Romans 14: ‘Don’t Condemn, Don’t Despise!’ ‘But the Weak Eat Only Vegetables!’

 Presented to TSA Corps 614 Regent Park, Toronto, 29 May 2016 and 06 November 2022 by Major Michael Ramsay

 

This is the BC 2022 version, to view the Toronto 2016 version, click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2016/05/romans-14-dont-condemn-dont-despise-but.html

 

Today, I want you to remember one thing about Romans 14 and that is, ‘Don’t condemn, don’t despise each other’.

 

As many of you know, our kids are vegetarians: I have a story about how that all began. Susan tells the story a little differently but this is my recollection.

 

Many years ago, Susan and I were studying Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline. We were encouraged to try each of the disciplines as we read the book. Susan began exploring vegetarianism – for her it was about stewardship of God’s earth as much as anything else. If you ask her another time, I am sure she will quite happily tell you more about this.

.

While we were studying Celebration of Discipline and after Susan had experimented with vegetarianism for a couple of days, I went grocery shopping with a 2- or 3-year-old Rebecca and a 1- or 2-year-old Sarah-Grace. That wasn’t always so easy. To help them settle, I would often tell them that if they co-operated, I would let them watch the live trout or lobsters in the tanks at the store. I was trying to get everything on the list Susan gave me and contain a 2-year-old who wanted to wander here, there and everywhere – the one-year-old was firmly secured in the shopping cart, so caging the two year-old there was not an option; thus I let Rebecca look at the trout swimming around as I was getting everything near there in the store. Then as I was putting a packaged fish in my shopping cart, Rebecca looked at the package and asked, ‘Where do fish come from?’

 

When I told Susan that story at dinner it led to future discussions with Rebecca and from then on Susan was very good at encouraging Rebecca in her vegetarianism. Rebecca, in turn, encouraged Sarah-Grace who was even younger and for a couple of years Sarah-Grace would say that she too was a vegetarian - but her favourite vegetable was sausages.

 

Romans 14:2: “Some believe in eating anything but the weak eat only vegetables.” Is this what Paul was writing about in Romans… contemporary vegetarianism? Does it mean that all vegetarians are weak people who should be more like us strong meat eaters?  No. It isn’t

 

But let’s try to figure out what this verse is saying by exploring the context. When first preparing for this sermon, I read a lot of Biblical scholars and historians’ writings about these ‘weak’ vegetarians, hoping to gain some insight into why these Christians were not eating meat. Some academics think that since some Jews – the Essenes – didn’t eat much meat and were very strong in keeping Sabbath laws, maybe when they became Christians, they were the weak vegetarians and Sabbath-keepers to whom Paul is referring. The problem with this is that the Essenes wouldn’t have interacted with others. They kept very much to themselves. They were like the Hutterites in the Canadian prairies or even the Amish.[2] They wouldn’t be a part of society as a whole – especially Roman society – so this wouldn’t apply to them.

 

Others have suggested that the weak vegetarians were not Christian Essene Jews but simply everyday regular Christian Jews or Gentiles.[3] Paul in his other letters speaks a lot about meat sacrificed to idols. In the first century they didn’t have Save-On. Buy-Low or QF. Butcher shops and marketplaces in the Roman Empire were often located right inside pagan temples. When someone brought an animal to be butchered for eating, it would be offered as a sacrifice. The leftovers from sacrifices could often be sold in the market alongside other butchered meat; so some Christians didn’t want to risk eating meat that had been sacrificed to an idol so they just didn’t eat meat at all.[4] The problem with this idea is that these are the ‘weak’ folk is – in contrast to his many of his other letters - Paul doesn’t specifically deal with meat sacrificed to idols at all.

 

So then who are these 'weak' vegetarians to whom Paul is referring? …Basically, the answer is… we don’t know. Some of the best scholars disagree with each other and none of them make an overwhelmingly compelling argument. But we do know that they weren’t like PETA or today’s vegetarians who think of eating meat as eating a pet or even a friend. There is no record of that concept in the ancient world. And they probably were not even like Christian vegetarians today who refrain from eating meat as a way of being good stewards of the earth. We don’t really know who these vegetarians are who Paul refers to as weak but we do know that ‘eating only meat’ is 1 of 3 attributes of the weak that he addresses, the three items are:

.

1.     Romans 14:2: Some believe in eating anything, but the weak eat only vegetables.

2.     Romans 14:5: Some (the weak) consider one day to be better than another.

3.     Romans 14:21: It is good to not drink wine

 

We talked about the uncertainties around not eating meat. There was also the same uncertainties around judging one day as better than the others. Jews had a lot of feast days. This could be what this passage is talking about. Maybe the Jewish Christians were still celebrating all of the old Jewish feast days and the Gentiles couldn’t or didn’t want to keep up with all of that. Maybe this is what Paul is saying doesn’t really matter.

 

This passage may refer to – or at least be extended to – the Sabbath as well. The Sabbath is Saturday and some Jewish Christians would still celebrate the Sabbath in synagogue on Saturday before they would get together with other Christians on Sunday, the Lord’s Day. Paul might be saying that this is what doesn’t matter.[5] Everyday for the Christian is supposed be Sabbath. That might be part of what he is talking about.

.

Next there is drinking. Paul says that just like weak Christians don’t eat meat, they also don’t drink and we have no idea what this is all about but we do know that Paul says here in Verse 21 that it is GOOD not to eat meat or to drink wine.

.

‘Don’t condemn, don’t despise!’ This is the main part for all of these things. For some reason the here-called ‘weak’ people, they didn’t eat meat or drink wine, and they held some days as more important than others. These people apparently thought that everyone should act like they do. They thought that because they were right in their own estimation not to drink or eat meat or do anything on Saturday that nobody else should. Paul says in Verse 3 and elsewhere that these people were getting a little - what we would call it in my day? - ‘holier than thou.’ Paul calls these ‘holier than thou’ people, weak. He tells them that they are not to condemn people in the church here (v.3). Paul says if they aren’t your employees, they don’t have to answer to you. They serve God so they answer to Him (v.4). If we insult each other like this, Paul says, then we are really insulting Christ (15:3) and that is never good. To the holier than thou group, Paul says, ‘Stop it! ‘You’re not the boss of them.’[6] ‘Don’t condemn others!’

 

Then to the others – to the so-called ‘strong’ Christians, Paul says, ‘smarten up!’ They’re not to judge you but you DON’T despise them. How easy is it for people to ‘write off’ others? How easy it is for us to simply despise people as hypocrites and have nothing to do with them? Paul says don’t be so selfish![7] Christ died for those people I just called weak just like he died for you supposedly strong people. Because of this, Romans 14:7-8, we aren’t supposed to just live for ourselves and do whatever we like; we are supposed to live for Christ and live for others.[8] If your friend doesn’t drink, don’t go out for dinner with them and proceed to order a pint of beer or a glass of wine. That’s just mean. Don’t tempt them to do something that might be very bad for them. Don’t despise them because they don’t drink. Don’t put a stumbling block in their way.

 

Paul also says it really doesn’t matter if some people observe every special day in the church. To bring this into a bit more of a contemporary context: does anyone remember ‘fish Fridays’? In the Roman Catholic Church when I was a kid anyway, they would not eat any meat but fish on Fridays. So – as an evangelical - if you were going to go out to a fish ’n chips restaurant, it would be wise to pick a different day than Friday; they were just packed.

 

Also, does anyone remember when there was no Sunday shopping? To this day, some Christians still refuse to buy anything on Sundays. I remember my college church group, decades ago, would have spaghetti lunches at one point so that we wouldn’t go out for lunch on Sundays. The Apostle Paul is saying none of this matters; so stop despising your friends who want to keep these days as holy. And for those of you that are just keeping one day holy, remember that God made all of the days and so as such, every day is the Lord’s day. So don’t condemn and don’t despise others!

.

To the weak Paul says, ‘don’t condemn!’ To the strong Paul says, ‘don’t despise!’ This is so important. We are not supposed to fight with each other. We are supposed to help each other; we need to stop our bickering.[9] If you flip to Chapter 16:17-20, that we read earlier, you will notice what Paul says about all this and about all of us:

I urge you, brothers and sisters, to keep an eye on those who cause dissensions and offenses, in opposition to the teaching that you have learned; avoid them. For such people do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the simple-minded. For while your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, I want you to be wise in what is good and guiltless in what is evil. The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet.

 

In other words, don’t bud into things that are none of your business! Don’t cause trouble! Don’t despise or condemn one another! Instead encourage each other in obedience, be wise in what is good and be guiltless in what is evil and then God will crush Satan under our feet. Jesus died on the cross and rose again not so that we will despise and condemn each other; quite the opposite. He died and rose again so that we may live and that we may live our life abundantly. So to that end I encourage us all today to encourage each other, uphold the week, and support the strong in Jesus Name.

.

.

Let us pray.

.

www.sheepspeak.com

www.faceboo.com/salvogesis

 ---

[1] Paul J. Achtemeier, Romans. Interpretation: (Atlanta, Georgia: John Knox Press, 1985), 214

[2] W.E Vines, “Week in Faith”, in Vine's Word Studies of New Testament Vol. III. (Nashville, Tennessee: Royal Publishers Inc., 1939), p. 166.

[3] NT Wright, Romans for Everyone Part 2: Chapters 9-16 (Louisville, US: WKJ, 2004), 95.

[4] Cf. Michael Ramsay, 1 Corinthians 6-10: In Tents Storm of Life: Everything is Permissible but Not Everything is Beneficial. (Swift Current The Salvation Army: Sheepspeak, 01 June 2014) On-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2014/05/1-corinthians-6-10-in-tents-storm-of.html cf. also N.T. Wright, '1 Corinthians' in Paul for Everyone, (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), 98.

[5] Cf. William Hendricksen, Exposition of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, NTC (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic: 1981), 458.

[6] The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, 2919: ‘Krino’, (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1995), 51.

[7] Cf. N.T. Wright, The Letter to the Romans (NIB 10: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 475.

[8] Cf. Alan Le Grys, The Expository Times 122 (11). ‘11th September: Proper 19: Vision and Reality’.(August 2011), 549

[9] Cf. John Stott, Romans, (Downers Grove, Ill., IVP, 1994), 369.

Romans 14: ‘Don’t Condemn, Don’t Despise!’ ‘But the Weak Eat Only Vegetables!’

Presented to TSA Corps 614 Regent Park, Toronto, 29 May 2016 by Captain Michael Ramsay. Presented to TSA Alberni Valley, 06 November 2022 by Major Michael Ramsay

  

This is the 2016 Toronto version, to view the 2022 TSA AV version, click here:  https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2022/11/romans-14-dont-condemn-dont-despise-but.html

 

   

.

Today, I want you to remember one thing about Romans 14-16 and that is, ‘Don’t condemn, don’t despise each other’. What is the one thing I want you to remember?

.

As many of you know, Susan and the kids are vegetarians: Rebecca and Sarah-Grace are quite devoted to the cause. I have a story about how that all began. Susan tells the story a little differently but this is my recollection.

.

Many years ago, Susan and I were studying Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline while we were part of 614 Vancouver. We were encouraged to try each of the disciplines as we read the book. Susan began exploring vegetarianism – for her it was is much about stewardship of God’s earth as anything else. If you ask her another time, I am sure she will quite happily tell you more about this.
.

While we were studying Celebration of Discipline and after Susan had experimented with vegetarianism for a couple of days, I went grocery shopping with a 2 or 3-year old Rebecca and a 1 or 2-year old Sarah-Grace. That wasn’t always so easy. To help them settle, I would often tell them that if they co-operated I would let them watch the live trout or lobsters in their tanks at the store. I was trying to get everything on the list Susan gave me and contain a two year-old who wanted to wander here, there and everywhere – the one year-old was firmly secured in the shopping cart, so caging the two year-old there was not an option; thus I let Rebecca look at the trout swimming around as I was getting everything near there in the store. Then as I was putting a packaged fish in my shopping cart, Rebecca looked at the package and asked, ‘Where do fish come from?’

.

When I told Susan that story at dinner it led to future discussions with Rebecca and from then on Susan was very good at encouraging Rebecca in her vegetarianism. Rebecca, in turn, encouraged Sarah-Grace who was even younger and for a couple of years Sarah-Grace would say that she too was a vegetarian but her favourite vegetable was sausages.

.

Romans 14:2: “Some believe in eating anything but the weak eat only vegetables.”

.

What is the one thing I said I want us to remember today? (Don’t condemn, don’t despise each other)

.

Romans 14:2: “Some believe in eating anything but the weak eat only vegetables.” Is this was Paul is writing about in Romans… contemporary vegetarianism grounded in a respect for the environment or a view of animals as friends or pets? Does it mean that all vegetarians are weak people who should be more like us strong meat eaters?  No.

.

Let’s try to figure out what this verse is saying by exploring the context a little bit. But first, what is the one thing I said I want us to remember today? (Don’t condemn, don’t despise each other)

.

This week, I read a lot of Biblical scholars and historians’ writings about these ‘weak’ vegetarians, hoping to gain some insight into why these Christians were not eating meat. Some academics think that these vegetarians were Gentiles.[1] Some think that since some Jews – the Essenes – didn’t eat much meat and were very strong in keeping Sabbath laws, maybe as they became Christians, they were the vegetarians to whom Paul is referring. The problem with this is that the Essenes kept very much to themselves. They were like the Hutterites in the Canadian prairies or even the Amish.[2] They wouldn’t be a part of society as a whole – especially Roman society; they would keep very much to themselves.

.

Others have suggested that these people were not Christian Essene Jews but simply everyday regular Christian Jews.[3] Paul in his other letters speaks a lot about meat sacrificed to idols. In the first century they didn’t have Loblaw’s, Sobeys or Safeway. Butcher shops and market places in the Roman Empire were often located in pagan temples. When someone brought an animal to be butchered for eating, it would be offered as a sacrifice. The leftovers from various sacrifices could often be sold in the market alongside other butchered meat; so some Jews and even some Christian Jews didn’t want to risk eating any meat that had been sacrificed to an idol so they just didn’t eat meat at all.[4] The problem with this idea is that – in contrast to his other letters - Paul doesn’t specifically here deal with meat sacrificed to idols and the other mentioned areas of abstinence aren’t generally associated with Jewish culture (but cf. the Nasserite vow) and if they are, they aren’t tied to not eating meat.

.

So then who are these 'weak' vegetarians to whom Paul is referring? …Basically the answer is… we don’t know. Some of the best scholars disagree with each other and none of them make an overwhelmingly compelling argument. But we do know that they weren’t like PETA or today’s vegetarians who think of eating meat as eating a pet or even a friend. There is no record of that concept in the ancient world. And they probably were not like Christian vegetarians today who refrain from eating meat as a way of being good stewards of the earth. We don’t really know who these people are that Paul refers to as weak but we do know that ‘eating only meat’ is 1 of 3 attributes of the weak he addresses:
.

1. Romans 14:2: Some believe in eating anything, but the weak eat only vegetables.
2. Romans 14:5: Some (the weak) consider one day to be better than another.
3. Romans 14:21: It is good to not drink wine

What was that one thing that I said I wanted us all to remember about today? (Don’t condemn, don’t despise each other)

.

We talked about the uncertainties around not eating meat. There was also the same uncertainties around judging one day as better than the other. Jews had a lot of feast days. This could be what this passage is talking about. Maybe the Jewish Christians were still celebrating all of the old Jewish feast days and the Gentiles couldn’t or didn’t want to keep up with all of that. Maybe some Jewish Christians were saying that is what is important and maybe this is what Paul is saying doesn’t really matter. This may refer to – or at least be extended to – the Sabbath. The Sabbath is Saturday and some Jewish Christians would still celebrate the Sabbath in synagogue on Saturday before they would get together with other Christians on Sunday, the Lord’s Day. Paul might be saying that this is what doesn’t matter.[5] Everyday for the Christian is supposed be Sabbath. That might be part of what he is talking about but what is the important thing he is focusing on that I want us to remember for today? (Don’t condemn, don’t despise each other)

.

Next there is the drinking. Paul says that just like weak Christians don’t eat meat, they also don’t drink and we have no idea what this is all about but we do know that Paul says here in Verse 21 that it is GOOD not to eat meat or to drink wine. What is the important thing he is focusing on that I want us to remember for today? (Don’t condemn, don’t despise each other)

.

‘Don’t condemn, don’t despise!’ This is the main part about all of these things. For some reason the here called ‘weak’ people, they didn’t eat meat or drink wine, and they held some days as more important than others. These people apparently thought that everyone should act like they do. They thought that because they were right in their own estimation not to drink or eat meat that nobody else should. Paul says in Verse 3 and elsewhere that these people were getting a little - what we would call it in my day? - ‘holier than thou.’ Paul calls these ‘holier than thou’ people, weak. He tells them that they are not to condemn people in the church here (v.3). Paul says if they aren’t your employees, they don’t have to answer to you. They serve God so they answer to Him (v.4). If we insult each other like this, Paul says, then we are really insulting Christ (15:3) and that is never good. To the holier than thou group, Paul says, ‘Stop it! ‘You’re not the boss of them.’[6] ‘Don’t condemn others!’
.

Then to the others – to the so-called ‘strong’ Christians, Paul says, ‘smarten up!’ They’re not to judge you but you DON’T despise them. How easy is it for people to ‘write off’ others? How easy it is for us to simply despise people as hypocrites and have nothing to do with them? Paul says don’t be so selfish![7] Christ died for those people I just called weak just like he died for you supposedly strong people. Because of this, Romans 14:7-8, we aren’t supposed to just live for ourselves and do whatever we like; we are supposed to live for Christ and live for others.[8] If your friend doesn’t drink, don’t go out for dinner with them and order a pint of beer or a glass of wine. That’s just mean. Don’t tempt them to do something that might be very bad for them. Don’t despise them because they don’t drink. Don’t put a stumbling block in their way.

.

Paul also says it really doesn’t matter if some people observe every special day in the church. To bring this into a bit more of a contemporary context: does anyone remember ‘fish Fridays’? In the Roman Catholic Church when I was a kid anyway, they would not eat any meat but fish on Fridays. So – as an evangelical - if you were going to go out to a fish ’n chips restaurant, it would be wise to pick a different day than Friday; they were just packed.

.

Also, does anyone remember when there was no Sunday shopping? It was very recently on the prairies. To this day, some Christians still refuse to buy anything on Sundays. I remember my college church group even on secular Vancouver Island, decades ago, would have spaghetti lunches at one point so that we wouldn’t go out for lunch on Sundays. The Apostle Paul is saying none of this matters; so stop despising your friends who want to keep these days as holy. And for those of you that are just keeping one day as holy, remember that God made all of the days and so as such, every day is the Lord’s day.
.
What is the one thing that we need to remember today? (Don’t condemn and don’t despise others!’)

.

To the weak Paul says, ‘don’t condemn!’ To the strong Paul says, ‘don’t despise!’ This is so important. We are not supposed to fight with each other. We are supposed to help each other; we need to stop our bickering.[9] If you flip to Chapter 16:17-20, that we read earlier, you will notice what Paul says about all this and about all of us:
.

I urge you, brothers and sisters, to keep an eye on those who cause dissensions and offenses, in opposition to the teaching that you have learned; avoid them. For such people do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the simple-minded. For while your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, I want you to be wise in what is good and guiltless in what is evil. The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet.

In other words, don’t bud into things that are none of your business! Don’t cause trouble! Don’t despise or condemn one another! Instead encourage each other in obedience, be wise in what is good and be guiltless in what is evil and then God will crush Satan under our feet. Jesus died on the cross and rose again not so that we will despise and condemn each other; quite the opposite. He died and rose again so that we may live and that we may live our life abundantly. So to that end I encourage us all today to encourage each other, uphold the week, and support the strong in Jesus Name.
.

What was the one thing we should remember today? (Don’t condemn and despise others!’)
.

Let us pray.
.

www.sheepspeak.com

---

[1] Paul J. Achtemeier, Romans. Interpretation: (Atlanta, Georgia: John Knox Press, 1985), 214

[2] W.E Vines, “Week in Faith”, in Vine's Word Studies of New Testament Vol. III. (Nashville, Tennessee: Royal Publishers Inc., 1939), p. 166.

[3] NT Wright, Romans for Everyone Part 2: Chapters 9-16 (Louisville, US: WKJ, 2004), 95.

[4] Cf. Michael Ramsay, 1 Corinthians 6-10: In Tents Storm of Life: Everything is Permissible but Not Everything is Beneficial. (Swift Current The Salvation Army: Sheepspeak, 01 June 2014) On-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2014/05/1-corinthians-6-10-in-tents-storm-of.html cf. also N.T. Wright, '1 Corinthians' in Paul for Everyone, (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), 98.

[5] Cf. William Hendricksen, Exposition of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, NTC (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic: 1981), 458.

[6] The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, 2919: ‘Krino’, (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1995), 51.

[7] Cf. N.T. Wright, The Letter to the Romans (NIB 10: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 475.

[8] Cf. Alan Le Grys, The Expository Times 122 (11). ‘11^th September: Proper 19: Vision and Reality’.(August 2011), 549

[9] Cf. John Stott, Romans, (Downers Grove, Ill., IVP, 1994), 369.

Devotion 2.14/66: 2 Timothy 1:8: Unashamed

Presented to River Street Cafe, 13 May 2016

by Captain Michael Ramsay

Read 2 Timothy 1:6-8

When Christ returns it will be like a thief in the night. The time and hour we don`t know but we do know the end is coming and then some will go off to eternal happiness and some to weeping and gnashing of teeth. To know this is good news, believe it or not.

It is like disaster relief work: I have done a lot of this. A few years ago I helped in the aftermath of a hurricane. The good news is, like natural disasters in general and like when the hurricane struck Galveston Island in particular, was that even though people chose to stay behind and perish, even though we met, spoke to and prayed with people whose family members chose to reject salvation from the hurricane, people knew it was coming; they had a choice and as a result thousands of people were saved.

Can you imagine if the news announcers were so ashamed of the fact the hurricane was coming that they didn’t share the information? Can you imagine if the meteorologists were so ashamed of the fact that they did not know the exact hour the hurricane was going to strike that they didn’t tell anybody? Can you imagine if 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 what, why, where, how, and when the hurricane was coming? Can you imagine the horror as you look up to see your life being swept away – and no one ever told you how to be saved because they were ashamed?

Well, an eschatological hurricane, ‘the end’, is coming and it is a lot more dangerous than a temporal hurricane. There are people in this city here right now who have no idea that the end is coming. There are people out there right now who are lost and no one is pointing them to salvation.

So let us do that. Today let us be like the rescue workers who go around pointing people to safety. None of us know when our –or anyone else`s- lives are going to end. We may be taken tomorrow. None of us know when the Lord is returning and bringing with him the end to our world. But, like the weatherman watching the storm, we do know that the things of this earth are going to pass away and it is our job to share with everyone we meet the good news of the way to salvation so that they do not need to perish but instead can experience the full power of God for Salvation.

It is our responsibility to share the Gospel for the Gospel is the power of God for all to be saved both now and forever. To this end then, I encourage us all to look for opportunities to share the good news of salvation in the upcoming weeks here so that all of us here may turn to God and experience the full power of His Salvation.

Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5: City of God.

Presented to TSA Corps 614 Regent Park, 01 May 2016 by Captain Michael Ramsay

We believe that there is only one God, who is infinitely perfect, the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things, and who is the only proper object of religious worship.

We believe that it is the privilege of all believers to be wholly sanctified, and that their whole spirit and should and body may be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Today we are invited to worship God visually and creatively. We often worship God in church by singing. Today we are invited to worship God by drawing, sketching. There are sheets of paper on the wall and there are pieces of paper up front. You can create your worship picture song on whichever scale you want. Today the worship picture we will be drawing will be a picture or two pictures of the City of God. You may draw your picture as the Spirit leads. There are pens, felts, crayons, pencil crayons. I invite you to move to a spot you want and take the materials you need. As I read from our Scriptures, I will put my pictures on the screen. These are not for you to copy unless you really want to; these are the images that moved in my heart as I was reading through. Yours will probably look different. Let us pray and then I will read through the Scripture again and we will create our worship pictures together.

10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.

   This passage comes into the end of the NT, the end of Revelation, and the end of time. What happens at the end? The Holy City comes to earth[1].  This is important. We don’t get sucked up into outer space like Star Trek and ‘Beam me up Scotty’ at this point; the Holy City comes from Heaven to earth[2].  It is a holy city: What does it mean to be holy? To be set apart AND to belong to God[3];  in the NT, Christians by definition are holy[4].  What is the name of the Holy City? Jerusalem. We remember that Jerusalem was the name of the capital city when Israel and Judah were one country. What was the most important building in Jerusalem? The Temple. This brings us to our next addition to our pictures and our next verse.

22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 

   The Temple was the centre of worship for a unified Judah and Israel and, at times, it was the whole focus of life and worship for the ancient city of Jerusalem and the Southern Kingdom of Judah[5].  Some people even believed that God lived [only or primarily] there (cf. 2 Samuel 7; 1 Kings 5:3-5, 8:10-17; 1 Chronicles 22, 28:1-29:9; 2 Chronicles 5:13-14, Joel 3:5). Now there had been a number of temples in the old Jerusalem throughout history. The first one was built by King Solomon and the last by King Herod. Today there is no Temple there but rather a mosque (The Dome on the Rock). 

In our text, when we have a New Jerusalem descending to earth from heaven to replace the old one, you will notice that there is no temple at all. This place that was the centre of worship of the LORD does not even exist when God sends down His new city to His new earth. How can that be? Quite simply the key is that one no longer needs to go to a building to worship God because God himself is there. 

Who is this Lamb? The Lamb is Jesus. Jesus and God are the Temple in the new city. We can all be in the presence of God. This brings us to our next addition to our pictures and our next verse:

23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 

   Jesus as God is with us forever in the New Jerusalem; we don’t need a temple. According to our verse, what else don’t we need because God is with us? (The sun and the moon.) What is the point of the sun and the moon? They give us light and more than that, they give us life. Nothing can survive in our world and our cities today without the sun and the moon but at the eschaton, at the end of this age, in the new age, there will be no need for the sun and moon to sustain us because we will be sustained simply by being in the very presence of Jesus as God. And more than that, there isn’t a need for streetlights or anything like that because Jesus, the Lamb, is the light of God. This brings us to our next addition to our pictures and our next verse.

24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendour into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honour of the nations will be brought into it.   

   Its gates will never be shut. Why did ancient walled cities close their gates? For protection. Now the city doesn’t need protection from enemies or the dark because just like God is their temple and God is their light and life, He is also their protection. At the end of the book, at the end of the age, at the end, we don’t need to worry about any of those things, at the end there is God to protect us and sustain us. This City of God will be so attractive that everyone will want to pour into it. And everyone can. The nations of the earth will walk by its light (remember there is no more sun) and even the world leaders will be subject to it[6].  All the earth will serve God in the New Jerusalem. The Glory and honour of all the nations will pour into it. This brings us to our next addition to our pictures and our next verse.

27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

  God and being in the presence of God provides light, life, and protection for the whole world and each and every one of us are invited to be a part of it but some people will not serve God in His City for eternity. No one needs to but some will choose to perish. In Revelation these people are referred to in a number of different ways, here John underlines that those who are shameful and deceitful choose not to serve the Lord. This is important, Heaven, where the New Jerusalem comes from and the new earth upon which it lands, do not have evil in them[7].  They do not have deceit. They do not have lies, white lies or otherwise[8].  When we walk by the light of the Lamb, we are honest and pure. Do you want to be honest and pure? You can be. Jesus died and rose again so that we can all be a part of this kingdom to come. 

In a moment we will start our second picture of the Capital City but first if you want to be a part of this world where there is no fear because there is no darkness, no night; there is nothing impure but instead the light and the love of God, then I invite you to stand with me and sing, Create in me a Pure Heart. Because as our heart is pure, we can be with God. If you would like a pure heart, stand and pray in song with me, now.

This brings us to our second picture of the city of God. I will only speak for a couple of more minutes here. You can take a new piece of paper if you like or you can continue to add to your first piece. Reading from Revelation 22:1

22:1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 

2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 

     This verse speaks about the Tree of Life. Does anyone know where the Tree of Life shows up in scripture? In Genesis (Gen 2:9, 3:17-24), remember there were two trees in the Garden of Eden, the tree that brought death, the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life. In Genesis, we ate of the tree whose fruit brought death. In Revelation, we have access to the Tree of Life.

And in the eternal presence of God, it is an everlasting harvest. Every season is harvest season. Every month the tree bears fruit. No one starves anymore, no one goes hungry anymore. God’s provision continues forever and more than that; you will notice that the leaves of this tree provide healing of the nations. Our nation is sick. Almost every nation is sick, not just in people being ill and dying but also in all of the sin that flows around us in our world today. In the world to come what flows around us, by contrast, is the river of life, flowing from the very throne of God: there is no more pain, no more tears, no more suffering. The curse we suffered when humanity ate of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is lifted. (Next slide.)

3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 

 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

Do you want to reign with God forever? Do you want to be in this city with no sin, no hate, no death, no deceit; where everyone is honest and loving and serving our Lord? Do you want to? You can. Salvation starts today and last forever.

Look around you. Today, as you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and leader, you are surrounded by the City of God. You are in a representation of the City of God. On every wall before you, behind you, and around you is the City of God and that person sitting next to you, they too are in this city of God. If you would like to live forever in the eternal City of God, where there is no more pain, no more suffering, no more sin, no more hate, no more death, no more deceit; where everyone is honest and loving and serving our Lord then why don’t you join me of singing of this triumph where the Lamb rules forever from the throne of God. Let us sing together, Are You Washed?

Let us sing and let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] J.B. Moffatt, EGT, 5:477: “From the smoke and pain and heat [of the preceding scenes] it is a relief to pass into the clear, clean atmosphere of the eternal morning where the breath of heaven is sweet and the vast city of God sparkles like a diamond in the radiance of his presence" Quoted from Alan F. Johnson, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Revelation/Exposition of Revelation/V. Vision of the New Heaven and the New Earth and the New Jerusalem (21:1-22:5)/A. The New Jerusalem (21:1-27), Book Version: 4.0.2

[2] Cf. N.T. Wright, ‘Farewell to the Rapture!’ Bible Review, August 2001. Available on-line at: http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_BR_Farewell_Rapture.htm

[3] W.E. Vine. . 'Holiness, Holy, Holily.' In Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. (Nashville, Tennessee: Royal Publishers Inc., 1939), 555.

[4] John D.W. Watts. 'Holy.' In Holman Bible Dictionary, general editor Trent C. Butler. Nashville, Tennesee: Holman Bible Publishers, 1991), 660. W.E. Vine. 'Holiness, Holy, Holily.' In Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Word. (Nashville, Tennessee: Royal Publishers Inc., 1939), 555.

[5] Cf. P. Alexander, ‘Temple’ in Lions Encyclopaedia of the Bible (Herts, UK: Lion Publishing, 1986).

[6] M. Eugene Boring, ‘Revelation’ (Interpretation: a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching: Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1989), 221.

[7] Cf. Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of the Book of Revelation (New Testament Commentary: Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2007), 564.

[8] Cf. NT Write, Revelation for Everyone (For Everyone Series, London: SKPC Publishing, 2011),194-195.

Week 47: John 15:14: Love

Devotional thought composed for TSA Devotional Book, June 2015. Presented to River Street Cafe, 06 May 2016.

Read John 15:9-17

What is love? This is an important question to which John, ‘the disciple whom Jesus loves’, offers us an answer. He tells us that in Jesus’ farewell discourse with his friends (John 14:1-16:33), Jesus mentions love a fair amount. Knowing how important real love is, Jesus tells his disciples to love one another as he has loved them (John 13:34,35; 15:9,12,17).

Jesus tells his friends, as he is about to be executed, that if they love him, they will remain in his love even after he has gone on ahead (John 15:9): they will keep his commandments, which are always directly from God (John 14:15,21,23; 15:10). He then tells us his primary commandment: love one another (John 15:12). And how can we show that we have this love? Jesus says, while at the same time calling his disciples his friends, that greater love has no one than to lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). Jesus, of course, proceeds to do just that (John 19:30) and in their turn, tradition tells us that the disciples respond in kind.

John reminds us of Jesus’ words, “ If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me ” (John 14:23-24). And Jesus says, “Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command” (John 15:12-14).

Jesus really does love us. Indeed he was executed for us. He sacrificed his life so that we all may live. This is real love. As he has given his life for us, in return shouldn’t we offer our whole life up to him? For indeed when we do, we share not only in his sacrifice but also in the glory of his resurrection. Let us love God, love our neighbour, and since Jesus gave his life so that we may all live, let us live our lives all for him.

How is it evident in your life that indeed you are a friend of Jesus’?

www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] Based on the article by Captain Michael Ramsay, What is real love? Nipawin Journal (11 February 2009) On-line: http://renewnetwork.blogspot.ca/2009_01_01_archive.html#735898664973522319

Week 13: Acts 2:38: Forgiveness

Devotional thought presented to Swift Current Men’s Prayer Breakfast, Thursday 01 December 2014, River Street Cafe, Monday 16 May 2016, and Fir Park Village, 24 March 2019 by Captain Michael Ramsay

Read Acts 2:36-39

Acts 2 is quite a dramatic chapter in the Bible and parts of it read like a suspense-filled thriller movie. Acts 2 speaks about an appearance of the Holy Spirit after Jesus has returned from the dead. It shows the power and authority of God to all who are present. The signs in this chapter show that Jesus is King; Jesus is God and as Peter speaks to them, the people realize that Jesus is the Christ and they understand, Verse 36, that they have killed the Christ, the one they have been waiting for to save them. They have killed him.

These people now standing in front of Peter are like repentant children in front of the school principal, realizing that they’ve done something terribly wrong. They realize that Jesus is the Christ and they realize that they’ve killed him. We’ve killed him and now Jesus is back from the dead. If we didn’t know the ending and for those present who don’t, it could be like a 1970s horror movie. You wrongfully kill someone and they come back from the dead to set things right! That is what Jesus did. The people in our text today are hoping against hope to somehow make it right with this Jesus whom they have killed and who has now returned from the dead. Verse 37, “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

Peter says, Verse 38, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” Now this is significant. Jesus is ushering in the Kingdom of God.  And what does this Kingdom look like? It is a Kingdom of forgiveness. It is a Kingdom –like the Lord’s Prayer says - where we forgive those who do things against us and God forgives us what we have done – even our sending God’s own son to die on the cross. This is what it looks like when we are a part of God’s Kingdom; this is what it looks like when we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Christ has already forgiven us everything. As we accept the forgiveness, as we repent and as we forgive others, we will be forgiven and we will be a part of his Kingdom of Forgiveness.

Questions for today: Is it evident in our lives that we are a part of God’s eternal Kingdom of Forgiveness? Do we forgive others as Christ has forgiven us?

www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] Based on the sermon by Captain Michael Ramsay, Acts 2 - Act II, Scene 1. Presented to The Salvation Army Nipawin & Tisdale on 12 August 2007 and Swift Current on 23 May 2010 and the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity service on 16 January 2011 held at St. Stephen the Martyr Anglican Church in Swift Current: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2007/08/acts-2-act-ii-scene-1.html 

Week 12: John 3:16: Rescue

Devotional thought presented  to Swift Current Men’s Prayer Breakfast, Thursday 04 December 2014; Arthur Meighen Retirement Home, Wednesday 18 May 2016; River Street Cafe, 27 May 2016.

Read John 3:16-21

God loves us. John 3:16 records that He loves us so much that Jesus laid down His life that we may live; therefore, I can’t imagine how much it must hurt Him that some of us actually perish.

I am a parent. Think about this scenario for a moment. The house across the street is on fire; there are children in that house. Your child is able to save them. Your son or daughter – your ONLY son or daughter can reach them so you encourage her, “Go, go, go! Save them.”

Your daughter goes. She suffers every peril in that burning house that everyone else in there is suffering (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:14, Luke 4): There is the deadly smoke, the fire, and the falling beams. She is successful. She gets to the children. She is able to make an opening in the wall. She points them to the way out. She yells for them to walk through the opening in the wall. She makes a clear path so that all of the children can be saved and then… she dies. Your daughter dies so that all these children can be saved. Your child dies so that none of these children need to die but – here’s the kicker: the children do not want to be saved. They die anyway. Your daughter dies so that they can be saved but they choose to stay and die. They do not need to die but they choose not to walk through the opening she died to make for them. They refuse to be saved.

This is what it is like for God when our loved ones reject Him. He sent His Son to this earth that is perishing. He sent His Son to this house that is on fire and His Son died so that we may live but some refuse His love and some reject His Salvation. He sent Jesus not to condemn us to burn in the eternal house fire but to save us; however, like those children, some refuse to walk through that opening that Jesus died to make. John 3:18: “Those who believe in Him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already…” of their own accord because, John 3:19, “people loved darkness rather than light.”

But there is good news here. Yes, the house is on fire; yes, Jesus died, but we - as long as we are still breathing - have the opportunity to walk through the hole in the wall that He created through His death and resurrection. We can walk through the wall from certain death to certain life. All we need to do is believe in Him, obey Him, and walk through that wall to eternal life with the Father because, John 3:17, “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.” John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only [begotten] Son, so that everyone who believe in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

Have you walked to safety yet?

www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] Based on the sermon by Captain Michael Ramsay, John 3:16-21: For God so loved the world. Presented to The Salvation Army Nipawin & Tisdale on 23 November 2008 and Swift Current on 12 March 2011. On-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2008/11/john-316-21-for-god-so-loved-world.html

Romans 5:3,4: Hope and an Angel on the Downtown Eastside.

Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on April 20, 2008
Swift Current Corps on August 09, 2009
Corps 614 Regent Park on May 15, 2016

Alberni Valley on February 16, 2025
By Captain Michael Ramsay

This is the original, to view the 2025 version click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2025/02/romans-534-hope-and-angel-on-downtown.html 

As many of you here know when our children were just little (not that they’re so big now), we sold our home and our businesses and moved into North America’s poorest postal code - Vancouver’s downtown eastside - as full-time urban missionaries with The Salvation Army.

We have shared with many of you the excitement from our time there as we saw people who were turned from their addictive, destructive ways of life; transformed into new creations by the power of the Holy Spirit. It was exciting to open up our home and our lives to the miracles that indeed the Lord is still performing today and were, oh, so evident in that environment. We met people who have been cured of cancer, cured of AIDS, and completely cured of diabetes. We have seen and experienced the power of God (cf. Romans 1:4, 1:16, 11:23, 15:13, 15:19-20) first hand.

Our time there, as you can well imagine, wasn’t always rosy though. I remember one day – one morning, I was mugged. I knew better but I wasn’t paying attention. It was early in the morning and I was right on Main and Hastings – the most infamous intersection in this most infamous neighbourhood and I was on the pay phone with Susan who was out of town at the time.

Someone came running up behind me, grabbed my briefcase and tore down Main Street. In the briefcase was my laptop and all the information for the summer school programme I was running for the kids in the area; so, like anyone mugged in the depths of skid row, I’m sure, I…well, I chased the mugger.

I followed him down Main Street through Chinatown across busy streets and around the myriad of mazes that are Vancouver’s back alleys. Scaring rats, jumping over sleeping street folk, I pursued my assailant. When I was within reach of him… I fell right in front of a bus and though I escaped from in front of the bus with my life, the mugger escaped with my briefcase, my laptop, and the programme files for the kids.

It was when I was walking back, completely distraught and despondent from this incident, that I experienced the miracle that happened: I encountered an angel, a messenger of God, in the back alleys of Vancouver’s storied downtown eastside. I can still remember vividly; he looked like a ‘dumpster diver;’ he prayed with me and he offered me these words of encouragement from Romans 5:3,4 “...but let us also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Inside I sighed. I knew he was right. God gave me these words to encourage me.

When the Apostle Paul recorded these words circa 55 AD in his letter to the Romans, he himself had already seen much suffering - he has already spent so much time under arrest, so much time in prison and even now he will be ultimately killed for his faith and tradition suggests that he was even beheaded by the Romans themselves.[1]

In the first few verses of what we now know as Chapter 5 of Paul’s letter to the Romans, Paul was not only warning the Romans about the persecution and suffering that was coming for him but he was also warning them about the suffering that was coming for them and ultimately the suffering that may be coming for us as we do the Lord’s bidding as well.

Now you’ll notice from our text today, that not only are we to endure our suffering but Paul says, depending on your translation, we are to rejoice and even boast in our suffering (cf. Phil 2:17; 1 Pet 4:6, 4:13). 1 Thessalonians 5:18 states that we are even to give thanks in all circumstances (cf. Phil 4:11) and Paul in Philippians 4:4 says, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice.’

So this is important: we aren’t supposed to lick our wounds when we suffer for doing the Lord’s work but we are to rejoice. Now we should think about what exactly God and Paul are saying here in the Bible for a moment because it does go against a lot of popular culture and indeed seems to oppose the so-called ‘prosperity gospel’ that is ever so prevalent in our affluent North American culture.

This prosperity heresy - the idea that wealth, health and prosperity come to those whom God loves but trials, tribulations and suffering on this earth come to those whom God hates - this prosperity heresy was apparently alive and well in Paul’s day as well but just like it was a lie then, it is not true now.[2]

Paul says that we should rejoice in our suffering because - if indeed our suffering is for the gospel of which Paul is not ashamed (1:16) -our suffering will produce perseverance (endurance) and you know what perseverance (endurance) is good for right? It gives us the ability to get through more suffering and difficult times and you know why God gives us that ability to get through more suffering and difficult times, because we’ve got more difficult times to get through still. So as we rejoice in our perseverance through these times we can rejoice because we will be ready for – the even more difficult times that are still to come but there is even more than that.[3]

Paul says that through this perseverance we will also develop character. And what is character? Character is what you get when you survive suffering (joyfully?)

Here are some comics that give us Bill Waterson’s perspective:[4]




Character is what you get when you survive suffering (joyfully?)

…in my home growing up the phrase ‘It will build character’ was the answer to the question. “Why should I do that? It’s not fair? Why do I have to …rake the leaves, mow the lawn, clean my room, take grade six band? ...It will build character. Well more or less this is what Paul is saying.

Paul, however, really does say that we should enjoy our character building experiences. (They are a means to the strength of the Lord.) In Philippians 1 Paul says that whatever happens, everything will be okay indeed as living is Christ and even to die is gain because there is the resurrection ahead. We have nothing to lose right? To die is gain and to live, to live is Christ! (Phil 1:21).[5]

Now Paul had a lot that was building his character between all his time in jail and the Roman Christians had great opportunity to develop character as they faced the lions in the Coliseum[6] and my mugging on the downtown eastside wasn’t our first experience with loss nor was it our last but it was directly related to our work for the Lord and this period was extremely significant in our lives and its results echo to this day in our souls.

When I was mugged and my laptop containing all the information for The Salvation Army’s tutoring ministry was stolen it was only the beginning. My foot was also injured, my hands were inexplicably painfully swollen, my eye was injured (so painfully that I couldn’t even get up for days) and it was later re-injured too- I required surgery; Sarah-Grace, who had recently turned 2, suffered seizures in front of our eyes, our car stopped working, a person in our home was struggling with heroin addiction, the police visited our home and encouraged a roommate of ours to leave, my in-laws’ computer and camera were stolen on subsequent nights spent in our home and this last event unleashed a revealing chain of attacks straight from the Enemy and his servants. We were serving the Lord, openly and abundantly and we were suffering as we did so and there was more to come (cf. Mark 3:20-35).[7]

And knowing all this was still to come, after my mugging the Lord sent His messenger - the angel in the form of a downtown eastside resident - to encourage me to endurance, to perseverance. He told me specifically from Romans 5:3,4, to “...rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

So what is Paul saying about suffering here? He is saying we have to rejoice in it but is he talking about any kind of unpleasant event? Any suffering? Not necessarily. The Greek word here (thlipseis) refers to, more literally, ‘pressure’ that is applied to Christians from the world, from God’s opponents (cf. John 15:18, 16:20).[8] John Stott writes that Thlipseis is “almost a technical term for the suffering which God’s people must expect in [these] last days.”[9] This suffering is something that we can expect as we do the will of God in the last days before the end.[10] When we serve the Lord, there is opposition both spiritual and practical and though the war is won, the battle rages fierce.

As we fight in this battle that is our life, there are people, powers and principalities who oppose us. As we fight in this battle, it develops our perseverance, it develops our character, we become like battle-hardened veterans experienced in engaging the foe.[11] We are no longer green. Our character is being built. We know that we can endure. We know that we may live up to what has already been obtained (cf. Phil 3). We can be bold for the gospel (cf. Phil 1). We know we can be counted on to persevere through even more of whatever opposition, whatever pressure the enemy throws our way. We know we can, like Paul says here, we can have hope - because God will never leave us nor forsake us.

Jesus Christ himself suffered and he rose again on the third day. Jesus Christ himself endured and he is the reason for our hope? What is this hope? This hope through Jesus Christ is indeed in the power of the gospel which is the power to transform us all (1:16), our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ who will never leave us nor forsake us and our hope through the cross and the empty tomb, our hope is in the resurrection of the dead.

Paul knows, as we know, that when our bodies fade away it is not the end. Indeed we will be in paradise with our Lord. Indeed there is the hope of the ultimate resurrection of the dead. We will rise again.

And as the Lord has conquered Sin and Death, He will indeed continue to conquer our own sins that lure us to death and we can have confidence, we can have faith, we can have hope in the resurrection.
But even more than that - now I know that there are some serious struggles that each face us each here today. The other day there were some serious losses in Nipawin here as a father and son perished and a family lost their home in the explosion and resulting fire. There is uncertainty in our daily lives. (The explosion from the leak could have happened in any of the downtown businesses.) There are questions and we don’t necessarily realise what the Lord is doing but no matter how bleak things seem we can still have that hope.

Now our pets are often a source of comfort to many of us. Our cats and dogs offer us comfort when we are in times of need. The family whose house was lost in the explosion, they had a dog. The dog didn’t escape. The house exploded and fell in on him. The fire raged and ravaged the site all day and in the night. In the morning at just before 7am when I was bringing the firefighters and SaskEnergy people their coffee, we heard it – barking. The dog was barking. You should have heard the firefighters cheer. You should have seen the excitement on their faces. They pulled the dog from the rubble and he wasn’t even hurt, not a bit. The Lord saved the dog. This provided hope for the fire fighters, hope for the SaskEnergy guys, hope for the Emergency Operations Centre staff, and comfort and hope for this family who had already suffered such loss. The Lord provides hope in our suffering.
We have received serious, vocal, practical and even litigious opposition from the Enemy through people very close to us not only when we were on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside but also when we were in Winnipeg’s North End and now that we are in Nipawin and Tisdale. We have had to consciously protect even our children from harm as the foe is relentless. The enemy continues to attack us through whatever Thlipseis (pressure) he can muster.

The Enemy does and will attack those of us here that serve the Lord. There is pressure but we must not give in to the temptation to surrender to the pressure. We must not surrender. Instead we must boast in our sufferings, experience our new found endurance and character so that we too will continue to experience the faith, the joy, the hope that is in Christ Jesus.

Let us all, as Romans 5 says, “...rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” And this hope will never disappoint us (v.5).

Let us pray.
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[1] Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible - commentary on Acts 28:31. Cited on-line 14 April 2008: http://www.biblestudy.org/question/sauldie.html Cf. also http://misslink.org/chapel/askaminister/bible/paul.html
[2] Cf. The entire book of Job. See also Paul J. Achtemeier, Interpretation: Romans. John Knox Press, 1989. P 92. and John Phillips, Exploring Romans. Moody Press, 1969. P.90.
[3] Cf. RCH Lenski, St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. P 338.
[4] From http://enthronedarkness.blogspot.com/2005/06/building-character-yet.html
[5] Cf. Michael Ramsay. “Be Bold for the Gospel: a look at Philippians 1:1” in The Journal of Aggressive Christianity. Issue No. 54: April – May 2008. Available on-line: http://www.armybarmy.com/jac.html Cited 16 April 2008.
[6] Tactius: "Nero punished a race of men who were hated for their evil practices. These men were called Christians. He got a number of people to confess. On their evidence a number of Christians were convicted and put to death with dreadful cruelty. Some were covered with the skins of wild beasts and left to be eaten by dogs. Others were nailed to the cross. Many were burned alive and set on fire to serve as torches at night." Cited On-line. 16 April, 2008. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/rome_and_christianity.htm
[7] Cf. Michael Ramsay. “On the Job Experience.” Available on-line: www.sheepspeak.com/job.htm. Cf. also Michael Ramsay’s “The Family of God.” Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/02/mark-320-35-family-of-god.html
[8] RCH Lenski, p. 336.
[9] John Stott, Romans, IV Press 1994, p. 140.
[10] NT Wright, NIB X: Romans. Abingdon Press, 2002. P. 516: “The NRSV’s ‘endurance’ and the NIV’s ‘perseverance’ both bring out aspects of the same idea, which is not so much of a pressing ahead in adversity as simply staying put without dismay”
[11] RCH Lenski, p. 336.