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RED PRINT--THE FAITH OF JESUS: CREATION TWO
Expository Sermon on Colossians 1
by Maylan Schurch
Bellevue SDA Church 3/6/10
©2010 by Maylan Schurch

(To hear the audio for this sermon, click here.)

Please open your Bibles to John chapter 1.

While you're turning there, just a note to let you know that this is another sermon in a series that I've called "Red Print." What we're doing in this series is going through the great Bible doctrines and doing our best to see them through the words and acts of Jesus Christ. This week we're looking at Creation.

Jesus actually didn't say a lot about the creation. He didn't really have to. Most of the people who listened to Him speak already knew creation's facts very well. For one thing, right in the middle of the 10 Commandments they had carefully memorized was the longest commandment -- the one with the most words in it -- the one about the Sabbath. They knew that they were supposed to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, because in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and everything that was in them, and rested the seventh day. As far as I know, there were no evolutionists in Jesus' day, at least none who would have been in His audiences.

But even though Jesus didn't feel the need to give creation-science lectures, John chapter 1 tells us that He was intimately connected with creation.

John 1:1 [NKJV]: In the beginning was the Word . . . .

And if you take a quick glance down at verse 14, you'll find that this "Word" isn't simply a noun or a verb, but a person:

Verse 14: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory . . . .

So this "Word" is Jesus Himself. And notice what else Verse 1 says about Him:

Verses 1 - 14: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made . . . .

So even though God the Son didn't present creation seminars (because He didn't have to), He was present at creation. And not only was Jesus present at creation, but God the Father did the creating through Him. And not just creating of days one through three, but the creating of everything.

I strongly suspect that I don't have much if any talent as an artist. I enjoy cartoons, and along with many, many other people I would really like to be able to draw cartoons, but I have always been tremendously impressed by people who can produce beautiful paintings with oils or watercolors.

This week I happened to stop by a Daniel Smith art store, and one of the clerks gave me something interesting. It was a little square of watercolor paper stapled to an informational sheet. On that watercolor paper someone had dripped three little blobs of watercolor--Isoindoline Yellow, Mayan Red, and Fired Gold Ochre. And the instruction sheet challenged me to take a brush, get it wet, and actually paint a little bit on that paper.

When I got home, I discovered that I don't have a little paintbrush, so I went and got a Q-tip. I got the Q-tip wet, swished it around on the little dried circle of paint, and sure enough, I did a little watercolor work, just three long smears of the different colors. And as I stood there staring at what I had done, I thought to myself about the tremendous distance there still was between those smeary lines and a wonderful watercolor landscape.

But there are people who are good at this kind of thing. Some of you in this room are good at this. Some of you know exactly what to do, and which colors to do it with, to make a picture the rest of us would look at in awe.

How many of you have heard of the Adventist artist Nathan Greene?

If you want to see a larger version of this picture you'll need to go to the conference office in Federal Way. There, in the lobby, is a large print of it. It's how Nathan Greene imagined the scene in the Bethany home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus at the moment when Mary is sitting at Jesus feet, drinking in His every word, and Martha hurries in from the kitchen demanding that Mary help her get the meal ready. This is really a dramatic picture. To my way of thinking, the artist got everyone's expression exactly right.

OK. What does all this have to do with Jesus and creation? Well, just for a few minutes this morning, I would like us to look at one of the Bible's most encouraging chapters -- as though we were planning to commission a great work of art, even greater than Nathan Greene's painting. How would we go about this? Let's find out by going to Colossians chapter 1.

I know that Nathan Greene is a devout Seventh-day Adventist Christian. And I know that if we asked him, he would tell us that when God is given permission to re-create a sinful but repentant human being into His image again, that is truly great art. And that is what is being described, in astoundingly encouraging words, in Colossians 1.

The city of Colossae is located in the lower center of modern-day Turkey, and it's just 12 miles southeast of Laodicea. And as Paul begins his letter, he tells the Colossian Christians how much he appreciates the encouraging things he hears about their love and faith. But then he turns to the subject of what more a powerfully creative Heavenly Artist can do if we will let Him.

Usually when I preach these sermons, I read the Bible first, and then give you a sermon point. But this time I'm going to reverse this, and give you the point first. So here comes Sermon Point One.

If you want a great work of art, you first of all need a great idea.

A great idea is what the story of Jesus and Martha and Mary contains, and Nathan Greene knew this. Like Martha, no matter how busy we get, no matter how tense our shoulders become with all the responsibility pressing down on them, we need to make time to spend time listening to the voice of God through our Bibles. I'm reading through the Bible again this year, and again, I am seeing a very patient yet sometimes emotional God -- whose patience and whose emotions come from only one source: His unmatched love for you and me.

And here in Colossians 1, Paul presents us with what is probably the greatest possible creative idea ever -- the idea that the skilled Heavenly Artist can take sinful, broken human beings and re-create them into His image.

But how is this done? Great artists come up with a great idea, which they express in careful sketches before actually launching into a painting. And that's what the Lord does right here, through the words of Paul. Here is God the Artist's preliminary sketch:

Colossians 1:9 - 11: For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy . . . .

Evidently this Colossian church knew how to be loving, but they had to do a lot of growing in other ways. And this is a pretty high bar to set for a creative artist--to produce someone who is not only filled with knowledge and understanding about God, but that this person will also walk through life worthy of the Lord, being fully pleasing to Him. And not only that, but that this "life walk" will also bear fruit in every good work, and also do it with patience and joy.

I mean, we've all known some great Christians, but have you ever met someone who lived up to that ideal in every particular? Yet that is the goal -- that is the ambitious artistic vision which these verses give us.

And Paul isn't writing to people who have grown up in believing families, living in Jerusalem all their lives near the holy temple of God. Probably a good number of the people who listened to his letter read on Sabbath morning there in the Colossians church are Gentiles, and may only have been Christians for a few months. Yet Paul cheerfully lays out God's incredibly ambitious plan for them -- and for anyone else who hears these words.

So. What do I do now that I have seen God's great artistic re-creation vision for me? Well, the first thing I need to do is not flinch away from it in discouragement. The older you get -- the more decades you trudge through -- the more clearly you can see that, on your own, this "Creation Number Two" is not going to happen on its own. But this is God's ideal for us. He wants us to be complete, fully-formed, three-dimensional Christians, people who have the head knowledge, and the spiritual knowledge, and can live them out perfectly, and do this patiently and joyfully.

So, I guess what Paul would tell us is, "Hey. I know this sounds impossible, but don't stop reading." In fact, that might be the most important Bible-study principal ever: Don't stop reading. If you come to a challenging part of Scripture, or a seeming contradiction, don't stop reading. Don't give up in despair. Just keep moving forward.

That's what (I'm sure) Nathan Greene has had to do many times. Because, you see, he is an illustrator as well as a fine artist. An illustrator takes assignments. If you're an illustrator, a magazine editor might call you and say, "I'm sending you an article we're going to publish, and we need an illustration for it, and we have some specific ideas about what we would like to see."

So and illustrator is someone who has to be good enough to be able to not stop in despair, but to go forward and make each assignment a triumphant success. Which blends perfectly into Sermon Point Two:

If you want a great work of art, you not only need a great idea -- you also need a great artist.

I actually made two separate visits to the University of Washington Hospital this week, one on Wednesday and one on Thursday. I was visiting Komal Reddy, a friend and former coworker of Kristy Locke. Komal has leukemia, and will eventually get a bone marrow transplant, and we need to keep her in our prayers.

The University of Washington hospital has a long main lobby, and as you walk along it from west to east, you come to a newer wing which has been added just in the last few years. And this week I saw something I hadn't really noticed before -- a large painting of the husband and wife who must have donated a lot of money to that new wing.

Somebody had commissioned this painting, and it must've been a truly challenging one to the artist who took on the job. First of all, the painting was large. It was probably 6 feet wide and maybe 6 feet tall, and that in itself is daunting to all but the most experienced painter. The couple are well-dressed, and they are seated side-by-side on a beautiful bench in what must be their garden. And sitting on the walkway beside the bench is what must be their family dog. I mean, this couple and this dog are life-size.

As I think back on that painting, I say to myself, "This artist has to be expert in several skills. First, he or she needs to know how to paint people's faces well -- and that is extremely challenging. And then, whoever painted this needs to be good at painting animals, and also benches and flowers and trees. In other words, this artist needs to be an all-around expert painter."

And whoever painted that picture did do a really effective job. The man and his wife look so gentle and kind and generous. If you could walk into that painting and stand beside the garden bench, it seems like they would be glad to see you and would enjoy talking with you. And even the dog looks friendly.

Fortunately, providentially, when God has Paul present us with that seemingly impossible creative-art assignment we have just read, He already has a great Artist in mind. Jesus, through His Holy Spirit, is absolutely expert at every kind of character-rebuilding. If it's a matter of my needing more knowledge of God's will, Jesus can provide me with that by enhancing my Bible reading time. If I need more spiritual understanding -- which I do -- the Holy Spirit can provide that as well.

And then, when I need to translate all of this into walking worthy of the Lord -- really living out my faith and fully pleasing Him while I'm doing this, and also being very fruitful in all the good works I do -- Jesus the Master Artist can provide this as well.

If you decide to take the career path of becoming an artist, one of the things you learn to do is to prepare what is called a "portfolio." A portfolio is a collection of samples of the kind of art you do. When you go to Nathan Greene's website, you can see many of the pictures he has painted. If somebody wanted to commission a piece of art by Nathan, that person would be able to find out how well this artist paints people's faces, or animals, or clothing.

In the next few verses, we're going to see the portfolio of the Son of God. And this is really amazing reading. Sometimes when you look at yourself and see your faults and your flaws, you wonder if there's any hope. But when you read Jesus' re-creation portfolio -- in other words, when you see His qualifications -- any doubts you may have start to evaporate. Let me show you what I mean. Let's pick it up at Verse 12.

Verse 12: . . . giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

Again, this leaves the heart a bit faint. If you're like me, and you're getting to know yourself better and better all the time, it's hard to see how we can be qualified to be partakers of this inheritance. Whichever creative artist is going to try to bring that off, he had better be good.

Well, He is good. And we are about to see just how good Jesus' portfolio is -- just what all He can do.

Verses 13 - 20: He [God the Father] has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

So here we see the portfolio -- the artistry -- of which the Creator of Heaven and earth is capable. Jesus is supremely qualified to do a "Creation Number Two" makeover on anyone who will let Him.

Something really struck me as remarkable when I studied verse 16 in the Greek. Notice the way it reads in the New King James Version here:

Verse 16: For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.

Do you see the word "things"? The English translation says "all things" were created through Him. Well, in the Greek it doesn't say "things." It simply says, "All was created by Him."

The reason I mention this is because I want to make the point that Jesus didn't just create "things" -- trees and flowers and birds and animals and even human beings. He did create these "things," but that's not all He created. In fact, the verse goes on to list some non-things He created: "thrones or dominions or principalities or powers."

So why is this encouraging? Well, Jesus not only created my mind, but He created the intangibles of my mind--my ability to feel emotion, my ability to laugh, my ability to sympathize, all of these intangible qualities that couldn't really be called "things." And I couldn't really tell you what those thrones and principalities and powers actually are, but whatever they are -- and they sound powerful -- Jesus created them.

That means that as I look at God's master sketch which gives His vision for what I could become, and then look in the mirror and find myself far below His expectations, I should not feel discouraged. And the reason is that Jesus is the Master Artist, and His portfolio -- His proven ability to create all of these "things" and non-things -- gives me courage. We can grow in all of the ways He wants us to, and we'll find out how in a minute.

But before we do that we need to lay down the final sermon point. What do you do with great art once it is created?

Well, I believe that if you want a great work of art, you not only need a great idea, and a great artist, but I believe you also need to take great care of the created work.

And that's what Paul is going to talk about as this chapter closes. After all, over in 1 Corinthians 5:17 he says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."

Verses 21 - 22: And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight--

Can this be true? Of course, because it's written here in the Bible. And here's how it can come true for you and for me. Notice the big "if." Let's pick it up at Verse 21 again:

Verses 21 - 23: And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight- if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard . . . .

So there you have it. That's how to take care of the new creation into which the Lord is forming you. Let's break it down.

"Continue in the faith" -- what does that mean? The Greek word there means "remain." In other words, don't drift in and out of faith. Don't let discouragement make you bitter and drive you away from God. Stay with Him. Simply hunt up those parts of the Bible where bitter people found hope. A good number of David's psalms start out bitter, but after he's gotten a few things off his chest, his heart turns back toward God as the Holy Spirit helps him see things in perspective.

"Continue in the faith" -- what else does that mean? Well, Romans 10:17 says that faith (which is what we're trying to continue in) comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. In other words, read your Bible prayerfully every day. There's a lot of truth in the childhood song, "Read your Bible, pray every day, and you'll grow, grow, grow."

Because when you read the Bible, you read about real people trying to relate to a real God. You see Joseph's unflinching faithfulness, and Gideon's timidity. You see Elijah's boldness--followed by Elijah's cowardliness. You see Peter's water-walk of faith, followed by Peter's cowardly denial around a courtyard campfire. You hear elderly Sarah snickering as the Lord tells Abraham she'll give birth to a son, and you see the Lord "calling" her on it.

Over and over in the Bible you see real human beings trying to keep their minds from being boggled by promises they can barely believe. You see real human beings having to wait and wait and wait and wait for those promises to be fulfilled. And reading about these people can be great examples to us. Which is why God had the Bible written down.

Kids' songs keep popping into my mind: "Written down, written down, written down, written down. All of the things God wants me to know are here in the Bible, written down."

There's one more part to taking great care of the new creation God promises He'll create in us:

Verse 23: if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard . . . .

In all your knowledge-getting and wisdom-increasing, don't forget the hope of the gospel. As a pastor, every once in awhile I discover someone who is trailing away after interesting but dubious religious ideas, and I think, Hey. Come back to the gospel. Find out if your new ideas really have a basis in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Don't let these side-issues draw you away from what's at the center.

You see, if we don't allow ourselves to be "moved away from the hope of the gospel," that keeps us humble. You and I will not be saved because we understand deep spiritual mysteries other people haven't had the time we've had to study into. We will be saved only by grace, because Ephesians 2:9, 10 reminds us that "by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."

By the way, while I was looking up the word "boast" so I could pinpoint Ephesians 2:9. 10, I discovered to my intense surprise that the words "boast" and "boasting" occur in 2 Corinthians twenty times! It's like Paul is kidding the Corinthians about their boasting.

No, humility is the Christian's only posture. As I cautiously dab watercolors with a Q-tip on paper, I am humbled by the talent of a Nathan Greene. And as I measure my own weak will against the creative power of the Son of God, who created not only "all things" but simply "all," I am humbled.

What about you? Would you like to join me in asking the Master Artist to make His sketched-out plan gloriously real in your life? And then, ask Him to fulfill another promise Paul tells us about: " . . . for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day." (1 Timothy 1:12)

Would you like to ask the Lord for His re-creation, and for this assurance?

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RED PRINT--THE FAITH OF JESUS:
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF LOVE
Expository Sermon on Jesus the Son of God
by Maylan Schurch
Bellevue SDA Church 2/13/2010
©2010 by Maylan Schurch

 

(To hear the audio for this sermon, click here.)

Please open your Bibles to Luke chapter 6.

This is still another sermon in a series I've called "Red Print: The Faith of Jesus." In this series, we're looking at all of the major teachings of our Adventist Christian faith through the words and acts of Jesus. So far we've covered topics like the Bible, the Trinity, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit. Today's subject will be Jesus Christ Himself.

And it seems really appropriate to focus on Jesus just before Valentine's Day. Because Jesus was God's love in action. 1 John 4:10 says, "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." So Jesus is the loving response of a loving God.

Several years ago two men named Rick Smolan and David Cohen founded the "Day in the Life of . . . " photo book series. The first book, A Day in the Life of America, turned out to be the best selling photo book in history. How many of you own this book, or owned it at one time? Let me see your hands.

According to their website, there have been 15 such books, including A Day in the Life of the Soviet Union, and the most recent one, A Day in the Life of Africa. The idea for each of the books was the same -- position many photographers all around a particular country on a certain day, and have them take pictures of the same 24 hours in the life of that area. Later, in what must be an agonizing decision process, all the tens of thousands of photos are narrowed down to those which will fit in a large coffee table book.

Wouldn't it have been exciting to have actually had cameras available in Jesus' time? Wouldn't it have been fun to have followed Him around for an entire day?

That's kind of what I would like to do in the next few minutes. I hunted through the Gospels to find what I think is the closest approximation of a single consecutive day in Jesus' ministry, not counting the days of crucifixion weekend. And now I would like us to go through that day with the Savior. I've called this sermon "A Day in the Life of Love."

What is a day in the life of heaven's love like? Let's find out.

Luke 6:12 [NKJV]: Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

If you're taking sermon notes, here comes point one. What's the first thing we see when we watch this day in the life of Jesus, heaven's love?

Love prays a lot.

This is the only time I remember the Bible saying that Jesus prayed the whole night through. Other places it talks about Jesus rising "a great while before day" and praying. It also talks about him going to "a solitary place" and praying. It was during one of these private prayer times that His disciples evidently heard Him praying aloud, and wanted Him to teach them to pray.

Here in verse 12, it's interesting to look at the Greek word that described what Jesus did. Have you ever heard the phrase "I pulled an ‘all-nighter'"? You often hear it from students who are cramming for an important test.

Well, the literal Greek word which talks about Jesus' prayer session is the word dianuktereuon, and it is a verb which literally means to "through-night." Jesus "through-nighted" that prayer session. He pulled an all-nighter.

I don't know about you, but praying the whole night through seems pretty intimidating. For seven years I worked the night shift at a state institution, so I've had to stay awake the whole night. But to pray through the whole night?

How did Jesus do it? Was He a "praying machine," so holy that He could automatically just "settle into" a long night of prayer? One part of me says, well, maybe that's something I myself should try. But the rest of me turns immediately very weary at the thought.

You know, sometimes I think we get this backward. We think to ourselves, "I should pray more." We think of great religious men and women we have heard about whose prayer times are incredibly long. We know we should pray more.

I think we need to take this from the other direction. I think that we need to begin to pray that we will love more. The more we really love the people in our lives, the easier it will be to pray for them.

I would imagine that if you are a parent, and if your child has just undergone a very delicate and dangerous operation in the hospital, with his life hanging in the balance, I would imagine that you wouldn't need to attend a prayer seminar in order to keep you awake and praying all night.

And it was undoubtedly the same with Jesus. He just knew too many people, just cared about too many dilemmas and worries and tragedies they were going through, to easily doze off that night.

What about you and me? Of course, there's no Bible command that says we have to stay awake all night and pray. But many Bible texts do tell us to pray. Paul suggested that our mental attitude should be one which is instantly prepared to break into prayer, so that it's almost as though we are praying without ceasing. James 5:13 says, "Is any among you suffering? Let him pray." Jesus gave His disciples a kind of prayer outline in the Lord's Prayer. And during that final agonizing night in Gethsemane, He urged His disciples to pray, for just an hour if they couldn't do anymore.

And when you care, and when you love, praying becomes much, much easier.

Now we need to keep following Jesus through His new day, and find out more about a day in the life of Love.

Verses 13 - 16: And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles: Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor.

What's the next thing we learn as we follow Jesus through a day in the life of His love?

So far we've found that love not only prays a lot, but that love also chooses all kinds of people to pass along that love to others.

I hear again and again from some of you how well you know people who desperately need to be able to believe in a God of love. A couple of days ago as I was driving, I heard an interview on public radio. A man was talking about how his 38-year-old daughter, who was a pediatrician, was exercising on her treadmill at home, and suddenly collapsed and died of a rare, undiagnosed heart condition.

The daughter and her husband had three children, ages six, four, and one. So this man being interviewed, this grandpa, and his wife moved in with their son-in-law and helped him raise the kids.

This grandpa has written a memoir about the experience, and he talks about his belief in God. But as I heard him speak about it, I felt so sad for him. He said, "In a way, believing in God made my daughter's death more comprehensible. The God I believe in is not beneficent. He doesn't care. He is a God who stands back, trimming His fingernails."

As I listened to that interview, I wanted to say, "No, sir, God is not like that at all. You can't just put God in a little box like that. Sure, tragic things happen all the time, and sure, we ask why. But there's a great controversy going on between Christ and Satan. It's complicated. Sir, you have set up a false, simplistic God. He is the one who invented you--and you're trying to reinvent Him. You're not giving God a chance to be who He really is."

And that's why Jesus chose "apostles," which literally means "sent ones." Jesus wanted people like this grandpa to be able to meet someone face to face who might not be able to explain all of life's horrors, but who can confidently say that God is really love, and maybe even introduce grandpa to the Book God's Spirit inspired.

And it's interesting the various kinds of people Jesus chose. You know, Jesus and the Heavenly Father could easily have arranged things quite differently. Remember how John the Baptist was a "miracle child," born to an elderly lady and an elderly man?

As he was growing up, John spent a lot of time in the wilderness, and began his ministry from the standpoint of someone who had deliberately kept himself far away from the culture he was preaching against. Well, God could have given 12 more parents each a miracle child and urged them to take as good care of those children as Elizabeth and Zacharias took care of John, keeping them out in the wilderness until they were ready to become Jesus' disciples.

But that's not what happened. Jesus moved among ordinary people, and He kept an eye out for the ones He could train. And what an interesting group they were. Every once in a while we hear about conflict among the disciples, and we say, "Why did these guys squabble so much?"

But when you consider that the group contained a former tax collector, and every right-thinking Jew was exceedingly hostile to tax collectors, and that the group contained a man called Simon the zealot (the zealots were sort of like violent insurgents), and that the group contained a couple of guys whose names were "the sons of thunder," and on and on, you can see why there might have been personality conflicts.

But Jesus needed real people, real sinners who had been really converted, and who really understood Who it was who had saved them and why that salvation was such an incredibly generous gift of God -- Jesus needed real people to be present in the lives of people like the grandpa in the radio interview, and start showing the face and voice and the actions of a truly loving God.

Because Jesus didn't simply take God's love to a certain narrow group of people. Take a look at the very first training seminar in which He enrolls His freshly-chosen 12 apostles.

Verses 17 - 19: And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed. And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.

That last statement is pretty breathtaking. It says Jesus healed them "all," even those definitely heathen and unclean people from up there in the area of Tyre and Sidon. And that was because power from a loving God was going out from Him.

So the 12 apostles Jesus chose were from all different walks of life, and the people Jesus healed were from all different walks of life.

What does that say to me? I think this means that I need to assume that anyone and everyone in my life can eventually become a disciple of Jesus. The early Christians probably never considered Saul of Tarsus as someone who could become a disciple of Jesus, but that's what happened.

This means that I need to treat everyone in my life carefully and graciously. I need to make sure that my personality at home matches the gracious, customer-centered personality I use at work. This means that I dare not look down my nose at anyone. Remember how quickly the feast-giver in Jesus' parable ordered his servants out into the highways and byways to compel those whom most people considered the scum of the earth to come and sit at the table and enjoy a magnificent banquet feast?

And this moves us exactly in the direction of Jesus' next "a day in the life of love" principle.

Verses 20 - 26: Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said: "Blessed are you poor, For yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, For you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, For you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man's sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets. "But woe to you who are rich, For you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full, For you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, For you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, For so did their fathers to the false prophets.

What should we do if we want to live our days in the kind of love Jesus lived His days?

Well, so far we've found that love not only prays a lot, and that love chooses all kinds of people to pass along heaven's love, but also, love reminds us to be glad that we are misfits.

And of course the kind of misfit I'm talking about is a spiritual misfit. Jesus was a spiritual misfit. For a while, people flocked around Him when He did miracles and produced miraculous food. But as Calvary Friday grew closer, the crowds melted away. And, when push came to shove, those crowds evaporated, and even His own disciples darted away in the Gethsemane darkness as the arresting mob surged forward.

One of the hardest things for a young person to try to understand and accept is that Christianity sometimes makes you unpopular. That's not a pleasant thing to have to go through. I've felt this unpopularity, you may have as well.

Of course, if you decide not to stand up for your faith, and just go along to get along, you'll rarely feel that discomfort, because the devil knows he's got you. But if you decide to stay true to God's plan as revealed in the Bible--and if you take very seriously the clear words of Jesus--you will once in a while come up against people who not only do not understand you, but who might become definitely hostile to you. And that's because hostility to true Christianity is a major proof that Satan is active.

One of the reasons this hostility is so hard to take is that you and I were not "wired" to have to resist evil. There was never supposed to be evil. We were never supposed to have to suffer emotionally or mentally or even physically for our faith.

But one of the things Jesus frequently did as He moved through His days showing heaven's love was to remind us that when we sense the devil's discomfort about our faithfulness to God, this should make us happy and relieved.

"Be glad you're a misfit," Jesus says. "Now, if you are suffering because you are a jerk, that's your fault. But if you're suffering for My sake, rejoice." Peter says the same thing in 1 Peter 4:15, 16: "But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter."

So what do we do, now that we have heard Jesus tell us to be glad that we are cultural misfits? I think this is a good opportunity to scan through our lives. Are we compromising our beliefs in any way? Is there some part of our lives where we have "caved" to popular culture? Do we permit ourselves certain "exceptions" to God's clear, revealed will? If so, we need to study these verses again, and get rid of those things that could destroy our Christian witness and our inner Christian integrity.

And now Jesus grabs us by the shoulders and turns us to face a different direction.

Verses 27 - 36: "But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. "But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful."

(Unfortunately, there are some people why cynically make a profession of trying to take advantage of Christians who believe Jesus' words. These people ignore everything Proverbs has to say about looking to the ant as an example of hard work and responsibility, and try to play off the sympathies of generous-hearted Christians. In 2 Thessalonians 3, Paul has a few crisp words for people like that--"if you don't work, you shouldn't expect to eat"!)

So, what is Jesus telling us here?

Well, so far He's told us that love not only prays a lot, and that love chooses all kinds of people to pass that love along, and that love reminds us all to be glad we're misfits. But now He tells us that heaven's love commands us to act lovingly toward all whom we consider misfits.

Back in mid-January I dreamed of the strangest dreams I've ever had. With some dreams, you can understand why you might have them. One of my ordinary dreams is that I have agreed to be somewhere and do something at a certain time, but then totally forget the appointment until somebody reminds me 20 minutes before the event is supposed to start -- and of course I am totally unprepared. This kind of dream is understandable, because I do like to prepare well for whatever I'm supposed to do, and I like to be on time.

But the mid-January dream was totally off the wall. In that dream I was standing on the football field at Qwest Field. All around me were huge burly Seahawks players dressed in white uniforms. And somehow I realized that for some reason, out of courtesy or kindness or something like that, the Seahawks had allowed me to be on the team!

Now, if you know anything at all about me, you know that this is the furthest thing from my mind. I have never played football, nor do I have any desire to. Yet here I was, in my dreams, on the field. What was so interesting was that I was not wearing a uniform. Instead, I had on one of my longsleeved blue shirts and black pants, and my soft little Rockport walking shoes. I was not big and burly like the rest of the guys. It was just the ordinary, unenhanced me, dressed in my usual clothing, out there on that field.

Fortunately, we were not in the middle of a game. It was sort of like we were all slowly jogging down the field, maybe heading to our starting positions. I had no game plan in mind. I did not know what was going on.

But what was so interesting was that I clearly sensed that even though those white-clad, white helmeted Seahawks players knew that I had no football skills and no football-playing muscles, and wasn't even wearing a football uniform, they still accepted me. As we jogged down to one end of the field, one of them actually tossed the football to me in a friendly way, like we were playing catch. It was a gentle toss, and I luckily caught it. And then the dream faded away.

Very silly dream, right? Like I say, this was from a totally different dream-channel than my usual ones come from. But silly and unrealistic as that scenario was, the memory of those football players' acceptance of someone so different than who they were stays with me.

And in a weird and goofy way, that dream reminds me to look around the arenas I pass through daily and weekly. Who are the misfits in my life? Is my attitude to them condescending? Have I made snap judgments about them? Have I ignored their potential? Have I already made up my mind about them?

You'll have to make your own decisions about the people in your arenas, but as a pastor for nearly 3 decades, I can tell you that there are a lot of people out there, maybe all of them, who need encouragement. Pretty much every Sabbath we welcome at least one person who has never set foot in this building before that day. It's easy for someone like that to feel like a fish out of water, maybe like a guy in a blue shirt and black slacks surrounded by a bunch of professional football players.

We need to remember that pretty much everybody is a bit lonely, or a bit afraid, or a bit cautious about letting down his or her guard. I'm so thankful for our friendly greeters in the foyer, and our friendly members who take it upon themselves -- in a tactful, gentle and non-pressure-y way -- to make people feel at home.

Well, we haven't quite reached the end of Jesus' day, because it doesn't end until after the story of the centurion in the next chapter. But I think we get the idea of what a day in the life of Jesus (heaven's Love) was like--a love which prays a lot, a love which chooses all kinds of people to pass that love along, a love which reminds us all to be glad we're misfits, and a love which commands us to act lovingly toward all whom we consider misfits.

What do you think? Would you like to live that kind of day as you begin another week?

 

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RED PRINT--THE FAITH OF JESUS:
SEEKERS AND THE SPIRIT
Extended Expository Sermon on the Holy Spirit
by Maylan Schurch
Bellevue SDA Church 2/6/2010
©2010 by Maylan Schurch

(To hear the audio for this sermon, click here.)

Please open your Bibles to John chapter 3.

While you're turning there, just a reminder about this new sermon series I started last month. It's called "Red Print," and it's based on the idea that every one of our church's fundamental beliefs (every Biblically valid Christian belief) can be found within the words and acts of Jesus Himself.

So far in this series, we've covered some of what Jesus has to say about the Bible itself, the Trinity, and God the Father. This morning we'll focus on a little of what Jesus says about the Holy Spirit.

Last night -- it must've been 5:30 or six o'clock, or maybe a bit later -- I heard someone ring our doorbell. I opened the door, and there was a little girl who lives across the street with her mom and dad and her little brother and sister. She looked up at me calmly and said, "We lost our dog."

She told me that it was a black border collie, a female, with a pink collar but no tags. About an hour earlier it had slipped out the gate in their backyard, and was nowhere to be found.

The little girl didn't beg us to help find the dog. She just delivered her message and went back home. But a minute or two later Shelley suggested to me that we go for a walk and keep our eye out. So that's what we did, strolling up and down the streets of our neighborhood calling the dog's name. Meanwhile, the dad and the three kids were driving around as well, and at one point we met up with them. They asked us if we'd seen the dog and we said no. The father said, "I just heard that a woman and her daughter were going from door to door. They had a dog with them."

Dad and the kids drove off in one direction and we headed a different direction, and kept looking. When we finally got done with our walk we checked with the neighbors, and the dog had so far not been found.

What happened last night was pretty appropriate to what's going to be happening in this sermon this morning. In our neighborhood last night there were several seekers. When that little border collie wiggled through the back gate, she must have had some vague idea that whatever was on the other side of the fence was more desirable than the backyard, so she started seeking it. Once the kids discovered her absence, they became seekers, and dad joined the team, then Shelley and I, then the mysterious woman and her daughter with the dog, if that dog was indeed the collie.

In one of our conversations with family last night, they told us why they had the dog in the first place. At some point in December, friends of theirs had discovered this dog in their yard, malnourished and shivering. And even though our neighbors already had one dog, they took this little collie under their wing.

And this story isn't finished yet. We're assuming -- and hoping -- that the dog the woman and her daughter were taking door-to-door was this little collie, and that they were asking whose it was. We're hoping that pretty soon we'll see "found dog" signs on the mailboxes, and hopefully we'll soon hear the happy reunion screams of three little kids.

This morning we're going to watch and listen as three other seekers talk to Jesus. What's so encouraging is that, even though none of these three seekers actually, deep down, knew what he or she was seeking, Jesus did. And He was able to provide what they needed through the Holy Spirit. And I have a feeling that if we have needs similar to the people we'll be talking about, even if we can't really express those needs in words, the Holy Spirit stands ready to help us as well.

Our first seeker is maybe the most famous seeker in the whole Bible, because his search eventually causes Jesus to repeat the Bible's most famous verse. Let's start with John three, verse one.

John 3:1 - 2 [NKJV]: There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."

What was Nicodemus seeking? From his words, we don't know, because he never says. Jesus does know, however, because He cuts right through Nicodemus' preliminary compliments and gets straight to the point.

Verse 3: Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

At this point, we get the impression that Nicodemus becomes a bit grouchy. After all, he is a "ruler of the Jews," and in religious discussions he has probably become accustomed to setting the discussion agenda himself. As Jesus takes control of the conversation, you can picture Nicodemus sort of mentally staggering back on his heels. He takes a quick breath and goes into his "debating rabbi" mode.

Verse 4: Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"

And again Jesus refuses to respond to what Nicodemus says. Instead, He introduces Nicodemus to the One who can provide the answer to the inexpressible longing in the Pharisee's heart, even though the Pharisee himself can't express that longing.

Verses 5 - 8: Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

"In other words, Nicodemus," Jesus seems to be saying, "the Holy Spirit is far beyond the analysis of the volumes and volumes of rabbinical research you have read. The Holy Spirit cannot be caged within your logic system. What He does is something you can't draw a diagram of. But if you want to eventually see the kingdom of God yourself, you must experience this supernatural change."

In fact, we could boil this down to what you might call the first sermon point:

When Nicodemus came seeking, Jesus introduced him to the Holy Spirit, who can cause us to be born again.

That's pretty mind-boggling, to think that one of the nation's top religious leaders, someone who was accustomed to have other people consider him a major authority on God's will, suddenly realized that he wasn't even a kindergartener believer. A couple of verses later Jesus will ask him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and you don't know these things?" Nicodemus didn't, even though spiritual regeneration was talked about many times in the Old Testament. Even back in Deuteronomy the Lord lamented the hard hearts of His people. And in 1 Samuel, God gave the Holy Spirit to the young king-to-be, Saul, and it says that this changed Saul into another man.

So, as I look at what Jesus said to Nicodemus the seeker, what should I take away from this story for myself?

Well, if the great teacher Nicodemus, with all his Bible knowledge and commentary wisdom, needed to be born again, so do I. I think you and I need to start right at these verses and pray our way through them, asking the Spirit for a freshness in our faith.

And as we do that, we need to remember the truth about the Holy Spirit. The apostle Peter says something very important over in Acts 5:32. As he finished speaking to his persecutors, he said, "And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him."

So that means that when you are born again, the Holy Spirit guides you more and more toward obedience to God's truth. And God's truth is found in the Bible. The Holy Spirit will not guide me toward fables or un-biblical traditions or frothy, surface, generic Christianity, or frantic, fanatic ecstasy. Instead, the Holy Spirit will beckon me deeper and deeper into the 10 Commandments, into the challenging "red print" of Jesus.

A little while after His meeting with Nicodemus, Jesus comes in contact with a second seeker. John didn't write down this woman's name the way he did Nicodemus, but we know her as the Woman at the Well. Look at the next chapter, John 4.

John 4:5 - 7: So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water . . . .

So, what was this woman seeking? Well, first of all she was seeking literal H2O. She probably approached that well carrying a water jug on top of her head. From what we understand, she was coming at noon because all the other women came either in morning or the evening, and because of the lifestyle she was living, and because of how many different men she had lived that lifestyle with, she did not particularly wish to meet up with the other women of the village.

Anyway, here she comes. She has already spotted Jesus' Jewish prayer shawl, so she knows not only His religious background, but she also recognizes that He is going to totally ignore her. He is going to pretend she does not exist. So this should be a quick trip to the well -- lower her jug with a rope, listen carefully for when the glug-glug-glugs stop, haul that jug up, and place it on her head.

She knows, of course, that the Jewish man will not help her lift the jug atop her head again, because He will not run the risk of defiling Himself by touching something belonging to someone He considers unclean.

But suddenly, this Man gives her the most intense surprise she has ever experienced.

Verses 7 - 10: . . . Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."

So. The Jewish Man speaks. I mean, this just isn't done. And what's more, He speaks respectfully. And what's still more, He has just sentenced Himself to--what is it--something like seven days' exile from His people while cleansing Himself from the spiritual Samaritan scum that will surely defile Him if He really takes a drink of the water from my jug.

I mean, is this guy delirious from the heat? He doesn't look delirious. He's just sitting there with that expression of hopeful courtesy on His face. And what was that He said about living water?

So this woman decides maybe He's talking about the literal water from this well. After all, it's Jacob's well. Maybe He means that since Jacob was both His ancestor and her ancestor, Jacob gave life to them both. Does that makes this water "living" water in some spiritual sense?

So she asks Him about this, and they talk back and forth for awhile, and He astounds her even more by knowing her entire marital and non-marital history. And even after that, He's still speaking to her.

And then He becomes quite frank about how to correctly worship God.

Verse 22: You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.

And if that sounds arrogant, it's not. Jesus is a Jew, and salvation comes through Jesus. The only Bible this woman and her fellow-Samaritans believed in was the first five books of Moses. Everything else, they considered uninspired. The Jews did have more truth than the Samaritans did.

And now Jesus introduces this woman to the Holy Spirit.

Verses 23 - 24: But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Not just in spirit, but also in truth. Not just in truth, but also in spirit.

When Nicodemus came seeking, Jesus introduced him to the Holy Spirit, who can cause us to be born again. And when this woman came seeking, He introduced her to the Holy Spirit, who works hand-in-hand with God's truth.

So what do I do, now that I know this? As I allow the Holy Spirit to renew my spiritual birth, I need to also read more widely--and deeply--in my Bible. Because 1 Peter 1:11 says that it was the "Spirit of Christ" who inspired the prophets of the Old Testament.

A few years ago I bought an electronic stopwatch at a sports store. It came with a thin manual, probably just one page which folded out, and to get familiar with the watch I read my way through the manual while poking the stopwatch buttons.

It's one of those little devices which does a lot of different things but doesn't come with a lot of buttons. So that means that in order to set the watch for different purposes, you first of all have to hold down a particular button for a few seconds until it gets into a certain "mode." Then, while it's in that mode, you can use the other buttons to adjust the settings on the display.

Once I'd gotten the stopwatch figured out, I put the little manual in a folder in a file drawer. And a few weeks later I discovered that for some strange reason the stopwatch--which can also be set like an alarm clock--starts beeping at something like 12:37 a.m. Evidently, while experimenting with that watch, I'd unknowingly set the alarm.

Luckily, it's pretty rare that I am up as late (or as early) as 12:37 a.m., but once I found out that this was happening, I realized that every night at that gloomy hour, this little stopwatch was sitting there beeping away and burning battery power.

So I grabbed the stopwatch and tried to re-set it without the manual. (I'd forgotten which folder I put it in!) But no matter in what combination I pushed and held those buttons, I could not work it back around to the alarm mode. All that pushing and holding got me into new modes I had never heard of before, and knew nothing about, but I never got that alarm taken care of.

A month or so ago I was reorganizing some files and I found that manual. And one of these days I'm going to unfold it, grab that stopwatch, and this time I'll get it right.

There are just certain things that you and I cannot understand, or do, or fix, or adjust, without a widening and deepening knowledge of what our "owners' manual" the Bible really says. As Jesus told this woman, God's truth goes hand-in-hand with the Holy Spirit. And by limiting herself to only part of the Bible--the first five books, in her case--she was hampering the Holy Spirit's work.

To look in on our final seeker, let's go to John chapter 14. We were in John 14 a couple of weeks ago, but back then I mentioned that we would skip over the parts about the Holy Spirit because we'd be covering Him later. Now let's look at a few verses.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, John 14 happened just a few hours before Jesus' capture, and less than 24 hours before His death. So He is putting a special intensity into the words He speaks to His friends.

And they have questions.

John 14:8: Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."

Of our three seekers, Philip expresses himself most clearly about what he thinks he is seeking. But Jesus knows that Philip is ‘way off base, the way Peter was ‘way off base when he saw Moses and Elijah meeting with Jesus on the mountain, and started babbling about building three tabernacles.

"Just one look," Philip begs. "Just one look at God the Father and it will be enough for me."

However, think of the temptations Philip would have faced if he'd actually seen God (assuming his frail humanity could even survive a direct gaze)? People would come up to Philip afterward and ask him what God looked like, and he would try to describe what he'd seen. "Draw us a picture," they would say. "Here's a burned stick and a piece of papyrus. Draw what God looks like."

And if Philip, in an unguarded moment, actually were to draw a rough sketch, somebody would seize that sketch and try to go make a better drawing of it, or a painting, or a sculpture. And somebody else would steal Philip's sketch from the first person, and hide it at home, happy in the knowledge that he and he alone possessed the real image of God. And he might invite in a few trusted friends once a week, and they would unfold that sketch and stare at it, and maybe even start worshiping that sketch of God. And meanwhile, the person who'd made the painting or the sculpture would be worshiping that.

No, there are many excellent reasons God didn't leave us His picture, or Jesus didn't leave us His picture. Because if you have a picture of someone, you begin to subconsciously imagine that you own or control a bit of that person. You can enlarge that picture to an intimidatingly huge size, or you can shrink it into insignificance. You can caricature that picture. You can distort it.

And each tweak you do to that picture, the more of the real person is lost, and the more about that person you invent. It's like the early movie stars, who were asked to change their names, and whose biographies were carefully rewritten by their publicists, so that eventually the public knew almost nothing of who they really were or where they'd come from.

Jesus, of course, saw the pitfalls of revealing what the Father looked like to sinful mortals, even if such a thing were possible. So He did what He did for Nicodemus and for the woman at the well: He promised Philip something far better than what he thought he wanted.

First He tells Philip that anyone who has seen Him, Jesus, has seen the Father. Jesus shows us the face of a humble God, a serving God, a God who delights in people, who encourages questions, and who would eventually die for His sons and daughters.

And then He makes a breathtaking promise to Philip. But first, He reinforces what He has said earlier.

Verse 15: "If you love Me, keep My commandments."

Some translations say, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." Both translations are possible from the original Greek. One's a command, and the other is a promise.

And if you go with the "promise" version, Jesus' next words show how wonderfully possible real obedience is:

Verses 15 - 18: "If you love Me, keep My commandments. 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."

When Nicodemus came seeking, Jesus introduced him to the Holy Spirit, who can cause us to be born again. And when the Samaritan woman came seeking, He introduced her to the Holy Spirit, who works hand-in-hand with God's truth. And when Philip comes seeking what God looks like, Jesus introduces him to the Holy Spirit, through which God can be within him.

What about you? Isn't it amazing how the Holy Spirit can provide all our spiritual needs? If we're lost, He can find us and make us spiritual children, our hearts fresh and new. If we're discouraged by a life of sin, the Holy Spirit can reunite us with God's truth. And if we ever wonder about the expression on God's face, the Holy Spirit can bring God's tender, loving presence right within us.

Would you like that for yourself and for your family and for others in your life this morning?

 

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JOSHUA'S STRENGTH-AND-COURAGE SEMINAR
Expository Sermon on Joshua 1
by Maylan Schurch
Bellevue SDA Church 1/30/2010
©2010 by Maylan Schurch

 

 

 

 

 

 

(To hear the audio for this sermon, click here.)

Please open your Bible's to Joshua chapter 1.

It's a privilege to have part in the dedication of young David Stockhausen this morning. What we like to do here at the Bellevue church is to wrap the entire Sabbath morning worship service around the dedication of a child.

So I asked David and Adriana to provide me with a song we could use as a closing song. I also asked them for a Scripture passage, and I have prepared today's sermon on that passage. And then, at the end of this sermon, I will ask the family and any relatives or friends who want to join them to come up here to the front, and together we will dedicate young David to the One who said, "Let the children come to Me."

The Scripture which the Stockhausens chose for this morning's service is Joshua 1:9. And as we read it again, you'll see why a young family living in today's crazy, stressful culture might choose this verse.

Joshua 1:9 [NKJV]: Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

Isn't that a wonderful verse for a young family to adopt as a motto on the day they dedicate their child?

In fact, that verse is so important to Christians that it even showed up in an unusual way in a Lifeway Christian Stores catalog Shelley and I received in the mail a couple of weeks ago. There used to be a Lifeway store in Bellevue, but it closed and relocated to SouthCenter, and once in a while Shelley and I get advertising material from them.

Anyway, we opened this latest catalog, and lo and behold, there was a two-page spread which advertised Christian Super Bowl accessories. The idea was to invite your Christian -- or non-Christian -- friends to your place and watch the Super Bowl together, and witness to them with these Christian items. There on the catalog page was a large popcorn bowl shaped and decorated like a football stadium, with words printed on the side: "Win or lose, always give thanks to the Lord!" There was an inflatable cooler to keep your pop cans cold, that had Philippians 4:13 printed on the side. ("I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.")

And there was a chip-and-dip set as well. The dip container was shaped like a little five-inch-long football with a hole in the top. And you put your chips into a square flat-bottomed dish. The dish was green, like a football field, and was marked out with white lines. And printed across that field was part of Joshua 1:9, the part that said, "Be strong and of good courage." (Would somebody make a note to remind the Seahawks about that text by the time fall rolls around?)

Let's take a little straw poll right now. How many of you need strength to face the coming week? Left me see your hands. How about courage? How many need courage for what lies ahead? Pretty much a 100% response there.

Over the years I have discovered that it's really important to study Bible promises in their context. I remember walking through a Christian bookstore a few years ago and seeing a little plaque with another Bible verse on it: "The Lord watch between me and thee when we are absent one from another."

That verse is found in Genesis 31:49, but if you look it up, you find that it is definitely not the gentle "May the Lord keep us safe while we're apart" idea which a lot of people think it is. Instead, that verse is an angry challenge from Laban to his son-in-law Jacob, and it means, "Look out, Jake! If you try to cheat me, the Lord will be watching!"

And it's the same thing with Joshua 1:9. It wasn't written about the game of football! We have to look at the chapter it was written into, in order to find out whether it even applies to us. Is this a promise everybody in this room has the right to grab hold of and depend on? Let's find out, and if so, let's find out how.

The Lord spoke these words to Joshua just as Joshua was becoming the leader of the nation of Israel. After 40 years in the Sinai peninsula wilderness with these people, Moses has finally died, and Joshua now has the responsibility to lead the nation across the Jordan River and occupy the Promised Land.

Now, let's pretend that as Joshua repeats this "courage-and strength-building" verse to the rest of the people, let's pretend that in that crowd was a secret spy from the town of Jericho, which Israel would later capture. If this spy had been in that crowd, he would have heard Joshua repeating that promise of the Lord.

My question is, could this spy have walked away from that crowd saying to himself, "Great. That's a promise I can claim. I'm going to be strong and courageous when those Israelites come marching around my city, and because of this promise, they won't be able to defeat us."

That of course is not true. Even if there had been a Jericho spy listening to those words and trying to claim that promise, it wouldn't have done him any good. Because God did not mean those words for him. God did mean them for another Jericho citizen, a prostitute named Rahab who had come to believe in Him, but not for simply anybody who might hear these words and try to claim them.

So how do we know if we, down here in the 21st century, can legitimately claim this promise for ourselves? Well, fortunately, the rest of Joshua chapter 1 tells us how David and Adriana and the rest of us can move ourselves under the umbrella of this important promise. In fact, if Joshua were here this morning offering a seminar on this subject, he would probably bring out the same points from this chapter that I'm about to mention.

So let's let Joshua give us his seminar through the words in this chapter he wrote. How can we make sure this promise applies to us?

To find out, let's start back at verse one.

Verses 1 - 6: After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying: "Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them-the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.

Do you see what's happening there? This would not have been a generic promise which a Jericho spy, or an Egyptian spy, or a spy from Moab or Edom, could have simply grabbed hold of and used as a magic spell. I believe that if Joshua were indeed presenting a seminar on this subject this morning, he would tell us -- and we could call this sermon point one -- that:

We can claim the Lord's "be strong and courageous" promise only if we are going in God's direction.

Now just a few weeks later, the people of Jericho are going to need strength and courage, but aside from Rahab and her family, they're not going to get it. Because the Jericho people were not going in God's direction. The Israelites were.

Okay, what does this mean to me this morning? What is God's direction? Well, throughout the rest of the Bible -- in the Old Testament and the New Testament, God gives other promises to other people if they decide to go in His direction.

Just before He left for heaven, Jesus told His disciples in the last verse of Matthew, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age." And in the sentences just before that, He told them the direction He wanted them to travel: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you."

So which direction does the Lord want the Stockhausens and you and me to go in here in 2010? I think He wants us to go forward into this coming week and make some captures for Him -- not cities, not Jerichos and Ai's, but hearts and minds. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us that we are lights in this world. That must mean that the world is pretty dark, if it needs somebody to be a light to it. All around us, people are hunting for the truth, searching for Someone to depend on.

And if Douglas and Adriana, and Jonathan and Dwight and David, and the rest of us, will let Jesus lead us to someone who needs Jesus this week, and pray for those we already know need Him, we can claim the strength-and-courage promise right now.

But don't close your Bibles yet. Joshua's seminar isn't quite over. There is a second very important qualification to being able to claim the Stockhausens' strength-and-courage promise.

Verses 7 - 8: Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

I believe that we can claim the Lord's "be strong and courageous" promise only if we are going in God's direction, and only if we are following God's commands.

You see, Joshua and the people he was leading were standing on the edge of some very dangerous territory. Canaan wasn't physically dangerous -- the Lord could easily take care of any hand-to-hand-combat battles if the Israelites would let Him -- but Canaan was spiritually dangerous.

And the people Joshua was leading were the children of those who had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and who had remembered the tantalizing delights of the Egyptian idolatries, and occasionally wished they were back there. These parents had also worshipped a golden calf, and had toyed with the idolatries of Moab as they wandered near that country.

And now, Joshua was going to lead their children over the Jordan and into other nests and viper-pits of heathenism. Many Christian parents today find their hearts trembling as they realize just how seductively sinful is the culture into which they are releasing their children. But many parents also find that if they devote the kind of attention to their Bibles that God commands in the verses we just read, they are arming their children for the conflict.

Let me show you something really interesting in verse eight.

Verse 8: This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth . . . .

Isn't that interesting? You'd think that the Lord would say, "this Book of the Law shall not depart from your mind, or from your heart." That's true too, of course -- in Psalm 119:11 it says, "Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You."

But here the Lord says, don't let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth." In other words, keep the Bible's concepts and ideas and verses just behind your front teeth, ready to spring to your lips. Joshua's mentor Moses had said as much to Israelite parents back in Deuteronomy 6:6, 7: "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up."

This is what my own parents did. Without in the least becoming preachy or pious, they kept the Bible "in play" every day of the week. If dad happened to be facing a challenge, he would murmur Job's words softly, "Though He slay me yet will I trust him." Or he would sing parts of songs that had been inspired by Scripture: "A tent or a cottage, oh why should I care? They're building a mansion for me over there."

And my parents' behavior showed that they knew the Sermon on the Mount, and the 10 Commandments, and many other Bible verses. Dad regarded money which belonged to other people, or which he owed to other people, as very sacred. If a friend who was a mechanic fixed his car, Dad would pay that person instantly rather than withhold the money and temporarily steal from them. Dad was so obsessively honest than when a local bank needed someone as a courier to take money and important papers to the airport to meet a small plane, they would ask him to do this.

You see, God's commandments can be boiled down into two words: "Trust Me." Scan through the Bible from one end to the other and you will find that commandment-breaking most often comes from not trusting God. God told Adam and Eve, "Don't eat from that tree." The devil came along and said, "Of course you can eat from that tree." And Eve, and then Adam, chose to distrust their Creator and put their faith in the smooth-talking serpent.

On the positive side, Potiphar's wife tried to seduce Joseph, who was her husband's head slave. But even though Joseph was far away from his family, and even though the 10 Commandments had not yet been carved in stone, Joseph knew that God despised adultery. So in Genesis 39:9 he said to Mrs. Potiphar, "How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?"

Have you ever prayed your way through the 10 Commandments?

"Lord, is it possible that I am putting other gods in place of You -- like money, like entertainment choices, like addictions? Please forgive me of those sins, and cleanse me from all unrighteousness."

"Lord, I catch myself using Your name carelessly and sometimes profanely. I say, ‘Oh my God' when I'm not even talking about You. I would never say ‘Oh my mother,' or ‘Oh my fiancee' or ‘Oh my child.' Please forgive me, and help me to respect Your name in any and every setting."

"Lord, thank You for your holy Sabbath day. Thank You for this divine permission not to have to bother with work or other secular activities, but to be able to devote a whole 24 hours to You and my family. Help me to guard the edges of Your Sabbath."

And so on through the rest of those great moral principles. How many politicians whose careers have been ruined would have gone on to true greatness by resolving from their childhoods to keep Commandment Seven, "Don't commit adultery." How different the American economy would be today if the people in financial institutions had resolved to live their lives by Commandment 10, "Don't covet." And the same goes for corrupt government officials in struggling countries.

And when you stop to think of it, if everyone had resolved to really study Commandment Four, the Sabbath commandment, the longest and most detailed of the 10, there would probably not be a single Darwinian evolutionist or maybe even atheist. That weekly Sabbath reminder of God's creatorship would have enabled nearly everyone to study nature for evidences of God's planning and wisdom rather than scratching around for evidences of impossible evolutionary jumps.

‘Way down at the end of this chapter I can find one more reason we can claim the same strength-and-courage Joshua could claim.

What's happened throughout the chapter is that once Joshua got his instructions from the Lord, he has relayed them to the people. And evidently, such confidence rings in his voice, and he has such credibility with these folks who have literally known him all their lives -- that they turn the tables and begin to encourage him:

Verses 16 - 18: So they answered Joshua, saying, "All that you command us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we heeded Moses in all things, so we will heed you. Only the Lord your God be with you, as He was with Moses. Whoever rebels against your command and does not heed your words, in all that you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and of good courage."

Okay, maybe they got a little overzealous in their promises to put rebels to death, but their hearts were in the right place. And notice that they repeated back to Joshua the very encouragement that the Lord had given him at the start of the chapter: "Be strong and of good courage."

You see, I believe that we can claim the Lord's "be strong and courageous" promise not only if we are going in God's direction, and not only if we are following God's commands, but also if we remain with God's people.

Douglas and Adriana Stockhausen understand that Sabbath School and church aren't just places you go because you have to, to keep God happy. Instead, the maturing Christian understands that Sabbath school and church are places not only of worship and learning, but of mutual encouragement.

I may come to church absolutely discouraged from the week, but the person next to me in a class might -- without even suspecting my own gloom -- say something that brightens my life and puts everything back into perspective. The welcoming smile of a children's Sabbath school teacher might change the entire direction of a restless young life. The words of even the oldest hymn in the hymnbook might sparkle with new meaning because a heart is ready for it.

And most importantly of all, Jesus is here on Sabbath morning. We know He is here because Luke 4:16 says it was His custom to attend worship on the Sabbath, and today is the Sabbath. In Mark 2:28 He calls Himself "the Lord of the Sabbath." And in Matthew 18:20 He promises, "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them." And Hebrews 10:25 specifically tells us not to give up meeting together, but to gather to encourage each other.

So what do you think of Joshua's strength-and-courage seminar? Pretty encouraging, wasn't it? We can indeed claim the Lord's "be strong and courageous" promise if we are going in the same direction He is, and if we are following His commands, and if we are choosing to remain with God's people.

How about you? Would you like to renew your personal commitment to these three principles by raising your hand?

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RED PRINT--THE FAITH OF JESUS: HOMECOMING

Expository Sermon on John 14
by Maylan Schurch
Bellevue SDA Church 1/23/2010
©2010 by Maylan Schurch

To hear the audio for this sermon, click here.

Please open your Bible to John chapter 14.

While you're turning there, just a quick note about this is sermon series. It's called "Red Print," and it's based on the idea that all of the Seventh-day Adventist Christian fundamental beliefs can be found within the words and the actions of Jesus Christ. So far in this series we've covered some of what Jesus had to say about the Holy Bible, and about the Trinity. Today we'll learn some thrilling truths about Jesus' Heavenly Father, which should give us solid encouragement for the week ahead.

How many of you have ever had a dream about the Second Coming of Christ? Let me see your hands. Now, how many of you have had a dream about the second coming within the last year? How about within the last week?

I haven't dreamed about the second coming for years, but I dreamt about it several times as a child. One of my dreams, which I remember very clearly, must have happened when I was about 11. And that dream took its cue from the King James (and the New King James) translations of John 14:2: "In My Father's house are many mansions."

Maybe one reason the KJV used "mansions" was because the Latin New Testament, the Vulgate, says, "In domo Patris mei mansiones multæ sunt." But even though nowadays the dictionary defines "mansion" as "a large, imposing residence," back in King James' day, "mansion" simply meant a room or a dwelling. In Scotland, the home of a Presbyterian pastor used to be called a "manse."

As a kid, I didn't know this humble meaning of "mansion," of course. I remember that in my age-11 dream I was standing on the north side of our South Dakota farm house, and it must have been midnight, because the sky was totally black. All of a sudden, from high in the Northwest, I saw a little orange glow. (Very few of my Second Coming dreams were logical!)

Do you know how, when you have a really bright light in a really dark place, and when you move the light, it seems to smear through the blackness? That's what happened with this glow. It rushed down from the sky toward me, smearing all the way, and stopped about 6 feet in front of me, about chest-height. And then I saw that the glow was a little mansion, sort of a miniature White House with pillars in front, a foot and a half wide. It was glowing a bright orange from within, the way campfire embers glow.

And that was it. Nothing else happened. No angels, no Savior, just that orange, glowing little mansion. It hung there in front of me, and then the dream faded.

I don't know about you, but I haven't been in the habit of going much further in John 14 then just those first three verses. I can say those verses by heart, and you maybe can too. And they're wonderful verses, which is maybe why I've been tempted to ignore the rest of the chapter all these years.

But as I studied John 14 this week, I discovered how much I have been missing.

Sure, I'm glad those first three verses are in that chapter -- what hope they bring us for the future! But if you will donate a few of your minutes right now, and come with me through the rest of John 14, I think you'll discover an immense amount of hope for the present as well. Let me show you what I mean.

John 14:1 - 3 [NKJV]: "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."

And who knows -- maybe if Jesus had spoken these words at another time and place, like during the Sermon on the Mount, He might have then changed the subject and gone on to a parable or something. But we need to remember when He spoke these words. It's probably about nine or 10 PM on a Thursday night. The Last Supper came to a close maybe a half an hour before. Jesus has less than 24 hours to live -- and His disciples have probably less than three hours before they will be terrified as they are menaced by an ugly gang of thugs who have come to capture Jesus.

And Jesus knows, of course, that the disciple John will eventually remember verses 1 to 3 and write them down. But He also knows that what His disciples needed then--and today's Christians need right now--is not merely a bright snapshot of the distant future. They desperately need to know, right here and now, at least three additional truths. So Jesus doesn't stop at verse 3, but keeps talking.

Verses 3 - 6: And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know." Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

So what is the first here-and-now truth Jesus earnestly wants His disciples to remember? I believe it's this (and if you're taking notes, this could be Sermon Point One):

Jesus is the way to God the Heavenly Father.

Why is that so important? Well, it's one thing to have mansions in heaven, but it would be a tragedy if you never got there.

Back when I was a kid, my dad worked at a creamery. The boss of the creamery knew dad had four kids and one income, so he let Dad take home a lot of the ice cream which had passed the date you had to sell it. It was still good ice cream -- if you can call ice cream good -- and we stashed that ice cream in a large chest freezer in the basement. There were not only large Baskin-Robbins size tubs of vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, Maple nut, chocolate chip (and at Christmas, crunchy peppermint) ice cream, but there were Eskimo pies, popsicles, push-ups, ice-cream sandwiches, and all sorts of other sweet frozen things.

As you can imagine, all the neighborhood kids dreamed about that chest freezer in our basement. But they couldn't get to it without going through us. My brother and sisters and I were the "way" to that ice cream. I remember the neighborhood kids being very nice to us, because they knew that there weren't any other "alternative religions" which could get them to that free ice cream. They had to go through us.

It's really important, as we read the "red print" of Jesus, that we look carefully at the words He used. Notice that he says, "I am the Way." He could have just as well said, "I am the Guide to help you along the way." But He didn't say that. He said "I am the Way."

Nowadays if I ask you to show me the "way" to operate a new computer software program, you understand that I want some step-by-step instructions. But in this verse Jesus is not telling His disciples that He will teach them step-by-step instructions to get to heaven. Instead, literally in the Greek, He says, "I am the hodos. I am the Road. I am the Path. I am the Highway." That's what that Greek word meant.

So why is this so important to me? How can I put this to work Monday morning?

Well, if Jesus is the Way to God, that means I must "walk Him." Not walk over Him, not wander around somewhere in His vicinity, but I need to walk Him. If He is the Way, I need to walk the Way.

What does that mean? Well, as we read along in the chapter, we'll find out more about this. The point is that we enter Jesus to find His Father. How do we do this? Well, one way is to do what we're going to be doing in this sermon series this year -- focus on Jesus' actual words, the red print. Because as Jesus told Thomas in verse 6, no one comes to the Father except through Him.

And as we focus on the words and acts of Jesus, let's not forget the large amount of space each of the four Gospels spends describing Jesus' last week. 25% of Matthew's chapters talk about Jesus' final week, 38% of Mark's chapters, 21% of Luke's chapters, and a staggering 48% of John's chapters talk about His final days just before and after the crucifixion. These chapters are not always pleasant reading, but let's not shy away from them, because they can soften and humble our hearts and cause us to fall again at the foot of the Savior's cross.

Now what we've just heard is important, but in the words of a commercial, "But wait -- there's more!" Jesus has an even more thrilling truth to tell us in the verses just ahead.

Verses 7 - 11: "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him." Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me . . . .

So what does Jesus say in these verses?

Earlier, Jesus told us that He is the Way to His Father, and now He tells us that He is the face of His Father.

Why is this so important? Well, you don't need me to tell you that it's human nature with a lot of folks to be obsessed with the private lives of very influential people. Paparazzi photographers make a lot of money creeping around with their zoom lenses so they can catch photos of the movie star of the week.

Whole magazines devote themselves to dissecting the lives of people whose names we know but whom we will probably never meet. It's like we're saying, "Are these talented people we admire so much really like us? Are they really human? What are they like?" We want to get to know them better, and we wonder what they might think of us if they knew us. This obsession is silly, and it's frankly idolatry, but it's human nature.

Back in the summer of 1976, just before I left South Dakota to become an English teacher in Lincoln, Nebraska, I took a trip to Washington, DC. Once I'd finished my sightseeing, I went back to the airport. I had a little time on my hands before the plane was to leave, so I just wandered around the terminal, exploring.

Gradually I began to realize that I was becoming more and more alone. I was getting into a part of the airport where there weren't a lot of people. Back in those days they didn't put you through any kind of security scanning, of course, but evidently I had drifted into an area where most people didn't go--or shouldn't go.

I had just come through a doorway, into a long and even more deserted hallway, when I saw a tall man and a tall woman walking toward me. Both were dressed in white--and what looked like very expensive--clothing. And suddenly I realized who they were. The man was Muhammad Ali, and the lady was presumably his wife.

They passed close to me, and gave me curious glances, and kept on going, not through the door I'd just used, but further down the hallway. Evidently this was a secret walkway they had discovered so that they could avoid the crowds when they were getting to the plane they were flying on.

And even though this couple--actually, this man--was so famous that he had to go through secret airport walkways, they were human after all. I looked up Ali online yesterday, and discovered that he's been married four times, and that if in the summer of 1976 the woman he was walking with was indeed his wife, their marriage would end within the year, because he was already having an affair with the woman who would become his next wife.

Fortunately, Jesus' disciples didn't seem to be very prone to obsessing about human "idols." Since they had spent three and a half years in Jesus' presence, the One they were most interested in was God Himself. You'd think they would be focused totally on Jesus, but Jesus had so effectively enhanced His Father's reputation that they were focused on God.

After all, they had seen Jesus do His miracles in such a self-effacing way that the crowds who saw them immediately gave glory not to Jesus but to God. And Jesus had shown them a God who was far more likeable than the God the rabbis and Pharisees often preached. The rabbis spoke about "The Almighty, Blessed Be He." Jesus simply called Him "Father."
And now He tells His disciples that if they want to see the face of God, all they need to do is look at Jesus. "I am in the Father," He says twice, "and the Father is in Me."

What's so interesting is that as we move through John 14, we see God coming closer and closer. The chapter starts with God in heaven, in "the Father's house," and Jesus is promising to go there and get things ready and then come back to take us there. Then Jesus says that He is the Way to the Father. And now He tells us that He is the Face of the Father. God is coming closer.

So what should I do, now that I know this?

Well, you don't need to listen to me speculate about what we should do, because Jesus tells us.

Verses 11 - 14: Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

So Jesus is the Way to the Father, and Jesus is the face of the Father. And He is urging us not to sit back in wonder and admiration, but to believe, and then to step forward and get into partnership with Heaven. These are some pretty breathtaking promises He's making--that those who believe in Him will potentially do even greater works than He did, and that it's possible that if we become so close to Him and His Father, Their agenda will become our agenda, so that we can ask anything we want--which will be of course anything They want--and it will be done.

Let's keep that in mind when we pray. Let's immerse ourselves in the "red print"--Jesus' words and actions--and watch our hope and our "prayer courage" grow! Shelley and I have seen this prayer-courage grow at our weekly prayer meetings, at 7:30 Wednesday nights right here. We'd like to invite you to join us if you can.

Yet as we move further through this chapter, once again Jesus says, "But wait, there's more!"

Let's skip down past Jesus' Holy Spirit comments, because we'll be looking more closely at the Holy Spirit in another sermon. Let's start with a question asked by the Judas who wasn't Judas Iscariot.

Verses 22 - 23: Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?" Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

Earlier in this chapter, Jesus told us that He is the Way to His Father. Then He told us that He is the face of His Father. And now He's telling us that He is bringing His Father home to us!

To find out what's so thrilling about this, take another look at those words. "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him."

Do you see the word "home"? That's the same Greek word used back in verse 2, where Jesus said, "In My Father's house are many ‘mansions,'" in other words, "rooms" or "dwellings." So here in verse 23, Jesus says that He and His Father will come and "room" with us, or "dwell" with us.

I don't know what your courage-level was when you entered this sanctuary this morning, but this should give it quite a boost. Because when we started this chapter, God was up in heaven along with those mansions, or rooms, or dwellings He has ready for us.

But little by little in this chapter, Jesus has brought His Father closer and closer, until here at the end, God is "rooming" with His beloved children.

But not with all of them, tragically. Only with those who really want Him close. Let's go back and see what needs to happen in our lives before God comes this close:

Verse 23: Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

Step one, learn to love Jesus if you haven't already.

Step two, let that growing love cause you to respect the "red print" (Jesus' words) so much that you live your life by them.

Step three, bask in God's love. Actually, Jesus' statement makes it sound like we earn God's love by keeping Jesus' words, but that's not true. God has always loved us. Remember what Paul says in Romans 5:8: "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." So while we were sinners, God so loved the world that He gave His Son.

So learn to love Jesus, let that love cause you to keep His words, and bask in God's love, and Jesus and His Father will come right down into your apartment or condo or house or wherever, and will "room" with you. And with house-guests like Them, why would you need to fear the future?

Isn't that good news? Isn't John 14 a tremendous courage-builder? Doesn't it deepen your love for our Heavenly Father?

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RED PRINT--THE FAITH OF JESUS: THE "US" GOD
Topical Sermon on the Trinity
by Maylan Schurch
Bellevue SDA Church 1/9/2010
©2010 by Maylan Schurch

To hear the audio for this sermon, click here.

Please open your Bibles to Genesis chapter 1.

While you're turning there, I'll just mention a few words about the new sermon series I'm starting. Last year we focused on the book of Acts, watching those first Christians and trying to learn from them how to live in the end times.

And since we will need the Lord at least as much in 2010 as we did in 2009, I thought to myself, "Why not focus on the Bible's ‘red print'?" Why not spend some time thinking about Jesus' actual words (which some Bible versions print in red letters)? Technically, of course, the words Jesus spoke aren't any more inspired than the rest of Scripture, because 2 Timothy 3:16 says that all Scripture is inspired by God, or literally, "God-breathed."

But if Jesus is the One who left heaven for us, the One who died for us, and the One who will return in person for us, then I am deeply interested in paying close attention to what He is saying to me. I'm interested in the "red print." Some of that print is pretty challenging--some of it is downright revolutionary. But that red print will keep us on our toes--which is where endtimes Christians need to be.

Another thing I'm going to do during this "red print" sermon series is to keep one eye on the great teachings of the Christian church. Most of the fundamental beliefs of the Adventist church are shared by other Christians, and we have developed some additional clear Bible understandings which we also consider just as important. I believe that within the words and acts of Jesus can be found all of these beliefs. I don't know about you, but this year I think I will feel safe within the "red print" of the Savior's words.

Last week we talked about the importance of the Holy Bible, and this week we're looking at another important belief--the Trinity.

I was 16 years old when the Star Trek TV series began. Our family did not have a television, but my friend Lawrie (which stood for Lawrence) did. And as soon as he saw that first episode, Lawrie knew that it was something we both would be interested in.

I mean, when you have spent a good portion of the leisure time in your elementary years pretending you were an astronaut and taking many an imaginary voyage into space, it is a wonderful thing to realize that on your friend's television set is a program where you can watch all of your space travel fantasies -- and many more beyond them -- acted out by some really good actors.

So once in a while -- when it worked out with our schedules -- Lawrie and I got together at his house and heard the words, "Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise, its five-year mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before."

I mean, even though I was already 16, who could resist that introduction? I didn't get to see many episodes because I was working after school a lot. Back then I had a little Sears reel-to-reel sound tape recorder, so I thought, "Next time Lawrie invites me over, I'll take this along, and record the program."

So I did, but when I got it back home and listened to it, I couldn't get much out of it. I didn't realize how much of the program was visual. I'd be listening along to the tape recorder, and most of what I heard was tense, dramatic music and a lot of shuffling and scuffling, and occasionally a bit of dialogue. I couldn't keep track of the story that way, so after one try I gave up on the recording project.

Back then, of course, nobody had the tools or the expertise to do anything dramatic with computer graphics simulation. So that meant that most of the space aliens were just human actors dressed up in strange costumes, and once in a while with weird looking plastic heads with huge eyes. They tended to speak in menacing, hollow voices.

And in most of those space alien stories, the episode's major crisis happened because those aliens just didn't "get it." They were from so far away that they didn't understand human beings and their emotions and their hopes and dreams. So the powerful aliens went around destroying people until the good-guy earthlings figured out a way to stop them.

I have a feeling that one of Satan's major goals has been to convince human beings that God is something like a Star Trek space alien, someone so different from us that He just doesn't "get it." Whereas, the truth is that Satan fills that role far more chillingly. It's Satan who probably doesn't understand human emotions like love and gentleness and kindness. And most importantly, Satan hates God and his Son and the Holy Spirit with such a single-minded ferocity that he will try to destroy anything and anyone Heaven has created.

And that is why the most important question on this planet -- and in the entire universe -- is not, "How can earthlings be saved?" but "What is the Ruler of the universe like? What kind of character does He have? Is He an emotionless alien, or is He more like a loving parent?"

I believe that this morning the Bible will remind us again how incredibly far God and His Son and His Spirit have gone to convince us of how much He cares. Because God isn't an "other" God, He is an "us" God. He isn't an alien--He is an "us." And in times of crisis, this is immensely important to understand and remember.

Let me show you how we can be so sure of this. Listen to what God Himself says toward the end of Creation Week.

Genesis 1:26 [NKJV]: Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; . . . .

If you're taking sermon notes, you could call this point one.

How can we be so sure that God is an "us" God? Because as God created Adam and Eve, He was creating a "self-portrait."

In other words, He was saying, "I want this family to know that they are one of Us." If you're a parent couple, you know that your baby will look like one or the other of you. And the Trinity set it up the same way. "These are Our children -- since We have made them in Our image, they look like Us." (We don't know exactly what God looks like, of course, but in some very personal and real way, we resemble Him.)

Satan, of course, would never for an instant be an "us" person. With the devil, it has always been "I . . . I . . . I . . . I will ascend, I will be like the Most High. Fall down and worship me."

On a trip to Washington, DC, in 1976, I got a chance to meet one of the Congressmen from South Dakota, Larry Pressler. It was a proud moment to shake his hand, because here was someone who was born and raised in Humboldt, South Dakota who was serving in the exalted heights of the United States Capitol building. He was "one of us."

But I was even prouder four years later to learn that Larry Pressler was possibly the only member of Congress who did not accept bribes from undercover FBI agents in what would later be called the Abscam investigations. FBI agents later reported that when Pressler was offered a bribe, he told them, "No, that would be wrong." Again, I glowed with pride -- because this honest politician was one of us South Dakota prairie people.

So what should I do, now that I've been reminded how God felt it so important to create us in His image?

Well, for one thing, I should do what I can to put myself as much as possible back in the plan He originally had for me. For example, once He created Adam and Eve, God placed them in a beautiful garden. He could have built them a magnificent city and turned them loose in its streets, but instead He put them in a Garden. And even though He now also does have a gigantic golden city ready for occupancy, the New Earth will have wonderful gardens as well.

But even though those gardens are a long way off, I should do what I can to live the Eden way. Because that garden was God's first and best plan for us. How do I do this in the midst of metropolitan Puget Sound?

I can find as many opportunities as possible to get close to nature. I can take walks in areas where I can barely see buildings. I can eat as close as possible to God's ideal Eden diet. Remember, in the last three verses of Genesis 1, it says that humans and animals were both vegetarian, and God called that situation "very good." You and I were designed to be vegetarian. If we eat a piece of meat, it stays in our system something like 30 hours, but vegetables only six hours.

Another way we can live as though we were in Eden is to reduce the amount of artificial stimulus around us. Adam and Eve didn't have music or talk radio or TV programming constantly chattering or humming in their ears, or in the background. The restful silence of Eden was broken only by the occasional chirp of a bird or the happy bark of a dog, or the giggling of a monkey, or human conversation. I think one of the ways we can honor God is to live the way He planned for us to live.

Eden had the Sabbath, too--and today, we can make the Sabbath day a bit like it was in Eden.

A second reason we can be sure that God is an "us" God is found over in Isaiah chapter 9.

Isaiah 9:6: For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

How can we be so sure that God is an "us" God? Because not only did God create His "self-portrait" in Adam and Eve, but He sent His Son to be born "unto us."

According to a January 6 Seattle Times article, Richard Heene, the father of Falcon the "balloon boy," believes that he himself is descended from aliens. Whether or not this belief is a publicity stunt like some of the others this dad has pulled, wouldn't it be sad to think of yourself as having that kind of vague and uncertain beginning? Especially since we have 750,000 pages of in-print documentation on the One who is truly our Ancestor.

Think about how important Isaiah 9:6 really is. In Genesis 1, we learned that God created us in His image, or more correctly, "Let Us make man in Our image." And that's thrilling to think about.

But it's even more astonishing that, several thousand years later, after the human race had grossly defaced His image, even at that low point God still sends His Son to actually be born among us sin-sick mortals. The only conclusion we can come to is that the Trinity loves us even more than we had thought!

I had never thought of it this way before, but once Jesus was born as a human being, we were safe! At any point prior to that, we could have admired God's love for us, His hard work to guide His chosen people, but lingering at the back of our minds would be the thought that we could never quite be sure if He might turn His back on us. But when Jesus was born, heaven's fate was tied to mine.

If you are a Bellevue church member, you and I think kindly of our elementary and secondary Adventist schools just north of here. But if we have children born to us who are attending those schools, our attitude suddenly becomes far more deeply involved. We no longer have a merely academic interest in those academic institutions. Instead, we are there at those basketball games or volleyball games. If we can squeeze out the time, we are right there at the school, volunteering, serving on a committee or a board, creating hot lunches, organizing fundraiser. Because we have kids there.

So once Jesus was born into the human race, that should be even more powerful proof that God is an "us" God. His heart is linked to yours and mine because His Son is one of us.

So what difference does this make to me? What should I do now that I know this?

Well, if Jesus really is -- in a sense -- my older Brother, I want to be like Him. Two or three weeks ago I happened to see what must've been two brothers walking across a parking lot. The older was probably 14 or 15, and the younger might've been about five. But the younger boy was watching how the older boy was walking, and was trying to walk exactly like him.

And that's what I should be doing as I look at Jesus. This year, as you and I listen to His words and watch His actions, we need to imitate Him and His attitudes and His caring more and more.

But this week I found an even more incredibly powerful proof that God truly is an "us" God -- someone who wants to be a part of us. Please turn to Matthew chapter 3. (Here's where we get to the "red print.")

You see, as the Trinity stared down at the lost human race, Jesus could have said, "Well, I'll be the one to go on the mission. It's a long way down there, and it's going to be very difficult once I arrive, but I'll keep you posted. I'll send back reports with the angels from time to time."

And then He could have come down here, like some explorer venturing out into dangerous territory, leaving his loved ones behind to wait for news.

But the last part of Matthew 3 shows that it definitely was not like this with Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit. I had read about Jesus' baptism many times before, but I'd never seen it quite the way I saw it this week.

Matthew 3:13: Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.

There are a couple of amazing things in that verse alone. First, Jesus traveled all the way down from Galilee in order to be baptized. If He had been less humble, He would have summoned John to come to Him.

And if Jesus had felt cherished any fastidious superiority over the human race, He could have said to Himself, "I'm not going to have one of these sinful human beings baptize Me." Instead, He could have come to the shore of Jordan, waded out to a place where it was deep enough, and simply bent His knees and baptized Himself.

But watch what happened.

Verses 13 - 14: Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?"

You see, John the Baptist understood just how incredible Jesus' request was. Jesus was holy. John was sinful. Jesus should have lowered John under the water, not the other way around. But notice what Jesus says.

Verse 15: But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." . . .

Don't ever believe that heaven is distant, ever again. The Son of God stood waist-deep in the Jordan River, telling John the Baptist NOT "it is fitting for those people on the shore to fulfill all righteousness," NOT "it is fitting for you, John, to fulfill all righteousness," but "it is fitting for US to fulfill all righteousness."

How can we be so sure that God is an "us" God? Because not only did God create His "self-portrait" in Adam and Eve, and not only did He send His Son to be born as "unto us," but He uses the word "us" to link Himself to us in baptism.

So, how can I put this to work in my life right now? What difference will this make to me on Monday morning?

Yesterday I gave the chapel talks in both of our Adventist schools Kirkland. I basically gave the same talk, but adjusted according to the young people's age levels. I brought along this harmonica that I have owned since I was a child.

I told the students how with most wind instruments, you take a breath privately, then blow it out publicly as you make a sound with your instrument. Then you take another private breath, and blow out another public breath.

But with a harmonica, it's different. You make music when you're breathing out, and you make music when you're breathing in. You can't make a harmonica sound good by only breathing out on it, or only breathing in on it. It takes both breathing in and breathing out.

I told the students that each of us needs to be a "harmonica Christian." We need to breathe in -- come to Sabbath school and church, study the Bible, absorb all of the true information about God that we can. But then we need to breathe out, keeping a lookout for people who need our prayers, people who need a cheerful greeting, people who need to be listened to, people who need to learn the happy truths about God, and situations which simply need somebody to help out. Last night after our candlelight communion was over, several people stayed to clean up, and I could sense in them the servant spirit of Jesus Christ.

I remember Wayne Hasley, who first attended this church a year ago at our candlelight communion service. Since then, until his recent death, we came to know him as a true harmonica Christian. He breathed in three different worship services at three different churches every week! He came to our prayer meeting almost weekly. But Wayne breathed out as well -- he was a thoughtful encourager. He kept an eye out for people who needed help. Once he was working on a project for someone, and departed for what should have been a 20 minute trip to an auto parts store. He came back three hours later, because a couple of women had barely made it to the auto parts store's parking lot with their car, which promptly quit. Wayne took the time to repair their vehicle.

It's wonderful to know people who have allowed the Holy Spirit to make them humble servants of humanity. And it's truly humbling to watch what happens after Jesus' baptism. This should prove once and for all that God is an "us" God.

Verses 16 -17: When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

When people are baptized here at Bellevue, their relatives often come to help celebrated. And here They are, all three members of the Trinity--God the Father in heaven, giving His blessing; God the Holy Spirit, descending to help guide God the Son, first to the wilderness and then to three and a half years of service before His death on the cross.

So as you and I look ahead into a new and alarming year, we can rest secure knowing that God is not an alien, not an "us versus them" God, but an "us" God. God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit each have their roles to play in our nurture and protection and salvation and sanctification. And They have one main goal--to bring us to the happy moment which Revelation 21 describes:

Revelation 21:1 - 5: Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful."

What about you? Does knowing that God is an "us" God give you greater courage? Does it cause you to want to enter an even deeper "us" relationship with Him?

If that's the case with you, would you raise your hand with me?

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RED PRINT: THE FAITH OF JESUS -- SWORDSMANSHIP
Expository Sermon on Matthew 4
by Maylan Schurch
Bellevue SDA Church 1/2/2010
©2010 by Maylan Schurch

To hear the audio for this sermon, click here.

Please open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 4.

I don't know if you've been listening to the same media I have, but there seems to be a general consensus that 2009, and maybe even the whole decade, is a time-span most people don't look back on with a great deal of pleasure. And this makes the thought of gazing ahead into 2010 not very fun.

It's like the whole decade was designed by someone who wrote a book I saw in a bookstore a little over a year ago. The book was called Daily Negations. It was a parody of a lot of those "daily affirmation" books, the kind with a positive, upbeat quote for the day to send you out the door in the morning with a glad smile on your face.

The back cover of Daily Negations tells its purpose: "Daily Negations is exactly what its title suggests: a collection of negative thoughts, one for each day of the year. Like any other daily meditation book it can be consulted first thing in the morning, or at any time during the day when a quick let-me-down is needed."

Here's part of the January 1 "meditation." "On the first day of this year, I can tell myself that I will make a fresh start. I can tell myself that I am a new person, that I have left my old, worthless self behind. But within a week things will be back to normal. I may as well save myself the disappointment and accept the fact that nothing in my life will ever change."

Even though that book was written humorously, I'm so thankful that, with the God we have, and with the Bible we have, you and I don't have to face 2010 with such cynicism.

Yet as I looked ahead, I asked myself, "What kind of sermon series shall I preach this coming year?" Last year we focused on the book of Acts, watching those first Christians and trying to learn from them how to live in the end times.

And since we will need the Lord at least as much in 2010 as we did in 2009, I thought to myself, "Why not focus on the Bible's ‘red print'?" Why not spend some time thinking about Jesus' actual words? Technically, of course, the words Jesus spoke aren't any more inspired than the rest of Scripture, because in 2 Timothy 3:16 Paul says that all Scripture is inspired by God, or literally, "God-breathed."

But I get the feeling that we often tend to ignore many of Jesus' statements. I mean, after all, many of those statements are awesomely challenging. Jesus sets the bar pretty high. And often it seems easier to spend a lot of time in Paul's writings, or John's letters, or maybe the Psalms.

We know, of course, that the people who were fortunate enough to hear Jesus in person listened to Him with great delight. Mark 12:37 tells us that "the common people heard Him gladly." He must have had a voice that crackled not only with earnestness but with love and good humor.

He probably smiled a lot -- and we know for certain that He often adjusted His words depending on who was listening to him. The rebukes He spoke to the Pharisees He would never have spoken to the repentant adulterous woman, or the lame man beside the pool of Bethesda, or to a leper or a child or to those who were weak and heavy-laden.

But if Jesus is the One who left heaven for us, the One who died for us, and the One who will return in person for us, then I am deeply interested in paying close attention to what He is saying to me. I'm interested in the "red print."

Because I believe that Jesus' words can banish the negativity and pessimism which are so easy to fall into in times like this. But I also believe that Jesus' statements will keep us on our toes. Because on our toes is where we need to be as this new year flows beneath our feet.

Another thing I'm going to do during this "red print" sermon series is to keep one eye on the great teachings of the Christian church. Most of the fundamental beliefs of the Adventist church are shared by other Christians, and we have developed some additional clear Bible understandings which we also consider just as important. I believe that within the words and acts of Jesus can be found all of these beliefs. I don't know about you, but this year I think I will feel safe within the "red print" of the Savior's words.

The first 11 verses of Matthew 4 tell about Jesus' wilderness temptation. I don't know if you noticed the sermon title in the bulletin, but what looks like a misprint isn't. The word "SWordsmanship" has a capital "W" in it, and that's not a mistake. Because Jesus met each of the devil's temptations with the "sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." (Ephesians 6:17) I think as we watch Jesus' "sWordsmanship" we will learn how better to face our own temptations during the year ahead.

But do Jesus' wilderness temptations really have anything to do with me? I'm not the Messiah. I would never have the power to turn stones to bread, even if I could be tempted to.

As I studied the first part of Matthew 4 this week, I discovered that the kinds of crafty temptations the devil threw at Jesus are indeed the kinds he throws at us. And the kind of "sWordsmanship" Jesus used in return can teach us how better to defend ourselves. Let me show you what I mean.

Matthew 4:1 - 2 [NKJV]: Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.

I don't know about you, but I've always pictured this temptation scene with Jesus wearing a well trimmed beard, nicely combed hair, and a clean white robe. The reality was, of course, those 40 days without food would have left Him terribly thin, and His robe would have been smudged and stained. His cheeks would be sunken, and His eyes large and hungry.

And He certainly wouldn't have been standing or sitting. He would have been sprawled on the ground, barely able to move, maybe rolled over to keep His face away from the sun. Lying there, He hears a voice.

Verse 3: Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."

Now, neither you nor I have ever been as hungry as Jesus was at that moment. He must have been near death. Maybe all He could do was to roll His eyes in the direction of the beautiful voice of the fallen angel.

I've read this story ever since I was a boy, and this week I discovered that up to now I had been focusing most of my attention on the last part of what Satan said. I hadn't devoted a whole lot of thought to the first half -- "If You are the Son of God . . . ."

Do you see what's happening? Talk about swordsmanship--the devil has a supply of his own swords with him, and this first one is the sword of Doubt. The Father of Lies begins his conversation, just as he began his conversation with Eve in the Garden, with the insinuation that God's words are not trustworthy.

Why do I say that? Well, Satan knows very well that aside from the heavenly voice Jesus heard a month and a half ago at His baptism, and the sight of the white dove descending upon him, Jesus has had to learn about His own Messiahship the same way the wise men did, the way Anna and Simeon in the temple did -- through reading the Hebrew Bible. Daniel 9 foretold the time, and other scriptures gave other details to pinpoint just who this Person would be.

But the devil hopes that, in Jesus' weakened condition, He might be starting to doubt the Word of God. I have never experienced famine-level hunger, ever in my life. But even the little normal pangs of hunger I have felt have shown me just what hunger can do to your focus and your concentration, and your will, and your patience.

But, lying there, probably barely moving His head, Jesus rasps out a hoarse whisper:

Verse 4: But He answered and said, "It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"

Now let me tell you about something that really encouraged me this week as I read this. The devil attacks with his temptation, Jesus gasps out a verse of Scripture which targets that temptation, and the devil does not reply.

I mean, it's not like the devil has suddenly become tongue-tied. Satan is perfectly capable of carrying on an extended conversation. He did so with Eve in Genesis 3. He did so in Job 1 and 2 when he appeared before the Lord with the "sons of God" in heaven. But here, towering over a scrawny, hungry man who is very close to death, the devil stops cold at the sound of well-chosen Holy Scripture.

In fact, if you're taking notes, here comes what we could call sermon point number one.

When the devil attacks with the sword of doubt, Jesus' sWordsmanship (capital "W") is more powerful--because God's words not only build our faith but drive Satan back.

You see, those whispered words from Deuteronomy 8:3 weren't merely a match for the devil. They didn't simply level the playing field. They drove the devil back, and defeated him. Again, once Jesus quotes well-chosen Scripture, the devil does not speak. Even though the human being lying before him would have had no strength to engage in physical combat, the devil has no further power.

Now I'm not saying that any of us has the spiritual strength Jesus had. Remember, the Son of God had committed no sin. He had never given in to, never acted on, an impure thought. He was holy.

But even this holy Man knew that the most effective weapon to use against Satan is the Word of God. And Jesus doesn't even surround that Scripture with His own words of rebuke. He simply quotes a Bible verse that refutes that specific temptation.

So, what do I do, now that I know this? You don't need me to tell you that the devil is constantly slashing this way and that way with his sword of doubt. You work with people, or you go to school with people, or you may even be related to people who aren't sure that God or Jesus or their agenda are really that important.

And maybe that sword-point of doubt nicks you once in a while. Maybe you sometimes feel nearly as weak as Jesus must have felt there in the desert.

I guess the only thing I would suggest would be to treat the Bible exactly like you treat breakfast, lunch and dinner (or as we would say in South Dakota, breakfast, dinner, and supper). Did you ever wonder how Job could face the horrors he had to face and still remain true to God? Listen to him tell you how he did this, from Job 23:12. Speaking of God and His Word, Job said, "I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food."

So no matter whatever you're facing -- a personal disappointment, something you've prayed for but didn't receive, or something else -- I can't give you any better advice than Job's. Consider the words from God's mouth more than your necessary food.

Back there in the desert, even though the devil is temporarily baffled, he fumbles in his belt and selects another sword.

Verse 5: Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple . . . .

Can you imagine what Jesus must have felt when the devil seized Him and began to levitate through the air with Him? I think I personally would be afraid that the devil might get me up to an altitude of about 700 feet and then let me drop onto the desert rocks. Maybe that thought did pass through Jesus' mind -- but we need to remember that here was Someone who later will be perfectly able to enjoy a tranquil nap in the bottom of a little boat in the middle of a midnight storm.

And lest we imagine that only Deity can be this calm in the midst of such a storm, we need to remember that Jesus gently rebuked His disciples for being scared themselves. (That's another of those red-print statements that is so hard to understand. To hear Jesus talk, during that cyclone His disciples should have been just as calm as He was.)

So now we see Jesus, hanging limp as a rag doll in Satan's grip. Imagine what this dizzying flight is doing to the Savior's head and stomach. And finally He's standing on a stone ledge high above the temple courtyard, swaying on tottering legs.

And oh, how seductive this next temptation must have been. Remember, Jesus has made a habit of resting securely in His Father's protection. He'll do it later on the storm-tossed boat. He'll do it as wild demoniacs rush toward Him along a beach. He'll do it as nails are driven into His hands. And now as He feels his knees weakening there on that temple tower, the devil speaks.

Verse 6: . . . and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: . . . ."

It's like the devil is saying, "OK, so you want to quote Bible verses? I can quote Bible verses too. Listen to this."

Verse 6: . . . For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,' and, In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.' "

What the devil is saying here is, "Here's your chance. You trust in God? Show me how much. Witness to your faith. Show me how much you believe those verses I have just quoted."

But Jesus knows His Deuteronomy well enough to know that another verse applies even more directly to this situation than those Psalms verses do.

Verse 7: Jesus said to him, "It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.' "

You see, later, in the boat on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus was crossing the lake to do the work of His Father when the storm came up. Jesus was not tempting God in that situation. Even when He finally stepped forward toward those who were arresting Him in Gethsemane He was not tempting God. He knew very well the work He had to do, and He was doing it.

But if, standing there on the ledge of that temple tower, He had simply toppled forward, that would have been tempting God.

In other words, the sword the devil has selected for this attack was the sword of "presumption." According to the American Heritage Dictionary, presumption is a "behavior or attitude that is boldly arrogant." If you are granted an audience with the Queen of England, and you burst into Buckingham palace and swagger up to her and shout, "Hey, Queen, gimme five!", that's presumption.

And when you knowingly do something very foolish, very out of line with Scripture, and still expect God to cover your back, that's presumption. There is often a delicately fine line between presumption and daring great deeds for God, and only those who are intimately acquainted with Scripture know where that line is.

Here's the second sermon point.

When the devil attacks with the sword of presumption, Jesus' sWordsmanship (capital "W") is more powerful--because He quotes the verse that says that you aren't supposed to tempt God.

Okay. What does this have to do with me, this coming Monday morning?

To get a feel for what presumption is, it's a good idea to remind ourselves of Bible examples of being presumptuous. In Romans 6:1, Paul says, "Shall we continue in sin, that grace might abound?" Sinning more so that there can be more of God's grace would be presumption. Any time I do something I know is sinful, saying to myself, "Oh well, I'll get by with this because God will forgive me," that's presumption.

Back on the borders of the promised land, God said, "No, you can't enter the land after all. You're not ready." The people said, "Wait, wait. Not so fast. We repent. We're going to go and occupy the land." That was presumption, and they were soundly defeated by the people they attacked.

In Psalm 19:13, David -- who was someone who knew a little about presumptuousness -- prayed, "Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression."

So whatever presumptuous sin or sins might be a problem for you, get some Bible verses ready, and use them when you need them. That's what Jesus did. And again, the devil didn't -- couldn't -- answer him back.

But the devil has one more sword in his belt, and this one's a sharp one. Maybe Christians have more of a problem with this one than either of the first two.

Verses 8 - 9: Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."

This is the demonic sword of "compromise." The devil was saying to Jesus, "Okay. Let's cut to the chase. You believe that You have come to save the world from me? Great. Let's make it easy. Just bow down on Your knees, right here, and worship me. That's all you have to do. Then I will give You all these kingdoms You have come to save."

Again, when you are faced with a temptation to compromise your beliefs to get what you want, you simply have to know your Bible. Jesus knew His Bible. He knew that, first of all, the devil is a liar, and was lying when he said he would give the Savior all the kingdoms of the world for a brief bow of the knee.

And Jesus knows, by heart, one more Deuteronomy verse.

Verse 10: Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.' "

It's interesting that this is the temptation that seems to rile Jesus the most, because this is the temptation which causes Him not only to quote another Bible verse but also to assert His divine authority and order Satan away.

And again, Satan backs away, and this time angels arrive to nourish and restore their Commander.

And here's the third sermon point.

When the devil attacks with the sword of compromise, Jesus' sWordsmanship is again more powerful--because He quotes the verse that says that God alone should be worshipped.

Again, how does this apply to me?

It's a good idea to remember that Christian history is smirched and stained with the many times people who claim to follow God have compromised their beliefs to get what they want. Both Israel and Judah were so fascinated with idolatry that they tried to mix idol worship into their religion. The Christian church has added beliefs and practices which are not found in the Bible, and which are sometimes forbidden in the Bible.

And in our individual lives, it's so easy to ignore a specific Bible command and to simply go ahead and do what we want to do, compromising away what we know is right. And we either don't care what God thinks about that sin, or we don't want to know.

The solution, of course, is Jesus' final statement to the devil: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"

And how do you serve the Lord? Not by inventing a religious idea and hoping it's OK with God. You serve the Lord by searching and studying and internalizing the Book that even the Son of God felt He needed to quote in order to drive away the devil. That's how you and I will triumphs spiritually in 2010.

How about you? Would you like to join me this year in closely examining not only the red print -- the statements of Jesus -- but other parts of the book which He considered important enough to learn and to memorize? Would you like to arm yourself with the sword of the Spirit, so that your battles with the devil will be victorious? Would you like to do that?

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