COMMENT: Political promotion of a human perversion does not make it any the less offensive, and those who thought surely common sense would prevail are now making their voices heard. "No" needs to be said loud and clear!
Fighting back against sodomized military (OneNewsNow.com)
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=1260920
A national defense analyst and Pentagon advisor says the new Congress can take a number of actions to blunt the impact of the new law that allows homosexuals to openly display their lifestyle in the U.S. military.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Not Just Any Gift, by Pastor Ed Evans
Scripture: Hebrews 2:10-18
2:10 It was fitting that God, for Whom and through Whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
2:11 For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,
2:12 saying, "I will proclaim your name to My brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you."
2:13 And again, "I will put my trust in Him." And again, "Here am I and the children whom God has given Me."
2:14 Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, He himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,
2:15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.
2:16 For it is clear that He did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham.
2:17 Therefore He had to become like His brothers and sisters in every respect, so that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people.
2:18 Because He Himself was tested by what He suffered, He is able to help those who are being tested.
There is a great quote by Christian author C. S. Lewis about God's gift to you and to me, His gift to the ages, Jesus Christ. It's long, but I want to share it here with you. C. S. Lewis wrote, "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him. 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."
In last week's sermon I quoted John R. Rice concerning Jesus, and that is relevant here, too, so I will repeat it:, "You can never truly enjoy Christmas until you can look up into the Father's face and tell Him you have received His Christmas gift."
First, Jesus Christ refers to Himself as "Son of Man," and we find the basis for that as early as Daniel 7:13, referring to a heavenly figure representing God's people, and four times in John -- -- emphasizing His preexistence and His descent into the flesh of this world as a humiliation that both conceals and manifests His glory.
He is also the image and the glory of God -- 1st Corinthians 4:4, 6 and Colossians 1:15 -- such as mankind was made to reflect (1st Corinthians 11:7). But even more than that, for you and I, Jesus' redeeming act of salvation was provided for all of mankind. By faith in Him, we can all participate in a salvation already accomplished by Him. He is that gift of God to every one of us.
I have often thought how fitting, if we would only recognize it, is the idea of giving gifts at Christmas time. For Jesus Christ was the greatest gift that could ever be given, a gift offered to us by God Himself. That's why I reminded us of John R. Rice's precious insight, "You can never truly enjoy Christmas until you can look up into the Father's face and tell Him you have received His Christmas gift."
Any attempt to celebrate Christmas outside of Christ is a futile, empty exercise in playing with things we know nothing about. Those outside of Christ might as well be celebrating the Winter Solstice, the Roman Saturnalia, or the Greek's Lenaea. It would mean as much, and have about as much to do with gift giving as any other hypocritical exercise.
For the gift of the Son of God, to return mankind to the purpose God intended, carries far more spiritual weight than we could ever understand. For example, God did not send just any gift, any angel, and not even the Son of God lightly.
If you read today's scriptural reference thoroughly you will see the ground laid for an extremely important passage, Hebrews 2:14-15, which reads, "Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, He himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death."
Our merciful, loving God was keenly aware of what you and I feel, what we suffer, and what we fear. And how could Jesus walk among us, be one of us, even as the image and glory of God, without the experience of who we are? And so He came to us in flesh and blood, born physically as you and I, spent time growing physically and mentally, subject to the slings and arrows of the physical life, so that He might truly know us, and be what God intended, that meaningful bridge back to God, salvation accomplished painfully on an instrument of torture, humiliation, and death.
I've heard people just throwing off Jesus' sacrifice by saying, "Oh yeah, but He could handle that, because He was the Son of God." Jesus was and still is the Son of Almighty God, but He was also Son of Man, heir to all the human pain of the body, dejection of the mind, humiliation, such as you and I. And yet, He kept His mind stayed on the Father, He knew that a second of the relief He was surely capable of giving Himself, the obvious intervention of warrior angels that was certainly possible, a misstep of serving Himself and His sacrifice to reunite all of mankind with the God who created us, would be in ashes, worthless.
One of the songs that always tugs at my heart is "He Could Have Called Ten Thousand Angels." How many times have you and I, out of sheer instinct, without even thinking about it, lashed out to protect ourselves from a threatened blow? How fast could the Son of God have acted as the muscle-ripping pain built inside of Him, as His breath gave out, and the blood flowed? How quickly?
If you're not familiar with that song, here are the first few verses of the lyrics:
They bound the hands of Jesus in the garden where He prayed;
They led Him thro' the streets in shame.
They spat upon the Savior so pure and free from sin;
They said, "Crucify Him; He's to blame."
Refrain
He could have called ten thousand angels
To destroy the world and set Him free.
He could have called ten thousand angels,
But He died alone, for you and me.
Matthew 26:53 reminds us of Jesus' words: "Do you think I cannot call on My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?" It doesn't take a great deal of imagination to see the skies overhead filled with angels that humans could not see, waiting for a word from the Master, waiting for a signal to stop them from hurting the precious Son of God. And the Bible tells us that on those occasions when God turned the angels loose, they were devastating. What they could have done that day, to relieve Jesus' pain, to pay back those responsible for His pain, His humiliation. This was the Son of Almighty God!
But God had prepared Jesus for this moment, so that not only did Jesus feel it all, was in the kind of excruciating pain you or I would have been in, but He knew the importance of this sacrifice that only He could make, a sinless One for all the sinful people of the world then, and those to come. For you. For me.
1st Peter 1:10-12 reminds us that salvation was not for the angels, and how we respond to salvation is something they are curious about. We can imagine them peeking over the clouds to see our reaction to this precious gift bought with the blood of their sweet Son of God, looking down into the blood of the mercy seat trying to understand salvation.
And yet, perhaps not understanding it all, they would have, and could have according to the Word's description of the power of God's angels, destroyed everything and everyone in sight at a word, a wink, a nod from Jesus. But He would not do that. Thank Almighty God He would not do that, or you and I would be lost forever. .
This was not just any gift given of God, not just an answered prayer, a healing, some object of gain provided through the power and might of God. This was, and remains, a carefully prepared gift of salvation, bought and paid for, for you and I, at great price. At great price. straight out of the heart of God.
Paul, writing to the Romans in a different context, describes the kind of God love that would reach out to us in this way, with the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. In Romans 8:38-39 we read, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." That is in Him, God's gift.
A specially prepared gift, His own and only Son, buying with His own blood, with His death, the gift of life ... for us. For you and I. Please, accept His gift. It's yours, from the heart of God.
Amen.
Daily Scripture Readings for December 27, 2010-January 2, 2011
Monday -- Exodus 20:18-26
Tuesday -- Galatians 3:23-4:7
Wednesday -- 2nd Corinthians 5:16-21
Thursday -- John 3:1-8
Friday -- Ephesians 1:3-14
Saturday -- Colossians 1:15-23
Sunday -- Isaiah 63:7-9; Hebrews 2:10-18; Psalm 111; Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23
2:10 It was fitting that God, for Whom and through Whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
2:11 For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,
2:12 saying, "I will proclaim your name to My brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you."
2:13 And again, "I will put my trust in Him." And again, "Here am I and the children whom God has given Me."
2:14 Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, He himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,
2:15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.
2:16 For it is clear that He did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham.
2:17 Therefore He had to become like His brothers and sisters in every respect, so that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people.
2:18 Because He Himself was tested by what He suffered, He is able to help those who are being tested.
There is a great quote by Christian author C. S. Lewis about God's gift to you and to me, His gift to the ages, Jesus Christ. It's long, but I want to share it here with you. C. S. Lewis wrote, "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him. 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."
In last week's sermon I quoted John R. Rice concerning Jesus, and that is relevant here, too, so I will repeat it:, "You can never truly enjoy Christmas until you can look up into the Father's face and tell Him you have received His Christmas gift."
First, Jesus Christ refers to Himself as "Son of Man," and we find the basis for that as early as Daniel 7:13, referring to a heavenly figure representing God's people, and four times in John -- -- emphasizing His preexistence and His descent into the flesh of this world as a humiliation that both conceals and manifests His glory.
He is also the image and the glory of God -- 1st Corinthians 4:4, 6 and Colossians 1:15 -- such as mankind was made to reflect (1st Corinthians 11:7). But even more than that, for you and I, Jesus' redeeming act of salvation was provided for all of mankind. By faith in Him, we can all participate in a salvation already accomplished by Him. He is that gift of God to every one of us.
I have often thought how fitting, if we would only recognize it, is the idea of giving gifts at Christmas time. For Jesus Christ was the greatest gift that could ever be given, a gift offered to us by God Himself. That's why I reminded us of John R. Rice's precious insight, "You can never truly enjoy Christmas until you can look up into the Father's face and tell Him you have received His Christmas gift."
Any attempt to celebrate Christmas outside of Christ is a futile, empty exercise in playing with things we know nothing about. Those outside of Christ might as well be celebrating the Winter Solstice, the Roman Saturnalia, or the Greek's Lenaea. It would mean as much, and have about as much to do with gift giving as any other hypocritical exercise.
For the gift of the Son of God, to return mankind to the purpose God intended, carries far more spiritual weight than we could ever understand. For example, God did not send just any gift, any angel, and not even the Son of God lightly.
If you read today's scriptural reference thoroughly you will see the ground laid for an extremely important passage, Hebrews 2:14-15, which reads, "Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, He himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death."
Our merciful, loving God was keenly aware of what you and I feel, what we suffer, and what we fear. And how could Jesus walk among us, be one of us, even as the image and glory of God, without the experience of who we are? And so He came to us in flesh and blood, born physically as you and I, spent time growing physically and mentally, subject to the slings and arrows of the physical life, so that He might truly know us, and be what God intended, that meaningful bridge back to God, salvation accomplished painfully on an instrument of torture, humiliation, and death.
I've heard people just throwing off Jesus' sacrifice by saying, "Oh yeah, but He could handle that, because He was the Son of God." Jesus was and still is the Son of Almighty God, but He was also Son of Man, heir to all the human pain of the body, dejection of the mind, humiliation, such as you and I. And yet, He kept His mind stayed on the Father, He knew that a second of the relief He was surely capable of giving Himself, the obvious intervention of warrior angels that was certainly possible, a misstep of serving Himself and His sacrifice to reunite all of mankind with the God who created us, would be in ashes, worthless.
One of the songs that always tugs at my heart is "He Could Have Called Ten Thousand Angels." How many times have you and I, out of sheer instinct, without even thinking about it, lashed out to protect ourselves from a threatened blow? How fast could the Son of God have acted as the muscle-ripping pain built inside of Him, as His breath gave out, and the blood flowed? How quickly?
If you're not familiar with that song, here are the first few verses of the lyrics:
They bound the hands of Jesus in the garden where He prayed;
They led Him thro' the streets in shame.
They spat upon the Savior so pure and free from sin;
They said, "Crucify Him; He's to blame."
Refrain
He could have called ten thousand angels
To destroy the world and set Him free.
He could have called ten thousand angels,
But He died alone, for you and me.
Matthew 26:53 reminds us of Jesus' words: "Do you think I cannot call on My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?" It doesn't take a great deal of imagination to see the skies overhead filled with angels that humans could not see, waiting for a word from the Master, waiting for a signal to stop them from hurting the precious Son of God. And the Bible tells us that on those occasions when God turned the angels loose, they were devastating. What they could have done that day, to relieve Jesus' pain, to pay back those responsible for His pain, His humiliation. This was the Son of Almighty God!
But God had prepared Jesus for this moment, so that not only did Jesus feel it all, was in the kind of excruciating pain you or I would have been in, but He knew the importance of this sacrifice that only He could make, a sinless One for all the sinful people of the world then, and those to come. For you. For me.
1st Peter 1:10-12 reminds us that salvation was not for the angels, and how we respond to salvation is something they are curious about. We can imagine them peeking over the clouds to see our reaction to this precious gift bought with the blood of their sweet Son of God, looking down into the blood of the mercy seat trying to understand salvation.
And yet, perhaps not understanding it all, they would have, and could have according to the Word's description of the power of God's angels, destroyed everything and everyone in sight at a word, a wink, a nod from Jesus. But He would not do that. Thank Almighty God He would not do that, or you and I would be lost forever. .
This was not just any gift given of God, not just an answered prayer, a healing, some object of gain provided through the power and might of God. This was, and remains, a carefully prepared gift of salvation, bought and paid for, for you and I, at great price. At great price. straight out of the heart of God.
Paul, writing to the Romans in a different context, describes the kind of God love that would reach out to us in this way, with the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. In Romans 8:38-39 we read, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." That is in Him, God's gift.
A specially prepared gift, His own and only Son, buying with His own blood, with His death, the gift of life ... for us. For you and I. Please, accept His gift. It's yours, from the heart of God.
Amen.
Daily Scripture Readings for December 27, 2010-January 2, 2011
Monday -- Exodus 20:18-26
Tuesday -- Galatians 3:23-4:7
Wednesday -- 2nd Corinthians 5:16-21
Thursday -- John 3:1-8
Friday -- Ephesians 1:3-14
Saturday -- Colossians 1:15-23
Sunday -- Isaiah 63:7-9; Hebrews 2:10-18; Psalm 111; Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Take Off Your Pack, by Pastor Ed Evans
Scripture: Romans 15:4-13
15:4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.
15:5 May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus,
15:6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15:7 Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
15:8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,
15:9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, "Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles, and sing praises to your name";
15:10 and again he says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people";
15:11 and again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him";
15:12 and again Isaiah says, "The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope."
15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Take off your pack. Telling someone to "take off their pack" is an old military term meaning to "stand down," to use another military term, to relax, to not be so tense about something, to not worry about it.
When soldiers take a break during a long hike, or at the end of the hike, they are told to take off their pack, to relax, to take a break. Take off your pack.
More directly, in this case, take off your pack, join hands and pray up a storm. Stand in the will of Almighty God and worry about nothing.
The politicians and ruling class making classic mistakes about the economy, about jobs, about health care and the general running of the nation? More and more people out of work? The ground being cut out from under those who provide national security, amateurs in charge of decisions about international relations?
The very first verse of our scripture today reminds us, "For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope."
Our hope cannot be in the intelligent use of people's wisdom, cannot be in the efficient use of plans and diagrams and programs, nor in the best use of force or political power, or diplomacy.
No, the answer lies in what Romans 15:5-7 says, that "the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God."
Christian with Christian with Christian, therein lies the answer. For if it is
Christians side by side, back to back, and living, loving and remaining within the will of God, then nothing else matters.
Wherever you go these days, there is concern and worry about the state of the nation, about its economic future, about the longevity of jobs people have even at this point. There is talk of hoarding food against coming shortages, when even a loaf of bread will be beyond the ability to pay, when the sick and the aged will not be able to afford healthcare, when the jobs and the future of this nation will be assumed by foreign countries.
There is deep concern, frustration and disappointment with elected officials and their lack of commitment to honor, integrity and promises made. And because these actions are rampant in this nation, there is great fear, paranoia, and lack of trust runs like rivulets of water before a crumbling dam.
All about us are people urging that we pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and "take hold." Others want us to join hands with those who would be our enemies, chanting "can't we all just get along?"
And still others want to do away with all judgment of others altogether and simply live by majority rule, whatever that majority says, goes.
But there is a better way. There is a more lasting way. And in a sense, it is a way that is already in motion, waiting for us to simply get there, if we will accept what has already been done for us.
More than 2,000 years ago, a flesh and blood man, born of a woman on this earth, and yet also a man of God, because He is God, set aside His power and allowed Himself to be tortured and painfully crucified on a cross, a very instrument of torture, so that we might be reunited with God. Since we are finite, we die, we constantly break the laws of God, we serve ourselves and our interests first, misusing ourselves and others, because we are flesh and blood, we have nothing close to the holy, righteousness of God. So Jesus Christ, Son of God, He who died on that cross, clothes us in His righteousness, and makes us acceptable to a holy, righteous God.
Jesus did that for us, if we accept His gift. If we don't accept it, He still did it for us.
So we have a future with God, in eternity, if we want it. This is a future that goes far beyond the life of any sordid events taking place now, far beyond the lives of anyone exercising power, good or bad, over us now; far beyond the life of any decision we make now, except the decision to accept what Jesus Christ has done for us. That decision has a life all its own, stretching into a future beyond anything we know.
But that is still future. What about we who are still here, now? There is a great labyrinth of a forest that stands between us and then, the "then" that's way out yonder. And this forest is impenitrable to our foresight, with paths that twist and turn, with low hanging branches of temptation that threaten to sweep us off our feet, full of storms with great thunder and lightning that may give us pause and frighten us. What are we to do with this "now" that we are in, right now, and coming directly at us at the speed of 60 minutes every hour?
Allow me to return to the very first verse of today's scripture, Romans 15:4, which says, " For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope."
What was it that was "written in former days"? It is the inspired word of God, which God knew we would need, and so sent the Holy Spirit to guide us in its understanding and application.
We have no need of worry or concern. Nothing of what we are seeing, nothing of what is happening, nothing of what is even threatened is a surprise to the God who created the universe, and who has kept it intact and operating in ways that provide for our well-being. Take the very worst of situations, war, for example. There has always been war on earth, and there is war in heaven. So long as there are conflicting ideas, cross purposes, greed, desire, sin, there will be war. We are in the midst of it, constantly, but God is dealing with it for us, for us who belong to Him.
One of my very favorite verses is Romans 8:28, "God works all things together for good to those who love Him, for those who are called according to His purposes."
Notice what that verse does not say. It doesn't say "if I take arms against His enemies," or "if I work hard to change the government from bad to good," or "if" anything. But there are still some "if's" at work here. For example, if we understand the importance of recognizing the fruit of the spirit for the purposes of discernment, if we understand that vengeance belongs to God and not to us, if we know and accept that Jesus said "love" is a higher law, then we can stand with full confidence in the power and purposes of God's holy will, and not worry.
Now, I know that sounds simplistic to some, and sometimes that which seems too obvious also seems too easy, and we question whether or not we can trust it as truth.
So let me point out that our scripture for today also talks about how "Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that He might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy."
For ages upon ages, the Jews, the circumcised people of God, were "THE people of God," and there were none like them. Suddenly they are told that "their" Messiah is now going to share God with an uncircumcised people, an "unclean people." But notice what else the verse says. Not only has the Christ "become a servant of the circumcised", but He has done so "on behalf of the truth of God in order that He might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs...." Those are "their" patriarchs.
How God works is not at all simple, and is beyond our understanding. We see only the results of how He works, and even then "through a glass darkly." What we do know for certain is that God is at work, and He is working in behalf of His own. As far back as the ancient text of Jeremiah 29:11, we are assured, "I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord; plans to prosper you and not to harm you."
For those who belong to Christ, nothing has changed. Almighty God is still in charge, and we are invited to stand confidently in His will, not to fear, not to worry, but to stand. Take off your pack, and stand in His will.
Amen.
Daily Scripture Readings for December 5 -- 12, 2010
Monday -- Luke 1:5-25
Tuesday -- Luke 1:57-80
Wednesday -- Matthew 3:1-12
Thursday -- Isaiah 62:1-12
Friday -- Luke 12:35-48
Saturday -- Isaiah 51:1-8
Sunday -- Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19; Romans 15:4-13; Matthew 3:1-12
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
