08-14-22 “What the world needs now…”

Scripture                                             1 Corinthians 13:13

Do you know the song by Hal David and Burt Bacharach?
WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW:
What the world needs now is love, sweet love / It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love / No not just for some, but for everyone
 
Lord, we don't need another mountain / There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb
There are oceans and rivers enough to cross / Enough to last 'til the end of time
 
What the world needs now is love, sweet love / It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love / No, not just for some, but for everyone
 
Lord, we don't need another meadow / There are cornfields and wheatfields enough to grow
There are sunbeams and moonbeams enough to shine / Oh listen, Lord, if you want to know
 
What the world needs now is love, sweet love / It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love / No, not just for some, oh, but just for every, every, everyone.
 
          How Hal David wrote the lyrics – it didn’t come together till he really thought about who he was talking to – GOD!
 
          Do you ever pray that way? Where you cry out to God to say “This is what we need!”
Telling God the world needs LOVE is telling God what the world needs is GOD who is love.

NIV  -  1 Corinthians 13:13     And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
KJV  -  1 Corinthians 13:13     And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
AMP  -  1 Corinthians 13:13    And so faith, hope, love abide [faith — conviction and belief respecting man's relation to God and divine things; hope — joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation; love — true affection for God and man, growing out of God's love for and in us], these three; but the greatest of these is love.
MSG  -  1 Corinthians 13:13    But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
 
Faith, Hope, Love (Nouns)
They are also Anarthrous
          Anarthrous refers to a word or group of words which appear without a definite article. Greek has no indefinite article, "a" or "an" in English. Sometimes it is best to translate an anarthrous word by supplying "a" or "an" before it. [a faith a hope a love] Anarthrous constructions are most often intended to point out the quality of something. In fact, due to reasons of English style or Greek idiom, the word "the" is even an appropriate translation in some cases.
[The faith The hope The love]
“What the world needs now is not just love – it needs THE LOVE. God’s love.
There are 7 words for love in the bible but 3 that are used most often. They are:
EROS – passionate, romantic love
PHILEO – brotherly, family love
AGAPE – God’s love – ultimate, complete love.

First 5 words of the Bible
          “In the beginning God CREATED!” Why? Love had to be expressed!
First 6 words of the gospel of John
          “In the beginning was the WORD!” Who? Why? Jesus because God is love!
John 3:16
          God so loved the WORLD (His creation) that he sent His (word) Son!

          1 John 4:7-12     Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. God’s love expressed through creation was not His complete love – it can only be completed when it is always expressed through us.
 
          1 Cor 13:13     And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
NOW – Not temporary! REMAIN – pres ind act. It is here & now and will be remaining and cannot be removed! = LOVE.
But the ‘greatest’ – largest, most super, highest, ultimate, maximum, supreme, complete LOVE.

          1 John 4:16-21     God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother & sister. Who is my brother and sister. The answer is the same as the answer to the question “who is my neighbor?” Anyone and Everyone.  SLIDE 13 Matthew 5:46-48  If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
 
          God’s love was most greatly exhibited on the cross and the next greatest move of His love will be the marriage between Christ and his church when we join him in eternity.
 
          If God so loved us – we also MUST live by his new command – “Love one another!”

ILLUSTRATION
          A man is walking along the shoreline of an ocean when he comes up on a little boy standing in the midst of thousands of starfish that had washed up along the shore. The man watches the little boy as he picks up a starfish and one by one throws them back in the sea. The man watches for several minutes then walks up to the boy and asks, "What are you doing?" The little boy answers, "I'm saving these starfish so they won't die." The man says to the boy..."There are too many too save, it wont make any difference." The little boy reached down and picked up another starfish and said, "it will make a difference to this one" as he threw it into the ocean.  
          The price of not living in God’s love is eternal death. The price of not living (sharing) by God’s love is becoming like Sisyphus. WHO?

ILLUSTRATION
          Sisyphus, the mythological king who's lust for life (instead of loving others) caused him to try to trick the gods by cheating death. The gods responded to this treachery by sentencing him to Hades, condemning him to endlessly SLIDE 14 roll a huge bolder up a hill, only to have it roll down again.
          Students of ancient Greek mythology, philosophy and psychology have for centuries studied this tragic character, searching for insight into the human condition. The famed existentialist writer, Albert Camus, had this to say about Sisyphus' odd lot in life (or should we say "death"):
          "The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor. … Sisyphus' scorn of the gods, his hatred of death, and his passion for life won him that unspeakable penalty in which his whole being was exerted toward accomplishing nothing. This is the price that must be paid for the passions of this earth."
 
          We have a choice. If we claim to be ALL IN for Jesus, then receiving God’s love and expressing that same love – to everyone – is not an option. It is who God is! It is who you are! It is who we are in Christ Jesus!
 
 

08-07-22 “Jesus is All In for the Outcast”

Scripture               1 Corinthians 1:26-30

                         

          At the Ohio State Fair – everyone, from all walks of life are welcomed at the fair equally.
All are welcome and I even got in for free.
 
 Scripture           1 Corinthians 1:26-30
          Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things — and the things that are not — to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God — that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

JOHN E. CLOUGH
Friend of the Outcastes
          On an Iowa farm in the 1860s a young man was standing on a four-horse reaper breaking off the heavy grain when one of the farmhands came across the field calling out, “Here’s a letter for you from Boston!” John Clough Clough Slide seated himself on the reaper, tied the reins around the seat, and tore open the letter. As he read, his eyes widened with surprise. Then a broad smile came upon his face. “What do you know!” he shouted. “They want me to go to India as a missionary! It’s a call from the Baptist Foreign Mission Board in Boston.”
          John Clough was more than a farmer. He was an educated man who had been head of a public school and had served as a leader in politics. More recently he had felt called to Christian service and had been distributing literature for the American Baptist Publication Society in the Midwest. It was at a Baptist Convention in Davenport, Iowa, that an address by a missionary to Thailand had stirred him to apply for appointment to the overseas mission field himself.
          Clough did not grow up as a Christian. In college he had been greatly annoyed with a roommate who insisted on reading the Bible and praying aloud. Clough had insisted on drawing a line down the center of the room with the understanding that all praying would be done on the other side of it, and he could do as he pleased on his side. One evening, however, the president of the university had persuaded him to attend a service at the Baptist church, and the experience had moved Clough deeply. Returning to his dormitory room, he stepped across the chalk line and knelt beside his praying roommate.
          Clough’s missionary assignment in India was to work among the Telugu people, a field which was known as the Lone Star Mission, because it had enjoyed so little success since its establishment a 25 years earlier. Three times the mission board had considered closing it. The final decision to keep it open had been made as a result of an appeal through poetry by the Reverend Samuel F. Smith, who was also the author of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” The final stanza of Smith’s poem about the Lone Star Mission won the Board to its support:
       Shine on, “Lone Star!” till earth redeemed - In dust shall bid its idols fall;
       And thousands, where thy radiance beamed, - Shall “crown the Saviour, Lord of all.”
So this, a decade later, was Clough’s challenge – to bring thousands to the Savior in a mission where scarcely any had responded in the past.
 
4 OUTCASTS

1)    Leper physical/relational
          Mark 1:40-45     A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean." Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!"  Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured. Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: "See that you don't tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them."  Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.

2)    Demoniac              mental/financial
          Mark 5:1-20     They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes.  When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me!" For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!" Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "My name is Legion," he replied, "for we are many." And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, "Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them." 13 He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man — and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region. As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you."  20 So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

3)    Woman at the well                 spiritual/social

          John 4:4-42     Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?"  (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?" 13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water." He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back." "I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true." "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he." Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?" Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?"  30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him. Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something." But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?" "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor." 39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers. 42 They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."
 

4)    Good Samaritan           religious/ethnicity
            (not only welcomed but encouraged to participate)
Luke 10:25-37     On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" He answered: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
 
 
CONCLUSION
          Outcasts are any people who don’t belong. What percentage of people within walking distance of the church, would think that they would not be welcome if they came to a service here? A high percentage to be sure. What must we do to let people know they are welcome and invited and encouraged to come?
 
          We are building a church that creatively and compassionately connects people to Jesus Christ!
          Our all church theme text is: Eph 2:19-22
          You are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
 
          We want all people to Believe, Belong, and Become (Sometimes, belonging will come before believing.)
 
JOHN E. CLOUGH (continued)
Friend of the Outcastes
          On November 30, 1864, John Clough and his wife, Harriet, set sail from Boston on a little ship called the James Guthrie. Scarcely seaworthy, the Guthrie rolled and pitched unmercifully and narrowly missed drifting into the wreckage of old ships as it rounded the Cape of Good Hope.
          They did not arrive in India until almost the first of April. Then they journeyed by slow stages on a springless oxcart to the mission station at Nellore and on to Ongole, where they were to open a new station. There at a place known as Prayer Meeting Hill because of a service held there by another missionary ten years earlier, Clough began his work.     
          In the area around Ongole lived a great many people known as Madigas, who were outcastes in the complicated social system of India at that time. In that system there were many social classes, or castes, into which persons were born, and which everyone observed with the utmost strictness. The mixing of persons of differing castes was severely limited, and the outcastes, who were at the very bottom of the ladder, were scorned and despised by everybody else. These Madiga outcastes had been hearing about Christ and were interested in coming to the mission, but Clough knew that to accept them would cost him the friendship of the community’s “best people.”
          It was a difficult decision, and it took a brave man to make it. The people of the higher castes, who would be desirable additions to the church, let Clough know that they would not become Christians if they would have to associate with the outcastes, who (among other repulsive practices) were accustomed to eating carrion, or putrefied dead animals, especially cows, which no good Hindu would eat.
          “Must I forbid the outcaste people to come to Christ in order to receive into membership some of the higher caste people?” Clough asked himself. Then a strange thing happened. As Clough prayed for understanding, he opened his Bible at random, and the text of 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 was before his eyes. At almost the same time in another room Harriet Clough opened her Bible and her eyes fell on precisely the same text. In the King James Version, which was the only one available to most English-speaking people in those days, this is what they read:
                    “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.”
 
          Clough interpreted this double event as more than coincidence. He felt that the Lord had spoken to him. “The foolish . . .  the weak . . . the base . . . the things which are despised . . . .”  These terms described the outcastes exactly. There was only one course to take. Clough rejected the caste system, declaring that segregation had no place in the Baptist church of India. The outcastes were to be welcome to come to Christ, as were people of every caste, with the understanding that all are one in Christ Jesus. This historic decision brought converts by the hundreds, most of them outcastes. Clough felt sure that he had done the right thing.
          He insisted that the Madigas, as a test of their faith, should make three changes in their way of life. First, they must observe Sunday as a holy day. Second, they must stop eating carrion, and third, they must refrain from pagan ceremonies. All three of these demands created problems in the community: the first, because their employers wanted them to work on Sunday; the second, because there were now many dead cows lying around; and the third, because the outcastes could no longer be the village entertainers. Thus, the Madigas I Clough found themselves under great tension. Clough himself was placed under great pressure by the leading citizens, first because he had violated the caste system but now also because he had created conflict between the once servile outcastes and their “betters.”
          But Clough survived these problems and went on to deal with others. In the years of 1876-1878, India suffered from a great famine. With the compassion of the Christ who fed the five thousand, he threw all his energies into feeding the hungry with the help of money raised through his appeals in England and the United States. To help the people earn money to buy the scarce and expensive food that was available, he contracted with the British Government to build a four-mile irrigation canal, thus providing many jobs.
          During rest periods on the canal project, native preachers serving as overseers read the Bible to the workers and taught them the gospel. Many of the natives, moved by this preaching and convinced of Clough’s sincerity by his works of mercy, desired to become Christians. For fifteen months, Clough refused to baptize them, for he did not want “rice Christians” (that is, people who accepted Christ insincerely in order to get food). Not until he had examined each of them personally and become convinced of their sincerity did he accept them for baptism. Their response convinced him so completely that he could no longer hold them back.
          Accordingly, Clough one day stood under a grove of trees on the riverbank and supervised his ordained native preachers as they baptized great numbers of people. That was a day never to be forgotten. The baptizing started a 6 A.M, and by 5 P.M. the number of persons immersed had reached 2,222. They continued to baptize for the next two days until the total reached 3,536 Indian converts, more than were baptized on the day of Pentecost.
          The next year, Clough and his helpers toured among the villages and continued their baptizing. In 39 days they baptized a total of 8,691 persons. During this time Clough also ordained 24 Telugu preachers. So amazing was the revival movement that there were 20,865 Christians connected with the Ongole field by the year 1882, less than twenty years after Clough had begun his work. To this day Ongole remains an important Baptist center in South India, including a secondary school, a junior college, a hospital, a clinic, and a boarding home among its facilities – all because John Clough had the courage to begin by accepting the outcastes.
 
COMMUNION

07-17-22 “Mercy, that’s a big fish!”

Scripture                                                      Jonah 1-4

 
          The story of Jonah is a wonderful children’s story – depicted in cartoons and even retold in the story of Pinocchio who is swallowed by a whale. It is in no way a children’s story – it is full of tremendous theological content – satire – unfaithfulness – hatred – fear – extreme violence, astounding repentance, and amazing love, forgiveness and mercy.

 
RETELL the story of Jonah and the route taken (today’s similar map 2 pics)
Called      
Runs to Joppa            (Pastor will ask for Jonah Map Slides 1 & 2)

Pay for ticket  /  tells he is running from God  /  sleeps

Storm
        Sailors pray to gods  /  Wake Jonah  /  Cast lots  /  Question Jonah
        My God created the land & the sea (Why r u on a ship on the sea?)
        Sailors Row at first  /  the throw Jonah over  /  Sea is calm
Sinking in Sea
        Swallowed by great fish  /  Prays  /  Vomited out
Builds Shelter
        Tree grows  /  Worm kills tree  /  Jonah complains  /  Called again
Goes to Nineveh
        “40 days and this city will be overturned”
        King and all repent – sackcloth and ashes
God relents
        Jonah complains…again
        God reminds him of the mercy he received

 

Down down down
          God told him to rise up and go and rose up and went – in the wrong direction. How often do we go the opposite way God is telling us to go? Every time we sin!
          Jonah kept taking steps further away from God – further down from his heavenly calling.
Down to Joppa – Down to a ship – Down to its haul to sleep – Down into the sea – Down into the belly of a fish – Down into despair (at this loss of shade and that Nineveh was spared)
          That is what sin does, turns us away from God and makes us get further and further away until the sin has engulfed us like being in the belly of a great fish with no hope of escape.

         

          Notice in the story of Jonah there are essentially 2 people groups and two people (individuals) who are on the wrong side of God but each who are shown great mercy.
1^st group – the sailors
 
A PRESIDENTIAL & CHRIST PARDON COMPARED
          A presidential pardon is an exemption from punishment and can't be reversed. People have to apply to be pardoned. Former President George W. Bush, during his eight years in office, received 2,489 pardon requests. He granted 189.
APPLICATION
          By contrast, we serve a God who is "rich in MERCY" He graciously pardons all who apply.  Isa 55:7  Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
          Eph 2:1-6  As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.
 
          The 2^nd person who was evil but had hope for God’s mercy shows evidence of their belief by what they had written on their tombstone.  (Pastor will ask for Capone Slides 1 & 2)

 

          The 3^rd and final person in our story who has sinned greatly to whom Jesus wants to send lavish mercy is “You!”
St. Jerome wrote a wonderful meditation on this. He was imagining the conversation between the soul and Christ. The soul looks upon the nail marks in His hands and His feet and says, “Jesus, You have gone to such great lengths to save me! How can I ever thank you?”
Jesus responds, “If you wish to thank Me, offer Me your praise and Adoration.”
The soul replies, “Yes, Lord, I will, but I wish I could offer you more! My money? My possessions?”
“I made the entire world – I have no need of money or possessions.”
“Then what can I give You, Lord? What would adequately thank You for Your love?”
Jesus responds, “If you wish to thank me, give me your sins. Give me your past, your shame, your weaknesses. Let me take them on My shoulders on the Cross, and let me pour My mercy upon you. That will give me the greatest joy.”
 
There is nothing in the whole world that gives Jesus greater joy than forgiving our sins. And this isn’t just for huge sinners. All have fallen short of the glory of God, even “the just man sins seven times a day” because the little things, too – the lack of honesty, the impure glance, the sharp word, the grudge – prevent us from the abundance of life God wants for us.
 
If Al Capone could trust in the mercy of Jesus; If Jonah, the sailors and the Ninevites can trust in the mercy of Jesus, how much more can you believe that He will have mercy on your soul?

07-10-22 “Did Jesus go to church?

  Scripture                                                 Hebrews 10:19-25

 

          How many times a year do you worship with the church body?
          How many times a year would you like to worship with the church body?
          What would it mean if everyone who claimed Ashland as their home church were “All in” for corporate worship? What would that look like? It would look like no one missing more than 12 times a year (exceptions to shut ins and people who work on Sunday – although we have a livestream, then a recorded alternative). It would look like people following through on a sermon from a few weeks ago: 3 things must happen regularly:
1)    Pray for the preacher as they are preparing and delivering the sermon.
2)    Pray for yourself to come expectantly – ready to hear a word from God for your life.
3)    Be fully present during the sermon in the midst of the gather body of believers who are doing the same as you.
It would look like people of every race, age, socio-economic and educational background worshipping the same God together.

What is worship?

          It is loving the Lord your God with all your heart all your soul and all your strength. If you had to fight for the right to worship in combined assembly, would you do it?
If the state determined how you had to worship and that you HAD to worship, how would that sit with you? Worshipping God in community is a choice – a free choice. I love that. I don’t have to come to worship (outside of my job). You don’t have to come to worship. Isn’t that awesome? If you don’t have to come then why are you here? (ASK PEOPLE TO RESPOND)
          I love that I don’t have to be at worship but I get to choose to be at worship and I choose it always. WHY? Because Jesus gave His life for me – the least I can do is gather with like minded people once a week to say Thank You.  WHY? Because Jesus said, Matt 16:18-19  “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
          I get to be a co-laborer with Christ to build His church with all the resources of heaven as I am part of His church – not a casual church attender – but someone who is all in for Christ and His church and that begins with being All In for corporate worship.
          Did you ever notice that nearly every time before going into battle – odds stacked against them – the Israelites worshipped first. Jesus was always going off to worship and pray so that He could do the work the Father was asking him to do. Being faithful is not just about “DOING” stuff. It is first about being a true consistent corporate worshipper of God. 

Hebrews 10:19-25
Therefore, brothers and sisters, (brothers & sisters) since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place (where previously, only the high priest got to go and only once a year to sprinkle sacrificial blood for the sins of all the people. On this occasion he wore only white linen garments, instead of the normal elaborate priestly vestments worn during rest of the year. The office, first conferred on Aaron by his brother Moses, was normally hereditary and for life. In the 2nd century BC, however, bribery led to several reappointments, and the last of the high priests were appointed by government officials. According to tradition, 18 high priests served in Solomon’s Temple (c. 960–586 BC) and 60 in the Second Temple (516 BC–AD 70). Since that time, there has been no Jewish high priest, for national sacrifice was permanently interrupted with the destruction of the Second Temple in 70AD. That means – only 78 people total ever entered the Holy of Holies – only 78 people got that close to God in worship.) by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain (veil), that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
 
Jesus after the Passover meal – in the face of opposition – chose to worship – they went out singing a hymn going to Gethsemane to pray. He continued to worship in the face of opposition before Caiaphas, Pilate, Agrippa until he was whipped and led through the streets to his pulpit where he delivered the greatest sermon ever by preaching forgiveness and love for all who would receive it. When we gather to worship, we are giving him praise for his act of worship – a life sacrificed so that we could be free from sin and able to enter the holy of holies to worship Him freely and forever.

Roger and Mary Williams (Children: Mary, Freeborn, Providence, Mercy, Daniel, & Joseph)
(Read from book)

 

Jesus worshiped with the people regularly: Luke 4:14-16   Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom.
 
SING: Behold OUR God! Come let US adore Him!

07-03-22 “Do you know where to find freedom?”

Scripture                                                        John 8:32

          Do you live in freedom?

          As I considered the fact that I have preached on or near the 4^th of July (celebrating America’s Independence) over 35 times and each of those sermons merely used that momentous event as a hook for then preaching about our freedom in Jesus, I wondered if there was not something else that could be done?          

I agonized over this till waking up one morning with the truth of Jesus and the freedom from sin that he offers us and realized I am compelled to preach Jesus based upon his Word plain and simple. I need not try and force something onto the scriptures but allow them to speak for themselves and there is one verse of scripture that screams louder that all others for my life and just so happens to be related to the theme of freedom. John 8:32 “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

          To speak of freedom without first speaking of the thing that enslaves us is like eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without the bread – it may seem sweet but is difficult to handle and creates a mess. Peanut butter was originally paired with a diverse set of savory foods, such as pimento, cheese, celery, watercress. In a Good Housekeeping article published in May 1896, a recipe "urged homemakers to use a meat grinder to make peanut butter and spread the result on bread." The following month, the culinary magazine Table Talk published a "peanut butter sandwich" recipe. An early recipe for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich appeared in
the Boston Cooking School Magazine in 1901 (121 years ago); it called for "three very thin layers of bread and two of filling, one of peanut paste,  and currant or crabapple jelly for the other". It became popular with children with the advent of sliced bread in the 1920s, which allowed them to make their own sandwiches easily. I wonder if there is history and a recipe for freedom? So let’s begin with what is on everyone’s mind this weekend, how we got our freedom in the first place, and move to something similar near biblical times and within those two slices of bread, see if we can have a taste of the peanut butter and jelly of freedom.

 

What were the causes of the Revolution – what were we trying to get free from?

Through aiding the American colonists during the French and Indian War, the British government amassed an enormous debt thanks to the cost of raising, supplying, and funding an army on foreign soil. Expecting the Americans to shoulder the financial burden, Parliament levied several acts of taxation.

The Sugar Act (1764), the Stamp Act (1765), and the Townshend Acts (1767) were merely some of the unpopular pieces of legislation placed upon the American colonies for the purpose of raising funds to pay the French and Indian War debt.

Years of unrest and discord followed. The Americans maintained that Parliament could make laws but insisted only their elected representatives could tax them. The English felt that Parliament had supreme authority over the colonies.

The Americans formed Committees of Correspondence, and later, a Continental Congress, to find solutions, but could not find common ground with the English. When fighting broke out in 1775, American revolutionaries determined that separation was the only means of obtaining liberty and justice.

The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4th, 1776, formally dissolving the colonies' relationship with their mother country, and plunging the continent into war.

 

Jews had to fight for freedom from Roman tyranny which came to a head in 70 AD

“The Roman siege of Jerusalem began in April, A.D. 70, (1705 years) immediately after the Passover, when Jerusalem was filled with visitors.  Captured Jews were crucified at a rate of 500 a day, crosses encircling the city.  Daily temple sacrifices ceased JULY 17; all hands being needed for defense.   The Romans, using catapults and battering rams, finally broke through the walls.  The Jews fled to the temple for refuge...A firebrand was hurled through the golden gate and exploded like a bomb.  The temple became an ocean of fire.”

APPLICATION

Try to imagine the conflicting emotions these Priests must have felt.  On the one hand, it was their responsibility to offer daily sacrifices to cover the sins of the people. On the other hand, their city was under siege and every hand was needed to defend it. Which was more important, more necessary?  And where was God in all of this?  Shouldn't the Lord defend His Temple?

For three months these Priests continued offering sacrifices, all the while waiting for God to intervene. What they failed to realize was that Jesus predicted the destruction of the temple and God had already intervened, almost forty years earlier.  By His sacrificial death, Jesus fulfilled all that the Temple sacrifices merely symbolized. As the author of Hebrews explained, "Unlike the other high priests, Jesus does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself" (Hebrews 7:27).  3 attempts to build a new temple over the next 600 years all failed till the Muslims built the Dome of the Rock in 692 AD, 1330 years ago.

Ironically, the crisis of faith on the part of these Priests was a crisis invented by their own lack of faith. God's promise had already been fulfilled in Jesus the Messiah.  

Many people experience moments of doubt when we are tempted to ask, "where is God?" When this happens, check to be sure that the deliverance you're expecting is, in fact, the deliverance God has actually promised you. Over the past few years many Christ followers have been more concerned with the freedom to wear or not wear a mask, to get or to not get a vaccine than the freedom from sin in Jesus Christ which has eternal consequences.

 

That now leads us to the scripture which begs the question, what do we really need freedom from? The simple and only answer is sin.

What is sin? We could list sins – the scripture has several lists of them. Then we get into interpretation and make the scripture say what we want it to say. Instead let’s look at the heart of what sin is, where did it come from, why do we struggle with it?

 

Lucifer

Isaiah 14:12-15     How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.

 

          This is one of a few texts where we understand that Lucifer was an angel who wanted to become equal to God and God kicked him out of heaven to earth where he has been reigning ever since. It seems the first sin from an angelic source is wanting to become like God – taking God’s place. Let’s look at the first human sin that serves as a template for every human sin to follow.                                                  Adam & Eve

          Describe the serpent and their choice.

          I hate free will when people use it to harm someone else (Cain killed Abel)

I hate my own free will because it harms my relationship with God and sometimes with

others.

The thing that disturbs me most about my own sin is that it is always an attempt to put myself in the place of God. Lucifer, Adam and Eve, Me and you – SIN says I am God and God is not!

 

Jesus tempted to “be in charge”

          Matt 4:8-10     Again, the devil (who reigns as king on earth) took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you, if you will bow down and worship me." (If Jesus had done this, he would have been saying Satan is God and God is not – that would have been sin of the highest measure.) Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'" Jesus resisted the temptation we all face to bring God down by raising ourselves up and placing ourselves on God’s throne.

 

          The American Revolutionary war – the Roman revolt against Jerusalem in 70 AD are the slices of bread with which to hold our peanut butter and jelly. They show us two wars for freedom – one was lost and one was victorious. As we have just described sin, we now know what freedom we seek and need more than any other – freedom from sin, from attempting to put ourselves in God’s place deciding that our choices are better than His; that our boundaries make more sense than His, that we can be the author of our lives better than the author and perfector of our faith.

 

          John 8:32 is the greatest verse in all of scripture – it is to me – my life verse. “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” It comes after a story about a sinful woman and people which would serve as her judge and jury. (Describe the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery) “Woman, where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?”  “No one, sir,” “Then neither do I condemn you, Go now and leave your life of sin.”

          She received freedom from the sin she was charged with but also freedom in being told to leave her life of sin. Only in Christ to have the ability to resist temptation. To resist, we first have to know we are free.

INVITAITON: Give your life to Jesus. If you have, then know that he does not not condemn you.  John 3:16-21  "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.  This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

Galatians 5:1  It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

 

COMMUNION