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RED PRINT: THE FAITH OF JESUS--
THE GREATEST GIFT
Topical Sermon on Spiritual Gifts
by Maylan Schurch
Bellevue Seventh-day Adventist Church 8/28/10
©2010 by Maylan Schurch
(To hear the audio for this sermon, click here.)
Please open your Bibles to John chapter 14. In a minute or two we’ll be going back to Ephesians, but let’s take a look at some “red print”--some words of Jesus. Because this is another sermon in the series I’ve been preaching since January, where we’re trying to see basic Christian and Adventist teachings through the words and acts of Jesus Himself.
Actually, we’re going to let the words of Jesus set the stage, and then we’ll listen to one of Jesus’ friends--Paul--fill in the blanks about how the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of Christ) works in our lives.
John 14:16 - 18 [NKJV]: And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
In other words, when the Holy Spirit arrives, it’s like Jesus is here again, in a way, speaking His “red print” directly to our hearts.
This morning we’ll be looking at what the Bible says about the doctrine of “spiritual gifts”--which are gifts given by the Holy Spirit--in a new way. And here in the verses we just read, Jesus tells His disciples that He would send the Spirit to them, not only to be with them but within them.
And in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul tells us one of the things the Holy Spirit does as He lives within us. He gives us gifts. After Paul mentions several of these gifts, he says in 1 Corinthians 12:11, “But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” So the Holy Spirit gives gifts, and it is He who decides how and when and to whom they are given.
Now we’re ready to go to Paul’s book of Ephesians, for what--to me anyway--is a new way of looking at the spiritual gifts.
While you’re turning to Ephesians, think about this question: Who is the most gifted person you’ve ever known?
I can answer that one easily. The most gifted person I ever knew was Sherlock Holmes. You say, “Wait a minute--Sherlock Holmes was a fictional detective. He never existed.”
You’re right, of course. But he did exist--in my mind. As I read Arthur Conan Doyle’s gripping adventures, I developed the highest admiration for Holmes and his abilities. Here was a man--on paper at least--who not only had the most logical mind of them all, but he had the knowledge to back it up.
Sherlock Holmes could look at a cigarette ash at a crime scene and tell you what brand of cigarette it came from and from what country. (Fortunately, any cigarette ash Holmes found at a crime scene was always some exotic brand, which helped identify the criminal.) It seems like Holmes always turned out to be an expert on any area which might come up as part of a crime. He even knew jiu-jitsu, or judo, just in case he came face to face with a bad guy.
And Sherlock Holmes was always better than anyone else at close and careful observation. He could stand at the window of his rooms in 221-B Baker Street and watch someone walking on the street below, and tell you that person’s occupation, and whether or not he’d served in the military, and on and on. A gifted guy, for sure.
And like pretty much every other boy who devoured those stories, I too wanted to be able to do all those things. As I walked along the highway beside our farm, I sometimes spotted a bit of litter someone had tossed out of their car window, such as a Dairy Queen cup. I would study that cup--wishing I too had a big magnifying glass--and try to deduce some facts about its user. It’s lucky that no “most-wanted” criminals ever stopped at our Dairy Queen and then drove out along our highway past our farm, because I never figured out one single decisive clue from cups or anything else beside the road. (“Okay. This cup is crushed. Was the criminal angry when he threw it out the window? Oh, wait. Maybe somebody else’s car ran over it.”)
I don’t know whom you consider the most spiritually gifted real human being you ever met (besides Christ or maybe even your parents), but I have one. At the end of the sermon I’m going to tell you about a man I once knew who I think fits this description.
But now for another question. What’s the most important “spiritual gift”? Somebody might say “prophecy,” because prophecy is mentioned first in a couple of the Bible’s “gift lists.” But the Bible doesn’t say prophecy is most important. Paul once said he would rather prophesy than speak in tongues, but he didn’t say prophecy was the most important gift of all.
So, those are two questions you can be thinking about--who’s the most spiritually gifted person you’ve ever known, and what’s the most important spiritual gift? I’ll give you my own answers as we go along.
If you’re as old as I am, you might remember a phase the Adventist church--and maybe other Christian churches--went through back in the 1980s. It seems like every time you turned around there was a new “spiritual gifts” seminar being offered. The person who developed this kind of seminar would first of all carefully copy down the names of all the gifts in those New Testament “gift lists,” and would then make up questions which were supposed to help the seminar participant figure out which gifts he or she was strong in.
It was sort of like an aptitude test. If your spiritual gifts test showed that you liked to explain things to people, maybe you had the gift of teaching. If you liked to talk to people about Jesus or the Bible, maybe you had the gift of evangelism, and so on.
Which was okay, I guess, but the Bible never told anyone that a questionnaire was how you discovered your spiritual gifts. It just says that the Holy Spirit gives people gifts when and how He wants to do it. And He probably does enhance people’s natural talents--because even those “natural” talents are gifts from our Creator.
And I always sort of wondered what would happen if I had taken the Whatever-it-was Spiritual Gifts Inventory, and had answered all the questions and tallied the score and now had my three top gifts firmly in mind. What if, out of the blue, the Holy Spirit suddenly impressed me to use a gift that didn’t rank high on the graph? “Sorry, can’t do that. The Gifts Inventory didn’t rate me high on that one.” (I’ve noticed that we don’t hear as much about spiritual gifts inventories as we used to. Again, maybe they’re okay to a certain point, but I definitely don’t think that we should be limited by them.
So as I was hunting through Ephesians this week (because Ephesians has one of the “gift lists” in it), I said to myself, “Before we focus on the gifts, why don’t we first of all see what the Holy Spirit is trying to accomplish? What is He trying to accomplish? What’s His agenda? Then maybe we can get a better perspective on spiritual gifts.”
So let’s start by taking a look at Ephesians 1:13:
Ephesians 1:13 -- In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
So here we see that one of the Holy Spirit’s goals is to seal us in salvation--to try to make sure we stay saved.
Here’s something else the Holy Spirit does.
Ephesians 2:18 -- For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
In this verse, the Holy Spirit helps Jesus give us access to God the Father.
Now start with verse 19 (Ephesians 2:19):
Verses 19 - 22 -- Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Here the Holy Spirit seems to be involved in helping to build up a group of Christian believers into one unified “holy temple.”
And this “unity” idea shows up again in Ephesians 3.
Ephesians 3:1 - 6: For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel,
This idea of the Gentiles having easy and immediate access to the Jewish promises would have come as a vast surprise to most of Paul’s Jewish Christian listeners who hadn’t kept a close and humble and prayerful eye on their Bibles. But here the Holy Spirit is working for unity--the unity of all of God’s children, Jewish and Gentile.
For another goal the Spirit is working toward, let’s start with verse 14.
Verses 14 - 19 -- For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
So if we let Him, the Holy Spirit will help strengthen our inner selves so that we can understand and express the wonderful love of God.
And it’s back to “unity” in the next chapter.
Ephesians 4:1 - 6 -- I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
And then we come to Ephesians’ “gift list.” But notice that its final goal is still unity:
Verses 11 - 13 -- And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
Notice--all those gifts have one purpose: to bring us to perfect unity of faith in Jesus.
Now. Let’s pause for a minute and study that “gift list.” Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers. Are those all the gifts there are? No, because the Romans 12 gift list adds something calls “exhorting,” as well as giving, leading, and showing mercy. And 1 Corinthians 12 adds “words of wisdom,” “words of knowledge,” “faith,” “healing,” “discerning of spirits,” and “different kinds of tongues” and the ability to interpret those tongues.
And again, spiritual gifts seminars have tried to corral all these gifts into one list and create aptitude tests to find out which gifts you or I rate highest in. And I’m sure this has been helpful for some. But it seems that the Holy Spirit works differently--and certainly more efficiently--than numbers on a chart.
And I have a feeling that this whole issue of spiritual gifts is far larger and more amazing than we may have thought of it before. For one thing, I think we can group most of the gifts in the lists we’ve just heard about into one category. I think that we could call most of them “performance gifts.”
And when I call them that, I need to remember that there’s nothing wrong with “performance gifts.” If someone is a pastor, he or she gets up front and gives sermons. Teachers get up in front of their classes. These are “performance” gifts--using “performance” in a good sense.
But I think that Ephesians and the rest of the New Testament give us another category of Holy Spirit gifts--and I think we could call these gifts “lifestyle gifts.” People who have lifestyle gifts might also be people who get up in front and do things there. In fact, if they are out front leading, they need to make sure that they have the lifestyle gifts as a foundation.
Because if we don’t have these lifestyle gifts, our lives will eventually cause deep grief to the Holy Spirit. Have you ever wondered what “grieves” the Holy Spirit? Some people think that to grieve the Holy Spirit they would have to commit some terrible act, some horribly unforgiveable sin. But that’s not what grieves the Holy Spirit.
What grieves the Spirit? Let’s find out--and as we do so, we’ll get some clues as to what these vitally essential “lifestyle spiritual gifts” are.
Ephesians 4:17 - 30: This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Do you see what it is that is grieving the Spirit of God? It’s lifestyle things, like lying, sinful and hurtful anger, stealing, speaking corruptly. And once Paul mentions grieving the Spirit, he continues listing some more grief-causers:
Verses 30 - 32: And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
And this is what “overjoys” the Spirit.
At this point we’re starting to get into the “lifestyle” spiritual gifts. Remember, the “performance” gifts are important too--but people with those gifts need to possess the lifestyle gifts even more strongly.
What are the lifestyle gifts? We get a strong clue in the next chapter:
Ephesians 5:8 - 9: For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),
“The fruit of the Spirit” -- does that ring a bell? Of course it does. The Holy Spirit not only gives the “performance” gifts--the up-front, out-front, highly-visible gifts, but He also grows within us the fruit of His influence--the lifestyle gifts.
Right here in verse 9 the fruit of the Spirit is summarized: “goodness, righteousness and truth.” But let’s turn to the more detailed “fruit” list in Galatians 5. These, I believe, are the “lifestyle” gifts which need to be the foundation for any eternally successful use of the “performance” gifts.
First let’s look at what can happen to people who turn their back on the Holy Spirit’s invitations:
Galatians 5:19 - 21: Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
And I’m glad. Within the last few days, I was chilled to hear about that fugitive murderer who hid out with the unsuspecting man in Spokane, ate trail mix and watched TV with him--but who asked to change the channel when the news came on, because his picture would have come up on the screen. I thought, What if that young man had suddenly decided to murder his host?
As my next-door neighbors in heaven, I do not want people with adulterous, murderous hearts. I do not want them to inherit the kingdom of God.
I will cheerfully live close to converted murderers, like Paul, and converted adulterers, like David, and converted idolators like Manasseh, but I want them converted--and they want me converted.
That’s why you and I need to allow the Holy Spirit to do some gardening in our hearts. Back in South Dakota, when my mom wanted my dad to help her put in a garden, Dad knew that Mom wasn’t going to just fling handfuls of seeds out onto the pasture sod and see what happened. Dad knew that he either had to borrow someone’s Rototiller, or use his own plow and disc, to really chew up that prairie sod. And one time--after he’d plowed and disked--he went out and got some good topsoil and spread that over everything. And Mom ended up with a wonderful crop.
And that’s what we need to let the Holy Spirit do to our hearts--work with it, cultivate it. Notice the fruit of the Spirit. And you’ve probably heard that in the Greek, the word “fruit” is singular, not plural. Technically it’s not “the fruits of the Spirit,” but “the fruit of the Spirit.” Someone has compared these qualities to the different sections of one single orange.
So if someone says to you, “Well, I have the fruits of joy and peace, but I don’t yet have the fruit of patience,” that’s not correct. They’re all sections of one fruit. They all grow together. They should be received and cultivated as a package.
And as we do grow in all of these qualities, here’s what the converted Christian looks like. Here are the “lifestyle” gifts.
Galatians 5:22 -25: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
In other words, we can’t just sit and listen to a sermon about the Holy Spirit. We have to also take Him with us in a few minutes as we walk out to our cars, take Him with us on the drive home, and into Saturday night, and on through into tomorrow and the rest of the week. We have to let the Spirit make all these lifestyle qualities such a part of our lives that when He does tap us on the shoulder and suggest that we employ one of the more visible gifts, we can do so with the deepest humility and the most winning nature.
Wouldn’t that be thrilling this coming week? Wouldn’t you like to have this happen in your own life? I would in mine.
I mentioned that I would tell you about someone I considered very spiritually gifted, someone besides my parents. His name was Archie, and he attended our little Redfield, South Dakota Adventist church. Nobody’s perfect, of course, and Archie may have had his faults, but I never saw them. He was a tall, grizzled old farmer. His deeply-wrinkled face had that permanent tan which my dad’s face always had, the tan of someone who spent a lot of time in the fields on a tractor with no umbrella or cab.
But Archie had permanent smile-creases in that tanned face. It was a joy to be in his presence. He took a deep interest in me and my brother and sisters, and would listen carefully to whatever we would say to him. I know that as he listened to us chirping away, he probably was smiling inside at our youthful, immature ideas, but he always listened intently, trying to experience what our minds were experiencing. And being in the same room with Archie was like being with someone who had all the sections of the fruit of the Spirit.
And I also think that Archie had the greatest gift. What is the greatest gift? As I mentioned, it’s not even the one often mentioned first--prophecy--because Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 that even though I might prophesy, it would all sound like a lot of jangling if I did not have love.
I believe that the greatest of the gifts is not one you happen to score highest on in a spiritual gifts questionnaire. I believe that the greatest of the gifts is the particular spiritual gift the Holy Spirit decides to supply you with at a crucial moment in order to encourage someone into closer unity with God. It may be a “performance” gift, or it may be a “lifestyle” gift, whatever He decides is best. It’s the gift that’s needed at the moment.
It’s like young people who go to far countries on mission trips. They are amazed to discover themselves using gifts they never thought they had, and never thought they would ever be called upon to use. But they discover that if the Holy Spirit offers both the invitation and the gift, the results can be deeply satisfying, sometimes staggeringly amazing.
So when you look at the week ahead through this pair of glasses, you just never know what might happen. This past week I heard someone tell me the story of when in a moment of great crisis the Lord clearly spoke inside her mind, telling her what to do. How many of you have ever felt the Lord impressing you to do or say something? That could probably be considered the momentary gift of prophecy. It doesn’t mean that all of a sudden you’re a prophet forever, but the Holy Spirit gave you that temporary gift.
And if you’ve suddenly been able to clearly speak about spiritual things using words you didn’t think you knew, that could be considered the gift of teaching. Has that ever happened to you?
And I could go on and on. But the idea is to keep yourself open to how the Lord wants to use you in various situations this week. To my youthful eyes, at least, Archie had that attitude--the humble willingness to let the Lord use him to be an encourager.
Remember, throughout the book of Ephesians the Holy Spirit Himself is working to bring people together with each other and together with God. And I believe that it delights Him when He sees us with that same attitude as well--the willingness to accept and use whatever gift He chooses to offer us, at any moment.
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BEASTBUSTING 101 -- THREE “R’S”
Expository Sermon on Revelation 14
by Maylan Schurch
Bellevue Seventh-day Adventist Church 8/21/10
©2010 by Maylan Schurch
(To hear the audio for this sermon, click here.)
Please open your Bibles to Revelation 14.
I don’t know if you heard about it, but earlier this week there was a news story about “slow-moving earthquakes.” The news people didn’t think it was a crisis event, so they didn’t keep repeating it. And unless I let my attention flicker for a moment, I didn’t even see it in the Seattle Times.
It seems that the University of Washington has been monitoring slow-moving earthquakes for eight years, and during that time they’ve positioned 10 seismic recording stations in a line from Port Angeles to Port Townsend.
And early this past Sunday morning, the sensors felt the first ground motion of the latest of these slow-moving earthquakes. Immediately the UW seismology team put another ten sensors in place so they would be able to study these motions more accurately. From what I understand, neither you nor I will be able to feel these little tremors. Evidently, these little earthquakes take about a week to move north through the Olympic Peninsula, and then they’ll cross the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Vancouver Island.
The problem with these little earthquake events is that they’re probably caused by tectonic plates sliding past each other down deep in the earth where the heat makes the rock a little more pliable. And the bottom line is that each time they happen, they load a little extra stress onto the fault zone. Which means that when the “big one” hits, it may be bigger than ever.
Link to story: http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=59686
You don’t need me to tell you that these days, every Seventh-day Adventist or other Christian who keeps his or her eyes firmly on the Bible print can sense another kind of “earthquake pressure” building. It doesn’t matter how many wonderful technologies we develop, our hardest-working and most intelligent leaders stand helpless before the relentless rumble of the events which Jesus predicted in Matthew 24. Wars . . . rumors of wars . . . nation rising against nation (think of the war rehearsals happening near the Koreas right now) . . . famines . . . pestilences (this week I heard about antibiotic-resistant diseases coming out of India) . . . earthquakes in various places.
Of course scientists can’t do much about earthquakes except study them, but in spite of “wars to end all wars” and leagues of nations and united nations and peace talks, we haven’t learned to solve the war problem. And on and on . . . human wisdom can’t heal the sores of our sinful natures.
Fortunately, Jesus doesn’t merely warn us about the coming doom. He urges us to have courage. And surprisingly, that courage shines especially brightly in the first of the three angels’ messages in Revelation 14.
It’s tempting to read the cries of those three angels with wariness and worry. After all, those are the verses that tell about fallen Babylon and the mark of the beast. But this morning I would like to suggest a better way to read what these angels have to say--and it’s a method which is based squarely on what happens in other parts of the Bible. Let me show you what I mean, and you can decide for yourself whether it’s helpful.
You’ll notice I’ve called this sermon “Beastbusting 101.” I haven’t taken a college class in a long time, but it used to be--and maybe they still do it this way--that college classes had numbers after their names. Aside from a few exceptions, the 100-level classes were for freshmen, the 200’s for sophomores, the 300’s for juniors and the 400’s for seniors.
And whenever students would look over the course catalog and point to a class and say, “Hey, that looks interesting,” the advisor would look at the number. And if it was a 400-level class, especially in a challenging subject like math, the advisor might say, “Wait. Before you take that, we need to enroll you in some prerequisites. Let’s start with this 100-level class.”
And if the student was smart, he’d take that advice. Because that 100-level class would give some basic principles which needed to become second nature to anyone who wanted to go on to higher studies.
And I believe that this is the way it is with the Three Angels’ Messages. I think that a lot of people who are deeply interested in prophecy are like the young college student. They glance at the first angel’s words and say, “Right. Interesting. But let’s hurry on to the intriguing stuff. What is Babylon? Who is the beast? What is the mark?”
But that would be like me walking into a 400-level advanced calculus class. I have never even taken an entry-level calculus class. If you were to pin me against a wall and ask me what calculus was, I wouldn’t be able to tell you. And three days into that 400 course, I know I would become deeply discouraged. The material is important, but it would bury me.
You see, if I am reading the rest of my Bible correctly, God Himself uses something like the 100-level, 200-level, and so on system when dealing with us. I believe His way of dealing with us goes something like this:
First, He gives us a simple, urgent command, and just says “Trust Me.”
Then, if we distrust Him and disobey, He says, “Oh, you didn’t trust Me that time? Well, here are some more reasons to trust Me. Now try trusting Me again.”
And if we distrust and disobey Him again, He says, “Oh. You didn’t trust me again. This is serious. I’m sorry for the pain you have caused yourself by not trusting Me. And forgive Me for speaking to you this time in a louder voice. After all, I am your Parent, and my utter caring sometimes brings with it a higher decibel level. And that’s because I love you and I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Remember back at Sinai? God said, “Don’t worship any other gods but Me. Don’t make images of them. Trust Me.” And as the people disobeyed, He sent prophets with more and more details and enticements and serious warning. In fact, Ellen White once made the comment that if Adventist people had read their Bibles the way they should have, a lot of her testimonies would never have had to have been written.
So that’s the way God works. At first He simply says “Trust Me. You don’t know the end from the beginning, as I do. Don’t try to second-guess anything I tell you. Just trust Me.”
Where I’m going with this, is that I believe that if you and I will pause and take a close and careful look at Angel One’s message, we won’t have to worry near as much about what Angels Two and Three have to say.
Let’s me show you what I mean.
Revelation 14:6 [NJIV]: Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people—
Notice some really important truths this one verse is telling us. First, John tells us he sees “another angel.” That means that this angel is just another in a line of several angels--several Heavenly messengers--which God has sent us.
And this angel is flying--he’s not merely standing on the ground or in someone’s house. He’s in motion, in the air.
And notice where this angel is flying--literally in the Greek it’s mesouranemati, “mid-heaven.” This angel is bringing a message which God wants to be very visible and audible over a wide area.
And notice what the message is. It’s not the date and time of the Second Coming. It’s not the secret to making a lot of money. It’s the “everlasting gospel”--literally, the everlasting “good message.” Euanggelion--the “Eu” part means “good,” and the “anggelion” part means “message” or “news.”
And what’s so fascinating to me is that the Greek word “good news” is repeated as a verb a couple of words later. In English it says, “having the everlasting gospel to preach,” but literally in the original language it’s “having the everlasting gospel to gospelize, or good-news-ify” to the world. In other words, this is an intensely gospel message--the gospel is being “gospeled” to the target audience.
And who’s the target audience? Everybody driving by out there on 140th this morning. Every Pakistani person who is in agony over the tragic flooding. Every Israeli and every Palestinian who glance cautiously at each other through fences of barbed wire. This gospel message is supposed to be “gospeled” to every North Korean soldier standing on the border with his loaded rifle wondering whether the South Koreans and the Americans are going to invade his country.
That’s the target audience--“those who dwell on the earth--to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people.” That covers everybody.
And here’s where I think we get to the core course-material of “Beastbusting 101.” Here are the three principles--you might call them the three R’s--to baffling the beast.
Just a quick word about the beast. For the purposes of this sermon, it would be wisest not to pin down a particular entity or system or religion as the beast. Instead, let’s think of this kind of beastliness as a disease, sort of--if we could invent a word--“beastosis,” like cirrhosis, neurosis, tuberculosis, even halitosis. The definition of “osis” is “a diseased or abnormal condition.” So if you have “beastosis,” you’ve got the beast’s disease.
So what is the beast’s disease--whichever group down through the ages is wearing the beast’s mantle, from secular Rome in John’s day, all the way down to right now? I think it’s pretty clear that when you get at its root, “beastosis” is willfully turning your back on the three R’s of the first angel’s message.
But if you reach out for that these three R’s and embrace them with all your mind, soul and strength--they make tremendously powerful beast-busters. Let’s take a look.
Verses 6 - 7: Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people—saying with a loud voice, “Fear God . . . .
In the Greek, that word “fear” is phobos, and it’s where we get the word “phobia.” But in the New Testament, “fear” has a bit more flexibility than our English word “fear.” In English, we also have the word “respect,” and in the Bible the word phobos often covers both ideas.
We know it has this flexibility, because there are many places where God’s faithful followers are told not to fear. In Luke chapter 1, the angel tells both Joseph and Mary, “Fear not.” In Luke 2 an angel tells the shepherds “fear not.” In Matthew 10:31 Jesus says, “Fear not, for you are of more value than many sparrows.” In Matthew 28 when the angel speaks to the women at Jesus’ tomb, he says, “Fear not.” So when the angel tells us to “fear God,” it must be the “respect” part he’s talking about.
I mentioned that Revelation’s “first angel” is going to teach us the three R’s of beast-busting. Here’s the first one:
I believe that the first R of beast-busting is to remember to grant God respect.
Respect is where it starts, right? Yesterday morning I took part in a classroom-dedication service at our schools in Kirkland. Any experienced teacher will tell you that the first thing that needs to happen in any classroom is that the students need to respect the teacher. If there’s no respect, little learning takes place.
But people who have “beastosis” don’t respect God.
Recently I learned that in June my cousin Kevin became the sheriff of South Dakota’s Spink County, which contains my home town of Redfield. I don’t think I am excessively biased when I say that this was a good choice for the citizens to make. Kevin has served the for something like 27 years in various levels of the state highway patrol, and there is nothing which will happen Spink County which he hasn’t already seen happen somewhere else and has learned to deal with.
But knowing that Kevin is now the county sheriff will make it extremely interesting for me the next time Shelley and I go back to South Dakota on vacation. From what I hear, Kevin is absolutely incorruptible. I am fully confident that if he catches Cousin Maylan speeding on a county highway, he will regretfully pull me over and issue me a ticket.
So you can bet both of Kevin’s sheriff boots that whenever next I drive through Spink County, I will watch my speedometer.
In a very limited and human-level way, I have a feeling that my relationship with God is something like my relationship with Kevin. Kevin is my close relative. He and I have the same last name. He and I have always been on cordial terms.
But Kevin also has the heavy responsibility of keeping Spink County citizens safe. And to maintain credibility he must be absolutely fair. And there will be a few people--with a local type of beastosis--who will not respect him, but will cause problems for him.
And it’s the same with God. Ever since sin in all its murderous horror came into being, our loving Parent has added to His job description that of sheriff of the universe. He and no one else can eventually cleanse it of anything which would destroy it. And sadly there are many hard-hearted humans with callused consciences who refuse to respect Him, and who will choose the way of the beast.
So, bringing this down to where we live, what is granting God respect going to look like when I put it to work Monday morning?
I think it’s a matter of treating God the way you treat anyone else you respect, such as a teacher or another kind of mentor. You listen carefully in class. You mull over what God would do with a person or a situation if He were in your shoes--you literally ask, “What would Jesus do?” You read His Bible textbook. And all of this fortifies you against the deceptions of “beastosis.”
Now, the angel’s second R builds on the first, and it’s just as important.
Verses 6 - 7: Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people—saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, . . .
There’s a difference, isn’t there, between “fearing”-- or “respecting” God and “giving glory to Him”? In fact, here’s the second R.
I believe that while the first R of beast-busting is to remember to grant God respect, the second R is to remember to grant Him recognition.
A few days ago I heard a radio sports reporter talk about how people are already speculating about which big-name basketball stars will be playing for the US Olympic Team. After a few names had been discussed, the reporter said hopefully, “Maybe they can being a little glory back to the USA.” And yesterday, the Auburn Little League team, who’s playing in the Little League World Series, tried its best to bring glory back to its home town.
So why does the God of heaven need us to give Him glory? Isn’t He already the king of the universe? Why would He put out a worldwide angelic call for people to give Him recognition?
This is what is so wonderful about God. If you’re like me, you have received a lot of mail from political candidates in the last few weeks. I’ll quote just one example from the stack I have accumulated. This one is from a state representative: “Few people have worked harder to protect women and children than local firefighter Geoff Simpson.”
On the front of the brochure is a hand holding a scroll, and on the scroll is written, “Geoff Simpson’s Record of Protecting Families and Communities.” And the record of accomplishments disappears off the end of the brochure. The back of the brochure lists six different associations who have endorsed him.
Now, I have a strong feeling that Geoff Simpson is not someone who goes around all day saying, “Come on, everybody, give me glory. Let’s have some more glory.” No, he simply would like to continue in his role as a legislator, and he knows that one way to gain the confidence of enough of the voters is to let them know the positive things he’s done for them, and that several major associations feel confident enough to endorse him.
And ever since the heavenly angel Lucifer turned a thoughtful eye toward God’s celestial throne and started plotting ways to get God off of it so Lucifer could take His place, God has been in something of a political contest. And this proves maybe more than anything (except the cross on which His Son died) that God is not the tyrant or dictator which the negative-ad-campaigning Satan has made Him out to be. If God were a tyrant, He would have immediately destroyed Lucifer and whichever angels were following him, and erased and reprogrammed the memories of everyone else.
Instead, God knows that if people can honestly think about Him and give Him the glory, the recognition, He deserves for what He has done, this can give confidence to others to gather into His camp--and finally the universe can again be filled with those who trust Him. Trust Him not only to be fair and righteous, but trust Him to be the utterly adoring Heavenly Parent He has always been.
So what is giving God glory--granting God recognition--going to look like for us this week?
Well, if there’s any possible way you can audibly give credit to God for miracles or other wonderful things, that would be one way. We do that Sabbath mornings during our Celebrations and Concerns time. In our Wednesday night prayer gatherings, the first third to a half of the meeting time gives people a chance to express their gratitude for answered prayers or other benefits God has allowed them to experience.
Every time you give God credit for something beneficial He has done or has allowed, you encourage other people to approach God as Someone who can really make a difference. And of course doing this will protect you from the beast’s negative ads.
There’s one more R, which again builds on the first two.
Verse 7: Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people—saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”
I believe that while the first R of beast-busting is to remember to grant God respect, and the second R is to grant Him recognition, I believe that the third R of beast-busting is to grant Him reverence.
In other words, to worship Him. And worship Him why? Because He is the One who created everything. He made the heavens--the airy heavens and the starry heavens. If He hadn’t made the airy heavens, then you and I would not be alive and breathing today.
And if He hadn’t made the earth, there would be no place to walk, or grow our food, or build a house, or take a vacation. There wouldn’t have been the material from which to make Adam and Eve.
And if He hadn’t made the sea--with its constant evaporation to make clouds, and then rain, and then rivers which flow back to the sea again--our planet would be a dusty, sterile rock, pitilessly baked by the sun.
And I could go on and on. The very vocal cords I am using are His handiwork. Every morsel of potluck food we will enjoy at Brendan and Jing’s picnic after the service comes first from God’s creative genius. The vehicles we will use to drive there came into being because God gave creative minds to many individuals.
A cartoon in the online edition of the magazine Adventist Today shows a science lab. Over on the right, a scientist is seated at a table making notes after looking into a microscope. A picture of Darwin hangs on the wall beside him.
And the rest of the room is entirely filled with a huge elephant, who is glaring at the picture of Darwin. And written across the elephant’s side is the phrase “Intelligent Design.” And the caption at the top says, “The elephant in the lab . . .”
Blessed are those who open their eyes and humble their hearts and decide that maybe a Designer with a capital D did create us after all.
On the one hand, of course, deciding to believe in an Intelligent Designer means that we have to give up the cherished idea that we and our fellow human beings have created ourselves. It means that we have to toss our Frank Sinatra “I Did It My Way” record into the trash bin.
But the more we realize that the Intelligent Designer is also a loving Father, and that He is pretty much exactly the opposite of all the devil’s mud-slinging accusations, the more we realize that, the more reverence we can actually give the One who loves us so much.
So--how do we give God reverence? How do we “worship God”?
Well, one thing is very clear when you read the Old Testament. The kind of worship God values most is a humble and willing heart--because a humble heart first of all gives itself to its Creator. And that is what delights Him most--because He has a humble servant’s heart too.
This past Sunday I made a major decision. It’s going to sound really minor to you, but it’s major to me. I have decided to go back to using the black Bic pen. As a pastor I spend quite a bit of time using a pen--whether it’s taking down information from phone messages people leave me, or writing down the room number of a patient I’m going to go visit in a hospital, or making the announcement list for Sabbath mornings, or taking down notes as I study for my sermons.
Decades ago, back in college, I used only black Bics pens. But over the years since then I’ve turned to other pens and pencils and tried to find the perfect one.
But this past Sunday I thought to myself, “I miss the black Bic. I’ve got a few of them lying around. I think I’ll try to use it as my main pen again.”
As I say, this is not really a big deal to anyone else but me. But I got to thinking about how my black Bic is something like the way the Lord wants us to be. I think the reason I used the Bics back in college was that they were shaped very much like the old yellow pencils we used in grade school. ABic has six sides, just like a pencil. It’s easy to grip and control.
And like the pencil, the Bic isn’t fancy. It doesn’t have a shape that is perfectly designed to fit your hand. It doesn’t have spungy, squishy parts which are soft to your fingers. All it does is feel familiar to your touch, and write the first time, every time. It isn’t temperamental. In cold weather it writes dependably, and in hot weather it writes with delightful smoothness. And one Bic pen costs right around a dime.
And when I take this pen out of my pocket and remove the black cap, the pen doesn’t call attention to itself. It just lets me start writing, and keep writing for as long as I need to. I can watch its ink-level shrink down the barrel, and I know when it’s about used up so I can get a new one.
The more I think about it, the more I want to be a Bic pen in the hand of God. I don’t need to be flashy, or have a gold pocket-clip, or have a well-known brand name on me. I just want to be ready for God to use if He needs to write about Himself through me.
I want to be able to clearly communicate that I respect my Heavenly Father, and that I recognize all the wonderful things He has done for me--and that I utterly revere and worship Him as my Creator and Life-giver and Redeemer.
What about you? Would you--as part of God’s church--like to allow Him to use you this week? You don’t have to be a Bic pen, as I see myself. You can choose some other comparison which fits you better. But I hope you’ll join me in offering respect, recognition and reverence to God and His Son this coming week.
THE FIRST BREAKFAST
Expository Communion Sermon on John 21
by Maylan Schurch
Bellevue SDA Church 8/14/2010
©2010 by Maylan Schurch
(To hear the audio for this sermon, click here.)
Please open your Bibles for just a few minutes to John Chapter 21.
The John 21 story we’ll be spending a few minutes with this morning happened a little over two weeks after the Last Supper. And this story isn’t about a supper, it’s about a breakfast--Jesus’ early-morning breakfast with His disciples on the beach. (Several years ago when Shelley and I were talking about this story, it was she who came up with the term “The First Breakfast.”)
Here on a day when we’re celebrating the Last Supper, I think you’ll see how appropriate it is to be taking a look at the First Breakfast. I think what happened in these verses will tell us some very encouraging “nowadays” truths about the One who offered His body and His blood symbolically at the Last Supper, and then--less than 24 hours later--literally, on the cross.
John 21:1 [NKJV]: After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and in this way He showed Himself:
As I mentioned, when this story begins it’s over two weeks since Resurrection Sunday. So far, the way John tells, it, the risen Jesus has met only twice with the disciples--once that Sunday evening when they were gathered together except for Thomas, and again eight days later when Thomas was present. And verse 14 tells us that the “First Breakfast” will be the third time He meets with them.
The first time He met them, He showed them that He was alive. The second time, He proved to Thomas that He was alive. But watch what happens the third time.
Verses 2 - 3: Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We are going with you also.”
So here it is probably just a few days after Thomas has been convinced Jesus is really back from the dead. For some reason--probably because the same religious leaders who persecuted Jesus are starting to make it hot for His followers as well--Thomas and Peter and some of the other disciples are now 70 miles north of Jerusalem, near the Sea of Tiberias, which is another name for the Sea of Galilee.
These days, 70 miles is about the distance from here to Olympia or maybe a bit more. But in those days, that distance would be something like from here to Central California, when you take into account that the Sea of Galilee was probably three days’ solid travel from Jerusalem. (In those days they walked--they had to rest at night. They couldn’t “drive straight through.”) Evidently Jesus’ followers wanted to put distance between themselves and Jesus’ persecutors.
And suddenly, there on the lakeshore, good old impulsive Peter gets the idea that he wants to go net-fishing, and the others say, “Hey. Good idea. Let’s go.” Net fishing was best at night when the fish couldn’t see the boat looming overhead.
Why they decided to go fishing, the Bible doesn’t say. They’re all probably at a loss, because for the last three and a half years they’ve been used to waking up in the morning and having Jesus set the agenda for them. He was the one who had called James and John away from a fishing-net-repair session back in Matthew 4, and (except for when Peter caught the fish and found the coin in its mouth) there’s no record that any of the disciples did any fish-fishing since then. People-fishing, yes, but not fish-fishing.
But now things are different. Jesus isn’t their visible companion anymore, so they feel strongly tempted to head back to what they’re most familiar with.
Verse 3: Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We are going with you also.” They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.
Hour after hour, they fling out their nets and haul them in again, dripping but empty.
At this point they’re about a football field’s length from shore--300 feet--and when morning comes they see someone standing there watching them.
Verses 4 - 5: But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?”
Two interesting things about verse 5. First, Jesus calls them “children.” A Greek reference work I looked at suggested that this wasn’t a demeaning way of talking to them, but maybe something like Irishmen calling each other “lads.” “Hey, boys, hey lads, caught anything yet?”
The second interesting thing about this verse is what He says. If you have the NIV or the ESV, it says “Do you have any fish?” But in the Greek it literally says, “Children--or ‘lads,’--do you have any food?”
Verse 5: Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?” They answered Him, “No.”
“No.” That’s all they say. Of course, since they’re three hundred feet out, it’s probably not a comfortable distance to start up a long, chatty conversation about the challenges of night fishing. But that one word, which is just two letters long in the Greek just the same as it is in English, and it’s just as short in Aramaic, that brief one-syllable word expressed their frustration. They probably snarled it, or barked it. “No!”
Okay. Let’s pause for a moment and see how this scene might connect itself with the Last Supper. At this point the disciples don’t yet know that they are about to be invited to the First Breakfast. And they don’t have a clue who the Man on the shore is. True, most of His three-and-a-half-year ministry happened in the Galilee area and not down south, but seventy miles is a long way from where they last saw Him.
At first, these two meals seem quite different. For one thing, the Last Supper was a planned meal. It was a spinoff of the Passover service. For another thing, the Last Supper was held in a special room, away from the everyday world.
But this lakeshore get-together hadn’t been planned--not by the disciples anyway. For these guys, these “lads,” who may have been thinking of getting back into the fishing business, this was just the end of the night shift, just another workday.
But the risen Jesus showed up here--just as He had showed up in the Upper Room two weeks back. And just as, back then, He took an interest in the food they would eat, He again shows an interest in whether or not they have any food.
And now something happened which must have been incredibly humorous to anybody who made their living fishing. We tend to think of this early-morning fish-catch taking place in reverent silence except for the splashing, but I can imagine that these guys who’ve been dragging this lake all night must suddenly start to shout with laughter--especially when it dawns on them Who is on the shore, and Who is giving this wonderfully good-natured welcome.
Verses 5 - 6: Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?” They answered Him, “No.” And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.
Don’t you see how this could have struck them funny? Can’t you picture these guys--these lads--gasping with laughter as they tried desperately to hold onto that suddenly-bulging net? Can’t you imagine their grins as they told this story again and again, down through the years? They probably said, “There they were, all the fish in this part of the lake, all huddled together in a tight little school behind the opposite side of the boat, just waiting for us to fling the net over on that side so they could swim into it!”
And in that little fishing party, of course, was someone who’d been doing his best to try to forget the events of three Thursdays ago. Maybe this fishing expedition had been one way Peter was using to try to put his betrayal out of his mind. “I’m not only a Judas-class traitor,” he probably growled to himself over and over. “I’m a failure as a disciple--as a learner. I guess I’ll just go back to where I was before the Rabbi called me--fishing all night and cleaning my nets in the daytime. At least this is something I’m good at.”
Except that he hadn’t caught anything all night.
But what’s so wonderful about this story is that Jesus didn’t wait for this discouraged and miserable disciple to come to Him. He came to Peter--came to his workplace, came to where he was maybe trying to start his small business back up again--and walked him through some important truths.
The first truth Jesus was telling Peter was, “I’m right here. No matter where you’ve run to, no matter how deeply you’re trying to bury your shame in your work or in anything else, I’m not staying back there in the Upper Room. I’m here--for you.”
And the second thing Jesus was saying was, “And I’ve come for you not to condemn you but to win you back to friendship with Me. I want to know how you’re doing--whether what you’re engaging in is giving you good nourishment? Lad, son, friend, do you have any food?”
And the third thing Jesus was telling Peter was, “Look. If you’re starting to worry about the nitty-gritty things of life--what you shall eat, what you shall drink, what you shall wear, how you’re going to make a living--I can handle that. You have no idea how ridiculously easily I can deal with those things. Look at these 153 huge fish--dodging your net all night and then hurrying into it at My say-so. And look at how the net didn’t even break, so you won’t have to mend these nets after breakfast for whoever owns them. Peter, the first thing you need to do is to seek the kingdom of God--find it yourself and act it out to other people--and all these things shall be added to you.”
Verses 7 -14: Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea. But the other disciples came in the little boat (for they were not far from land, but about two hundred cubits), dragging the net with fish. Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have just caught.” Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not broken. Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast.” Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, “Who are You?”—knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish. This is now the third time Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after He was raised from the dead.
And the third time, evidently, was the charm--especially after Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him, three times to allow Peter to cancel, one by one, his three denials. And as that first breakfast came to a close, these disciples again sealed their commitment to follow their Savior wherever He might lead them.
Which is, of course, exactly what He wants for you and me this morning. What about it? Will you follow Him right now, this week, where He wants to lead you?
(Click here.)
LISTEN TO "What I Learned at Vacation Bible School," Dick Hammen's August 7 sermon. Dick uses our recent VBS--in which his family was deeply involved--as a springboard to offer some encouraging Bible truths about God. (Click here.)
LISTEN TO "My Discoveries," Nona Nordby's July 10 sermon. Nona grew up as a "preacher's kid" whose father was not only a pastor but an evangelist, and therefore moved very often. Though many PK's of her generation grew bitter and left the church, Nona didn't--and as a result she has learned some rock-solid realities which have helped her view life from God's perspective, and learn to love Him more.
LISTEN TO "Is God Asking Too Much?", Jesús Bervis' July 24 sermon on 1 Samuel 17. So you thought you knew the David and Goliath story? You'll be surprised--and as you listen, you'll discover how to use David's remarkable secret to facing the giants in his life. (Click here.)
RED PRINT--THE FAITH OF JESUS: ARE WE THERE YET?
Expository Sermon on Matthew 5
by Maylan Schurch
Bellevue SDA Church 7/31/2010
©2010 by Maylan Schurch
(To hear the audio for this sermon, click here.)
Please open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 5.
As you’re finding Matthew 5, I’ll let you know that this is still another sermon in a series I began in January, called “Red Print: The Faith of Jesus.” I’ve been looking at the Bible teachings of the Adventist church using the words and deeds of Jesus. This week’s sermon is on the Adventist fundamental believe called “Growing in Christ,” but as you’ll see, it’s not just an Adventist belief but a Bible belief. That’s where we got it.
I also want to take a quick moment to thank the three people who preached sermons for me during our vacation. Nona Nordby, Byron Palmer and Jesús Bervis stood at this pulpit and provided wonderful, spiritual messages for us. Right now, Nona’s and Jesús’ sermons are on the church website in audio form in case you want to listen to them again or didn’t get to hear them in the first place. As soon as we work out some technical issues we’ll get Byron’s online as well--and I’ll send out an e-mail to the church list when that happens. Again, I really appreciate those thoughtful messages.
Shelley and I took our vacation to her hometown of Juneau. We travelled on the Alaska Marine Highway ferry Columbia, which was really a lot of fun. The Columbia isn’t a cruise ship--just an enlarged version of one of our Puget Sound ferries with a couple of floors of little two-bunk cabins. The only entertainment events on board were two family-oriented movies per day, and educational talks by a Forest Service person about the segment of the Inside Passage we were going through.
There were quite a few children on board heading north, and even more coming south. And since there was no wi-fi, nobody could surf the net. And most of the time there was no cell phone service, so nobody could send text messages to each other. And wise parents probably confiscated the kids’ phones while crossing through Canadian waters, because of the huge roaming charges they would find on their bill once they got home.
So naturally, some of the kids found life a bit slow onboard. On each deck on either side of the ship there were two long hallways, and some of the kids began running up and down those halls. This would come to the purser’s attention, and he would get on the ship’s loudspeaker system. At first offer a gracious invitation for parents to keep control of their children. But eventually he became a bit terse. One time he said, “Okay. Knock it off. No running on board.”
I didn’t actually hear any child say to a parent, “Are we there yet?” But I have a feeling a lot of kids were thinking that. However, some of them had planned ahead. I saw several of them with their noses in books. Others played table games in one of the passenger areas. I saw one group of kids even having a little Bible study. And some of the older kids came and listened to the Forest Service guide talk about the area we happened to be passing through.
If you’re like me, I imagine that a week doesn’t go by without your longing for heaven. Don’t you sometimes say, almost out loud, “Are we there yet?” A week ago this afternoon we remembered Ken Brown in a memorial service. A week from tomorrow Shelley and I will be attending the funeral of another friend. You and I both know people who are held captive by physical ailments or other problems, and we long for the coming of Christ, when all our dreary captivities will be over.
However, Christians who spend a fair amount of time in the Bible have discovered that half of the answer to the question “Are we there yet?” is “Yes.” The Second Coming is still in the future, but Jesus said that the kingdom of God is happening now if we know how and where to look for it. And this is good news.
In Matthew 3:2, John the Baptist came preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Literally in the Greek it says “Near is the kingdom of heaven.” So two thousand years ago, the kingdom of heaven was near. In the next chapter, Matthew 4:17, Jesus picked up the message and kept preaching it, in exactly the same words: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand! Near is the kingdom of heaven.”
And He went even further. In Luke 17:20 and 21, when a group of Pharisees asked Him when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus answered, “The kingdom of God is within you.” What He meant was that God’s kingdom was in their midst, and all they had to do was to step over into it. Unfortunately, not a lot of them did--even though Jesus warned them that the kingdom would be taken from them and given to others who would appreciate it.
Okay, what does this have to do with me, this morning?
Well, for one thing, if the kingdom of heaven is already here, that will make a difference in how I look at the week ahead. If God is the King, and if His kingdom is already occupying the places I will be walking and driving to, that means that He and His resources are not far away. It’s not like a navy battleship that might take many days to travel across the world to a trouble spot. God is near, and God is here.
But the fact that God’s kingdom is here doesn’t mean that everybody’s automatically a part of it. In Mark 12:34, Jesus tells a thoughtful religious teacher, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Now, this teacher was standing just a few feet from Jesus, but while Jesus was in the kingdom, this teacher was not. But this man’s thoughtful humility showed that he wasn’t far from it.
So, since Jesus thinks it’s a good idea for us to be within this kingdom of God which is so close to us, we need to find out how to step over into it. Actually, as I studied the first part of Matthew 5, I could find three basic steps we need to take in order to enter that kingdom, and therefore to grow in Christ. Let’s look at those steps, and see how God’s kingdom can make a difference for us and for those we meet this coming week.
So how do we step into that kingdom? We get a clue from the first couple of verses of Matthew 5.
Matthew 5:1 - 2 [NKJV]: And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:
Here’s Sermon Point One if you’re taking notes:
I believe that the first step we need to take into God’s “here-and-now” kingdom is to seek Jesus’ company.
Remember, the teacher who wasn’t far from the kingdom was close to Jesus, talking with Him, and evidently thoughtfully trying to understand Him.
Ellen White, who knew her Bible well, had often studied what Jesus said about the kingdom of heaven. Here’s what she says about this subject: "As through Jesus we enter into rest, heaven begins here. We respond to His invitation, Come, learn of Me, and in thus coming we begin the life eternal. Heaven is a ceaseless approaching to God through Christ. . . . As we walk with Jesus in this life, we may be filled with His love, satisfied with His presence. All that human nature can bear, we may receive here." The Desire of Ages, pp. 331-332
But only if we spend time with Him. And it’s got to be focused time. Remember, at the start of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus sees the multitudes and turns and goes up on a mountain. His disciples come after Him, and by the end of the Sermon on the Mount there’s a strong sense--both in Matthew’s version and Luke’s version--that lots of other people have gathered around.
But the key is--Jesus knew that to bring people really close to Him, He had to call them away from their usual distractions. They couldn’t fully concentrate on Him if at the same moment they were having to milk a cow, or go shopping in the market, or bake bread for the family. They had to follow Him away from their usual routine and spend time listening to Him. When Jesus spoke to the five thousand men, plus all the women and children who were with them, they were all out in the country, on the hillside, away from the hustle and bustle.
You’re ‘way ahead of me, of course. If you and I really want to take that first step over into the kingdom of heaven--which is right along side us, waiting for us to step into--we need to seek Jesus’ company often. And we need to do that at a time and in a place where we won’t be distracted with anything else.
For me, this time is early in the morning. I go downstairs and sit on our couch, and I set a kitchen timer and read the Bible. Then when the timer rings, I set it again, and write or type in a prayer journal for awhile. And I have to be patient with myself, because if something has jumbled up my schedule and I’ve gotten away from doing this, it will take about three or four days to really get back into it. But it’s really astonishing the things you can discover about God and His Son and their Bible when you just settle down and focus on Scripture and prayer without other distractions.
And of course Sabbath is another way to come to meet Jesus without the distractions of the week. Sabbath School and church are of course NOT a substitute for the daily devotional time. Jesus worshipped in the synagogue with people, but He also told them to pray privately in what He called their “closet,” which some Bible scholar believe was the pantry where the household food was stored.
So that’s the first step into the kingdom of God--seek Jesus’ company in a distraction-free setting.
The second step into God’s kingdom brings us even closer to the Savior.
Verses 2 - 3: Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
I believe that the second step we must take into God’s kingdom is not only to seek Jesus’ company, but also to put on Jesus’ humility.
Okay. How do we get “putting on Jesus’ humility” out of “the poor in spirit”? Well, verse 3 is an interesting verse. For one thing, it mentions the kingdom of heaven directly: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” So whatever being poor in spirit means, whoever gets into this condition is a part of the kingdom of God.
Look at the words “poor in spirit.” The Greek word for “poor” is ptochoi, which actually means the “impoverished” kind of poor. This word shows up six times in Matthew, and in all five other times it’s used, it means people who are in poverty.
But what does being poor in spirit mean? Well, it certainly doesn’t mean not having enough of the Holy Spirit, because Jesus promised His disciples the Spirit in great abundance. No, I think that being poor in spirit means taking upon yourself the spirit, the attitude, of someone who is poor.
Because this is exactly what Jesus did. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor . . . .” And that’s that same Greek word.
And poor people are most often humble people. They have to be, because they don’t have a lot of power with people who are rich. Of course, if you and I are just two or three steps away from the kingdom of God, and can step right into it, that means that we are immensely rich.
You’ve probably noticed the sandwich-board signs on city street corners that say in capital letters “GOLD GOLD GOLD GOLD,” and urge you to gather up all your gold jewelry or gold watches you don’t want any more and come in and get cash for them.
I mean, the angels must just laugh at us. They probably tell jokes about us during their break times. “Look at those funny humans,” they probably say. “They spend so much of their time hoarding up pavement material. They might as well save up little chunks of highway blacktop or cement for all the good that gold is going to do them. Just wait until they get to the holy city and actually walk on the streets and alleys which are paved with it!”
So. What is this “being poor in spirit” going to look like when I put it to work this coming week?
Well, again, if you take a look at Jesus as our example, being poor in spirit is being very humble. This week a whole lot of people have been speculating about just how much Chelsea Clinton’s wedding is going to cost. Even though the Architect of heaven’s holy city was rich, He resolutely refused any of the advantages of wealth when He entered our human race.
He was born in humble surroundings, grew up as the son of a small businessman, probably supported Himself by doing woodworking for awhile, then became a traveling teacher--not financed by huge campaign contributions from wealthy friends, but with no home, no headquarters, and only a small money bag whose contents were kept and pilfered from by one of His disciples. Jesus kept Himself humble. Jesus humbled Himself four times--from God to man, from man to servant, from servant to death, and from death to a criminal’s death.
Again, how is this going to change my life this week?
Well, it means that I must follow Jesus’ example and take on the humble qualities of a poor person. A lot of the other Beatitudes show us how to do this. “Blessed are they who mourn . . .” Poor people often experience losses which someone in the middle class never will.
“Blessed are the meek . . . .” A poor person is too powerless to get uppity, especially not with the boss or the landlord.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst . . .” The poor often hunger and thirst for things the middle class and the rich take for granted. Only in this Beatitude, the hungering and thirsting needs to be for righteousness. You and I need to dodge the deception the Laodiceans fell into, of thinking that we are fairly righteous already, that we’re “okay” righteous. Nobody’s perfect, right? I’m doing the best I can with what I’ve got, right?
That’s not what Jesus is saying here. He’s not saying, “Blessed are those who get by with the righteousness they’ve got.” No, He says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” The people who are playing in the Senior Open Championship at Sahalee this week aren’t content just to make it around the 18 holes before dark. They hunger and thirst after par or below, and they focus their attention on each stroke.
“Blessed are the merciful . . . .” Poor people often hope for mercy from rich people who have control over their income. And if you remember the days of Ingathering around Christmas time, you’ll remember that people in the poorer neighborhoods were far more generous than people in the higher-class homes.
So--how do we act out Christlike humility Monday morning (or in the car on the way home from church)? We mourn in sympathy for those who are mourning. One of the memories I treasure about my mother and father was their sympathy with me when they knew I was worried about something or going through a tough time. Dad was not the kind of father who snapped, “Oh, suck it up and be a man!” He and Mom didn’t spoil me--far from it--but they knew when to sympathize, and that really made all the difference.
Another thing we do to act out humility is to be meek like Jesus. If poor people were attracted to Him like a magnet, He must have felt safe to be around. He must have been meek and gentle and accepting. He must not have put on any pompous superiority.
You and I also need to be merciful to those who need mercy. We need to be peacemakers where peacemaking is needed. The literal Greek word there is “peace-doer.” Let’s “do” things which make for peace, both in the car on the way home, and in the workplace or anywhere else. What I’m about to say isn’t an official Bible beatitude, but blessed are those who have a sense of humor which can cheerfully defuse a tense situation.
Let’s look at just one more step into God’s kingdom. And this is an important one. You see, seeking Jesus’ company is a good first step. And putting on Jesus’ humility is a good second step. But these things mean nothing if we don’t take the third step.
Verses 13 - 16: “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
I believe that the third step we can take into God’s kingdom is not only to seek Jesus’ company, and to put on Jesus’ humility, but to remember that we are the only Jesus some people may ever see.
And oh, how they need Jesus. We sing the song, “Oh, how I love Jesus,” but we should also sing, “Oh, how they need Jesus, because He loves them too.” Just this week on a public radio program I heard an interview with the editor of Slate.com. This man decided to read the entire Old Testament all the way through, and discovered that he did not like God at all. Instead, he liked the people who stood up to God.
This man needs Jesus, right? Now, I believe that this man could have discovered a kindly Old Testament God who gives people free choice and who has been incredibly patient with some very rebellious and bloodthirsty and fickle people. But this man needs Jesus to show him what God is really like.
And I know that in your neighborhood, or among your relatives or friends, or at your workplace, you know people who need Jesus. Some of you tell us about those needy people when you come to prayer meeting Wednesday nights.
But remember that just as a little salt will make a simple meal taste luscious, and just as a little red or green lamp on the channel markers in the Inside Passage’s Wrangell Narrows guides ferries and cruise ships safely through the shallows, in the same way, you and I can be Jesus to people who need Him until they can get to meet Him personally.
What do you say? Would you like to take these three steps into God’s kingdom again this week--and maybe more purposefully than you may have before? Would you like to raise your hand if this is your resolve?
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LIVING LIBERTY JESUS’ WAY
Expository Fourth of July Sermon on 1 Peter 2 and 3
by Maylan Schurch
Bellevue SDA Church 7/3/2010
©2010 by Maylan Schurch
(To hear the audio for this sermon, click here.)
Please open your Bibles to Galatians chapter 5. We’re actually going to be spending most of our time First Peter, but first we’ll need a quick glance at Galatians 5.
This is, of course, the Fourth of July weekend. And the Fourth of July stands for freedom, including the freedom of somebody in a nearby yard to set off a string of fireworks late last night. This year I told myself that whenever I hear a firecracker go off, I'll try to remember to thank the Lord for America and its freedom.
But the older you get, the more complicated liberty becomes. Back when I was a kid, I thought freedom was not having to weed the garden -- though I really enjoyed radishes and carrots and sweet corn which had grown up in weed-free soil. I thought of freedom as not having to go to school -- though I enjoyed reading, and school was where I learned to read. Later, in my teens, I thought of freedom as not having to work at my job in town -- though I enjoyed the cash that job brought in.
And for a teenage boy -- at least in my era -- the ultimate freedom was having your own car. I mean, there weren’t any Metro buses in South Dakota. So all your life to this point you had to rely on somebody else to take you places. Sure, you had your own bike, but you couldn't go very far on it -- unless you had a lot of time, or unless you didn't need to worry about getting your clothes dusty. No, what you needed was your own car, where you could slide in behind the wheel, slip the key into the ignition, and the rumble effortlessly down the road, your leg-muscles at rest, your clothing unsoiled by gravel dust.
My first car -- which I probably got shortly after I got my driver’s license -- was a light-blue 1960 Chevrolet. 1960 was the year when car tailfins began to subside, and my Chevy’s tailfins had started to subside, but they did so very reluctantly. Rather than disappearing, they sort of flattened themselves sideways, like the ears of a discontented cat.
And that car was fun. It did give me quite a bit of freedom. It wasn't a "cool" car -- nothing sleek and deadly and bullet-like like a Corvette or Firebird. It was just a big old blue boat which could carry three large people in the front and three large people in the back and still have space left over.
I mentioned that liberty is complicated. And it's the same with Christian liberty. Some Christians feel that true liberty is the right not to have to keep God's law. It becomes almost a point of pride -- it's as though if you pay any respect at all to the 10 Commandments, you are somehow disrespecting what your Savior did on the cross.
However, most Christians also understand that it would definitely disrespect a God who “so loved the world” if you chose to "have other gods" in His place and make images to them. It also disrespects God if you take His name in vain, or if you dishonor the parents He gave you, or if you murder or commit adultery with or steal from or lie to or covet the possessions of people He created. Somehow it is only the fourth Commandment -- the Sabbath one -- that seems to have been supposedly nailed to the cross. People who believe this say that we’re slaves if we keep it, and free if we don’t.
What is Christian freedom? Is it to duct-tape the pages of the Old Testament shut and just use the New? Is it to smear white-out over verses like Revelation 12:17, which says that God’s faithful remnant people “keep the commandments of God” as well as having the faith of Jesus?
Fortunately, Galatians 5 tells us exactly what Christian liberty is, and how to put it to work:
Galatians 5:13, 14 [NKJV]: For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Because really, the only reason God’s will had to be spelled out in stone on the Ten Commandment rock-slabs was that in our hearts we are really ignorant of even the basics of how to love one another. Open up your newspaper every day and you will see just how many people steal, and commit adultery, and lie, and murder. The Ten Commandment law patiently spells out some cruicial ways to love and serve God and others in your life.
So what is Christian liberty? The verses we just read say that this liberty is loving your neighbors--those closest to you, your family, your cul-de-sac--so much that you will serve them rather than demand their service to you.
But often we’re tainted too much with Satan’s definition of liberty. Satan tries to get us to believe that to be really free, we need to get as far away from our “tyrant God” as we can. Also, Satan wants us to believe that liberty means that we have the right to be selfish. He convinced Eve to reach out and grasp what God was supposedly withholding from her. He convinced King Saul, through a demon-manufactured ghost of Samuel, that there was no hope left. He tried three times to convince Jesus to distrust God and control His own destiny.
But true liberty isn’t selfishness--it’s servanthood. Thousands of Adventist and other Christian young people who’ve gone on mission trips have discovered how really fun it actually is to work backbreakingly hard, many hours a day, to build a school or a church or an orphanage in a foreign land. These mission-trip kids topple wearily onto their cots at night with feelings of satisfaction they might never ever feel as strongly back here at home.
Because serving other people is the most fun when you realize that you have a lot to give. It’s the people who wallow in the feeling that they’re disadvantaged who are often the most selfish. But it’s the people who realize how blessed they are that give the most generously. And this is true no matter whether your income is high or low.
So as we turn to First Peter 2, the first thing we need to do is to discover just who we are, and just how much we have to give. And then we can really get enthusiastic about how to live our liberty the way Jesus lived His.
1 Peter 2:9 - 10: But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
The first few verses of chapter 1 tell us that Peter was writing this to Christian believers scattered all over what is now modern-day Turkey. And these Christians often felt really lonely, because not only were they a religious minority, but the Roman government did not like them and often harassed them. One reason was that these Christians refused to worship the emperor, and Rome had made emperor-worship a test of loyalty for all its citizens.
But in these verses Peter tells his Christian friends just how valuable they really are. In that culture, the two most important groups were the kings and the priests, and in verse 9 Peter calls his readers a “royal priesthood.” So in God’s eyes these scattered, battered Christians were both kings and priests (and queens and priestesses). And good royalty and a good priesthood serve people. That’s their job.
So now that Peter’s readers know who they are--and that includes you and me, because Revelation 1:6 says the same thing about us--now that we know who we are, let’s find out how to live out this wonderful liberty in very practical ways.
Verses 11 - 12: Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
So here’s the first thing we can do:
To “live liberty” Jesus’ way, I need to live a holy life.
Again, Peter tells me that living a holy life is denying fleshly lusts rather than giving into them. Not long back I was standing in a potluck line with a young person, and I pointed out the dessert table to this young person. But the young person said thoughtfully, “No, I’d better not have one of those. I don’t want to make it a habit.” I have a feeling that the reason this young person was abstaining from this particular type of “fleshly lust” was the desire to be a good athlete during the upcoming school year--and that brownie or cookie (and especially the brownie-or-cookie habit) would have hampered rather than helped.
Which is exactly Peter’s point. You and I as Christians have supremely important, focused work to do--proclaiming “the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;” and if we indulge fleshly lusts we’re going to cut our effectiveness ‘way down.
And this was exactly Jesus’ point, when one by one He deflected Satan’s wilderness temptations. Instead, He lived so that His heavenly Father would be honored.
What are “fleshly lusts”? Well, in verse 11 Peter says that they are anything which “war against the soul.” Our souls have several gates--the eyes, the ears, the mouth, the senses, the emotions--and whenever somebody stands behind us in life’s potluck line and tempts us toward something that will wear down or destroy our spirituality and make our royal priesthood useless, we’ve got to quickly refuse.
For the next way to live our Christian liberty Jesus’ way, look at verse 13:
Verses 13 - 17: Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
Peter tells me that to “live liberty” Jesus’ way, I need to be a good citizen.
And if this seems hard to swallow today, remember that the government Peter was telling people to honor was the pagan Roman Empire, who deeply suspected anybody who didn’t worship the emperor. And the “king” Peter was talking about was the emperor himself--which at this point happened to be none other than Nero. A year or two before Peter wrote this letter, Nero had engineered the murder of his own mother for political reasons, and within another year or two a great fire will destroy the city of Rome, and Nero will blame that fire on Christians, and will capture and torture and kill many of them.
And this is the “king” Peter is telling his readers to honor? It is. Remember how Jesus behaved in the presence of the corrupt earthly leaders who conducted His trials. He did not incite the mob to revolt. He spoke virtually nothing. Even in His darkest hours Jesus submitted Himself to the will and the care of Heaven.
I think we should take a close look at Peter’s verses and see if they apply to us. And that’s because I think that Christians need to be careful that they don’t get ensnared in the appallingly knee-jerk political rhetoric so many people are falling into these days. No matter which party is in power, a lot of people seem to simply close their eyes and turn off their brains and instead live by the principle that says: “The leader of my party is the Archangel Gabriel, and the leader of your party is the Antichrist. And that’s true in spite of any facts you might try to confuse me with.”
Thursday morning’s Seattle Times printed a column by syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts. I’m going to read you a few of his sentences. The politician or the party he was talking about doesn’t matter--the abuses he describes happen on both sides.
He quotes a state governor who recently made a sweeping and inflammatory assertion without giving proof of that assertion, even when reporters specifically asked for that proof. Leonard Pitts accuses this governor of launching this assertion to appeal to people’s fears rather than to their intelligence. He says, “You toss the raw, red meat of emotion for the heart,” not the head.
Then he says to his readers, “Maybe you remember the Information Age. At the dawn of the Internet, we were promised a Jeffersonian utopia of instantly available information that would make us a wiser, more enlightened citizenry.
“Instead, we find ourselves stranded in a Misinformation Age where truth is multiple choice, geared to your political beliefs and one need never burden one's cherished and preconceived ideas with anything as fusty and outdated as a demand for verification, authentication, fact.”
I’m not saying that you and I and other Christians must agree with anything and everything a political leader does or says, just as Peter wasn’t insisting that his readers adore Nero and all his faults. But there is a basic respect which God wants us to give--to the office if not to the person. We must rise above those who feed on the latest raw meat, the latest rumor, the latest accusation, and who are not willing to wait for, or dig for, the facts.
It’s not easy being a president or a senator or a congressperson. Very few really easy issues are brought to them to deal with. We can sit on our couches gripping our remotes and mutter, “How stupid can these people be?” The truth is that the easy issues have been settled on lower levels, and it’s only the tough ones--the ones where there are good and bad points on both sides--that reach those high-level desks. So let’s give them some respect--at least the respect of careful thinking--and even more importantly, let’s give them our prayers.
For a third way we can live our Christian liberty Jesus’ way, let’s start with verse 18:
Verses 18 - 23: Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth”; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;
That was a different culture, of course, and here in America an employee has many more rights than a servant or slave would have had in Peter’s time. We don’t have to remain in an abusive work environment if we have other options.
But Peter tells me that to live liberty Jesus’ way, I need to be humble and cooperative toward my employers.
I learned an important lesson in my mid-to-late teens. When I was 16 I started working at Sunshine Dairies, a milk-bottling plant in Redfield, South Dakota. It was a good job, and since the plant conducted interstate commerce, even I--as the youngest worker--was making the minimum wage of $1.25 an hour, while grown men at other jobs in town were making 70 or 80 cents an hour. Aside from the heavy smokers who worked in the same room with me, the workplace was clean, and the work was doable and even a bit fun.
However, I learned early-on something that every other worker knows: in pretty much any workplace, there are pockets of people who gripe about the boss and about pretty much everything else. We had a good boss--who wasn’t really making a lot of money off the plant, and was probably actually losing money most of the time--but these gripers would tear him privately to pieces, and dissect his morals and his character and make him out to be some kind of blood-sucking vampire.
And that griping, that malcontentedness, is a terrible habit to get into. It rots the soul. Because I wasn’t raised to get into those discussions, I remained tactfully silent. But I saw discontent breed and fester within the gripers’ hearts, and even as a boy I could foresee how dreary their futures would be. They would never be able to be content with what they had or whom they were working for. Instead, they were dooming themselves to always being the victims, always getting the short end of the stick. Which is pretty much exactly the opposite of liberty.
Again, Peter is a realist about the working life. He had once been a fisherman, and he knew what it was like to hold down a job and to try to please the buying public. On that Galilee seashore he had probably often had to deal with the occasional fishbuyer who treated him like dirt. And being impetuous by nature, maybe he didn’t always handle these personality conflicts in the best way.
But once the spirit of Jesus had really entered his heart, Peter knew the real reason that a worker treats the boss with respect. It’s the same reason (back in verse 12) that Christians were supposed to keep their conduct honorable before the Gentiles: so that God could be glorified.
How do I live out my Christian liberty Jesus’ way? I follow His example and live a holy life. I behave as a good citizen, and I respond humbly and cooperatively to my employers.
And in behaving this way I sometimes have to endure the annoyance and scorn and even the persecution of people who don’t know my Savior the way I do, and don’t know how much He wants to get to know them too.
So I need to infuse my holy living and good citizenry and humility and cooperation with prayer. Because no matter who I am or where I work, I’m not just a wage-earner. No matter what age I am, if I am male, I am Jesus’ king and Jesus’ priest, and if female Jesus’ queen and Jesus’ priestess. This coming week, when I move from Sabbath back to the secular world beyond the Sabbath gates, my purpose is to model and if possible to talk about how worthy is the Lamb of God to worship and adore.
What about you? Would you like to put Peter’s inspired words into practice this week, living out your liberty with Jesus at your side?