#601 – 5^th Sunday after Pentecost

“What About You?”

            “C’mon!  Let’s go!”  For so many years, you didn’t have a choice!  You were a kid.  And when mom or dad said, ‘Let’s go!’, you got up and went!  You went only where mom or dad went.  You met who mom and dad let you meet.  Your friends were their friends or their friends’ kids.  You weren’t often asked, “Where do you want to go?  What do you want to do?”  Your opinion of people and things was largely controlled by your parent’s opinion of those same people and things. 

            Now many of you are older.  And your individualism is much more evident and much more consequential.  What will you personally do?  Where will you go?  How will you spend your time?  With whom will you hang around?  You are asked for your own personal opinion.  “What about you?  What do you think?”

            Jesus has a similar question for you.  A personal question.  One of serious consequence.  Eternal life is involved!  “What about you?”

            Your parents can’t answer the question for you.  Just because you know someone or are related to someone who has the right answer won’t do you any good if you yourself don’t have the correct answer to that question imbedded in your heart.

            “What about you?”, Jesus asks each one of you this morning.  “Who do you say I am?  And will you lose your life for me?”

            Jesus was well into his public ministry at the time of our lesson.  Dozens, perhaps hundreds of miracles had been performed.  Crowds of people – in the thousands on many occasions – had sat at his feet listening to him preach the Word of God.  He had witnessed tremendous popularity.  But here of late he’d also seen the crowds begin to thin because he wasn’t willing to cheapen his ministry to be a circus act; he wasn’t willing to set aside his purpose in being here to merely achieve the public appeal of a miracle worker. 

            It was time for Jesus to start letting his disciples in on his ultimate goal . . . his ultimate purpose in coming to earth – that he had come as the Christ to offer up his life on the cross as the sacrifice of atonement for our sins. 

            But before doing so, Jesus needed to make sure his disciples believed him to be that heaven-sent Christ . . . the promised Messiah.  So . . .

         “Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, ‘Who do the crowds say I am?’ ^ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.’ ^‘But what about you?’ he asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’  Peter answered, ‘The Christ of God’” (vss.18-20).

         This had to have been a very rewarding moment for Jesus.  For the most part throughout his ministry, he refrained from using the term “Christ” or its Hebrew equivalent, “Messiah.”  Both those terms had become so loaded with political baggage, that he didn’t dare publicly claim to be the Messiah.  Instead, he let his actions – his preaching, teaching, and miracle-working – speak for him.  He let the Holy Spirit help put two and two together in people’s hearts and minds.  This way, if people got it, they truly got it!  They understood him to be the kind of Messiah that God promised to send – the Savior from sin, Satan, death and the devil.

         The disciples got it!  Other people had a great deal of respect for Jesus, but all these other opinions some people had still missed the mark.  The disciples, at least, got it!  “[You are] the Christ of God,” Peter said.

         But again, why did Jesus ask the question?  For whose sake did he ask it?  And what did he hope to accomplish by asking the question?

         Let me share two concepts with you . . . those two concepts are “objective truth” and “subjective truth.”  What’s the difference between the two?  Objective truth is truth that exists regardless of what a person thinks about it.  Gravity, for example, would be an objective truth for people here on earth.  You can believe all the way down to the depths of your soul that the law of gravity doesn’t apply to you.  Try walking over the edge of a cliff.  Gravity will apply; and it will hurt finding out that way.  Subjective truth is truth that only applies to you.  Like whether you like tomatoes or not.  Or whether your favorite color is blue or green or pink or red.  There’s no right or wrong answer to the question:  What is the best color?  You have your own personal opinion and I have mine.

         People have their own personal opinions about Jesus, to be sure.  They always have, even when he was preaching and teaching and working miracles here physically on earth.  You have yours, too.  And that’s important.  Not that your opinion changes who Jesus is – Jesus is the Christ of God regardless of what you believe about him.  That’s an objective fact.  But your opinion of him does change your relationship to him . . . and your status before God, as a direct result. 

            Back to the question, why did Jesus ask the question of his disciples?  The question was not asked by Jesus like your stereotypical politician asks his or her staffers (so that he can change his stripes to be what people want him to be).  No, in fact, the question was not asked by Jesus for his sake at all.  It’s not as if Jesus had any insecurities about who he was, how successful a ministry he was conducting, or what in the world he was doing here in the world.  No . . . Jesus was asking the question for his disciples’ sake.  He wanted them to see the contrast between the false ideas held by the crowds and the truth which the disciples had been blessed by God to believe.

            You see, Jesus is the Christ of God whether a person believes it or not.  Whether you’ll benefit from him or not does depend on what you believe about him!  What you personally believe.  “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved,” Jesus said, “but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16).  Thus the question Jesus poses to you today:  “What about you?  Who do you think I am?”

            Saving faith is a very personal . . . a very individual thing.  It’s a one-on-one relationship between an individual soul and its Savior.  I hope you share that faith with the other important people in your life.  It’s very rewarding to have family and friends who – like you – believe in Jesus as their Savior, too.  But your relationship with Jesus is your very own.

            Relationships work that way.  If your extended family is anything like mine, there are certain members of the family which have developed special relationships . . . special bonds with a certain member of the family – like an aunt or uncle, a grandparent or a cousin.  Then again, other members of the family can’t hardly stand being around that same individual. 

            Just because a person happened to be raised in a Christian home or happens to go to church every once in a while, doesn’t mean that person actually acknowledges Jesus to be the Christ or believes in Jesus as their Savior!  In fact, Jesus warned the large crowd that gathered to hear his famous Sermon on the Mount that all sorts of people will say to him one day:  “’Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’  Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you.  Away from me, you evildoers!’”  (Matthew 7:22-23)

            So again I ask of you Jesus’ question:  “What about you?  Who do you say I am?”  I pray that God enables you every day of your life to be able to say from your heart – as did Peter – “You, Jesus, are the Christ of God!  You are my Savior!  My Lord!”

            The mood of our lesson, however, takes a drastic turn in verse 21.  The excitement of the disciples surrounding the faith they had been given to be able to properly identify Jesus as the Christ of God and see him as their Savior quickly changed into confusion and dismay.

            Why?  Because . . . “Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. ^And he said, ‘The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.’^ Then he said to them all: ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it’” (vss.21-24).

            (?? Back in a less sanctified point in my life, we’d refer to that as a buzz kill(er)???)  The emotional high of the disciples was quickly tempered by the reality of what the Christ of God had come to earth to do.  He’d not come to conquer the world – either by force or by love.  He not come to establish an earthly kingdom of peace and glory and life on easy street for all.  No, he’d come to embrace the cross!  To endure death and hell.  To face the ridicule and rejection of mankind in order to win the forgiveness and salvation of all mankind.  He refused to be distracted.  He refused to be diverted from his primary goal of doing everything necessary to make it possible for you to have a perfect and everlasting relationship with your God in heaven!  And that meant embracing the cross . . . which he did  . . . for you!

            This past week at Vacation Bible School our theme was all about ranching.  Cowboys, cowgirls, sheep and cattle!  Jesus put his sacrifice on the cross into ranching terms  . . . shepherd terms in John chapter 10.  There he spoke of the personal and sacrificial nature of his role as our Savior.  “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:14-15).

            And now – while your salvation is accomplished and you will not have to endure a literal God-forsaken death on a cross, Jesus does ask you:  “Will you lose your life for me?  Will you take up your cross daily and follow me?” 

            Not just put up with the cross because you don’t really have a choice, but actually embrace it!  Embrace it because it’s part and parcel with being a disciple of Christ. 

            That’s exactly what the cross of a Christian is . . . some challenge, some burden – physical, emotional, even spiritual – which you have to endure specifically because of your faith in Jesus.  Perhaps your cross in life is having trouble making good friends, because your faith in Jesus is such a priority to you.  You have trouble doing things when they want to do them, because they conflict with church or Bible study.  Or because the things they say and do when you’re together conflict with the Bible and your conscience.  Your cross may be having to face the same rejection Jesus’ faced – both personally and/or simply the rejection of the gospel message you’re trying to share – even by those who are nearest and dearest to you.  Your cross may be the ceaseless wrestling you have in your heart against doubt or fear; your faith is always challenged with the problems you face in life, perhaps a pet sin or an addiction you struggle to shake, and all the questions that raises about God’s love or his tender care or his direction and protection in your life.  Your cross may be living on a lower income than you otherwise could have were you willing to compromise your morals and your faith, or were you willing to work a job which kept you away from church regularly. 

In each case, you constantly finding yourself or others asking, “Is it worth it?”  And the answer you keep giving only makes sense in light of eternity.  In light of who Jesus truly is and what he’s truly done for you.  Jesus is your Savior!  He’s earned eternal life in heaven for you!  Believe me, he’s more than worth it!

You may not know how to change the oil in your car.  You can pay people to do that.  You may not know how to fix your TV or vacuum or dishwasher when it malfunctions.  That’s o.k., too.  There’s people who can do that for you.  You may not know who Jay DeMerit is or what a forceps’ beak is good for.  That’s o.k.  That’s what Wikipedia is for, if your care.

But this you need to know for yourself:  that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, your Savior from sin.  Believe in him!  Lose your life for him!  After all, he has and will continue to save it for you.  Amen.

#602 – 8^th Sunday after Pentecost

This Isn’t Rocket Science

            How many of you would like to travel into space?  If you had somewhere between $20 and $35 million dollars to spare (and had connections with the Russian space program) you could perhaps take a trip to the International Space Station (after they lift the current ban, which they intend to do in 2012).             

            Or . . . if you were a bit more patient and had about $200,000 laying around, you could get yourself on the list of people who intend to take a sub-orbital flight on one of a number of different commercial space travel options.  Perhaps the most famous is a company called Virgin Galactic, founded by Sir Richard Branson.  During these suborbital flights, you wouldn’t exactly be exploring the outer reaches of the universe, but you would be able to experience three to six minutes of weightlessness.  You’ll have to be patient, though.  Although billions of dollars have been spent and decades of research have been invested, the science behind commercial space travel is still being developed, fine-tuned and tested.

            Or . . . you could try to build your own space travel rocket.  I don’t have a dollar figure for you for that.  It would certainly require quite a bit of money . . . and time . . . and a whole lot of know how!  You’d have to learn a lot about things like rocket propulsion, exhaust velocity and directional stabilization devices.  I’m not sure how familiar you are with such things. 

            So . . . which will it be?  I’m going to assume that it’s likely that all three are pretty much out of the question . . . unless of course the cost for commercial space travel comes down a bit in the future.  I think that we could all live without traveling into space.

            Imagine, however, if you couldn’t.  Imagine if life itself depending on you getting into space.  Say, for example, that a nuclear holocaust loomed in the very near future.  The only possibility for survival depended upon you escaping this planet.  Imagine if you couldn’t survive without traveling into space.  I’m afraid most of us would resolve ourselves to dying with most of the rest of humanity.

            What about your spiritual survival?  What about eternal life?  Will you resolve yourself to dying an eternal death with much of the rest of humanity?  Or will you do whatever is necessary to survive eternally – to live forever with God?  And what does that take?  Where must you go to find out about this eternal life and enjoy life with God?

            Thankfully, this isn’t rocket science.  Thankfully in order to have eternal life you don’t have to travel into space.  Thankfully you are not required to understand things like inertial navigation systems, engine gimbals for thrust vectoring, and how to properly mix liquid hydrogen and oxygen to serve as a propellant. 

            No, this isn’t rocket science.  God’s Word – which tells you everything you need to know and gives you everything you need to have to enjoy eternal life – I.  this Word is very near you and II. it is not too difficult for you to understand.

            The words of our lesson are the inspired words of Moses very near the end of his life to his beloved people of Israel.  He had served the last forty years of his life as the Lord’s agent in miraculously rescuing the people of Israel from their slavery in Egypt, providing for them throughout their wanderings in the desert, and finally bringing them to the doorstep of the promised land.  The LORD had inspired through him the first five books of the Bible and had revealed through him his Law – his will for their lives – individually and as a nation. 

            “If you do these things,” Moses said . . . “Then the LORD your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land.  The LORD will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your fathers, if you obey the LORD your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (vss.9-10).  Obey the LORD’s will . . . put his law into action in your life . . . and watch him bless you!

            Sounds good, doesn’t it?!  Who wouldn’t want that?!

            So . . . why don’t more people do it?  Why doesn’t everybody do that?!  Boy, that’s a good question!  Who wouldn’t want to be the constant beneficiary of God’s love and blessing?!

            Most would argue they can’t do that because they don’t know what that means and what that takes.  How are they possibly supposed to know who God is and what his will is? 

            Here’s where the words of our lesson are so fundamentally important for each one of us to hear and appreciate!  “Now what I am commanding you today is not . . . beyond your reach.  It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, ‘Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’  Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’  No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it” (vss.11-14).

            God has not left it up to us to guess as to who he is, how he wants us to live or what we need to do in order to have a good relationship with him.  He hasn’t tucked himself away in some distant corner of the universe and said, “Try to find me!”  He hasn’t placed the book which reveals himself to us on the face of the planet Mars and said:  “Go, fetch it!”  This isn’t some cosmic game of hide and seek.  Instead, God has broken into our existence and revealed himself to us.

            “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,” the author to the Hebrews was inspired to write (Hebrews 1:1).  “Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit,” the apostle Peter was himself inspired by God to write (2 Peter 1:21).  God’s very own word is as near to you as the Bible you have on the counter or bookshelf in your home.  It’s right here! (hold up Bible)  And the more you read and study and learn it, the more and more it gets to be right here (in your heart).

            This isn’t rocket science!  You don’t need to design a rocket or even be willing to ride in one to know God’s saving plan and will for you!  Paul was inspired to write in the book of Romans.  “The righteousness that is by faith says:  ‘Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down) or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).  But what does it say?  ‘The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,’ that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming:  That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:6-9).

            That already takes us to the second point of the sermon this morning . . . just how simple this all is.  Believe in Jesus as your Savior from sin and you will be saved.  But before we get there, let’s pause just a moment to once again emphasize the fact that this profound mystery of who the God of the universe truly is and where you stand in relation to him is right here - and only here - in the Bible.  God has graciously revealed to us everything he feels we need to know about him, his will for our lives, and how to have eternal life with him in heaven one day.  He’s not only put it all here in his Word, but the Holy Spirit has worked through that Word to in ever-increasing measure also put it here in our hearts and in our minds.

            O.K., somebody says.  So it’s right here in the Bible . . . and even in some form in my head and in my heart.  But I just don’t get it.  And what I do get, I can’t do.  It’s too hard, so I’m not going to even try.

            “Uh, uh!,” Moses says.  “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you . . . the word is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it” (vss.11,14). 

            This past week my family and I toured the Museum of Flight in Seattle, WA.  The place is fascinating!  But I’ll be honest . . . as much as I read about rockets and engines, as many displays as I looked at, I still don’t get how it works.  Don’t ask me to build you a space rocket or a jet engine. 

Thankfully, unlike things like exhaust velocity and thrust vectoring, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to understand God’s Word . . . or be able to believe and do it!  This isn’t rocket science!

            In one sense, admittedly, it is.  The level of wisdom required of God to devise and then execute such a remarkable plan for our salvation is way beyond our abilities to comprehend!  To take our sins off of us and have Christ – God the Son – take on human flesh and serve as our substitute to suffer the death and hell we had coming to us for our sin . . . so that now God can declare us not guilty through faith in him!  Who would have thought of that?!  God alone!

The Bible says in the book of I Corinthians:  “’No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’ – but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. . . . We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.  This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.  The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (I Corinthians 2:9-14).

            You see, while the wisdom and level of understanding required to devise these profound gospel truths is way beyond our abilities to comprehend, it is not beyond our ability to learn of them or believe them.  It is beyond our natural abilities to do so  - we can’t conceive of these things on our own.  But with the gracious working of the Holy Spirit, who’s given us the faith to believe them, we can.  This isn’t rocket science!  God’s figured it all out.  He simply asks us to believe it.  To trust that he’s got it figured it . . . he’s got it covered . . . and believe him and his Word. 

            Some people complain (and each one of us do, too, at times) that the Bible is too difficult to understand.  And certainly parts of it are difficult to understand the point of at first.  But with some concentrated effort and time in Bible study, prayer for the Holy Spirit’s guidance, and perhaps a little tutoring from someone who knows their Bible, most – if not all – of the Bible can and will become an open book to you. 

            It’s not too difficult to understand.  And it’s not too difficult to put into application.  “Do not merely be hearers of the word,” the Bible commands, “Do what it says!” (James)  And yet, we each have to contend with a sinful nature, which likes to distract us, throw us off track, confuse us and mislead us.  A sinful nature which likes to create excuses for our lack of obedience.  “It’s too hard!” 

            No it’s not!  “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Philippians 2:12-13).  Yes, it’s difficult.  We are sinners!  We live in a world of sin!  Sin is all around us and all within us!  Fear and trembling are a part of our spiritual walk.  The devil is constantly on the prowl, looking and hoping to devour us.  But God Almighty himself is at work within you – giving you the will and the ability to live out your faith in love for God.  And when you fail, God works in you the humility to repent and the eagerness to enjoy his forgiveness.

            There were periods in Jesus’ ministry that just about anywhere he went it was like being at a rock concert.  Jesus was the rock star.  The crowds were large and excited.  Once when Jesus was teaching about his power to drive out demons and the evidence this gave that he had been sent by God as their Savior, a woman screamed out to him from the crowd:  “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you” (Luke 11:27).  And in fact, still today millions of people venerate and almost worship Mary for how blessed she was – even wrongly saying she is so blessed that she can help get people closer to Christ and to heaven.  What was Jesus’ response?  “He replied, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it’” (Luke 11:28).  In other words, as blessed as was Mary, more blessed are you when you do what you are doing right now . . . listening to God’s Word, and then – with God’s help – believe it and put it into practice. 

            This really isn’t that difficult.  It certainly isn’t rocket science.  You don’t need a rocket to find it.  You don’t need to be a scientist to understand it.  It’s right here in your Bible . . . read it!  It’s right here in your heart . . . believe it . . . obey it!  Amen.

#603 – 9^th Sunday after Pentecost

Why Do You Laugh?

            There was a barber that thought that he should share his faith with his customers more than he had been doing lately. So the next morning when the sun came up and the barber got up out of bed he said, "Today I am going to witness to the first man that walks through my door."
      Soon after he opened his shop the first man came in and said, "I want a shave!" The barber said, "Sure, just sit in the seat and I'll be with you in a moment." The barber went in the back and prayed a quick desperate prayer saying, "God, the first customer came in and I'm going to witness to him. So give me the wisdom to know just the right thing to say to him. Amen."
      Then quickly the barber came out with his razor knife in one hand and a Bible in the other and said:  "Good morning, sir. I have a question for you... Are you ready to die?"

            Joke #2:  Three sons left home, went out on their own and prospered. They discussed the gifts they were able to give their elderly mother. The first said: "I built a big house for our mother."  The second said: "I sent her a Mercedes with a driver."
      The third said: "You remember how our mother enjoys reading the Bible. Now she can't see very well. So I sent her a remarkable parrot that recites the entire Bible. It took elders in the church 12 years to teach him. Mama just has to name the chapter and verse and the parrot recites it."
      Soon thereafter, their mother sent out her letters of thanks. "Milton," she said, "the house you built is so huge. I live only in one room, but I have to clean the whole house.” “Gerald," she said, "I am too old to travel. I stay most of the time at home so I rarely use the Mercedes. And that driver is so rude! He's a pain!"  "But Donald," she said, "the little chicken you sent was just delicious!"

            Why do people laugh?  Laughter is good for you, isn’t it?!  Scientists have even been able to identify some of the health benefits for laughter.  But most people don’t laugh purposefully for the benefit of their health.  People laugh for all sorts of reasons.  Like being told a good joke, for example.  People chuckle at irony.  Like when we were in Oregon a couple weeks ago.  State law forbids people from pumping their own gas.  Apparently the lawmakers feel the average person is too incompetent to pour their own gasoline.  So they pay people to do it for you.  And at only the second gas station we came to in Oregon, what does the attendant do?  He tops off my tank and gas spills all down the side of the jeep and all over the ground!

            People laugh because of the funny things in life.  Like the first night we went to set up our tent on vacation . . . We had the tent all rolled out and staked down.  I told the boys to please bring the tent poles.  “There aren’t any tent poles back here, Dad!”  Sure enough . . . six months of planning.  Every detail worked out well in advance.  And I leave the tent poles back in the garage . . . a good 500 miles away.

            I heard something else kind of funny this week . . . a salesman came into church and in the course of our conversation he told me about a big Catholic church he’d been in in Minnesota.  The church had magnificent stained glass windows, he said.  The detail was tremendous . . . detailing even the veins in the hands of the disciples.  The windows had been made by a Lutheran family-owned business in Germany before the second World War.  The bishop of the archdiocese was showing him around, and suddenly the man stopped and pointed to the second disciple from the right in the massive stained glass portrayal of the Last Supper.  The bishop said, “Yep.  I know.  It’s Martin Luther.”  The Lutheran stained glass window designers had given one of the disciples the face of Luther. 

            People laugh for all sorts of reasons.  Why do you?  What makes you laugh?  What brings a smile to your face and puts genuine joy in your heart?

            Unfortunately, we often laugh for bad and sinful reasons.  We laugh at filthy jokes; we laugh at the misfortunes of others; we laugh when people we don’t much like are being teased or ridiculed. 

            Sarah’s laugh in our less was a sinful one.  Sarah laughed in unbelief.  She was skeptical of the traveler’s promise.  The dream had died within her many years before this . . . about the same time her womb had died.

            When the Lord first approached her husband Abraham with the remarkable promises of a promised land, their being the ancestors of many nations, and the promise that the Savior of the world would be one of their descendants, Sarah was thrilled!  It seemed a bit far-fetched . . . she was 65 years old, after all . . . but the Lord worked within her a faith like that of Abraham.  She took God at his Word, at that point. 

            But then another dozen years slipped by, and so had Sarah’s faith.  She took matters into her own hands and suggested Abraham sleep with the servant girl and have a son that way. 

            “That’s not the plan!” the Lord said, as he reaffirmed the promies.  But then another dozen years went by.  Twelve long, silent, hopeless years.  Sarah at this point was now 90 years old.  Old, perhaps becoming a bit weak and frail.  But most significantly, well beyond the age of having kids. 

            For some inexplicable reason (Sarah could never figure it out), this didn’t stop Abraham.  The Bible relates in the book of Romans, chapter 4:  “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” ^ Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. ^ Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ^being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised” (4:18-21).

            Unlike her husband – the perpetual dreamer, whose hope never seemed to die, Sarah had lost hope long ago.

            Now let’s be fair.  The promises were quite hard to believe.  Every rational thought said, “No way!”  And Sarah never actually heard these promises for herself.  She was Abraham’s wife.  All these promises were given directly to Abraham and only to him.  Sarah heard all these unbelievable promises second hand . . . from the lips of Abraham, not directly from the Lord’s mouth.  You think Abraham had his doubts a bit at times . . . !  Imagine Sarah!  Her faith was being challenged not only to trust the Lord’s Word, but Abraham’s as well.

            So when these strangers showed up outside their home that day, Sarah listened in on their conversation with more than a bit of skepticism. 

            The account of that day tells us that after Abraham and Sarah showed their generosity and hospitality to these men, whom they both took for just some ordinary, weary travelers, that after dinner things suddenly got interesting!  You see, these strangers were none less than the Lord God himself accompanied by two angels, all of whom had taken on human form for this unique occasion. . . . “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked Abraham.

            “How does he know my name?” Sarah must have thought to herself.  “And why is he asking about me?”  Such a thing was entirely against the custom of the day.  People just didn’t do that! 

            But the Lord did . . . because he had come to restore Sarah’s hope.  He’d come down from heaven to reawaken the faith of the ancestress of his people Israel, the ancestress of the world’s Savior!  “Then the Lord said, ‘I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.’  Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him.  Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing.  So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, ‘After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?’”

            I’m afraid, too often we laugh in much the same way as Sarah did.  We hear God promise that “all things work for the good of those who love him,” and chuckle in frustration to ourselves:  “Yeah right!  I’d just like to see him do that with this one!”  Sometimes when the going gets tough, we hear God’s words about not worrying or stressing out about our bills, or our health, or our future, and we just smirk:  “Whatever!”

            Or we are suddenly made aware of the shame and the ugliness of a particular one of our sins, and then hear God’s promises of full forgiveness for all sins, and question whether such a thing can be really true.  Or we hear God’s command that we forgive all the sins of all those who have so deeply hurt us by their sins and hear also of God’s promise to give us the strength to do so . . . in fact, to be able to do all things through Christ who strengthens us, and then think to ourselves:  “No way!  Not this one . . . Not this time!”

            The combination of that very real challenge or that seemingly impossible situation, coupled with the devil’s temptations and our sinful nature’s hold on us lead us to have our doubts.  To be skeptical of God’s promises and his power or ability to keep them to us.  To laugh in unbelief at his Word.

            At times like this, we need the same visitation of the Lord as Sarah was so privileged to receive.  We need to hear much the same words of the Lord as were spoken to Sarah:  “Then the LORD said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh and say, “Will I really have a child, now that I am old?”  Is anything too hard for the LORD?  I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.’”

            Imagine Sarah’s embarrassment!  Somehow this stranger could read her mind.  He could see right into her heart!  He had heard her laugh to herself!  (Have you ever become suddenly keenly aware – right in the middle of committing a sin or shortly after – that God was watching . . . that he knew . . . that you’d been caught red-handed?!)

            “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’  Is anything too hard for the LORD?”  Indeed, is anything too hard for the LORD?  God is Almighty . . . which means there’s nothing he can’t do!  He can knit together a little child in an old womb just as well as he can in a young womb, if he so desires!   And he did! 

            “I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.” 

         And just as God himself promised, Isaac was born one year later!  The record of that is found in Genesis 21:  “Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. ^ Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. ^ Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. . . ^ Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” ^ And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

            There’s Sarah laughing again . . . in fact, giving her child a very fitting name . . . a name the Lord actually picked out for him:  Isaac, which means, “he laughs.”

            You can only imagine the perma-grin on Sarah’s face.  Already for nine months she had that pregnancy glow the likes of which few, if any, other women have experienced!  God Almighty had flexed his muscles and worked a miracle for her.  And this was just the beginning of the miraculous things he’d accomplish through her and her offspring!  She could’nt help but laugh . . . and this time out loud and without any shame!

            You and I this morning and every day can laugh along with Sarah.  Because through her and her son, Isaac, and her greatest offspring, Jesus Christ, the Lord has done marvelous things for us.  In Jesus, God Almighty has flexed his muscles and worked the miracle of salvation for us!  The apostle Paul spoke of it this way in our second lesson this morning:  “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.  But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation” (Colossians 1:21ff.).  And one day in the not so distant future, we will be “presented perfect in Christ.” 

            On that day, all of our skepticism, our doubts, our worries, our fears and frustrations will all be a thing of the past.  Forgotten by God, because of his grace and forgiveness in Christ . . . We will be perfect in his sight!  And forgotten by us . . . because we’ll be seeing with our own eyes the complete fulfillment of all God’s promises!  God in all of his glory!  Heaven in all of its glory!  We ourselves . . . in all of our glory – having been given Christ’s glory!

            So go ahead and laugh it up!  Already now let there be joy in your heart, a little skip in your step, the perma-grin that your faith in Jesus gives you!  God is good to his Word!  God is good to you!  Amen.

#604 – Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

You’ve Got to Have Faith

            Have you seen any of the pictures taken by the Hubble telescope?  Since 1990, the Hubble telescope has been able to zoom in on and capture some fascinating images; revealing galaxies up to billions of light years away!  The telescope continues to peer into the universe, scanning the outer reaches of the universe.  Some of the scientists involved do so hoping to see the face of God; others hoping to see the faces of aliens.  Both sides want proof.  They want to see for themselves tangible evidence one way or the other.  Where did we come from?  Where are we going?  Interesting . . .

            Do you realize that you and I already have what they’re searching for?!  We’ve already seen what they wish to see!  You see, God has graciously given us the gift of faith.  He’s already enabled us to see him and the heaven that awaits us! 

The Hubble telescope is interesting.  But what you really need, the inspired writer to the Hebrews says, what You’ve really Got to Have is Faith. 

Our lesson begins with this definition of faith:  “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (vs.1). 

Have you ever started down a trail or headed out onto a highway where there is a sign pointing out the way?  You boldly make that turn or head out down that trail confident that your destination lies at the end . . . in that direction.  Why?  You may have never seen where it is you’re heading – and you still can’t see it! - , but because someone in authority put that sign there and because the sign says, “Go in this direction . . . your destination awaits you this way”, you go that way.  And you fully expect to eventually arrive there.

We do something similar as Christians . . . the sign that points us in the direction of heaven is the Bible . . . the Word of God . . . especially its message of the gospel.  It tells us of Jesus, the eternal Son of God, who came to this earth for the primary purpose of securing our salvation.  He obeyed every one of God’s commands flawlessly – for us!  He suffered an agonizing death and endured an unspeakable hell – again for us – to remove our every sin; to make us spotless and blameless, so that we may access the perfection of heaven one day.  He qualified us for entry into God’s eternal kingdom.  And he rose victorious over death on Easter Sunday morning, assuring us that “Because I live, you too shall live – like this, like me, forever!”  And now God’s Word points to Jesus and says:  “Whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life!” 

And so we boldly follow Jesus . . . in faith.  And although we’ve never seen heaven or the Heavenly Father’s mansions which Jesus promises he’s prepared for us there, yet we fully expect to eventually arrive there.  Why?  Because Jesus – the ultimate authority - says so.  Because the Bible tells us so.  Because, like Abraham, we “consider him faithful who has made the promise” (vs.11).

In that, we are like the heroes of faith spoken of in this remarkable chapter of the Bible.  Like us, “All these people were still living by faith when they died.  They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. . . . they were longing for a better country – a heavenly one” (vss.13,16).

When do you most often have your doubts?  When is your faith most challenged?  Likely, when things aren’t going well for you.  Correct?  The devil tries to convince us that God owes us a good life here on earth.  That if God truly loved us like he says he does and has the kind of power he claims to have, that everything should go our way basically all the time.  And that if life isn’t heaven on earth, something’s wrong. 

Here’s where we could all learn an important truth from this lesson.  Heaven is not on earth.  Nor has God ever promised anything of the sort.  Heaven is our eternal home.  This is our temporary one.  Our faith’s true aspirations . . . true hopes . . . lie in their future fulfillment!  But faith enables us to see this fulfillment already now – to “welcome [God’s promises] from a distance” - , and continue down this path of faith with determination and confidence. 

Think of the last time you used a pair of binoculars.  It can be fun, can’t it?!  What appears to the natural eye to be an indistinct, large group of trees off in the distance through the binoculars can be seen as individual trees, with birds sitting on its branches, or wild animals taking shelter beneath them.  A pair of binoculars brings the distant near, brings the far off and blurry into focus, brings the unseen into clear view.  Such is the function of faith.  With God’s Word as it foundation, faith brings the future into focus.  Faith enables us to see God, his plans for us in eternity, his promises and the certainty of their fulfillment.  “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”  Faith enables us to see these unseen things as clearly as if we saw them with our own eyes.  In fact, even better than that.  After all, at times our eyes do deceive us, don’t they?!  God’s Word won’t! 

You and I as Christians – as people of faith – live our lives in anticipation of the eternal riches and glories of heaven which await us.  Now, that doesn’t mean that this life has no meaning or purpose for us.  That doesn’t mean that we become a bunch of couch potatoes, laying around in wait for that day.  No . . . live your life to the full.  Fully confident that as good as it may get at times, the best is yet to come!  Jesus came, after all, that we may “have life and have it to the full!”  A full and fulfilling life, however, does not merely consist in the things we can get our hands on and enjoy here and now.  Rather, life – by God, the Creator of life’s own definition – is life lived with God.  Lived with him by faith already now.  Lived with him in a mind-blowing sense of the term one day soon in heaven!

Do you see, then, why we can so confidently follow through on what Jesus tells us in our Gospel lesson this morning:  “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.  Sell your possessions and give to the poor.  Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Luke 12:32ff.)?!

Hebrews chapter 11 gives us a number of examples from the Old Testament of the kind of impact faith can have on the way a person conducts his or her life here on earth.  Our lesson focuses on Abraham.  “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.  By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.  For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (vss.8-10).  

Abraham had it good in Ur of the Chaldeans, and later in Haran.  These were established cities with fine buildings – permanent, comfortable structures.  Abraham was a wealthy man; middle-aged man, well-to-do, and comfortable in life.  He’d have lived in one of the nicest homes available at the time.  One day the LORD God appeared to Abraham and asked him to leave the city life, leave all the comforts of home, leave his friends and even his family behind, and go to a place God would show him.  “Trust me,” the LORD said.  “Follow my lead and it will be worth it to you!”  This, of course, meant that Abraham now would live in a tent the rest of his life.  He’d live the life of a nomad.

How many of you like camping?  For how long?  After about a week and a half of vacation this summer, one of my boys (Noah will remain nameless) said:  “I’m tired of nature!”  I’d just that morning ducked as a bald eagled flew just five feet above my head on its way to snatch up a Dungeness crab lying on the beach.  And he says, “I want to go back to  the city to see pigeons!”  Someone was sick of camping!

What about you?  Do you ever get sick of camping?  Living your life as the spiritual equivalent of a nomad?  By that I don’t, of course, mean bouncing from church to church . . . never comfortably establishing any spiritual roots.  Instead, I mean it in the sense the author to the Hebrews speaks of it . . . living your life in such a way that you never fully feel at home here in this world.  Living “like a stranger in a foreign country.”  Never getting so attached to something that you couldn’t give it up were God to call you home to heaven or were that person or thing to somehow threaten to get between you and your Savior . . . between you and your heavenly home. 

To do this – and do so consistently – requires faith! 

Far too many people – ourselves included far too often – live shortsighted lives.  They – we – live with only the cold, hard facts of the here and now in mind.  We struggle with doubt and fear, worrying and stressing over our situation as it appears on the surface – our job, our health, our finances, our family circumstances, you name it.  We get to thinking that all is lost.  Our situation is hopeless.  We spiral downward into more stress and frustration, short tempers and depression. 

Or just as dangerous is when the things we can see with our shortsightedness are going well, and they become the focus of our life.  The enjoyment of the good things in the here and now causes us to lose sight of the value of our faith, the significance of Christ and his Word, and the beauty of heaven that awaits us! 

As a result, faith is starved and becomes malnutritioned from the neglect of God’s Word.  Our eyes of faith begin to develop the spiritual equivalent of cataracts, so that eternal life in heaven becomes less and less in focus.  And when circumstance strips us of the things which we’ve come to rely upon and value more than Christ, we’re completely devastated.  Hope ultimately can be lost!

Hope – as defined by God in his Word – can be understood as faith in the future.  Like faith, hope is a sure, a certain thing!  It’s not a wish upon a star, but rather a firm confidence that what God has promised will indeed come true for you . . . because God has promised and he’s always good to his Word.  Our faith in God’s promises inspires hope within our hearts.  We know that we’re going to heaven one day.  That we’re going to enjoy all it and its perfections have to offer.  That riches beyond our wildest imaginations, physical, emotional, spiritual wealth beyond belief are in store for us.  Stored for us by Christ himself!  And the hope this affords us already now can almost make us giddy at times.  It certainly fills us with anticipation, peace and joy.

  I know I’ve shared this analogy before, but I think it bears repeating.  You know – those of you who work a Monday to Friday or any normal scheduled job – you know how the weekend can make Friday go just a bit smoother than the other days of the week.  The stress and frustrations and challenges of the job may be just as intense as the other days, but because it’s Friday, you usually handle it better.  “Aahhh!  It’s almost the weekend!”  An upcoming vacation can do the same sort of thing within you for a whole week or two or more.  “You know . . . that’s O.K.  All I know is that in just a couple weeks, I’m going to be lying on the beach . . . not a care in the world!”

Well, what the weekend can do for Friday and the anticipation of an upcoming vacation can do for a couple weeks in advance, eternity does for us for a lifetime.  Heaven is our home.  We’re going to be there soon . . . and once we get there, we’re there forever!  There’s no end to that endless day of bliss! 

“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.  You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.  For in just a very little while, ‘He who is coming will come and will not delay.  But my righteous one will live by faith.  And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.’  But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. . . . Therefore God is not ashamed to be called [your] God, for he has prepared a city for [you]” (10:36-39, 11:16).   Amen. 

#605 – Mission Focus Sunday

Bring Your Mission Offerings to God

            People are going to hell.  People, whom you and I know, are going to hell!

            I know that talking about people going to hell may not be the most pleasant way to start a sermon.  Nor is it the most pleasant way to end a book.  But God isn’t interested in pleasantries and platitudes.

            A man once approached Jesus and called him, “Good Teacher.”  To which Jesus responded, “Why do you call me good?  There’s only One who is good, and that is God.”  Now, Jesus wasn’t denying that he is good or that he is God; but he wanted that man to see that and call him that only if he meant it.  God isn’t interested in pleasantries and platitudes.  What God is interested in is the truth and in the salvation of souls!

            And so while ending the remarkable book of Isaiah with a gruesome picture of hell may not be pleasant or palatable, it does serve God’s purpose . . . namely, to help inspire us to do the work of the Lord . . . to hold on to and at the same time pass on the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . to Bring Our Mission Offerings to God.

            Allow that to serve as the theme of this morning’s sermon:  Bring Your Mission Offerings to God.  On the basis of these final words of the LORD in Isaiah’s book of prophecy, we will see the importance of bringing our mission offerings to God . . . namely, I.  to proclaim his glory and II.  to experience his glory.

            Again, it seems odd and perhaps a bit disconcerting that the LORD would have Isaiah end his book with such a vivid description of hell.  Just outside Jerusalem, down in one of the valleys below the city was the city dump, called Gehenna.  Gehenna was always on fire . . . the trash and filth there was constantly being burned up.  Both Isaiah and – seven centuries later – Jesus used that as a picture or description of what hell is like.  As the LORD inspired Isaiah to put it in the very last verse of our lesson . . . the last verse of his prophecy:  “And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind” (vs.24).

            It’s not a pretty picture . . . and it’s not intended to be.  Hell is horrific!  The agony of forever being separated from God and his goodness and grace, and to know that you’re there by your own choice . . . by your own foolish and stubborn rebellion . . . the physical, emotional and spiritual torment is inexplicable!  It’s horrifying and upsetting to us already now.  So much so that even we who truly believe in it’s existence rarely like to speak about it or think about it.  In the days of the Old Testament . . . and perhaps even today as far as I know . . . when the prophecy of Isaiah was read in a Jewish synagogue, the rabbi would reread verse 23 – the verse about heaven – after he read verse 24.  They just hated to have hell be the last thing on their minds once the lesson was completed.

            There were people at a certain church that finally asked their pastor to please take the sign off the wall that he had placed there just above the door on the way out of church.  The sign read:  “Every six seconds . . .”  They asked for the sign to be removed because they knew what it meant.  Every six seconds someone was dying who did not know Jesus.  Every six seconds another soul enters hell for all eternity. 

            That’s an unpleasant thought.  But it’s the truth!  And instead of ignoring it or somehow convincing ourselves – as many have done – that people aren’t really going to  go there, we need to allow God’s revealing of it to us to serve its purpose . . . to inspire us to bring our mission offerings to God. 

            But now, what does our lesson mean by that?  Listen again:  “’I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations – to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame and seen my glory.  They will proclaim my glory among the nations.  And they will bring all your brothers, from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the LORD – on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,’ says the LORD.  ‘They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the LORD in ceremonially clean vessels.  And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites,’ says the LORD” (vss.19-21). 

            Did you hear what the LORD means here by “bring your mission offerings”?  This isn’t a “God needs your money” sermon.  This is a “God needs your witness” sermon.  The offerings which the LORD speaks of his people bringing to him here is not simply your money, but rather your family, your friends, your neighbors.  Yes . . . with your financial offerings you can and do support Vicar and I and our church’s outreach efforts.  You help send missionaries around the world through the portion of our offerings sent to our synod in support of world mission work.  This is true and it is significant; it is fitting to think of that when we read this lesson. 

            But it’s more than that.  You and I are among those who proclaim God’s glory among the nations.  We are among those whom the LORD prophesied would one day bring people “from all the nations to my holy mountain as an offering to the LORD.”  We “bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the LORD in ceremonially clean vessels.” 

            What is Isaiah talking about?  He’s using the Old Testament imagery with which his original audience would have been familiar.  But what he’s simply talking about is friendship evangelism.  He’s talking about sharing the gospel with people so they, too, can be brought to Christ; brought to believe in the LORD; and through faith be made holy in the sight of God . . . covered in Jesus’ righteousness, declared not guilty (justified) by the Lord. 

            The LORD prophesied through Isaiah exactly what we see has since happened . . . The sign the LORD set or worked among them was the gospel – the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Most of the Jews, tragically, rejected him.  But those who “survived”, some of those who were brought to faith – like the disciples, like the apostle Paul, like many unnamed first century Jewish believers in Christ, were “sent to the nations.”  They “proclaimed [God’s] glory [not just among fellow Jews, but] among the nations.”  Through them the Holy Spirit brought people to saving faith in Christ.  This is pictured as people being brought to the LORD like we bring our offerings to him.  Gentile believers were brought to Christ through their sharing of the gospel. 

            And now, having been brought to the LORD ourselves, we have been made to be “priests and Levites.”  The Bible says of us in the book of Revelation:  “You [LORD] have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God” (5:10).  And in the book of I Peter the Bible says:  “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (2:9).

            This was always God’s plan.  The apostle Paul, one of those first century Jewish “survivors”, was inspired to explain God’s plan in terms with which we’re a bit more familiar in the book of Ephesians:  “through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. . . . [God’s] intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known” (Ephesians 3:6,10).

             A lot of this has been done already . . . for two thousand years, in fact . . . Christians have and continue to go all around the world with the gospel!  But a lot has yet to be done . . . right here, in fact!  Far too many people in our own city . . . in each of our own circle’s of influence . . . “have not heard of my fame or seen my glory.”

            Do you recognize the name Ghengis Khan?  His is a name I’ve been familiar with for about as far back as I can remember in my young life.  I have no idea why.  And to be honest, other than his name and that he was an ancient and vicious Mongol leader, I knew nothing about him until I did a little reading this week.  Yet almost 800 years after his death, his is still a name people know. 

            So you may know his name, but what do you specifically know about him?  Can you even properly spell his name?  Do you know where and when he lived?  What he’s famous for?  Did you know that his was the largest contiguous empire in all of history?  Did you know that he went under the title, “The Khan of Khans”, the King of kings?  He also had the title, “the king of all those who live in felt tents”?

            I bring up the name of Ghengis Khan because I want to make a point about the name of the LORD, the true King of kings and Lord of lords; the King not only of those who live in felt tents, but also of those who live in frame and stucco buildings, steal structures and brick houses.  I think that far too often you and I take for granted that everyone knows the name of the LORD.  That everyone knows the name of Jesus.  They may know the name, but they don’t know his name the way the Bible speaks of it.  They don’t know the name of Jesus the way the LORD says they need to know it in order to enjoy eternal life with him.  To “know the name of the LORD” doesn’t simply mean to have heard that name, like you’ve likely heard of Ghengis Khan.  It means to know who Jesus is, what he’s done for you, what he’s actually accomplished for you by means of his life, death and resurrection, and to believe in him – in his saving name – for your forgiveness and salvation.  And it’s exactly because most people don’t know and believe this about Jesus that we need to continue to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy.  We need to continue to proclaim the LORD’s glory.

            I’m afraid we (myself included) can get lazy and careless in our Christian witness because there are so many people around us who believe so many different things; the majority of whom care little about who and what we believe.  But it has been said that a missionary – which this and numerous other parts of the Bible say is each one of us – a missionary is one who “never gets used to the sound of heathen footsteps on their way to a Christless eternity.”   We can never get used to the thought that souls are needlessly going to hell!

So you and I seek to cross every cultural, social, and familial barrier with the good news of Jesus Christ crucified and risen.  We do so so that we might bring some of the people we know as mission offerings to the LORD . . . so that they along with us one day may experience his glory.

The LORD speaks of that in the last paragraph of Isaiah’s sixty-six chapter prophecy:  “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the LORD, “so will your name and descendants endure.  From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,”  says the LORD  “And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”

“People are going to hell,” Isaiah reminds us.  And the true tragedy of that lies not in the horror they will experience for eternity, but in the glory they won’t!  You and I and all who are brought to faith in Christ – all who are brought as mission offerings to the LORD – will experience God in all of his glory. 

Week after week, month after month, year after year without end and without fail we will be privileged to bow before the LORD himself.  There face to face with our Creator and Savior, we’ll be able to offer him true and unadulterated worship.  All our sin and sinful tendencies will have been removed.  No distractions, no minds wandering, no thoughts of having to be somewhere else or wanting to do something else, no doubt, no skepticism.  Just heartfelt worship, sincere gratitude and wholehearted praise of our God.  A God whose glory rests not only in just his sheer glory and greatness, but also in the inexplicable awesomeness of our redemption. 

This morning I want to thank each and every one of you who are serving on a ministry team this year, as well as our shepherds and Sunday School teachers and other ministry positions.  I also want to thank all of you who may not be an official ministry team member, but are contributing in so many other important and valuable ways to our gospel ministry here at Water of Life.  Each of you in your own unique way helps us as the body of Christ do what we do to bring as many as we possibly can to Christ.  Bring as many as we possibly can to the knowledge - and one day to the experience - of the glory of God.

May the Lord once again grant his rich blessing to both our public and our private ministries; both our joint and well as our individual efforts .  May he continue to grant us the grace to bring our mission offerings to him.  Amen.