Galatians 5:15-21, Ephesians 4:26-32, Philippians 2:14-16: Green Grenade.

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 21 April 2013; Corps 614 Regent Park, 30 August 2015; and TSA Alberni Valley Ministries, 08 June 2025 by Captain (Major) Michael Ramsay

 

This is the 2025 Version.

 

To view the 2015 version, click here:

http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2015/08/galatians-519-21-ephesians-427-32.html

 

To read the 2013 original, click here:  

http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2013/04/galatians-519-21-ephesians-427-32.html 

 

When we served in Swift Current one Sunday my friend, Tim, told me this story about why he was late for church:

 

Very early on Sunday morning before he was up and ready for church, there was a knock on the door of his new place. He had just recently moved in. He gets up, answers the door; it is a police officer. She asks, “Are you Tim?”

“Yes”

“I need you to come with me”, she says.

“Why”

She tells him what it is that he has supposedly done. Tim doesn’t think that this applies to him. As far as he knows he has never been involved in whatever the police officer is talking about but “Okay.” He's still half asleep.

“Go get dressed”, she tells him. He does.

The whole time he is wondering, of course, ‘what is going on?’ As he is getting dressed, he is thinking that there is something not right here; so, as he comes out of his room, fully clothed, he asks her again, “Who are you looking for?”

As they walk out the door, “Tim”, she says.

As they go to the police car, “Tim who?” he says. “What is the last name of the Tim you’re looking for?”

Standing beside the police car, “You tell me your last name first”, she says. He does. “Show me your ID, please”, she says. He does. “Have a nice day, Tim”, she says. He does. Apparently, some other Tim – in whom the police were interested - used to live in this apartment before him; or the new landlord thought he was some other Tim or something like that. That was Tim’s excuse for missing church that day. I thought that was a good excuse.

 

There is a possible case of mistaken identity. In our texts today – especially the one from Galatians. The pericopes we read this morning are all passages from letters that the Apostle Paul has written to the Saints (In the Bible, when we see the word 'Saints' to whom is it referring? Christians). Paul has written these letters to Saints/Christians in various communities he knows well. He is writing these letters to churches he has planted himself. He is writing these letters – in the cases of the Philippians and the Ephesians – to people he loves and respects. And to the Galatians, he writes of their common problem, Galatians 5:19-21:

The acts of the flesh are obvious: 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. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 

People who indulge in hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions, envy, and the like, Paul says, will not inherit the kingdom of God.[1] This is pretty serious stuff. He is concerned about his friends and congregation members. He is not talking about those who have not claimed that Jesus is Lord (See Mt 7:15-27; cf. Mt 25:31ff.); Paul is writing this letter to and for people in the churches. Matthew 7:21, Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Paul says that those in the Christian churches – who he himself knows and some of these churches he actually planted himself – Paul says to his friends that they should make sure they aren’t mistaken for people who aren’t inheriting the Kingdom who live a life with hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions, envy and the like will not inherit the kingdom of God.[2] This is serious stuff.

 

This can be a real problem too. Paul had to write this similar sentiment in many of his letters, three of which we have read from today. Paul had to warn people who were meeting in the Christian congregations. Paul had to warn the Saints in these Christian communities. Paul had to warn the good guys not to get drawn into this stuff or, he says, they may not even seem like they will inherit the kingdom of God.[3]

 

We know too that just as these things were a temptation for people in the Roman world of the first century, they are also a temptation for people in the English-speaking world today. Who of us hasn’t seen, experienced, or even been tempted ourselves to indulge in hatred (hating someone), discord (not getting along with someone), jealousy, fits of rage (getting angry at people and things), selfish ambition (wanting to be better than someone), dissentions, factions (this includes getting people on your side, gossiping, talking behind people's back), envy, and the like? Here then is Paul’s question for us pertaining to mistaken identity. Have any of us ‘good guys’ as if we are not saints by regularly partake in hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions, envy, and the like and so are in jeopardy of missing out on the benefits of the Kingdom of God? And if so, what can we do about it?

 

These behaviours can pose a real temptation to draw us away from our relationship with God and our neighbour. We have heard the analogy of yeast working its way through dough. When we are surrounded by all of this bad list stuff, it becomes contagious. We have heard the expression, ‘one bad apple spoils the whole bunch’. This is true. Where one day no one is engaged in discord, dissentions, factions, and the like; then one person indulges him or herself by gossiping with another person who then huddles in a corner with a third person, who then tells someone else about all of their problems with someone (which may or may not even be true!) and then they tell two friends and then they tell two friends and then they tell two friends, and so on and so on and so on and soon the whole congregation and community is full of cliques, factions, whispering, gossiping, fits of rage and the like. I think some of us may have been there before: that is not a good place to be. And that is exactly where some of these first century churches were and that is exactly where some of the 21st century churches appear to be and that is exactly where I would hope and pray that we would never find ourselves (again). Paul describes these things as so bad when they get a hold of us we may be in very real danger of not, as Paul puts it, inheriting the Kingdom of God.

 

The effects of these things - hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions, envy, and the like - are disastrous. It is like this: I used to be an RCMP chaplain; One time they flew a number of us in a small RCMP plane, stopping at many small communities to pick up other chaplains so we could go to an RCMP training course in Edmonton. There were many good speakers. The Edmonton ERT (SWAT) Team Leader let us play with some of their ‘toys’ (weapons) and he spoke to us about the importance of chaplains in his job when people are shooting at them and when they have to consider what course of action to take.

 

The keynote speaker that day, Gerry Fostaty, was a fellow who wrote a book entitled, As You Were: The Tragedy at Valcartier, about an incident that happened to him when he was a teenager in military cadets.[4] He was probably about 19 or 20 and he was a leader of younger cadets – probably Heather’s age or even younger. They were at a cadet camp in Valcartier, Quebec. As part of the camp, they got to play with weapons not entirely unlike we did at the conference in Edmonton. The cadets (even more) learned how to use the weapons properly and how to take care of the weapons and how the weapons worked and all kinds of things like that.

 

In one class, the adult instructor was handing out dummy grenades for the children to examine. The dummy grenades you can apparently tell from the real grenades because the dummies are brightly coloured - orange, pink, blue – not the military green of combat weaponry. The cadets, these children were encouraged to take apart these dummy grenades, put them back together, examine how they work, etc., etc., etc…

 

Apparently and disastrously in with the orange, pink, and blue-coloured grenades was at least one live green grenade. The children were passing this live green grenade – along with the toy grenades – along the line of cadets in the class. They were taking the pin out and placing it back in and they were holding (I don’t know what the term is but…) the safety and disabling and reassembling it along with the coloured grenades and then… one little boy pulled the pin on the live grenade and holding it out too long…

 

The writer of this book was out of the room at the time; he ran in when he heard the explosion and found his little brother who -was not seriously injured- along with many others who were. One deadly green grenade had mixed in with the harmless coloured grenades and this one green grenade brought destruction with it and it brought death with it.

 

The result of this green grenade in the room full of children is essentially the same as what results when hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions, envy, and the like wind up in our churches. These are our green grenades. When we put ourselves first, engaging in selfish ambition instead of thinking of others as greater than ourselves (as Paul extols us; Philippians 2) the results are essentially the same.[5] Just as the green grenade brings death when people handle it; if it goes unchecked, Paul reminds us that hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions, envy, and the like, also bring death to a church and people who are consumed with them. Paul words are ‘they will not inherit the kingdom of God’.

 

So what can we do about this? The Apostle Paul says, in essence, that we should remove the green grenades from the box; we should remove these things from the church. We should, Ephesians 4:31-5:2a:

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.  Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us…

 

Remove the green grenades before they go off. Paul says, Galatians 5:16, 22-25:

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh… But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

 

Remove the green grenades. Paul says, Philippians 2:3-4,12-13:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others... Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose.

 

Friends, you are all doing very well. The Lord is calling, equipping and using you to do many great things. So today I will encourage and remind us all, as Paul did 2000 years ago, that selfishness, gossip, slander, talking about others in this way, unforgiveness, pulling each other down instead of building each other up. These are the green grenades that can blow the roof right off the top of any church, even one that to has until now been actively fighting in the good fight. When we think of ourselves as better than others, when we allow ourselves to get worked up about what other people are doing or saying, when we start to talk about others, not forgiving them but tearing them down instead of building them up, that is really our pulling the pin out of a green grenade that the Enemy has tossed into the church.[6] So today I challenge and I encourage each and every one of us here to look for the green grenades in our life and put them aside and in so doing, as TSA doc 10 says, “to be wholly sanctified, and that their whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” and as Paul says, Philippians 2:3,4: let us continue to “do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility [let us] value others above ourselves, not looking to our own interests but each of us to the interests of the others.” As we continue to do this I have every faith that we will all continue to serve our Lord for now and forever in the Kingdom of God

 

Let us pray.

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[1] Francis Foulkes, Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1989 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 10), S. 139: Quoting the Old Testament again, the Septuagint of Psalm 4:4, he says, Be angry but do not sin. The av rendering of the psalm, ‘Stand in awe, and sin not’, gives a different turn to it. The Hebrew verb rāgaz means basically to ‘tremble’, and it could be with fear or rage (BDB). Whichever was the psalmist’s thought, the Septuagint is meaningful and relevant. There is anger which is righteous anger, such as we see in our Lord himself (e.g. Mark 3:5; John 2:13–17); but His anger never led to sin, because His emotions were kept under perfect control.

[2] R. Alan Cole,  Galatians: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1989 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 9), S. 217: Inherit the kingdom of God; although Paul is emphatic that we cannot by ‘doing’ the works of the law enter our promised inheritance (3:12, 18), but that entry is by faith alone (3:11), yet he strongly asserts here that by ‘doing’ these very different things we can bar ourselves from the kingdom …those who do such things thereby show themselves to be without the transforming gift of faith which leads to the gift of the promised Spirit, which, in turn, leads to the fruits of the Spirit, the seal of our inheritance.

[3] Cf. James Montgomery Boice, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Galatians/Exposition of Galatians/III. The Call to Godly Living (5:1-6:10)/C. Life in the Spirit (5:13-26)/2. The works of the flesh (5:19-21), Book Version: 4.0.2

[4] Gerry Fostaty, As You Were: The Tragedy at Valcartier (Fredericton, NB: Goose Lane Editions, 2011).

[5] Ralph P. Martin, Philippians: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1987 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 11), S. 101: The ethical terms used here expose the spiritual malaise at the heart of the church and point to the all-sufficient remedy. Selfish ambition, eritheia (rv, ‘faction’) is the same word as in 1:17 where it is used to describe the inimical intention of Paul’s enemies. Of the Philippians it is used of party squabbles and petty conceits. We might translate it ‘quarrelsomeness’, although that does not quite convey the hint of self-seeking which the word contains. Such a display which Galatians 5:19–21 brands as an ‘act of the sinful nature’ sadly disfigured the inner life of the church.

[6] Cf. Morna D. Hooker, The Letter to the Philippians, NIB XI, 499

No Sanatas Concert (Mark 2-3:35, John 8:1-11)

 Presented to TSA AVM, 11.02.24

(Redacted)

 

The passage that we are looking at in Mark today asks, ‘How can Satan cast out Satan’ (Mark 3:23)? The Greek word for ’satan’, ‘satanas’ literally means ‘accuser’.[i] The question being asked directly here is how can accuser cast out accuser? It reminds me of Jesus addressing Peter when he says, Get thee behind me accuser! (Matthew 16:23)

 

It also reminds me of Job where, ‘satan’ (literally ‘opponent’, ‘adversary’; pronounced: saw-tawn) the Hebrew equivalent of ‘satanas’ is used. In the case of Job, God baits the accuser. He tells the accuser how good Job is, knowing full well that he would accuse him of only being good because God does so many good things for him. The whole story of great suffering, perseverance, and more unfolds from there.

 

The main name we think of when we think of ‘the devil’ is Satan (satan, satanas), accuser. This is important. I suggest that it is because his main attribute, almost his defining characteristic, is that he is one who accuses others of wrong-doing – and he may be accurate in his accusations.

 

Think about that. Think about the times people are being satanas, accusing others in the Bible, especially the New Testament, the Gospels and Acts. Those accusing are often people who want the rules followed. We think of Pharisees.

 

Pharisees are an interesting example because they are good, religious leaders. They are a group of people that emphasizes holiness – that we can be holy as the Bible does tell us we can be (1 Peter 1:15-16; cf. Matthew 5:48). Some of Jesus’ early followers were Pharisees: Paul and Nicodemus to name two prominent ones. But time and time again people aiming for holiness for themselves and others are shown to wind up instead as accusers. Accusers in Greek are satanas and in Hebrew are saw-tawns – and when we accuse, that is what we are.

 

I have had to fire people a few times in my role representing The Salvation Army as an employer. My mind was running over these incidents in recent weeks – in doing so have I been like the accuser, seeking someone’s downfall? (Sometimes we do need to fire people for their best interests, the safety of our other staff and clients, because it is time to part ways, or for other reasons.) I don't believe I have...

 

I have never removed someone’s Soldiership. I can’t even imagine that. That would be like if the pastor who married you called you up on your anniversary and told you that you weren’t being a good enough spouse and so you should leave your husband or wife and abandon your covenant. If an Officer in authority encourages a Soldier under their care to abandon their covenant that is what they are doing. 

 

I think of the woman caught in adultery as relayed in the Gospel of John (John 8:1-11). Her accusers are standing before Jesus and the crowds ready to stone the guilty party – the legally prescribed punishment for her sins. Jesus did not accuse her. Jesus did not abandon her. Jesus restored her. Jesus saved her and Jesus instructed her to sin no more. Isn’t that what we are supposed to do?

 

Mark shows us in chapters 2-3 of his gospel that yes, Jesus cares about holiness and he does want us all to be free of sin, he does not necessarily care about the rules that were made to help us achieve that. They are means to an end not an end to defend. Jesus in chapter 2 heals on the Sabbath, forgives sins, and doesn’t fast. He has no problems breaking conventions if it leads to healing and wholeness and salvation. [ii]  The rules aren’t what’s important: what the rules were meant to be - a part of helping people to sanctification - that is what’s important. Unfortunately some people still accuse today when a rule is not followed. They want people punished. We need to be on guard.

 

Even if the accusers say that a person is supposed to be punished, prosecuted, persecuted, abandoned, destroyed; aren’t we are Christians supposed to say ‘no’, on the contrary they are supposed to be restored, reconciled, encouraged to repentance. Helped towards holiness, not abandoned into the hands of their accusers. Can you imagine if when you messed up and/or were trapped by sin, you were handed over to your accusers? Can you imagine your guilt if you handed someone over to their accusers? Remember Pilate as he was handing over Jesus to his accusers – he didn’t want to do it. He tried not to do it but eventually he succumbed to the accusers. Do we sometime succumb to satanas, saw-tawns? Are we sometimes satanas, saw-tawns?

 

We work with a lot of people here who are struggling with addiction, mental health, poverty and other things. Many of these people are our employees and volunteers. Real questions, not rhetorical: Can I really fire someone struggling with mental health for acting in a manner consistent with someone struggling with mental health? Can I really let someone go who is acting in a manner consistent with their diagnosis? Can I really punish someone trapped by addiction for acting in a manner consistent with someone trapped by addiction?

 

I will be quite honest here. We have a number of people who have done some miserable things, some illegal things, some scary things because of their mental health, things that we could legally fire them for on the spot. Maybe we have to for safety and security -maybe - but I think we still need to be available to them. They are part of our team, our family; they are our neighbours. How many times must we forgive our neighbour who sin against us? Seventy times seven times!

 

Even more than that. We have people in our employ who are struggling with addiction. We have had more than one employee fall prey to alcohol or drug addiction while they were working for us. We have had people, more than once, break the law due to their addiction. They have robbed us, broken in, and more. I can think of three examples where they have stood before us as guilty as the woman caught in adultery, deserving of us to cast the stones. We resisted (in those cases) the temptation to be the one to cast the first stone! We opted instead to encourage people to get help for their addiction, to go to AA or other support groups; we have opted instead not to put temptation in their way – not to permit them in places and circumstances that could lead to further temptation. That is our responsibility to care for people under our authority, in our care. Everyday we walk with people who could fall. Many days we walk with people who stumble. Do we accuse them before HR, their colleagues and their families? When we go to HR wherever possible we seek to restore people. We help them when, if we can. That is our job as children of the light to help others out of the darkness. We are not to abandon them to their sins, not to encourage them to leave the work, their church, or their job. We would never want to be guilty of the sin of accusing; the sin of accusing is the work of satanas, not saints.

 

It is interesting in the text we read in Mark the Pharisees and Jesus family are the ones interfering with the work of God. His family is there to seize, to arrest him (literal translation of the Greek) and the Pharisees are accusing Jesus of beating the accuser by the power of the accuser. Jesus says that is not possible. Martin Luther King reminds us that hate cannot defeat hate, only love can do that.[iii] A firefighter once said that one cannot fight fire with fire – that only makes a bigger fire. Jesus asks how can accuser cast out accuser? He can’t.

 

As I have been reading through the Bible lately, I have been paying attention to where the word satana (or saw-tawn) has been used. It is becoming more and more clear to me that we are not supposed to accuse one another – when we do that we are like the devil who is called the accuser. What we are supposed to do is walk alongside someone who is stuck in anything – be it circumstance or sin – and help them out of it. That is our responsibility: to forgive and be forgiven, to love and be loved, to repent and to be reconciled, to be received unto repentance, to turn the other cheek, and to help one another. Anything less is of the evil one.

 

With that in mind, I encourage us all, in all of our activities with one another to do everything in our power to assist one another, to help one another, to love one another. Let us never be tempted to cast the first stone. Let us never fall prey to accusers, satanas, and saw-tawns; and let us never be the saw-tawns, satanas, and accusers ourselves.

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com

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[i] Cf. NT Wright Mark For Everyone. P 37 : the word is not limited to a proper name

[ii] Cf. Donald H. Juel, The Gospel of Mark, p. 84.

[iii] Martin Luther King Jr. , A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. Ed. James M. Washington (HaperCollins: New York, NY, 1986)

Genesis 11:1-12:4: Rallying to Following the Lord’s Lead

Presented to Port Alberni at Williamson Park on 16 September 2018 by Captain Michael Ramsay

The first thing God told mankind to do when He created us was to go, scatter, fill the earth and the first story recorded after the flood episode, the first thing it is recorded we do in the very first narrative in Genesis 11 is to dig our heals in and refuse to move. We are given the commission to go and fill the earth and instead we build a city with a tower and say, ‘thanks but no thanks God, I think I’ll decline the orders to move.’[4] In Genesis 11 they want to make a name for themselves by disobeying God and staying put after He has tells them to scatter, go, and fill the earth.

Now, of course, God vetoes their request to stay and just to show that He isn’t eternally angry He gives them a bit of a going away present – He gives them the gift of tongues, so to speak (Cf. Acts 2).[5] He confuses their language. They stop building this city and they stop building this tower and they go forth and fill the earth. There is a little bit of irony here too. They wanted to stay and build the city and the tower so that they could make a name for themselves by working together and staying put and now they have been remembered throughout history for just the opposite: becoming divided and scattering.

God will fulfill His promises whether we willingly follow along or not (cf. Romans 3:3,4) and in Genesis 11, we have the story of some people who suffered the results of disobeying God and staying behind when he told them to move but the story of humankind and God’s blessing doesn’t end here; at the end of Chapter 11 we see that God prompts someone to move again so that He can bless his descendants and the world through them. Terence E. Fretheim tells us that the journey of Abraham’s family from Ur can be understood as part of the migration from Babel.[6] Genesis 11:31 records, “Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.” He stopped. He started to move to Canaan, he stopped but even though he stopped, God didn’t stop there, Genesis 12:1-4:

The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

   

Today, we have that opportunity to share that blessing and that promise. Today, we are starting a new season in ministry in this community. Today, Rally Day, we kick off a new season. This season we are in a new building. This season we have new officers and this season, like all our seasons before, we have new opportunities to be a transforming influence in our community as we follow the Lord.

  
My question for us today is simply this: Is God calling you to follow Him into this ministry here? And if you are here he probably is. And if He is… what are you going to do about it? Are you going to stay put and try to make a name for yourself OR are you going to follow God into His blessing and service in our community so that others may even yet be blessed through you?

Let us pray.

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 [4] Cf. Brueggemann, Interpretation: Genesis,(John Knox Press: Atlanta, Georgia), 1982, pp.97-104 and Michael K. Chung , ‘The Narrative of the Tower of Babel in Dialogue with Postmodern Christianity’, Presented to Fuller Theological Seminary (Fall 2005), P. 7.

[5] Cf. R.C.H Lenski, The Interpretation of the Acts of the Apostles. (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961), 62.But cf. also Robert W. Wall, Acts. (NIB X: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 2002), 55.

[6] Terence E. Fretheim, Genesis, (NIB I: Abingdon Press: Nashville, 1994), p. 411.

Mark 16: April 1: Roll Up the Rim!

Presented to 614 Warehouse Mission Resurrection Sunday Breakfast, 01 April 2018

Mark 16:1-16a:

          16 The Sabbath day ended. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices. They were going to use them for Jesus’ body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, they were on their way to the tomb. It was just after sunrise. 3 They asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance to the tomb?”

          4 Then they looked up and saw that the stone had been rolled away. The stone was very large. 5 They entered the tomb. As they did, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe. He was sitting on the right side. They were alarmed.

          6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. But he has risen! He is not here! See the place where they had put him. 7 Go! Tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him. It will be just as he told you.’ ”

8 The women were shaking and confused. They went out and ran away from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

          9 Jesus rose from the dead early on the first day of the week. He appeared first to Mary Magdalene. He had driven seven demons out of her. 10 She went and told those who had been with him. She found them crying. They were very sad. 11 They heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him. But they did not believe it.

          12 After that, Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them. This happened while they were walking out in the country. 13 The two returned and told the others about it. But the others did not believe them either.

        14 Later Jesus appeared to the 11 disciples as they were eating. He spoke firmly to them because they had no faith. They would not believe those who had seen him after he rose from the dead.

15 He said to them, “Go into all the world. Preach the good news to everyone. 16 Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved

One year on April Fools Day, when I was posted in Saskatchewan, we found out Judy, our receptionist, won $5000 from Tim Horton’s Roll up the Rim contest. On the morning of April Fools Day, Judy told us she had won $5000. At our staff meeting on April’s Fools Day, Judy told everyone that she won $5000. We were so happy for Judy, who is so honest and who is so trustworthy, that she won $5000 on April Fools Day that we were all simply stunned an hour later when she concluded our staff meeting with the words, ‘April Fools!’

Even though we were all aware that it was April Fools Day, even though we all joked about it being April Fools Day, even though we all had openly spoken about April Fools Day, we were all completely shocked when dear, honest, trustworthy Judy ended our staff meeting with the words ‘April Fools!’

It must have been the same for the disciples with Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection: even though they knew about resurrection, even though they all had discussions about the resurrection, even though Jesus repeatedly told them about His resurrection, they were all completely shocked when the angel met them with the words ‘He is risen’, the ladies (and later the other disciples) were so surprised. It would be the same effect as us hearing ‘April Fools!’ The ladies had gone to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ corpse as part of a burial ceremony. Even though Jesus’ followers should have known He would rise from the grave, they believed he was dead; just like we believed Judy had won $5000. April Fools! You thought He was dead but He has risen!

This is what is going on with the ladies in the text today and later with the other disciples still continuing in disbelief. In one account even after the others have finally realized that Jesus has actually risen from the dead just like He said He would, the disciple Thomas is so convinced that Jesus is dead that he only believes the truth when he sees and touches Jesus himself.

Now here we are today, two millennia later, in the conflicting moments of April Fools Day and Easter Sunday and we have that very same decision to make and it is just important now as it ever was. Our very life depends upon it. Who is Jesus? What do we believe? Do we believe that Jesus is God’s own Son and that He rose from the grave? And if so what are we going to do about it?

www.sheepspeak.com

John 12:12-19: Morning Palm Reading

Presented to am service at 614 Warehouse on Pam Sunday, 25 March 2018 by Rebecca, Sarah-Grace, Heather and Captain Michael Ramsay and 10 April 2022 by Captain Michael Ramsay

Palm Sunday is a significant day in the Christian Church. Any of us who have grown up in the church or who have been going to church for a few years have inevitably been to a few Palm Sunday services. Do we know what the big deal is about Palm Sunday?

John in his gospel does a great job of telling us the meaning of Palm Sunday in his record of the triumphal entry. He uses a lot of symbolism – not unlike Shakespeare in ‘Julius Caesar’. This week we are going to pull out five pieces of that imagery and then put it back together for a full picture of what Palm Sunday looks like in our life today. In this entry we are going to look at Triumphal Entry and Jerusalem. First, let’s read John 12:12-19:

The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

“Hosanna!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Blessed is the king of Israel!”

           Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming,

seated on a donkey’s colt.”

           At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

          Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

SONG 1: SING HOSANNA

1. THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY

Image number one: Palm Sunday is about the Triumphal entry. What is a triumph? It is victory. These days we have victory parades when teams win championships. In Regina, they officially called part of one of their busiest streets ‘the Green Mile’ for Roughrider fans paraded down there when they won the championship. Many teams have official parades when they win championships. What about Toronto? When the Argonauts or the Blue Jays won the championship, did they have a parade, a triumphal return to the city after winning the championship? Can you imagine if the Maple Leafs win? What kind of a celebration would happen then? This is what is happening here. Jesus is riding into the city and it is celebrated as a triumph. But it is before the game that Jesus' triumph is being celebrated. It is in advance of the final; it is in anticipation of the coming victory.

SONG 2: HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST

2. JERUSALEM

This brings us to the second of our five images for today: What city is Jesus riding into? Jesus is entering Jerusalem. What is the significance of Jerusalem? Jerusalem is the historic capital of Judah and Israel? Susan the kids and I went to Ottawa for Canada's 150th anniversary. One would expect a lot of patriotism in any capital city on a day of national celebration. Now Jerusalem, in our text today, is part of the occupied territories. The Romans, the Superpower of the time, have troops in the city and they control the government. To some extent they even appoint the religious leaders in Jerusalem (cf. John 18). And like all superpowers they don’t tend to like rebellion and they know that if there is to be a rebellion by the Jewish people it would probably happen here in Jerusalem – their ancient capital city – and it would probably happen now during Passover, when the population of Jerusalem overflows with so many people descending upon the city. Jerusalem is the ancient capital city of a rebellion-prone people.

On Palm Sunday we celebrate Jesus riding into his nation's occupied capital city and anticipating what is to come...

SONG 3: MERCY IS FALLING

AT THIS TIME I WOULD LIKE TO CALL THE USHERS FORWORD TO COLLECT THE OFFERING.

SONG: MAJESTY

3. ‘HOSANNA’, ‘KING OF THE JEWS’, ‘NAME OF THE LORD’

Our third image to consider today is that of the crowds shouting. Verse 13, John records, ‘They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!”

This is significant stuff. We sing ‘Hosanna’ in a lot of songs. We always mention ‘Hosanna’ at Palm Sunday. ‘Hosanna’ is what they are shouting as Jesus is riding into the capital of occupied Judea right under the noses of the Romans even as their collaborators, the Jewish religious leaders, have already put a plan into motion to kill Jesus. Do we know what Hosanna means ? Hosanna means ‘O Save!’, ‘Salvation!’, ‘Save us!’

 Jesus is triumphantly entering the historic capital of Judah – which is occupied by the Romans and people are saying, ‘Jesus! You are our king! You –like all kings are supposed to – you come here in the Name of the Lord! Jesus, you – not Caesar, not the Romans, not the chief priests, not the rich, not the powerful elite – Jesus, you are our King; save us from Rome and save us from our present leaders!’Hosanna. Save us!

The establishment have their people in position: governors in place of recent kings, rotating high priests, soldiers to keep order but Jesus (who is from Galilee which is a particularly rebellious region of a rebellious people) is triumphantly entering the town and the crowds are running out to meet him, calling, ‘save us’, save us! Hosanna, o save us.’ The crowds know he is the Messiah.

They want him to save them from the occupation and they are willing to serve him as king. This is no small thing. Think of what superpowers do when crowds of people gather in opposition. Think of Guantanamo Bay. Think of Abu Gharib. Think of Afghanistan. Think of Iraq. Rome, her sympathizers and the establishment don’t want rivals there and then any more than today's powers and their establishment want rivals here and now. These people, the great crowds are risking their lives shouting ‘Salvation, King of the Jews, save us!’

SONG 4: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS

4. PALM BRANCHES

And this brings us to the fourth of our five images for today, the palm branches: John tells us also that the people lining the streets aren’t just yelling, ‘save us king’. This is important.  They are waving palm branches. Today is Palm Sunday. Can anyone tell me the significance of palm leaves at this time and place? The palm branches are important.[6]  What do the Palm branches represent?

They didn’t just pick up palm branches because palm branches happen to be near-by; they pick up the palm branches because palm branches are a nationalistic symbol. It would be like if Canada was going to seek independence from the US or someone else and we were waving maple leaves or flags with the maple leaf on it – everyone recognises that as a symbol of Canada. This moment probably would have had an even greater effect on the authorities of Jesus’ day than a similar one did on Canadian authorities in 1967 (Canada's Centennial) when France’s President Charles de Gualle cried out, ‘Vive le Quebec Libre!” while visiting Quebec. The palm branch is a national symbol being raised in the traditional capital of an occupied territory. This is where John drives home that Jesus isn’t just a metaphorical or a spiritual king, Jesus is a political king as well. He is the King of Kings and His Kingdom, the Kingdom of God, is at hand. (And John’s placing of vv.14-15 after v.13 further conveys Jesus’ and John’s approval of this claim.)

SONG 5: JUMPING UP AND DOWN

5. DONKEY 

This brings us to our fifth and final image for today: the donkey. Verse 14: ‘Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: 15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” John quotes Zechariah’s well known prophesy about the king who will save and rule Israel as he comes into his kingdom on a donkey (Zec 9:9). And here and now comes Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. There is more to this too because a donkey is not a war horse a donkey is an ambassador’s mount. It is an animal of peace! The Romans claimed that their wars brought the ‘Pax Romana’, the Roman Peace, but John here is pointing out that Jesus – not Caesar – is the Prince of Peace. Jesus is King of the Jews and more than that Jesus is King of the World!

These are exciting times. Jesus’ riding into Jerusalem at this time and place in history is his crossing the Rubicon. There is no turning back. And this is what Palm Sunday is: Palm Sunday is the point of no turning back. Jesus is marching into the capital to great fanfare and we who are gathered here today, we can celebrate this moment. We can cast ourselves alongside the men, women and children watching the parade and cheering as our King rides into town. This is a bigger deal than anything that has ever happened to this or any community to that point in time. This moment in our text today is a moment when the world recognizes the arrival of the one whom as Isaiah 9:6-7 declares, “The government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever! The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this!” Praise the Lord. Today is Palm Sunday and Palm Sunday is a day of celebration. Jesus is King! Do you believe that? Do you serve Him?

Today if there are any of us here who don’t yet serve Him and haven’t laid our palm branches in front of the king of heaven and earth – now is our chance to accept His salvation from the pain of suffering through all the evils of this world alone. Jesus is King and He will – Hosanna - save us. He will be with us in the very midst of all our difficulties and challenges in our world today. And some tomorrow soon we will all be raised with Him to be in paradise where there is no more pain and no more suffering! Do you believe that? Do you serve Him?

Jesus rode into Jerusalem 2000 years ago but even now it is not too late; so why don’t you join us now in celebrating his arrival and in anticipating triumphant return – pledging our loyalty to the King of Kings by laying our palm branches before the King.

On this Palm Sunday, as the people waved their branches before their King, I invite us all to come forward and let us pledge our allegiance to King Jesus; Let us all lay our branches before the King…

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Romans 10:9&13: Say it! Know it! Do it!

Presented to Warehouse Mission 614 am service, 11 February 2018, Based on a sermon presented originally to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 11 September 2011 by Captain  (Major)Michael Ramsay also TSA Alberni Valley Ministries, 11 May 2025

Also included in Chapter 6 of SALVOGESIS Guidebook to Romans Road by Michael Ramsay (The Salvation Army: Vancouver Island, 2022)

 

Click here to read the full length sermon: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2011/09/romans-109-say-it-know-it-do-it.html

 

to view the 2025 version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2025/05/romans-103-13-say-it-know-it-do-it.html

 

Today we are speaking about Romans 10:9: “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” And, Romans 10:13, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” These 3 points are the basics of the whole Christian faith (cf. TSA doc. 7).

1)      Confess Jesus as Lord with your mouth. (v.9)            Say it.

2)      Believe in your heart in His resurrection. (v.9)           Know it.

3)      Call on the name of the Lord. (v.13)                            Do it.

1) Say it! Romans 10:9: “…confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord…’

This is important. Whenever I hear this verse I immediately think of Peter, the rock upon which Christ was to build His church. We know this story, right? Jesus tells Peter that he is going to use him to help build his church. This is the point where Jesus gives him the name ‘Peter’ as a nickname – that wasn’t his given name; Simon was his given name – Peter means ‘Rock’ or even ‘Rocky’. Simon ‘Rocky-Peter’ here is to be one of Christ’s main ‘go to’ people after His resurrection and we remember the story about how Jesus told Rocky-Peter that he would deny him 3 times before the cock crows twice and then shortly after Peter’s saying ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’; shortly after Peter’s third denial that he even knows Jesus; the rooster crows and Peter is devastated

Point #1: Say it! Simon Peter had his chance to confess Jesus as Lord but he declined it. Now, if the story had ended there it would be sad indeed but John 21:15ff, records Simon Peter’s restoration, as Rocky, as Peter. The Resurrected Lord asks him 3 times to feed his sheep and he agrees to it. Near the conclusion of the book of John, Jesus then blows on Peter -and the other disciples- giving him the Holy Spirit. Luke picks up the story of Rocky-Peter in the book of Acts where Rocky-Peter is there at Pentecost, taking the lead as the Holy Spirit like a starting pistol sends the disciples and more out to proclaim salvation to the world. Acts 2, after they share the gospel in many different languages as the Spirit enables them, the Lord adds to their number daily those being saved Point 1, Romans 10:9, for us today, Say it!

2) Know it! Believe in your heart in His resurrection.

It is great and it is very important to proclaim the gospel but that is not the end of it. Speaking is one thing and believing is quite another. If you have any doubt about that, think about the general reputation (accurate or not) of our elected politicians – speaking is one thing, believing what you say is quite another. Paul is quite concerned about people who are quite happy to say what needs to be said – the Pharisees, as a group, did believe in the resurrection in general and as a group were quite evangelistic! But believing in your heart in Jesus’ resurrection is quite a different matter though. And the Apostle Paul - who was a Pharisee - celebrated the fact that Jesus has been raised from the dead but sadly many Israelites and even Pharisees did not. It pained Paul that people who were zealous for God’s Law were indeed missing out on the benefits of the culmination of the Law, Jesus, the one whom the Law points towards. Salvation is about:

1) Say it! - Confess Jesus as Lord with your mouth.     

2) Know it! - Believe in your heart in His resurrection.

3) Do it! Call on the name of the Lord.

3) Do it! Call on the Name of the Lord.

This is important. Saying it is good. Knowing it is better. Doing it is imperative (This fact is also implied in v. 9). The scriptures speak about this quite a bit  I believe that Matthew actually paints this picture quite vividly. In Chapter 25:31ff is recorded the parable of the sheep and the goats. In that parable you have two groups of nations. Both groups – the sheep and the goats – 1) say and 2) know that Jesus is Lord. But it is only the sheep that do anything about it. As a result, only the sheep are saved. The goats that didn’t do anything go off to where there is a weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 7:21 is quite clear on this matter: it is recorded that the Lord says “Not everyone who calls me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven but only he who does the will of my Father in heaven”: Say it! Know it! Do it!

This is important. Christianity isn’t some academic pursuit. Christianity isn’t some code. Christianity isn’t some rules and regulations. Christianity isn’t some club. Christianity isn’t some principles to live our life by. Christianity is a relationship with the risen Christ. Jesus Christ raised from the grave and he promises that, Romans 10:13 “…everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” He loves us and he wishes that none would perish. And Salvation in our text today is as easy as 1, 2, and 3. It is my prayer today that every one of us here will:

1) Say it! - Confess Jesus as Lord with our mouths.     

2) Know it! - Believe in our hearts in His resurrection.

3) Do it! – That we would call upon the name of the Lord.

Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.” Matthew 11:30: “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Romans 10:15 and Isaiah 52:7, "...How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" Romans 10:9a, say it: confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. Romans 10:9b, know it: believe in your heart in Jesus’ resurrection. And above all else, Romans 10:13, do it: call upon the name of the Lord and then even we will be saved. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Let it be. Let us pray

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Romans 7:15 - 8:2: Holiness Odyssey (shorter version)

Abridged version presented originally to Warehouse Mission 614 am service, 04 February 2018.

Click here to read to full version: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2018/02/romans-7-holiness-odyssey.html 

To read a 2019 version presented to Alberni Valley Ministries, click here:  https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2019/05/romans-7-holiness-odyssey.html

In Romans 7, in part, Paul is talking about how each of us reacts when we do know that there are things we should or should not do but we feel this strange compulsion to do them anyway. Paul knows that sometimes even when we do understand that there are some things that are not beneficial for us we still do them. Romans 7:18b-19: “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” Any of us ever been there?

This is an old problem. People smarter than me have wrestled with this one for a long time. Horace said, ‘I pursue the things that have done me harm; I shun the things that will do me good’ (Epistles 1.8.11). Plato said, ‘one may acknowledge evil things to be evil, and nevertheless do them’ (Protagoras). Ovid said ‘I see and approve the better course, but I follow the worse one’ (Metamorphoses 7.20ff). The Apostle Paul said, “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.”

I don't know if anyone has ever read Homer - he wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Iliad is about the Greek and Trojan War and the Odyssey is about the warrior Odysseus' journey home. During his journey home, the main character Odysseus is warned about the Sirens. In Greek mythology, Sirens are creatures with the head of a woman and the body of a bird. (Sometimes they are portrayed as mermaids.) They live on islands and with their irresistible song lure mariners to their destruction as they crash on the rocks near their island. The mariners know they shouldn't steer their ships to their death but once they hear the Siren's songs they seemingly can't help themselves. This is similar to what Paul is saying.Romans 7:18b-19, “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” So what can we do?

What can we do when desire to the destruction of sin is pulling upon us like a giant magnet pulling us ever so slowly towards it? Sometimes we grab hold of iron rules or laws all the tighter. Sometimes we try really hard, so hard to avoid a temptation to sin that that all we think about is that sin. Whether we are trying to stop lying, lusting, or smoking crack cocaine; the more we think about ways to avoid it, the more we wind up pondering ways to imbibe it. Soon our every thought is consumed with that sin that we are trying to flee. It is everywhere! …and then it has us.

Horace said, ‘I pursue the things that have done me harm; I shun the things that will do me good’ (Epistles 1.8.11). Plato said, ‘one may acknowledge evil things to be evil, and nevertheless do them’ (Protagoras). Ovid said ‘I see and approve the better course, but I follow the worse one’ (Metamorphoses 7.20ff). The Apostle Paul said, “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.”

  

There is a secret weapon for seeing sin defeated though. Now I am not saying that if you are a Christian you will never sin but here is the path to freedom, should we choose to take it. Paul says, Romans 7:24-8:2:

7:24 …Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, [He] delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!…8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death...

The one who can deliver us from all of this is Christ Jesus. The Spirit of God Himself will transform us. Instead of wrestling with our sins, we can know that Jesus has defeated sin and death between the cross and the empty tomb. We can seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and then God will add to us everything else we need.

We've all heard the analogy about how one spots a counterfeit bill. It is not by studying fake money, it is by studying the real thing. Likewise we do not avoid sin by focussing on sin, rather we avoid sin by focussing on God. They say that as a husband and wife are a long time in a good marriage they become more like each other and maybe even finish each others sentences. Likewise as we spend more time with God, we find that we know what He is saying and He can finish our sentences.

I truly believe with everything in me that there in nothing that you or I or anyone else can do to defeat sin, only Jesus has done that. But we can experience a life free of sin. As we spend more and more time with Jesus, we will naturally sin less and less for we will become be more and more like Him. As we pray and read our Bible, as we sing our songs, as we come to Church, as we serve God by serving others in Jesus' Name, as we tell others about the Gospel of Salvation we will be transformed into the very likeness of God Himself! Focus on God and His holiness and that will be reflected in our life! And this, I think, is good news for everyone of us today! What can we do to defeat sin? Nothing, Jesus has already done that! What can we do to experience our life free from  sin and instead living out the joy of Salvation with our Lord and Saviour? Spend time with the Lord. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and holiness and everything else will be added unto us!

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, ‘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. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.’

[1] F.F. Bruce, The Letter of Paul to the Romans. Tyndale NTC (Leicester, UK: IV Press, 1985),146.

[2] Cf. NT Wright, Romans for Everyone Part 1: Chapters 1-8 (Louisville, US: WKJ, 2004),122-123. 

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