GIVE Us!, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: John 6:30-34

          So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you?   What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

          Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

          “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

         

          Where have we heard this plaintive cry recently?  This "give us"?

          Perhaps on Wall Street?  In Oakland, California; in Seattle, Washington; in New Orleans, Louisiana; and even here in Nashville, Tennessee.

          "Give us.  Give us.  Give us."

          My grandfather would have said they are among all those who want to swallow but they don't want to chew.  They want instant gratification now.  They believe they deserve it.  They want what others have spent a lifetime working and sacrificing for, not sitting on their hands waiting for it to be given them.

          Paul responded to such people when he wrote to the Thessalonian church in his second letter to the Thessalonians, chapter 3, verse 10, " "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."

          The elements of thrift, pride and conscience are usually enough to provoke most men to want to work for what they receive, to not want a handout.  But as evidenced by  today's society, that is not always the case.

          The responses to these "sit-ins", or "occupiers" as they call themselves, has been varied.  Some feel the "occupiers" should occupy a job.  After all, their parents have scrimped and saved in many cases, and in most cases paid their way through a college education.  Now it's time to put that education into motion, even if they have to lower their expectations for entering the job market.  There is work going on, jobs to be had.  Perhaps here in Nashville we are more fortunate than in many places; we will have a great deal of construction going on, selling, trading, marketing still going on.  There are ads in the newspapers, signs in business windows, advertising work.

          There are also those who feel empathy for the "occupiers", those who have worked hard toward high expectations upon graduation, and now find that the downturn in the economy has cut the legs out from under their dreams.  They see executives and corporate officers earning huge salaries, and even bonuses, while they cannot seem to get their foot into the door.  And their supporters agree that even without jobs, these "occupiers" credit cards laden with student debt should be paid, their debt forgiven, by someone.

          The "someone" everyone has in mind is the federal government.  But the federal government is us.  The federal government is made up of all the men and women we elected to represent us in the House and the Senate, and the Oval Office.  It is made up of ordinary citizens such as you and me, those hired to manage the day-to-day business of this nation.  If there are bills to be paid, money to be spent, that money comes from us.  And in these economic hard times, that money is very hard to come by.

          Since the debt of this nation only this past week topped $15 trillion dollars, that money is very, very, very hard to come by.  Our individual gasoline bills are higher, the cost of bread is up because the cost of flour and salt are up.  The interest we are paid on money we saved has dropped, but the interest on our bills has shot up.  Winter is upon us, and the cost of fuel oils for heat is up.

          And it's not just us here in America.  As we have seen around the world, when America sneezes, the rest of the world gets pneumonia.  There is increasingly bad economic times resulting in civil unrest around the world.

          America's youthful "occupiers' and the angry people around the world have one thing in common.  They lack the faith that will put "hard times" into perspective for them.

          In Matthew 6:24, Jesus said "You cannot serve both God and money."  Their minds are stayed on money, on what they don't have.  There is no room for faith in what God will provide.

          In today's scripture, Jesus has just made a great claim, that He was sent of God, that the true work of God was to believe in Him.  This being a claim to be the Messiah, the Jews shouted, "Prove it!"  And being human their first thoughts turned to their stomachs.  Essentially they said, "If you're the Christ, then feed us, give us bread the way Moses gave the children of Israel bread."

          In very close comparison, we see the "occupiers" saying, essentially, if America is good and capitalism works, then prove it.  Take away our debts, feed us, and meet our wants."  But like the ancient Jews, they miss the point, a very crucial point about life itself..

          Jesus corrects the misconception that the manna Moses distributed came from Moses.  It from God, a supply of manna prepared just for them.  And for whom was the manna prepared?  For those who believed and were worthy of eating it.

          But the manna for the Jews, and what the occupiers considered their "bread of life" -- debt payment, wealth distribution -- is only a symbol of what is important.  The real "bread of life" is Jesus Christ who comes down from heaven and gives men, not just simple satisfaction from physical need, physical hunger, but life; eternal life.

          True satisfaction, true forgiveness, true fulfillment comes not from what is man-made or man-designed, but can only be found in Him.  They are looking in all the wrong places, for the wrong thing.

          The life we live on this earth, in this society of men, is not intended as a contest to see how much we can accumulate.  Take note that when we die we leave it all behind.  It then belongs to someone else.  Why spend the short life we have collecting what we cannot keep?

          At the very end of our scripture verse today, Jesus tells them of Himself, "For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

          They in turn respond, hopefully in all sincerity and understanding, “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

          Are you spending your life working for the bread that molds, turns hard, and is thrown away in the trash?  Or are you working for the bread of God that is Jesus Christ, which causes you to grow in ways you never imagined possible?  Please, God, please Sir, always give us this bread.

          Amen.

Week of Worship

November 20-26, 2011

Christ the King

Invocation:  Almighty God, as You have given Jesus Christ to be Savior and Lord grant us now grace to accept and rejoice in our salvation and in His lordship.  Amen.


Read: Psalm 44

Daily Scripture Readings

Monday                John 1: 43-51

Tuesday               Luke 8: 22-56

Wednesday         Acts 17:1
Thursday              Luke 19:28-40
Friday                  1st Corinthians 15:1-28

Saturday              Matthew 26:1-29

Sunday                 Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24; Psalm 23; 1st Corinthians 15:20-28; 
                              Matthew 25:31-46

Prayers for the church, for others, for yourself.

Reflection: (silent and written)

Hymn: "I Am Thine, O Lord"

Benediction:  Go forth to serve in the strength, love, and presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.  
                          Amen.

Expecting God to Be God, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture:  Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18

1:7 Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is at hand; the Lord has prepared a sacrifice, he has consecrated his guests.
1:12 At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the people who rest complacently on their dregs, those who say in their hearts, "The Lord will not do good, nor will he do harm."
1:13 Their wealth shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste. Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them.
1:14 The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter, the warrior cries aloud there.
1:15 That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
1:16 a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements.
1:17 I will bring such distress upon people that they shall walk like the blind; because they have sinned against the Lord, their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung.
1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord's wrath; in the fire of his passion the whole earth shall be consumed; for a full, a terrible end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.

          There is a phrase I often hear that makes me smile at the sheer human ego and brass it takes to say it, replete as it is with a monumental misunderstanding of God.  That phrase is "let God be God." 

          On the one hand it is often meant that the object of that statement should not undertake those means that are the purview of Almighty God.  In other words, they should back off and let God take care of those things only God can have an impact upon.  But at the same time, it assumes that whether or not we allow God to be God, whether or not we "let" God be God, makes any difference to God. 

          If we refuse to rely on God, to stand upon His word, His promises to us, it's possible God may withhold His work in our behalf.  But in the long run, God is going to do what God is going to do.

          Then there are those who claim that if you say certain words, if you take certain actions, then God "must" do this or that.  That sort of mumbo-jumbo really, really misunderstands the all-knowing, all-powerful, ever present God and Creator of the universe.

          So, how do we know then, what action to expect from God?  How do we get a handle on what may cause God to react in certain ways?

          Actually, it's easy.  Just pay attention to what God has told us.

     For example, God is unchanging (Psalm 102:25-27; Hebrews 1:10-12; 13:8).  He does not change.

     According to inspired scripture, God is also eternal. (Deuteronomy 33:27; Jeremiah 10:10; Psalm 90:2); God is infinite (1st Kings 8:22-27; Jeremiah 23:24; Psalm 102:25-27; and Revelation 22:13); God is self-sufficient and self-existent (Exodus 3:13-14; Psalm 50:10-12; Colossians 1:16); God is omnipresent (present everywhere)  (Psalm 139:7-12); God is omnipotent or all powerful (Genesis 18:14; Luke 18:27; Revelation 19:6); God is omniscient  or all knowing  (Psalm 139:2-6; Isaiah 40:13-14); and God is sovereign. His attributes constitute a long list, including wise, holy, righteous, faithful, true, and more, all based upon scripture.

     But in connection with our scripture today, let us concentrate on unchanging.

     And consistent with that scripture, how will God respond if we "rest complacently on our dregs," if we say in our hearts, "The Lord will not do good, nor will He do harm."  How will He respond if we sin against Him?

     Seven of the eight verses in today's scripture describe exactly how he will react.

     All across this nation and the world, Christian churches are being persecuted simply because they worship the Christ.  The Bible, God and all reference to Him is being excised from modern education.  In His place we allow the discussion of false religions and false gods.

     Children are no longer taught the love of Christ in their homes, and their parents no longer set the example by going to Sunday School and church with them.

     Christian ethics are no longer the expected norm for children and adults.

     Moral excess and sexual depravity have become common in the American society.  Not only common now, but exalted and protected.

     False religions which exalt and demand violence have become threaded into our society, indeed welcomed by many, some of whom claim to be ministers of the Christ.  And Sharia Law, replete with injustice and violence, has already become a subject of reference by some judges in America's courts.

     In the second book of the Bible, Exodus 20:1-17, the law as given to Moses by God, the Ten Commandments, begins with "You will have no other gods before Me."  And yet ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, understanding that Christ was the fulfillment of the Law, so that Christians are now under grace, yet they have brought the supposed writings of the Islamic god Allah, the Quran, into their places of worship and have read aloud from that book, some in heretical agreement with the Islamic claim that Allah is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

     How, then, do we who claim to be His Church, avoid His discipline?

     Zephaniah was prophesying the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem, but many scholars believe his prophesy goes beyond his own time, as well, to that period of God's judgment on the nations followed by a millennial reign of peace.

     What is clear in Zephaniah is that God hates sin, and His righteousness will react to it.  What is also clear is that if sin is the cause of God's discipline of the nation, if the cause is removed, the effect is removed. 

     God's anger toward our sin of contempt for His life-giving love is triggered by our sin, our individual sin and our sin as a nation.  God does not change.  He will not countenance sin, contempt for His righteousness.  His corrective action against a people who seek their own pleasures despite His warnings is predictable.  God predicts it, again and again, in holy scripture which He Himself has inspired. 

     To ignore God about God, to ignore His warnings, to sin against Him and expect that God will not be God, is to deal in the death of the soul.  There is no future in that, not for a person, not for a nation.  God is going to do what God is going to do.  Will you do what God has told you to to?  Love God and live.  Amen.

Don't Miss the Moment, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture:  Matthew 25:1-13

25:1  "Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
25:2  Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
25:3  When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them;
25:4  but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.
25:5  As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept.
25:6  But at midnight there was a shout, 'Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.'
25:7  Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps.
25:8  The foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.'
25:9  But the wise replied, 'No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.'
25:10  And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut.
25:11  Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to us.'
25:12  But he replied, 'Truly I tell you, I do not know you.'
25:13  Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

          Some say the Lord is returning quickly, returning soon and we must watch day by day, even minute by minute.

          Others say there is much to come first, and that we are about as close to the end of days as Paul and Silas were close.  Still, "the heathen rage," the nations war, and evil seems to multiply by day by day.

          I think perhaps in every age the rigors of daily life seem such that people think the Lord must be returning at any moment.  When I was a child I recall hearing people say "I'll do this, or I'll do that ... if the Lord tarries."  They were always prepared to do one thing or another, to go here or there, but only "if the Lord tarried."  For the world seemed in such a state that surely the Lord must return at any moment and save them from the craziness they saw around them.  Everyone loves a good ending to a story, and in the minds of many people, "enough is enough."

          A quote attributed to Marcus Tullus Cicero reads, "The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt.  The mobs should be forced to work and not depend on government for subsistence."

          Sound familiar?

          How about this one ... "The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers."  It's a quote attributed by Plato to Socrates.

             And then there is this one: "I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond

words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise [disrespectful] and impatient of restraint," a quote from Hesiod in the 8th century B.C.

             Some things don't change very much, certainly not human nature.

             When I was a youth, these verses from Matthew 25 were scary, downright frightening.  When you're a child it's difficult to concentrate on anything from moment to moment.  You're supposed to clean up your room, and you forget.  You were supposed to take the trash out, and you forget.  Feed the dog, and you forget, do your homework and you put it off, and you forget.

             In Matthew 25 the five foolish virgins, or young girls, were probably told by their parents to be sure and refill their lamps so they would be ready in case there was a long wait for the bridegroom.  But they didn't do that.  

             Somehow as a child I knew there was a deadly seriousness about this story.  If I forgot to clean my room, I got scolded, neglected to take the trash out, again a scolding.  Not feed the dog, leave my homework undone.....there were degrees of punishment, but tomorrow was another day, and I knew my mother would still wash and iron my clothes, feed me, and love me.

             The five virgins would not be so lucky, it was explained to me.  They didn't just get shut out of the party, didn't just miss a night of good food and good times.  Theirs was a story of missing out on eternity.  Follow their example and you were shut out of good times forever, you were shut out from God, forever and even longer than forever.  Even to a young boy, that was frightening.

             Frightening as it was, it didn't seem fair.  Didn't seem fair that something so small should have such dire consequences.  But, as we all learn in growing up, life isn't fair.

             From the very beginning, back in Genesis 6:3, we are told that God's spirit will not always strive with ours.  We have only so many days on this earth, the number of which are unknown to us, to make up our mind to whom we belong.  When God calls us home, there is no time out while we play eeny, mene, miney, moe.  We either belong to God Almighty, accepting the gift of life that His son Jesus Christ bought for us on the cross with His shed blood, or we have lost it all.

             For us there is no second chance while we run off to refill our lives with His spirit.  For there is no "refilling" at the moment of death.  His door is closed and locked to us if we are not one with Christ, and the only message we hear is "truly I tell you, I do not know you."  Chilling words.

             Whatever you do, whatever is going on in your life right now, don't wait.  There is no guarantee of life to us even over the next few minutes.  Hebrews 9:27 reminds us, "And as it is appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgment..."

             When we get to that point there is no time for comparative decisions, for second chances, for considering the alternatives.  At that critical point the decision -- to not decide for Christ is to decide -- has been made, all other chances disappear, Hell awaits.

             Hell awaits not because God didn't do everything He could, short of abridging the free will He gave us, to keep us out of hell.  In His own Word, 2nd Peter 3:9, we read, "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

             Now, be clear, this has nothing to do with the return to earth of Jesus Christ.  People die every day, and Jesus has not returned yet.  People all over the world worry about Armageddon, about the return of Christ, about the Rapture,  and yet none of this has happened, but eternity has slipped up on us.  According to the calculations of the CIA World Factbook, 155,000 human beings die worldwide each day; eternity slipped up on them when they weren't looking. 

             For many of them, they slipped into eternity without Christ, without the gift of His righteousness, the free gift bought for them with His life, death, burial and resurrection.  Death took only an instant, but in that instant, they missed the moment.

             I urge you not to miss the moment.  Don't let those around you miss the moment.  For the five foolish young women, there was no reprieve, no second chance.  They were not ready for what awaited them.

             Accept the gift of life Jesus Christ offers.  Join with a group of believers in a local church, be ready when the bridegroom returns.  Don't miss the moment.

We Must Cross Over the Jordan, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: Joshua 3:7-17

3:7   The Lord said to Joshua, "This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they may know that I will be with you as I was with Moses.
3:8   You are the one who shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, 'When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.'"
3:9   Joshua then said to the Israelites, "Draw near and hear the words of the Lord your God."
3:10   Joshua said, "By this you shall know that among you is the living God who without fail will drive out from before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites:
3:11   the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is going to pass before you into the Jordan.
3:12   So now select twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe.
3:13   When the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan flowing from above shall be cut off; they shall stand in a single heap."
3:14   When the people set out from their tents to cross over the Jordan, the priests bearing the ark of the covenant were in front of the people.
3:15   Now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest. So when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the edge of the water,
3:16   the waters flowing from above stood still, rising up in a single heap far off at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, while those flowing toward the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people crossed over opposite Jericho.
3:17   While all Israel were crossing over on dry ground, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, until the entire nation finished crossing over the Jordan.

          There is a miracle in these verses of scripture, a miracle that has parallels with where we stand today, as if on the banks of the flooding Jordan River.  Some think the time of miracles is over, but we are still on God's time, and He is a God of miracles.

          But first let's take a look at this man Joshua.  Born a slave, Joshua was a close aide to Moses, became Moses military commander, and is seen as one of the greatest military leaders in all of Israel.  He had been permitted to accompany Moses partway up Mt. Sinai when God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, and Joshua was one of the 12 whom Moses trusted to explore the Promised Land.   And it was only Joshua and Caleb who brought back an encouraging report.

          His given name was Hoshea, meaning salvation, but Moses renamed him Joshua, "the Lord is salvation."  He managed to get the people of Israel safely into the Promised Land, and lived to be 110 year old.  But first he had to get them across the Jordan during the harvest flood.  At first glance that appeared to be impossible, because at harvest the Jordan flooded out of its banks.

          The people were used to the authority of God residing with Moses, but how could they trust this man Joshua?  And for Joshua, himself, how could he trust that he would have the same confidence that God shared with Moses?

          But God had a plan, as He always does, and the same answer to the problem of the flooding Jordan was to be the answer to whether or not the people would see God's confidence in Joshua.  It wasn't as if Joshua didn't know what God was up to, because we see in verses 7 and 8 that God told him straight out.  "The Lord said to Joshua, 'This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they may know that I will be with you as I was with Moses.  You are the one who shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, 'When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.'"

          And here we approach the parallel with the world we live in today.  The Israelites were moving from slavery to a better life, a land of their own, the Promised Land.  We in America are beginning to see how our focus on attaining the "bigger, better, newest" has led us into an economic slavery and, as we see the possibility of economic collapse we finally begin to do that which we should have done long ago, pull in our belts, stop spending, save more, do without when we can't afford it.  Our personal hungers and desires have led us into canyons of frustration and swamps of disbelief. 

          We have come to an economic, ethical and moral floodpoint that may take a miracle to get this nation out of, and Godly leadership seems to be lacking.  We have political candidates who would be President for the sake of being President.  But do we have candidates who would be President for the sake of solving America's problems?  That's where the Israelites found themselves, up against a dangerous flood, and unsure of their new leadership.

          When Joshua had gone with Moses up Mt. Sinai, the weak leadership of Aaron had allowed the debacle of the golden calf and worship of it as an idol.  It pleased the people, but it didn't please God.

          In this nation we have a segment that has worked hard and become wealthy, but we also have more than 600,000 homeless in America.  Forty percent of those are families, and every one in four of those homeless is a child.  That cannot please God.

          In 2008, the latest data available for abortions in the United States, 1.2 million babies lost their God-given lives.  That cannot please God.

          The U.S. Customs Service estimates there are more than 100,000 websites offering child pornography that is illegal worldwide.  Hollywood currently releases 11,000 adult movies per year.  That's more than 20 times the mainstream movie production.  And 55% of all movies rented in hotel rooms are pornographic.  That cannot please God.

          America claims to be a nation of laws, and yet the prisons are full and the numbers of rapes, robberies and murders continue to rise.  That cannot please God.

          It is of no comfort, but we do know this lawlessness is not new.  In 1st Timothy 1, verses 8-11, we read, "We know that the law is good if one uses it properly.  We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which He entrusted to me." -- 1st Tim. 1:8-11

          Such people make their own choices, and while their choices cannot please God, He has given us free will.  We who follow Christ are charged with sharing the gospel, but getting them to repent and follow Christ is the work of the Holy Spirit, so long as we do our part.  And it is "our part" that God can use to get this nation across the "Jordan" flooded with out-of-control selfish desires, lying, theft, sexual perversion and Godless behavior that threatens to take this nation down into the depths of sin.

          Those who follow the Christ must not lose sight of their discipleship, of the need for continued daily devotionals and prayer.  Again and again we see Christians sharing the Old Testament verse from 1st Chronicles 7:14, "if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

          While Moses and Joshua were away and the Israelites decided to worship a golden calf, not everyone joined in.  And when Moses returned, many remained with Moses against the fallen away.  When the scouting party came back frightened by what they saw in the Promised Land, not everyone was afraid.  While evil runs rampant in this land and the innocent are endangered, damaged and lost, not everyone wrings their hands and runs about crying "Oh me, oh my!"  Not everyone agrees we must stop believing in God and exalt our human wisdom, satisfying first our human desires. 

          There is a God-fearing remnant in America who will not run from evil, who will not stop praying, who will give the glory to God for every good thing, who will stand on the word of Almighty God, who will say with Psalm 118:24, "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."  It is that which will please God, and it is they -- you who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior -- whom God can use to get us across the flood of evil flowing through this land, across and to the Promised Land He intends America to be; spreading hope to the world, and the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Just as with Joshua and the Israelites, it will take a miracle.  But our God is still in the miracle business.

          Amen.

The Wisdom of Jesus, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: Matthew 22:34-46

22:34  When the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together,
22:35  and one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question to test Him.
22:36  "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"
22:37  He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.'
22:38  This is the greatest and first commandment.
22:39  And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'
22:40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
22:41  Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question:
22:42  "What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is He?" They said to Him, "The son of David."
22:43  He said to them, "How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,
22:44  'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet"'?
22:45  If David thus calls him Lord, how can He be his son?"
22:46  No one was able to give Him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask Him any more questions.

          First it was the Sadducees, those who did not believe in the resurrection, who came after Jesus with their pride of wisdom and rules and regulations and laws.  But when He had silenced them, then it was the Pharisees, in fact, it was a lawyer from the Pharisees who was determined to put Jesus in His place.  They would show Him who had the better knowledge of the scriptures and the law.

          But this son of a carpenter, from the small town in the hinterlands known as Nazareth, so befuddled them they couldn't continue.  And it tickles me to read that last verse in today's scripture: "...nor from that day did anyone dare to ask Him any more questions.

          Not having the whole of scripture and the insights we have today, they didn't realize that Jesus, as God's Word and Wisdom, was and is eternally an attribute of God the Father.  When you or I speak, you cannot separate us from our speech.  In the same way, we speak of Christ as "the Word of God," in other words, God's "speech" in living form.

          We see the power of God's spoken word emphasized through the Old Testament in Psalms 33:6, 107:20, Isaiah 55:11, and Jeremiah 23:29.  Richard N. Longenecker, in his book "The Christology of Early Jewish Christianity," shares with us that "Judaism understood God's Word to have almost autonomous powers and substance once spoken; to be, in fact, 'a concrete reality, a veritable cause.'"

          When we were newly come to Christ, accepting His gift of eternal life on the cross for our salvation, we probably read the opening lines to John's gospel, that disciple who loved his Lord so dearly, without understanding the depth of what John was telling us when he wrote, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made."

          The authority with which Jesus Christ spoke was such that it left no room for questioning, no ground for arguing, no doubt about its authenticity.  And when the Sadduccees and Pharisees tried to trip Him up, He answered them with such finality they were afraid to ask Him anything else!

          If then, the Son of God speaks with such authority in response to the questions of those who don't know Him, don't like Him, and wish Him ill, with how much more love and authority does He speak to You and me through the living word of scripture?

          Notice where Jesus goes in answering the Pharisee lawyer -- asking what he thought was the most clever question to tie this upstart man from Nazareth in rhetorical knots -- Jesus goes not only to the very word of God in His answer, but He goes to the law of love.

          The lawyer teases Jesus with the honorary title of "teacher," asking Him, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"  For this was a subject argued daily among the most studious, among the best trained of the Jewish rabbi, an old, old bone they gnawed on daily going back and forth.
          And Jesus says to him simply, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the greatest and first commandment.  And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

          Now, wait just a moment.  Any good lawyer will tell you that you should never answer more than the question asks.  There is always the possibility of giving your opponent ground to attack you verbally on another level.  And yet, Jesus, not being at all ignorant of the devices of Jewish debate about the law, answers the question, and then He goes further and talks about the second commandment.  Why did He do that?

          First, it is clear that Jesus could give them all the leeway He wanted to, and they were not coming back at Him with an argument.  He spoke with such a fearful authority, such as they had never heard before, that they were not about to feed that fire again.

          But from what we know of the Pharisees, I believe this tells us that Jesus now went beyond mere discussion and was pointing a finger of judgment directly at the Pharisees.  "Love your neighbor as yourself"; a commandment of God, yes, but a foreign concept to these who stopped to pray publicly on street corners in supposed holiness, who judged other men guilty of the smallest infraction of their "laws", who had created a confusing web of God's law and made being holy a fetish that only they, not God, could reward.

          For if they understood Him at all, they realized there is no other law like this one, no other commandment so far reaching, plumbing to the very depths of human experience; nothing on par with it in any moral codes, no ceremonial regulations; nothing else.  It stands by itself in Leviticus 19:18 as all scripture in a nutshell, the supreme law of human duty. 

          In many of the man-made religions of the earth, we find similar ideas to "do unto others as you would have them do to you," but that is not what this is.  For in phrasing it as He did, God both removed all limits and yet imposed a limit.

          See what wisdom there is standing firmly in this commandment, for it is not limited to those who believe in God, or in Christ, it holds us to a human duty toward every living, breathing soul created by God Almighty.  And yet notice there is a limit, for we are not to worship our neighbor as a creation by the Creator, because the law says we are to love them as we love ourselves.  And we already know we are not to put ourselves above God.  He is first.  He keeps His requirement of us in perspective: love them as we love ourselves.

          And adding emphasis then to God's first two commandments, John documents Jesus' words to us in chapter 13, verses 34-35, going a step further:  "A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”

          Again, love one another.  But how are we to love one another?  "As I have loved you...."  How much did Jesus love us?  Enough to give up his life for us.  Enough to suffer for us.  Enough to die in our sins, be buried in a grave, and be resurrected for us.  

          That's some love.  That may be more love than some of us feel we can manage.  But remember that Paul reminds us in Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

          It is not in our own strength we are to love others, but reaching out with the hand of Christ, to do His will.  Can we do that?  We must.  For it wasn't Paul who said that, it wasn't Peter or even Moses or Isaiah or even King David from the lineage of Jesus.  No, it was Jesus Christ, the Son of God who loved us first, who says to us, today, tomorrow, and into eternity, "A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”

          Amen.