1 Peter 1:16 (Leviticus 19:2): God says, “…be holy because I am holy”

Presented to the Swift Current Corps, 13 February 2011

Presented to TSA Alberni Valley Ministries, 07 June 2026

By Captain (Major) Michael Ramsay

http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2011/02/1-peter-116-lev-192-god-says-be-holy.html

Exodus 13:17-14:16: The Long Way Home.

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 24 August 2014

Presented to TSA Alberni Valley Ministries 31 May 2026

by Captain (Major) Michael Ramsay

https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2014/08/exodus-1317-1416-long-way-home.html

Gen 11:9-12:1, Mt 5: The Means are the Ends

Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 17 May 2026, 06 March 2022 and to 614 Toronto Warehouse Mission, July 2016 by Captain (Major) Michael Ramsay

This is the 2026 Version, to view the 2022 Version click here:

https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2016/07/genesis-119-121-matthew-5-means-are-end.html 

To view the 2016 Toronto Version, click here:

https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2022/03/gen-119-121-mt-5-means-are-ends.html 

We are on the move, as you know, to Burnaby. Now there are lots of challenges – both good and interesting – associated with that. One thing we have to be thankful for is that we are not going that far away. We are still relatively close to family and friends. 

In the books of Genesis and Exodus, when God moves people, He sends them quite far and, of course, they don’t have cars so they have to walk – or ferries, so God has to part the seas.

 

When God moves Terah in Chapter 11 of Genesis, Terah travels 950 km from Ur of the Chaldeans to Haran en route to Canaan (Ur to Haran is about the same distance as from the Valley here to Banff). Terah doesn’t exactly take the most direct route; if you look at a map you will notice that Haran really isn’t on a straight line to Canaan. And Terah never quite makes it to Canaan; Terah stops in Haran (present day Turkey).

 

Next, in Chapter 12, God calls Abram to continue his father’s journey to Canaan and God doesn’t take him on the most direct route either.[1] God takes Abram all the way from modern day Iraq, which is to the east of where he is going, through the land He promised to send him to, all the way to Egypt which is to the west of his new appointment, before he comes all the way back east to settle in Canaan, modern day Palestine. This journey is around 2000 km on foot (which is a little further than Moose Jaw where Don just got back from - It is probably actually about the same distance as walking to the community of Indian Head on the other side of Regina).

 

A couple of generations and a few chapters later, after God appoints Abraham to Canaan, God moves Jacob all the way from Canaan to Mesopotamia (Iraq, which is where his grandfather is from) and then moves him all the way to Egypt where Jacob dies.

 

Now, we know the book ‘Exodus’ and the story of Moses: when Moses receives his orders to move, he is supposed to take Jacob’s whole family (the Israelites) with him – and there are a lot of them! – and instead of walking straight from Egypt to Canaan, Moses and Jacob’s family, the Israelites, do laps around the desert. They even get right to the border of the new appointment, the land God promised to send them to, when God and Moses say to them, ‘no you can’t go in’; so they spend the next 40 years doing laps, wandering around the desert.

  

During this journey of many miles and more generations, God is with His people: Terah, Abram, Jacob, Moses and more. It is that time spent with God that we know about so much more than what their destinations looked like because the journey with God is what’s important. Some of these people never did reach their penultimate destination.

 

The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. points out that life is not about the destination; it is about the journey.  In much of his writings there is a related point the reverend keeps coming back to that really resonates with me. His opponents accused him of being a communist. Of course, in the USA during the Cold War (where and when he is from) this was often an accusation rich people would make about civil rights activists because Americans were genuinely afraid of communism – every time they turned around it appeared one country after another was throwing off the yoke of imperialism; they were afraid a worldwide revolution might strike America.

 

Martin Luther King Jr. did come in contact with many people who were instrumental in liberating countries from capitalism. He fought for a lot of the communist-embraced values of which the USA of his day was opposed: equal rights for women, equality for ethnic minorities, sweeping economic reform... [3] When people pointed out to MLK that, as far as the USA was concerned, these were communist ideas; MLK would reply that he differs from the communists in one key way. “Lenin” [Vladimir, not John], he said, “believed that the end justified the means.” As a Christian I can never believe that the ends justify the means. God reminds us that the means are the end – your means, what you do reveal who you are in the end. Do the ends justify the means? That is not even possible: the means themselves are the end.

 

For example, if we want to end excessive incarceration and violent oppression by violently throwing off our oppressors and incarcerating them then– intentionally or not- we will naturally find ourselves becoming the violent oppressors.[4] Anyone who has ever seriously studied patterns in world history will note that this is true whenever a remnant survives. This is one reason why the Middle East is in tumult, and this is one reason why the US is in so much turmoil that countries even prior to Trump’s second term were officially warning their citizens not to travel to the USA.[5] Look at the word today. Violence breeds violence. The ends do not justify the means. As Gandhi, whom MLK loved to quote, said, ‘an eye for and eye makes the whole world blind.’ 

Do the ends justify the means? No, the means are the ends [5.5]. If we want the world to see the truth, then we need to help our adversary see! Not pluck out his eye! For if we pluck out his eye; as he is able, he will do the same to us, and then we will be left as a couple of blind bullies. Gandhi, like Tutu and Mandela after him, is a great example of helping our adversary to see. A society at peace with its former oppressors was created in South Africa in a way it never would have been through violence. The means of violence always brings the result of violence. The means of peace is what brings the result of peace. And Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

 

Do the ends justify the means? No, the means are the ends. Oswald Chamber says, ‘God is not working toward a particular finish - His purpose is the process itself.’[6] Returning to one of our examples from the Pentateuch: God was walking miles upon miles with people who never did reach their destination during the Exodus. The people whine and complain to God a lot about their travels. They want a different means to achieve their ends. They want the direct route. Sometimes they get so upset at the means by which God is leading them that they just want to abandon it altogether because His means, they think, are too difficult a way to achieve His ends.

Do we remember Numbers, in Chapter 14, the story of the Israelites on the precipice of the Promised Land: it was theirs for the taking?[7] God had provided the end. God just wanted them to join Him in the means. The Israelites refused the Lord’s means. God responded, therefore, Verse 30: ‘Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua...

 

There is more to this story too. After they reject God’s means to the end of this promised land, the Israelites attempt to obtain that very same end, by their own means, without God.  Numbers 14:41: But Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the LORD’s command? This will not succeed! Do not go up, because the LORD is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies, for the Amalekites and Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the LORD, He will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.” And they did. 

The end in and of itself, even when it is God-ordained like it was here, is not the important part; what is important is the God-enabled means. Matthew 16:26: “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mark 8:26, Luke 9:25). Do the ends justify the means? No. The ends are the means.

 

Jesus tells us very much the same thing in the Sermon on the Mount. To transliterate through the lens of means and ends the pericope we read earlier, Jesus said,

You all know the goal, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But let me tell you about the means to that end: don’t even walk down that road; anyone who even gets angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.

And you all know that, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who even starts to explore those means by so much as looking at a woman lustfully might as well have already committed the end of adultery with her in his heart. 

 

You all know about ‘an eye for eye, and a tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. This is the means by which you will rid yourself of your enemy. If you act like an enemy, you are an enemy. If you act like a friend, you are a friend. The ends don’t justify the means. The means are the ends.

You all know the end, ‘Do not break your oath but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ But the means here is the important part: you should not even need to swear an oath in the first place.  You should be honest in every part of your life so that whatever you say - whether you say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or anything else - it is just as good as an oath even on the Bible or on your mother's grave. Telling the truth makes you an honest person. You cannot lie your way to honesty. The white lie, the harmless lie, the permissible lie does not exist. Do the ends justify the means? No, the means are the ends.

 

If we walk along the path of sin hoping to reach holiness we will be sadly disappointed. Conversely if we never walk towards sin, we will never arrive at sin. Do the ends justify the means? No. The means are the end.  Oswald Chambers again: ‘God is not working toward a particular finish - His purpose is the process itself.’

He who walks in the darkness does not see the light and she who walks in the light does not get lost in the darkness. Do the means justify the ends? No. The means are the ends.

 

This is true in our daily lives with each other, and it is just as true with our relationship with God. Jesus and Salvation aren’t about a destination, an end of going to heaven when we die; Salvation is the means of how we live with God from today unto eternity. Salvation isn’t an end, a destination to arrive at; it is a means, a way of life. So, can we do evil as a way to try to enter heaven? No. Do the ends ever justify the means? No, the means are the end. The means, which are ultimately our very relationship with our neighbour and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, is all that matters. He is with us and He wants us to walk with Him and talk with Him both now and forever. And that is the means by which you and I can live the most blessed life both for now and forever.

 

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com 

 

Matthew 7:21-23, 25:31ff, Romans 8, John 3: Who is Jesus?

Presented to Alberni Valley Ministerial Community Men’s Breakfast, 09 May 2026 and TSA AV Ministries, 10 May 2026 by Major Michael Ramsay 

  

As almost everyone is aware now, we will be moving. The Salvation Army has posted us the Burnaby, BC. Our last Sunday here will be June 28th.  I will miss everyone in this community. When I was able to speak at the recent Lenten services, I was chatted about some things that were near and dear to my heart – real social justice issues – so today I thought that I would just speak about who is Jesus? Can I have people just call out some of the titles and roles that we ascribe to Jesus? Today I want to chat about 3 or 4 of these a bit: Lord, Saviour, Son of God, and King (Messiah/Christ). 

 

Jesus is our Lord 

We call Jesus Lord. What does ‘lord’ mean? In today’s language, how do we use the word? We know the House of Lords? That is the senate in the UK. When the UK was a Superpower, the House of Lords had hereditary lords making decisions. Lords typically would be people who owned land. In our language today we still have landlords. When we call Jesus ‘lord’, we are drawing on this image; so, what is a landlord? A landlord owns the building you are in; you are expected to pay him rent and follow the rental agreement or he can evict you. 

 

Jesus is our landlord. He owns the earth and everything in it and He has given us some very specific responsibilities as part of our rental agreements –or, as we call them in the Bible, covenants- that we are bound by. Jesus is our Lord. We need to live up to our rental agreement. 

 

Jesus says, Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, [land]Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ 

 

I find it interesting that according to Matthew, Jesus tells us that prophesying in Jesus’ Name, driving out demons in His Name, and performing Miracles in His Name is NOT proof of our salvation. People are doing these things today who may not have Jesus as their landlord. Matthew tells us what Jesus says is evidence of salvation later in book. Jesus is our Lord. 

 

Jesus is the Son of God and Jesus is God 

Jesus is God’s son and as part of that is God Himself. I like the way the Bible speaks of us as co-heirs with Christ. Just as Julius Caesar adopted Augustus Caesar and he inherited his kingdom; so, you and I have been adopted as co-heirs with Christ and will inherit the Kingdom of God (Romans 8:17). 

 

Jesus however is the only sired, the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16); therefore he is the only ‘person’ who is actually God. He was born God – and, of course, He was God before He was even born (John 1:1).  

Doctrines 2 and 3 of The Salvation Army affirm that: 

2. ... 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. 

3. .. 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.  

Jesus is our Saviour 

What does/did/will Jesus save us from? Hell? Eternal separation from God? The eternal consequences of our sins? Anything else? Is being saved about more than simply going to heaven? The New Testament / Covenant / Residential Tenancy Act says, “yes, it is.” Jesus has not merely saved us from the consequences of sin; He has also saved us from the necessity of sin. Just like an alcoholic can be free from the reality of drinking even as the temptation may always be there; so too regarding Christians and sin. In the NT letters believers aren’t referred to as Christians. We are referred to as ‘saints’; The word for ‘saints’ literally means to be holy, to be like God. In a letter from Peter (1 Peter 1:16), we are reminded that God tells us to “be holy as I [God] am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). Salvation means that we can be holy. Jesus is our Saviour. He died to save us from sin and that salvation/holiness we can experience this very day, and it will continue forever even into the new heaven and the new earth.  

The Salvation Army, of which I am an Officer, affirms in its 7th through 10th doctrines, that... 

7. repentance toward God, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and regeneration by the Holy Spirit are necessary to salvation. 

8. we are justified by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and that he that believeth hath the witness in himself. 

9. continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ. 

10. it is the privilege of all believers 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. (1 Thessalonians 5:23,24)

 

Jesus is King / Christ / Messiah 

 

Matthew, whom we quoted about Jesus as Lord, tells us in Chapter 7 what does not prove that we are Christ’s followers: prophecy, miracles, casting out demons in His Name; in Chapter 25, referring to Jesus as King, he tells us what does prove that we are saved: 

 

25:34ff: “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 

  40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ 

 

The people who do this are rewarded but they are also saved; for those who call Jesus King but who do not do this, God says. Verse 41, “‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” 

 

Jesus is our king; what is a king? Similar to the Landlord that we spoke about, the King (or the Crown) may own everything. They are responsible. In Canada, when you are charged in court, it is “the Crown versus so-and-so". In Canada, if a service is public (for the benefit of the people), rather than (private) to make money, it may be a ‘crown corporation.’ Kings of old, like some countries’ Presidents now, could even pardon people who were convicted of crimes. How much is that like Jesus? We are all guilty of sin, but Jesus offers us the pardon of salvation. The King historically is the boss; the person in charge; the person who has authority over us and power even over our very lives. The Monarch of Canada used to have a lot of power. Even before we were a country, the King permitted the HBC to manage all the lands flowing out of the Hudson Bay. That is much of the land that grew into our country. The ancestors of the King of Canada used to be absolute monarchs, responsible for our very lives. Now King Charles III is mostly just a figure head... my question for us is: Is Jesus still our absolute monarch or has he just become a figurehead in our lives? I am going to finish with a story about a king... 

James V, the King of Scotland used to go around the country disguised as a common person. That is because he wanted to meet the everyday people of the country not just the rich and powerful. He wanted to see how the normal people lived. 

 

One day he was dressed in very old clothes and was going by a place known as Cramond Brig, when he is attacked by robbers who don’t know who he is. There is a fierce struggle and he is nearly overcome when, at just the right moment, a poor farm worker - Jock Howieson - hears the commotion and comes to the disguised king’s aid. 

 

Now Jock, the poor labourer, who works on this portion of the King’s land, Cramond Brig, unawares takes the undercover king home and gives him a dinner of broth and Jock - as the king is recouping – naturally asks the man who he is. 

 

The King responds ‘I’m a good man of Edinburgh.’ 

 

‘And where do you live in that city and where do you work?’ 

 

‘Well,’ says James, ‘I live at the palace and I work there too.’ 

 

‘The palace, is it? I’d like to see the palace; if I could see the King, I’d tell him a thing or two…’ 

 

‘About what?’ asks the man. 

 

‘I’d tell him that I should own this land that I am on. I work it every day and he never comes here & gets his hands dirty working this land.’ 

 

 ‘You’re right enough’, says the man. ‘You come tomorrow to the palace at Holy Rood and I’ll show you around. Come at two.’ 

 

So the next day at two o’clock, Jock Howieson, is washed, dressed and at the palace to meet his new friend at the back door. The good man, whom Jock had saved the day before, shows him around the kitchen, the dining room, the bedrooms – the whole palace. Then, at last, the two of them come to the great rooms of the State. 

 

‘Do you want to see the King?’ the man asks Jock. 

 

‘Oh yes indeed’, says Jock, ‘I do. I do want to see the King.’ 

So they enter the great hall and as they come in, men bow and ladies curtsey. It is really quite a thing to see.  So Jock whispers to his friend, ‘How will I know who the king is?’ 

 

‘He’s the only one who keeps his hat on’ 

 

Jock says, ‘But… there’s only us two with our hats…’ and Jock immediately takes off his hat as he realises that James is indeed the King of Scotland. 

 

And so it is with us today. Jesus is King (as He is God, Lord and Saviour). He is walking around with each of us showing us His domain here on earth and just waiting for us to take off our hats as we realise that indeed Jesus is King. If there are any of us here today who have not taken off our hats and laid them before the Lord, I invite us to do just that – acknowledge the truth that Jesus Christ is King. And as we realise that may always serve Him as the absolute monarch in our life and never just a figure head. 

 

Let us pray.