Worship Services for Sunday, August 10, 2014

Invocation
Almighty God, who always moves with clarity of will and singleness of purpose, help me to live and work with certainty in an uncertain world.  Light a lamp before me so that my feet do not stumble.  Make my path clear so I may never wander from Your chosen way.  I pray in the name of Jesus who comes to make Your way clear before our eyes.  Amenj.

Prayers for the church of Christ, for others, for yourself.

Scripture: 
23 But I call God to witness against me—it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. 24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.
2 For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. 2 For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? 3 And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. 4 For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.
5 Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. 6 For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, 7 so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything.10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

Sermon: Wrong is Hard, Love is Harder
by Pastor Ed Evans

A man who has a Facebook page on the Internet uses that page to comment on local and world events from a Christian point of view.  Many people pose questions to him about those events in the news, and he answers from a Biblical, scriptural point of view.  Recently a reader of his page complained that all this man put on his Facebook page was “hate, hate, hate.”
In fact, his Facebook page carried news items about murder, mayhem, terrorism, and evil at all levels, with scriptural encouragement regarding God’s requirement for individual responsibility and the idea of treating others as you would have them treat you.  But all this person saw was the negative.
It’s like the story about the man visiting a psychiatrist who was showing him random ink blot images, called a Rorschach Test.  This is a psychological test in which the subjects' perceptions of inkblots are recorded and then analyzed using psychological interpretation to gain a picture of that person’s psychological make-up.
Well, every inkblot the doctor showed his patient, the man said it had sexual connotations.  At the end of the test the doctor observed to the man that he had a rather strong fixation on sex.  
The man replied, “Hey, Doc, they were your dirty pictures!”
In today’s scriptural lesson, Paul is apparently responding to a letter from the church at Corinth, and Paul is explaining why he has not been back to see them recently.  
It’s evident there was something going on at the church in Corinth to which Paul has already called their attention, a subject which hurt people when the bright light of righteousness was shone upon it.  Paul has not returned to the Corinth church right away perhaps because unrighteousness is incompatible with the worship of God, and people’s feelings get hurt when you point that out..  
But hurt feelings or not, we must choose whether we will serve our own pleasures, or walk the path of love and righteousness with Jesus Christ. 
Paul knew if he returned and that situation remained, he would have to speak hurtfully once again, and causing hurt and pain was not why Jesus Christ had set Paul on the path he was on.
We know what that feels like, don’t we?
How often have we found ourselves facing a situation among friends that we know to be wrong?  And yet we love our friends.  It pains us to see the wrong that they are in.  And it pains us even more to say to them, this is wrong.  If you love Christ you must give this up, get out of this, repent of your actions and walk away from this.
In fact, most people don’t want to hurt the feelings of others they care about.  They feel it is better to say nothing than cause an emotional upset.  And here we have the weed of political correctness taking root in an otherwise healthy environment.
There is a movie many of us may remember from childhood, the movie “Bambi.”  It was the very first movie I remember seeing as a small child.  In that movie there is a scene where the deer fawn Bambi mistakes a cute little skunk for a flower, looking at the friendly skunk and asking “Flower?”
The baby rabbit, Thumper, collapses in laughter and little Bambi is embarrassed without knowing why.  Thumper’s mother then says something that has followed so many of us into adulthood.  She says, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”
Good advice, perhaps, for a baby rabbit, but not the best advice for adults living a sinful, permissive world such as many of us experience every day where pleasure and entertainment and excess are the mark of the day.  A day where there is no right and there is no wrong, there is only whatever we choose to do for our own pleasure.
In the days before Israel had a king, holy scripture tells us everyone did what was right in his own eyes,” we are told in Judges 21:25.  Matthew 24 and Luke 17 both speak of the lawlessness in “the days of Noah”, just before the flood.  Gen. 6:11-12 says “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.”
In such times it might be even more than impolite to point out another person’s transgressions.  It might even be dangerous.  In Hempstead, Texas, this week a Middle School principal was fired to telling Hispanic students they should speak more English to prepare themselves for jobs after graduation.
It has been said that in an empire of lies, truth is treason.  Much of the trouble that befell Paul on his missionary journeys came about because the truth was all he could tell.
Paul knew that God knew his heart and would bear witness to the truth he spoke; “It was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth.”
J. W. McGarvey paraphrased Paul’s words to say,  “I delayed to come to Corinth in order that you might have time to repent, and show your repentance by obedience; for had I come at the time which I first mentioned it to you, I would have been compelled to discipline you, and therefore make you sorry.”
Instead, Paul wanted to work with them for their joy. He did not see his role as lording it over them, even though his words had apostolic authority.
It wasn’t nearly as much about pointing out sin, assigning responsibility for that sin, as it was seeking repentance and offering forgiveness.  All throughout Jesus’ ministry on earth, love and forgiveness were paramount, drawing people back to the Living God, sharing His love for them, took precedence.
There are in this world today tyrants seeking power, terrorists seeking to impose their will, and willing to kill to attain dominance for their cause, people who will not listen to the message of Jesus Christ, people who claim to have a better plan, a better god, a new way, a way of sacrificial blood-letting, of violence, of worship superior to the ways of God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.  There are even people who, in claiming to worship the Living God, worship an angel; the Peacock Angel.  These people are the Yazidis of Iraq.  They were once part of the Zoaroaster movement in Iran and their rites and beliefs are very close to that of Judaism.
These people have come into the news this past week because the Muslim terrorists known as ISIS --  The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham – in attempting to create a Muslim caliphate from Syria and Iraq have either driven out and murdered all of the Christians in northern Iraq, and have driven the Yazidis up onto Mount Sinjar near the city of Mosul.  The ISIS forces threaten them with death and annihilation.  The news that these people worship the only angel who ever rebelled against the Living God has brought out the very worst in some people.
On the one hand it is suggested killing them is a good thing; men, women and children.  On the other hand, those of a liberal frame of mind (1) question whether or not they really “worship the devil”, (2) castigate those who say out loud that they do, and (3) those who claim the Yazidis worship was, though a kinship with Zoaroasterism, here first and must be superior to both the Christians and Jews, so they must be saved and preserved.
The reaction of the American government has been to drop food and water supplies to the Yazidis atop Mount Sinijar, even as those intent on killing them approach their positions atop the mountain.  President Obama has said America will not send ground troops back into Iraq, although most people know that American forces have been and are still remaining in Baghdad to protect Americans there and in the U.S. Embassy.
As events have progressed this week in the news reports, people have asked me how I could be in favor of saving these “devil worshipers”, and why can’t we just “nuke” the entire force of terrorists and be done with them.
Well, first I'm a firm believer this current body in which you and I live and breathe is just an apartment in the mansion of our soul.  And related to that I also believe it is a gift of the Living God, so I appreciate His gift and take good care of it.  Furthermore, if I believe Jesus meant what He said about treating others as I would treat myself, then there's the upkeep and safety of others to be considered. He never said it would be easy ... or uncomplicated.
But like Paul I have no qualms about saying, “What you are doing is a mistake,” even as I plead to the world and our own government to save their lives.  They each have an eternity to think about, and they are each created in the image of God.
In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul assured the people, “What I have forgiven . . . I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake.”  He was their example for conduct just as Jesus was his.  Paul would not hold a grudge. As an emissary of Christ, he offered others the same forgiveness granted to him by the Lord. 
So should we all!  Forgiveness, the refusal to hold a grudge, this helps thwart Satan’s schemes. The devil seeks to overreach, taking advantage of Christians whenever possible. All who follow Christ are required to forgive because we have been forgiven (Matthew 6:12).
Granted, dealing with people mired down in wrong places, wrong habits, a wrong world is difficult, tiring and often frustrating.  And it is also true that loving those people can be even harder, but that is what Jesus asks of us…..because we have been forgiven.  Amen.


Hymn:  “O God, Our Help in Ages Past,” by Isaac Watts (19 ); copyright: Public Domain; provided here for educational purposes only

1. O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
2. Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.
3. Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.
4. Thy Word commands our flesh to dust,
“Return, ye sons of men”:
All nations rose from earth at first,
And turn to earth again.
5. A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.
6. The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
With all their lives and cares,
Are carried downwards by the flood,
And lost in foll’wing years.
7. Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the op’ning day.
8. Like flow’ry fields the nations stand
Pleased with the morning light;
The flow’rs beneath the mower’s hand
Lie with’ring ere ’tis night.
9. O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.


Communion
On the night Jesus was betrayed, He took bread and He broke it, saying this is My body, given for you.  After supper He took the cup, saying this cup is the new covenant in My blood.  This do, as often as you do it, in remembrance of Me.

Benediction
Send me, Lord, as an evangel of hope and security to those whose paths will cross with mine this day.  Amen.

As we close the worship services today, always remember that while some have called you servants, He has called you friends.

Closing Hymn
God Be With You ‘Til We Meet Again
By Jeremiah E. Rankin
Public Domain

God be with you till we meet again,
By His counsels guide, uphold you,
With His sheep securely fold you,
God be with you till we meet again.
Refrain:
Till we meet, till we meet,
Till we meet at Jesus’ feet;
Till we meet, till we meet,
God be with you till we meet again.

<>< ~ <>< ~ <>< ~ : ~ ><> ~ ><> ~ ><>

Daily Scripture Readings for August 11 – August 17, 2014
Monday – Isaiah 54:9-17
Tuesday – Hebrews 10:1-10
Wednesday – 2nd Peter 1:1-11
Thursday – 1st Peter 3:13-22
Friday – 1st Peter 4:12-19
Saturday – John 17:1-19
Sunday – Exodus 14:19-31; Romans 9:1-5; Psalm 106:4-12; Matthew 14:22-33