same as stopping playing hockey in the last minute. We will face sudden death overtime and - if we stop playing - we will lose.
Further if we have any doubts about this, in verses 10-12 Jesus is explicit. There is no ambiguity. He says, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?
Did you get that? Jesus is saying that it is not the untrustworthiness, the shrewdness, the trickiness, that is being applauded in this parable. It is not the fact that he has without permission reduced all these debts for his own personal gain– it is not this that Jesus is applauding. He says so – he says if you are dishonest with a little, you will be dishonest with a lot. And if you do squander -waste the talents God gives you- you will not be eternally employed.
So then, if it is not the manager’s untrustworthiness that is being applauded? Why is the owner happy with the manager who wastes and squanders his things? Is it that he put profit first? He cut a deal with big business to get a new job. Like a corrupt politician about to be kicked out the door selling of a country’s possessions. The manager doesn’t want to do any physical work but he still wants to make big bucks. Is this what the parable is talking about?[5] Is this what is being applauded: planning for his own financial security? [b]
No. Jesus answers this question in verses 13 and 15. He says emphatically, “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” ...What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.” And Jesus goes even further earlier in Luke when he says (14:33) that one should be willing to give up all one’s possessions to follow him…
So why does he commend the manager? What’s he talking about? Really what is he talking about? He makes it clear that he is NOT saying that we should aim for material gain (v.15) and if we do we are not serving God (v.13) and he is not applauding untrustworthiness for he says clearly that those who are untrustworthy here are not worthy of trust in the Kingdom; so what is Jesus talking about in this parable?
Jesus' point to his disciples in this parable and Jesus' point to us is this, if even the people of this world (v. 8), who are not even wise enough to secure the ‘true riches’ for themselves (v.11), even the wicked people who squander what they are entrusted with on themselves, and don’t use God’s wealth for His purposes (cf. Luke 12:13-21) - even the people of this world are wise enough to prepare for their future when they know it is near (v.8), so should not we, who have been entrusted with so much more –the knowledge of the Kingdom of God – should not we be even more wise than they?
In context this makes sense. The prodigal son comes back. He returns to Father. He comes back to live with God. Sure he strays but he comes back and, like the son, if we stray we can return. We are welcome back and the story of the prodigal makes that clear. But don’t leave it too late.
The story of the manager contains a caution. The manager did not return to doing what was right before it was too late. You see, we are welcome back to spend time with and to do the will of God (cf. Lk 13:22-30; Mat 7:13-14) but we shouldn’t be encouraged to celebrate so much that we stop playing before the game is over (cf. Lk 12:35-41,41-48). Even the untrustworthy manager, when he did finally see the impending future, even the untrustworthy manager, did everything that he could to prepare for it. Do we who have already been entrusted with the riches of the knowledge of God care as much as he about the impending future? how are we doing at managing God’s time, money, and skills that He has given us?
How are we doing? Are we using our gifts for the Kingdom? This is what the Kingdom looks like; this is what it is like when we have returned to the father and when we are trustworthy managers:[6] If our dad gives us five bucks and tells us to give it to Jerry’s kids, we will give it to Jerry’s kids. If our Father lets us have a good job, with good pay, and invites us to give some of that money back, we will give it back. If He gives us the skills to teach Sunday school, fix the church, or nudges us to invite our friends to church, we will do that and more. Then we will avoid being in the same position as the manager. You see, we have already been entrusted with the true riches of the Kingdom. It is not too late.
The third period’s not over. We can play the full game and experience the victory with Jesus. We can. No matter if we’ve already started to squander our lead like the son or the manager, it is not too late yet. We can come back. We can come back. We can return and experience the victory with Jesus, we can. Praise the Lord. Halleluiah. Let's avoid 'sudden death' and build on that lead playing for the Lord.
Amen.
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[1] This is one of the questions that he is answering, for his disciples (cf. Lk 8:8-10; Mt 13:10-17; Mk 4:10-12), I submit, with this parable.
[2] This is not the only place where it can be argued that Jesus answers a parable with a parable. One of Luke’s two references to the parable `hiding your light under a jar` appears to be part of his explanation to his disciples of the parable of the Soils (Luke 8).
[3] The scholars varied opinions are around things such as whether or not the manager was acting honourably or dishonourably here, whether or not this section is making a comment about the character of God, and questions about if the manager's untrustworthiness and love of money were actually rewarded; I argue alongside the majority opinion, based on the larger context as I address later in this sermon, that it is not these things that are being rewarded at all.
[4] R. Alan Culpepper, NIB IX: Luke, John, 308-309 has a good discussion of various theories around how the wealth was acquired and why or why not the manager’s actions here are justifiable. This is a contentious issue; I don’t think that it need be however. If even the ‘wicked’ are smart enough to prepare for the future in their wicked ways, how much more should the trustworthy (faithful) (v. 11) prepare for the future and how much more seriously should we take the true riches (v. 12) with which we have been entrusted
[5] Some may suggest that we act this way; you’ve heard the argument that you can only take care of others once you take care of yourself. What good would we be to the poor, if we were broke ourselves?
[6] I have a really good quote to insert here from the Interpretation series. Check back later.
[a] cf. http://renewnetwork.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html#8474403761697437649
[b] cf. http://renewnetwork.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html#3175897458761777177
[c] cf. Doctrine 9 of the Salvation Army (We believe that continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ.) ; I am not suggesting here that this theme is the central element of the parable. I am however suggesting that it may be implicit and certainly serves for smooth transition from the preceding parable.
Showing posts with label July 2007. Show all posts
Showing posts with label July 2007. Show all posts
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Luke 8:1-18 - The Jesus Show
Presented to each the Nipawin and Tisdale Corps, 15 July 2007
and Swift Current Corps, 16 November 2014
by Captain Michael Ramsay
As a family we rent movies from time to time but, as a rule, I don’t watch TV (we don’t even have one accessible right now) – I find that it takes too much time…but ‘in the old days’ I used to love Monty Python's Flying Circus. I don’t know who remembers it but one of the reasons it was neat was because I have heard said that John Clease, one of the main actors, was actually educated as a lawyer and shortly after becoming a lawyer he was offered two jobs – one as a lawyer and one as a comedian / actor. Like all of us, I’m sure [ha, ha, ha], he chose to be an actor - and as a result he reached more people than he ever could as a lawyer and affected them to an even greater extent. You see, in today’s world the media is a significant way to make an impact on the world; John Clease made an impact.
Shows popular these days include Survivor, Big Brother, Great Race, talk shows like Oprah. I must confess that I’ve never even seen an episode of most of them but I still know about them. These shows make an impact. They have elements of reality that our society at large can understand but they are couched in such a way as to make it exciting – either parodies, intensity of settings, or extreme subject matters: it is entertainment for the mass market and -When one does this, one reaches a lot of people, one gains a lot more exposure for oneself, and one’s message. More exposure than one gets from writing for an academic journal or practicing law, for instance.
Now I was thinking of giving you guys another quiz this week – but I think I’ll hold off for a while…but, I’ll ask you what were your favourite classes in school? …Math, English, Art, lunch: things that you love studying in elementary, secondary or post secondary. Shout them out ...
I just recently returned to (and from) school again –training college, the Salvation Army seminary and I had a favourite thing to study: it was systematic, contextual exegesis pertaining specifically to Jesus’ use of rhetoric to affect his listeners concentrating on metaphoric and parabolic language. Anybody else like that…
Anyway it is basically how Jesus speaks to people. Now there is no doubt that Jesus was smart. He is after all the Son of God. Even as a child he is learned enough to discourse (Luke 2:41ff) with the priests in the temple, later of his teaching, etc, he has followers, disciples, of whom he chooses 12 to be apostles (Lk 6:12-14; Mt 10:1-4; Mk 3:13-14). He is also able to hold his own in many debates and conflicts with the Sadducees, Pharisees, and Priests – the legal, intellectual, and religious leaders of his day. But here is the thing. He didn’t choose to be a lawyer; he doesn’t choose to be an academic; he doesn’t choose to be a priest. He chooses to reach the mass market instead. Sort of like – I never really though of the comparison before but (in this way) sort of like John Clease.
If you aren’t already looking at Luke, Chapter 8, I invite you to turn to it now.
Now Jesus was very popular and –just like today’s TV shows – he had many regular followers (verse 4). There were many people who would actually follow Jesus around from town to town as he taught. They would be like the regular viewers of THE JESUS SHOW ... with such sensational acts as turning water into wine, feeding the 4 or 5 thousand, healing the lame and casting demons into pigs and much, much more…tune in next week…and he had many regular followers that did: they followed him from town to town. And a good number of them, like it says in verse 2 and 3, were women and they were so devoted that they even provided for him out of their own resources.
Now, Jesus consciously chose not to speak exclusively in the intellectual language of his time and he chose not to appeal directly only to the elite of society. He chose instead to speak in the language that would attract the common people, the mass market. His message, particularly in Luke’s account, as we’ve discussed previously was for the poor, the needy and the oppressed. And for most of its history until (the second temple was destroyed and) the people finally dispersed in 70 AD, this was the bulk of Hebrews, Israelites, and Judeans.
Even though Jesus has a big following, and just like I don’t always understand what is going on in some of these talk shows and reality shows today, people didn’t always get what Jesus was saying and the many of the intellectual big wigs certainly did not even want to understand. If you look at verse 10 with me, Jesus is quoting Isaiah (Isaiah –6:9-10) and it says there that ‘to you (his disciples, the one’s following him – the regular viewers if you like, the one’s who would never miss the JESUS SHOW.) "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that "looking they may not perceive, and listening they may not understand.' Now, there is so much to this verse actually. More than I can possible go into here but suffice it to say for now, that this passage quoted from Isaiah is one of the signs pointing to Jesus as the Christ, The Messiah, the Anointed one of God – and not everyone / not everyone / understands…
Well, so do we understand? What is His point in the Parable of the Soils. What is this great message here that he tells to great crowds that come from (verse 4) town after town. Let’s see if we can figure it out.
First, do you remember taking quizzes in school. –Don’t worry, I’m still not going to give you one- I remember Mrs Randall, though, when I was in grade 6, she would come in with some strange one’s –surprise tests - every once and a while. You could never answer the questions but if you turned to the back of the test there was always an answer key. So I would always just flip to the back and copy out the answers.
Now I don’t really know if that was cheating or not or if we were supposed to do that, but as we go through this parable, we’re going to do the same thing – you see the interpretation of the parable is just over there in verses 11-15 and right of the bat, in verse 11, if you’ll look with me, it records that the seed in this story is the word of God. So let’s take that information back to the parable verses 4-8. Verse 5: "A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up.”
So someone is sowing, planting, teaching the word of God and as he does, some of the seed falls on the path and is trampled on or the birds eat it up. Now this is the picture Jesus is painting - and most people at this time in Palestine, since Israel is an agricultural society, understand this. In first century Palestine, instead of a fence between each field, there is be a narrow well-beaten path, like the one mentioned in the parable; these paths are as hard as pavement;[1] and mark off property lines and sections of land. They are also paths to travel.
The image here is of a person walking along with his bag of seeds and tossing them into his field and some of these seeds inevitably fall onto the trodden path where nothing can grow because it is so hard. It is like today if I were trying to through seeds beside the highway. The ones that landed on the road just would not grow.
So Jesus then is letting us know that even as we are faithful in sowing the seed, sharing the gospel, there are those with whom it just won’t take. We need to sow. We need to sow, (it is part of the great commission Matthew 28:16-20), but there are people who just won’t - for whatever reason - let the seed of the word of God grow.
There can be many different reasons for this, I remember a friend of mine – we’ll call her Melissa – and back in the 1980’s she comes to church with us, she comes to Bible study, she is dating a Christian friend of mine and we tell her and talk to her about Jesus all the time –because that is just what we talk about- but the seed just won’t take. And I know her over many years. Her heart is hard (verse 12) and she does not believe. It is sad but she does not believe. We are faithful in sowing, but she appears hard. We are faithful in sowing but she does not believe.
And that is what Jesus is speaking about here in such a way that those, as it says in Mark’s account (Mark 3), those with ears can hear and the regular viewers of the JESUS SHOW can fully understand the sadness of this. Even as we are faithful, some will not believe. And in order to believe we must have faith and faithfulness (Romans 3).
As the faithful planter plants, as the sower sows, as we share the word of God, there is the next ground upon which the seed falls. Verse 6 says that some seed falls on the rocks. This seed starts out well but it whither and it dies. And verse 7 says that some of the seeds that are faithfully sown – some of the seeds fall among thorns and these thorns choke it out.
Now I was in prison for a couple of years – not as an inmate, praise God - but as a minister and a training college cadet. And I loved it very much and my heart weeps for many of them daily. I love my friends there. I really do. Now I was there regularly and preached a bit there over the years and spent a lot of time at the Penn getting to know the guys.
Sadly some of my friends there appear to be the soil of the rock and soil of the weeds. So often you see people’s lives turning around as they are out to the prison church services three, four, and, if possible, five times a week. So often they start to read the word and ponder things of the Lord. So often the Lord gets a hold of their lives and starts to transform them. So often, the seed starts to GROW! And then so often (vs 12) the devil comes along…but it doesn’t need to be this way.
The regular followers of the JESUS SHOW know that the word of God, the gospel, is good news. It is the power to change and because of that we keep sowing the seeds. We keep sharing the good news. We are faithful and we have faith.
And then there are those who receive will it with joy (verse 13). Like some of my friends that do do really well in prison but they don’t have the foundation, they don’t have the background, they don’t have the roots, and when they leave jail they can’t find a town, a church, a Christian, a single person for support. The seed doesn’t take root in their soil. The Word doesn’t take root in their soul. It doesn’t grow. They believe only for a time and then – they fall away.
But it doesn’t need to be this way. The regular followers of the JESUS SHOW know that the gospel is good news. It is itself (cf Romans 1:17-18) the power to change. So we keep sowing the seeds, we keep sharing the gospel.
But still there are they who are like the plants choked by the weeds; there are other friends of ours, as we are faithful and sharing the word of God to them. As we are faithful in planting and sowing, there are those that seem to have that same enthusiasm. They seem to have that same passion for the Word of God. They seem to have that same passion for Christ but then…it changes.
I think of Russell, a friend of mine from jail. He is a great musician. He plays religiously in the church band at the prison; he is amazing. On the outside he is a professional musician. Upon release, he immediately gets involved in a band again. He does really well too and I don’t see or hear from him for over a year, but then just before I leave to come out here actually I see him again – back in prison. Verse 14: “as for those that fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear; but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares, and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.”
The rocky and thorny soil is very common in Palestine in Jesus’ day and people (as rocky and thorny soil) are very common in Canada in our day. Is there anything choking the word of God out of our life? Luke spends a lot of time in his Gospel addressing the difficulties of wealth (cf. 12:16; 14:12; 16:1, 19; 18:24 21:1). 18:24 says, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God!” and we all in Canada, no matter how much we think we lack, are among the wealthiest people ever to live on the planet. Is wealth trying to choke us out of the Kingdom?
Jesus speaks about the pursuit of pleasure (17:27; 21:34) and he speaks of worry (10:41; Ch 12): this comes from trying to take responsibility for that which God has control. Is there something else choking the word of God from our life? Is there something that we spend more energy in doing than reading the word? Is there something we spend more time doing than talking with God? Is there? Are there weeds chocking our growth in Christ? It doesn’t need to be this way. The gospel is good news. It is itself, as it says in Romans 1:17-18, it is itself the power to change us.
And change us it does when it takes root. When we resist the devil, he will flee us. The one who perseveres receives the crown of life, which the Lord has promised (James 1:12). We do not need to be as hard as the beaten path and we certainly should never be discouraged from sowing the seed’s of God’s word. Because look – look at verse 8. There is good news.
Verse 8: “Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold." … "Let anyone with ears to hear listen!"; about that good soil, verse 15: ... the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance. And how can they not?
Jesus continues[2]…as he explains a parable with a parable, verses 16-18, how could they not: "No one after lighting a lamp hides it under a jar, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lamp stand, so that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed. Listen, pay attention, He says.
As we are faithful in sowing the seed of God’s word. It will produce fruit. All of us who are in the Kingdom today are there because the Lord’s seed has grown in our soil; it has grown in our soul. And as it grows more and more we can’t help but sow more seeds of the word of God, It is a natural result of our salvation – no one hides a lamp under a lamp stand.
It is the same with our loved ones. We should not be discouraged as we are faithful in sowing the seeds of the gospel of God’s word; we never know really what kind of soil it is landing on…and when it hits good soil LOOK OUT! When it hits good soil its yield will be – as Mark and Matthew each record - “thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold”[3] :l (Mark 4:20; cf. Matthew 13:23).
Remember Melissa, my friend, the one we talked to for days and years, the one who, for a long time was not receptive to the word, well guess what – the seed grew, The seed grew. She was not the soil of the path after all, she was the good soil. The seed grew and produced its fruit. You see the Lord is good. He does not desire that even one should perish. And in the case of Melissa, as we were led, we planted that seed and, as we were led, we watered it for years with prayer – literally for years -after she told us repeatedly that she did not accept that seed. We prayed, we prayed, watered and we prayed, and the Lord remembered Melissa. He heard our prayers and she is in the Kingdom tonight.
Praise the Lord. Halleluiah. And I have that same faith for my friends in and out of jail and I have that same faith for any of you here today and I have that same faith for any of your friends and loved ones here today.
Halleluiah. Praise the Lord and let’s continue watering those seeds in prayer shall we.
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[1] William Barkley, And Jesus Said. (Edinburgh, UK: The Saint Andrew Press, 1972), 18.
[2] The parable of the lamp under the jar follows immediately after this parable is explained; the further parable is I believe a part of Jesus’ explanation of the parable of the soils, for Luke provides no textual indicators for a topical shift in the material of 8:4-21; it is one pericope. cf. Joel B Green, The Gospel of Luke (TNICNT 3: Grand Rapids, Michigan / Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997), 315; and R. Alan Culpepper, The Gospel of Luke (NIB 9: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1995), 180.
[3] Matthew lists them in a descending order rather than Mark’s ascending order.
and Swift Current Corps, 16 November 2014
by Captain Michael Ramsay
As a family we rent movies from time to time but, as a rule, I don’t watch TV (we don’t even have one accessible right now) – I find that it takes too much time…but ‘in the old days’ I used to love Monty Python's Flying Circus. I don’t know who remembers it but one of the reasons it was neat was because I have heard said that John Clease, one of the main actors, was actually educated as a lawyer and shortly after becoming a lawyer he was offered two jobs – one as a lawyer and one as a comedian / actor. Like all of us, I’m sure [ha, ha, ha], he chose to be an actor - and as a result he reached more people than he ever could as a lawyer and affected them to an even greater extent. You see, in today’s world the media is a significant way to make an impact on the world; John Clease made an impact.
Shows popular these days include Survivor, Big Brother, Great Race, talk shows like Oprah. I must confess that I’ve never even seen an episode of most of them but I still know about them. These shows make an impact. They have elements of reality that our society at large can understand but they are couched in such a way as to make it exciting – either parodies, intensity of settings, or extreme subject matters: it is entertainment for the mass market and -When one does this, one reaches a lot of people, one gains a lot more exposure for oneself, and one’s message. More exposure than one gets from writing for an academic journal or practicing law, for instance.
Now I was thinking of giving you guys another quiz this week – but I think I’ll hold off for a while…but, I’ll ask you what were your favourite classes in school? …Math, English, Art, lunch: things that you love studying in elementary, secondary or post secondary. Shout them out ...
I just recently returned to (and from) school again –training college, the Salvation Army seminary and I had a favourite thing to study: it was systematic, contextual exegesis pertaining specifically to Jesus’ use of rhetoric to affect his listeners concentrating on metaphoric and parabolic language. Anybody else like that…
Anyway it is basically how Jesus speaks to people. Now there is no doubt that Jesus was smart. He is after all the Son of God. Even as a child he is learned enough to discourse (Luke 2:41ff) with the priests in the temple, later of his teaching, etc, he has followers, disciples, of whom he chooses 12 to be apostles (Lk 6:12-14; Mt 10:1-4; Mk 3:13-14). He is also able to hold his own in many debates and conflicts with the Sadducees, Pharisees, and Priests – the legal, intellectual, and religious leaders of his day. But here is the thing. He didn’t choose to be a lawyer; he doesn’t choose to be an academic; he doesn’t choose to be a priest. He chooses to reach the mass market instead. Sort of like – I never really though of the comparison before but (in this way) sort of like John Clease.
If you aren’t already looking at Luke, Chapter 8, I invite you to turn to it now.
Now Jesus was very popular and –just like today’s TV shows – he had many regular followers (verse 4). There were many people who would actually follow Jesus around from town to town as he taught. They would be like the regular viewers of THE JESUS SHOW ... with such sensational acts as turning water into wine, feeding the 4 or 5 thousand, healing the lame and casting demons into pigs and much, much more…tune in next week…and he had many regular followers that did: they followed him from town to town. And a good number of them, like it says in verse 2 and 3, were women and they were so devoted that they even provided for him out of their own resources.
Now, Jesus consciously chose not to speak exclusively in the intellectual language of his time and he chose not to appeal directly only to the elite of society. He chose instead to speak in the language that would attract the common people, the mass market. His message, particularly in Luke’s account, as we’ve discussed previously was for the poor, the needy and the oppressed. And for most of its history until (the second temple was destroyed and) the people finally dispersed in 70 AD, this was the bulk of Hebrews, Israelites, and Judeans.
Even though Jesus has a big following, and just like I don’t always understand what is going on in some of these talk shows and reality shows today, people didn’t always get what Jesus was saying and the many of the intellectual big wigs certainly did not even want to understand. If you look at verse 10 with me, Jesus is quoting Isaiah (Isaiah –6:9-10) and it says there that ‘to you (his disciples, the one’s following him – the regular viewers if you like, the one’s who would never miss the JESUS SHOW.) "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that "looking they may not perceive, and listening they may not understand.' Now, there is so much to this verse actually. More than I can possible go into here but suffice it to say for now, that this passage quoted from Isaiah is one of the signs pointing to Jesus as the Christ, The Messiah, the Anointed one of God – and not everyone / not everyone / understands…
Well, so do we understand? What is His point in the Parable of the Soils. What is this great message here that he tells to great crowds that come from (verse 4) town after town. Let’s see if we can figure it out.
First, do you remember taking quizzes in school. –Don’t worry, I’m still not going to give you one- I remember Mrs Randall, though, when I was in grade 6, she would come in with some strange one’s –surprise tests - every once and a while. You could never answer the questions but if you turned to the back of the test there was always an answer key. So I would always just flip to the back and copy out the answers.
Now I don’t really know if that was cheating or not or if we were supposed to do that, but as we go through this parable, we’re going to do the same thing – you see the interpretation of the parable is just over there in verses 11-15 and right of the bat, in verse 11, if you’ll look with me, it records that the seed in this story is the word of God. So let’s take that information back to the parable verses 4-8. Verse 5: "A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up.”
So someone is sowing, planting, teaching the word of God and as he does, some of the seed falls on the path and is trampled on or the birds eat it up. Now this is the picture Jesus is painting - and most people at this time in Palestine, since Israel is an agricultural society, understand this. In first century Palestine, instead of a fence between each field, there is be a narrow well-beaten path, like the one mentioned in the parable; these paths are as hard as pavement;[1] and mark off property lines and sections of land. They are also paths to travel.
The image here is of a person walking along with his bag of seeds and tossing them into his field and some of these seeds inevitably fall onto the trodden path where nothing can grow because it is so hard. It is like today if I were trying to through seeds beside the highway. The ones that landed on the road just would not grow.
So Jesus then is letting us know that even as we are faithful in sowing the seed, sharing the gospel, there are those with whom it just won’t take. We need to sow. We need to sow, (it is part of the great commission Matthew 28:16-20), but there are people who just won’t - for whatever reason - let the seed of the word of God grow.
There can be many different reasons for this, I remember a friend of mine – we’ll call her Melissa – and back in the 1980’s she comes to church with us, she comes to Bible study, she is dating a Christian friend of mine and we tell her and talk to her about Jesus all the time –because that is just what we talk about- but the seed just won’t take. And I know her over many years. Her heart is hard (verse 12) and she does not believe. It is sad but she does not believe. We are faithful in sowing, but she appears hard. We are faithful in sowing but she does not believe.
And that is what Jesus is speaking about here in such a way that those, as it says in Mark’s account (Mark 3), those with ears can hear and the regular viewers of the JESUS SHOW can fully understand the sadness of this. Even as we are faithful, some will not believe. And in order to believe we must have faith and faithfulness (Romans 3).
As the faithful planter plants, as the sower sows, as we share the word of God, there is the next ground upon which the seed falls. Verse 6 says that some seed falls on the rocks. This seed starts out well but it whither and it dies. And verse 7 says that some of the seeds that are faithfully sown – some of the seeds fall among thorns and these thorns choke it out.
Now I was in prison for a couple of years – not as an inmate, praise God - but as a minister and a training college cadet. And I loved it very much and my heart weeps for many of them daily. I love my friends there. I really do. Now I was there regularly and preached a bit there over the years and spent a lot of time at the Penn getting to know the guys.
Sadly some of my friends there appear to be the soil of the rock and soil of the weeds. So often you see people’s lives turning around as they are out to the prison church services three, four, and, if possible, five times a week. So often they start to read the word and ponder things of the Lord. So often the Lord gets a hold of their lives and starts to transform them. So often, the seed starts to GROW! And then so often (vs 12) the devil comes along…but it doesn’t need to be this way.
The regular followers of the JESUS SHOW know that the word of God, the gospel, is good news. It is the power to change and because of that we keep sowing the seeds. We keep sharing the good news. We are faithful and we have faith.
And then there are those who receive will it with joy (verse 13). Like some of my friends that do do really well in prison but they don’t have the foundation, they don’t have the background, they don’t have the roots, and when they leave jail they can’t find a town, a church, a Christian, a single person for support. The seed doesn’t take root in their soil. The Word doesn’t take root in their soul. It doesn’t grow. They believe only for a time and then – they fall away.
But it doesn’t need to be this way. The regular followers of the JESUS SHOW know that the gospel is good news. It is itself (cf Romans 1:17-18) the power to change. So we keep sowing the seeds, we keep sharing the gospel.
But still there are they who are like the plants choked by the weeds; there are other friends of ours, as we are faithful and sharing the word of God to them. As we are faithful in planting and sowing, there are those that seem to have that same enthusiasm. They seem to have that same passion for the Word of God. They seem to have that same passion for Christ but then…it changes.
I think of Russell, a friend of mine from jail. He is a great musician. He plays religiously in the church band at the prison; he is amazing. On the outside he is a professional musician. Upon release, he immediately gets involved in a band again. He does really well too and I don’t see or hear from him for over a year, but then just before I leave to come out here actually I see him again – back in prison. Verse 14: “as for those that fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear; but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares, and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.”
The rocky and thorny soil is very common in Palestine in Jesus’ day and people (as rocky and thorny soil) are very common in Canada in our day. Is there anything choking the word of God out of our life? Luke spends a lot of time in his Gospel addressing the difficulties of wealth (cf. 12:16; 14:12; 16:1, 19; 18:24 21:1). 18:24 says, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God!” and we all in Canada, no matter how much we think we lack, are among the wealthiest people ever to live on the planet. Is wealth trying to choke us out of the Kingdom?
Jesus speaks about the pursuit of pleasure (17:27; 21:34) and he speaks of worry (10:41; Ch 12): this comes from trying to take responsibility for that which God has control. Is there something else choking the word of God from our life? Is there something that we spend more energy in doing than reading the word? Is there something we spend more time doing than talking with God? Is there? Are there weeds chocking our growth in Christ? It doesn’t need to be this way. The gospel is good news. It is itself, as it says in Romans 1:17-18, it is itself the power to change us.
And change us it does when it takes root. When we resist the devil, he will flee us. The one who perseveres receives the crown of life, which the Lord has promised (James 1:12). We do not need to be as hard as the beaten path and we certainly should never be discouraged from sowing the seed’s of God’s word. Because look – look at verse 8. There is good news.
Verse 8: “Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold." … "Let anyone with ears to hear listen!"; about that good soil, verse 15: ... the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance. And how can they not?
Jesus continues[2]…as he explains a parable with a parable, verses 16-18, how could they not: "No one after lighting a lamp hides it under a jar, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lamp stand, so that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed. Listen, pay attention, He says.
As we are faithful in sowing the seed of God’s word. It will produce fruit. All of us who are in the Kingdom today are there because the Lord’s seed has grown in our soil; it has grown in our soul. And as it grows more and more we can’t help but sow more seeds of the word of God, It is a natural result of our salvation – no one hides a lamp under a lamp stand.
It is the same with our loved ones. We should not be discouraged as we are faithful in sowing the seeds of the gospel of God’s word; we never know really what kind of soil it is landing on…and when it hits good soil LOOK OUT! When it hits good soil its yield will be – as Mark and Matthew each record - “thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold”[3] :l (Mark 4:20; cf. Matthew 13:23).
Remember Melissa, my friend, the one we talked to for days and years, the one who, for a long time was not receptive to the word, well guess what – the seed grew, The seed grew. She was not the soil of the path after all, she was the good soil. The seed grew and produced its fruit. You see the Lord is good. He does not desire that even one should perish. And in the case of Melissa, as we were led, we planted that seed and, as we were led, we watered it for years with prayer – literally for years -after she told us repeatedly that she did not accept that seed. We prayed, we prayed, watered and we prayed, and the Lord remembered Melissa. He heard our prayers and she is in the Kingdom tonight.
Praise the Lord. Halleluiah. And I have that same faith for my friends in and out of jail and I have that same faith for any of you here today and I have that same faith for any of your friends and loved ones here today.
Halleluiah. Praise the Lord and let’s continue watering those seeds in prayer shall we.
Return to Index
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[1] William Barkley, And Jesus Said. (Edinburgh, UK: The Saint Andrew Press, 1972), 18.
[2] The parable of the lamp under the jar follows immediately after this parable is explained; the further parable is I believe a part of Jesus’ explanation of the parable of the soils, for Luke provides no textual indicators for a topical shift in the material of 8:4-21; it is one pericope. cf. Joel B Green, The Gospel of Luke (TNICNT 3: Grand Rapids, Michigan / Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997), 315; and R. Alan Culpepper, The Gospel of Luke (NIB 9: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1995), 180.
[3] Matthew lists them in a descending order rather than Mark’s ascending order.
Psalm 72: the Credit Card of Justice and Righteousness
Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps 01 July 2007
Presented to Swift Current Corps 30 July 2013
by Captain Michael Ramsay
I love Canada Day – (or Dominion Day as we used to call it) – I always have. I love the picnics and all the fun things to do. Every year we used to have a big picnic and fireworks in Beacon Hill Park in Victoria where I grew up. It is a perfect chance to see everyone – so I’m really looking forward to our picnic today in the park – this should be great.
But you know what else I love, I also love the quizzes that come out around this time – I know, who loves quizzes but, hey, I used to be a teacher– lets see how you do…
Who is our head of State?
What is our national animal?
What are our two national sports?
Who was the first PM of Canada?
When did Saskatchewan join confederation?
Upon what passage of scripture was Canada founded?
And that is another reason that I love it is that Canada Day it is a great chance to reflect upon the theological roots on which Canada was founded. Canada Day provides an opportunity to look at how the Lord formed and intended our nation.
Canada, unlike many countries who came into their own around the same time as us, was not born out of the atheist revolutions of the 1700s. If anything our forefathers went exactly the other way and decided to take a stand in FOR God, FOR King, and FOR country. So, instead of focusing on individualistic liberty and the selfish pursuits of personal happiness at the expense of others, the Canadian fathers of confederation focused on peace (Jesus is the Prince of Peace), order (God is a God of order not disorder), and good government (cf. Isa. 9:5-7, Ps. 72).
Canada’s motto, “A Mari usque ad Mare” is Latin for “from sea to sea.” It comes from Psalm 72. Where, in verse 8, it declares, “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea.” That is a key underpinning of our society and of our founding identity, the idea that God himself, through the Canadian government, shall have dominion from sea to sea.
This is neat. It is not some accident or coincident. It is intentional. Our country is intentionally founded on the Word of God. And another interesting thing - Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley, the father of Confederation that proposed the name for our country and its name, as the Dominion of Canada, be based on this Scripture would have made a great Salvationist.
He wasn’t one but he would have made a good one. Tilley was a Sunday-school teacher and lifelong temperance advocate; he was one of the so-called "Smashers", who tried to introduce prohibition to New Brunswick in the 1850s.
Now, a reason that I mention this and one key reason that all this is important for us today is that Psalm 72 is part of our foundation and one’s foundation is very important (Matthew 7:24-27; Luke 6:46-49). This is true both individually and as a country. Being that it is Canada Day today, I thought that it would be a great time to look at the foundation that this country was built upon.
Let’s take a look at part of our foundation. Let’s take a look at Psalm 72.
Psalm 72 is an old Psalm. It was written somewhere around 3000 years ago probably by or for King Solomon near the beginning of his reign. In it, there are a lot of blessings that Solomon has to look forward to and a lot that we as inheritors of this foundation have to look forward to as well.
It is notable that right away in verses 1 and 2 where the psalmist asks God to “Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to a king's son. May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice.”
Now about Wisdom and Justice…Do you remember the famous story at the beginning of Solomon’s reign (1 Kings 3) where he prays for God’s wisdom? God tells him he can ask for whatever he wants. He could of asked for all the money and power in the world but he prays for God’s wisdom to discern between good and evil.
This pleases God so much that he also offers him riches and honour and, if he continues to be righteous, a long life. Now this is important because the wisdom is God’s, not man’s. And this story is very likely in the mind of the psalmist as the stage is nicely set for the rest of the Psalm. The King must rely on God’s justice and enact God’s righteousness (NIB McCann Jr. 963).
It is sort of like us. When I was younger, one of my jobs was to be the purchaser for CPCI – my job was to buy things for the college. Like Solomon, I was given a lot of responsibility. I headed out with a blank cheque or a credit card and could purchase whatever I discerned was needed. However the money was not mine so if I failed to use it properly or, say, just bought things for myself, well, the school wouldn’t benefit at all, the students wouldn’t benefit at all, the teachers wouldn’t benefit at all and my boss would stop signing blank cheques or giving me her company credit card.
This company credit card is very similar to what Solomon has received here and he’s been given the card to purchase (vs. 1&2) righteousness and justice, for the poor, on behalf of God.
And as he purchases with the credit card of God’s wisdom, look at all the blessings he and Israel will receive…as he defends the cause of the poor, delivers the needy and crushes their oppressors (verse 4). The mountains themselves will yield prosperity (vs. 3), his heirs will sit on the throne forever (vs. 5) and righteousness will flourish and (Shalom) peace will abound continuing until EVEN the moon is no more. (This is quite a credit card!)
His dominion, as a vassal of the Lord, will be to the end of the earth (v. 8), his enemies will be powerless – all nations will submit to him and even bring him tribute (v. 9-11) as he uses his credit card of wisdom for God and His people. This is quite a blessing for Solomon and as Canada has been founded on this, I submit, for us as well.
So Solomon is given this credit card of wisdom – and, verses 1 and 2 again, what he is to purchase with it? Righteousness and justice for the poor, right? Deliverance to the needy and protection from their oppressor (vv. 4, 12) pity on the week and the needy (v.13) Mercy as he protects even the least in society from their persecutors…and then he will live (v 5) as long as there is a sun and a moon.
Today, as inheritors of this promise, we can reap these benefits as well as we defend the cause of the poor, deliver the needy and defeat their oppressors.
But does Solomon reap these benefits? How does Solomon do with this responsibility? When he is young, Solomon begins to work on the temple in Jerusalem so that people can come from all over Israel to worship God in this magnificent structure. It is gigantic but interestingly – Solomon makes his own house even bigger.
And instead of looking out for the poor, the needy, and the oppressed, he divides the historical tribes of Israel and makes slaves of his own people so that he can do all this building. // Well he makes slaves of everyone in the country EXCEPT the ones from his home province. He doesn’t make the people from Judah, his own tribe, do any of the work. Right, that would be like Harper saying everyone starting tomorrow must spend two years doing hard labour – except Toronto, Ontario, where he was born – and you in Saskatchewan or wherever, you must make up the difference.
He promotes the worship of other gods and Solomon even disobeys the command from God not to get horses from Egypt and in all likelihood he uses these as weapons of war against his own people.
Solomon did not make wise purchases with God’s wisdom and, 1 Kings 11:6 says, “he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done.”
1 Kings 11:9 says, “The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD… So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees… I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you.” King Solomon did not ‘defend the cause of the poor of the people, deliver the needy, and crush the oppressor’ and the united Kingdom of Israel died with him.
So what about Canada? We have the example of King Solomon who started out with such a promise as his was…and we saw how (according to the 1 Kings account) he squandered his wisdom. How have we done at building upon a basis of God’s righteousness and purchasing with God’s wisdom so that our dominion can continue from sea to sea?
Honestly, we’ve had some problems in the last couple of years, it has been reported that immigration officials have kicked down the doors of the poor and the alien, we have been implicated in international war crimes in Somalia and elsewhere, there are more homeless than recorded previously in this country and many politicians of every political stripe SEEM to be calling for more tax cuts in this day and age - and taxes of course are a primary way that God uses the resources of the country to look after the poor, the needy, and the oppressed.
Also in the news in the last few years there have been more stories of school bullying and parents and kids just standing by and letting the needy be oppressed. I was just reading in the Winnipeg Free Press the other day, that the vast majority of us – the average person is willing to cheat on our taxes, not tell the clerk if she gives us too much change, lie, cheat, or steal, if we don’t think we’ll be caught. In doing so, we are not serving God and we are putting ourselves before the poor, the needy, and the oppressed.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Remember back in 1 Kings right after Solomon prays for wisdom, when he is told he can ask for anything is the world. The Lord is pleased and gives Solomon so much more and immediately after Solomon receives the Lord’s wisdom, is the story of the two prostitutes and the child. (1 Kings 3)
The two of them show up each claiming to be the mother of the same small child. It appears that both had just had a baby and one of the children dies. Right? When the mom whose child dies notices this, she switches the dead child with the live one, hoping to fool the other mom. These two prostitutes then appear before the king, the wronged one looking for God’s righteous judgement.
Do you remember what Solomon says when the women show up to fight about who gets the live child? – he says --- cut the child in two then they can each have half --- (of a dead child) --- of course God’s wisdom is shown as the real mother screams and begs for the life of her child, even willing to give him up to the other lady. She shows that she is his mother. And Solomon shows that he is purchasing well with God’s wisdom for the needy by then giving her the child.
Solomon starts out well purchasing with the credit card of God’s wisdom but he strays. Solomon may have failed to live up to his promise but God does not. A descendant of David and Solomon sits on the throne today and that descendant is Jesus Christ.
Canada today, yes, has some struggles but there is good news. And the good news stems from the fact that there is that descendant of Solomon – Jesus – is sitting on the throne today.
You see, Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the King. He is the one who paid in full for the poor, the needy, and the oppressed. He is the one who purchased righteousness on the cross. Therefore, there is no longer any need for people to suffer from poverty, neediness, war and oppression. Jesus has already purchased righteousness for the whole world. When he died, he made atonement for all of our sins.
And this is important as far as our practical salvation is concerned as well: there are well over 100 times the resources needed to feed, clothe, and shelter everyone in -not only Canada- but in the whole world. God has already provided, we just need to distribute his provision, he has already purchased justice and righteousness on the cross. We just need to distribute that justice and righteousness to the poor, the needy, and the oppressed.
Well, it’s Canada Day, so now is as good a time as any to evaluate…how have we been doing with that? Well of course there is always more we can do but - I submit that we haven’t actually done that poorly. And the Lord has used many different people to enable us to obey Him in this way. And some of the people that the Lord has used have come not only out of traditions similar to our own Salvation Army, like Lord Tilley, but right out of our own province – I say own, I’ve only been here for less than a week – Our motto, reflecting this psalm, Psalm 72, first appeared officially on the legislative buildings in Saskatchewan[4] over 100 years ago when Walter Scott was premier.
In our earliest days as people were being persecuted in the US and were being tortured and killed by being dipped in boiling tar and then covered with feathers, God provided refuge for his suffering people, here in Canada.
Later, When the slaves oppressed by the US had to flee for their lives. Canada was a place to which the Lord took them via the underground RR.
The Christian Reverends JS Woodsworth (of Manitoba) and Tommy Douglas (Premier of Saskatchewan from 44-61) intentionally sought to bring about peace and justice through distributing the Lord’s provision for HIS poor and the needy. Woodworth and MacKenzie King were used by the LORD to provide for HIS poor, the powerless, and the elderly, through the old age pension plan.
God also, in Saskatchewan, introduced a bill of rights to protect people from (not only the government) but also from oppression by the rich and the powerful people in our society. This was before even the UN even sought to set its efforts this way.
God used Tommy Douglas, who after having almost lost his own leg because his family was too poor to pay for surgery, to make it possible for the poor and the needy to receive the same justice as the wealthy right here in Saskatchewan in the area of medicine. Medicare was enacted here under Premier Woodrow Low in 1962 and in all of Canada through Lester B. Pearson in 1966.
Historically, I submit, as Jesus purchased righteousness and justice on the cross, we have been faithful to distribute it. We have been used to deliver HIS righteous decisions and justice for HIS poor. HIS deliverance to HIS needy and protection from their oppressors (vss. 4, 12) has been offered through us, both internally and abroad. We have shown HIS pity on the weak and the needy (vs. 13). We have shown HIS mercy and protect even the least in society from their persecutors…we have. We do!
And as we have, we have been blessed. By the 1960s, we had been blessed with a Shalom (vv. 3,7), a peace, like no nation on earth ever has. We became known not as a nation of pacifists but as a nation of peacemakers and peacekeepers. From the 1960 through to the mid-1990s not only did we argue for peace but we sent our brave soldiers overseas to stand between powerful warring nations with legitimate grievances and the Lord blessed us abundantly. We are even equipping our forces today and sacrificing our soldiers so that maybe in the future we again may be used in this same role.
This is our heritage. This is our foundation. This is a reflection of Jesus, himself, the rock upon which we stand. This is what our Fathers of Confederation said that Canada stands for…the poor, the widow, the immigrant AND WHY, why, why have we founded the nation upon this scripture… because people were created by God; to serve God.
And we must serve God. You and I, as heirs to the promise of Psalm 72; you and I, as servants of the King of Kings; You and I, as we love our neighbour as ourselves, we must continue to build upon our great heritage of distributing that justice and righteousness to the poor, the needy, and the oppressed.
So I ask today who will stand with me on our foundation that the Lord has lain in this country? Who? If you will commit to stand up for and pray for the poor, stand with me. If you will commit to stand with and pray for the needy, stand with me now. If you commit to stand up for and pray for the oppressed, stand with us now. If you commit to pray for our leaders so that the Lord may have dominion in this country FROM SEA TO SEA, stand with us now. Happy Canada Day! Halleluiah! Let’s build on our foundation. Let’s live up to our heritage.
You know where we get the power…(Song: Wonderworking Power)
Benediction:
The Lord has provided, (vss 18-19) “blessed be the lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. Blessed be his glorious name forever; may his glory fill the whole earth. Amen and Amen.”
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[4] http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/sc-cs/arm2_e.cfm
Presented to Swift Current Corps 30 July 2013
by Captain Michael Ramsay
I love Canada Day – (or Dominion Day as we used to call it) – I always have. I love the picnics and all the fun things to do. Every year we used to have a big picnic and fireworks in Beacon Hill Park in Victoria where I grew up. It is a perfect chance to see everyone – so I’m really looking forward to our picnic today in the park – this should be great.
But you know what else I love, I also love the quizzes that come out around this time – I know, who loves quizzes but, hey, I used to be a teacher– lets see how you do…
Who is our head of State?
What is our national animal?
What are our two national sports?
Who was the first PM of Canada?
When did Saskatchewan join confederation?
Upon what passage of scripture was Canada founded?
And that is another reason that I love it is that Canada Day it is a great chance to reflect upon the theological roots on which Canada was founded. Canada Day provides an opportunity to look at how the Lord formed and intended our nation.
Canada, unlike many countries who came into their own around the same time as us, was not born out of the atheist revolutions of the 1700s. If anything our forefathers went exactly the other way and decided to take a stand in FOR God, FOR King, and FOR country. So, instead of focusing on individualistic liberty and the selfish pursuits of personal happiness at the expense of others, the Canadian fathers of confederation focused on peace (Jesus is the Prince of Peace), order (God is a God of order not disorder), and good government (cf. Isa. 9:5-7, Ps. 72).
Canada’s motto, “A Mari usque ad Mare” is Latin for “from sea to sea.” It comes from Psalm 72. Where, in verse 8, it declares, “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea.” That is a key underpinning of our society and of our founding identity, the idea that God himself, through the Canadian government, shall have dominion from sea to sea.
This is neat. It is not some accident or coincident. It is intentional. Our country is intentionally founded on the Word of God. And another interesting thing - Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley, the father of Confederation that proposed the name for our country and its name, as the Dominion of Canada, be based on this Scripture would have made a great Salvationist.
He wasn’t one but he would have made a good one. Tilley was a Sunday-school teacher and lifelong temperance advocate; he was one of the so-called "Smashers", who tried to introduce prohibition to New Brunswick in the 1850s.
Now, a reason that I mention this and one key reason that all this is important for us today is that Psalm 72 is part of our foundation and one’s foundation is very important (Matthew 7:24-27; Luke 6:46-49). This is true both individually and as a country. Being that it is Canada Day today, I thought that it would be a great time to look at the foundation that this country was built upon.
Let’s take a look at part of our foundation. Let’s take a look at Psalm 72.
Psalm 72 is an old Psalm. It was written somewhere around 3000 years ago probably by or for King Solomon near the beginning of his reign. In it, there are a lot of blessings that Solomon has to look forward to and a lot that we as inheritors of this foundation have to look forward to as well.
It is notable that right away in verses 1 and 2 where the psalmist asks God to “Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to a king's son. May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice.”
Now about Wisdom and Justice…Do you remember the famous story at the beginning of Solomon’s reign (1 Kings 3) where he prays for God’s wisdom? God tells him he can ask for whatever he wants. He could of asked for all the money and power in the world but he prays for God’s wisdom to discern between good and evil.
This pleases God so much that he also offers him riches and honour and, if he continues to be righteous, a long life. Now this is important because the wisdom is God’s, not man’s. And this story is very likely in the mind of the psalmist as the stage is nicely set for the rest of the Psalm. The King must rely on God’s justice and enact God’s righteousness (NIB McCann Jr. 963).
It is sort of like us. When I was younger, one of my jobs was to be the purchaser for CPCI – my job was to buy things for the college. Like Solomon, I was given a lot of responsibility. I headed out with a blank cheque or a credit card and could purchase whatever I discerned was needed. However the money was not mine so if I failed to use it properly or, say, just bought things for myself, well, the school wouldn’t benefit at all, the students wouldn’t benefit at all, the teachers wouldn’t benefit at all and my boss would stop signing blank cheques or giving me her company credit card.
This company credit card is very similar to what Solomon has received here and he’s been given the card to purchase (vs. 1&2) righteousness and justice, for the poor, on behalf of God.
And as he purchases with the credit card of God’s wisdom, look at all the blessings he and Israel will receive…as he defends the cause of the poor, delivers the needy and crushes their oppressors (verse 4). The mountains themselves will yield prosperity (vs. 3), his heirs will sit on the throne forever (vs. 5) and righteousness will flourish and (Shalom) peace will abound continuing until EVEN the moon is no more. (This is quite a credit card!)
His dominion, as a vassal of the Lord, will be to the end of the earth (v. 8), his enemies will be powerless – all nations will submit to him and even bring him tribute (v. 9-11) as he uses his credit card of wisdom for God and His people. This is quite a blessing for Solomon and as Canada has been founded on this, I submit, for us as well.
So Solomon is given this credit card of wisdom – and, verses 1 and 2 again, what he is to purchase with it? Righteousness and justice for the poor, right? Deliverance to the needy and protection from their oppressor (vv. 4, 12) pity on the week and the needy (v.13) Mercy as he protects even the least in society from their persecutors…and then he will live (v 5) as long as there is a sun and a moon.
Today, as inheritors of this promise, we can reap these benefits as well as we defend the cause of the poor, deliver the needy and defeat their oppressors.
But does Solomon reap these benefits? How does Solomon do with this responsibility? When he is young, Solomon begins to work on the temple in Jerusalem so that people can come from all over Israel to worship God in this magnificent structure. It is gigantic but interestingly – Solomon makes his own house even bigger.
And instead of looking out for the poor, the needy, and the oppressed, he divides the historical tribes of Israel and makes slaves of his own people so that he can do all this building. // Well he makes slaves of everyone in the country EXCEPT the ones from his home province. He doesn’t make the people from Judah, his own tribe, do any of the work. Right, that would be like Harper saying everyone starting tomorrow must spend two years doing hard labour – except Toronto, Ontario, where he was born – and you in Saskatchewan or wherever, you must make up the difference.
He promotes the worship of other gods and Solomon even disobeys the command from God not to get horses from Egypt and in all likelihood he uses these as weapons of war against his own people.
Solomon did not make wise purchases with God’s wisdom and, 1 Kings 11:6 says, “he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done.”
1 Kings 11:9 says, “The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD… So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees… I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you.” King Solomon did not ‘defend the cause of the poor of the people, deliver the needy, and crush the oppressor’ and the united Kingdom of Israel died with him.
So what about Canada? We have the example of King Solomon who started out with such a promise as his was…and we saw how (according to the 1 Kings account) he squandered his wisdom. How have we done at building upon a basis of God’s righteousness and purchasing with God’s wisdom so that our dominion can continue from sea to sea?
Honestly, we’ve had some problems in the last couple of years, it has been reported that immigration officials have kicked down the doors of the poor and the alien, we have been implicated in international war crimes in Somalia and elsewhere, there are more homeless than recorded previously in this country and many politicians of every political stripe SEEM to be calling for more tax cuts in this day and age - and taxes of course are a primary way that God uses the resources of the country to look after the poor, the needy, and the oppressed.
Also in the news in the last few years there have been more stories of school bullying and parents and kids just standing by and letting the needy be oppressed. I was just reading in the Winnipeg Free Press the other day, that the vast majority of us – the average person is willing to cheat on our taxes, not tell the clerk if she gives us too much change, lie, cheat, or steal, if we don’t think we’ll be caught. In doing so, we are not serving God and we are putting ourselves before the poor, the needy, and the oppressed.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Remember back in 1 Kings right after Solomon prays for wisdom, when he is told he can ask for anything is the world. The Lord is pleased and gives Solomon so much more and immediately after Solomon receives the Lord’s wisdom, is the story of the two prostitutes and the child. (1 Kings 3)
The two of them show up each claiming to be the mother of the same small child. It appears that both had just had a baby and one of the children dies. Right? When the mom whose child dies notices this, she switches the dead child with the live one, hoping to fool the other mom. These two prostitutes then appear before the king, the wronged one looking for God’s righteous judgement.
Do you remember what Solomon says when the women show up to fight about who gets the live child? – he says --- cut the child in two then they can each have half --- (of a dead child) --- of course God’s wisdom is shown as the real mother screams and begs for the life of her child, even willing to give him up to the other lady. She shows that she is his mother. And Solomon shows that he is purchasing well with God’s wisdom for the needy by then giving her the child.
Solomon starts out well purchasing with the credit card of God’s wisdom but he strays. Solomon may have failed to live up to his promise but God does not. A descendant of David and Solomon sits on the throne today and that descendant is Jesus Christ.
Canada today, yes, has some struggles but there is good news. And the good news stems from the fact that there is that descendant of Solomon – Jesus – is sitting on the throne today.
You see, Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the King. He is the one who paid in full for the poor, the needy, and the oppressed. He is the one who purchased righteousness on the cross. Therefore, there is no longer any need for people to suffer from poverty, neediness, war and oppression. Jesus has already purchased righteousness for the whole world. When he died, he made atonement for all of our sins.
And this is important as far as our practical salvation is concerned as well: there are well over 100 times the resources needed to feed, clothe, and shelter everyone in -not only Canada- but in the whole world. God has already provided, we just need to distribute his provision, he has already purchased justice and righteousness on the cross. We just need to distribute that justice and righteousness to the poor, the needy, and the oppressed.
Well, it’s Canada Day, so now is as good a time as any to evaluate…how have we been doing with that? Well of course there is always more we can do but - I submit that we haven’t actually done that poorly. And the Lord has used many different people to enable us to obey Him in this way. And some of the people that the Lord has used have come not only out of traditions similar to our own Salvation Army, like Lord Tilley, but right out of our own province – I say own, I’ve only been here for less than a week – Our motto, reflecting this psalm, Psalm 72, first appeared officially on the legislative buildings in Saskatchewan[4] over 100 years ago when Walter Scott was premier.
In our earliest days as people were being persecuted in the US and were being tortured and killed by being dipped in boiling tar and then covered with feathers, God provided refuge for his suffering people, here in Canada.
Later, When the slaves oppressed by the US had to flee for their lives. Canada was a place to which the Lord took them via the underground RR.
The Christian Reverends JS Woodsworth (of Manitoba) and Tommy Douglas (Premier of Saskatchewan from 44-61) intentionally sought to bring about peace and justice through distributing the Lord’s provision for HIS poor and the needy. Woodworth and MacKenzie King were used by the LORD to provide for HIS poor, the powerless, and the elderly, through the old age pension plan.
God also, in Saskatchewan, introduced a bill of rights to protect people from (not only the government) but also from oppression by the rich and the powerful people in our society. This was before even the UN even sought to set its efforts this way.
God used Tommy Douglas, who after having almost lost his own leg because his family was too poor to pay for surgery, to make it possible for the poor and the needy to receive the same justice as the wealthy right here in Saskatchewan in the area of medicine. Medicare was enacted here under Premier Woodrow Low in 1962 and in all of Canada through Lester B. Pearson in 1966.
Historically, I submit, as Jesus purchased righteousness and justice on the cross, we have been faithful to distribute it. We have been used to deliver HIS righteous decisions and justice for HIS poor. HIS deliverance to HIS needy and protection from their oppressors (vss. 4, 12) has been offered through us, both internally and abroad. We have shown HIS pity on the weak and the needy (vs. 13). We have shown HIS mercy and protect even the least in society from their persecutors…we have. We do!
And as we have, we have been blessed. By the 1960s, we had been blessed with a Shalom (vv. 3,7), a peace, like no nation on earth ever has. We became known not as a nation of pacifists but as a nation of peacemakers and peacekeepers. From the 1960 through to the mid-1990s not only did we argue for peace but we sent our brave soldiers overseas to stand between powerful warring nations with legitimate grievances and the Lord blessed us abundantly. We are even equipping our forces today and sacrificing our soldiers so that maybe in the future we again may be used in this same role.
This is our heritage. This is our foundation. This is a reflection of Jesus, himself, the rock upon which we stand. This is what our Fathers of Confederation said that Canada stands for…the poor, the widow, the immigrant AND WHY, why, why have we founded the nation upon this scripture… because people were created by God; to serve God.
And we must serve God. You and I, as heirs to the promise of Psalm 72; you and I, as servants of the King of Kings; You and I, as we love our neighbour as ourselves, we must continue to build upon our great heritage of distributing that justice and righteousness to the poor, the needy, and the oppressed.
So I ask today who will stand with me on our foundation that the Lord has lain in this country? Who? If you will commit to stand up for and pray for the poor, stand with me. If you will commit to stand with and pray for the needy, stand with me now. If you commit to stand up for and pray for the oppressed, stand with us now. If you commit to pray for our leaders so that the Lord may have dominion in this country FROM SEA TO SEA, stand with us now. Happy Canada Day! Halleluiah! Let’s build on our foundation. Let’s live up to our heritage.
You know where we get the power…(Song: Wonderworking Power)
Benediction:
The Lord has provided, (vss 18-19) “blessed be the lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. Blessed be his glorious name forever; may his glory fill the whole earth. Amen and Amen.”
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[4] http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/sc-cs/arm2_e.cfm
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