The Christian Life Isn't Brain Surgery, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: Romans 12:9-21

12:9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;
12:10 Love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.
12:11 Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.
12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.
12:13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.
12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
12:16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are.
12:17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.
12:18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
12:19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."
12:20 On the contrary, "if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads."
12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

One of my favorite quotes, and I use it often, is from Gilbert K. Chesterton: "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried." Chesterton also said, "Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions." We're afflicted with a great deal of that plague in this age, also, but let's stick with the first quote for now.

Chapter 12 of Romans, verses 9 - 21, contain some of the most straight forward words that God has given us through His inspired Bible. Taken in total, it is love in action. There is no hypocrisy here, no double-talk, no shading or temptation of evil. This is love in action. This is plain English, easily understood.

What's the first thing we see here: Love in action must be sincere; hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

Notice the lack of "ifs", "ands", or "buts".

It doesn't say love one another if the other person is nice to you, and you are impressed with them, but they don't treat you badly. No. "Love one another with mutual affection." In fact, it goes further with "...outdo one another in showing honor."

I know, I know, it's not easy. Someone bad mouths someone you care about, someone in your family, perhaps a political candidate you support. And the usual reaction is an immediate, "Oh yeah, well you're one, too!"

Have you checked the source of that person's information? What if they are right and you are behind the information curve? But let's say they are wrong, you know they are wrong, and you can prove they are wrong. Allllright! Time to bring out the big guns and just smear them, right? No. No.

Take a look at verse 11. While you are not to "lag in zeal," and you are to "be ardent in spirit," you are also to "serve the Lord." Slamming someone with whom you do not agree is serving your own emotions, not serving the Lord.

If you look around you today, the current financial disaster afflicting America, and this coming election have divided people as perhaps never before. Just the anger and frustration of losing your job, losing your home, not being able to provide for your family as you would want to do, all of this will skew your entire approach to others, and to life.

Why me? A frequent and prevalent question. Why me? And lacking an easy answer to that, reactions run the gamut from fiery verbal blasts to all range of violent physical reactions.

But that's not what God expects, and Paul says so plainly. Beginning in verse 11, Paul writes: "Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all."

That's what God expects. And again I say, "I know, I know. It's not easy." But there is a reward for the sacrifice of Jesus' disciples. What is at stake, and the reward thereof is so much more important than the winning of an argument, even that of winning an election.

For that matter, we are not in charge of anything more than our own actions. Insofar as our actions have an impact on a discussion, or on an election, we are responsible. But no more than that. Beyond our own capabilities, it must rest in God's hands.

Prayer and fasting, as much as our actions within the will of God, will find solutions, heal old wounds, and move elections. After all, in Psalm 75:7, we read "But it is God who judges: He brings one down, He exalts another."

It is rigorously counter-productive for the Christian to attack others over any issue. Jesus' words to His disciples at the Sermon of the Mount included these: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." You cannot do that with your foot on another man's throat. In Jesus' words set down in Matthew 5, 6 and 7, known at the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus outlines a very definite way of life for those who would following him.

To those who would follow Him half-heartedly, or in word only, Jesus promises this response: "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!"

So we cannot go about speaking for God where He doesn't speak, putting into action our own angry desires and self-righteousness, attacking others because they don't agree with us.

In today's scripture we read in verse 19, "Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "'Vengeance is mine, I will repay,' says the Lord. No, 'if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

Those who follow Jesus Christ must understand that obedience is more important than sacrifice, than gaining ground, even than winning. For there is only one war to be won, and Jesus Christ has already gained that victory. As far back as 1st Samuel 15:22, God told His people, "to obey is better than sacrifice." It is obedience God wants from His people. And how that is lived out is much simpler than some people seem to want to make it. It's not brain surgery. It's as simple as following Romans 12: 9-21 -- " Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good..."

Amen.

Stay! Stay on the Altar!, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: Romans 12:1-8
12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God--what is good and acceptable and perfect.
12:3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
12:4 For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function,
12:5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.
12:6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith;
12:7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching;
12:8 the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

All in the Family was a popular 1970s CBS series that made Archie Bunker a household name. In one scene Archie’s longhaired son-in-law, Michael, and his wife, Gloria, are in the kitchen. Michael is eating a sandwich and Gloria is baking cookies. Gloria asks him, “Michael, do you love me?”
Between bites he mumbles, "Yup."
“Would you give up your life for me?” she asks.
“Right after I finish this sandwich.”
Then she proposes being lost in the desert, and would he give his life up for her?
“Sure, honey. If we’re ever in the Sahara desert together, you got my life. You got any pickles?”
Gloria sighs and says, “Michael, I’m serious. I mean, if we were stranded in the desert, and we had just enough water for one of us, what would you do?”
“I’d flip you for it.”
Well, Gloria is now visibly exasperated, so Michael adds: “Well honey, what do you want from me? That is a very difficult question to answer. Not many people know how they’d react in a life-and-death situation.”
“Okay, forget the desert,” she says. “Let’s say we’re out in the ocean, and there’s this shark coming at us. Would you swim in front of it to save me?”
“How big is the shark?”

“He’s big. He’s a man-eating shark.”
“Well, then maybe you should swim in front of it to save me.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s a man-eating shark. You didn’t say woman-eating shark.”
At this point Gloria has about had enough. “I’m just trying to find out how much you care for me!”
“I care for you, honey. If you care for me, you’ll let me finish this sandwich.”
Gloria grabs the sandwich out of his hands and looks him in the eye: “Michael, we are lost in the mountains. This is our only food—our only chance for survival. Would you give me this sandwich?”
“I wouldn’t have to. You’d take it from me.”
After a few more attempts by Gloria to get him to say he's lay down his life for her, Michael finally gives in, exhausted by the whole conversation. “All right! All right! I’d lay down my life for you!”
With much less drama, 2000 years earlier Jesus had said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Jesus demonstrated His love for us by actually laying down His life for us.

In today's scripture, Paul in chapters 1 - 11 has been laying the theological basis for how we are to live, talking about God's love and God's righteousness. Now Paul is saying, in view of everything I've said, let's talk about the details of how we should live before God.

One of the first things he tells us is that we are to be a living sacrifice to God. Sacrifices were nothing new to Paul's audience. Before the death of Christ as our sacrifice for sin, under the old covenant with God, it was the job of those at the temple to take each person's animal sacrifice for sin, kill the animal, drain the blood, and then burn the body. A sacrifice was to be killed to atone for a person's sins. With the sins forgiven then, the sacrifice was never given back to the one who brought it. It was gone.

So imagine how Paul's audience must have felt when they were told they must be a living sacrifice. Not a dead, but a living sacrifice for sin.

That means we are to take the life God has given us, and turn it over to Him. And it stays with Him, is led by Him, lived for Him, and never taken back.

But unlike a dead sacrifice laying in the altar, the problem with a living sacrifice is that it keeps trying to crawl off the altar. We give our lives to God as a matter of spiritual worship, and then we keep trying to take it back. We say, "Here, God, You call the shots," and then we want to sneak in and take it back. We want to call the shots, make our own decisions, take credit for what we accomplish. "Please God, I'd rather do it myself!"

The problem with that jumps up to bite us right there in the next verse, however. There we read, " Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God -- what is good and acceptable and perfect."

Invariably, doing what we want to do with our life, rather than leaving it to God, involves conforming to society's system of beliefs and values, to what the world wants from us, expects from us, wants to do with us. And all along, that isn't what God had in mind for us. What God has in mind for us stretches into eternity and his plans for us there. And the world has nothing to do with that.

Everything we do here on earth will end one day, and that which isn't of God will burn up and be lost. 1st Corinthians 3:11-15 describes the results: "For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames."

That's what happens to all our plans and earthly accomplishments when the living sacrifice keeps crawling off the altar, promising God their life, then taking it back. But that flies in the face of Paul's words to us that turning our life over to God is our holy and acceptable worship, which is our reasonable service. The word "reasonable" used here in the Bible is from the Greek word for logic. Given all the spiritual riches believers enjoy as the fruit of God's mercies, it follows logically that we owe God our highest form of spiritual service in keeping with an integral part of the Old Testament worship of God, presenting the sacrifice. Except, in our case, because Jesus Christ has already given the one sacrifice for sins for all, ours is a living sacrifice to God. This allows our life to be transformed away from the humanistic beliefs, values and morals of a Satan-dominated world, even as the Holy Spirit leads us in renewing our mind through the manifestation of our inner, redeemed natures in consistent study and meditation on the scriptures.

But this life won't fit with the world. This life stands apart when the world says "Get all you can." "Step on the other guy to get to the top." "You've got yours, let those without fend for themselves." "Me first. Me first. Me first." Still, better to stand apart, with God, enjoying His Word in the scriptures, His promises, His love.

Enjoy the spiritual riches God has for you. Live life to the fullest through the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Experience the full joy of knowing the truth of God's words from Jeremiah 29:11, ”For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." That is a life worth living before Almighty God. That's worth giving your life to God, and keeping it on the altar. Amen.

Friendship Defined

Of Gardens, and Books, and Looking Back, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: Psalm 133

133:1 How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!

133:2 It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes.

133:3 It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion.
for there the Lord ordained His blessing, life forevermore.

One Psalm of three short verses, and yet packed with such impact and import when you understand not only the context from which the psalmist was writing, but how they stand through the ages to speak to us today, about our life and future.

As I prepare this sermon, I am sitting in what my wife and I here in Tennessee call the "Florida Room." It is a room added onto the back of the house enclosed on all sides by windows so you can stay warm and dry and gaze down upon the garden one story below. The variegated rock walls enclose plants and trees of all sorts, growing and thriving together. A freshly cut lawn circumscribes the garden itself. Roses of gold, pink, and red climb the green metal gate at one end, flourish in the middle and even persevere at the other end of the garden in the shade of great, tall trees that were here long before the house was built. At the end near the rosy gate, both thornless and thorny blackberry bushes have joined forces in an attempt to take over the corner with the vegetable garden, but stop at the edge of the raised beds. Colorful nasturtiums of every hue spread out and cover one flower bed in the back near three compost bins, and white lilies lift high and lofty above the greenery from another nearby bed. Perhaps because of the recent rains, the dwarf magnolia tree just off the corner of the room is festooned like a Christmas tree with great, white magnolia blossoms. A variety of colorful flowers weave themselves in and out of the different ferns, hostas, and other greenery, and along the back rock wall, my neighbor's Rose of Sharon presents a privacy wall of beautiful pink and lavender blossoms. Then, about the middle of the garden, just below where I sit gazing at them, four examples of two different types of fig trees are weighed down with sweet fruit, a tempting treat to the resident squirrels and visiting cardinals, sparrows, wrens and humming birds. They are kind enough to leave a few for me. In the very middle of the garden, all the way in the back, a small greenhouse built by a former tenant stands nearly covered with ivy which seems to be content to climb across all but the glass, and not to spread out across the lawn.

I thought of the blessing my garden is to my sense of peace when I read that first verse of the psalm, "How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!" The flowers, the trees, the ferns, ivy, grasses, all thrive in consonance with one another, reaching their limit of sunshine and shade, and "live together in unity." It's true that either I or the person who lived here before have planted all this, but it is God who has directed the growth. I must admit my garden is one of my favorite places to be, and to be there with a book to read is an added blessing.

It was the ancient Roman lawyer, scholar, orator and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero who said, "If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."

But Cicero was lacking one thing. For it is in my garden I feel closest to God. English poet Dorothy Francis Gurney agreed, for she wrote, "One is nearer God's heart in a garden." Perhaps it's because it was in a garden that God first walked with man. It's as if your soul were in sunshine in the garden, a way of professing that you believe in tomorrow.

So what has happened since mankind left that garden where God first walked with man? Have we so frayed away our belief in tomorrow? The world has changed many times over since then, and yet mankind persists, by the grace of God, and by His grace hope for tomorrow.

My friend and fellow Pastor Bernard Lutchman, Jr., has written a new book that addresses this topic, called "Danger Zone." Bernie writes that we today are in the danger zone, and so we are. Our faith in God and in tomorrow has walked out of the garden and is susceptible to all the slings and arrows that Shakespeare once wrote about, and more. Our creativity for evil seems to know no bounds, so that today we do, indeed, find ourselves deep in the danger zone.

Why can't men and women from all over the world "just get along," and match the description of that first verse of today's scripture, experiencing " How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity"?

First, let me set the context for our short three verses today. Bible scholars believe this psalm was written as the result of the nation coming together for David's coronation as King over Israel, a unity of all those whose lineage could be traced back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But while the surface meaning may have alluded to national unity, it was spiritual unity that was the foundation of who they were and how they survived.

The anointing with oil is believed to refer to the anointing of Aaron as High Priest of the nation, noting a rich spiritual blessing as a first priority, the oil naturally running down into the holy man's beard even as the naturalness of gravity asserts itself.

The dew of Hermon is a refreshing material blessing as a second, lesser priority as Mt. Hermon, the 9,220-foot peak towering over the extreme northern portion of Palestine, provided the major water supply for the Jordan River out of its melting snow. The naturalness of the mountainous dew was a reminder that God created it all.

That great Christian preacher Charles H. Spurgeon, in his "The Treasury of David," wrote of this verse: "The Alpine Lebanon ministers to the minor elevation of the city of David; and so does brotherly love descend from the higher to the lower, refreshing and enlivening in its course. Holy concord is as dew, mysteriously blessed, full of life and growth for all plants of grace. It brings with it so much benediction that it is as no common dew, but as that of Hermon which is specially copious, and far reaching. The proper rendering is, "As the dew of Hermon that descended upon the mountains of Zion", and this tallies with the figure which has been already used; and sets forth by a second simile the sweet descending diffusiveness of brotherly unity."

But what is meant by "... which falls on the mountains of Zion.
for there the Lord ordained His blessing, life forevermore"?

Hopefully you already know that Zion is both the city of David -- Jerusalem is built upon Mount Zion -- and the city of God. It's first mentioned in the Bible in 2nd Samuel 5:7 -- "Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion, the City of David." It then occurs 149 more times. And as the Bible continues, the word "Zion" transitions from meaning mainly a physical city to having a more spiritual meaning.

What does this imply for us today? Note that last verse, that God has ordained the blessing of "life forevermore." How shall we live together "forevermore" if we can't even get along with one another here, if there is no kindred unity? Where on this earth do you see "kindred unity" today? Sometimes not even in the church of Jesus Christ, more's the pity.

Let me give you an example of what I believe is a large part of the problem. Several years ago a fellow and I were talking and I mentioned I was concerned about how the engine sounded in my new car. I'm not a mechanic, and it just sounded "off" somehow. This fellow was quick to point out that I just needed to take it in and have the dealership check the sparkplugs, gap them properly, maybe even replace them altogether, and it would run smoothly. I pointed out that this new car didn't have spark plugs. Either the man didn't believe me, or he was embarrassed about not knowing that. He pointed out that I was obviously too ignorant to own a car and we parted company.

Now, the same Roman statesman I quoted earlier, Cicero, also said, "I am not ashamed to admit that I am ignorant of what I don't know." And I'm willing to stand on that. But a more recent statesman, Ronald Reagan, once said of some people that it isn't that they are ignorant, it's just that so much of what they know is wrong.

And there is where we find ourselves today, a people mixed together who are totally ignorant of some things, and then totally wrong about the things we think we know.

My friend, Pastor Bernie Lutchman, Jr., in his new book, "Danger Zone," addresses this very subject in Chapter 3, Leaving a Living Legacy. He begins by quoting Pericles, General of Athens, who said, "What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others."

When I first read that, I thought of the trip my wife and I took to England a few years ago, and how London is absolutely replete with stone monuments. They are everywhere. In some places the roads must snake around centers with nothing but competing monuments. And yet the very basis of civilization is now crumbling in that international city after nearly a week of rioting, looting, and burning of buildings both modern and historically ancient. The lessons of history didn't make it from the monuments to the schoolyard.

Bernie writes, "Over the last century, the western church became more about programs and navel-gazing and music than the actual work Christ gave us to do. That work still is to "go into the entire world and make disciples."

Over on page 38 of his book Bernie points out, "In the recent book Already Gone, both [Ken] Ham and [Britt] Beemer found we have already lost the next generation of believers in kids' Sunday School! ... Children as young as 6th grade have already tuned out these well-known Bible stories they have heard since pre-school, because the church is not teaching HOW those stories apply to their lives!"

Do you begin to see? Bernie goes on to point out that these future adults are not taught the facts that can defend the gospel, there is no emphasis on prayer, and therefore no revelation and discernment involved with the Word of God. And at home, the Bible sits gathering dust, on a shelf or in a closet, because the parents were not taught to be disciples, either.

How then can there be a spirit that even allows that the "kindred live together in unity"? The forces of evil are working overtime for they smell victory in every person who ignores God, walks away from the Word of God, the leading of the Holy Spirit, who fills their time with self-serving and glorification of the things of this world, which will pass away one day, which will not follow us to the grave.

We as human beings are natural creatures in a God-created natural world. But as the French priest and philosopher Teilhard de Chardin pointed out, "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience." We are not here on our own, or here to accomplish some personal mission of our own. Romans 9:16 states it very plainly, "It [God's compassion and our destiny] does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.”

The priest de Chardin, who was born in 1881 and lived until 1955 -- so he knew some of the pains of these recent centuries -- made another interesting observation, saying, "Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire."

But we will not get there without God's mercy. We will not get there without, as my friend Bernie points out, teaching, sharing and living the Word of God before our children and others.

There is still time, even as time runs out on us. In Chapter 6, "Fourth and Goal," Pastor Bernie notes with Point One of his eleven points in that chapter, "You live life looking forward, but you understand life looking backward." Let us take a hard, Godly look back at what we have wrought, and correct our course. For Jesus Christ is coming back regardless of what we do. Let us then persevere to prepare those we love, and those we know, for the return of the Lord of Glory. And I'll see you at the Garden Gate.

Amen.

Share the Stones, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: Matthew 14:22-33

14:22 Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while He dismissed the crowds.

14:23 And after He had dismissed the crowds, He went up the mountain by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone,

14:24 but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them.

14:25 And early in the morning He came walking toward them on the sea.

14:26 But when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out in fear.

14:27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid."

14:28 Peter answered Him, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water."

14:29 He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus.

14:30 But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!"

14:31 Jesus immediately reached out His hand and caught him, saying to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"

14:32 When they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

14:33 And those in the boat worshiped Him, saying, "Truly You are the Son of God."

Three preachers joined together one day to go fishing on the lake. The Baptist preacher had a boat, so he invited his friends the Methodist and the Lutheran ministers to accompany him. The Baptist and the Methodist had been on the lake before, but not the Lutheran. As they shoved off from the bank, the Baptist suddenly said, "Wait, I left my tackle box on the shore." The Lutheran grabbed and oar to row back, but the Baptist said, "Never mind," and stepped over the side, walking across the water. When he returned to the boat, the Methodist said, "I should have asked you to get my can of worms while you were there," and he stepped over the side, walking across the water.
All this time the Lutheran's eyes are getting bigger and bigger. He can't believe what he's seeing. But he determines in his heart that his faith is certainly as strong as theirs, so when the Methodist returns to the boat, the Lutheran exclaims, "I forgot something, too," and steps over the side. He sinks into the water like a rock. They pull him up, sputtering and gasping for air, and as soon as they get him into the boat, over the side he goes again, splash!
The Methodist minister looks at the Baptist and says, "You think we should tell him where the stepping stones are?"
You don’t need me to tell you that this nation, right at this moment in history, is in deep financial water. Economists, editorial writers, reporters, politicians and those who blog and Twitter, all have something to say, ad nauseum, about our economic crisis.
Which one of them has the answer? From among them, I don’t know. But I do know who has THE answer, and that’s what I came to talk about today.
All of this angst and commotion may have caught you and I by surprise, but God is never surprised. He never says, “Oh! I didn’t expect that!”
That’s something I might say. As my wife can tell you, numbers are not my friend. I’ve told my sons that our God is an understanding God, He knew I didn’t know how to handle money, so He never gave me any. Fortunately for me, God gave me a wife who is the exact opposite. In financial dealings, I would be that Lutheran minister struggling in the water, gasping for air, wondering what in the world happened, and she would be dry there in the boat, patiently pointing out the stepping stones.
The obvious lesson for me is don’t get out of the boat!
Numbers for me are like a foreign language floating out there in the air.
I am great with the letters of the alphabet, with words, and I can string sentences together all day long til the cows come home. But with numbers, it’s like there’s nothing to hang them all on, they just float out there in the air and if I try to make sense of them, they fall into a pile on the floor. There are no rocks for them to rest on, and make sense, for me.
Peter knew that feeling.
I really love Peter. I could preach on Peter forever, because I feel like I know exactly how he feels. A. W. Tozer once said that there was nothing more dangerous than uninformed enthusiasm. And that is such a good description of Peter when he is with Christ. He just gets so excited about what the Lord is doing he doesn’t make any sense at all. When Jesus is on the mount with the saints, Peter just goes all crazy and wants to start building monuments to that meeting, and God essentially tells Peter, “Shut up and listen to My Son.”
And when Jesus is on His way to the cross, Peter spouts off about how he would never, ever betray Jesus. “Oh yeah, Lord, these other guys might fall away, but not me. Never me!” And not long afterward, he betrays Jesus for the third time, just as Jesus said he would. And a look from Jesus, that He knows, crushes Peter.
But now here’s what is so precious to me about our Lord. Later, Jesus asks Peter “Do you love me?” And Jesus asks him that not once, but three times, the exact number of times Peter betrayed Him. Because the first time He asks, Peter sort of mumbles, “Oh yeah, Lord, You know I like you.” But Jesus won’t let Peter get away with that, He makes him face what he did, and in the end, Peter blurts out that yes, he loved the Christ so.
From then on, it is never the same for Peter. Although the Christ is no longer physically there with Peter, the connection with Jesus Christ, the connection with Almighty God is solid. It is stronger than anything that happens to Peter.
For some of us, I hope that’s where we are today. We are battered about by the whims and the desires and the weaknesses of the society in which we live. But our faith in the Christ stands strong. Elected politicians and appointed executives will make those decisions that will work best for them, and those to whom they see themselves responsible and beholden.
But what they do is of little consequence to you and me, in the end, because Jesus Christ is our stepping stone. He is our rock. Whatever happens, we are His, and He is ours. The great thing about that is that although we may not know where all this is leading, for sure, our God can see around the corners of time, and He knows. And He has said He will never leave us.
Now, does that mean we should just go off and have lunch today and have nothing to do with what we see going on around us? No, we are to be the salt of the earth, the light that allows men and women to see what is right, what is just.
Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but that there is an old, old war going on between good and evil. Romans 12:2 says we are not to be conformed to this world, but we are to be transformed by the renewal of our minds. In Jesus' prayer to the Father in John 17:16, Jesus acknowledges that although we are in this world, we are not of this world.
Our purpose in this world now is to draw people to Jesus Christ. We need to speak up and tell them, “Don’t go that way. The bridge is out. You can’t get to Christ that way.”
We need to share with them where the stepping stones are. Don’t let them step out into deep water and drown. Remind them that this is a world of good and evil, that there are those who would lead them astray, for Jesus warns us that by their fruits we will know them.
Our scripture today in verses 30 and 31 says that when Peter cried out, "Lord, save me!" Jesus immediately reached out His hand and caught him, saying to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"

Let us not be of little faith in these trying times. May others look at us and see the shining light of our faith and hope in the God who loved us first, and sent His only Son for us. Jesus Christ is our rock, the rock on which we stand.

In addition to the fruits by which we know to be wary of people, in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount He spoke of the fruits of the Spirit. In Galatians 5:22-23 we read, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” These are the stepping stones we can share with those around us, until He comes.

Amen.