Jesus: Does He Trip You or Lift You?

Posted by David on December 21, 1997 under Sermons

This week everyone is thinking about Jesus. Personally, I am thankful anytime people have Jesus on their minds. When people think about Jesus, they create a priceless opportunity.

People thinking about Jesus are reflecting on the unbelievable. How could God place such value on us that He would allow a part of Himself be born as a human baby? People who rarely read a Bible are thinking about that.

So this week people will think a lot about the things that happened the first few weeks of Jesus’ life.

This morning I want you to consider some things we don’t think much. Eight days after Jesus was born he was circumcised in a religious ceremony (Luke 2:21). Approximately 2000 years before Jesus was born, Abraham accepted an agreement that God offered him (Genesis 17:9-12). Circumcision was the symbol that Abraham accepted God’s agreement. So every Jewish baby boy that was born was circumcised the eight days after his birth.

Thirty-three days after Jesus’ birth, Mary, his mother, went to the temple for two reasons. First, she went to fulfill the rites of her purification (Leviticus 12:4,5). Second, she and Joseph went to present Jesus to God because he was their first born son (Luke 2:22).

I want you to focus on something that happened when they visited the temple.

1. At this time there was a very godly man named Simeon living in Jerusalem (Luke 2:25-35).
   1. This was a righteous, devout man to whom the Holy Spirit spoke.
      1. God promised the nation of Israel that He would send them the Christ, a special person who would bring a blessing to everyone who lived.
      2. Simeon was expecting the Christ to come.
      3. The Holy Spirit told him that he would not die before he saw the Christ.
   2. The day that Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple, the Holy Spirit guided Simeon to the temple.
      1. When Simeon saw the infant Jesus, he went to Mary and Joseph, took the baby, blessed God, and said, Now Lord, do let your bond-servant depart in peace (die), according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles (all people who are not Jews), and the glory of your people Israel.
      2. Mary and Joseph were astounded by what Simeon said about their baby son.
      3. Simeon then blessed Mary and Joseph, and made this astounding statement to Mary: Behold this child is appointed for the fall and rise (resurrection) of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed–and a sword will pierce even your own soul–to the end that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
         1. Simeon, what did you say to Mary?
         2. “It has already been determined that this child will cause many in Israel to fall and many in Israel to be resurrected.”
         3. “This child is a sign (from God) to be opposed.”
         4. “Mary, in all this your soul will be pierced.”
         5. “But the end result is this: the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.”
   3. Simeon’s statement seems just plain strange when we consider the messages that surrounded Jesus’ birth.
      1. When an angel told Joseph that his fiancée was pregnant, the angel told him that she conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, that she would have a son to be named Jesus, and that he would save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:20,21).
      2. When the angel Gabriel told Mary that she would have a child, she was told that the child would be called God’s son, that he would sit on the throne of the great king who was his ancestor, King David, and that Jesus’ kingdom would be endless (Luke 1:31-33).
      3. The night that Jesus was born, the angels sang to the shepherds, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased” (Luke 2:14).
      4. And what did Simeon say?
         1. Many in Israel would fall because of Jesus.
         2. Many in Israel would rise or be resurrected because of Jesus.
         3. That Jesus would be opposed.
         4. That Mary’s soul would be pierced.
         5. That Jesus would cause the thoughts of many hearts to be revealed.
2. Matthew 21:23-44 tells us about something that happened to Jesus during the last week of his life.
   1. Jesus was teaching in the very same place that Simeon saw him when he was a baby–in the temple in the city of Jerusalem.
      1. This time, just as Simeon said, Jesus was being opposed.
         1. The chief priests and the elders, religious leaders, came to him as he taught in the temple and asked, “Who gave you the authority to do this?”
         2. Jesus responded, “I will answer your question if you answer my question first: did John the baptizer baptize by the authority of heaven or by the authority of men?”
         3. They knew that they did not dare answer his question; if they said John baptized by heaven’s authority, Jesus would ask them why they didn’t obey John; if they answered John baptized by human authority, the people would turn against them.
         4. So they said, “We don’t know.”
         5. Jesus said, “Since you won’t answer my question, I won’t answer yours.”
      2. In this same conversation, he gave them a parable.
         1. A man who owned some land spent a lot of money building an excellent vineyard, complete with walls to protect it and a wine press to process the grapes.
         2. The man rented his vineyard and took a long journey.
         3. When harvest time came, the man decided to collect his rent.
         4. He sent some slaves to collect the rent; but the renters beat one slave, killed one, and stoned another.
         5. The owner sent a bigger group of slaves to collect the rent, and the renters did the same thing to them.
         6. The owner decided to send his son to collect the rent thinking surely that the renters would respect his son.
            1. But the renters said, “This is the person who will inherit the vineyard. Let’s kill him, and then the vineyard will belong to us.”
            2. So they captured him, took him outside the vineyard, and murdered him.
         7. Jesus asked the religious leaders, “What will the owner do to these renters?”
            1. They answered, “He will bring their miserable lives to a miserable end.”
            2. “Then he will rent the vineyard to someone who will pay the rent.”
         8. Jesus then asked them, “Haven’t you read the scriptures?”
            1. The stone that was rejected as a stone to be used in the building became the most important stone of the building.
            2. “God’s kingdom will be taken away from you and given to a nation who will produce fruit.”
            3. “The person who trips over this stone will be broken into pieces.”
            4. “The person on whom this stone falls will be scattered like dusts scatters when a rock falls in it.”
      3. What did Simeon say? Many will fall in Israel because of him?
         1. Paul in Romans 9:33 referred to Jesus as the stone of stumbling and the rock of offense.
         2. Peter in 1 Peter 2:8 also referred to Jesus as the stone of stumbling and the rock of offense.
         3. In words that we use, Jesus was called the stone that causes some people to stumble, the rock that causes some people to fall.
3. How could that be? How could Jesus be God’s great gift to all people and at the same time be the gift that would cause many to stumble and fall?
   1. To understand, start with the nation of Israel before and during Jesus’ lifetime.
      1. They knew who they were.
         1. They were the descendants of Abraham.
         2. They were the chosen people of God.
         3. They were the people who had received God’s promises.
      2. Because they placed their faith in who they were, they had turned inward and become very selfish in their religious, spiritual desires.
         1. They knew what they wanted.
         2. And they were sure that when the Christ came, they would get what they wanted.
         3. That is why the Christ would come–to give them what they wanted.
      3. Jesus in his ministry had an alarming way of revealing hearts, attitudes, and motives.
         1. Those who opened their eyes and hearts to Jesus and repented received great blessing.
         2. Those who reacted against Jesus stumbled, fell, and broke.
   2. Jesus can be our stepping stone to God, or the rock in the path that causes us to fall and break.
      1. The selfishness that causes us to fall and break is a specific kind of selfishness.
      2. Your material unselfishness touches me and moves me–you are such a generous people.
         1. It moves me to see you respond to the family who recently lost their business.
         2. It moves me to see the big box of coats you have given and to know that some of you will see that people who are cold gets the coats.
         3. It moves me to see our food distribution efforts.
         4. It moves me to see the things that CURE is doing.
         5. It moves me to see how you support our mission programs, to consider the $141,000 you gave a month ago to fund that work.
      3. In all our generosity, we still need a deep awareness.
         1. We must never think that Jesus came to give us our desires instead of ministering to our needs.
         2. When I think that Jesus came to give me what I want, he becomes the rock I trip over.
      4. We need to be concerned about our attitudes and hearts as Christ’s servants.
         1. It is easy to do something when Christ wants me to do what I want to do.
         2. It is much harder to let Christ reveal my heart to me to let Christ make me who he wants me to be.
   3. What determines if Jesus is my stepping stone to God or the rock that I trip over? The combination of my heart, my attitude, and my perspective.
      1. If I see Jesus as someone who can rescue me from my evil, someone who can turn my life around, and someone who can rebuild my emotions and my heart, he becomes my stepping stone to God.
      2. If I see Jesus as someone who can give me what I want, do what I want him to do, and be what I want him to be, he becomes the rock I trip over.

This is the astounding thing: when Simeon said that Jesus would cause many to fall, he was talking about religious people. When Jesus said that some would trip over him and be broken to pieces, he was talking to religious people. When Paul and Peter called him the stumbling stone and the rock that causes people to fall, they were writing to Christians. When Christians say to Jesus, “Remake me; rebuild my life; make me who you want me to be,” Jesus lifts them up. When Christians say to Jesus, “This is who you must be, and this is what you must do,” he becomes the rock they trip over.

He came to be our Savior and he can be our Savior. But it is our hearts, not him, that determines if he lifts us up or we fall over him.

God, our Creator, specializes in creating. Since we broke everything He made, His creative power had to be used to put things back together. The God that provided Jesus Christ, provides a way to put us back together again. If you bring the pieces to Him, He will surely put the pieces back together. He can put your broken life back together. God will be in the process of putting you back together–to make you whole, as only God can make you. See what God did for you through Jesus. Trust Him. Be willing to be born again into His Kingdom through faith and baptism. Let God put the pieces back together. We invite you to Jesus.

Please Use the Keys!

Posted by David on December 14, 1997 under Sermons

Tonight I want you to consider a third lesson from Matthew 16:13-23. In the first lesson we noted that Peter understood the fact that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. But he did not understand God’s purposes in Jesus. Therefore, he rebuked Jesus when Jesus said that he would be killed.

In the second lesson we focused on Jesus blessing Peter. We examined some of the good and bad things that happened to Peter after Jesus said, “Peter, you are blessed.” We noted that God used his successes and his failures to move him along the road to heaven.

Tonight, I want us to focus on Jesus’ statement to Peter, “I will give to you the keys to the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Do you enjoy the experience of having someone “read your mind”? Without expressing or explaining yourself, this person says, “I know what you are thinking. I know what you are concerned about. I understand what you want to accomplish.”

Excuse me. How can you know what I am thinking if I have not told you? How could you possibly know what I intend to accomplish if I haven’t discussed that information with you?

Do you enjoy talking to people who finish your sentences for you? You never finish anything that you start saying. This person always says it for you–or tries to.

Too often Christians “read God’s mind” without allowing God to tell them what He wants or intends. With good intentions, we stress some teachings while we neglect others. We are certain that we “know what God wants and intends.” It is as though we try to think for God and finish His conversations for Him.

1. When Jesus said, “Peter I will give you the keys to kingdom,” when Jesus told Peter that he would bind and loose on earth, I don’t know what Peter thought those statements meant.
   1. I do know that Peter thought that Jesus came to be the physical king of Israel.
      1. He thought that Jesus would actually sit on a throne in Jerusalem.
      2. He thought that Jesus would be and fulfill Christ’s mission by physically ruling over the nation of Israel.
   2. When Jesus gave Peter the keys to the kingdom, I don’t know what Peter thought that he would do with the keys.
2. To correctly understand Jesus’ promises to Peter, there are some things we need to know.
   1. First, we need to know that Jesus did not make the promise of binding and loosing only to Peter.
      1. Jesus was speaking specifically to Peter in Matthew 16:19.
      2. But in Matthew 18:1 he was speaking to all the disciples as he answered their question, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
      3. Speaking to all of them, Jesus said in verse 18, Truly I say to you, whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
   2. Jesus gave the keys to the kingdom only to Peter.
      1. Peter may have thought Jesus was giving him a privilege, but Jesus was actually giving him a responsibility.
      2. All the apostles were given the responsibility of binding and loosing.
   3. What did that mean? Did it mean that they used their own human, arbitrary choice to decide what the kingdom would be and do? Absolutely not. Kingdom decisions were not left to human reasoning, human opinion, or human desire.
      1. Please turn in your Bibles to John 13: the last supper on the last evening of Jesus’ earthly life.
         1. Only Jesus and the twelve were there on that occasion.
         2. Matthew 26:20 states that Jesus shared that meal with “the twelve disciples.”
         3. Mark 14:17 states that Jesus came to that meal “with the twelve.”
         4. Luke 22:14 states that Jesus was at the table, “and the apostles with him.”
         5. The conversation Jesus had in John 13, 14,15, and 16 was with the twelve disciples or apostles.
         6. The specific promises were made to with whom he ate–to the apostles.
      2. What did Jesus promise all twelve regarding their future teaching (excluding Judas who left to betray him)?
         1. After washing their feet (John 13), he urged them not to be troubled by the events of the evening (John 14:1).
         2. In 14:16 he promised that God would give them another Helper who would be with them forever–the new Helper would be permanent.
         3. In 14:18 he promised that he would not leave them as orphans.
         4. In 14:26 he promised that God would sent the Helper, the Holy Spirit, and this is what the Holy Spirit would do:
            He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
         5. The apostles would be taught by the Holy Spirit and have perfect recall.
         6. In 15:26 Jesus promised he would send the Helper, who, when He came as the Spirit of truth, would bear witness of Jesus–the Holy Spirit would be Jesus’ witness to them.
         7. In 16:13 Jesus promised that the Spirit of truth would guide the apostles into all truth, would reveal the things that He heard God speak, and would enable them to know the things that would happen in the future.
      3. The apostles would bind and loose because they were guided by the Holy Spirit, taught by the Holy Spirit, could recall everything Jesus said, and were shown things to come by the Holy Spirit.
   4. I think it is extremely important that we understand this:
      1. Being guided by the Holy Spirit did not destroy their humanity, or their ability to make mistakes, or give them instant knowledge of all truth.
      2. Remember our study of Peter’s life last Sunday night.
         1. In Acts 10 Peter did not understand that Jesus wanted him to teach and baptize people who were not Jews–and it took a lot to convince Peter that he was supposed to do that.
         2. Because Peter taught and baptized people who were not Jews, some Jewish Christians in Jerusalem hurt Peter, he became afraid of them.
         3. Later, because he was afraid of these Jewish Christians, he broke fellowship with Christians who were not Jews.
         4. He also encouraged other Jewish Christians to break fellowship with them.
         5. Paul confronted Peter publicly to his face because Peter was wrong and was acting hypocritically (Galatians 2:11-14).
      3. Peter had long been guided by the Holy Spirit when this happened.
         1. Obviously, that guidance did not destroy his humanity.
         2. Obviously, it did not instantly give him total knowledge of all truth–the process of the Spirit guiding him and teaching him was a continuing process.
         3. Obviously, it did not destroy his human weakness.
         4. Obviously, it did not destroy his human ability to make mistakes.
      4. Something else is obvious: being human, weak, and making mistakes did not destroy the Holy Spirit’s ability to guide, teach, and direct Peter.
3. Now I ask you to think with me very carefully: Peter’s concept of the kingdom was not Jesus’ concept of the kingdom.
   1. Peter opened the kingdom to all people who were Jews in Acts 2.
      1. That day Peter first preached the good news about the resurrected Jesus being Christ and Lord, and he preached it to Jewish people from sixteen different areas of the Roman empire (Acts 2:8-11).
      2. That day Peter taught Jewish people from all over the Roman empire.
      3. That day Jewish people who resided all over the Roman empire had an opportunity to become Christians.
      4. And that was fine with Peter–that fit Peter’s concept of the kingdom; it should be available to all Jewish people everywhere.
   2. Peter first opened the kingdom to people who were not Jews in Acts 10.
      1. Cornelius gathered his relatives and close friends to hear what Peter had to say (Acts 10:24).
         1. An angel instructed him to send for Peter, and Cornelius did.
         2. He was filled with expectation as he waited for Peter to come.
         3. Before that day was over, Peter had taught and baptized these people who were not Jews.
      2. Initially, Peter had a lot of difficulty understanding that he was to teach people who were not Jews.
         1. That did not fit Peter’s concept of the kingdom–he had never envisioned the kingdom including people who were not Jews.
         2. This was so foreign to Peter’s thinking that the Lord had to take unusual initiatives to open Peter’s mind and understanding.
      3. When Peter finally understood this was God’s plan for the kingdom, many of the Jewish Christians did not understand it.
         1. They fought the idea.
         2. They were certain that this was not what God intended for the kingdom.
         3. Many of these Christians never did understand.
         4. They read God’s mind; they knew what God wanted and intended; they were absolutely certain.
         5. They were certain, but they completely misunderstood God’s plans for the kingdom.
4. Jewish Christians had an enormous disadvantage as they tried to understand the kingdom of Christ.
   1. They mixed the concept of the kingdom of Israel with the concept of Christ’s kingdom.
      1. They had great difficulty separating the concepts of the two kingdoms.
      2. The way they looked at Israel determined the way they saw the church.
   2. The contrast between Israel and the church is dramatic.
      1. For example, the kingdom of Israel was formed around an institution and rituals.
         1. The institution was the temple.
         2. The rituals included animal sacrifices and sacrificial worship.
      2. The kingdom of Christ is not formed around an institution or rituals.
         1. There is no temple–each Christian is a living stone in the living temple of God (1 Peter 2:5).
         2. There are no commanded rituals–Jesus is our complete sacrifice.
      3. Another example:
         1. The morality and ethics of Israel were based on and defined by laws.
         2. The morality and ethics of Christianity are based on and defined by a Savior.
   3. Many Jewish Christians did not want to open Christ’s kingdom to the world.
      1. They wanted to keep the kingdom to themselves.
      2. They wanted the kingdom to be what they wanted and only what they wanted.
      3. They were more concerned about preserving their concept than they were expanding Christ’s kingdom–they did not realize it, but they were.
   4. It is too easy for us to make their mistake.
      1. Though the New Testament does not refer to the church as an institution, it is easy for us to make it an institution.
      2. When we make the church an institution, It is easy for us to be more concerned about preserving our institution than expanding Christ’s kingdom.
      3. It is easy to be more concerned about making the church what we want it to be than allowing the church to become what God intended his kingdom to be.

Peter discovered that using the keys to open God’s kingdom to people was much more difficult, much more complicated than he ever imagined. Even Peter who was guided and taught by the Holy Spirit struggled to understand God’s concept. Even when he understood, he found it very difficult time to help other Christians understand.

It still is difficult and complicated to keep the doors unlocked. It is hard to open our minds to God’s full concept of the kingdom. It is never easy to help each other understand.

One of our greatest challenges and most urgent challenges is to rediscover the importance of opening the kingdom all around us. May we never lock what Christ through Peter unlocked.

Who Would You Choose To Be?

Posted by David on under Sermons

Do you like to use your imagination? If you build things, you do. If you solve problems, you do. If you are creative, you do. If you provide leadership, you do. If you play competitive sports, you do. If you hunt or fish, you do. There are very few people who do not enjoy using their imagination.

Most of us just took communion. That is a time when we should use our imaginations with gratitude. We are to focus our minds and hearts on Jesus’ death. As we eat a piece of the bread, we are to think about the physical body that Jesus surrendered to death for us. As we drink the grape juice, we are to think about the blood he poured out in death for us. It is impossible to do what Jesus asked us to do when we take the Lord’s supper unless we use our imagination.

I want you to use your imagination. This morning you and I are a part of the crowd that witnessed Jesus’ death. We are there. We see the whole thing from the moment they walk Jesus up to the place of his execution to the moment they take his dead body down. We are in the crowd that sees him die. Who do you choose to be? This morning you must choose to be one of those people. Which one of those persons do you choose to be?

“Well, what choices do I have? Who was there?”

1. Let’s look at the list of the people we know witnessed Jesus’ death.
   1. There was a large (probably huge) crowd of people who were the public spectators that any highly emotional, unusual, public event attracts.
      1. The people who lived in Jerusalem had been angrily divided over the identity, the work, and the teachings of Jesus for a long time (John 7:37-44; 9:16).
      2. Often when he came to Jerusalem his presence caused huge public debates.
      3. The week before Passover Jerusalem’s population literally overflowed as hundreds of thousands of pilgrims came to the city.
      4. The publicly execution of a controversial man attracted a huge crowd.
      5. In this crowd there were:
         1. People who were delighted that the impostor was being killed.
         2. People who always had been his enemy and opposed him openly.
         3. People who loved him because of what he did for them.
         4. People who expected him to become the next king of Israel.
         5. People who openly were his followers, his disciples.
   2. There were the Roman soldiers who executed Jesus (Matthew 27:35,36; Mark 15:24,25; Luke 23:36; John 19:23,24).
      1. They escorted him to the cross.
      2. They took his clothes off.
      3. They stretched his arms and legs on the cross and nailed him to it.
      4. They mocked him: “If you are the King of Israel, save yourself.”
      5. And they sat and watched as he died.
   3. There was the common jeerer, the heckler, the person casting insults (Matthew 27:39,40).
      1. This was the person in the crowd who ridiculed Jesus as he died.
      2. These were the kind of people who are against everything.
         1. That is their role in life–to be against things.
         2. About the only position they ever take is a position against.
         3. They were against his miracles, against his popularity, against his teaching, against what he was doing, against how he did it, and against where he did it.
         4. They were the kind of people who are thrilled when someone influential or someone powerful falls–and, in their eyes, Jesus had fallen.
   4. There were the chief priests, scribes, and elders (Matthew 27:41-43; John 11:47,48).
      1. The chief priests were the priests in charge of the Jewish temple.
         1. They tried to discredit Jesus and engineer his fall for a long time.
         2. They were among Jesus’ most determined enemies.
      2. The scribes were the technical experts in the scriptures that we call the Old Testament.
      3. The elders were the recognized men of wisdom and sound judgment.
      4. All these men were confident that they had finally won and said:
         1. “He saved others, but he can’t save himself.”
         2. “If he is the King of Israel, let him come down, and we will believe.”
         3. “He said that he was God’s Son; let’s see if God wants him.”
   5. There was the centurion, the Roman officer in charge of the execution (Matthew 27:54).
      1. As he marched Jesus to the site of execution, he likely thought no more than, “We are executing one more Jewish man who caused problems.”
      2. But after the sun stopped shining from noon to 3 p.m. and the earth quaked, in terror he said, “This man must have been the son of God!”
   6. There were the women who followed Jesus (Matthew 27:55; Mark 15:40,41; Luke 23:49).
      1. They included Jesus’ mother and his mother’s sister.
      2. Mary Magdalene was there.
      3. Many of the women who had followed him to minister to him and the disciples in Galilee were there.
         1. As Jesus and the twelve men who followed him traveled about Galilee, they needed someone to help take care of things like cooking, washing, mending, and likely a multitude of needs that arose as they ministered to all those people.
         2. They certainly could not pull into the nearest McDonald’s or take their wash to the cleaners.
         3. Jesus was not embarrassed for these woman be a part of his work and tour–can you imagine what some people said about this unmarried man allowing all these woman to follow him from place to place?
      4. Obviously these ladies loved, admired, and appreciated Jesus and his work.
   7. Though it is not specifically stated, it is my personal opinion that there were many disciples who watched him die.
      1. They could not believe what they were seeing.
      2. They were sure that everything Jesus came to do would never happen.
      3. The man who should have been king was dying.
   8. Then, there were two robbers who were executed to the right and left of Jesus (Luke 23:33, 39-43; John 19:18; Mark 15:38; Matthew 27:41).
      1. It seems that at first that they both ridiculed Jesus–when they were nailed to their crosses, they likely felt a lot of anger as well as a lot of pain.
      2. “If you are the Christ, save yourself and us.”
      3. But one of these robbers became convinced, on his cross, that Jesus was the Christ.
         1. He chastised the other for ridiculing Jesus: “Don’t you fear God? This man is obviously innocent.”
         2. Then he said the most amazing thing to Jesus: “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
         3. To which Jesus replied, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”
2. If you had to be at the cross, and you had to choose to be one of these people, who would you choose to be?
   1. Would you be just a person in the crowd who blended in unnoticed?
   2. Would you be one of the soldiers?
      1. Could you hold an arm or a leg against the cross, or drive the spike, or help raise the cross?
      2. Could you sit and jeer as you watched Jesus die?
   3. Would you be one of the people who ridiculed, one of those who is against everything, one of those who finds pleasure in seeing other people fall?
   4. Would you be one of the disciples who thought to himself, “The hope of Israel is dying! How he could have changed the world!”
   5. Would you be one of those who had been healed, who thought, “This is truly a great man being killed! He was such a compassionate, godly person! He was what religion really should be about.”
   6. Would you be one of the women who thought, “There has never been anyone like him, and there never will be another like him. He gave us dignity. He was not afraid or ashamed to let us follow him.”
   7. Would you be his mother and watch your son die like that?
   8. Would you be Mary Magdalene, one of his closest friends out of whom he cast seven demons, and watch your closest friend die?
   9. Would you be a chief priest, a master religionist, a renowned theologian, and say to yourself, “We finally got rid of this evil man.”
   10. Would you be a scribe, a true expert in the scripture, and say to yourself, “We finally got rid of this evil man.”
   11. Would you be an elder, a respected religious man of wisdom, and say to yourself, “We finally got rid of this evil man.”
   12. Would you be the robber who said, “If you are the Christ, do something!”
   13. Would you be the robber who said, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
3. Of all the people who witnessed the death of Jesus, only one person realized Jesus’ mission was not destroyed.
   1. Only one person:
      1. Knew that Jesus would still be king in his kingdom.
      2. Knew death could not destroy or stop Jesus.
   2. Only one person looked at Jesus dying on a cross and saw God.
   3. It was not:
      1. The soldier who used the power of death.
      2. The centurion who was terrified by the dark and the earthquake.
      3. The negative jeerers who were delighted that Jesus could be killed.
      4. The disciples who thought everything was lost.
      5. The people who Jesus helped who were filled with regret.
      6. The wonderful women who were devoted to this unique, compassionate man.
      7. The chief priests who were powerful theologians.
      8. The scribes who were experts in scripture.
      9. The elders who were respected for their wisdom.
   4. The only person who looked at Jesus and saw God was a robber, a thief, a reject, an outcast, a spiritual failure.
      1. Only he saw God in Jesus, only he said, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
      2. Only to this thief did Jesus say, “Today, you will be with me, in Paradise.”

If you had to be one of those persons who witnessed Jesus’ death, would you choose to be the only person who looked at Jesus and saw God?

Once Jesus told some of the religious leaders of the Jewish people, “Truly I say to you, the tax-gathers and harlots will get into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax-gatherers and harlots did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him” (Matthew 21:31,32).

In our words, dishonest people and prostitutes would enter the kingdom before religious leaders would because they heard about Jesus and believed.

A long time has passed since Jesus was crucified. You know and understand things that the robber never knew. You have spiritual advantages that robber never had. What do you see when you look at Jesus? Do you look at Jesus and see God?

What you see matters — always. There is not a single aspect of your life in which it doesn’t matter. Your life contains great danger if you don’t see.

What do you need to understand?

You must look at the Cross and see God. Many things matter, but nothing is more important than Jesus is the Son of God. All that you seek to be and do must begin with recognition that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Do you believe that? Do you see God in Jesus? Do you want His cleansing? Are you ready to be baptized into Jesus? Give value, one more time, to the death of Jesus. We invite you to Him. Why keep Jesus waiting?

Peter, Do You Feel Blessed?

Posted by David on December 7, 1997 under Sermons

God gave you and me, as Christians, some incredible promises. Because we were baptized into Christ, God promised that He would forgive and forget all of our sins (Hebrews 8:12). God promised if we maintain faith in Christ, maintain our commitment to live in God’s ways, and maintain a heart that readily repents, that God will continually forgive our sins (I John 1:5-9 ). God promised that He will use everything that happens in our lives to help us get to heaven (Romans 8:28). God promised that He has reserved a place in heaven for us, and that His power will protect us by working through our faith (1 Peter 1:4,5).

God’s most important objective in each of our lives is to bring us home to heaven with Him. God will use everything that evil does to us, everything evil does in our lives to move us closer to heaven. Evil works powerfully in this world, but God’s power in Jesus Christ is greater (1 John 4:4).

No matter what happens in our lives, not matter how much trouble and pain that Satan causes in our lives, Satan cannot destroy one single promise God made to us. Satan cannot stop God as He helps and sustains us in Jesus Christ.

Do we feel blessed? When do we feel blessed?

1. Last Sunday evening we studied an incident in the life of Peter in Matthew 16:13-23.
   1. We learned this sobering truth: we create great spiritual danger for ourselves when we know facts and truths about God’s will, but do not understanding God’s purposes.
      1. God revealed to Peter that Jesus was the Christ.
      2. Peter understood that truth, that fact, but he did not understand God’s purpose in Jesus.
      3. So shortly after understanding the fact that Jesus was the Christ, he rebuked Jesus when Jesus said that Jesus would be killed.
   2. When Peter declared that Jesus was the Christ, the living God’s son, Jesus said, “Peter, you are blessed.”
      1. I wonder what thoughts and hopes went through Peter’s mind when Jesus said, “Peter, you are blessed”?
      2. The gospels reveal that all the disciples, including Peter, expected Jesus to establish his kingdom by becoming the actual king of the nation of Israel.
      3. Since Peter thought Jesus would sit on a throne in the city of Jerusalem, I wonder what Peter thought when Jesus said, “Peter, you are blessed.”
         1. I wonder if he thought about the wealth of Abraham and Job?
         2. I wonder if he thought about the palaces of David and Solomon?
         3. I wonder if he thought about the prestige and the power of Israel’s great kings–certainly Jesus would be the greatest king Israel ever had.
      4. When Jesus said to Peter, “Peter, I am giving you the keys to my kingdom,” I wonder if he thought even more about the material blessings in his future.
   3. Jesus said that Peter was blessed; that was fact; Jesus did not lie about that.
      1. But Peter was blessed in ways that he could not imagine or grasp.
      2. Peter could not begin to comprehend the great blessings of Jesus.
      3. Personally, I doubt that Peter was capable of understanding the blessing that Jesus knew Peter would receive.
2. I want to think with you about some specific incidents that happened in Peter’s life after Jesus said, “You are blessed.” As we look at each incident, I want to ask the question, “Peter, do you feel blessed?”
   1. Peter, did you feel blessed the last night of Jesus’ life?
      1. Jesus said that all of the twelve would desert him that night (Matthew 26:31-35).
      2. You said that even if you had to die with him that you would not desert him.
      3. All the rest of the disciples said the same thing.
      4. You meant what you said; you were serious in your statement and your commitment.
      5. Later, while all of you were in the garden of Gethsemane, as many as 600 soldiers came to arrest Jesus (Matthew 26:47-52; John 18:10).
         1. You had a sword with you, and you drew it to fight all those soldiers.
         2. But Jesus told you not to fight, but to put up the sword, and you fled into the night.
      6. Peter, as you ran from the garden did you feel blessed?
   2. A little later you returned to a courtyard where the Jewish leaders placed Jesus on trial (Matthew 26:69-74).
      1. You watched the trial and saw the injustice of the situation.
      2. Jesus told you that you would deny that you knew him three times before dawn (Matthew 26:31-35).
      3. As you watched the trial, you were recognized.
         1. A servant-girl said that you followed Jesus, and you said in a voice that everyone could hear, “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
         2. Than another servant-girl said that you were one of Jesus’ disciples, and you said with an oath, “I don’t know the man.”
         3. Later, some bystanders said that you were one of Jesus’ disciples, and you cursed and swore saying, “I don’t know the man!”
         4. Then you remembered what Jesus said, and you ran into the night weeping bitterly.
      4. Peter, did you feel blessed when you denied knowing Jesus and fled into the night crying?
   3. About two months later, you and the rest of the apostles were in the city of Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit came upon all of you (Acts 2).
      1. A huge crowd of people gathered when they heard the unusual sound created by the coming of the Spirit.
      2. At first, all twelve of you were speaking to the multitude in different languages as the Spirit guided each of you.
      3. Then you, Peter, took control of the situation and preached to the whole crowd–you proved to them that Jesus was Lord and Christ.
      4. This was in the same city, maybe in front of some of the same people, that just two months earlier you cursed and swore saying you did not know Jesus.
      5. Peter, did you feel blessed when you preached that the resurrected Jesus was Christ and Lord?
   4. Very quickly you became the most influential leader in this huge, new congregation in the city of Jerusalem.
      1. You healed the lame man at the temple gate and created enormous interest (Acts 3).
      2. When you and John were arrested for performing this miracle, you were the spokesman before the Jewish court (Acts 4:8-12).
      3. You were the one who confronted Ananias and Sapphira when they attempted to lie to God (Acts 5:1-10).
      4. You were so well known and respected in Jerusalem that people carried the sick to the sides of streets hoping that you would walk by so that your shadow would fall on them (Acts 5:15)
      5. You were the one who spoke before the court again when all twelve of you apostles were arrested (Acts 5:26-32).
      6. You were the one who healed a man named Aeneas in the city of Lydda–he had been paralyzed and in bed for eight years (Acts 9: 32-35).
      7. When Dorcas died in the city of Joppa, you were the one who brought her back to life (Acts 9:36-43).
      8. You were the best known and most respected Christian leader in the whole region.
      9. Peter, did you feel blessed?
   5. Then the Lord Jesus asked you to use one of the keys to the kingdom that he gave you.
      1. Christ asked you to use that key in a way that you never would have imagined.
      2. In fact, the Lord did a lot of things to convince you to do what he wanted you to do.
         1. The Lord sent an angel with a message to a man named Cornelius, who was not a Jew (Acts 10:1-8).
         2. This angel told Cornelius to invite you into his home to teach him.
         3. Then the Lord, on the very next day, gave you the same vision three times, and the vision really confused you (Acts 10:9-16).
         4. Then the Holy Spirit told you to go with the men who were looking for you because the Holy Spirit sent those men to you (Acts 10:20).
      3. The next day, still confused, you visited with Cornelius (Acts 10:23-48)
         1. You asked him to explain why he had invited you to come to his home.
         2. After he explained, you finally understood that God wanted you to teach this man and his friends about Jesus.
         3. As you were teaching them about Jesus, the Holy Spirit fell on them.
         4. That is when you fully understood that they had the right to be baptized, and that is when you ordered them to be baptized.
      4. Peter, when you taught and baptized these people who were not Jews, did you feel blessed?
   6. News of what you did traveled to Jerusalem fast–the apostles and Christians throughout the whole region of Judea heard that Peter visited people who were not Jews (Acts 11:1-18).
      1. When you came back, some of the influential members of the church were upset because you associated with people who were not Jews.
      2. They confronted you and took issue with what you had done.
      3. After they listened to your explanation, they quieted down when you told them that the Holy Spirit came on them just as it had on you.
      4. But after your visit to Cornelius, after you allowed them to be baptized, Acts never again presents you as the leader of the Jerusalem church.
      5. You did what Christ and the Holy Spirit told you to do, you used a key to open the kingdom to people who were not Jews, but Jewish people who were already Christians did not like it.
      6. Peter, did you feel blessed when you did what Jesus wanted but your fellow Christians did not want it?
   7. The fallout from Peter’s visit with Cornelius was very painful for Peter.
      1. Later, he was visiting with the church in Antioch, with Christians who were not Jews (Galatians 2:11-14).
      2. At first he was eating with these Christians and freely having fellowship with them.
      3. Then some Christians came from the Jerusalem church.
         1. They were from the same group who condemned Peter for visiting Cornelius.
         2. Peter was afraid of them.
      4. He stopped eating with Christians who were not Jews and refused to have fellowship with them.
      5. He even convinced Barnabas and other Jewish Christians to stop having fellowship with Christians who were not Jews.
      6. Paul told him publicly to his face that what he was doing was hypocritical and wrong.
      7. Peter, did you feel blessed when this happened?
3. I want to call three things to your attention.
   1. Number one: sometimes our suffering causes us to feel blessed, and sometimes our suffering causes us to be afraid.
      1. There were times when Peter obviously felt blessed by his suffering.
      2. Acts 5:40,41 is a specific example.
         1. When all the apostles were arrested, the court wanted to kill them.
         2. One member of the court (Gamaliel) convinced the court that would be a mistake.
         3. Instead of killing them, the court whipped them (flogged them) and released them.
         4. After the whipping, they left the court rejoicing because they were considered worthy to suffer shame for Jesus’ name.
      3. But at times Peter did not feel blessed by the shame and suffering.
         1. Peter did not feel blessed when Christians condemned him for visiting Cornelius.
         2. That hurt Peter, and hurt him deeply.
         3. When he visited Antioch Christians who were not Jews, he was afraid of some of the Jerusalem Christians who were Jews.
      4. Sometimes shame causes Christians to rejoice, and sometimes it causes them to fear.
   2. Number two: It is not unusual for some Christians to resent a Christian who does what the Lord wants him/her to do, but what they don’t want done.
      1. The Lord and the Holy Spirit wanted Peter to teach people who were not Jews.
      2. Some Jewish Christians in Jerusalem did not want Peter to teach them.
      3. Peter paid a heavy price for doing what Jesus planned for him to do, a price that left him afraid of some Christians he may have converted.
   3. Number three: The Lord used every experience in Peter’s life to move him along the road to heaven.
      1. The Lord used the agonizing failures and the amazing victories to move Peter toward heaven.
      2. There are some great moments on the road to heaven, and there are some agonizing moments of pain.
      3. But the Lord uses all of them to bring us home to live with God.

One of our greatest challenges is to realize that God’s blessings are working with full power and strength even at those times when life is extremely painful. We want faith to mature in the understanding that God uses everything that happens in our lives to move us along the road to heaven.

If I could ask today, “Peter, do you feel blessed?” I know what he would say–and so do you.

Let’s walk the road to go Home.

Are There “Real” Answers For Aloneness?

Posted by David on under Sermons

Have you ever felt desperately alone and completely empty? You felt absolutely nothing inside. Your life was so empty that you could feel the hollowness. You were certain that no one really cared if you were alive or dead. The loneliness was so painful you knew it was obvious, but no one seemed to notice. There was no future because there was no “now.” You felt like the earth had been jerked from beneath your feet and you were falling, plunging endlessly downward, and no way to stop falling.

If I had each of you tell me if you had ever felt this lonely and empty, I know that I would receive these three answers in some form. (1) “Preacher, I don’t know what in the world you are talking about.” (2) “David, I haven’t had that experience, but I certainly know someone has had it–in fact he/she is having it right now.” (3) “Yes, I have experienced that loneliness and emptiness. But I didn’t think anyone knew how people like me felt.”

Jesus came to a world filled with people living in loneliness and emptiness. Most of the world’s population in his lifetime were people whose lives were consumed by such loneliness and emptiness. Many in the first century church had been lonely, empty people who reached for the Jesus who reached for them.

1. The letters in the New Testament strongly emphasized the urgency of Christians helping each other as they struggle.
   1. Several times those letters make this point: “Christ did the impossible for you when you were dying in your loneliness and emptiness; now you are to do the possible for each other as you recover from your loneliness and emptiness.”
      1. “You are to treat each other as Christ treated you.”
      2. “Christ is your example in helping struggling people; learn from him.”
   2. Let me give you some specific examples.
      1. The letter called Romans was written to the church in the city of Rome.
         1. The Christians in this congregation had some major disagreements including the importance of Jesus, the religious responsibility of Christians, the importance of the laws of Judaism, the role of faith in salvation, the importance of grace, the meaning of baptism–they strongly disagreed about these things.
            1. After discussing these disagreements, Paul told them:
               1. Romans 13:8,10–Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. …Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love therefore is the fulfillment of the law (NASV).
               2. Romans 14:1–Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions (NASV).
               3. Romans 15:7–Accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God (NASV).
            2. They needed this understanding: they were to help each other as Christ had helped each of them.
      2. The people who received the letter we call Hebrews were deeply discouraged.
         1. They were so discouraged that they were seriously considering renouncing Jesus Christ.
         2. They were so discouraged that they did not assemble as Christians (Hebrews 10:25).
         3. The writer urges them not only to assemble as Christians, but to encourage each other when they assemble.
         4. Listen to this instruction: Strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb that is lame may not be out of joint, but rather be healed (Hebrews 12:12,13).
         5. “Do not fail to support the weak and the feeble, and make it easier for them to follow the path”–he is speaking of those who spiritually struggle.
2. I want to focus your attention on a whole group of churches that existed in a Roman province called Galatia.
   1. These churches as a group received a letter from the apostle Paul.
      1. Paul established these congregations–he was the first Christian to visit this area, and the first to teach them about Jesus Christ.
      2. He taught them about Christ, converted them to Christ, and taught them how to begin living for Christ.
      3. Most of the people who became Christians were not Jewish people.
   2. Shortly after Paul left Galatia to teach and preach in another area, some Jewish Christians came from Jerusalem and created some major problems.
      1. “Paul told you about Jesus, but he didn’t teach you all of God’s laws.”
         1. “We have come to tell you from God’s word what Paul did not tell you.”
         2. “If you want to be real Christians, you must understand and do what we teach you.”
      2. These new Christians were easily confused and deceived.
         1. “Paul didn’t tell us that all these other laws of God existed.”
         2. “What God said in ancient written scripture must be more important than what Paul told us about Jesus.”
         3. “Paul placed too much emphasis on Jesus, his death, and his resurrection.”
         4. “We need to learn the laws that God gave Israel through Moses; we need to learn the right rituals that let us honor the living God.”
      3. When Paul heard that these new Christians left the good news about Jesus in order to learn and practice Jewish ritual, he was extremely upset (Galatians 1:6-10).
         1. “I cannot believe what you people have done–and did it so quickly!”
         2. Paul proved to them that the message he taught them came from the direct revelation of Jesus–Jesus personally gave Paul the message he taught them (Galatians 1:11-24).
         3. Paul proved that it had always been God’s plan to use the Jewish law and the nation of Israel to create the means of bringing salvation to non-Jewish peoples (Galatians 3).
         4. Paul declared that non-Jewish people who accept Jesus are the true people of God, the true fulfillment of God’s plan (Galatians 4).
      4. Beginning in chapter five Paul challenged their understanding.
         1. “God did not free you from your slavery to idolatry to create the opportunity for you to become slaves to Jewish rituals” (5:1-12).
         2. “God freed you from idolatry to give you the opportunity to serve each other through love” (5:13).
         3. “Do you really want to fulfill Jewish law? Then love your neighbor as yourself, and stop biting and eating each other” (5:14,15).
         4. “Let God’s Spirit be in charge of the way you live your lives; do not allow your physical desires to dictate the way you live your lives” (5:16-26).
            1. “Do not let selfish, evil physical desires control the way you think and act.”
            2. “Learn to think, act, and feel like people who are lead by God’s Spirit.”
   3. Please pay special attention to the beginning of chapter six.
      1. “You are going to make mistakes.”
      2. “There will be times when someone does something that Jesus does not want them to do.”
      3. “When that happens, this is the objective: those of you who did not made the mistake are to rescue the person who made the mistake; the goal is rescue. ”
      4. “Seek to restore the person who made the mistake gently.”
         1. “Keep a careful watch on yourself as you try to gently rescue the person who made the mistake.”
         2. “Your effort to rescue someone who made a mistake creates the opportunity for temptation–do not violate what Jesus wants you to be when you try to rescue someone who made a mistake.”
   4. “You want a law to obey? Here is a law to obey. It is not a Jewish law. It does not come from Moses. It comes from Jesus. This law is the law of Christ.”
      1. “Here is Christ’s law: bear each other’s burdens.”
      2. “If your mind works on the basis of law, then obey this law: bear each other’s burdens.”
3. In the context and content of this letter we call Galatians, what burdens? What burdens are we to help each other bear?
   1. “I worshipped idols before Paul taught me about Jesus Christ.”
      1. “I knew nothing about the living God who is the Father of Jesus Christ.”
      2. “I am so ignorant about God, God’s nature, God’s identity, God’s will, and God’s ways.”
      3. “Just trying to learn about the living God is so confusing to me.”
      4. “My burden is ignorance about God; I make so many mistakes because I understand too little about God.”
      5. Brothers and sisters, help him bear his burden.
   2. “I am not a Jew. When Paul taught me about Jesus I had no Jewish background.”
      1. “I never attended a Jewish place of worship.”
      2. “I never heard the Jewish scriptures taught.”
      3. “I don’t know anything about Jewish history or about the ways that God worked in Israel.”
      4. “I know absolutely nothing about Abraham, or Moses, or David, or Elijah, or Jeremiah.”
      5. “Ignorance of scripture is my burden; I make so many mistakes because I know nothing about Jewish scripture.”
      6. Brothers and sisters, help him bear his burden.
   3. “Before Paul taught me about Jesus Christ, I was a proselyte–while I am not Jewish by birth, I converted to the Jewish religion.”
      1. “I invested a lot of time, effort, and hard work learning Jewish scripture, Jewish law, and Jewish ritual.”
      2. “I know and understand a lot about Judaism, and I lived by what I learned.”
      3. “I have a real problem when I contrast the demands of justice and law in Judaism with the kindness and forgiveness in Jesus Christ.”
      4. “Sometimes I have a hard time believing that the God in Israel and the God who is the Father of Jesus Christ is the same God.”
      5. “I really struggle trying to understand what God has done in Jesus, and I know that causes me to make some serious spiritual mistakes.”
      6. “My burden is knowledge of Judaism and Jewish law.”
      7. Brothers and sisters, help him bear his burden.
   4. “Before Paul taught me about Christ, I was a godless person–I didn’t worship anything.”
      1. “I did exactly what I wanted to do–and what I wanted to do was to indulged myself in every pleasure that appealed to me.”
      2. “I indulged myself in everything–sex, drunkenness, greed, exploiting innocent people.”
      3. “That lifestyle made a real slave out of me, and I want to completely escape it, but it is so hard and I am so weak.”
      4. “The temptations and weakness created by my godless past are my burden.”
      5. Brothers and sisters, help him bear his burden.

Why, Paul, why are we to do that? Why is it the law of Christ that we bear each other’s burdens? Why? Because Jesus bears your burdens. He bore our burdens on the cross. Our sins were placed on his body as he died (1 Peter 2:24). He bore our burdens when we were baptized. When in faith and repentance we were baptized, Jesus destroyed every sin we had committed by removing all those sins with his own blood (Acts 2:38; Ephesians 1:7). He bears our burdens every day of our life. As we daily confess our mistakes to him, he totally cleanses us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

Jesus asks us to do for each other what he does for every Christian every day. And that is the “real” answer to loneliness and emptiness.

How long are you going to live with your burdens?

It’s your choice. Give them to Jesus Christ. Let Him carry them. And find the strength to help someone else carry theirs.

Are you serious about bearing the burdens of those around you? When we are as serious about bearing burdens as we are about baptism, we will have more people wanting to be baptized!

Bring your burdens to Christ. Let Him destroy them.

Lessen your burdens through the forgiveness of God and the love of His people.

When Knowledge Exceeds Understanding

Posted by David on November 30, 1997 under Sermons

Spiritually, we create an enormous danger when we have sound knowledge of God’s facts and truths, but have little or no knowledge of God’s purposes. That danger has existed from the time of Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God in the garden of Eden. That same danger intensified and rose to a new level when Jesus was born. That danger was clearly evident in Jesus’ ministry. The Pharisees knew God’s facts, but they did not know God’s purposes. The twelve disciples understood new facts from God, but they did not understand God’s purposes. This same danger intensified again and rose to still a higher level when Jesus died and was raised from the dead. That danger is as real and powerful today as it has ever been.

I want you to understand that danger and consider how it exists for us personally and as a congregation by studying Matthew 16:13-23.

1. In Matthew 16 we find Jesus in one of those rare moments when just he and the twelve disciples were together.
   1. They were in the northern most section of the area of Palestine in the region of Caesarea Philippi.
      1. Jesus’ work, miracles, and teaching generated lots of conversation.
         1. Jesus was a main topic of conversation among the Jewish people.
         2. How did you explain this unusual man who did all these things that had never been done before?
         3. Were these the acts of Satan as the Pharisees claimed, or were these the acts of God?
         4. Jesus asked these twelve men, “What are people saying about me? Who do they think I am?”
         5. The twelve: “Oh, they say that you are several different people.”
            1. “Some say that you are John the Baptist” (who was dead, executed by one of Herod the Great’s sons –Matthew 14:10,11).
            2. “Others say that you are the prophet Elijah” (who had been dead for centuries).
            3. “Still others say that you are Jeremiah” (who also had been dead for centuries).
            4. “Some just say that you are one of the prophets.”
      2. Jesus asked a second question: “What do you say about me? Who do you think that I am?”
         1. Peter answered very specifically: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
            1. Peter said that Jesus was the person God had promised Israel that He would send from the time of Abraham.
            2. He was the living God’s Son.
         2. Jesus responded to Peter with a very impressive statement.
            1. “You are blessed.”
            2. “You don’t know this because some other person told you this; you know this because my Father in heaven revealed it to you.”
            3. This was not knowledge through instruction; this was knowledge through revelation–Peter knew something that God caused him to know.
            4. “Peter, upon this rock I will build my church.”
               1. This is my understanding of that statement: “Peter, upon the truth that I am the Christ, the living God’s Son, I will establish my called out people.”
               2. “Death won’t stop me; it will not keep me from bringing into existence my called out people.”
               3. “I am giving you the keys to the kingdom to bind and loose on earth.” (He made the same statement to all twelve in Matthew 18:18).
   2. That is an astounding statement for Jesus to make to any person.
      1. “Peter, you understand something the other eleven do not understand.”
      2. “You understand it because God Himself reveled it to you.”
      3. “You understand a fact, a truth so important that I am going to use this truth to create my own people who will submit to me as their king.”
      4. “Nothing will stop me from creating my own people, not even death.”
      5. “And Peter, I am giving you the keys to open the doors to those who would become my people so they can be a part of my kingdom.”
      6. “What you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; what you free on earth will be freed in heaven.”
         1. If Jesus made those statements to you, would it mess with your mind?
         2. Would it make you feel more important than you are?
         3. Would it make you feel like you knew more than anyone else, more than you actually knew?
         4. Would it cause you to believe that you understood things that others were not able to understand?
2. It affected Peter like it probably would affect most of us–since God had revealed something to him, since Jesus had given him the keys to the kingdom, he concluded that he knew and understood more than he did.
   1. Immediately after this conversation, Jesus began to explain to his disciples the sequence of events that would happen.
      1. He would travel to the city of Jerusalem.
      2. The Jewish leaders would cause him a lot of suffering.
      3. He would be killed.
      4. He would be resurrected from death on the third day.
   2. The Peter to whom God had given a revelation of knowledge, to whom Jesus gave the keys to the kingdom now was certain that he understood what God would do better than Jesus did. God had revealed to him who Jesus was, so he knew what God wanted to do.
      1. He did not like Jesus saying these things–this was not what God had planned for Jesus.
      2. He knew what was supposed to happen and what was going to happen–God revealed to him the knowledge and truth about Jesus being the Christ.
         1. Why shouldn’t he believe that what he saw in the future for Jesus was not also a revelation from God?
         2. For centuries God had promised Israel a Messiah, a Christ.
         3. Israel was God’s chosen people, the people God promised Abraham.
         4. Jesus was the Christ that God had promised Israel.
         5. Jesus would become the ruler, the king of Israel, and bring Israel to a new level of existence and power.
         6. Then God would do with Israel whatever God planned to do through Israel and through Jesus as Israel’s king.
         7. That was how it would happen; Peter had it all figured out; Peter was sure this, too, was God’s revelation.
         8. I can see Peter thinking to himself, “I know this just like I knew Jesus is the Christ.”
      3. Since he was a disciple, he certainly did not want to be disrespectful to Jesus in front of the other disciples, so he took Jesus aside privately.
         1. He began to rebuke Jesus: “Lord, you are wrong about this. You are not helping anything by making statements like that. That kind of talk has got to stop. You must stop saying things like that.”
         2. “This will not happen! God will not let it happen! You are not going to be killed!”
         3. The one to whom God had made a revelation had spoken.
      4. Then Jesus, who told Peter that he had received a revelation, had something else to tell Peter.
         1. “Satan, get behind me.”
         2. “You are a stumbling block (literal meaning, “the bait stick in a trap”) for me.”
         3. Peter’s rebuke was a serious, agonizing temptation to Jesus.
         4. The thought of not having to die was powerful and appealing to Jesus physically.
         5. “Peter, your mind is not focused on God’s interests, God’s concerns.”
         6. “Peter, your mind is on human interests, human concerns.”
         7. There is no way that Peter regarded his concern a human concern instead of a divine concern.
3. This whole incident takes my breath away and deeply sobers me.
   1. “David, what is it about this incident that shakes you up?”
      1. First, this same disciple, within a few days, was both God’s spokesman who recognized that Jesus was God’s son and Satan’s spokesman opposing God’s purpose in Jesus.
      2. Second, when he spoke for Satan, he did not know it; he sincerely believed that he was speaking for God.
      3. Third, he was so certain that he had God’s plans for Jesus figured out that he dared rebuke the son of the living God.
      4. Fourth, he thought that he was 100% focused on God’s purposes and objectives when he actually was 100% focused on human purposes and objectives.
      5. Fifth, he was 100% confused and did not know it: he believed that he was devoted to God’s interests when the truth was that he was devoted to human interests.
   2. I don’t know about you, but that sobers me deeply.
      1. We can know facts and truths about God and fail to understand His purposes.
      2. Even though we understand facts and truths, even though we are devoted disciples, we can be religiously speaking for Satan when we think we are speaking for God.
      3. We can be so certain that we have God’s desires and purposes figured out that we can still take Jesus aside and tell him that what he said is not what God planned.
      4. We can think that we are 100% focused on God’s priorities, God’s plans, and God’s purposes when in actually we are focused on our concerns.
      5. We can be totally confused about God’s purposes and never realize it.
      6. I do not have the words to tell you how sobering that I find that–for myself, for you, and for the church.
      7. Think about it.

Understanding what God wants us to be is simpler than understanding what God wants to accomplish through us. Knowing what God wants me to be is simpler than understanding what God wants me to do. Know what God wants the church to be is simpler than understanding what God wants the church to do. It is easy to come to the conclusion that God’s greatest concern or God’s only concern is what God wants us to be. It is easy to conclude that it is not as important to serve God’s purposes as to it is to be what God wants us to be. It is easy to conclude that God’s purposes are obvious and simple.

But I don’t think you will draw that conclusion if you look at Jesus’ life, look at Jesus’ ministry, and look at the people Jesus helped and the way he helped them. If Jesus teaches us anything, he teaches us that you cannot divorce God’s will from God’s purposes.

Israel never really understood that. They thought God loved only them. Understanding God’s purposes is not simple–it never has been.

May we never forget the danger of knowing facts and truths about the will of God without understanding God’s purposes.

God may someday point out ways in which you were an obstacle to His purposes. We can hinder His purposes when we don’t understand His purposes.

We must study. We must grow.
A major purpose of God is to save your soul.

You Are To Be a Blessing

Posted by David on under Sermons

In the summer that I was eighteen, I preached for the Mount Della Church of Christ, a small, rural congregation in the hills of east Tennessee. Among the families that were a part of that congregation was a family named Wallace. Load Wallace, the father, had served in the Second World War. He had been a part of the liberation force that occupied Paris, France.

Each summer on July a weekend, the congregation had a huge dinner-on-the- ground at a nearby wilderness area. It combined family reunions, church fellowship, and neighborly get-together into one occasion. Two, perhaps three times, more people attended this get-together than attended the congregation.

These were good hearted country people, so there would be all kinds of country food and country cooking. Even though there were virtually no prosperous people in that little country community or the congregation, there would be lots and lots of food.

The Wallace family did not come to the meal part of the gathering. They ate at home and afterward came to spend the afternoon with the group. Their not eating with the group had nothing to do with religious issues. Nor did they think that the people who prepared the meal and shared it were doing something wrong.

They didn’t come to the meal because of Lloyd’s experience in Paris, France. That experience created such a powerful, overwhelming memory that he never attended any gathering that served food. This was the memory: a soldier in Paris came out of the mess tent and scraped the food that he did not eat into garbage can. A long line of men, women, and children stood quietly, patiently at the garbage cans. These people had little to eat for months, and food was scarce. They stood in line waiting for the opportunity to get some of the food that the solders threw away.

When I met Lloyd, it had been over 13 years since he watched that line of men, women, and children in Paris. But he could not forget them. He simply could not eat anywhere there was a lot of food and a lot of waste.

We never know how blessed we are until we see the lives of people who do not have our blessings.

Is it enough to be grateful? Or is there purpose in our blessings?

1. Several thousand years ago a man who would become famous lived in a city named Ur.
   1. The city of Ur had the most prosperous, advanced culture in his known world.
      1. In Acts 7:2,3 the preacher Stephen said that God asked this man to leave his extended family and the city of Ur.
      2. The man left Ur, but his extended family traveled with him to a place called Haran (Genesis 11:31).
      3. The man and his extended family settled in Haran until his father died.
      4. After his father died, God again asked this man to leave his extended family and to allow God to lead him to a country that God wanted to show him (Genesis 12:1-4).
   2. God promised him six extraordinary blessings if he would leave his relatives and allow God to lead him to this country God wanted him to see.
      1. God promised:
         1. I will cause your child to become a great nation of people.
         2. I will bless you personally.
         3. I will give you a name that will be famous and will be remembered.
         4. I will bless those who are gracious and kind to you.
         5. I will curse those who dare to be your enemies.
         6. What I will do through you will be so important that all humanity will be blessed because of you.
      2. Those are incredible promises! What if God made those promises to you?
         1. The descendants of your child would actually become a nation.
         2. God would bless you personally.
         3. You would have a name that will never be forgotten.
         4. I will bless your friends.
         5. I will curse your enemies.
         6. I will bring a blessing to all humanity through you.
      3. How do you think those promises would affect you?
         1. Do you think you might have a problem with arrogance?
         2. How do you think you would feel when you thought about the specific promises God made to you, personally?
      4. How we would feel probably would depend on our understanding of why God was doing this.
      5. God made why He was doing this quite clear to Abraham:
         1. “Abraham, I, God, promise you that I will do these six things for you.”
         2. “But, Abraham, there is something that you must understand.”
         3. “I will bless you in these ways, but I expect you to be a blessing.”
         4. “That is your responsibility: be a blessing.”
      6. Dr. John T. Willis of Abilene Christian University states that the original language of “be a blessing” is written in the form of a divine command, or, “I promise you that I will bless you, Abraham, and I command you to be a blessing.”
   3. God’s purpose and objective in blessing Abraham were not fulfilled by merely helping Abraham.
      1. God was giving Abraham the opportunity to become a person who lived by faith.
      2. God was giving Abraham an opportunity to use himself, his immediate family, and his life to help achieve God’s eternal purposes.
      3. Life would not be about the prosperity and physical joys of Abraham; life would be about the eternal purposes of God.
      4. God was not offering Abraham blessings for no greater purpose or reason than the physical well being and earthly happiness of Abraham.
      5. God was offering blessings to Abraham IF Abraham would develop the faith that allowed God to lead him and IF Abraham would accept the responsibility to be a blessing.
      6. Abraham’s blessings were not about Abraham’s earthly pleasures; Abraham’s blessings were about the eternal purposes of God.
      7. God made it clear to Abraham: “My blessings carry with them the responsibility to be a blessing.”
2. Let’s take a giant leap forward in time.
   1. I don’t know the exact dates of Abraham’s life, but let’s say Abraham lived around two thousand B.C.
      1. So let’s leap ahead 2000 years.
      2. Jesus Christ is alive and working in his early ministry.
      3. Paul said in Galatians 3:8,16 that Jesus was the specific, literal fulfillment of God’s promise to bless all humanity through Abraham.
         1. All humanity is blessed in Jesus.
         2. According to Paul, all humanity is blessed in Jesus because God justifies any person who places his/her faith in the crucified, resurrected Jesus.
      4. God kept all his promises to Abraham.
         1. The descendants of his son Isaac became the nation of Israel.
         2. He made Abraham a wealthy man.
         3. He gave Abraham a name that is still known 4000 years after he lived.
         4. He blessed Abraham’s friends.
         5. He cursed Abraham’s enemies.
         6. God’s son, Jesus, became the sacrifice for the sins of all humanity–when Jesus died on the cross, all humanity could be blessed through Jesus.
      5. God intended for His eternal purposes to be accomplished through Jesus’ life and death.
         1. Jesus came.
         2. Eternal salvation through Jesus Christ became an indestructible reality when Jesus was raised from the dead.
         3. When Jesus died and arose from the death, God accomplished His most important objective–the existence of the forgiveness of all sin for any person who entered Jesus Christ and allowed him to be his/her Savior.
   2. As the time drew close to Jesus’ death, Jesus knew it.
      1. Matthew records a teaching that Jesus gave late in the last week of his life (Matthew 25:14-30).
         1. A wealthy man was to take a long trip and did not know when he would return.
         2. Since there were no banks, no certificates of deposits, no stock markets, no investment shelters, the man called three capable, trustworthy slaves.
         3. He gave the first $500,000 dollars to care for while he was gone because this slave had the ability to care for $500,000.
         4. He gave the second $200,000 to care for while he was gone because this slave had the ability to care for $200,000.
         5. He gave the third $100,000 to care for while he was gone because this slave had the ability to care for $100,000.
         6. Then he left on his trip.
      2. The slave with $500,000 put the money to work and made another $500,00.
      3. The slave with $200,000 put the money to work and made another $200,000.
      4. The slave with $100,000 was afraid, hid the money, and gave back to his master exactly what the master had entrusted to him.
      5. The first two slaves were rewarded beyond their imagination, and the last was punished without mercy.
   3. Jesus’ teaching is not about money; it is a parable about the kingdom of heaven.
      1. The purpose of the parable is to teach us a lesson about people who are a part of the kingdom that belongs to Jesus Christ.
      2. In this story, certain things are to be understood.
         1. Jesus is the wealthy man who has gone on a long trip.
         2. We who are in the kingdom are the slaves who belong to him.
         3. He has intrusted us with his wealth while he is gone.
         4. His expectations of each one of us are based on our individual abilities.
         5. The lesson is simple: use the blessings Jesus gave you to serve his purposes.
         6. Do not be afraid to use what Jesus entrusted to you.
         7. In fact, the worst thing you can do is to do nothing because you are afraid.
         8. The parable declares that each of us is accountable to Jesus.
            1. It also declares that the boundaries of our accountability are determined by Jesus on the basis of our ability.
         9. There are two things that Jesus does not expect of those who serve him.
            1. He does not expect us to serve him in ways that are beyond our ability.
            2. He does not expect us to be afraid to use what he has entrusted to us; he does not want back exactly what he entrusted to us.
         10. There is one thing the Lord does expect of his slaves: whatever blessings Jesus places in your life, use them for good, multiply good.
         11. In Jesus’ words of Matthew 5:16, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

I hope this week that you had a heightened sense and awareness of your blessings. As you think about the incredible ways that you are blessed, as you think about your need to be grateful to Jesus and to God, would you ask yourself this question: “How should I thank God?” Learn your answer from God’s direction to Abraham: “You are blessed to help achieve my eternal purposes. You are blessed to be a blessing.” Use every blessing that God has given you to help achieve His purposes. Never forget that you are blessed to be a blessing.

We are incredibly blessed in America. Don’t feel guilty. Feel responsible. Be a blessing with what God has blessed you with.
God’s greatest blessing is the forgiveness available in Jesus Christ. Have you been baptized into Jesus because of your faith and commitment to Jesus? We invite you to Jesus Christ.

Followers: Why Do You Follow?

Posted by David on November 23, 1997 under Sermons

When the topic of discussion is “follower,” how would you describe yourself as a follower? Do you know how to follow? What is your concept of following? To you is following “keep your mouth shut, try to stay out of the way, and don’t create a problem”? Is your concept of following “stand quietly on the side, occasionally offer your opinion, try not to criticize, and occasionally share a word of encouragement”?

Does your concept of following involve understanding the objective, learning the reasons for the objective, and helping make the objective a reality?

Do you consider yourself a good follower, an average follower, a poor follower, or an awful follower? Do you work well in a group because you are a cooperative team player who follows leadership well? Do you work poorly in a group because you rarely agree with the group’s leadership? Do you work well in a group only if you are leading the group? Do you enjoy following, but find it difficult to lead? Do you enjoy leading, but find it difficult to follow? Do you restrict following to leadership that does what you want done as it goes where you want to go?

Regardless of the kind of follower you are, will you follow anyone who wants to lead you? Every day in this country there are countless urgent calls for people who are willing to follow. Every type of cause is looking for followers: environmental issues, social injustice issues, political issues, union issues, physical and mental health issues, moral issues, and volunteerism of every type.

Every week you hear so many appeals for followers that most of those appeals do not even register in your awareness. “Become a part of us. Share our concerns. Share our purposes. Share our objectives. Serve our cause.”

With so many causes pleading for you to follow, when do you decide to be a follower? What causes you to decide to become a follower? Why do you follow? Those are significant, relevant questions.

1. One of the original, basic concepts of belonging to Jesus was based on the concept of following.
   1. The people Jesus recognized as being his followers were called disciples.
      1. The word “disciple” is not a common word today; it is not used much in our everyday language.
      2. Though it is not a bad word today, neither is it a good word.
         1. Sometimes it is a condescending word: “Oh, he is a disciple of ____________;” meaning he follows a person or cause that you neither respect nor trust.
         2. Or, it can suggest that a person is a fanatic who is out of touch with reality: “Don’t take him seriously; he is a disciple of ________________.”
      3. Many people who are not a part of a religious group and who do not read the Bible do not know the meaning of the word.
   2. What does the word, disciple, mean?
      1. Our English word, disciple, comes from a Latin word that means pupil or student.
      2. The Greek word in the New Testament that we translate with the word disciple means “to learn.”
      3. The words disciple or disciples occurs (in the American Standard Version):
         1. Seventy-three times in the gospel of Matthew.
         2. Forty-two times in the gospel of Mark.
         3. Thirty-six times in the gospel of Luke.
         4. Seventy-five times in the gospel of John.
         5. Thirty times in the book of Acts.
      4. During Jesus’ earthly lifetime, the people who followed him to learn were called disciples—disciple was the most common word used to describe the people who choose to follow Jesus.
      5. The earliest word used, after Jesus’ resurrection, for the people who believed, repented, and were baptized still was disciples.
         1. Acts 6:1 states the disciples in the Jerusalem congregation were increasing in number.
         2. Acts 6:2 states the apostles summoned the congregation of the disciples.
         3. Acts 6:7 says, “The number of disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem.”
         4. Acts 9:1 says that Saul “was breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.”
         5. Acts 9:19 and 25 state that, after Saul became a Christian, the disciples in Damascus took care of him.
         6. Acts 9:26 says that the disciples in Jerusalem were afraid to associate with Saul when he tried to become a part of them.
         7. Acts 11:26 says the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
         8. Some 18 times after Acts 11:26, Acts still calls Christians as disciples.
   3. The disciples/teacher relationship was not invented by Jesus, and it was not unique to Jesus and the people who followed him to learn.
      1. Disciple was a common word in their language when Jesus lived.
      2. The disciple/teacher relationship was also a well understood relationship.
      3. John the baptizer had disciples (Matthew 9:14; Mark 2:18; Luke 7:18; John 3:25).
         1. They followed John for the same reason that Jesus’ disciples followed him–they wanted to learn.
         2. They became very concerned about the rising popularity of Jesus and expressed that concern to John (John 3:26).
         3. John stated something that they did not understand: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).
      4. The Pharisees had disciples (Mark 2:18).
      5. The Pharisees declared that they were the disciples of Moses (John 9:28).
         1. Moses through the law led them.
         2. All their answers about life and God came from Moses.
         3. The law they followed determined who they were and what they did; it governed their entire existence.
   4. But Jesus raised the concept of discipleship to a new level.
      1. For example, in Luke 14:26,27 Jesus said that anyone who came to him and did not hate his family and his own life could not be his disciple, and whoever refused to carry his own cross and come after Jesus could not be his disciple.
         1. Discipleship meant accepting Jesus as life’s most important reality.
         2. It also meant the commitment to accept and endure shame and suffering.
         3. In verse 33 he said that if they did not give up all their possessions that they could not be his disciple.
      2. In John 6, some of the men in the Capernaum synagogue involved themselves in a discussion and confrontation between Jesus and some people that Jesus miraculously fed the day before.
         1. Jesus gave them a difficult teaching to understand.
         2. He said that, just as God had given the nation of Israel manna in the wilderness centuries before, God had sent him as the new manna.
         3. They must eat him and drink his blood if they expected to find life.
         4. This offended the men in the synagogue, the men that he fed the day before, and many of his disciples who were listening.
         5. Jesus refused to retract the teaching, and many of his disciples left him never to follow him again (John 6:66).
         6. When he asked his twelve disciples if they, too, were going to leave him, Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).
2. By personal decision and choice, I am a Christian.
   1. That means many things, but basically it means this: by my decision and choice, I follow Jesus Christ to learn from Jesus Christ–He is my teacher; I am his pupil.
      1. In religion? No.
      2. In theology? No.
      3. In church doctrines? No.
      4. In spiritual matters? No.
      5. In the totality of life!
      6. Certainly, Jesus Christ is my teacher in religion, theology, church doctrines, and spiritual matters–but that is only a part of the things he teaches me.
   2. What do you mean that Jesus is the teacher and that you are the student and follower in all of life? What are you talking about?
      1. My objective is to allow Jesus to lead me in all of life, and for me to follow Jesus by learning and by redirecting my life–all the time, every year.
      2. It means that Jesus will always be my teacher and that I will always be his student.
         1. My understanding and knowledge will never equal Jesus’ teachings.
         2. I will always let him teach me from the way he lived and used life, from his word, from his death, and from this resurrection.
         3. I will never equal nor surpass him; I will never reach a level of knowledge or understanding when I do not need to learn.
         4. I will never be able to say to Jesus, “Jesus, I know what God wants better than you do. I understand the needs and the situation better than you do. I know what you said, but I know what God wants. I know what you said is important, but what God wants is more important.”
         5. Jesus explained our disciple relationship with him in these words:
            A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become as his teacher, and the slave as his master (Matthew 10:24,25).
      3. Choosing to be Jesus’ disciple means that I let Jesus teach me:
         1. Who I am.
         2. What my life’s purpose is.
         3. How I am to live in this world.
         4. What my focus and perspective should be.
         5. How I am to treat other people.
         6. What it means to belong to and serve God.
         7. What my eternal destiny is.
      4. As I learn from Jesus, my thinking and understanding will always be changing and maturing.
   3. Why would any person give Jesus that role of leadership in his life?
      1. There are numerous reasons, and the reasons mature as the relationship matures.
      2. Let me illustrate what I am sharing in this way: in a good, healthy father/son relationship, why will the son allow his father to be a source of unique, powerful influence in his life?
         1. When the son is an infant, the father has that role because the son is totally dependent.
         2. When the son is a small child, the father has that role because the father is powerful.
         3. When the son is an older child, the father has that role because the son does not want to suffer the consequences of rebelling against him–at this time, he may even be afraid of him at times.
         4. The time likely will come when the son allows the father to continue in that role because the son needs him.
         5. But if it is a healthy relationship, the son willingly allows the father to occupy that role because he loves and respects his father.
      3. At different times, a person chooses to be a disciple of Jesus Christ for all those reasons.
         1. There will be a time he/she is a disciple because he/she is totally dependent.
         2. There will also be times when he/she is a disciple because of Jesus power, or because he/she realizes the consequences of not following Jesus, or because he/she has special needs only Jesus can address.
         3. But if the discipleship relationship with Jesus is allowed to mature, the time will come when the person chooses to be a disciple because of love and respect for Jesus.
         4. And it will be at that time that he/she will become the most mature, committed follower that he/she has ever been.
   4. David, why do you choose to be a disciple?
      1. Because I love and respect him, and in that love and respect it is my goal to allow him to teach me anything I need to learn and change my life in any way that he wants it to change.
      2. Why? Because I understand what Peter understood: he is the son of God, and only he has the words of eternal life.

How much does discipleship factor in what you believe? How important is Jesus Christ to your faith system? Is he the primary factor in your faith system, or is he no factor at all? Could you remove Jesus from all your thinking and all your motives and your faith system remain intact, unchanged, doing all the same things that you have always done? If that could happen, I ask you a very serious question: are you a disciple of Jesus Christ? Do you allow him to teach you?

A Common Cause of Great Joy and Great Suffering

Posted by David on under Sermons

I want you to consider a powerful, common factor that dramatically affects every person’s life. No one escapes the impact of this common factor. Everyone is affected by it. The power and influence of this factor are astounding to the point of disbelief.

This specific factor causes more joy in the lives of the people of this congregation than any other single factor. It also causes more sorrow in the lives of the people in this congregation than any other single factor.

It creates more happiness than any other specific factor, and it generates more heartache than any other specific factor.

It brings more peace than any other specific factor, and it causes more anger than any other specific factor.

It nurtures spiritual development as nothing else does, and it opposes spiritual development as nothing else does.

By now you doubt me–seriously doubt me. You are thinking, “David, that is preposterous. It is ridiculous to think one factor can produce joy and sorrow, happiness and heartache, and peace and anger, while it both nurtures and opposes spiritual development in the same group of people.”

“Just name any single factor that could possibly do all those things in this congregation.”           M a r r i a g e.

Every person is powerfully impacted by marriage–either by their own marriage, by their parents’ marriage, by both marriages, or by the fact that their lives have never been touched by a marriage. Marriage causes joy or sorrow, causes happiness or heartache, brings peace or generates anger, and either nurtures or opposes spiritual development.

Add to those truths these insights. Every good marriage can be better than it is. Every bad marriage can be worse than it is. Every good marriage has the potential of becoming a nightmare. Every bad marriage has the potential of becoming a powerful blessing.

1. Have you noticed that all the marriages that are discussed in the Bible are bad marriages?
   1. Only the Old Testament gives us details about specific marriages.
   2. The New Testament doesn’t give details about specific marriages.
   3. In past generations, it was common to refer to the marriage of Isaac and Rebekkah in marriage ceremonies: “May you love your wife as you enter your marriage like Isaac loved Rebekkah.”
      1. That statement was often included in wedding ceremonies for three reasons.
      2. Reason # 1: It is the first marriage that we read about from its formation.
      3. Reason # 2: It is the first marriage we are told about in detail when the husband had one wife and only one wife (there were previous marriages that had one wife and one husband, but detail about those marriages are not given).
      4. Reason # 3: It is the first time scripture states that the man loved the woman he married.
   4. But, when we investigate that marriage, neither you nor I would call it successful; that marriage produced a very sick family.
      1. Isaac entered adult life and entered marriage with problems that began with his mother, Sarah.
         1. At a specific moment in his childhood, Isaac’s mother insisted that his father force his half brother, Ishmael, and Ishmael’s mother, Hagar, out of the family; she also insisted that Abraham disinherit Ishmael (Genesis 21:8-10).
         2. What she demanded simply was not done in that day–what she demanded was disgraceful, unacceptable family behavior.
         3. Ishmael was born because of Sarah’s personal insistence–she urged Abraham to have a son by her servant, Hagar.
         4. This was acceptable in that time.
         5. If you had a childless couple who needed an heir, this was one of the approved ways to have an heir.
         6. She urged Abraham to do this so that Hagar’s son would be considered their heir.
         7. If Sarah had not urged Abraham to have a child by Hagar, Ishmael would never have been born.
         8. Because Sarah demanded that Abraham disinherit Ishmael, Abraham lost a son that he loved, a son who was just as much his son as was Isaac.
      2. Isaac also entered adult life and marriage with problems that began with his father (Genesis 22).
         1. We greatly admire Abraham’s faith in his willingness to offer Isaac in sacrifice to God on an altar.
         2. But we don’t think much about Isaac’s traumatic experience when he was bound and placed on the altar.
         3. I wonder if Isaac had nightmares about that day when he looked up into his father’s face as Abraham stood over him with the sacrificial knife.
      3. I certainly do not minimize Abraham’s faith nor the enormous importance of his willingness to sacrifice his son–later, God Himself did what He asked Abraham to do.
         1. God promised Abraham a son.
         2. Twenty-five years later God kept that promise.
         3. After Isaac was born, Abraham trusted God and that promise as never before.
         4. He trusted God to keep that promise even if God asked him to kill Isaac.
         5. That is a priceless insight into the true nature of faith, and it is an insight that I admire and cherish.
      4. But just as evil produces consequences, so does faith produce consequences.
         1. I genuinely wonder how that experience affected Isaac. I often wonder how some of my faith decisions have affected my children. Do you?
         2. Isaac knew that the intervention of an angel stopped the sacrifice, but he also knew that the father who loved him would have killed him had the angel not intervened.
         3. That is a heavy, heavy awareness for a boy to carry.
         4. And this question intrigues me most: how did this event affect Sarah after Abraham and Isaac returned home? Wonder how the family was affected when she learned that Abraham had taken Isaac with the intention of sacrificing him?
         5. To say the least, Isaac was affected by the tensions that existed in his home.
   5. Isaac loved Rebekkah when he married her, but, if you examined their marriage later, you would not have guessed that this marriage began with love.
      1. Once Isaac was afraid that some men would kill him in order to marry Rebekkah.
         1. So Isaac told the men that Rebekkah was his sister (Genesis 26:7).
         2. Isaac learned that ploy by hearing true stories about what his father had done (Genesis 12:11-13).
         3. But Sarah was Abraham’s half sister.
         4. And Abraham discussed the half-truth with Sarah before he said she was his sister.
         5. Rebekkah was not a part of Isaac’s immediate family, and there is no indication that he discussed with her before he did it.
         6. It is possible that Rebekkah learned of Isaac’s lie after the fact when the men came to get her to become a wife to the king.
         7. When the king found out that Isaac had lied about Rebekkah, he was extremely angry with Isaac.
      2. Still later in their marriage, Rebekkah had twins, Esau and Jacob (Genesis 25:21-28).
         1. An intense rivalry developed between the twins who became very different men.
         2. That rivalry was intensified by the fact that Isaac loved Esau, and Rebekkah loved Jacob.
         3. The rivalry became so intense and deceitful that Rebekkah convinced Jacob to deceive his blind father in order to steal the family blessing that rightfully belonged to Esau.
         4. She not only urged Jacob to do it, but she devised the plan of how to do it, and she helped Jacob accomplish the deception.
      3. This was a deeply troubled marriage and a very sick family.
      4. To me the most incredible thing about this marriage is found in the fact that God worked in it and through it to make major progress toward bringing Christ into the world.
2. How has marriage impacted your life?
   1. How has:
      1. Your father and mother’s marriage influenced you as a person?
         1. Whether good or bad, your experiences as a child in your home combined with your observations of your father and mother were the primary influence in forming your marriage concepts and your marriage expectations.
         2. It is very unwise to enter a marriage unaware of the ways that you are influenced by your parent’s marriage.
      2. Your marriage influenced your life?
         1. No one can encourage you more powerfully or hurt you more deeply than the person you marry.
         2. The person you marry can introduce you to joys and happiness that you did not know existed, and can introduce you to pain and agony that you never experienced before.
         3. It is extremely unwise to enter a marriage believing that your husband or wife will not significantly influence your life.
3. Yet, it is a fact that every marriage will become what the husband and wife either (a) let it become or (b) cause it to become.
   1. Any wife can destroy a marriage, but no wife can build a marriage by herself.
   2. Any husband can destroy a marriage, but no husband can build a marriage by himself.
   3. There are many ways to destroy a marriage. You can destroy it by:
      1. Neglecting it.
      2. Abusing it.
      3. Exploiting it.
      4. Attacking it.
   4. No matter what the state of a marriage is, if the husband and wife accept mutual responsibility in dealing with their problems, face their problems with repentance, and learn together how to create and build relationship, they can reverse a destructive marriage.
   5. Good marriages don’t just happen; they are built.
      1. Stable marriages don’t just happen; they are built.
      2. Responsible marriages don’t just happen; they are built.
      3. Happy marriages don’t just happen; they are built.

Building good, stable, responsible, happy marriages requires earnest effort and genuine work. But that effort and work are one of the richest, most fulfilling experiences in life. It blesses your home, your children, and your life as nothing else can.

Soon you will have an unusual opportunity to enrich your marriage and have a lot of fun doing it. It will be a great opportunity to prepare for marriage, or to make a happy marriage happier, or to redirect a struggling marriage. I urge you to attend the Brecheen and Faulkner Marriage Enrichment Seminar December 5 and 6. What is happening in your marriage? What do you want to happen?

Someone says, “My home is good. Why should I want to improve it?”

Because Jesus is the Son of God. “You just don’t know how tough things are in my house. Why should I deal with the pain necessary to improve things?” Because Jesus is the Son of God. “It is hard to deal with problems. To turn life around is an every day challenge. Why should I do that?” Because God sent His Son because of what your life can become.

Every choice, every decision begins with the understanding that Jesus is the Son of God. Everything this world is about centers in Jesus as the Son of God.

The only bridge from here to eternity is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

I challenge you to deal with family, marriage, parenting, and everything that must be dealt with in this world, because Jesus is the Son of God.

Neither God Nor Jesus Used Cookie Cutters

Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles

Genesis 2:7 states that God formed Adam out of dust. It does not suggest that God used a cookie cutter to do it. Adam was hand-crafted by God. He was not made on a divine production line.

Adam’s first two sons were distinctive individuals. Abel and Cain were literally as different as light and darkness. No cookie cutter reproductions there.

The Israelite men through whom God worked were distinctly different. Moses was the man of meekness; David was an aggressive man of war; and Elijah such an eccentric we would have labeled him weird. No cookie cutter types here.

Neither did Jesus use a cookie cutter. His disciples were not spiritual reproductions formed on a divine assembly line.

When Jesus selected the twelve men to be his special disciples, he did not look for duplicates. He did not seek clones who talked, acted, and thought as people who were spiritually formed by a divine cookie cutter.

James and John had thundering personalities. They wanted to protect “the significance and integrity” of Jesus (Luke 9:51-56). They also sought prominent positions in the group (Mark 10:35-45). John ordered a man not to cast demons out of people in Jesus’ name because he was not part of “the group” (Luke 9:49-50).

Peter was the outspoken one who never failed to say something. Previously, Matthew collected taxes that probably helped support the Roman army. Simon came from a radical religious sect that used violence to pursue their purposes. Thomas could step forward with courage (John 11:16), or he could be filled with doubt (John 20:24,25). No cookie cutter used here.

Jesus reached out to Mary Magdalene (who had seven evil spirits), Nicodemus (a member of the Jewish supreme court), a Samaritan woman (who was an outcast in her own community), a weeping prostitute (whose penitent behavior was publicly unacceptable), and a dying thief (a skeptic who was convinced). No cookie cutter in evidence here.

Imagine a congregation with Moses, David, Elijah, James, John, Peter, Matthew, Simon, Thomas, Mary Magdalene, Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, and the forgiven prostitute as members. Talk about diversity! Yet, God touched and used each of them–and uses them thousands of years after they died!

Why did we create the idea that God commissioned us to use a divinely patented cooker cutter? Why did we decide that every Christian must look alike, think alike, and behave alike spiritually? God loves individuals as individuals. God saves individuals as individuals. Thank you, God!