Never Alone Again, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: Mark 1:9-15

1:9  In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
1:10  And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.
1:11  And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
1:12  And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.
1:13  He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.
1:14  Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God,
1:15  and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."

          The beginning of Lent finds us looking over the solitary, lonely shoulder of Jesus as He comes to John and asks to be baptized.  John, for his part, recognizes the glory of God in Jesus, and though stating that it is Jesus who should be baptizing him, yet for the sake of fulfilling what the Messiah requests, baptizes Jesus with water.  And then almost as if John expected it, for the scriptures indicate no surprise on John's part, there is a voice from heaven and recognition from God Almighty.  The very heavens have opened and the Holy Spirit of God has enwrapped Jesus as He embarks on the very purpose for His being there.  So much is He a part of the will of God that He was "driven" to go into the wilderness, staying there alone for forty days.

          It's a solitary purpose, a lonely purpose, and though the angels come and minister to their Lord, the Son of God, He must go through this confrontation with evil on His own, He must go to the cross, alone; He must die, alone.

          It is all according to God's own timetable, in keeping with His plans for mankind, for His Son.

          John the Baptist has set the stage for Jesus' arrival.  He has drawn a line in the sand between good and evil, brought to their attention the idea that there is a need for repentance, the need to recognize who and what they are, and make a decision between good and evil.  Then, suddenly, John is removed from the scene.  He has made his point among the people, he completed the task God set for him.  And right behind him, into that recognition that there is indeed good and evil among them, comes the Messiah.  Jesus comes with a message and with an answer, with a healing answer.

          But just because He is speaking the truth, just because He has answers and is the Son of God, doesn't mean everybody will listen, doesn't mean everyone will believe.

          Even though Jesus is more sociable than the rough-hewn John the Baptist, even though  He speaks of the love of God rather than the fear of God, even though His message is that, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news," there will be those who will not believe.

          Jesus will gather around Him 12 disciples.  They will travel the dusty roads with Him, they will hear His lessons and parables as He shares them with people.  They will watch and see as He heals people, counsels people, casts out demons.  They will see for themselves the miracles He performs in the name of God. 

          Yet, even in the human personage of the son of Joseph and Mary, as they touch His arm, bump up against Him walking along the dirt roads and the grassy hills, they are unable to realize that they rub shoulders with the God of the universe; incarnate deity walking along with them.

          Who is this person who speaks out of the wisdom of the ages, who teaches from the scriptures as no one has ever taught before, who dares to call the Sadducees and Pharisees and false priests for what they are, hypocritical burdens to God's own mankind?  He angers them so that they want Him gone, dead, away from them.  They would like to reach out and snatch Him away from the crowds, but something, something holds them back.

          While Jesus has said, "The time is fulfilled," yet it is not THE time, just yet.  And so even as they hate Him and plot against Him, Jesus continues on, sharing the love of the Father.  But His relationship with the Father is His own, alone.  So that even when He goes to pray with His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, He prays to the Father, alone.  And the disciples sleep.

          Finally, the moment arrives and the Father allows His capture.  Jesus, alone, is mocked, tried and found guilty of trumped up charges, alone, beaten and brutalized, alone, and the disciple Peter who said he would never disavow Jesus, denies Him.

          Bearing the marks and bloody cuts of the whip, head bleeding from the thorny crown they have pushed into His head, patches of His beard pulled out by the roots, He struggles through the jeering crowds on the cobble stone street, only just bearing up beneath the weight of the cross that will be the instrument of His death.  Finally, seeing He may not make it to the site of his death at Golgotha, a Roman soldier pulls a man from the crowd to help the battered Jesus carry the heavy timbers of the cross.  But then at Golgotha, Jesus is again alone.

          And it is alone, even between the two thieves, that He is crucified, nails driven through Him, a sword thrust into His side, until He gives up His life; "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit," and He breathes His last.  Again, alone.

          It has been speculated, in song and narrative, that "ten thousand angels" would have moved at His command to rescue Him.  In Isaiah 37:36 one angel of the Lord killed 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp.  It would have been nothing, in the blink of an eye, for the angels who loved Him so to destroy all about Him and lift Him lovingly from that cruel cross.  But by His own determination, for you and for me, Jesus went to that cross alone; went to His death alone.

          Then, He was reunited with the Father through resurrection, setting aside time and space and death.  And He was no longer alone.  Upon His resurrection the Father ensured those for whom Jesus died that they would never be alone, but have the Holy Spirit with them always, guiding them in Jesus' name, for that was what the Son asked for in John 17:21, "that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me."

          We have His promise -- and no one keeps promises like Jesus Christ -- His promise that He will never leave us.  Even as described in Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives in me..."

          Never alone, again.  Never alone.  See how He loves us.

          Thank You, Father.  Amen.

Week of Worship

Feb. 27- Mar. 4, 2012

Invocation:  Almighty God, Who created us and Whose we are, help us to number our days and to live them wisely.  Give us Your Holy Spirit to guide and strengthen us -- to the end that the world may be a better place because we have passed through it.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Read: Psalm 37:1-11 

Daily Scripture Readings

Monday                Hosea 14:1-9

Tuesday               Micah 6:1-8

Wednesday          Matthew 12:22-37
Thursday              Luke 19:11-27

Friday                   Hebrews 13:1-16

Saturday               Ephesians 2:1-10

Sunday                 Hosea 2:14-20; 2nd Corinthians 3:1-6; Psalm 103:1-13; Mark 2:18-22

Reflection: (silent and written)

Prayers for the church, for others, for yourself.

Hymn: "Forth in Thy Name, O Lord"

Benediction:  My Lord, go with me into this day that I may show faith by my good deeds.  Amen.

It's All About God. Period. by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: Isaiah 40:21-31

40:21  Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 
40:22  It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in; 
40:23  Who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing. 
40:24  Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when He blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. 
40:25  To Whom then will you compare Me, or who is My equal? says the Holy One. 
40:26  Lift up your eyes on high and see:  Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because He is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing. 
40:27  Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God"? 
40:28  Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable. 
40:29  He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. 
40:30  Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted;
40:31  but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

          Again and again I hear people asking the question, and see people posting the same question on internet message boards: "What has happened to us?  How can there be so much discord in politics, so much rudeness in society, in everyday living?  Those who worship Christ are being slaughtered and thrown in prison in nations all over the world.  What has happened to the Christian influence in America, in the world?"

          I'm tempted to respond that Satan is loose in the world, in our nation, in our cities, in our homes, and even in our churches.  But then, he has always been loose.  He was loose in Jesus' time, as well.

          What has changed?  Nothing.  Least of all the sin nature of mankind.  Those of us who have turned our lives over to Jesus Christ stand in the light of the gospel, and we see clearly the crude, devastating and bloody effects of sin in the world around us.  Those who have not accepted Christ stand in the darkness of this world, and they see nothing wrong, even though God has always said it is sin.

          In today's scripture Isaiah is speaking to those Jews in Babylon who were taken there under the power of others.  It's a message of hope, and it is often preached as a sermon of motivation.  But for us today, taken into a downward economy under the power of others, it should be read as a warning of the power of Almighty God, a reminder of who He is to those who know Him.

          But for those who do not have that kind of relationship with Jesus Christ, Isaiah's words may well sound like a threat, for they hold a mirror up to the unbelieving, to the wavering, to the unsure about the supremacy of God Almighty.  And some in the pews of Christ's church today will complain, "That doesn't sound like the love of the gentle Jesus we know.  That's too harsh."  But I submit they say that because they know only one facet of the Christ, of the Jesus, yes, who loves us, but also the Jesus who went willingly through the barbaric, bloody, and finally deadly crucifixion on the cross at Calvary; went through it because of His love for the Father, and for you and me.

          What then, shall we silence Isaiah when he sounds too harsh?  Shall we silence the Jobs among us who decry sin and disobedience to the Father?  Would we then feel better about the things we do in defiance of God, those things that make us feel good, for now?  Shall we instead all join hands and sing "I Believe I Can Fly," and ignore the reality that gravity insists on in this world?

          What we need instead is another Amos.  The prophet Amos wrote in about 750-760 B.C., sent of God to warn the forever wicked Northern Kingdom; sent of God to call them to repentance for their self-righteousness, their sins, their preference for worshipping wooden and stone idols rather than the Living God.  Today the idols we worship are more often made of glass and electronics, and those of flesh tend to be sports, business and entertainment heroes.

          Listen to what the words of Amos addressed and see if these sound familiar.  Amos was both devastated and sickened by the sins of the people, and he didn't half-step in calling out their evil transgressions of self-indulgence, violence, class hatred, indifference to human suffering, ostentatious religion, hatred of righteousness, insincerity, hypocrisy, superstition, filthy immorality, and more.  In warning against their sins before God, Amos was warning them that God was prepared to intervene and punish them, which came to pass as their enemies conquered them and carried them off to exile as slaves.

          Oh, for an Amos today.  For all of these sins, which are boldly present in our America today, bespeak apathy and complacency, otherwise they could not survive among a caring church of Christian worshippers.   Those who allow such illicit, harmful, damning behavior to continue are as guilty as those who indulge in it.

          Isaiah, in chapter 6, verse 5, when he saw the Lord God high and exalted, cried out "Woe is me!  For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips..."

          Like Isaiah, we are a people of unclean lips, and we see and hear it all about us.  In our apathy and our complacency, we allow it to continue without comment.

          Years ago on a certain college campus an "Apathy Club" was formed.  It was advertised and a meeting place and date set.  No one showed up.  Not one soul.  Those who thought it was such a good idea, were too apathetic to attend.

          We can smile at that, and yet a fog of apathy and complacency has descended across the Christian church in this age.  It is usually expressed as "I couldn't care less," or "Live and let live," or, more often, when one's spiritual state is questioned, "I just don't know."  That latter, of course, also translates to "I don't care."  And there you find the basis for the perversion of worship today in what passes for the Christian church.  They do not know the Christ, they don't believe God means what He says in scripture -- the inspired word of God -- and they don't care.  As long as they can continue with their favorite sin and pretend to worship God, they don't care.  But Jesus made it crystal clear in John 14:17-18: “If you love Me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”  Yes, it's an imperative ... "If you love Me, you will obey what I command..." but it is also a promise, a promise to believers from the Christ.

          The world we see today, the society in which we live and work and make our way, the governments which govern us at the various city, state and federal levels, have all left their originally intended purpose, and have become the mawkish tools of men and women for their own enrichment, their own good pleasure.  Without the God-given ethical basis upon which they were originally founded, it is no wonder they serve only a few, and no one is willing to sacrifice their promise of success to help those they were selected, elected and/or appointed to serve. 

          Without God we are but a caricature of what was intended.  God's creation has taken it upon himself and herself to design their own future, to feather their own nest, to take care of themselves first and everyone else can have what's left.  Mankind's judgment has superseded God's grace.

          But that is specifically what both Isaiah and Amos were warning against.  There is a God, and regardless of what we think, say or do during our short lifespan on this earth, He is still in charge.  In the end, the end we must all come to, even those who do not believe in Him will see Him ... at the judgment.

          Seek Him now.  He promises if you seek Him you will find Him.  He also promises the unjust will reap their own reward.  And for the record, no one keeps promises like He does.  Amen.

Week of Worship

February 5 - 11, 2012

Invocation:  Almighty God, creator and keeper of the world and all that is in it, help us, we pray, to know the duty You have assigned us and to so live our lives that the world may be a better place for all Your creations.  In the name of Jesus we pray.  Amen.

Read: Psalm 32

Daily Scripture Readings

Monday                Luke 14:7-14

Tuesday               Luke 9:57-62

Wednesday          Luke 14:25-34
Thursday              John 6:60-71

Friday                   Acts 4:32-37

Saturday               Romans 15: 1-13

Sunday                 Job 7:1-7; 1st Corinthians 9:16-23; Psalm 147:1-11; Mark 1:29-39

Reflection: (silent and written)

Prayers for the church, for others, for yourself.

Hymn: "Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service"

Benediction:  And now as I leave this place of quiet to return to the duties which await me, go with me, my God; and keep me all the day long.  Amen.

Who Are the Chosen? by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: Galatians 6:12-16

Gal. 6:12  Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 

Gal. 6:13  Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh. 

Gal. 6:14  May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 

Gal. 6:15  Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. 

Gal. 6:16  Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God.

          In his letter to the Galatians in a Roman province of what is today modern Turkey, Paul lays the groundwork for two important issues.  One is that there is no other gospel to be preached than that of the living dynamic of God's grace in Jesus Christ, and the other is to anchor Christianity solidly in history.

          Although some get their back up about all the historical detail in the revealed word of God, history is important as a foundation to the Christian faith, as Paul pointed out in 1st Cor. 15:3-10.  Christianity is not just a subjective belief system of mystical guesses and speculation, not a matter of moralistic behavioral modification requiring conformity, not just another philosophical or theological mix of human reasoning.

          Through the historic foundations of the Bible we have the impact of the gospel on Paul's life, a man who was radically turned from persecutor to preacher, with theological formulations leading to the personal and spiritual formation of Christ in the personal lives of others, and the church; a dynamic of God's grace that is still going on in the lives of individuals and the church today.

          Yet just as the Judaizers of Paul's day attempted to place worldly restrictions and requirements upon the growing church of Jesus Christ, the same continues today as the organizational mind of man attempts to put God in a box, using "reason" and our own extrapolation of history to say what the church of Christ is and should be, demanding the insertion of cultural morals, rather than adjusting ourselves to the words and requirements God has already adequately provided to us.

          In this very important section of Paul's letter to the Galatians, having already laid the foundation for one gospel, in Christ, unadorned by human manipulations and requirements, Paul goes on in the 16th verse to reveal something extremely important about the church of his day and the church we know today, the church worldwide being the Bride of Christ, those who will worship God in spirit and in truth.

          Verse 16  reads, "Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God."  What does Paul mean by those last five words of further explanation, "to the Israel of God"?

          The Bible has always been its own best expository, so let's shed light on this verse through the illumination of 1st Peter 1:1-2, "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God's Chosen People, who are scattered as exiles throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.  I am an apostle, and you are chosen, according to the foreknowledge of God, through the consecration of the Spirit, for obedience and to be sprinkled by the blood of Jesus Christ.  May grace and peace be multiplied to you."

          Note that Peter uses the phrase, "to God's Chosen People, who are scattered as exiles..."  We are used to hearing the Jews called "God's Chosen People," but Peter isn't addressing Jews here.  He is speaking to Gentiles. 

          There is both greatness and wonder in this verse, that Peter uses words and concepts once applied only to Jews and now applies them to Gentiles, those who were once considered to be outside the mercy of God, outside the love that God had for any nation, a people defiled.

          In Deuteronomy (7:6, 14:2) the Jews are spoken of as a "holy people to the Lord your God ... above all people that are upon the face of the earth."  Isaiah (45:4) calls them "Israel, mine elect".  Throughout the Old Testament, to speak of "the Chosen People" was to speak of Israel, excluding all other nations.

          But when God sent His Son, Israel rejected Him.  Jesus Himself, in the parable of the Wicked Husbandmen, declared the inheritance of Israel was to be taken from them and given to others (Matthew 21:41, Mark 12:9, Luke 20:16).

          Galatians 6:16 makes it clear.  The Master would give the vineyard to others.  What once belonged only to Israel now belongs to the Christian Church, with its members from every nation around the world.  The mercy of God breached the ungrateful borders of Israel and has gone out to the ends of the earth.  We of the Christian Church have seen His glory, we know the grace of Almighty God.

          We who are of the Bride of Christ, His Christian Church, are today much like the Jews of Israel in another way.  Notice that Peter speaks of "God's Chosen People, who are scattered as exiles throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia."  Throughout their history the Jews seemed to be forever on the move, sometimes being forcibly deported, being exiles in one country or another.  They took on the trappings of the country in which they lived, but their hearts, if not their eyes, were forever on Jerusalem.  Yet they remained exiles in the nations where they lived and worked and made their homes.  These Jews were labeled the "Diaspora", the dispersion. 

          I submit to you that the Christian Church today is the "Diaspora", scattered throughout the nations of the world, yet with their hearts and their eyes on Jesus Christ.  Once it was the Jews who were seen as "different' in the nations where they lived.  Today it is the Christian who stands out as different, refusing to become a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Hindu; refusing to bow down to idols and false religions; choosing to live by the rule of God rather than the corrupt and intemperate rule of men.

          For the Christian, there is only one King, and He has yet to return and claim His kingdom.  Their time on this earth is only temporary; eternity is their home; they are strangers here, exiles in this world.

          According to scripture, the inspired word of God, believers in Jesus Christ are both exiles and a Chosen People.  In John 17:13-16, Jesus acknowledges that while we are in the world, we are not of this world, and prays that the Father will protect us.  We are not to ignore or run away from the world, for it's in our day to day dealings with the world that we find people who need to be reconciled to God.  The Christian does not withdraw from the world, but sees everything in the light of eternity.  Having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, this becomes the touchstone of the Christian's life; this dynamic determines his or her conduct.  In John 14:15 and elsewhere, Jesus says, "If you love Me, you will keep my commandments." 

          For if there be a Chosen People, there will be those not chosen, those who worship a Christ reformed in their own image, approving their own fleshly desires, ignoring the Christ who stands unchanged through history.

          However, as a Chosen People, an honor accorded us through the pain and suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary, believers who have turned their life over to Jesus Christ have the privilege of both challenge and responsibility.  Through Christ we know the honor of having the work of God delivered into our hands.  Throughout the New Testament God's revealed word gives us instruction on how to live our lives, how to deal with others, and the importance of staying true to Him whom we worship in spirit and in truth, turning away from evil. 

          The gospel that Jesus Christ shared with His apostles, the gospel revealed unchanged to Paul on the road to Damascus, this is what we are to share with others through our words and through our actions; through our very lives.  Who will hear and who will accept Christ as their savior is the business of the Holy Spirit.  Sharing the gospel is ours.

          There are two quotes out of history that always come to my mind here.  One is from the historic Hindu Mahatmas Gandhi, who said, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians."  And then the quote often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, "Preach the gospel always.  When necessary, use words."

          We Christians are often so unlike the Christ we claim to love.  Part of that is because we are human with a sin nature.  As the great Christian Gilbert K. Chesterton has said, "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried."  We quit too soon.  We try in our own power to be like Christ, and cannot.  The secret is to turn our life over to Him so that we live Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

          As for preaching the gospel, there are those of us who must say with Paul in 1st Corinthians 9:16, "For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!"

          Others of us preach to those around us by every action of our life.  Now, there is a great misconception among Christians that if non-Christians rub elbows with Christians, they will "catch" the gospel.  If we belong to Christ, it shows, and others are watching.  But some words, some explanation is always necessary.  A portion of 1st Peter 3:15 advises us, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."  Our hope is in Jesus Christ, Creator and Lord of the universe, and although this world doesn't know Him, we need not be ashamed to say so.  For we of Christ are a chosen vessel, a chosen people, with the joys of eternity ahead of us, with all the peace and the promises of love and life that come with being a chosen one of God.  What better gift to those around us than to share that peace and that joy?  Amen.

Week of Worship

Jan. 29-Feb. 5, 2012

Invocation:  At Your word, O Lord, the worlds were created, and by Your word new life is given.  Open now my ears that I may hear Your special word spoken to me today.  Amen.

Read: Psalm 29

Daily Scripture Readings

Monday                John 1:1-13

Tuesday               Genesis 1:1-19

Wednesday          Genesis 1:20-31
Thursday              Matthew 9:1-8

Friday                   1st Corinthians 12:1-10

Saturday               1st Peter 1:3-9

Sunday                 Deuteronomy 18:15-20; 1st Corinthians 8:1-13; Psalm 111;

                              Mark 1:21-28

Reflection: (silent and written)

Prayers for the church, for others, for yourself.

Hymn: "Send Your Word"

Benediction:  And Jesus, God's Word enfleshed, I hear You knocking and I open the door.  Come into my heart and mind, and speak to me from that interior place -- all the day long.  Amen.

It's About God, Not Candidates, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: 1st Corinthians 7:29-31

7:29  I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none,
7:30  and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions,
7:31  and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

          Following church services one morning, as the Pastor stood at the door greeting everyone, he noticed a member he had not seen in a while.  He said, “Mr. Jones, I hope you took my sermon to heart about being a member of God’s army?”

          Mr. Jones replied, “Oh, indeed, I did, Pastor.  I am absolutely a member of God’s army.”

          “Really?” the Pastor responded, “but we haven’t seen much of you lately at Sunday muster.”

          “Well,” Mr. Jones replied, “that’s because I’m in the secret service.”

          There is no such thing as a secret Christianity; keeping our relationship with Almighty God a secret from everyone else.  The heart of the church is community in Christ – if we do not have community, we don’t have much of a church.   And yet, it would seem the church has become so enamored with a lust for crowds that we forgot that discipleship is a personal, intimate experience.

          We seem to have gotten lost in the maze that is life, dealing with all its problems, making our own decisions about this and that, dodging the pitfalls and mud puddles of everyday living all by ourselves, as if God could not be bothered with such mundane matters of life. 

          Perhaps one reason we have so many problems is that He loves us so.  I usually get a very strange look when I tell people, “God must really love you, because He has given you so many problems.”

          But it’s true.  He is our creator, and He is crazy about His creation.  He’s crazy about you.  And He wants us to come to Him constantly.  He loves our company.  And so when we run into difficulties, He welcomes us when we come to Him.  Because He loves us, with a love that is so inclusive, so magnanimous, so deep and forgiving that we can hardly understand it.  And yet, it is the thread that pulls the entire gospel together.

          The greatest need in the world today is the gospel of Jesus Christ that is based in God’s love.  It is the greatest need of the world because men, women, and children are perishing without a vital knowledge of God through the good news of our Savior, God’s Son, Jesus who is the Christ.

          The god that men talk of today is a cheap, weak version of a god who is your pal; he’s the “man upstairs,” he’s the fellow who will help you out when you’re down and out and in difficulty, and won’t bother you too much when you’re not.

          Many people are in trouble today because their god is a handmade, unobtrusive god who is there to grant wishes and favors; a combination of various theological ideas and stories passed around that lack the vision and sanctity of the Most High God.

           Let me say it clearly -- Almighty God, who created you and I and the entire universe is neither a wish-granting genie nor Tinkerbell, whispering in our ears.

          David Neff, writing in the Gospel History Blog, as he reviewed a series of volumes titled “Ancient Christian Doctrine“, edited by Tom Oden, points out that “saying ‘I believe’ (Latin: Credo) was a life-endangering act.  Christianity was seen as -- no, it actually was -- subversive in the Roman Empire.  Oden writes, ‘One who says credo without willingness to suffer and, if necessary, die for the faith has not genuinely said credo in its deepest Christian sense as baptism: to die and rise again.’”

          The greatest need in the church today is the gospel that still believes, dangerously, in the sovereignty of God.  The gospel is not only news for a perishing world, it is the message that forms, sustains, and animates the church.   Apart from the gospel, the church has nothing to say; or rather, nothing to say that cannot be said by some other human agency.

          The gospel distinguishes the church from the world, defines her message and mission in the world, and steels her people against the fiery darts of the evil one and the false allurements of sin.  The gospel is absolutely vital to a vibrant, joyous, persevering, hopeful, and healthy Christian, and his or her Christian church.
          The first order of business, then, is to know the gospel.  For the gospel is not just some idea, a holy proposal or suggestion, something to be considered.  Hebrews 4:12 says, “The Word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit, and the joints and the marrow, and is a critique of the thoughts and the intents of the heart.” 

          If God’s Word is that alive, that powerful, that searching, then the gospel also carries with it an active life of its own, and it needs to be understood and shared faithfully, not watered down, not contaminated with what we would “like” to be true.  Not simply that we are okay, or only that God is love, or that Jesus wants to be our friend, or even that we should live right; whatever we think “right” is.

          And the gospel is not simply that all our problems will be fixed if we follow Jesus, or that God wants us to be healthy, wealthy, and wise.  All of these ideas may be true in some sense, but only in a shadow of a sense and never as an all sufficient statement of what the gospel is.  We fail in understanding the gospel because we do not understand that the Bible is God’s living word.  It’s not something made up by men that we can tweak and adjust here and there to fit our ideas of the changing rights and wrongs of the prevailing culture.

          For example, it’s forever being suggested to me that the phrase “God helps those who help themselves,” is from the Bible.  It’s not.  People who suggest it is, know neither the Gospel nor their Bible.
          The gospel of Jesus Christ is literally “good news.”  As news it contains statements of fact, and truths derived from those facts.  As good news the gospel holds out hope based upon promises of Almighty God and grounded in the historical facts and truths that vindicate those promises.

          Through the perfect obedience of the Son of God and His willing death on the cross as payment for our sins, all who repent and believe in Jesus Christ, following Him as Savior and Lord, will be saved from the wrath of God to come, will be declared just in His sight, have eternal life, and receive the Spirit of God as a foretaste of the glories of heaven with God Himself.

          Yes, the good news is also that God is love, that He will keep His promises to His children, that we are never alone, that His Son has already paid the price that reunites us with Almighty God.  I like to tell people that “God is crazy about you.”  It’s true.  He made us, we are His creation, and He loves us. 

          The Word of God says He knew us even before we were formed in the womb.  He has not known us any the less since then.  When we wake up in the morning, whether we feel good or wish we felt better, He still knows us.  Whether our plans for the day succeed or fail, whether we win or lose, He is still there at the end of the day. 

          What He expects of us is what Jesus asked of us in His Sermon on the Mount. 

          Love one another.  “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

          As today’s scripture tells us, the love Jesus spoke of does no harm to its neighbor.  On the contrary, if we have that kind of love, we will share the gospel of Jesus Christ, we will recognize the presence and the sovereignty of the holy God.

          But here is what today's scripture is all about, what it has to do with this.  For if you understand and accept all I have just shared with you, then you need to pay particular attention to Paul's words to the Corinthians.  They are living in a time when to believe in Jesus Christ is particularly dangerous.  And so Paul is advising them of the shortness of time left to them, more short for some than others, more short for some of us, than others.  Because of the way of the world, because of the shortness of time, Paul advises that they remain unmarried and dead or indifferent to the comforts of the world.  He shows them how worldly cares hinder devotion to God, and distract them in the service to God.

          Right this moment, somewhere, good friends are parting over political issues, disagreeing over political candidates, splitting up over the issues of the election that will take place this coming November.  They are being hindered in their devotion to God, distracted from service to God.

          I believe, because of the increased prayer activity and commitment by Christians in this nation, that this is the year God will begin to set things right in this nation.  For the Christian, then, that means putting our faith in God, not in men, not wrapping our life around political issues and candidates, but being led to support those individuals who most support what is right, what is just, and what is Godly. 

          Four Christian leaders have been driven from this electoral race by the news media, who would be our "kingmakers."  But it is not up to us to fight with the news media, nor any who work against the things of God.  Our job is to worship God and He will fight for us.  We just need to ensure we are on His team, not hope that He will be on our team.

          Read Paul's words to the Corinthians again in 1st Corinthians 7:29-31.  Understand that all the things you and I wrap our lives around in this world are passing away, will one day pass completely away.  Our faith must be in God, who will still be there when everything else has passed away; when we will stand and wonder, what were we so excited about that we threw away friends, that we abandoned our Godly principles, that we didn't have time for Jesus Christ?

          Which candidate?  Wrong question.  Which God?  Yes, in which god will you put your faith, the god of politics, disaffection, frustration, or the Living God?  Too many of us trusted in the cult of politics last time, listening to the glib political promises, and you see where it has led us.  Turn to God.  Turn your attention from the candidates to God.  We don't know what the future holds, but He does.  For He holds everything that is to be in His hands, and He will not abandon His own.  That's a promise.  And no one keeps promises like our God.  Amen.

Week of Worship

January 22-28, 2012

Invocation:  Merciful God, were it not for Your mercy, I would remain lost in sin and confusion.  Thank You for Your extravagant grace and Your mercy without limit.  In this hour hold me in love, even as a mother cradles her child.  Amen.

Read: Psalm 116

Daily Scripture Readings

Monday                1st Peter 2:1-10

Tuesday               Jeremiah 3:1-14

Wednesday          Luke 1:47-56
Thursday              Isaiah 63:7-14

Friday                   James 2:1-13

Saturday               Luke 6:27-36

Sunday                 Isaiah 43:18-25; 2nd Corinthians 1:18-22; Psalm 41; Mark 2:1-12

Reflection: (silent and written)

Prayers for the church, for others, for yourself.

Hymn: "Jesus, Love of My Soul"

Benediction:  Now, my Lord, as I leave this time of devotion, may Your mercy be in me a flowing river reaching out to all whose paths shall touch my own.  Amen.