Presented to Nipawin Corps 04 January 2009
By Captain Michael Ramsay
This Christmas season was a lot of work. It was a lot of fun. There were a lot of people who helped the Army serve the Lord by showing our love for our neighbour in the way we do during the Christmas season.
The income from our Christmas campaign and kettles was a record high this year – surpassing even last year which was the previously highest year by far (I believe that Nipawin may have even been the highest givers per capita in the entire province). We are very thankful to all the people and groups who helped with this ministry –standing on the kettles, organising the kettles, helping me count the money from the kettles.
We also had the opportunity to help out a number of people who were dealing with terrible loss this season; the Lord allowed us to provide counselling, emotional and spiritual support as well as material assistance to many in need.
From Nipawin here we coordinated the hampers for the Yellowquill reserve and for Tisdale as well as for Nipawin. I thank the Lord for the help of the Hildebrandts (for their hard work and organisation), the Gages (especially for all their heavy lifting and keeping me company as I headed up and down between the towns) and for all of those who volunteered to pack the hampers.
The Lord used Sheila effectively in coordinating the Christmas meal as well. We had many volunteers, two seatings, lots of food and no one went away hungry.
In our text today, John 6:22-40, Jesus calls himself the ‘bread of life’ and the day before he makes this claim, John tells us that Jesus performed the miraculous feeding with the fish and the bread, where no one needed to go away hungry. Do you remember? Chapter 6:1-15, Jesus feeds as much as the population of Nipawin – even more than that actually, it says there were 5000 men alone – and all these men (and others) were following Jesus around the countryside and they didn’t have any lunch. It says that six months wages would not by enough bread to feed them but one small boy brought a few fish and loaves of bread and as Jesus broke this little bit of bread for his disciples to give out. When they were handing out this little bit of bread and fish, they found out that it did not run out! Not only did they have enough to feed the 5000+ people but they also had twelve baskets of bread pieces left over… this was the miraculous feeding of the 5000, the miracle of the bread (and fish) that did not run out.
In our text today this crowd catches up with Jesus, who had escaped from them in the interim, and Jesus tells the crowd that he knows – verse 26 – that they are looking for him because he fed them and in the miraculous way that he did but that indeed –verse 27– they should really be looking for him because he will give them eternal life.
Answering him, the crowd acknowledges that they would like to do the work of God themselves –verse 28 – if he would just tell them what they must do. Believe in me, Jesus says –verse 29 –believe in me …and then they, these same people who had just eaten the miraculous bread (and fish), these same people who had just been a part of the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, these same people who had just tried to seize him and make him king because of this miraculous sign, these same people they ask him for a sign. How short our memories are, it seems…
I know in our own lives this is sometimes the case too, isn’t it? Sometimes, one day we are praising God because He has miraculously fed, clothed, healed, or saved somebody and the next day we are asking – well, what have you done for me lately? This is sad but I fear all too true.
With the crowd in our story, rather than getting mad at these people or refusing to discuss these things with them any further (as he is sometimes apt to do), Jesus addresses their concerns while making reference to this miracle of the bread that he performed yesterday. He compares himself also to the bread from heaven, the manna that God sent down to Moses and the rest of the Israelites in the desert at the time of the exodus. Jesus says that indeed, he himself is even more than these; Jesus says that he is this ‘bread of life’, as it were (v.35); he is this bread of life so that anyone who eats him, anyone who eats this bread will not perish but have everlasting life. Now this is important – but this is also confusing.
What does it mean to eat this bread of life, that once we eat it we are never hungry again? This is an important question to the people of Palestine here as well as to us today. Apparently in general there weren’t too many times in the history of Palestine and of the Israelites when they weren’t on the verge of starvation and in specific these people, we remember, have just been hungry and have just been fed by Jesus himself.[1]
Today there is also this problem across the whole world where people are starving to death (up to 50 000 every day!) [2] and even in Canada, whose parliamentarians pledged in 1989 to end child poverty; even in Canada, which in the past used to be much better off than most first world countries even; even in Canada now, we are not so high on the list of nations who bother provide for the poor and the needy as we should be given our nation’s great wealth[3] (cf. Matt 19:21, 25:31ff, 26:9-11; Mk 10:21, 14:5; Lk 6:20, 11:41, 12:33, 14:13, 18:22, 19:8; John 12:5-8, 13:29).
We know that the poor will always be with us (Matt 26:11, Mk 14:7, John 12:8) We know also that how we treat them is indicative of our nation’s very salvation (Matt 25:31ff) and we will notice as well that spiritually we, in most of Canada now (maybe not Saskatchewan yet), are starving.
Atheism is at an all-time high in Canada; pornography production and consumption has reached incomprehensible rates and more and more people have become more and more desensitized to sex and violence: many here even offer it up to their own children in the form of unsupervised television access and even interactive video games that promote sex, violence and self before others and instead of God - (Children spend more time watching television than any other activity!).[4] Nationally, we are indeed a starving society. But what is the solution?
What is the solution to hunger that Jesus offers to the people of Palestine in the first century? When they ask him about it, he says, ‘eat me’. He says whoever eats him we not perish but will have everlasting life. Well, that is great but what does it mean? It doesn’t mean to physically eat him, does it? I don’t think so.
How can one actually eat Jesus? After all he died two thousand years ago, rose from the dead, and we right now are still awaiting his imminent return; so how can we eat his flesh if we are still waiting for him to return in the flesh? I don’t think we can eat something that is not here, can we? And right now his flesh is not here. Now some people would argue in favour of transubstantiation or consubstantiation saying that somehow when a Lutheran, Roman Catholic priest, or another distributes communion, the Eucharist, or the Lord’s Supper to his parishioners, that the bread (or wafer) actually turns into Christ’s skin, his flesh, his body; I personally don’t think so. I am pretty sure, at any rate that this part of the Gospel of John is not talking about this kind of thing anyway.[5]
So what does it mean for us to eat him so that we can have life (6:35, 49-50, 53-56)? John says later in this chapter that as well as eating this bread of life, we must listen to it (6:45, 63, 68). How do we do that? How do we eat it and listen to it at the same time? Is it like Rice Krispies – Snap, Crackle, Pop? When is the last time that you listened to your food? How do we listen to this food that will make us never hungry again while at the same time we eat it? What does it mean to actually listen to (and not just hear) this food?
Jesus tells us that indeed, by itself, ‘the flesh is useless’ (6:63)[6]; the bread is the body of Christ but the body by itself, ‘the flesh is useless’ in that it does not provide eternal life.[7] Just like those who ate the manna, the bread in the desert died, and just like those who ate the little boy’s fish and loaves yesterday are hungry already (cf. 6:27, 49) and they are not spared death by eating them, physical feeding by itself at best delays death. Likewise simply listening to the spiritual is no guarantee of life. You can go to a church every Sunday of your life and never go to be with Jesus at the resurrection of the just.[8]
We can’t just hear the word of God; we have to listen to it and to do it. In our world today the equivalent of simply hearing the word without doing it would probably be heading out to church on Sunday, listening to Christian radio, reading Christian books, or watching preachers on TV. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day did the equivalent of all this and more and many of them, it seems from the NT scriptures, will not be by his side on the last day.
We can’t just watch as the bread of life is being distributed and decline to eat it as if we are on some kind of a diet, as if we were partaking of some kind of a fast. We need to consume, we need to internalize the whole life of Jesus Christ. In the book of John alone, we are told many (49) times that we must believe, we must put our actual faith and trust in Christ, if we want to live. We must, John tells us, as recorded in Chapter 15, we must be willing to lay down our lives for God and for our spiritual brothers and sisters in Christ just like Jesus laid down his life for us.
Isaiah 50:10-11 and 55:1-2 calls the bread of heaven the word of life. The Prophet Isaiah (2nd Isaiah) calls the bread from heaven, the word of life. John tells us in Chapter One of this very letter, like Susan[9] preached on last week that Jesus is this word of life and that this word was with God from the beginning and this word that is also the bread of life is indeed God himself. This bread of life that we must eat is indeed the same bread and the same word that we must listen to. This bread and this word is Jesus Christ. So what does it mean to eat this bread? What does it mean to listen to and to eat this bread?
Jesus tells us that if we love him we will obey his commandments (John 14,15) and he commands us to love our neighbour as ourselves. He commands us to look out for the poor, the widow, the immigrant. Doing this, and fulfilling the great commission (Matt 28:16ff), is a physical application or response, maybe even a manifestation of sorts of the spiritual reality that is love for God and that is Christ in our lives.
Eating the bread in this way is how we display that indeed we believe. It shows that we indeed have accepted his salvation and indeed these actions, these works only mean anything if we do believe. Because if we believe the word that became flesh, if we truly believe and consume and internalise his teaching, through prayer and Bible study, if we truly commune with the Lord in this way then we will eat of the bread of life and you will see that we will perform the acts of righteous, and then we will truly enjoy our salvation.
Remember that God did not send His son into the world to condemn that world but to save the world (John 3:17-16) and that whosoever of us believes in Jesus Christ in this way; whosoever listens to the Word of God and consumes this bread of life; whosoever actually believes in the Lord in this way and eats of his eternal bread will not perish but will have everlasting life.
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[1] See also the story of the women at the well in Chapter 4 where Jesus refers to himself as possessing living water; cf. also John 7:37-39.
[2] “At the start of the 21st century 1.2 billion people live in abject poverty, most of them women. More than 800 million people go to bed hungry and 50,000 people die every day from poverty-related causes.” - makepovertyhistory.ca
[3] Cf. makepovertyhistory.ca – “in the midst of wealth, almost 5 million Canadians live in poverty. Poverty is increasing for youth, workers, young families and immigrant and visible minority groups. Poverty among Aboriginal groups remains appallingly high both on and off reserve. In fact, if the statistics for Canadian Aboriginal people were viewed separately from those of the rest of the country, Canada's Aboriginal people would slip to 78th on the UN Human Development Index — the ranking currently held by Kazakhstan.”
[4] Children spend more time watching television than in any other activity except sleep; 54% of kids have a TV in their bedroom.- Huston and Wright, University of Kansas. "Television and Socialization of Young Children." 44% of kids say they watch something different when they're alone than with their parents (25% choose MTV). 66% of children (ages 10 to 16) surveyed say that their peers are influenced by TV shows. 62% say that sex on TV shows and movies influences kids to have sex when they are too young - http://www.parentstv.org/ptc/facts/mediafacts.asp
[5] Cf. For a discussion of this: Gerard Sloyan, “John” in Interpretation. Eds. James L. Mays and Paul J. Achtemeier (John Knox Press, 1988), 76. Cf. Gail O’Day, “John” in NIB IX, Ed. Leander E Keck (Abingdon Press Nashville, 1995), 613, where she argues that the author of John argues for a full spectrum of meaning in the words. Neither author argues for either transubstantiation or consubstantiation.
[6] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay. “Ulrich Zwingli: the Third Reformer.” Presented to William and Catherine Booth College (October 2008) available on-line: http://www.sheepspeak.com/Michael_Ramsay_History_TSA.htm#Zwingli : “Zwingli argued that when Jesus is recorded as saying, ‘this is my body’ as it relates to the sacrament, the word ‘is’ can and should be translated ‘signifies’. Zwingli, who generally rejected the authority of the church fathers, draws on Augustine, Tertullian, and Origin’s arguments to make this point. He further cites John 6:63, “It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh is of no avail” claiming that this text renders impossible all views of eating the flesh (including but not limited to ideas such as transubstantiation and consubstantiation). He cites from 1 Corinthians 10:14-22, “we many are one bread and one body”, to argue that by eating the bread we are merely binding ourselves to an oath (much like he argued for baptism) rather than consuming Christ in any practical way. Communion like Baptism is a sign, a symbol.”
[7] Cf. George Richard Potter, Zwingli. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978), 288;Ulrich Gabler, Huldrych Zwingli: his Life and Work. Translated by Ruth C.L. Gritch, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986),133; and Rillet, 213-225 and Potter, 287-315 for detailed discussions on the differences between the stances of the Reformers Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli on the matter of the Eucharist.
[8] Cf. Gail O’Day, 612.
[9] Captain Susan Ramsay
Friday, January 2, 2009
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Matthew 1:18-25: Do you believe?
Presented to each Nipawin and Tisdale Corps, 24 December 2007
Presented to CFOT chapel in Winnipeg, December 2006
By Captain Michael Ramsay
Click here to read the 2012 version: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/12/matthew-118-25-do-you-believe-in-dreams.html
Today, on this Christmas Eve, as we look forward to the joy of tomorrow: Christmas Day, the celebration of the incarnation and the advent and of Christ, let us for a moment focus on from our passage today, Joseph, the man, the husband of Mary.
Oh how it must have been for him. Oh how it must have been for him.
Pretend with me for a moment that you are he, pretend.
He was engaged to be married to Mary. They were one unit in everyone’s eyes.
The problem is that they have not become one yet ‘in the Biblical sense’
And Mary – and Mary is now pregnant.
Really – two questions arise.
One, what to do? Joseph is just and merciful. He does not want to expose her to public disgrace. He does not want her to die – because that is what will happen if she is exposed in this way – he does not want her to die.
He also does not have it in mind to fully marry her. He has done nothing wrong and this would be a tacit admission of guilt. What should he do? What would you do?
He comes up with the idea to put her away quietly – sparing her life and his reputation BUT there is another question:
Whose is it? Should He believe the divine conception story? That God overshadowed her; would you?
Well he does and he has a lot of help in doing this…He has vivid dreams and Angels coming to visit him. So he does. He believes it.
So the first question arises again…what to do? Really! His betrothed is impregnated by God what should he do?
Does he deign to be the step-father to God’s own Son, the child-King? Does he hold himself so high? What can he do? He can’t be father to God’s son, can he? Could you?
Again, in Joseph’s dream, the angel tells him to marry Mary. The angel then tells him that he must name the boy Jesus for Jesus will save the people from there sins…
Now this all comes in a dream…in a dream…do you believe your dreams? Do you?
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Well Joseph does… it says that when Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Joseph had faith and was faithful. As we offer our songs to the Lord today and as we read through the Holy Scriptures together please bear in mind the faith of Joseph.
Presented to CFOT chapel in Winnipeg, December 2006
By Captain Michael Ramsay
Click here to read the 2012 version: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/12/matthew-118-25-do-you-believe-in-dreams.html
Today, on this Christmas Eve, as we look forward to the joy of tomorrow: Christmas Day, the celebration of the incarnation and the advent and of Christ, let us for a moment focus on from our passage today, Joseph, the man, the husband of Mary.
Oh how it must have been for him. Oh how it must have been for him.
Pretend with me for a moment that you are he, pretend.
He was engaged to be married to Mary. They were one unit in everyone’s eyes.
The problem is that they have not become one yet ‘in the Biblical sense’
And Mary – and Mary is now pregnant.
Really – two questions arise.
One, what to do? Joseph is just and merciful. He does not want to expose her to public disgrace. He does not want her to die – because that is what will happen if she is exposed in this way – he does not want her to die.
He also does not have it in mind to fully marry her. He has done nothing wrong and this would be a tacit admission of guilt. What should he do? What would you do?
He comes up with the idea to put her away quietly – sparing her life and his reputation BUT there is another question:
Whose is it? Should He believe the divine conception story? That God overshadowed her; would you?
Well he does and he has a lot of help in doing this…He has vivid dreams and Angels coming to visit him. So he does. He believes it.
So the first question arises again…what to do? Really! His betrothed is impregnated by God what should he do?
Does he deign to be the step-father to God’s own Son, the child-King? Does he hold himself so high? What can he do? He can’t be father to God’s son, can he? Could you?
Again, in Joseph’s dream, the angel tells him to marry Mary. The angel then tells him that he must name the boy Jesus for Jesus will save the people from there sins…
Now this all comes in a dream…in a dream…do you believe your dreams? Do you?
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Well Joseph does… it says that when Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Joseph had faith and was faithful. As we offer our songs to the Lord today and as we read through the Holy Scriptures together please bear in mind the faith of Joseph.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Luke 1:26-37: Do You Believe?
Presented to the Nipawin Corps 24 December 2008
and the Swift Current Care Centre (abridged), 17 December 2011
and Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 24 December 2011
by Captain Michael Ramsay
Luke 1:26: In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,
This sixth-month referred to here by Luke is the sixth month of Elisabeth’s pregnancy. Elisabeth, as we know from earlier in this chapter of Luke, is Mary’s relative but Mary was quite young and Elisabeth and her husband Zechariah were old and 3 months from now Elisabeth is about to have a baby. The messenger, the angel who went to speak to Elisabeth’s husband was Gabriel. Here Gabriel is bringing another message from God about a miraculous birth but this time he is bringing the message of a very significant birth to a very insignificant fishing town, in an insignificant region, of insignificant Palestine (John 1:36).
Gabriel, the angel, the messenger of God is bringing this message…
Verse 27: to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant. of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
Mary was a young woman. Mary was a virgin. Mary was pledged, betrothed, engaged to be married to Joseph. Now Joseph was a descendant of King David. King David was the first king of an hereditary dynasty that lasted for the better part of a millennium. Now Palestine is occupied. It is prophesied that her deliverer will be a member of the southern tribe of Judah and a descendant of King David. And Joseph – and any of his legal children – even though he is living in the north, Joseph is a descendent of David and Joseph is betrothed to be married to Mary (Cf. 1:32, 2:4).
Now betrothal is not quite like engagements of today. In those days a man and his wife were committed to each other at the engagement ceremony.[1] They did have a public ceremony with witnesses and the more. They did each gain a marital status, complete with rights and responsibilities and if Joseph had died after their engagement ceremony but prior to their marriage ceremony, Mary would still be considered a widow with all the responsibilities and rights (or lack thereof) of a widow. The betrothal was very different then anything we have today and even though Mary would be Joseph’s legal wife, after this engagement ceremony rather than going off to live with one’s husband, the wife usually returned to her father’s household for a period of up to a year.[2] It was different than today.
But this was Mary’s situation when…
Verse 28: The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.”
There are a few things here that need examining by us – not the least of which is the idea of an angel coming to speak to Mary. We must remember that the word for ‘angel’ (aggelos) simply means messenger. We also know from elsewhere in the scriptures that there are times when people –like Gideon (Judges 6); like Manoah and his wife, Samson’s mother (Judges 13); possibly like Jacob at Jabbok (Gen. 32), and even like Abraham (Gen. 13); did not realize that they were entertaining heavenly messengers. They did know they were dealing with angels as we immediately think of angels. It is possible that Mary did not recognise Gabriel as a heavenly messenger from God yet.
The Pharisees at this time certainly had developed a theology of angels providing a form of mediation between God and human beings but not everyone ascribed to it at this time and indeed angles were indeed rare in the understanding of early Judaism.[3] It is quite possible that she did recognise him as such it would be understandable that…
Luke 1:29: Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
It is equally likely though that she did recognise Gabriel as an angel, as a spiritual being, and this in and of itself was not necessarily comforting. In our day and age we often think of angels as nice spirit-beings (usually in the form of a woman with wings and a ring or a halo over her head) and just about incapable of deviating from the perfect will of God. This is not how people saw angels in Mary’s time though. Angels were seen as free moral agents who would just as likely appear to do you harm as to do you good.
The Apostle Paul, a later contemporary of Mary, writes about angels a few times in his letters that have been preserved in the New Testament. None of these accounts is very flattering at all (Romans 8:38-39; Galatians 3:19-20; Colossians 2:18-19). At best he portrays angels as these free creatures who can to either uphold or oppose the work of God.[4]
There is also a story of Tobit, in the Apocrypha, with which Mary was more than likely very familiar. This story is about an angel who shows up on a bride’s wedding night and kills her husband.[5] Angels were certainly not always seen as good.
So, there is some reason why at the appearance of Gabriel, that Mary might be troubled…
Luke 1:30: But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God.
This reminds us of the earlier story of her relative Elisabeth’s husband who was indeed chosen for a purpose by God and notified through this very same angel only a few short verses before.
And just like the Priest Relative and his wife, Mary is told that…
Verse 31: You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.
Like Gabriel told Zechariah exactly what he was to name his son (1:13), he also dictated to Mary, what it was that her son was to be called. Mary was to name her son ‘Jesus’, which is the Greek version of the Hebrew name ‘Yeshua’ or ‘Joshua’ and this name means ‘YHWH is help or salvation’ or ‘the one through whom YHWH brings salvation’[6] (cf. Matt 1:22). And we know that just as Joshua led the people of Israel into the promised land. Jesus leads humankind into the eternal promised land.
Jesus is to be the Messiah…
Verse 32: He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,
Joseph is of the house of David, in the clan of Judah. Jesus is of the clan of Judah and the house of David. The expected Messiah, the Christ is to be of the house of David, the clan of Judah (Cf. vv.32-33; 2 Sam 7; Isaiah 9:7; Heb 1:5;)…
Verse 33: and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
We know now that, this side of the cross, after the resurrection, we know that indeed Jesus will reign forever as the wonderful counsellor, mighty God, and Prince of Peace whose government will never stop ruling and being peaceful as the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 9:6-7) tells us, but Mary did not necessarily know this;
So it is understandable that she questions the angel…
Verse 34, “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
There are times when the word virgin can be translated simply as young woman. There are other times when the word specifically refers to what we – in our world – would use it to mean: a woman who has not been with a man. Certainly here the author of ‘Luke’ is making it known that May has not known a man in that way[7]…
Verse 35: The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
This was to be no ordinary bi rth and even as miraculous as is the birth of John the Baptist to an elderly couple (1:57ff.), the birth of God’s own son to a virgin is even more miraculous. The Holy Spirit, who was there at the creation of the world (Genesis 1:2; John 1; Cf. also Exodus 40:35; 1 Kings 8:10; Ezekiel 26:14; Haggai 2:6-7) is present in the conception of Jesus as it is written.
As a way of verifying all this – which must be quite something for Mary to understand, after all Mary is just a very young women about to be married – as a way of verifying this almost incredible experience to Mary, that all she is seeing, hearing, and experiencing here is true, the angel, Gabriel, tells her about her relative Elisabeth. Mary did not necessarily know that her much older relative was going to have a baby. She does now because Gabriel tells her that…
Verse 36: Even Elisabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month.
This is a sign to Mary. Mary should believe. Mary has been chosen of God, not because of anything that it is recorded that she did.[8] She was chosen by grace just like we are chosen by grace and Mary does believe the angel Gabriel…
Verse 37: For nothing is impossible with God.”
This is true and so the question for us today is just this. Do we believe in angels? Do we believe in heavenly messages and do we believe in miracles from God? Do we know that nothing is impossible with God? Do we really know and believe?
http://www.sheepspeak.com/
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[1] E. Earle Ellis, 71.
[2] R. Alan Culpepper, 51.
[3] Craddock, 27.
[4] Craddock, 27.
[5] R. Alan Culpepper, 51.
[6] Lenski, 65; Ellis, 73.
[7] Culpepper, 51. Lenski, 69; Cf. Ellis, 75, for an interesting discussion on the placement of this verse in the text.
[8] Cf. Craddock 27-28.
and the Swift Current Care Centre (abridged), 17 December 2011
and Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 24 December 2011
by Captain Michael Ramsay
Luke 1:26: In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,
This sixth-month referred to here by Luke is the sixth month of Elisabeth’s pregnancy. Elisabeth, as we know from earlier in this chapter of Luke, is Mary’s relative but Mary was quite young and Elisabeth and her husband Zechariah were old and 3 months from now Elisabeth is about to have a baby. The messenger, the angel who went to speak to Elisabeth’s husband was Gabriel. Here Gabriel is bringing another message from God about a miraculous birth but this time he is bringing the message of a very significant birth to a very insignificant fishing town, in an insignificant region, of insignificant Palestine (John 1:36).
Gabriel, the angel, the messenger of God is bringing this message…
Verse 27: to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant. of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
Mary was a young woman. Mary was a virgin. Mary was pledged, betrothed, engaged to be married to Joseph. Now Joseph was a descendant of King David. King David was the first king of an hereditary dynasty that lasted for the better part of a millennium. Now Palestine is occupied. It is prophesied that her deliverer will be a member of the southern tribe of Judah and a descendant of King David. And Joseph – and any of his legal children – even though he is living in the north, Joseph is a descendent of David and Joseph is betrothed to be married to Mary (Cf. 1:32, 2:4).
Now betrothal is not quite like engagements of today. In those days a man and his wife were committed to each other at the engagement ceremony.[1] They did have a public ceremony with witnesses and the more. They did each gain a marital status, complete with rights and responsibilities and if Joseph had died after their engagement ceremony but prior to their marriage ceremony, Mary would still be considered a widow with all the responsibilities and rights (or lack thereof) of a widow. The betrothal was very different then anything we have today and even though Mary would be Joseph’s legal wife, after this engagement ceremony rather than going off to live with one’s husband, the wife usually returned to her father’s household for a period of up to a year.[2] It was different than today.
But this was Mary’s situation when…
Verse 28: The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.”
There are a few things here that need examining by us – not the least of which is the idea of an angel coming to speak to Mary. We must remember that the word for ‘angel’ (aggelos) simply means messenger. We also know from elsewhere in the scriptures that there are times when people –like Gideon (Judges 6); like Manoah and his wife, Samson’s mother (Judges 13); possibly like Jacob at Jabbok (Gen. 32), and even like Abraham (Gen. 13); did not realize that they were entertaining heavenly messengers. They did know they were dealing with angels as we immediately think of angels. It is possible that Mary did not recognise Gabriel as a heavenly messenger from God yet.
The Pharisees at this time certainly had developed a theology of angels providing a form of mediation between God and human beings but not everyone ascribed to it at this time and indeed angles were indeed rare in the understanding of early Judaism.[3] It is quite possible that she did recognise him as such it would be understandable that…
Luke 1:29: Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
It is equally likely though that she did recognise Gabriel as an angel, as a spiritual being, and this in and of itself was not necessarily comforting. In our day and age we often think of angels as nice spirit-beings (usually in the form of a woman with wings and a ring or a halo over her head) and just about incapable of deviating from the perfect will of God. This is not how people saw angels in Mary’s time though. Angels were seen as free moral agents who would just as likely appear to do you harm as to do you good.
The Apostle Paul, a later contemporary of Mary, writes about angels a few times in his letters that have been preserved in the New Testament. None of these accounts is very flattering at all (Romans 8:38-39; Galatians 3:19-20; Colossians 2:18-19). At best he portrays angels as these free creatures who can to either uphold or oppose the work of God.[4]
There is also a story of Tobit, in the Apocrypha, with which Mary was more than likely very familiar. This story is about an angel who shows up on a bride’s wedding night and kills her husband.[5] Angels were certainly not always seen as good.
So, there is some reason why at the appearance of Gabriel, that Mary might be troubled…
Luke 1:30: But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God.
This reminds us of the earlier story of her relative Elisabeth’s husband who was indeed chosen for a purpose by God and notified through this very same angel only a few short verses before.
And just like the Priest Relative and his wife, Mary is told that…
Verse 31: You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.
Like Gabriel told Zechariah exactly what he was to name his son (1:13), he also dictated to Mary, what it was that her son was to be called. Mary was to name her son ‘Jesus’, which is the Greek version of the Hebrew name ‘Yeshua’ or ‘Joshua’ and this name means ‘YHWH is help or salvation’ or ‘the one through whom YHWH brings salvation’[6] (cf. Matt 1:22). And we know that just as Joshua led the people of Israel into the promised land. Jesus leads humankind into the eternal promised land.
Jesus is to be the Messiah…
Verse 32: He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,
Joseph is of the house of David, in the clan of Judah. Jesus is of the clan of Judah and the house of David. The expected Messiah, the Christ is to be of the house of David, the clan of Judah (Cf. vv.32-33; 2 Sam 7; Isaiah 9:7; Heb 1:5;)…
Verse 33: and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
We know now that, this side of the cross, after the resurrection, we know that indeed Jesus will reign forever as the wonderful counsellor, mighty God, and Prince of Peace whose government will never stop ruling and being peaceful as the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 9:6-7) tells us, but Mary did not necessarily know this;
So it is understandable that she questions the angel…
Verse 34, “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
There are times when the word virgin can be translated simply as young woman. There are other times when the word specifically refers to what we – in our world – would use it to mean: a woman who has not been with a man. Certainly here the author of ‘Luke’ is making it known that May has not known a man in that way[7]…
Verse 35: The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
This was to be no ordinary bi rth and even as miraculous as is the birth of John the Baptist to an elderly couple (1:57ff.), the birth of God’s own son to a virgin is even more miraculous. The Holy Spirit, who was there at the creation of the world (Genesis 1:2; John 1; Cf. also Exodus 40:35; 1 Kings 8:10; Ezekiel 26:14; Haggai 2:6-7) is present in the conception of Jesus as it is written.
As a way of verifying all this – which must be quite something for Mary to understand, after all Mary is just a very young women about to be married – as a way of verifying this almost incredible experience to Mary, that all she is seeing, hearing, and experiencing here is true, the angel, Gabriel, tells her about her relative Elisabeth. Mary did not necessarily know that her much older relative was going to have a baby. She does now because Gabriel tells her that…
Verse 36: Even Elisabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month.
This is a sign to Mary. Mary should believe. Mary has been chosen of God, not because of anything that it is recorded that she did.[8] She was chosen by grace just like we are chosen by grace and Mary does believe the angel Gabriel…
Verse 37: For nothing is impossible with God.”
This is true and so the question for us today is just this. Do we believe in angels? Do we believe in heavenly messages and do we believe in miracles from God? Do we know that nothing is impossible with God? Do we really know and believe?
http://www.sheepspeak.com/
---
[1] E. Earle Ellis, 71.
[2] R. Alan Culpepper, 51.
[3] Craddock, 27.
[4] Craddock, 27.
[5] R. Alan Culpepper, 51.
[6] Lenski, 65; Ellis, 73.
[7] Culpepper, 51. Lenski, 69; Cf. Ellis, 75, for an interesting discussion on the placement of this verse in the text.
[8] Cf. Craddock 27-28.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 (23&24): The 7 P’s and the Pi
Presented to The Salvation Army, Nipawin Corps 14 December 2008
Presented to Swift Current Corps, 11 December 2011
and 614 Warehouse Mission in Toronto, 17 December 2017
by Captain Michael Ramsay
This in the 2011 version, to view the 2011 version click HERE: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2011/12/1-thessalonians-516-24-7-ps-and-pi-of.html
I don’t know if you have ever seen those motivational speakers on TV or in person. I have had some jobs in the past where they send someone in to rally the troops. They usually have – in the old days flip charts – these days PPT or DVD, lots of props and some way that they want you to remember what it is they are trying to motivate you to do. Sometimes it is just repetition.[1]
One thing that people often use is acronyms – you spell out a word and every letter stands for something else. Here I’ll give you some famous acronyms and you tell me if you know what they mean:
1) ASAP 2) NATO 3) NHL 4) MYOB 5) TSA
Sometimes they just have a list with each item in the list staring with the same letter or sound like – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Four H, or can anyone tell me the 3 R’s from school? Notice that only one of them starts with R. Who can tell me what that one is?
Paul here in our scripture passage today uses some of these very techniques and in the section that we are looking at Paul gives us the 7 Ps (Pi) of preparing for Christ’s return.[2] Now Paul knows that Jesus may come back at any moment and so he comes up with this way for us to remember how to be prepared for this event.
The First P is… Rejoice Always – In Greek it starts with a P – or a Pi anyway, the Greek equivalent of our P. So the first P (or piece of Pi) is Rejoice Always.
P #1 = Rejoice Always
Rejoice Always (Thess 5:16, 18; cf. DT. 12:7,18; 1 Chron 16:10, 31; Psalm 40:16; Lk 10:20; John 16:22; Romans 5:1-5; Philip 4:4; Col 1:24; 1 Pet 1:26, 4:13). Not about everything but in all circumstances, Paul says. This is important. This is because of the faith that we have that with God all things are possible (Matt 19:26; Mark 10:27). We know that the war is already won (1 Cor.15; 1 John 5:4). Nothing that happens here on earth, in our lives, can change the Salvation provided from the Lord. Nothing. (The only question is whether we take advantage of it or not!)
I think of Major Neil Voice who recently received his promotion – his promotion to glory. When he passed away, I heard that indeed his memorial service was a celebration (with a full brass band and everything!) of the fact that he served God well while he was on earth and now he gets to spend eternity with the Lord. This should not and indeed does not take away at all from the legitimate grief and appropriate laments from those who love Neil but it is a great example of the hope that we all have in Christ (1 Thess. 1:3; 2 Thess. 2:16). Neil has gone on ahead. After leaving his sickness behind him (Romans 21:4), probably the very next thing he heard was “well done my good and faithful servant” (Matt 25:21-23). Christ died and rose again so that we all could live and indeed this is something to be joyful about (John 10:10; John 15:15).
I think of my cousin who was also promoted to glory earlier this year. She left many loving friends and family members behind, including two very young children but I understand that neither her faith nor the faith of her husband waivered at all. Hard things happen[3] but we know that in the end everything will be okay for those who love the Lord so indeed we can always celebrate that joy of our salvation, even as we lament, even as we mourn, and even if we are sad we can still rejoice (2 Cor. 6:10) because God is good and God has provided our salvation for us.
So the first P is Rejoice always
The second P (or Pi) is Pray without ceasing: It actually starts with a ‘p’ in English (1 Thess. 5:17; Cf. Acts 12:7; Ro. 1:9, 2 Tim 1:3)
Now we know that our salvation comes from the Lord. We know that He is indeed looking out for us and so we pray continuously and we do give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for us.
We know that we are in a spiritual battle. We know that we fight not as much against flesh and blood as against powers and principalities (Eph 6:12ff; cf. Ro. 8:38; 1 Pet 3:22). We know that there is opposition to the gospel. We know that even though this is good news, there are people who hate the truth and people who hate the givers of the truth. John refers to many of these people as antichrists (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 2:1-7; cf. 1 Cor. 6:22). There are people who have left the faith, ignore what is obvious and attack us instead. Because the devil, antichrists, and more and more people, and more and more things in this world seem to attack us, our beliefs, and our God – because we are constantly under attack, we need to keep in constant communications with God and that is what prayer is – communication with God.
When soldiers are in the heat of battle, bombs are going off, planes are coming in from a distance, and they cannot tell friend from foe and they cannot see what is even coming at them – what do they need? They need good communication with the base. They need good communication with one who can see the battlefield and this is what prayer is – it is keeping in touch with God; it is following Jesus into battle. If we fail to pray, if we forget to pray, we are like the soldier who stumbles blindly out of the trenches knowing neither at whom he is shooting nor who is shooting at him. This soldier cannot survive for long and – even though the war is already won (2 Cor. 6:2, 1 Cor. 15:2, Eph. 2:8, 1 Pet. 1) people are still perishing and we cannot survive for long without the Lord.[4] We need the Lord’s guidance, the Lord’s strength, and the Lord’s sacrifice so that indeed we can all live – and for this, we should be constantly giving thanks.
That brings us to our third piece of pi, our third P = Give Thanks in all circumstances (Thess. 5:16, 18; cf. DT. 12:7,18; 1 Chron. 16:10, 31; Psalm 40:16; Lk. 10:20; John 16:22; Romans 5:1-5; Philip 4:4; Col 1:24; 1 Pet 1:26, 4:13).
This attitude of thanksgiving is so important. The Lord loves us. Now like we said about our saved loved ones who pass on, we are not thankful by any means that they are gone but we do know that they have moved on to something better – no more sickness, no more death, no more tears (Rev 21:4) and we do know that even though we miss our loved ones – God will never leave us nor forsake us (Dt. 31:6; Heb. 13:5). He will not give us more than we can bear. God loves us (John 3:16-17; 5; 15; 1 John 4). He loves all of us and He manages to work together even the most unpleasant situations somehow, someway for His Kingdom purposes, and because of this we can indeed be thankful in all circumstances.
P1 = Rejoice always
P2 = Pray without ceasing
P3 = Give thanks in all circumstances
P4 = Do not quench the Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19; cf.1 Thess.1:5,6,7)
Now apparently when Paul was writing this letter there were some ‘wakkos’ predicting the time and the day of the end of the world (cf. Mark 13:32-33) and there were ‘weirdos’ who would do fake healings, false prophecies, etc. They were snake-oil salesmen as it were.[5] And some of these people were leading people astray and some of these people just plain looked silly and for no easily discernable heavenly purpose. Some things never change! There is a difference between being a fool for the gospel and just plain being a fool.[6] Now Paul knew this and Paul knew that in reaction to these people could go too far in the other direction.
I was raised in the Western Canadian Baptist tradition – the Lord taught me a lot and I have a great respect for the many Christians who earnestly serve the Lord there. It has been said that the only time a Baptist raises his hand in church is to ask permission to go to the bathroom. (This joke probably represents the extreme!) I went to a church service once and I remember someone visiting asking if it had charismatic style worship at all; the response was that the Holy Spirit showed up just the other night in an evening service but - don’t worry – the pastor asked him to leave. I have certainly been in more than one service like this (in churches of different denominations) that indeed when the Spirit does show up, people don’t know what to do – and this is what Paul is telling us about with the fourth P. He is saying don’t quench the Spirit.
So what are our Ps? –
P1 = Rejoice always
P2 = Pray without ceasing
P3 = Give thanks in all circumstances
P4 = Do not quench the Spirit
That brings us to P5, which builds on P4 very nicely. We have to be careful not to quench the spirit and we have to make sure that we, P5 = Do not despise the words of the prophets
Like we said. There are so many false prophets out there. We spoke two weeks ago about these people who are endlessly predicting the time and date for the end of times even when the Bible tells us not to do so (Mark 13:32-33). There are all these false prophets out there and prophets who make mistakes as well – and the media loves these guys because they can use them to make us look like a bunch of liars and fools. But the truth is, that yes, as John says, there are many antichrists pretending to know what they do not know. There are many false prophets tickling our ears for the purpose of financial gain or to lead us astray but indeed Paul says, there are real prophets – and we should not despise their words…
And this brings us to P6 = But test everything, hold onto what is good (1 Thess. 5:21). This is one of the most important things, I think. This is one of the primary reasons that we were given the Bible as it is, I imagine; so that indeed we can and will test things and see what is right and what is not. We must be like the Bereans (Acts 17:10-15). Paul applauded them – the Christians in the town of Berea – for this very thing. They did not accept what he was telling them simply because he was telling it to them; they put him to the test. They searched the scriptures; we need to search the scriptures. It is very important. Smart people sometimes make mistakes. Good people sometimes make mistakes and when we hear someone utter what we think may be a mistake we need to look it up in the Bible. We need to pray about it. We need to then approach them about it – because if they are wrong, they need to change and if we are wrong, we need to change and either way as we are smart enough to test what is good and what is evil we will indeed grow – provided we try to, P7 = Abstain from every form of evil.
P7 = Abstain from every form of evil. This is holiness. God tells us to be holy (1 Peter 1:15, Lev 11:44,45; 19:2; 20:7). God tells us to be perfect (2 Cor. 13; Col. 1:28; Hebrews 11,12). John Wesley argued that this involves more than just avoiding vices. He says, quoting a heathen Epicurean poet, in a sermon entitled, ‘The Almost Christian’ that “Good men avoid sin from the love of virtue. Wicked men avoid sin from a fear of punishment.”[7] Avoiding evil and avoiding it because of a legitimate love of God is very important. It is very important and the opposite of what some people suggest - though it is not true - that we all sin all the time, because if we did, God would never tell us to be holy just as He is holy and He would never tell us to be even perfect – but He does. God doesn’t set people up for failure. He is a loving God. He would never ask from us that which is impossible. After all with God all things are possible, and in verses 23 and 24 He tells us how it is indeed possible to be perfect even as God is perfect. He says He will do it. God himself will sanctify us through and through, keeping us blameless until the return of Christ. So this is exciting. We don’t need to sin. We don’t need to return to bad habits. We can rely on God, He will lead us through the 7 P’s (Pi’s) in each one of our lives and indeed He will make us holy.
So then as we prepare to meet Christ very soon, as we celebrate his coming 2000 years ago in a manger and as we look forward to his return from above anytime now. Let us turn to God and in the process make sure that we are prepared. Let us give P’s a chance. Let us not have any Pi missing as we present our lives holy unto God as a living sacrifice, trusting that He will preserve us blameless until the end of the age.
Let us pray.
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[1] like the New Conservative Party of Canada re: coalitions, wiretaps, and election fraud – where they repeat something enough times that even though you know its not true you start to believe it anyway.
[2] Beverly Roberts Gaventa, First and Second Thessalonians (Interpretation: Grand Loisville, Kentucky, USA: John Knox Press, 1998), 84.
[3] Rober L. Thomas. The Expositor's Bible Commentary. Pradis CD-ROM:1 3. Responsibilities to oneself (5:16-18), Book Version: 4.0.2: ‘A final member of this triplet for personal development is "Give thanks in all circumstances." No combination of happenings can be termed "bad" for a Christian because of God's constant superintendence (Rom 8:28). We need to recognize that seeming aggravations are but a temporary part of a larger plan for our spiritual well-being. Out of this perspective we can always discern a cause for thanks.’
[4] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay. “Romans 13:11-14: Victory: The Final Whistle” Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/12/victory-final-whistle-romans-1311-14.html
[5] Beverly Roberts Gaventa, 84. Cf. Also. Captain Michael Ramsay, Mark 13: 24-37: Hope for a Happy New Year: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/11/mark-1332-37-hope-for-happy-new-year.html
[6] But cf. Mark Chapman, “Mark 1:1-8,” The Expository Times, Volume 120, number 2, ed. Paul Foster, John Riches, Karen Wenell, (London: 2008): 79-80.
[7] John Wesley, “The Almost Christian.” Cited from Outler & Heitzenrater 1991,67.
Presented to Swift Current Corps, 11 December 2011
and 614 Warehouse Mission in Toronto, 17 December 2017
by Captain Michael Ramsay
This in the 2011 version, to view the 2011 version click HERE: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2011/12/1-thessalonians-516-24-7-ps-and-pi-of.html
I don’t know if you have ever seen those motivational speakers on TV or in person. I have had some jobs in the past where they send someone in to rally the troops. They usually have – in the old days flip charts – these days PPT or DVD, lots of props and some way that they want you to remember what it is they are trying to motivate you to do. Sometimes it is just repetition.[1]
One thing that people often use is acronyms – you spell out a word and every letter stands for something else. Here I’ll give you some famous acronyms and you tell me if you know what they mean:
1) ASAP 2) NATO 3) NHL 4) MYOB 5) TSA
Sometimes they just have a list with each item in the list staring with the same letter or sound like – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Four H, or can anyone tell me the 3 R’s from school? Notice that only one of them starts with R. Who can tell me what that one is?
Paul here in our scripture passage today uses some of these very techniques and in the section that we are looking at Paul gives us the 7 Ps (Pi) of preparing for Christ’s return.[2] Now Paul knows that Jesus may come back at any moment and so he comes up with this way for us to remember how to be prepared for this event.
The First P is… Rejoice Always – In Greek it starts with a P – or a Pi anyway, the Greek equivalent of our P. So the first P (or piece of Pi) is Rejoice Always.
P #1 = Rejoice Always
Rejoice Always (Thess 5:16, 18; cf. DT. 12:7,18; 1 Chron 16:10, 31; Psalm 40:16; Lk 10:20; John 16:22; Romans 5:1-5; Philip 4:4; Col 1:24; 1 Pet 1:26, 4:13). Not about everything but in all circumstances, Paul says. This is important. This is because of the faith that we have that with God all things are possible (Matt 19:26; Mark 10:27). We know that the war is already won (1 Cor.15; 1 John 5:4). Nothing that happens here on earth, in our lives, can change the Salvation provided from the Lord. Nothing. (The only question is whether we take advantage of it or not!)
I think of Major Neil Voice who recently received his promotion – his promotion to glory. When he passed away, I heard that indeed his memorial service was a celebration (with a full brass band and everything!) of the fact that he served God well while he was on earth and now he gets to spend eternity with the Lord. This should not and indeed does not take away at all from the legitimate grief and appropriate laments from those who love Neil but it is a great example of the hope that we all have in Christ (1 Thess. 1:3; 2 Thess. 2:16). Neil has gone on ahead. After leaving his sickness behind him (Romans 21:4), probably the very next thing he heard was “well done my good and faithful servant” (Matt 25:21-23). Christ died and rose again so that we all could live and indeed this is something to be joyful about (John 10:10; John 15:15).
I think of my cousin who was also promoted to glory earlier this year. She left many loving friends and family members behind, including two very young children but I understand that neither her faith nor the faith of her husband waivered at all. Hard things happen[3] but we know that in the end everything will be okay for those who love the Lord so indeed we can always celebrate that joy of our salvation, even as we lament, even as we mourn, and even if we are sad we can still rejoice (2 Cor. 6:10) because God is good and God has provided our salvation for us.
So the first P is Rejoice always
The second P (or Pi) is Pray without ceasing: It actually starts with a ‘p’ in English (1 Thess. 5:17; Cf. Acts 12:7; Ro. 1:9, 2 Tim 1:3)
Now we know that our salvation comes from the Lord. We know that He is indeed looking out for us and so we pray continuously and we do give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for us.
We know that we are in a spiritual battle. We know that we fight not as much against flesh and blood as against powers and principalities (Eph 6:12ff; cf. Ro. 8:38; 1 Pet 3:22). We know that there is opposition to the gospel. We know that even though this is good news, there are people who hate the truth and people who hate the givers of the truth. John refers to many of these people as antichrists (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 2:1-7; cf. 1 Cor. 6:22). There are people who have left the faith, ignore what is obvious and attack us instead. Because the devil, antichrists, and more and more people, and more and more things in this world seem to attack us, our beliefs, and our God – because we are constantly under attack, we need to keep in constant communications with God and that is what prayer is – communication with God.
When soldiers are in the heat of battle, bombs are going off, planes are coming in from a distance, and they cannot tell friend from foe and they cannot see what is even coming at them – what do they need? They need good communication with the base. They need good communication with one who can see the battlefield and this is what prayer is – it is keeping in touch with God; it is following Jesus into battle. If we fail to pray, if we forget to pray, we are like the soldier who stumbles blindly out of the trenches knowing neither at whom he is shooting nor who is shooting at him. This soldier cannot survive for long and – even though the war is already won (2 Cor. 6:2, 1 Cor. 15:2, Eph. 2:8, 1 Pet. 1) people are still perishing and we cannot survive for long without the Lord.[4] We need the Lord’s guidance, the Lord’s strength, and the Lord’s sacrifice so that indeed we can all live – and for this, we should be constantly giving thanks.
That brings us to our third piece of pi, our third P = Give Thanks in all circumstances (Thess. 5:16, 18; cf. DT. 12:7,18; 1 Chron. 16:10, 31; Psalm 40:16; Lk. 10:20; John 16:22; Romans 5:1-5; Philip 4:4; Col 1:24; 1 Pet 1:26, 4:13).
This attitude of thanksgiving is so important. The Lord loves us. Now like we said about our saved loved ones who pass on, we are not thankful by any means that they are gone but we do know that they have moved on to something better – no more sickness, no more death, no more tears (Rev 21:4) and we do know that even though we miss our loved ones – God will never leave us nor forsake us (Dt. 31:6; Heb. 13:5). He will not give us more than we can bear. God loves us (John 3:16-17; 5; 15; 1 John 4). He loves all of us and He manages to work together even the most unpleasant situations somehow, someway for His Kingdom purposes, and because of this we can indeed be thankful in all circumstances.
P1 = Rejoice always
P2 = Pray without ceasing
P3 = Give thanks in all circumstances
P4 = Do not quench the Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19; cf.1 Thess.1:5,6,7)
Now apparently when Paul was writing this letter there were some ‘wakkos’ predicting the time and the day of the end of the world (cf. Mark 13:32-33) and there were ‘weirdos’ who would do fake healings, false prophecies, etc. They were snake-oil salesmen as it were.[5] And some of these people were leading people astray and some of these people just plain looked silly and for no easily discernable heavenly purpose. Some things never change! There is a difference between being a fool for the gospel and just plain being a fool.[6] Now Paul knew this and Paul knew that in reaction to these people could go too far in the other direction.
I was raised in the Western Canadian Baptist tradition – the Lord taught me a lot and I have a great respect for the many Christians who earnestly serve the Lord there. It has been said that the only time a Baptist raises his hand in church is to ask permission to go to the bathroom. (This joke probably represents the extreme!) I went to a church service once and I remember someone visiting asking if it had charismatic style worship at all; the response was that the Holy Spirit showed up just the other night in an evening service but - don’t worry – the pastor asked him to leave. I have certainly been in more than one service like this (in churches of different denominations) that indeed when the Spirit does show up, people don’t know what to do – and this is what Paul is telling us about with the fourth P. He is saying don’t quench the Spirit.
So what are our Ps? –
P1 = Rejoice always
P2 = Pray without ceasing
P3 = Give thanks in all circumstances
P4 = Do not quench the Spirit
That brings us to P5, which builds on P4 very nicely. We have to be careful not to quench the spirit and we have to make sure that we, P5 = Do not despise the words of the prophets
Like we said. There are so many false prophets out there. We spoke two weeks ago about these people who are endlessly predicting the time and date for the end of times even when the Bible tells us not to do so (Mark 13:32-33). There are all these false prophets out there and prophets who make mistakes as well – and the media loves these guys because they can use them to make us look like a bunch of liars and fools. But the truth is, that yes, as John says, there are many antichrists pretending to know what they do not know. There are many false prophets tickling our ears for the purpose of financial gain or to lead us astray but indeed Paul says, there are real prophets – and we should not despise their words…
And this brings us to P6 = But test everything, hold onto what is good (1 Thess. 5:21). This is one of the most important things, I think. This is one of the primary reasons that we were given the Bible as it is, I imagine; so that indeed we can and will test things and see what is right and what is not. We must be like the Bereans (Acts 17:10-15). Paul applauded them – the Christians in the town of Berea – for this very thing. They did not accept what he was telling them simply because he was telling it to them; they put him to the test. They searched the scriptures; we need to search the scriptures. It is very important. Smart people sometimes make mistakes. Good people sometimes make mistakes and when we hear someone utter what we think may be a mistake we need to look it up in the Bible. We need to pray about it. We need to then approach them about it – because if they are wrong, they need to change and if we are wrong, we need to change and either way as we are smart enough to test what is good and what is evil we will indeed grow – provided we try to, P7 = Abstain from every form of evil.
P7 = Abstain from every form of evil. This is holiness. God tells us to be holy (1 Peter 1:15, Lev 11:44,45; 19:2; 20:7). God tells us to be perfect (2 Cor. 13; Col. 1:28; Hebrews 11,12). John Wesley argued that this involves more than just avoiding vices. He says, quoting a heathen Epicurean poet, in a sermon entitled, ‘The Almost Christian’ that “Good men avoid sin from the love of virtue. Wicked men avoid sin from a fear of punishment.”[7] Avoiding evil and avoiding it because of a legitimate love of God is very important. It is very important and the opposite of what some people suggest - though it is not true - that we all sin all the time, because if we did, God would never tell us to be holy just as He is holy and He would never tell us to be even perfect – but He does. God doesn’t set people up for failure. He is a loving God. He would never ask from us that which is impossible. After all with God all things are possible, and in verses 23 and 24 He tells us how it is indeed possible to be perfect even as God is perfect. He says He will do it. God himself will sanctify us through and through, keeping us blameless until the return of Christ. So this is exciting. We don’t need to sin. We don’t need to return to bad habits. We can rely on God, He will lead us through the 7 P’s (Pi’s) in each one of our lives and indeed He will make us holy.
So then as we prepare to meet Christ very soon, as we celebrate his coming 2000 years ago in a manger and as we look forward to his return from above anytime now. Let us turn to God and in the process make sure that we are prepared. Let us give P’s a chance. Let us not have any Pi missing as we present our lives holy unto God as a living sacrifice, trusting that He will preserve us blameless until the end of the age.
Let us pray.
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[1] like the New Conservative Party of Canada re: coalitions, wiretaps, and election fraud – where they repeat something enough times that even though you know its not true you start to believe it anyway.
[2] Beverly Roberts Gaventa, First and Second Thessalonians (Interpretation: Grand Loisville, Kentucky, USA: John Knox Press, 1998), 84.
[3] Rober L. Thomas. The Expositor's Bible Commentary. Pradis CD-ROM:1 3. Responsibilities to oneself (5:16-18), Book Version: 4.0.2: ‘A final member of this triplet for personal development is "Give thanks in all circumstances." No combination of happenings can be termed "bad" for a Christian because of God's constant superintendence (Rom 8:28). We need to recognize that seeming aggravations are but a temporary part of a larger plan for our spiritual well-being. Out of this perspective we can always discern a cause for thanks.’
[4] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay. “Romans 13:11-14: Victory: The Final Whistle” Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/12/victory-final-whistle-romans-1311-14.html
[5] Beverly Roberts Gaventa, 84. Cf. Also. Captain Michael Ramsay, Mark 13: 24-37: Hope for a Happy New Year: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/11/mark-1332-37-hope-for-happy-new-year.html
[6] But cf. Mark Chapman, “Mark 1:1-8,” The Expository Times, Volume 120, number 2, ed. Paul Foster, John Riches, Karen Wenell, (London: 2008): 79-80.
[7] John Wesley, “The Almost Christian.” Cited from Outler & Heitzenrater 1991,67.
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