2 Corinthians 5:11-21: Reconciliation with Creator and Each Other.

 Presented to TSA AV Ministries, 26 March 2023, by Major Michael Ramsay

 

This poster means very much to me. It was given to me by Remi – some of you know Remi – he is a colleague here at The Salvation Army. Remi has taught me much about Nuu-Chah-Nulth culture, tradition, government, and some vocabulary (if only I can remember the words!); he is a friend!

 

On Shrove Tuesday this year, the Tseshaht First Nation released the preliminary findings about the residential school that was on their territory.  It is very sad. Everyday since, as before, as I enter my office and as I sit at my desk, I see the painting by Roy Henry Vickers with the words 'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator) written underneath.

 

Shrove Tuesday – the day the findings were released from the residential school on Tseshaht First Nation – is the day before lent begins. It is a day to get our houses and our lives ready for the season of Lent. It is about confession and absolution. I think that it is quite fitting that the preliminary findings from the residential schools be released on a day tradition has set aside for confession and absolution. Our nation has certainly been coming to terms with the residential school systems and many other things. Our politicians, church leaders and others have certainly been confessing the sins and errors of the past. And true reconciliation is only possible with forgiveness, absolution. As Demond Tutu said in the South African context, “there is no future without forgiveness”; for it is only forgiving others that truly sets us free.

 

Lent, the season that begins after Shrove Tuesday, starts on Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is a time for fasting and praying. Lent – the word itself – means ‘fortieth’ and it references the 40 days Jesus fasted (referencing as well Elijah’s and Moses’ fasts of that length) before commencing his public ministry. Lent ends on either Maundy Thursday or Low Saturday – the day between Good Friday and Easter. It is a time for us to prepare ourselves for Easter, the day we commemorate Christ providing reconciliation for the whole world, all of Creation.

 

The symbolism of this picture is important to me. The crown of thorns on the 'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator)’s head make it clear that this is a representation of Jesus. Jesus who died on the cross, Jesus is the Creator. John Chapter 1: He wasn’t just a man. He is God. He is creator of the whole world and more.

 

Doctrines 2 through 4 of The Salvation Army say this about 'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator):

·       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 there are three persons in the Godhead-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, undivided in essence and co-equal in power and glory.

·       We believe that in the person of Jesus Christ the Divine and human natures are united, so that He is truly and properly God and truly and properly man.

 

'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator) not only created us but He also went to the cross for us. The tears in this picture remind me how sad He must be. Can you imagine the sadness of 'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator)? He created all of us, everything, the whole world and more; and we killed Him. He loves us and we killed Him. Can you imagine if those whom you love deeply want to kill you and you watch them as they do? In our context today, imagine you are lying in a hospital bed and your loved one comes and puts the needle in that ends everything. Now imagine that they do this NOT out of love. Imagine. This I think can cause some tears. There is more than that though.

 

'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator) went to the cross for us. The tears in this picture remind me how sad He must be for the way we have treated each other in residential schools, and wars, and poverty, and other such things and elsewhere and how sad He must be at the way we continue to treat each other today.

 

Hebrews 10:26ff says that if we continue to sin after Christ died for us, we trample the body of Christ underfoot. 'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator) let His creation kill Him so that we, His creation, could be free of Sin. See the tears on His cheek. Jesus died on the cross so that sin would no longer have a hold on us. He died of the cross so that we no longer need to fall pray to sin. Look at His tears – how sad it must make Him that we still sometimes fall pray to sin; how sad it must make Him that we still do bad things to each other; how sad it must make 'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator) feel to see those He created and loves, harm others whom He created and loved.

 

'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator) died and rose again so that we could be reconciled to 'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator) and to one another. This is what we are preparing for in Lent after confession and absolution and this is what we hope for in Easter. We are preparing to celebrate the reconciliation that Jesus provided for us all between the cross and the empty tomb. Jesus rose from the grave leaving sin and death behind Him so that we can all do the same. And even now we have the opportunity to begin to live out that salvation; even now we have to opportunity to begin to break free from those horrible sins that are trying to drag us down; even now we have that opportunity to live out that reconciliation with God – and with one another.

 

'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator), Jesus, died and rose again so that we could be reconciled to 'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator), Jesus, God, and to one another. As 'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator) has done this for us, it is my hope that indeed we will all look diligently and unceasingly toward that end of living a life reconciled both with 'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator) and with one another. He loves us and He wants us to get along with Him with each other just like any parent desires to have their children get along.

 

So today, if there is anything between you and another of God’s children, another of God’s creations, I encourage you to live free from the power of Sin and death and experience love and forgiveness instead. I encourage you, if there is anything between you and 'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator), that you confess it to Him now and receive His forgiveness, His Grace, His love, and His healing and reconciliation; and when we go from here in a moment or two let us all go from here in His power, and share His love and ministry of reconciliation with all whom we meet.

 

Let us pray.

 

www.sheepspeak.com

Exodus 17:1-7: Drive-Thru Complaint Deprartment

 Presented to TSA Alberni Valley Ministries, 19 March 2023 by Major Michael Ramsay 

Do you ever get the idea that God is trying to tell you something? There might be something He is trying to teach me about Exodus 17:1-7. In a span of a couple of days, we read Exodus 17 in our family devotions, it was the text at a service we went to at the Gospel Hall, it showed up in my personal devotions, and was referenced in the lectionary when I was looking for texts to preach on the other week. With all of these hints I thought I should spend some time reflecting on this passage this week; so that is what we are doing today. And then this morning, if I was having any last moment doubts, as I was scrolling through Facebook while procrastinating reading through my message, I ran across this quote in my memories from 2017, "Great message today from Rev Deb Rapport at 77 River on Exodus 17:1-7." So here it goes...

 

The people are grumbling about God to Moses in Chapter 17 because they have nothing to drink. And In Chapter 16, they were grumbling about God to Moses because they had nothing to eat – Is God a waiter to bring them food and drink? Or is God the cook and Moses the waiter and the people have so many complaints about the food and the cook that they just keep complaining to Moses: ‘Take this back’, ‘I don’t like that’ ‘Tell the cook this!’ ‘Bring me that!’

 

I don’t think I am generally a whiny costumer, but I do have one story of being a little short with a fast-food restaurant’s drive-thru staff. A long time ago in a province far, far away, I was with my two little children going through an A&W Drive-Thru. Being that my children are vegetarians, I ordered them something with no meat: a grilled cheese sandwich, cheese on a toasted bun. The voice in the drive-thru box said, “I don’t think we can do that”. I replied, “sure you can: first you take the bun out of the package; then you toast it and then you put the cheese on it.” They did. My little children loved the episode immensely and still remember that incident to this day, even now as they are all grown up and moved away – the day we told the restaurant how to make a grilled cheese sandwich.

 

The Israelites here are being whiney drive-thru customers as they are travelling across the desert, telling Moses exactly what they want and how they want it. They are pretty dramatic about it as well: Chapter 16, about the food, verses 3-4, The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” And then after God and Moses give them meat and bread of Heaven in the very next chapter, Chapter 17:2, 'So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”'

 

And just before their whining and complaining about the food and water, just before these stories take place, is the parting of the Red Sea – remember how the people came to Moses about God then? Exodus 14:11-12: They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” And so it goes…Exodus 17:2, 'So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”'

 

The Israelites have developed a pattern of whining and complaining in their lives. If you look back at Chapter 16 you can see that people responded a little differently about the instructions they were given about the food: some obeyed, some did not; but it seems like the majority of them complained. And sometimes their complaints made me wonder, ‘do these people even believe in God?’ 17:7: “Is the Lord among us or not?” The fact that they are always going to Moses and/or Moses and Aaron with their complaints sound to me like they almost think that Moses might even be just making this whole God-thing up. You can see how Moses – and GOD – get quite upset with the people as recorded in the book of Exodus!

 

The people are so focused on the apparently bad things; the people are so focused on the difficult things (which they interpret as bad); the people are so  focused on the challenging things (which they interpret as bad); the people are so focused on an imagined ideal, comparing it to an imagined reality that falls short in their minds, so they are not happy and so they whine and so they complain about God and their leaders.

 

It is SO easy to do! …so tempting too! Whine and complain! Whine and complain about our leaders! I was able to see Pierre Poilievre, the Leader of Canada’s Official Opposition on Thursday. Gord Johns, our MP has agreed this week to appear on Heather’s TV Show (HTV: Heather’s Talk in the Valley); It is so easy to complain – either about politicians or in agreement with their complaints about other politicians or the government. Politicians are often simply people doing a difficult job and we often find something to complain about them – whether we have ever even met them or not! I remember being blessed to serve from the food truck alongside both Josie Osbourne (our MLA) and Gord Johns (our MP) at Christmas time and chatting briefly about just that: no matter what we say or do, someone will always complain! I know I can be frustrated by others complaining about me, both if I do something and if I don’t do the same thing… and so you think I would know better than to complain about others, but alas, I can still be tempted to complain about so and so, or this and that, and grumble and whine against our leaders or someone else… just like the Israelites

 

And this can be trouble. When we get into a habit of complaining and thinking negative thoughts, it can be hard to even see good in people we love. Whining and complaining about people in our lives and/or things out of our control can be all-encompassing and can really drag us down. We can get so that almost every thought is negative. Philippians 2:14: Do everything without grumbling or arguing

 

Do we ever get like this? Do we ever whine and complain? Do we ever get worked up about things that we know nothing about, things that are out of our control, things that are turning out just they way they are supposed to turn out, things that are turning out just the way they were always likely to turn out - and then do we whine about them to ourselves or others and in the process make life a lot more difficult for ourselves and everyone else!?!

 

When we are in a difficult spot, do we look to God expecting a miracle and wondering what it might be and how He might do it? Or do we complain about our leaders, our circumstances, and/or God? Do we ever whine and complain so much that if people read stories about us, like we do about the Israelites in the desert, that many of the stories would be about how much we whine… about our government (Trudeau this, Liberals, NDP, or Conservatives, that) … about our church leaders (Headquarters! or Major said this or did that!), our bosses (That Major again!), or one another (so and so always does this or never does that; why do I always have to…) do we ever whine so much that people might ask of us, “Is the Lord among them or not?” and/or “do they even believe in God?”

 

Whining and complaining can certainly come across to others as if we don’t believe in God. If we are always complaining about our lives, it certainly does look like we don’t believe that the Lord will and is taking care of us; it certainly looks like we don’t have faith in God.

 

Even worse than how it might appear, complaining can actually get in the way of our relationship with one another and with God. It can pull us away from a life of peace. Grumbling and complaining is destructive and it can be addictive like any drug or any other bad habit and it can be very destructive to our soul, our mental health, our spiritual well-being. We find what we look for: the more we look for bad things in our lives to complain about, the more we find them; the more talk about the bad things in our lives, the more we notice bad things in our lives, the more we listen to (and so encourage others to talk about) complaints about bad things in others’ lives, the more we focus on the bad things in their and our lives. And when we complain about the bad things, it is easy for us to be overcome by those bad things. But, on the other hand, when we focus on God; when we look for what God is doing in the world and in our lives, when we look to see how He will deliver us through our challenges, when we have faith in God, He can deliver us from anything, even a grumbling and complaining spirit. Jesus is, after all, the Prince of Peace.

 

God and Moses wanted the people to be free of the grumbling spirit that was trying to tear them from Him. You notice that all through the Exodus story, God never gives up on the Israelites. He keeps providing food for them even though they complain about it throughout. Even though they complain along the whole journey and ask, “Is the Lord among us or not?”, He continues to lead them, loving them so much that He hopes and encourages them to be free of the rain cloud of despair and complaint and to experience His Peace instead.

 

And He wishes the same for us. The temptation to grumble can certainly be strong. God knows that. And even though it seems like our complaining can be all-encompassing, tortuous, and must be exasperating even to God, He does love us, and He does want us to be free and at peace. We have that opportunity today so I encourage us all to give our worries and complaints over to Him for when we do then indeed even we can have our spirit at peace, for Jesus Himself is the Prince of peace.

 

Let us pray

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1 Corinthians 15: Resurrection Information for Every Body.

Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 25 April 2022 (the week after Resurrection Sunday) by Captain Michael Ramsay

 

Last weekend we celebrated Easter. What is the main point of Easter? Jesus defeated sin and death. He died and raised from the grave; so I thought I would look into resurrection in general a little bit today.

First, I have my only story of someone raising from the dead: from when we were serving in Toronto. In one of the corps we were responsible for – the Warehouse Mission – they had very many great outreaches into the Inner City community. We had talent nights once a month that were amazing – everything from absolutely top-of-the-line professional musicians to people signing their hearts out (and our ears!) or playing instruments that they didn’t necessarily know how to work. It was so much fun! Everyone was so encouraging too. We also had regular meals and did so much more. One thing we had on the wall when you entered our space was a bulletin board where we would place funeral cards and notifications of people’s deaths and memorial services - so we could pay our respects and let others remember those who have been Promoted to Glory. Only once we had to actually take down funeral card – because the person wasn’t dead anymore! Maybe they weren’t really dead in the first place but their information was all on the board and people who remembered them were telling me all about it. You can imagine – it was quite exciting when a number of our people met a friend they all knew, who they knew/thought was dead. That is my only resurrection story. And -according to my wife - they probability they weren’t really dead in the first place but even if it isn’t a resurrection story, it still was more than a little exciting when people cried out that she was alive! (We then took her funeral card down)

It would have been very exciting with Jesus’ resurrection! His friends saw him die and then, after He rose, He actually appeared to hundreds of different people, at different times, in different places, and people touched Him to make sure that He wasn’t a ghost. Paul is writing this letter to people who knew this

Today we are going to ask a few questions of our text, 1 Corinthians 15, about the resurrection at the end of time (the eschaton) as it relates not only to Jesus but to all of us.

 

First: What does it mean to be resurrected?

It means to be raised again… with a body – as Jesus showed everyone again and again. The resurrection is NOT about ‘going to heaven’. When we die, we DO  have the opportunity to go to Heaven. Heaven is where Jesus is. Like the thief on the cross, when we pass on, we can go to Heaven. But that is not what Paul is talking about when he is writing about the resurrection. Paul is making the point in Chapter 15 that the resurrection is something different. The language he uses (in Greek) is quite blunt. He is quite upset that some people seem to think that Heaven was the end of it. Paul says there is still something else. Paul here is talking about what some have called, ‘life after, life after death’ – when we get new physical bodies.  What does it mean to be resurrected? It means to be raised again with a body.

 

How does resurrection and especially Jesus’ resurrection relate to the Gospel?

1 Corinthians 15 tells us that this is the Good News of Salvation. Paul says the Gospel that saves us, as Scripture says, is this (vv. 2-4):

·       Jesus died for our sins

·       Jesus was buried

·       Jesus raised from the dead

So we can have everlasting life: Good Friday is all about Jesus dying for our sins. Easter is all about His resurrection to everlasting Life. But…

 

 Next question: Can people other than Jesus really be resurrected from the grave with a new body and not have to die again?

 

Yes. This is important. The Apostle Paul says (vs 13) that there has to be a resurrection of the dead, because Christ has been resurrected and many people, who are still alive (when this letter was written) have seen Him and touched Him and can verify what they saw and felt. The fact that you have seen Him, Paul writes, proves that people can be raised.

Now when God ultimately raises us from the grave (at the eschaton; at the end of time) we will be free of death. Paul says that if Christ wasn’t raised (which they know He was) than you can’t be free of death. Everything born on this planet dies. Everything. And so, Paul says, that when Christ rose from the grave, He in essence opened the door to the grave and left it open so that we can all walk out, in due time of course. Many of my sermons talk about how God is with us here and now in our daily lives and this is important. But Paul very importantly says here that vs 19, if our hope in Christ is ONLY for the here and now, we are to be pitied more than anyone. So, can people really be resurrected from dead? Yes, many of those receiving this letter had seen the first person who was raised like this.

Okay, Jesus bodily raised from the grave, never to die again. If we are convinced by Paul that He was first and that we will follow with new glorified bodies, a couple of more natural questions arise:

 

Question 4: What will our bodies look like? And,

 

Question 5: How will all this happen?

 

Verse 35-41, Paul says our bodies, such as they are now, are like seeds. Reinhart is away. He is an amazing gardener. I don’t know if anyone else here is a gardener. Paul says we right now are seeds. It is like this room we are in is one big packet of people seeds. When we are dead and buried, it is like God is planting us in the ground. Then one day, at the time of the resurrection, we will each grow from our seed into brand new people. The English translations when speaking about the seed bodies calls them ‘perishable’ or ‘corruptible’ or ‘natural bodies’. When referring to the new bodies that grow from these seeds the English translations call them ‘imperishable’, ‘incorruptible’, and ‘spiritual bodies’. One thing all the journal articles and commentaries I have read recently -after long discussions about Greek words and context - point out is that these new bodies are indeed real bodies. They are not just spirits; they are not ghosts; they are spiritual, incorruptible, everlasting bodies. Just as Christ has a touchable spiritual body – that never ages and never dies, so will we. It is neat here too because Paul speaks about animals and birds and fish all having different bodies too – like they are from different seed packet but one that was planted, like we will be when we are buried, and will grow again. He says the same for heavenly bodies as well; so, who knows? We just buried Sally Dzus’ pets and her second husband in the grave with her next to her first husband’s grave; maybe her pets will be raised again too in new non-perishable bodies! Maybe our pets and livestock will be with us at the resurrection.

So… What will our bodies look like at the resurrection and how will this happen? I don’t know but they will be different – like a seed is different from a plant - and they will be bodies that will not perish.

 

 

The next natural question is when will this happen? 

 

When will we get our new bodies? Verse 51 onwards: this will happen at some undisclosed future date; it sounds like it will all happen at once. Verse 52, “in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, the dead will be raised imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.”

There is one interesting footnote that I want to chat about briefly today – not because it is particularly important but just because I find it interesting.

 

What about the baptism of the dead?

15:29: “Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?” Now no one knows what the baptism of the dead is. We can gather from this that baptism is symbolic rather than transformative – because we obviously can’t save a dead person by baptizing them. But I always thought that this would be a  ceremony The Salvation Army might decide do one day (if we ever implement baptism by water) to baptize the relatives of all our unbaptized p-t-g Officers and Soldiers on their behalf. 

 

 Why does our resurrection matter?

 

If we all go to Heaven to be with Jesus after we die anyway, why is this ultimate resurrection so important to the New Testament and Christianity? (See Revelation where Heaven comes down to earth at the Eschaton)

I think it is important because it tells us what the Kingdom to Come will look like when it is fully established at the Eschaton. It lets us know a couple of things:

1)    We won’t just be disembodied ghosts or spirits floating around in the air with no body -like Casper the Ghost or Ghost Busters or something. We will have bodies.

2)    There will most likely be plants and animals and maybe even stars and planets at the resurrection and as they don’t die or age, the lamb can then lie down with the lion (Isaiah 11:6-9; Revelation 21:1-4) because he has no fear of being eaten

3)    We won’t have our old bodies that just keep getting older with all the ever-increasing aches and pains of aging (unlike poor Tithonus from Greek mythology). This is why Paul can say elsewhere (Philippians 1:21) to live is Christ -which is great! - but to die is gain.

And this is our hope, that at the end of everything God will create new heavens and a new earth where nothing will grow old, nothing will decay. Nothing will die because between the cross and the empty tomb, as Christians around the world celebrated last week, Christ defeated death so we can all have life and have life abundantly!

One last thing: Paul ends our discussion in this way. He writes, vv. 57-58, “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Because of Jesus’ resurrection, we all have the opportunity be raised to eternal life.

 

Let us pray.

---

[1] Richard A. Horsley, Pneumatikos vs. Psychikos Distinctions of Spiritual Status among the Corinthians In The Harvard Theological Review Vol. 69, No. 3/4 (Jul. - Oct., 1976), pp. 269-288 (20 pages)

[2] Cf. W. Harold Mare, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:1 Corinthians/Exposition of 1 Corinthians/VIII. The Resurrection of Christ and of the Christian (15:1-58), Book Version: 4.0.2

[3] Cf. NT Wright, Paul for Everyone: 1 Corinthians (Louisville, Kentucky, USA:WJK, 2004), 128 and Simon J. Kistemaker, 1 Corinthians (NTC: Grad Raoids Michigan: Baker Academic, 2007), 149: 1 Corinthians is probably the oldest record of the observance of this memorial

[4] Cf. J. Paul Sampley, 1 Corinthians, (NIB: Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2002), 935 for a very good discussion of the intentionality of the use of the phrase,' do this in remembrance of me."

 

 

 

  

Fight like a Christian: 2 Corinthians 10:1-8

Presented to The Salvation Army's Alberni Valley Ministries, Port Alberni, BC, 08 September 2019, by Captain Michael Ramsay

Today’s sermon is entitled ‘Fight like a Christian’ or ‘War like a Christian’. If one is going to speak of such things, it seems appropriate to speak about this at The Salvation Army with soldiers and officers and others associated with the Army present.

The Salvation Army has long recognized that our war is not a battle of flesh and blood but a battle with powers and principalities (Ephesians 6:12) and this is a key thought influencing our passage in 2 Corinthians 10 today. At the Army when we become soldiers, full members of The Salvation Army we sign a covenant with God; keeping with our military theme, do you know what that covenant is called? – The Articles of War: Soldier's Covenant.

Our text in 2 Corinthians 10:2 says that, because we are Christians we do not live by the standards of this world. The word 'world' here refers to 'society’. Our Articles of War talks about a number of ways that our standards – not as Christians but as Salvation Soldiers – are different from those of the world. I have handed out pieces of paper with Salvation Army standards written on them to various people in the corps to read. Everyone who wears epaulets has agreed to these standards:

• I will be responsive to the Holy Spirit’s work and obedient to His leading in my life, growing in grace through worship, prayer, service and the reading of the Bible.
• I will make the values of the Kingdom of God and not the values of the world the standard for my life.
• I will uphold Christian integrity in every area of my life, allowing nothing in thought, word or deed that is unworthy, unclean, untrue, profane, dishonest or immoral.
• I will maintain Christian ideals in all my relationships with others: my family and neighbours, my colleagues and fellow Salvationists, those to whom and for whom I am responsible, and the wider community.
• I will uphold the sanctity of marriage and of family life.
• I will be a faithful steward of my time and gifts, my money and possessions, my body, my mind and my spirit, knowing that I am accountable to God.
• I will abstain from alcoholic drink, tobacco, the non-medical use of addictive drugs, gambling, pornography, the occult, and all else that could enslave the body or spirit.
• I will be faithful to the purposes for which God raised up The Salvation Army, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, endeavouring to win others to Him, and in His name caring for the needy and the disadvantaged.
• I will be actively involved, as I am able, in the life, work, worship and witness of the corps, giving as large a proportion of my income as possible to support its ministries and the worldwide work of the Army.
• I will be true to the principles and practices of The Salvation Army, loyal to its leaders, and I will show the spirit of Salvationism whether in times of popularity or persecution.

The items on this list are all very good things but I need to be clear: these items that people just read out aren’t conditions of salvation and they aren’t even things that necessarily every Christian will do – though some of them are, like “sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, endeavouring to win others to Him, and in His name caring for the needy and the disadvantaged” and “making the values of the Kingdom of God and not the values of the world the standard for my life” But they are things that demarcate those of us who are soldiers from others.

Back to 2 Corinthians 10 where the Apostle Paul is speaking about what makes Christian Soldiers different from other soldiers. The Apostle Paul says, as recorded in Verse 4, that as followers of Christ we do not fight with the weapons of this world. We do not fight according to human standards. In the Greek it says though we live in the flesh, we do not fight in the flesh.[1] As Christians, we do not fight the way the armies of this world fight.

In Paul's day Rome was far and away the regional super power; Might was right. They won a lot of wars through their military might. As that was the case with Rome around the Mediterranean basin in the first century, it is exponentially more so these days with the USA. The US militarily is currently occupying about 150 countries in the world according to CNN.[2]  To put that into perspective: there are just over 190 countries in the United Nations. That means that the US occupies about 80% of the countries in our world today. Their military is regularly engaged in wars and other military actions around the globe. With military might in the 1^st century and the 21^st century wars were and are commonly fought.

In the both world of the 1^st and 21^st centuries an invader usually first lay siege to a place it was about to attack, to soften it up. In today's world we usually refer to that action as placing ‘economic sanctions’ on a country. The idea is to make life so bad for the country with people starving to death or suffering other terrible results that some people will rebel against their own people just to survive. In the ancient world sometimes powerful countries would prevent less powerful countries from having advanced weapons. The Philistines – long before the Romans, as recorded in our Bible - are noted as not letting the Israelites having iron weapons (1 Samuel 13) so that the Philistines could invade them at will and Israel could not resist. In our world today we know that the US claims a right to decide who can and cannot be a nuclear power and we remember that before the US invaded Iraq they sent in weapons inspectors to make sure that Iraq could not fight back. Both in the 21^st and the 1^st Centuries, the next step in war, after sieges and the sanctions, is for countries to wage war from a distance. In ancient times they would use catapults and arrows,  in later times canon (the British were experts in using the canon on their ships), and now powerful countries use aeroplanes so that they can kill as many people (combatants and civilians alike) with little risk to their armed forces. And then after all that, if we still need to, we send in the troops. That is how wars were and are fought.

The Bible says that, as Christians, we fight differently to affect change. Again our battle is not against flesh and blood. We Christians aren’t fighting against other people. Our goal isn’t to kill someone; quite the opposite. The enemy has trapped some people and it is our goal to set them free. In Christian vernacular, we want them to be ‘saved’. The enemy has trapped many people in many different cages. Some people are trapped in addiction, some people are trapped by hate, some people (I read more and more it about everyday) are trapped by strange sexuality – pornography, congruent or serial adultery, grooming; abuse, poverty; some people are trapped by deception; some people are trapped by selfishness. Many people in our day and age are trapped in rage and unforgiveness. The Bible says, Galatians 5:19-21 that some people are trapped by sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. There are many thoughts like these that can take people captive.

Our text today, 2 Corinthians 10:5, encourages us that we can stand up to all of these siege engines, platforms, and obstacles that are raised against the knowledge of God and we can take every one of these thoughts captive.[3] This is important. When people do all of these ‘bad things’ we listed and more, we need to remember that they are not the originators of these events so much as the victims of these thoughts. As we serve in God’s Army we help people who are imprisoned by the devil to NOT be crushed. We fight instead to see people freed from the power of darkness. And once we are freed from all of that bad stuff: addiction, jealousy, rage, etc., those thoughts themselves can then become the punished captives. The people can be free. Verse 8 says we are to build each other up. This is important.

Our war here, our daily battles and struggles aren’t against people who disagree with us or even people who torment us or make our life miserable. Our war is with the thoughts and the actions that the devil, the principalities and powers are using to enslave the people.[4] Our goal isn’t to hate and destroy people but to love and liberate them. And as such our weapons aren’t guns, canons, aeroplanes, and nuclear weapons; they aren’t lies, slander, and hate; our weapons are – and this is neat because the word for weapons in our text today ‘hopla’ is the same word translated ‘amour’ in the famous Ephesians 6 passage about the amour of God.[5] Our amour, our weapons for taking each thought captive and freeing ourselves and others are as Paul encourages us in Ephesians 6:14-17, to:

Stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

And as we stand strong holding the weapons of God, wearing the amour of God, Jesus will defeat the enemy; indeed he has defeated the enemy and Galatians 5 tells us what our lives can be like as the enemy’s thoughts are taken prisoner and we are freed from captivity. Galatians 5:22-23 says we can live in the power of the Spirit and “…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, perseverance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” This is all ours to experience.

This, my friends, is what we are fighting for. As we accept Jesus Christ as our General, our President, our Lord, and our King; we can not only experience all the freedom of love, joy, peace, perseverance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in our own lives but also - as we fight to share the Gospel with others - we can help free them from the thoughts that keep them trapped and we can point others to Jesus who can give them that very same freedom not only here and now but also forever, even unto eternal life. God loves you and he wants you to receive that liberation today.

If you are still struggling as a captive to thoughts of hate, envy, and bitterness; actions of addiction, rage, and giving up, and more; I would invite you today - if you haven't already - to give your life to the Lord Jesus and then I invite us all to ask the Lord Jesus to free us from these thoughts today so that indeed we can all experience that freedom in Christ Jesus.

Let us pray.

Benediction from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, 23-24: Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it...

  

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[1] Simon J. Kistemaker, 2 Corinthians, NTC (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic: 2007), 334 and J. Paul Sampley, The Second Letter to the Corinthians (NIB X: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 2000), 136.

[2] CNN: U.S. military personnel by country (April 2012) https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2012/04/us/table.military.troops/

[3] Cf. Simon J. Kistemaker, 2 Corinthians, NTC (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic: 2007), 336 about the allusion to siege engines here.

[4] Cf. Murray J. Harris, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:2 Corinthians/Exposition of 2 Corinthians/III. Paul's Vindication of His Apostolic Authority (2 Cor 10:1-13:13)/A. The Exercise of Apostolic Rights and Authority (10:1-11:15)/1. The potency of apostolic authority (10:1-11), Book Version: 4.0.2

[5] J. Paul Sampley, The Second Letter to the Corinthians (NIB X: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 2000), 138.

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

 

   

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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?

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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.

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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.
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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?’

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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.

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

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

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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.

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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)

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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.

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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.

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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:
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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)

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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)

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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)

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‘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!’
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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.

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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.

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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.
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What is the one thing that we need to remember today? (Don’t condemn and don’t despise others!’)

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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:
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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.
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What was the one thing we should remember today? (Don’t condemn and despise others!’)
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Let us pray.
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www.sheepspeak.com

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[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.