Have you ever wondered: “Is it all true after all?” “Did Jesus really die for me?” “Did he really rise from the dead?” “Is there really another, better, world after this one?”
JOHN 20:24-29: HOW DOUBTING THOMAS BECAME BELIEVING THOMAS
One of the most difficult tribulations a child of God ever endures is the doubts that arise when disaster strikes.
Or sometimes it isn’t even disasters, but you get to thinking and wonder why, if God is real, why don’t more people believe?
It would be different if we could see Jesus, if we could see a miracle or some sign that would just put to rest all our doubts.
Then life would be beautiful. We would live in the sunshine of the Lord.
A Christian wrote this in a letter to a friend: “I think there is no suffering greater than what is caused by the doubts of those who want to believe.”
The great Russian author Dostoevsky also struggled with doubt. He said: “I do not believe in Christ and his confession as a child, but my hosanna has come through a great furnace of doubt.”
Sometimes people who are very intelligent and think a lot and feel for the sorrows of other people, have a hard time believing that God is real and that he is good and that he loves us.
Today I want to talk about a famous doubter, who is a great example for us who sometimes wonder if the wonderful story in the Bible is all true after all.
Since it is Easter, you have probably guessed that I’m going to talk about “Doubting Thomas.”
I. We don’t know much about Thomas. Except for his name, he is only mentioned three times in the gospels. But those three incidents give us a clue to his character.
A. The first thing we read about Thomas in the gospels is in John 11.
In John 11, we read, “After Jesus learned that Lazarus was ill, he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go to Judea again.’
His disciples said, “Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone you, and are you going again?”
But Thomas said to his fellow disciples: “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
We get the idea from this little exchange that Thomas was a gloomy man, the kind of man who looks on the dark side of things.
Or maybe Thomas saw more clearly than the others, the disaster that awaited Jesus.
We see from this conversation how much Thomas loved Jesus. He was willing to die with him.
I am a little like Thomas. Some people always see the bright side. And they are often disappointed.
I consider all the things that can go wrong. And I am pleasantly surprised when things turn out okay.
In Basic Training, one of the first things our sergeant told us was: “Expect the worst, and you’ll never be disappointed.”
That’s a gloomy way to live, but that’s the way some of us are made.
B. The next thing we read about Thomas is in chapter 14 of John.
Jesus has this wonderful saying, “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.”
And Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going; how can we know the way?”
Thomas was the kind of man who didn’t like to live with questions.
Maybe the others thought they knew where Jesus was going, but they didn’t know any more about it than Thomas.
So poor questioning Thomas asked the question that elicited from Jesus one of his greatest sayings: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by me” (v6).
II. Ten days pass.
A. And in those 10 days come the betrayal, the arrest, the trial, the crucifixion, the burial, and the amazing story that Thomas couldn’t believe—the story that Jesus was alive again!
Read John 20:24-29
B. It was just too good to be true.
It wasn’t that Thomas didn’t want to believe.
Thomas wanted to believe with every fiber of his being.
And the harder he wanted to believe, the more impossible it became.
Have you ever had that feeling?
I have. Lots of people have.
But the good thing Thomas did was to stay connected to the people who did believe. He stayed in fellowship with the believers.
The worst thing you can do when you have doubts is stay away from the people who believe, to stay away from church, to stay away from Christian fellowship.
So a week later, Thomas was there—and Jesus showed up again.
C. Thomas didn’t need to put his finger into the wounds in Jesus’ hands, or put his hand into Jesus’ side.
When he saw Jesus and Jesus repeated to him the words he had spoken in his doubt, Thomas was overwhelmed by a joy that removed all his doubts.
Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!”
This is the grandest line in the whole book. And it was poor doubting Thomas who got to say it.
This is the first time anyone addressed Jesus in this way. It takes us right back to the beginning of John’s Gospel. “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the Word was God…”
III. Now look at what Jesus tells Thomas about you and me.
A. “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”
We’ve been talking in weeks past about the Beatitudes.
Here’s a beatitude that’s not in the Sermon on the Mount.
This beatitude is especially for us. We’ve not seen but we’ve believed.
The Word of witness has impressed itself on our hearts, and we say with Thomas, “My Lord and My God!”
B. Back in v20, when Jesus met his disciples on the evening of resurrection morning, we read, “Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.”
We are glad too—although we’ve not seen the Lord with our eyes, we’ve felt him alive in our hearts.
And we’ve seen him alive in people who love him.
CONCLUSION
Is it hard or easy to believe that Jesus rose from the dead?
The more we love Jesus, the more we learn of him, the more we seek to please him—the easier it becomes to believe.
What we hope for and pray for, that we are ready to believe.
And the more we keep connected to our Christian brothers and sisters, the more real Jesus becomes.
Let us make Jesus our constant companion, and then it will be true of us, as it was to those believers to whom Peter wrote so long ago:
“Without having seen him you love him;
though you do not now see him,
you believe in him
and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy” (1 Peter 1:8).
Or as the King James Bible has it: “...with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
The Cross of Christ: 1 Corinthians 1:18, 20-25: The Meaning of the Cross.
The Cross was once the emblem of shame, but we see it as the symbol of the greatest love that ever was. What happened?
1 CORINTHIANS 1:18, 20-25: THE MEANING OF THE CROSS
INTRODUCTION
In our church building’s worship space there are dozens of crosses. At the end of each pew there is a cross carved in the wood.
Every hymn book has a cross on the cover. Every pew Bible has a cross on its cover.
There is a cross on each of two lecterns from which the scripture is read.
The robe of each choir member has a cross on its front.
There is a cross on the wall behind the communion table and beside the table, a cross on a stand.
The pastor’s stole is decorated with crosses.
I counted 430 crosses in plain view
Our name tags have crosses on them and so to the bulletins.
…and some of our people wear crosses around their necks.
But I wonder how many people who come to worship think much about what all those crosses mean.
Catholic Christians also use crosses, maybe more even than we do. But there is a difference. Many times their crosses have the figure of Christ on them. They are called “crucifixes.”
When I was a child four years old, one of my little friends, a neighbor girl named Peggy gave me a little crucifix. It was black with a little silver Jesus on it.
I asked Peggy what I was to do with my crucifix. She told me that I could hang it on my bed.
I was very pleased because the crucifix was pretty.
I took it home and showed it to my parents. They told me: "We don't use crucifixes," and they took it from me. I suppose they threw it away.
I have always been a little sad about that.
I understand why Protestants have a different view about the cross with the image of Jesus on it. But I don’t think the Catholics are necessarily wrong about that. That cross with the suffering Jesus upon it represents the most important thing in all the world.
It reminds us that Jesus suffered and died for their sins.
In his first letter to the believers in Corinth Paul tells them what the Cross represents:
“The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing,
but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…
“Where is the wise man” Where is the scribe?
Where is the debater of this age?
Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
For since, in the wisdom of God,
the world did not know God through wisdom,
it pleased God through the folly of what we preach
to save those who believe.
For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
but we preach Christ crucified,
a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,
but to those who re called,
both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than men,
and the weakness of God is stronger than men”
(1 Corinthians 1:18, 20-25).
I. Crucifixion was the cruelest and most shameful form of execution the Romans could devise—and they were experts in cruel executions
A. Crucifixion was reserved for the worst criminals: run-away slaves, terrorists, revolutionaries, murderers
Death on a cross was a long, drawn-out painful death. It sometimes took days while the poor man hung, naked, dying of thirst, exposed to burning sun and the gaze of passers-by. Every breath was an agony as the man hung from the nails through his hands. His hands were also tied to the wood, so the hands wouldn’t pull free.
It was a shameful death. The one crucified was stripped of all his clothes. The crucified man might be ridiculed and tormented with objects thrown at him. The Latin word crux was considered an obscenity, not even to be mentioned in polite society.
Jesus’ enemies supposed that exposing him to this humiliation, they could bring such shame on him that no one would ever again take his claims seriously.
II. When Christians proclaimed the Cross, the unbelieving world thought they were ridiculous.
A. To the Jews, the death of Christ on a cross was a stumbling block.
The Jews expected their Messiah to be a great warrior who would kill their enemies.
Jesus was too weak and helpless to be a Savior, they thought.
B. To the Greeks, the idea a Savior who had died was foolishness.
Greek gods were not good, but they were beautiful and powerful. Greeks couldn’t understand a God who was so weak that he let himself be crucified.
C. So Paul says, “…Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom…”
In other words, “The Jews want a miracle and the Greeks want an argument.”
III. But to Christian believers, the cross was “the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
A. Believers knew that Jesus had been raised from the dead.
He had died—to be sure—but he hadn’t stayed dead.
And they had experienced the risen Christ in their lives.
B. Believers knew the power of the Cross.
They knew that God had taken upon himself the evil of the world…
When John saw Jesus, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1.29).
They knew that Jesus had paid the price for our sins…
“There was no other good enough
to pay the price of sin.
He only could unlock the gate
Of heaven and let us in.”
They knew that Jesus, by his death had brought us to the Father.
“Christ…suffered for sins once for all, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3.18).
CONCLUSION
The story is told of a popular monk in the Middle Ages announced that in the Cathedral that evening he would preach a sermon on the love of God.
The people gathered and stood in silence, waiting for the service while the sunlight streamed through the beautiful windows.
When the last bit of color had faded from the windows, the old monk went up to the candelabrum, took a lighted candle and walking to the life-sized statue of Christ on the cross, he held the light beneath the wounds on Christ’s feet, then Christ’s hand, then his side.
Then, still without a word, the monk let the light shine on the thorn-crowned brow. That was the sermon.
The people stood in silence and wept, everyone knowing that they were at the center of a mystery beyond their knowing, that they were indeed looking at the supreme expression of the love of God—a love so deep, so wide, so eternal, that no wonder could express it, and no mind could measure it. This is the GREAT ACT of Christianity—that God’s love gave to the world what was most precious to him: his only Son.
If the story of Christ’s death on the cross does not move us to tears, it should move us to love him and give ourselves to him.
Look at Christ suffering on the cross for your sins and mine.
He’s holding out his hands as if to welcome poor sinners like you and like me.
He says, “See how I have loved you”
“Come to me and live.”
“Give yourself to me and share my eternal life.”
Do you remember these words from the hymn "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross"?
“See, from his head, his hands, his feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down;
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?”
I will close with a prayer from a believer of long ago:
“Thou, O Savior art here upon the cross
suffering for my sins.
What can I offer thee for so great a mercy.
All thanksgiving is too feeble; all expression, too weak.
I give thee myself, my soul and body I offer unto thee.
I are not worthy of it, but thou lovest me.
Wash me with thy blood from all my sins and fill me with thy Holy Spirit.
And so shall I praise thy name acceptably for ever more.”
[from Thomas Traherne (1637-74) Centuries]
1 CORINTHIANS 1:18, 20-25: THE MEANING OF THE CROSS
INTRODUCTION
In our church building’s worship space there are dozens of crosses. At the end of each pew there is a cross carved in the wood.
Every hymn book has a cross on the cover. Every pew Bible has a cross on its cover.
There is a cross on each of two lecterns from which the scripture is read.
The robe of each choir member has a cross on its front.
There is a cross on the wall behind the communion table and beside the table, a cross on a stand.
The pastor’s stole is decorated with crosses.
I counted 430 crosses in plain view
Our name tags have crosses on them and so to the bulletins.
…and some of our people wear crosses around their necks.
But I wonder how many people who come to worship think much about what all those crosses mean.
Catholic Christians also use crosses, maybe more even than we do. But there is a difference. Many times their crosses have the figure of Christ on them. They are called “crucifixes.”
When I was a child four years old, one of my little friends, a neighbor girl named Peggy gave me a little crucifix. It was black with a little silver Jesus on it.
I asked Peggy what I was to do with my crucifix. She told me that I could hang it on my bed.
I was very pleased because the crucifix was pretty.
I took it home and showed it to my parents. They told me: "We don't use crucifixes," and they took it from me. I suppose they threw it away.
I have always been a little sad about that.
I understand why Protestants have a different view about the cross with the image of Jesus on it. But I don’t think the Catholics are necessarily wrong about that. That cross with the suffering Jesus upon it represents the most important thing in all the world.
It reminds us that Jesus suffered and died for their sins.
In his first letter to the believers in Corinth Paul tells them what the Cross represents:
“The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing,
but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…
“Where is the wise man” Where is the scribe?
Where is the debater of this age?
Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
For since, in the wisdom of God,
the world did not know God through wisdom,
it pleased God through the folly of what we preach
to save those who believe.
For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
but we preach Christ crucified,
a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,
but to those who re called,
both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than men,
and the weakness of God is stronger than men”
(1 Corinthians 1:18, 20-25).
I. Crucifixion was the cruelest and most shameful form of execution the Romans could devise—and they were experts in cruel executions
A. Crucifixion was reserved for the worst criminals: run-away slaves, terrorists, revolutionaries, murderers
Death on a cross was a long, drawn-out painful death. It sometimes took days while the poor man hung, naked, dying of thirst, exposed to burning sun and the gaze of passers-by. Every breath was an agony as the man hung from the nails through his hands. His hands were also tied to the wood, so the hands wouldn’t pull free.
It was a shameful death. The one crucified was stripped of all his clothes. The crucified man might be ridiculed and tormented with objects thrown at him. The Latin word crux was considered an obscenity, not even to be mentioned in polite society.
Jesus’ enemies supposed that exposing him to this humiliation, they could bring such shame on him that no one would ever again take his claims seriously.
II. When Christians proclaimed the Cross, the unbelieving world thought they were ridiculous.
A. To the Jews, the death of Christ on a cross was a stumbling block.
The Jews expected their Messiah to be a great warrior who would kill their enemies.
Jesus was too weak and helpless to be a Savior, they thought.
B. To the Greeks, the idea a Savior who had died was foolishness.
Greek gods were not good, but they were beautiful and powerful. Greeks couldn’t understand a God who was so weak that he let himself be crucified.
C. So Paul says, “…Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom…”
In other words, “The Jews want a miracle and the Greeks want an argument.”
III. But to Christian believers, the cross was “the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
A. Believers knew that Jesus had been raised from the dead.
He had died—to be sure—but he hadn’t stayed dead.
And they had experienced the risen Christ in their lives.
B. Believers knew the power of the Cross.
They knew that God had taken upon himself the evil of the world…
When John saw Jesus, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1.29).
They knew that Jesus had paid the price for our sins…
“There was no other good enough
to pay the price of sin.
He only could unlock the gate
Of heaven and let us in.”
They knew that Jesus, by his death had brought us to the Father.
“Christ…suffered for sins once for all, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3.18).
CONCLUSION
The story is told of a popular monk in the Middle Ages announced that in the Cathedral that evening he would preach a sermon on the love of God.
The people gathered and stood in silence, waiting for the service while the sunlight streamed through the beautiful windows.
When the last bit of color had faded from the windows, the old monk went up to the candelabrum, took a lighted candle and walking to the life-sized statue of Christ on the cross, he held the light beneath the wounds on Christ’s feet, then Christ’s hand, then his side.
Then, still without a word, the monk let the light shine on the thorn-crowned brow. That was the sermon.
The people stood in silence and wept, everyone knowing that they were at the center of a mystery beyond their knowing, that they were indeed looking at the supreme expression of the love of God—a love so deep, so wide, so eternal, that no wonder could express it, and no mind could measure it. This is the GREAT ACT of Christianity—that God’s love gave to the world what was most precious to him: his only Son.
If the story of Christ’s death on the cross does not move us to tears, it should move us to love him and give ourselves to him.
Look at Christ suffering on the cross for your sins and mine.
He’s holding out his hands as if to welcome poor sinners like you and like me.
He says, “See how I have loved you”
“Come to me and live.”
“Give yourself to me and share my eternal life.”
Do you remember these words from the hymn "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross"?
“See, from his head, his hands, his feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down;
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?”
I will close with a prayer from a believer of long ago:
“Thou, O Savior art here upon the cross
suffering for my sins.
What can I offer thee for so great a mercy.
All thanksgiving is too feeble; all expression, too weak.
I give thee myself, my soul and body I offer unto thee.
I are not worthy of it, but thou lovest me.
Wash me with thy blood from all my sins and fill me with thy Holy Spirit.
And so shall I praise thy name acceptably for ever more.”
[from Thomas Traherne (1637-74) Centuries]
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Dealing with Fears: Matthew 6:25-34: How Can I Keep from Worrying?
Jesus tells us not to worry about the everyday cares of life. But when I’m in trouble how can I find peace again?
MATTTHEW 6:25-34: HOW CAN I KEEP FROM WORRYING?
INTRODUCTION
My mother used to call me a “worry wort” because I was a gloomy kid who usually expected the worst.
I was like Eyore in Winnie the Pooh. Do you remember Eyore? He was the little donkey. If it was a fine day, he would look up into the sky and say gloomily: “I think it’s going to rain.”
During my first week in the army, our sergeant shouted at us: “Expect the worst, and you’ll never be disappointed!”
And I’ll admit being in the army was a worrisome experience.
The Bible says quite a lot about worry.
I. Read Matthew 6:25-34
A. How are the birds our example of how to go about our lives?
Not because birds don’t experience hardship.
Birds work hard all day long. We watch them at our bird feeders out our front window. They’re always busy—just getting enough to eat. If there’s not enough food, birds starve.
And sometimes we find a dead one in the yard.
Birds are our example because they live and thrive in the environment God planned for them.
If a forest bird tried to live in the desert, or a desert bird tried to live on the ocean, or an ocean bird tried to live in the city, or if a city bird tried to live underwater—they would surely die.
But the forest bird lives in the forest, and the desert bird lives in the desert, and the ocean bird lives on the ocean, and the city bird lives in the city. And the birds thrive because they live in the environment God planned for them.
Just so, we Christians thrive and prosper spiritually when we live in the environment of God’s love—in trust and obedience.
Birds are our example—not because they are carefree—but because they go about their work with all their might, not thinking about the dangers that may await them tomorrow.
But we’re smarter than birds, and we know the dangers that may await us tomorrow, and that’s why we worry.
B. Anxiety about the necessities of life is normal. Food and clothing represent the necessities of life. These people Jesus to whom was speaking lived on the edge of starvation.
Charlotte and I spend about 6% of our income on food. The poor people listening to Jesus spent almost all of their income on food.
Clothes were also a problem. When every thread had to be spun by hand and every bit of cloth had to be woven by hand, just to get enough clothing to cover one’s nakedness could be a major problem. Most people didn’t have closets to put their extra clothes into. They didn’t have extra clothes. That’s why Jesus commended people who fed the hungry and clothed the naked.
Under such circumstances it was normal to be anxious. Jesus recognized that when he said, “The Gentiles seek all these things…” Or we could translate it “The unbelievers seek all these things.”
C. The passage contains Jesus’ answer to life’s anxieties…
In v30 Jesus says, “O you of little faith!” We need faith.
But faith isn’t something you can just turn on like a faucet. Faith isn’t easy.
That’s why we pray for faith. Only God can strengthen our faith to make it strong enough to bear the loads of life.
But Jesus didn’t just leave it there. He gives us the cure in the next to the last sentence: (v33) “Seek first his kingdom…” or “Strive first for his kingdom and his righteousness and these things will be given to you as well.”
II. We probably aren’t concerned with getting enough food to eat or clothes to wear. We worry about other things:
A. We are concerned about our increasing aches and pains.
We are concerned about keeping our memory until the end of life.
We are concerned about whether we have enough money to pay our bills.
We are concerned about whether our faith and trust in God will stay bright.
We are concerned about our children and grandchildren. We are concerned that they will make good choices.
B. A scripture that I repeat to myself when I get into a stew is in Psalm 73. The writer of this psalm tells how depressed he was because he had so many troubles and his ungodly neighbors seemed to be getting along so well. He says that his soul was embittered, and then he began to think about God’s promises. He wrote:
“Nevertheless I am always with thee;
Thou dost hold my right hand.
Thou dost guide me with thy counsel,
and afterward thou wilt receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but thee?
And there is nothing upon earth
that I desire besides thee.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion for ever.”
When I think about it that way, I can let Jesus take my hand and lead me home.
CONCLUSION
We can’t pretend we don’t have worries and concerns and anxieties.
We have to face them and bring them to the Lord.
Jesus didn’t say, “Look at the ostrich. He buries his head in the sand and pretends that the danger isn’t there.”
Jesus says, “Look at the birds. Keep your eyes open. Go about the business God has given you, trusting God to keep you.”
Keep your eyes on Jesus. Imagine him looking back at you with love.
Because he is with you. He will hold you fast and never let you go.
You are never alone.
The way I’ve been talking to you makes it seem easier than it is.
Sometimes when I am disturbed about something I lie awake stewing about it. I can’t seem to get the trouble out of my mind.
Then I tell myself, “You’re a believer. You should be handling this better than you are.”
I pray to God and preach a little sermon to myself—like the one I just gave you.
Here is a prayer an unknown believer made way back in the Middle Ages. It is one of the prayers I use when I can’t sleep:
“Above all the things I desire,
grant to me, Lord,
that I may rest in you,
and that my heart may find its peace in you.
You are my heart’s true peace;
you alone are its rest;
without you I am burdened
with anxiety that is hard to bear.
In this peace, then, that is in you
who are my one supreme and eternal good
I will sleep and take my rest.”
So I pray like that, and I preach to myself, and I thank God for my blessings, and pray for my friends—and usually, finally, peace comes back into my heart.
MATTTHEW 6:25-34: HOW CAN I KEEP FROM WORRYING?
INTRODUCTION
My mother used to call me a “worry wort” because I was a gloomy kid who usually expected the worst.
I was like Eyore in Winnie the Pooh. Do you remember Eyore? He was the little donkey. If it was a fine day, he would look up into the sky and say gloomily: “I think it’s going to rain.”
During my first week in the army, our sergeant shouted at us: “Expect the worst, and you’ll never be disappointed!”
And I’ll admit being in the army was a worrisome experience.
The Bible says quite a lot about worry.
I. Read Matthew 6:25-34
A. How are the birds our example of how to go about our lives?
Not because birds don’t experience hardship.
Birds work hard all day long. We watch them at our bird feeders out our front window. They’re always busy—just getting enough to eat. If there’s not enough food, birds starve.
And sometimes we find a dead one in the yard.
Birds are our example because they live and thrive in the environment God planned for them.
If a forest bird tried to live in the desert, or a desert bird tried to live on the ocean, or an ocean bird tried to live in the city, or if a city bird tried to live underwater—they would surely die.
But the forest bird lives in the forest, and the desert bird lives in the desert, and the ocean bird lives on the ocean, and the city bird lives in the city. And the birds thrive because they live in the environment God planned for them.
Just so, we Christians thrive and prosper spiritually when we live in the environment of God’s love—in trust and obedience.
Birds are our example—not because they are carefree—but because they go about their work with all their might, not thinking about the dangers that may await them tomorrow.
But we’re smarter than birds, and we know the dangers that may await us tomorrow, and that’s why we worry.
B. Anxiety about the necessities of life is normal. Food and clothing represent the necessities of life. These people Jesus to whom was speaking lived on the edge of starvation.
Charlotte and I spend about 6% of our income on food. The poor people listening to Jesus spent almost all of their income on food.
Clothes were also a problem. When every thread had to be spun by hand and every bit of cloth had to be woven by hand, just to get enough clothing to cover one’s nakedness could be a major problem. Most people didn’t have closets to put their extra clothes into. They didn’t have extra clothes. That’s why Jesus commended people who fed the hungry and clothed the naked.
Under such circumstances it was normal to be anxious. Jesus recognized that when he said, “The Gentiles seek all these things…” Or we could translate it “The unbelievers seek all these things.”
C. The passage contains Jesus’ answer to life’s anxieties…
In v30 Jesus says, “O you of little faith!” We need faith.
But faith isn’t something you can just turn on like a faucet. Faith isn’t easy.
That’s why we pray for faith. Only God can strengthen our faith to make it strong enough to bear the loads of life.
But Jesus didn’t just leave it there. He gives us the cure in the next to the last sentence: (v33) “Seek first his kingdom…” or “Strive first for his kingdom and his righteousness and these things will be given to you as well.”
II. We probably aren’t concerned with getting enough food to eat or clothes to wear. We worry about other things:
A. We are concerned about our increasing aches and pains.
We are concerned about keeping our memory until the end of life.
We are concerned about whether we have enough money to pay our bills.
We are concerned about whether our faith and trust in God will stay bright.
We are concerned about our children and grandchildren. We are concerned that they will make good choices.
B. A scripture that I repeat to myself when I get into a stew is in Psalm 73. The writer of this psalm tells how depressed he was because he had so many troubles and his ungodly neighbors seemed to be getting along so well. He says that his soul was embittered, and then he began to think about God’s promises. He wrote:
“Nevertheless I am always with thee;
Thou dost hold my right hand.
Thou dost guide me with thy counsel,
and afterward thou wilt receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but thee?
And there is nothing upon earth
that I desire besides thee.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion for ever.”
When I think about it that way, I can let Jesus take my hand and lead me home.
CONCLUSION
We can’t pretend we don’t have worries and concerns and anxieties.
We have to face them and bring them to the Lord.
Jesus didn’t say, “Look at the ostrich. He buries his head in the sand and pretends that the danger isn’t there.”
Jesus says, “Look at the birds. Keep your eyes open. Go about the business God has given you, trusting God to keep you.”
Keep your eyes on Jesus. Imagine him looking back at you with love.
Because he is with you. He will hold you fast and never let you go.
You are never alone.
The way I’ve been talking to you makes it seem easier than it is.
Sometimes when I am disturbed about something I lie awake stewing about it. I can’t seem to get the trouble out of my mind.
Then I tell myself, “You’re a believer. You should be handling this better than you are.”
I pray to God and preach a little sermon to myself—like the one I just gave you.
Here is a prayer an unknown believer made way back in the Middle Ages. It is one of the prayers I use when I can’t sleep:
“Above all the things I desire,
grant to me, Lord,
that I may rest in you,
and that my heart may find its peace in you.
You are my heart’s true peace;
you alone are its rest;
without you I am burdened
with anxiety that is hard to bear.
In this peace, then, that is in you
who are my one supreme and eternal good
I will sleep and take my rest.”
So I pray like that, and I preach to myself, and I thank God for my blessings, and pray for my friends—and usually, finally, peace comes back into my heart.
Dealing with Fears: Mark 4:35-41: Jesus Calms the Storm
The story of how Jesus calmed a deadly storm on the Sea of Galilee helps us understand how Jesus can quiet the storms in our lives.
MARK 4:35-41: JESUS CALMS THE STORM
Read Mark 4:35-41.
BACKGROUND
To understand this story in the way that the disciples understood it we need to look at the attitude of the Jewish people toward the sea.
Maybe you have enjoyed vacations by the sea. Most people do.
We like sea stories, pictures ships and ocean waves, and songs about the sea.
There is a family in our church who never come to church in the summertime because they have a sailboat and they spend their summer sailing.
But the ancient Hebrews feared the sea. To them the sea was an emblem of chaos.
In the story of creation, we read that the earth was first covered with raging waves.
Then God raised up the land as a home for humans, a place of fruitfulness and beauty.
In Psalm 107.23-30 the psalmist speaks of God’s salvation in terms to the stilling of a storm. The psalm gives a vivid picture of the terror of a storm at sea. Let me read part of that psalm to you:
“Some went down to the sea in ships,
doing business on the great waters;
they saw the deeds of the Lord,
his wondrous works in the deep.
For he commanded, and raised the stormy wind,
which lifted up the waves of the sea.
They mounted up to heaven,
they went down to the depths;
their courage melted away in their evil plight;
they reeled and staggered like drunken men,
and were at their wits’ end.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress;
he made the storm be sill,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
Then they were glad because they had quiet,
and he brought them to their desired haven.”
The Sea of Galilee is really just a large lake, but it is a treacherous lake.
The Sea of Galilee is in a deep depression like a bowl, surrounded by hills and mountains.
The wind passing over the highlands around the lake, comes swirling down a hundred gorges and narrow valleys into the deep pit where the lake lies.
A traveler writes about a young fisherman he met who sniffed the air and looking south, said that a storm was coming. He told how recently three men had been lost at sea and their bodies had not yet been found.
That is the background for the story we read from Mark’s gospel.
I. Now let’s consider what happened that day.
A. Earlier in the day the sea had been calm as glass.
Jesus was teaching beside the sea, and when the crowd became too big for people to hear well, Jesus got into a boat and pushed out into the water a ways and sat in it while he talked. The glassy sea merely amplified his voice.
B. But now it was evening and they set out to cross the lake.
They got to the middle of the lake and it was dark.
A had been a busy day. Jesus was exhausted. As soon as he got into the boat Jesus put his head down on a cushion in the stern of the boat and went to sleep.
Then the storm hit. The disciples were terrified. They were sure they were going to die.
Now remember: at least four of Jesus companions in the boat were experienced fishermen.
They couldn’t bear to see Jesus sleeping.
They woke him, saying, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
C. Jesus opened his eyes, got up—and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!”
And the wind died down and the sea was completely still.
We read that Jesus “rebuked the waves.” He saw in this storm an evil power.
And amazingly, not only did the wind stop blowing but we read, “There was a great calm.”
II. But there’s a deeper meaning in this story
A. Each of Christ’s miracles is an acted-out parable that illustrates in the physical world what he does in the spiritual world. Each miracle story has a deeper meaning
When Jesus made the blind to see he wanted us to see that he is the Light of the World.
When he made the deaf to hear he wanted to show us that he can open our ears to the voice of God.
When he made the lame to walk he wanted to show the people that he could give people strength to live for God.
And when he raised the dead he wanted to show us that he has the power to raise up his people to eternal life.
Jesus knows that life is filled with troubles, sometimes terrifying experiences.
Even though we Christians know that Jesus is with us, sometimes doesn’t it seem like he’s asleep?
We cry out, “Don’t you care if we perish?”
Does God really care?
But this story tells us that Jesus is always with us, even when we doubt.
It tells us that he won’t let the storms of life destroy us.
B. Now notice the strange effect this miracle had on Jesus’ friends.
Jesus said, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
Jesus was disappointed with his friends for their lack of faith.
Fear is the opposite of faith.
The stronger our faith, the better we handle our fears.
Then after the calm they were afraid—but in a different way:
“They were filled with awe.” The Greek says, “They feared with great fear.”
III. This story contrasts bad fear which comes from mistrust of God and good fear which comes from an awareness of God’s greatness, and holiness, and wisdom, and power.
A. The Bible says, “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.”
When we are overwhelmed with a sense of God’s greatness and goodness, we hate the sin in our lives.
When we know God’s greatness, we love God and we want to live for him.
B. v41: “They were filled with awe and said to one another, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!’”
They were afraid because they suddenly realized how little they understood of who Jesus was.
They learned something great about Jesus that day.
They knew he could heal diseases.
They thought of Jesus as a man with wonderful powers.
But now they see in Jesus the Great God himself.
They had forgotten that a minute before they had feared for their lives. Now they are filled with a different emotion, the sense that they are suddenly in the presence of God himself.
CONCLUSION
I take this story as the story of my life, and your life.
Cry out to him in your storm. Hold fast.
Complain to him, if you need to…”Don’t you care, Lord…?” but keep praying.
Think of Jesus as being in your boat with you.
Jesus says, “Fear not. I will never leave you or forsake you.”
Pray for strong faith.
God is great enough to keep us in the storm and see us through to the other side.
God is great enough to receive us into glory.
“O soul are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s life in a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free.
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in his wonderful face,
And the cares of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace.”
MARK 4:35-41: JESUS CALMS THE STORM
Read Mark 4:35-41.
BACKGROUND
To understand this story in the way that the disciples understood it we need to look at the attitude of the Jewish people toward the sea.
Maybe you have enjoyed vacations by the sea. Most people do.
We like sea stories, pictures ships and ocean waves, and songs about the sea.
There is a family in our church who never come to church in the summertime because they have a sailboat and they spend their summer sailing.
But the ancient Hebrews feared the sea. To them the sea was an emblem of chaos.
In the story of creation, we read that the earth was first covered with raging waves.
Then God raised up the land as a home for humans, a place of fruitfulness and beauty.
In Psalm 107.23-30 the psalmist speaks of God’s salvation in terms to the stilling of a storm. The psalm gives a vivid picture of the terror of a storm at sea. Let me read part of that psalm to you:
“Some went down to the sea in ships,
doing business on the great waters;
they saw the deeds of the Lord,
his wondrous works in the deep.
For he commanded, and raised the stormy wind,
which lifted up the waves of the sea.
They mounted up to heaven,
they went down to the depths;
their courage melted away in their evil plight;
they reeled and staggered like drunken men,
and were at their wits’ end.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress;
he made the storm be sill,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
Then they were glad because they had quiet,
and he brought them to their desired haven.”
The Sea of Galilee is really just a large lake, but it is a treacherous lake.
The Sea of Galilee is in a deep depression like a bowl, surrounded by hills and mountains.
The wind passing over the highlands around the lake, comes swirling down a hundred gorges and narrow valleys into the deep pit where the lake lies.
A traveler writes about a young fisherman he met who sniffed the air and looking south, said that a storm was coming. He told how recently three men had been lost at sea and their bodies had not yet been found.
That is the background for the story we read from Mark’s gospel.
I. Now let’s consider what happened that day.
A. Earlier in the day the sea had been calm as glass.
Jesus was teaching beside the sea, and when the crowd became too big for people to hear well, Jesus got into a boat and pushed out into the water a ways and sat in it while he talked. The glassy sea merely amplified his voice.
B. But now it was evening and they set out to cross the lake.
They got to the middle of the lake and it was dark.
A had been a busy day. Jesus was exhausted. As soon as he got into the boat Jesus put his head down on a cushion in the stern of the boat and went to sleep.
Then the storm hit. The disciples were terrified. They were sure they were going to die.
Now remember: at least four of Jesus companions in the boat were experienced fishermen.
They couldn’t bear to see Jesus sleeping.
They woke him, saying, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
C. Jesus opened his eyes, got up—and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!”
And the wind died down and the sea was completely still.
We read that Jesus “rebuked the waves.” He saw in this storm an evil power.
And amazingly, not only did the wind stop blowing but we read, “There was a great calm.”
II. But there’s a deeper meaning in this story
A. Each of Christ’s miracles is an acted-out parable that illustrates in the physical world what he does in the spiritual world. Each miracle story has a deeper meaning
When Jesus made the blind to see he wanted us to see that he is the Light of the World.
When he made the deaf to hear he wanted to show us that he can open our ears to the voice of God.
When he made the lame to walk he wanted to show the people that he could give people strength to live for God.
And when he raised the dead he wanted to show us that he has the power to raise up his people to eternal life.
Jesus knows that life is filled with troubles, sometimes terrifying experiences.
Even though we Christians know that Jesus is with us, sometimes doesn’t it seem like he’s asleep?
We cry out, “Don’t you care if we perish?”
Does God really care?
But this story tells us that Jesus is always with us, even when we doubt.
It tells us that he won’t let the storms of life destroy us.
B. Now notice the strange effect this miracle had on Jesus’ friends.
Jesus said, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
Jesus was disappointed with his friends for their lack of faith.
Fear is the opposite of faith.
The stronger our faith, the better we handle our fears.
Then after the calm they were afraid—but in a different way:
“They were filled with awe.” The Greek says, “They feared with great fear.”
III. This story contrasts bad fear which comes from mistrust of God and good fear which comes from an awareness of God’s greatness, and holiness, and wisdom, and power.
A. The Bible says, “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.”
When we are overwhelmed with a sense of God’s greatness and goodness, we hate the sin in our lives.
When we know God’s greatness, we love God and we want to live for him.
B. v41: “They were filled with awe and said to one another, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!’”
They were afraid because they suddenly realized how little they understood of who Jesus was.
They learned something great about Jesus that day.
They knew he could heal diseases.
They thought of Jesus as a man with wonderful powers.
But now they see in Jesus the Great God himself.
They had forgotten that a minute before they had feared for their lives. Now they are filled with a different emotion, the sense that they are suddenly in the presence of God himself.
CONCLUSION
I take this story as the story of my life, and your life.
Cry out to him in your storm. Hold fast.
Complain to him, if you need to…”Don’t you care, Lord…?” but keep praying.
Think of Jesus as being in your boat with you.
Jesus says, “Fear not. I will never leave you or forsake you.”
Pray for strong faith.
God is great enough to keep us in the storm and see us through to the other side.
God is great enough to receive us into glory.
“O soul are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s life in a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free.
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in his wonderful face,
And the cares of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace.”
Dealing with Fears: Isaiah 43:1-3: Through the River and Through the Fire with God.
Everyone is afraid of something. Some of us are afraid of many things. So how can we find peace of mind in such a dangerous world?
ISAIAH 43:1-3: THROUGH THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE FIRE WITH GOD
INTRODUCTION
I have been reading in the newspaper about the tragic situation in a country called The Sudan, in the middle of Africa.
There is a war going on there. Arab militias from the north are killing, raping, and enslaving the black people of the south.
Many people have fled their homes and are living in fear.
One of their biggest problems is getting water. The wells are a mile away. But the Arab militia hand out at the wells shooting the men and teenage boys who come for water and raping the women.
The best chance of getting the water they desperately need is to send their children. But this is a terrible choice because many of the children are abducted and sold into slavery.
Some 100 people are dying each week. A million Africans have been driven from their homes. Wells have been destroyed or fouled by dumping corpses into them.
In the refugee camps people are dying of malnutrition and disease.
Can you imagine the fear?
Fear is every where. We also have fears, maybe not so terrible, but we live with fears.
Even though our lives aren’t in constant danger as theirs are, we also have fears.
The world is a dangerous place. Bad things happen.
Here is a prayer from a believer in Nigeria. I use it often:
“O Lord, I beseech thee
to deliver me from the fear of the unknown future,
from fear of failure,
from fear of poverty,
from fear of bereavement,
from fear of loneliness,
from fear of pain and sickness,
from fear of age,
and from fear of death.
Help me, Father, to love and fear thee only.
Grant me cheerful courage and loving trust in thee,
through our Lord and Master Jesus Christ.”
But there are more fears than those.
We fear that we will become useless.
We fear that our children will make poor choices and that our grandchildren won’t follow our faith.
Maybe we fear that we will become confused and forget what’s important to us.
Some people fear that they will lose our faith in God.
The Bible has a lot to say about fear.
God knows how afraid we can become.
And the Bible has much to say about how to deal with those things that threaten us.
I. Over and over in the Bible, God tells his people: “Fear not!”
A. One of those encouragements not to fear is in Isaiah 43:1-3:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”
I take Isaiah’s promise to Israel as his promise to me because I the God of Israel is also my God.
B. God doesn’t promise an easy life
Notice that Isaiah doesn’t tell us that we won’t have to go through the rivers; he just says that because we are precious to God, the rivers won’t overwhelm us.
Isaiah doesn’t tell us that we won’t have to walk through fire; he just says that the flame won’t consume us.
Maybe in some of the terrible situations of life, we don’t feel that God is with us, but he is nevertheless.
I have experienced the peace of God in times of danger.
But I have also experienced great fear, and it didn’t always go away as soon as I prayed.
II. Today I want to talk about some of the ways God has given us to deal with the frightening things in life.
A. First of all, we need to admit that we are afraid.
It’s no use to pretend that because we are Christians we are always filled with peace and joy.
Hiding our fears make them grow.
We must bring our fears to God, name them, and cry out for deliverance.
At one time in my life I was so afraid that I it was hard to pray. I just hung on to God, trying with all my might not to let go.
But after the danger passed, I found that all the time God was holding on to me.
I look back at that time as a time when God was especially close to me.
B. A believing friend can be a big help when doubts and fears shake us. Remember the story about how the four men brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus? We read that Jesus “saw their faith” and healed the man. Sometimes we can hold on to the faith of our believing friends.
C. We need to keep reminding ourselves that God is always with us. He holds us in his grip and will never let us go.
Jesus said, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”
Three times in the Bible God speaks these words to God’s people:
“I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Joshua 1:5; Deuteronomy 31:6, 8; Hebrews 13:5).
The Bible says,
In the Psalms: “God is near the broken-hearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).
When our hearts are breaking we may not feel God being near, but he is near.
D. We need to remember that we are creatures of eternity.
Nothing that happens to us on this earth will last forever, but God promises to keep us in his love forever.
Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many rooms....I go to prepare a place for you that where I am there you will be also.”
A few years from now—maybe even sooner—you and I will be enjoying eternity with our Lord Jesus and all the troubles of earth be dim, distant memories.
Can you believe this?
I can, and the stronger my faith is, the more I can rejoice, even in the uncertainties and difficulties or life.
Psalm 17 ends with these words:
“As for me, I shall behold thy face in righteousness.
When I awake I shall be satisfied with beholding thy form.”
Or consider this promise from Psalm 30:
“Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.”
I think of “the morning” as the time when we see Jesus face-to-face in the Father’s house.
The opposite of fear is faith. Let us pray to God for stronger faith, for faith to believe that God is with us no matter what happens.
I have two prayers from the psalms that I pray every night before I go to sleep. Both are from the Psalms:
“In peace, I will both lie down and sleep;
for thou alone makest me dwell in safety” (Psalm 4:8).
“Father, into thy hand I commit my spirit.
Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God” (Psalm 34:8).
I pray those prayers every night before I go to sleep. It feels good to know that I’m in the hand of my Heavenly Father.
ISAIAH 43:1-3: THROUGH THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE FIRE WITH GOD
INTRODUCTION
I have been reading in the newspaper about the tragic situation in a country called The Sudan, in the middle of Africa.
There is a war going on there. Arab militias from the north are killing, raping, and enslaving the black people of the south.
Many people have fled their homes and are living in fear.
One of their biggest problems is getting water. The wells are a mile away. But the Arab militia hand out at the wells shooting the men and teenage boys who come for water and raping the women.
The best chance of getting the water they desperately need is to send their children. But this is a terrible choice because many of the children are abducted and sold into slavery.
Some 100 people are dying each week. A million Africans have been driven from their homes. Wells have been destroyed or fouled by dumping corpses into them.
In the refugee camps people are dying of malnutrition and disease.
Can you imagine the fear?
Fear is every where. We also have fears, maybe not so terrible, but we live with fears.
Even though our lives aren’t in constant danger as theirs are, we also have fears.
The world is a dangerous place. Bad things happen.
Here is a prayer from a believer in Nigeria. I use it often:
“O Lord, I beseech thee
to deliver me from the fear of the unknown future,
from fear of failure,
from fear of poverty,
from fear of bereavement,
from fear of loneliness,
from fear of pain and sickness,
from fear of age,
and from fear of death.
Help me, Father, to love and fear thee only.
Grant me cheerful courage and loving trust in thee,
through our Lord and Master Jesus Christ.”
But there are more fears than those.
We fear that we will become useless.
We fear that our children will make poor choices and that our grandchildren won’t follow our faith.
Maybe we fear that we will become confused and forget what’s important to us.
Some people fear that they will lose our faith in God.
The Bible has a lot to say about fear.
God knows how afraid we can become.
And the Bible has much to say about how to deal with those things that threaten us.
I. Over and over in the Bible, God tells his people: “Fear not!”
A. One of those encouragements not to fear is in Isaiah 43:1-3:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”
I take Isaiah’s promise to Israel as his promise to me because I the God of Israel is also my God.
B. God doesn’t promise an easy life
Notice that Isaiah doesn’t tell us that we won’t have to go through the rivers; he just says that because we are precious to God, the rivers won’t overwhelm us.
Isaiah doesn’t tell us that we won’t have to walk through fire; he just says that the flame won’t consume us.
Maybe in some of the terrible situations of life, we don’t feel that God is with us, but he is nevertheless.
I have experienced the peace of God in times of danger.
But I have also experienced great fear, and it didn’t always go away as soon as I prayed.
II. Today I want to talk about some of the ways God has given us to deal with the frightening things in life.
A. First of all, we need to admit that we are afraid.
It’s no use to pretend that because we are Christians we are always filled with peace and joy.
Hiding our fears make them grow.
We must bring our fears to God, name them, and cry out for deliverance.
At one time in my life I was so afraid that I it was hard to pray. I just hung on to God, trying with all my might not to let go.
But after the danger passed, I found that all the time God was holding on to me.
I look back at that time as a time when God was especially close to me.
B. A believing friend can be a big help when doubts and fears shake us. Remember the story about how the four men brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus? We read that Jesus “saw their faith” and healed the man. Sometimes we can hold on to the faith of our believing friends.
C. We need to keep reminding ourselves that God is always with us. He holds us in his grip and will never let us go.
Jesus said, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”
Three times in the Bible God speaks these words to God’s people:
“I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Joshua 1:5; Deuteronomy 31:6, 8; Hebrews 13:5).
The Bible says,
In the Psalms: “God is near the broken-hearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).
When our hearts are breaking we may not feel God being near, but he is near.
D. We need to remember that we are creatures of eternity.
Nothing that happens to us on this earth will last forever, but God promises to keep us in his love forever.
Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many rooms....I go to prepare a place for you that where I am there you will be also.”
A few years from now—maybe even sooner—you and I will be enjoying eternity with our Lord Jesus and all the troubles of earth be dim, distant memories.
Can you believe this?
I can, and the stronger my faith is, the more I can rejoice, even in the uncertainties and difficulties or life.
Psalm 17 ends with these words:
“As for me, I shall behold thy face in righteousness.
When I awake I shall be satisfied with beholding thy form.”
Or consider this promise from Psalm 30:
“Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.”
I think of “the morning” as the time when we see Jesus face-to-face in the Father’s house.
The opposite of fear is faith. Let us pray to God for stronger faith, for faith to believe that God is with us no matter what happens.
I have two prayers from the psalms that I pray every night before I go to sleep. Both are from the Psalms:
“In peace, I will both lie down and sleep;
for thou alone makest me dwell in safety” (Psalm 4:8).
“Father, into thy hand I commit my spirit.
Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God” (Psalm 34:8).
I pray those prayers every night before I go to sleep. It feels good to know that I’m in the hand of my Heavenly Father.
Monday, March 1, 2010
The Cross of Christ: Luke 23:33-34, etc.: The First Four of the Seven Sayings of Christ from the Cross.
Have you ever wondered why the cross has become the most important symbol of our faith? Crucifixion was such a horrible death that in ancient times people wouldn’t even say the word in polite society. It must have seemed strange to them that the Christians kept talking about “The Cross” as if it was something wonderful.
LUKE 23:33-34, 23:39-43, JOHN 19:25-27, MARK 15:33-34:
THE FIRST FOUR OF THE SEVEN SAYINGS OF CHRIST FROM THE CROSS
INTRODUCTION
A missionary in Korea was examining some candidates for baptism, and fearing to embarrass an elderly Korean woman with difficult questions, said quietly, “Tell me a story about Jesus.”
The Korean woman, with face aglow, began a simple recital of the story of Calvary. She told it all bravely until the time came when the nails were driven into his feet and hands. Then she broke down utterly, and with sobs and a broken voice, she murmured, “I can’t tell that part. It breaks my heart.”
Today we want to talk about that part—the part that tells the depths of God’s love. I hope that the story will move us deeply, as it did that Korean Christian believer.
We will look at each of the first four sayings of Jesus as he hung dying on the cross. These sayings are known as “The Seven Sayings of Christ from the Cross.”
I. The first thing Jesus said after they had hammered the nails through his hands and his feet is found in Luke 23:33-34 was: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
A. Crucifixion was the most painful, most degrading, long drawn out method of execution that the Romans could devise. And the Romans were experts at this sort of thing.
In later years as believers reflected on this saying, they would remember Isaiah’s prophecy:
“…he poured out his soul to death,
and was numbered with the transgressors:
yet he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession with the transgressors” (Isaiah 53.12).
B. What can we learn from this saying?
Some people feel such a weight of guilt that they think God could never forgive them.
We can learn from this first word from the cross that whatever we’ve done, Jesus is ready to forgive us.
Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).
Here we see Jesus setting for us an example by praying for his enemies.
And when Jesus says, “…they know not what they do,” we learn that we must consider that our enemies may not be aware of the evil they are doing.
It is interesting that Jesus’ prayer was answered—at least partly—that evening when the centurion in charge of the soldiers turned to Jesus in faith and exclaimed, “Truly, this was the Son of God!”
II. The second saying of Christ from the cross was addressed to the dying thief who was dying beside him.
A. You will remember that Jesus was crucified between two thieves. One of them railed on him: “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us.”
But the other thief turned to Jesus in faith and said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingly power.”
And Jesus gave him this gracious promise: “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).
When Jesus calls heaven Paradise, he is comparing our home in glory to a beautiful garden full of delights.
B. Here we see the two human responses to Jesus—many turn away from Jesus.
That Jesus died means nothing to them. For them he is just a figure in history, as did the first thief.
But others—like the second thief—see in Christ the Savior.
C. We learn from this, the second saying from the cross, that it is never too late to turn to Jesus.
The story of the dying thief has brought comfort and assurance of forgiveness to many who might otherwise have thought it was too late for them to turn to Jesus.
Like the thief, some have turned to Christ and found salvation, even in their dying moments.
III. The third saying comes from John 19:25-27: “When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.”
A. Evidently Joseph had died before Jesus began his ministry. Jesus, as the oldest son, had probably supported his mother for years.
Jesus had brothers and sisters, but it seems that they had not yet become believers. Perhaps that is why Jesus committed his mother to John, his beloved disciple.
The traditional view is that this disciple is John. John was there at the foot of the cross, already comforting Mary. Some old paintings of the crucifixion show John standing under the cross with his arms around Mary. I think that’s the way it was.
And then John took Mary to his own home. So Mary didn’t have to see the death of her son.
B. Here I see something wonderful. Jesus was in excruciating pain, but he wasn’t thinking only of himself. He knew the grief his mother was feeling, and he made provision for her.
Tradition has it that John took Mary to Ephesus where they lived together for some years before she died.
C. We can learn from this that Jesus puts us all into his one big family, and we are honored to care for one another.
IV. The fourth saying is the most heart-rending. In Mark 15.34 Jesus cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
A. This saying tells us how terrible Jesus’ death was for him.
The darkness that descended over the scene signified the terrible darkness that enveloped the heart of Jesus as he felt himself to be abandoned by God.
We learn from this saying that physical pain was only a part of Jesus’ suffering. The greatest part of Jesus’ pain was the feeling that God had abandoned him. Jesus here takes the words of the ancient believer who wrote the 22nd Psalm in a time of great distress.
B. I read the testimony of a young man, a German soldier, who was captured and found himself in a prisoner-of-war camp in Scotland.
When the war ended the prisoners were shown pictures of the atrocities their countrymen had committed.
He was devastated, his home city lay in ruins, his friends had died, and he could see no future ahead for him.
He had no church background and no Christian belief.
In this situation an American chaplain gave him a Bible and he began to read.
When he came to the story of the passion and read these words: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!” he said to himself, “That is my cry for God too.”
He began to understand the suffering, assailed, and God-forsaken Jesus, because, he said, “I felt that he understood me. And I grasped that this Jesus is the divine Brother in our distress. He brings hope to the prisoners and the abandoned.”
At that point he summoned up the courage to live.
He began to study the Bible and eventually became one of the greatest theologians of our time. (His name is Jürgen Moltmann.)
His most powerful book is entitled The Crucified God
C. We learn from this “saying” how costly was our redemption, and how much we should love Jesus.
CONCLUSION
I will end with some words from one of my favorite hymns about the suffering of our Lord Jesus:
“The suffering thou hast borne, Lord, ‘twas all for sinner’s gain.
Mine, mine was the transgression, but thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall my Savior, ‘tis I deserve thy place;
Look on me with thy favor, vouchsafe to me thy grace.
“What language can I borrow to thank thee dearest Friend
For this thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end.
O, make me thine for ever and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never outlive my love for thee.”
LUKE 23:33-34, 23:39-43, JOHN 19:25-27, MARK 15:33-34:
THE FIRST FOUR OF THE SEVEN SAYINGS OF CHRIST FROM THE CROSS
INTRODUCTION
A missionary in Korea was examining some candidates for baptism, and fearing to embarrass an elderly Korean woman with difficult questions, said quietly, “Tell me a story about Jesus.”
The Korean woman, with face aglow, began a simple recital of the story of Calvary. She told it all bravely until the time came when the nails were driven into his feet and hands. Then she broke down utterly, and with sobs and a broken voice, she murmured, “I can’t tell that part. It breaks my heart.”
Today we want to talk about that part—the part that tells the depths of God’s love. I hope that the story will move us deeply, as it did that Korean Christian believer.
We will look at each of the first four sayings of Jesus as he hung dying on the cross. These sayings are known as “The Seven Sayings of Christ from the Cross.”
I. The first thing Jesus said after they had hammered the nails through his hands and his feet is found in Luke 23:33-34 was: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
A. Crucifixion was the most painful, most degrading, long drawn out method of execution that the Romans could devise. And the Romans were experts at this sort of thing.
In later years as believers reflected on this saying, they would remember Isaiah’s prophecy:
“…he poured out his soul to death,
and was numbered with the transgressors:
yet he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession with the transgressors” (Isaiah 53.12).
B. What can we learn from this saying?
Some people feel such a weight of guilt that they think God could never forgive them.
We can learn from this first word from the cross that whatever we’ve done, Jesus is ready to forgive us.
Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).
Here we see Jesus setting for us an example by praying for his enemies.
And when Jesus says, “…they know not what they do,” we learn that we must consider that our enemies may not be aware of the evil they are doing.
It is interesting that Jesus’ prayer was answered—at least partly—that evening when the centurion in charge of the soldiers turned to Jesus in faith and exclaimed, “Truly, this was the Son of God!”
II. The second saying of Christ from the cross was addressed to the dying thief who was dying beside him.
A. You will remember that Jesus was crucified between two thieves. One of them railed on him: “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us.”
But the other thief turned to Jesus in faith and said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingly power.”
And Jesus gave him this gracious promise: “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).
When Jesus calls heaven Paradise, he is comparing our home in glory to a beautiful garden full of delights.
B. Here we see the two human responses to Jesus—many turn away from Jesus.
That Jesus died means nothing to them. For them he is just a figure in history, as did the first thief.
But others—like the second thief—see in Christ the Savior.
C. We learn from this, the second saying from the cross, that it is never too late to turn to Jesus.
The story of the dying thief has brought comfort and assurance of forgiveness to many who might otherwise have thought it was too late for them to turn to Jesus.
Like the thief, some have turned to Christ and found salvation, even in their dying moments.
III. The third saying comes from John 19:25-27: “When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.”
A. Evidently Joseph had died before Jesus began his ministry. Jesus, as the oldest son, had probably supported his mother for years.
Jesus had brothers and sisters, but it seems that they had not yet become believers. Perhaps that is why Jesus committed his mother to John, his beloved disciple.
The traditional view is that this disciple is John. John was there at the foot of the cross, already comforting Mary. Some old paintings of the crucifixion show John standing under the cross with his arms around Mary. I think that’s the way it was.
And then John took Mary to his own home. So Mary didn’t have to see the death of her son.
B. Here I see something wonderful. Jesus was in excruciating pain, but he wasn’t thinking only of himself. He knew the grief his mother was feeling, and he made provision for her.
Tradition has it that John took Mary to Ephesus where they lived together for some years before she died.
C. We can learn from this that Jesus puts us all into his one big family, and we are honored to care for one another.
IV. The fourth saying is the most heart-rending. In Mark 15.34 Jesus cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
A. This saying tells us how terrible Jesus’ death was for him.
The darkness that descended over the scene signified the terrible darkness that enveloped the heart of Jesus as he felt himself to be abandoned by God.
We learn from this saying that physical pain was only a part of Jesus’ suffering. The greatest part of Jesus’ pain was the feeling that God had abandoned him. Jesus here takes the words of the ancient believer who wrote the 22nd Psalm in a time of great distress.
B. I read the testimony of a young man, a German soldier, who was captured and found himself in a prisoner-of-war camp in Scotland.
When the war ended the prisoners were shown pictures of the atrocities their countrymen had committed.
He was devastated, his home city lay in ruins, his friends had died, and he could see no future ahead for him.
He had no church background and no Christian belief.
In this situation an American chaplain gave him a Bible and he began to read.
When he came to the story of the passion and read these words: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!” he said to himself, “That is my cry for God too.”
He began to understand the suffering, assailed, and God-forsaken Jesus, because, he said, “I felt that he understood me. And I grasped that this Jesus is the divine Brother in our distress. He brings hope to the prisoners and the abandoned.”
At that point he summoned up the courage to live.
He began to study the Bible and eventually became one of the greatest theologians of our time. (His name is Jürgen Moltmann.)
His most powerful book is entitled The Crucified God
C. We learn from this “saying” how costly was our redemption, and how much we should love Jesus.
CONCLUSION
I will end with some words from one of my favorite hymns about the suffering of our Lord Jesus:
“The suffering thou hast borne, Lord, ‘twas all for sinner’s gain.
Mine, mine was the transgression, but thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall my Savior, ‘tis I deserve thy place;
Look on me with thy favor, vouchsafe to me thy grace.
“What language can I borrow to thank thee dearest Friend
For this thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end.
O, make me thine for ever and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never outlive my love for thee.”
The Cross of Christ: John 19:28-29, 19:30, Luke 23:44-46: The Last Three of Christ’s Sayings from the Cross
The Cross of Jesus is at the very center of our faith. In this message we will consider the last three things Jesus said before he died and why they are so important to us.
JOHN 19:28-29, JOHN 19:30, LUKE 23:44-46:
THE LAST THREE OF THE SEVEN SAYINGS OF CHRIST FROM THE CROSS
INTRODUCTION
Next Friday is “Good Friday.” Good Friday commemorates the most important event that has ever happened in the history of the world: the death of our Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins.
Back in 1950 two gunmen charged up the steps of Blair House, where President Truman was living at the time, in an attempt to assassinate him. One of them killed a White House guard before both were subdued. A fund was set up to help the murdered guard’s children.
In promoting the fund, President Truman made this remark: “You can’t understand just how a man feels when someone else dies for him.”
My intention in speaking to you today about Christ’s words from the Cross is to help you feel what it means that Jesus died for you. Jesus said, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." That is what the cross means to you and me. Jesus laid down his life so that we might have eternal life in him.
Last time we talked about the first four of the seven sayings of Christ from the cross:
The first saying was to his Father. He prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
The second saying was to the thief crucified on a cross beside him turned to him and said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom. Jesus said to him, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”
The third saying was really two. He turned toward his mother and said, nodding toward the disciple he loved he said, “Woman, behold your son!”
Then to the disciple he said, ”Behold your mother!”
The fourth saying shows the deepest anguish of Jesus’ heart as he hung there. It is recorded in both Matthew and Mark. He cries out to God: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
I. The fifth saying of Jesus from the cross is found in John 19.28-29: “Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the scripture), ‘I thirst,’”
A. Water is a powerful image in John’s gospel.
He promised the Samaritan woman at the well: “Whoever drinks the water I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
He stood up at the great feast and proclaimed: “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me…out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.”
B. Do you remember that when Jesus cried out: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” he was quoting the first words of Psalm 22?
In his intense thirst Jesus is recalling some other words from Psalm 22:
“I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax,
it is melted within my breast;
my strength is dried up like a potsherd.
and my tongue cleaves to my jaws;
thou dost lay me in the dust of death” (vv14-15).
So the soldiers gave him vinegar wine—
This was actually an act of kindness. The “vinegar” was a cheap wine that the soldiers drank—but it was a far cry from the fine wine that Jesus made for his friends at the wedding at Cana.
C. This saying reminds us that Jesus’ death was not simply a tragic accident. It was part of God’s plan. It had been foretold. It was necessary for our salvation.
II. John records the sixth saying of Christ on the cross: “It is finished.” (John 19:30).
A. Jesus realizes that his mission is now completed.
No longer is the cry of despair but of triumph.
His faith has held, he has overcome the power of sin, and his work is finished, he has redeemed his people.
The word for “it is finished” is the word the ancient Greeks wrote on receipts when the bill had been paid in full.
He had prayed to the Father, when he entered into his sufferings, “Your will be done.” Now he says in effect, “It has been done.”
B. I will tell you a story about how that saying “It is finished” helped my grandfather find assurance of salvation.
My grandfather came to America from Russia.
Long, long ago, when I was a boy, my grandfather told me the story of how he found assurance of salvation. I didn’t write it down, but I remember it well. I think it is a true story.
Grandpa was a young man when he arrived in the United States. He came to Kansas and worked on a farm for a while, but finally he ended up working in a tailor shop in Kansas City.
One Monday, before beginning his work, Grandpa fished out of his pocket a Sunday school paper he had received at church the day before.
He spread it on his cutting board in front of him and began to read.
This is the story Grandpa read that changed his life:
Once, a long time ago, there lived, in a country in Europe, a young nobleman. He was a fine, important young man, admired by many, but he lived a careless and selfish life. As time went by, he felt worse and worse about his shabby ways and began to feel very sad. Finally, he determined to do something to make amends. He had learned that there was a monastery in a country 700 miles away which was famous for the rigorous life that it imposed on the monks who lived there.
The young man determined to join that monastery and try, by suffering and acts of devotion, to find forgiveness for his wicked life. He journeyed for many days on horseback and finally reached the monastery.
He knocked at the door of the monastery, and an old monk came and opened the door. The young man told the old monk of his willingness to endure any penance to clear his conscience and find forgiveness.
The old monk looked at him and said, “You’re too late!” The nobleman was shocked, but the monk went on, “You’re too late because God has already done it all. No amount of penance you can endure will earn you salvation.”
The old monk told the young man. “When Jesus died he said, ‘It is finished.’ That means that there’s nothing more for you to do. Jesus has paid the price for your salvation.”
The young man in the story then received Jesus into his life and with Jesus the gift of eternal life.
That story showed Grandpa that full and complete forgiveness comes by simply trusting in Jesus, knowing that in his death he had paid the price of salvation for us all.
Grandpa told me how thrilled he was at the discovery that Jesus Christ offers full and complete forgiveness to anyone who comes to him with faith. He chuckled as he told me that the young man in the story had gone 700 miles to find Christ, but he had come 7000.
Whenever I read those words “It is finished” I think about how they were in that story that was so important to my grandfather.
Many who have despaired of working their way into heaven have found in this saying the assurance that Christ has accomplished what they could not.
“Jesus paid it all;
All to him I owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain;
He washed it white as snow.”
III. The last of the 7 sayings of Christ from the cross is found in Luke 23.44-46: “Father, into thy hand I commit my spirit.”
A. These are the words of Psalm 31:5.
It is said that Jewish mothers gave this prayer to their children to repeat each night as they went to sleep. The entire verse as recorded in Psalm 31 is: “Into thy hand I commit my spirit; thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.”
The sense of forsakenness seems to have left Jesus, and now he yields himself into the loving arms of his Father. He had said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!”
Now he is able again to address God as “Father” and rest confidently in his hands.
By committing himself to the Father he offers himself up as an offering to God on our behalf.
Again, we go to Isaiah 53 and find these words: “He makes himself an offering for sin” (v10).
B. These words—“Father, into thy hand I commit my spirit”—have been the last words of any number of Christian believers. I hope they will be mine.
C. We learn from this saying that in the time of our departure comes, we can, with confidence, offer our spirits to our Father in heaven.
CONCLUSION
Frederick W. Robertson very great preacher who lived over 150 years ago. I love to read his sermons. In one of them he says this:
“Life is a sleep, a dream, and death is the real awaking.”
When you go to sleep tonight say this prayer to God: “Father, into your hand I commit my spirit.” Pray this prayer every night and when God calls you, you can go to him in peace.
[Note: The entire verse, Psalm 31:5, is as follows: “Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, Lord, my faithful God” (TNIV). or “Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God” (NRSV). or “Into thy hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed my, O Lord God of truth” (KJV).]
JOHN 19:28-29, JOHN 19:30, LUKE 23:44-46:
THE LAST THREE OF THE SEVEN SAYINGS OF CHRIST FROM THE CROSS
INTRODUCTION
Next Friday is “Good Friday.” Good Friday commemorates the most important event that has ever happened in the history of the world: the death of our Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins.
Back in 1950 two gunmen charged up the steps of Blair House, where President Truman was living at the time, in an attempt to assassinate him. One of them killed a White House guard before both were subdued. A fund was set up to help the murdered guard’s children.
In promoting the fund, President Truman made this remark: “You can’t understand just how a man feels when someone else dies for him.”
My intention in speaking to you today about Christ’s words from the Cross is to help you feel what it means that Jesus died for you. Jesus said, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." That is what the cross means to you and me. Jesus laid down his life so that we might have eternal life in him.
Last time we talked about the first four of the seven sayings of Christ from the cross:
The first saying was to his Father. He prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
The second saying was to the thief crucified on a cross beside him turned to him and said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom. Jesus said to him, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”
The third saying was really two. He turned toward his mother and said, nodding toward the disciple he loved he said, “Woman, behold your son!”
Then to the disciple he said, ”Behold your mother!”
The fourth saying shows the deepest anguish of Jesus’ heart as he hung there. It is recorded in both Matthew and Mark. He cries out to God: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
I. The fifth saying of Jesus from the cross is found in John 19.28-29: “Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the scripture), ‘I thirst,’”
A. Water is a powerful image in John’s gospel.
He promised the Samaritan woman at the well: “Whoever drinks the water I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
He stood up at the great feast and proclaimed: “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me…out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.”
B. Do you remember that when Jesus cried out: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” he was quoting the first words of Psalm 22?
In his intense thirst Jesus is recalling some other words from Psalm 22:
“I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax,
it is melted within my breast;
my strength is dried up like a potsherd.
and my tongue cleaves to my jaws;
thou dost lay me in the dust of death” (vv14-15).
So the soldiers gave him vinegar wine—
This was actually an act of kindness. The “vinegar” was a cheap wine that the soldiers drank—but it was a far cry from the fine wine that Jesus made for his friends at the wedding at Cana.
C. This saying reminds us that Jesus’ death was not simply a tragic accident. It was part of God’s plan. It had been foretold. It was necessary for our salvation.
II. John records the sixth saying of Christ on the cross: “It is finished.” (John 19:30).
A. Jesus realizes that his mission is now completed.
No longer is the cry of despair but of triumph.
His faith has held, he has overcome the power of sin, and his work is finished, he has redeemed his people.
The word for “it is finished” is the word the ancient Greeks wrote on receipts when the bill had been paid in full.
He had prayed to the Father, when he entered into his sufferings, “Your will be done.” Now he says in effect, “It has been done.”
B. I will tell you a story about how that saying “It is finished” helped my grandfather find assurance of salvation.
My grandfather came to America from Russia.
Long, long ago, when I was a boy, my grandfather told me the story of how he found assurance of salvation. I didn’t write it down, but I remember it well. I think it is a true story.
Grandpa was a young man when he arrived in the United States. He came to Kansas and worked on a farm for a while, but finally he ended up working in a tailor shop in Kansas City.
One Monday, before beginning his work, Grandpa fished out of his pocket a Sunday school paper he had received at church the day before.
He spread it on his cutting board in front of him and began to read.
This is the story Grandpa read that changed his life:
Once, a long time ago, there lived, in a country in Europe, a young nobleman. He was a fine, important young man, admired by many, but he lived a careless and selfish life. As time went by, he felt worse and worse about his shabby ways and began to feel very sad. Finally, he determined to do something to make amends. He had learned that there was a monastery in a country 700 miles away which was famous for the rigorous life that it imposed on the monks who lived there.
The young man determined to join that monastery and try, by suffering and acts of devotion, to find forgiveness for his wicked life. He journeyed for many days on horseback and finally reached the monastery.
He knocked at the door of the monastery, and an old monk came and opened the door. The young man told the old monk of his willingness to endure any penance to clear his conscience and find forgiveness.
The old monk looked at him and said, “You’re too late!” The nobleman was shocked, but the monk went on, “You’re too late because God has already done it all. No amount of penance you can endure will earn you salvation.”
The old monk told the young man. “When Jesus died he said, ‘It is finished.’ That means that there’s nothing more for you to do. Jesus has paid the price for your salvation.”
The young man in the story then received Jesus into his life and with Jesus the gift of eternal life.
That story showed Grandpa that full and complete forgiveness comes by simply trusting in Jesus, knowing that in his death he had paid the price of salvation for us all.
Grandpa told me how thrilled he was at the discovery that Jesus Christ offers full and complete forgiveness to anyone who comes to him with faith. He chuckled as he told me that the young man in the story had gone 700 miles to find Christ, but he had come 7000.
Whenever I read those words “It is finished” I think about how they were in that story that was so important to my grandfather.
Many who have despaired of working their way into heaven have found in this saying the assurance that Christ has accomplished what they could not.
“Jesus paid it all;
All to him I owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain;
He washed it white as snow.”
III. The last of the 7 sayings of Christ from the cross is found in Luke 23.44-46: “Father, into thy hand I commit my spirit.”
A. These are the words of Psalm 31:5.
It is said that Jewish mothers gave this prayer to their children to repeat each night as they went to sleep. The entire verse as recorded in Psalm 31 is: “Into thy hand I commit my spirit; thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.”
The sense of forsakenness seems to have left Jesus, and now he yields himself into the loving arms of his Father. He had said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!”
Now he is able again to address God as “Father” and rest confidently in his hands.
By committing himself to the Father he offers himself up as an offering to God on our behalf.
Again, we go to Isaiah 53 and find these words: “He makes himself an offering for sin” (v10).
B. These words—“Father, into thy hand I commit my spirit”—have been the last words of any number of Christian believers. I hope they will be mine.
C. We learn from this saying that in the time of our departure comes, we can, with confidence, offer our spirits to our Father in heaven.
CONCLUSION
Frederick W. Robertson very great preacher who lived over 150 years ago. I love to read his sermons. In one of them he says this:
“Life is a sleep, a dream, and death is the real awaking.”
When you go to sleep tonight say this prayer to God: “Father, into your hand I commit my spirit.” Pray this prayer every night and when God calls you, you can go to him in peace.
[Note: The entire verse, Psalm 31:5, is as follows: “Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, Lord, my faithful God” (TNIV). or “Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God” (NRSV). or “Into thy hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed my, O Lord God of truth” (KJV).]
The Greatest Thing in the World: Luke 7:36-50: How Much Do You Love Jesus?
All the people in the room thought they were better than this despised woman, but Jesus saw things very differently.
LUKE 7:36-50: HOW MUCH DO YOU LOVE JESUS?
INTRODUCTION
I will read to you what is to me one of the most beautiful stories in the gospels--and one of the strangest.
It is strange because our customs of hospitality are so different from those of Jesus’ time.
It is the story of a great sinner—and a story of great love.
It is a story that challenges my assumption that I am a pretty good Christian and that God owes me his blessing.
Read Luke 7:36-39
I. A very religious man invited Jesus to dinner.
A. His name was Simon, and he was a Pharisee.
Simon was a person who took his religion very seriously.
Simon had heard about this new teacher and he wanted to learn more.
So Simon invited some of his friends who were likewise serious about their faith to join him for a dinner with Jesus. They will ask him questions and listen to him.
They will find out whether this strange preacher has anything to offer them in their spiritual quest.
B. As background to this story I need to tell you that there were three things a gracious host would do in that day to honor a guest: give him a foot bath, a kiss, and a little ointment for his head.
The roads were dusty and people went barefoot or with sandals.
The kiss was a mark of courtesy. Do you remember that in the New Testament believers are told to greet their Christian brothers and sisters with a kiss of love.
The air was very dry and ointment felt good on their dry skin.
That Simon omitted these courtesies shows that didn’t have much regard for Jesus. Maybe he only invited him because he was curious and wanted to check him out.
II. Let’s picture the scene in our minds.
A. Jesus and the other guests are reclining on couches, as was the custom in those days, eating and talking about theology.
In those days almost everything people did was public. It would not be unusual for people who were not invited to come into a house to see what was going on, especially when there was a party of some kind.
B. Suddenly a woman bursts through the door. Simon knows this woman.
The other guests know the woman too.
She is notorious around town--she’s a prostitute. Everyone knows that.
C. As if she has forgotten that she is intruding in a place where she doesn’t belong, she barges in and falls at Jesus’ feet.
She is behind Jesus. She doesn’t look him in the face.
She is clutching her little flask of ointment.
But she doesn’t anoint his head. Instead she breaks into loud weeping.
She begins to wash Jesus’ feet with her tears and dry them with her hair.
Now, we need to remember that no decent woman would go out in public with loosened hair.
Then she begins to kiss his feet.
She breaks the little flask and pours the ointment on Jesus’s feet and continues to kiss them.
The whole scene is shocking, indecent.
I probably would have been shocked too, if I had been there.
D. Simon and the other guests are disgusted.
Here is this woman, this awful woman, weeping, fondling Jesus’s feet, kissing them. And, what is worse, here is Jesus sitting there beaming, enjoying it all!
Simon had invited Jesus into his house. She had invited him into her heart. And that pleased Jesus.
Simon says to himself, “If this may were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him--that she is a sinner.”
I don’t think Jesus needed to have any supernatural insight to read Simon’s thoughts. His disgust was written all over his face.
III. Then Jesus turned to Simon: “Simon, I have something to say to you.”
A. And he told the parable of the two debtors.
One owed five hundred denarii--as much money as a laboring man would earn in a year. The other owed only fifty.
In those days they didn’t have bankruptcy laws.
If you owed money and you couldn’t pay, you were sold into slavery and the money was given to your creditor.
If that wasn’t enough money, your children and your wife were sold.
These men were in a terrible plight--especially the one who owed so much.
But the master was a generous man and he canceled the debts for both of them.
B. Then Jesus asked, “Which of the debtors, do you think, loved the master the most?”
That was easy. Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.”
And Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly.”
Then he turned to the woman. “Do you see this woman? I entered your house and you gave me no water for my feet.” “You gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.
“You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet.
“You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.”
C. Then Jesus looked down at the weeping woman and said to Simon,
“…Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven: hence she has shown great love.”
Her sins were not forgiven because she loved so much; she loved so much because her sins were forgiven.
And then he looked Simon right in the eye and added, “...but the one to whom little has been forgiven, loves little.”
Then he turned back to the woman with a look of wonderful love and said to her, “Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
CONCLUSION
I told you at the beginning that this is the story of a great sinner. But it is rather the story of one who was greatly blessed.
She had learned to love Jesus. She had been forgiven, healed, saved.
Maybe she would never be respected or honored by the people of her town, but she is an example to all of us.
She was supremely blessed.
Jesus had received her as one of his lost ones. She would never be alone again. Her future was bright with the assurance of eternal life.
What did it matter what people thought? Jesus was her friend. She would be welcomed into the community of the forgiven, the friends of Jesus.
APPLICATION
This story teaches me to look at myself as God sees me.
I may think that I am a pretty good Christian.
I may think that God owes me for all the good things I have done.
I may think that I am better than some other people because I go to church and pray and read my Bible and give away money and do nice things for people.
I may think God is lucky to have me in his family.
But this story will correct all those wrong ideas.
I begin to make progress in my Christian life when I love Jesus more and more, and I love Jesus more and more when I know how much God has forgiven me.
“What language can I borrow to thank thee dearest friend,
for this thy dying sorrow, thy pity without end.
O make me thine for ever and should I fainting be
Lord, let me never, never outlive my love for thee.”
LUKE 7:36-50: HOW MUCH DO YOU LOVE JESUS?
INTRODUCTION
I will read to you what is to me one of the most beautiful stories in the gospels--and one of the strangest.
It is strange because our customs of hospitality are so different from those of Jesus’ time.
It is the story of a great sinner—and a story of great love.
It is a story that challenges my assumption that I am a pretty good Christian and that God owes me his blessing.
Read Luke 7:36-39
I. A very religious man invited Jesus to dinner.
A. His name was Simon, and he was a Pharisee.
Simon was a person who took his religion very seriously.
Simon had heard about this new teacher and he wanted to learn more.
So Simon invited some of his friends who were likewise serious about their faith to join him for a dinner with Jesus. They will ask him questions and listen to him.
They will find out whether this strange preacher has anything to offer them in their spiritual quest.
B. As background to this story I need to tell you that there were three things a gracious host would do in that day to honor a guest: give him a foot bath, a kiss, and a little ointment for his head.
The roads were dusty and people went barefoot or with sandals.
The kiss was a mark of courtesy. Do you remember that in the New Testament believers are told to greet their Christian brothers and sisters with a kiss of love.
The air was very dry and ointment felt good on their dry skin.
That Simon omitted these courtesies shows that didn’t have much regard for Jesus. Maybe he only invited him because he was curious and wanted to check him out.
II. Let’s picture the scene in our minds.
A. Jesus and the other guests are reclining on couches, as was the custom in those days, eating and talking about theology.
In those days almost everything people did was public. It would not be unusual for people who were not invited to come into a house to see what was going on, especially when there was a party of some kind.
B. Suddenly a woman bursts through the door. Simon knows this woman.
The other guests know the woman too.
She is notorious around town--she’s a prostitute. Everyone knows that.
C. As if she has forgotten that she is intruding in a place where she doesn’t belong, she barges in and falls at Jesus’ feet.
She is behind Jesus. She doesn’t look him in the face.
She is clutching her little flask of ointment.
But she doesn’t anoint his head. Instead she breaks into loud weeping.
She begins to wash Jesus’ feet with her tears and dry them with her hair.
Now, we need to remember that no decent woman would go out in public with loosened hair.
Then she begins to kiss his feet.
She breaks the little flask and pours the ointment on Jesus’s feet and continues to kiss them.
The whole scene is shocking, indecent.
I probably would have been shocked too, if I had been there.
D. Simon and the other guests are disgusted.
Here is this woman, this awful woman, weeping, fondling Jesus’s feet, kissing them. And, what is worse, here is Jesus sitting there beaming, enjoying it all!
Simon had invited Jesus into his house. She had invited him into her heart. And that pleased Jesus.
Simon says to himself, “If this may were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him--that she is a sinner.”
I don’t think Jesus needed to have any supernatural insight to read Simon’s thoughts. His disgust was written all over his face.
III. Then Jesus turned to Simon: “Simon, I have something to say to you.”
A. And he told the parable of the two debtors.
One owed five hundred denarii--as much money as a laboring man would earn in a year. The other owed only fifty.
In those days they didn’t have bankruptcy laws.
If you owed money and you couldn’t pay, you were sold into slavery and the money was given to your creditor.
If that wasn’t enough money, your children and your wife were sold.
These men were in a terrible plight--especially the one who owed so much.
But the master was a generous man and he canceled the debts for both of them.
B. Then Jesus asked, “Which of the debtors, do you think, loved the master the most?”
That was easy. Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.”
And Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly.”
Then he turned to the woman. “Do you see this woman? I entered your house and you gave me no water for my feet.” “You gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.
“You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet.
“You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.”
C. Then Jesus looked down at the weeping woman and said to Simon,
“…Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven: hence she has shown great love.”
Her sins were not forgiven because she loved so much; she loved so much because her sins were forgiven.
And then he looked Simon right in the eye and added, “...but the one to whom little has been forgiven, loves little.”
Then he turned back to the woman with a look of wonderful love and said to her, “Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
CONCLUSION
I told you at the beginning that this is the story of a great sinner. But it is rather the story of one who was greatly blessed.
She had learned to love Jesus. She had been forgiven, healed, saved.
Maybe she would never be respected or honored by the people of her town, but she is an example to all of us.
She was supremely blessed.
Jesus had received her as one of his lost ones. She would never be alone again. Her future was bright with the assurance of eternal life.
What did it matter what people thought? Jesus was her friend. She would be welcomed into the community of the forgiven, the friends of Jesus.
APPLICATION
This story teaches me to look at myself as God sees me.
I may think that I am a pretty good Christian.
I may think that God owes me for all the good things I have done.
I may think that I am better than some other people because I go to church and pray and read my Bible and give away money and do nice things for people.
I may think God is lucky to have me in his family.
But this story will correct all those wrong ideas.
I begin to make progress in my Christian life when I love Jesus more and more, and I love Jesus more and more when I know how much God has forgiven me.
“What language can I borrow to thank thee dearest friend,
for this thy dying sorrow, thy pity without end.
O make me thine for ever and should I fainting be
Lord, let me never, never outlive my love for thee.”
The Greatest Thing in the World: Mark 12:28-31: Love God; Love Others
We all enjoy being loved. We wish there were more love in the world. But how can we ourselves become more loving? And what does love for God have to do with love for other people?
MARK 12:28-31: LOVE GOD; LOVE OTHERS
Read Mark 12:28-31
“And one of the scribes came up
and heard them disputing with one another,
and seeing that he answered them well, asked him,
‘Which commandment is the first of all?’
“Jesus answered, ‘Hear, O Israel:
The Lord our God is one;
and you shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
and with all your mind,
and with all your strength.’
“The second is this,
‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
There is no other commandment greater than these.”
INTRODUCTION
We are so familiar with this text that we may not notice how impossible these two commands are.
When I was a little boy, we often had sauerkraut.
I like sauerkraut now, but when I was a kid I didn’t like it at all.
But I grew up during the Great Depression, and it was not an option to leave anything on my plate.
Dad served us whatever he thought we should have, and we didn’t leave the table until our plates were clean.
Whenever we had sauerkraut, we also each got a wiener.
In order to get the sauerkraut down, I cut my wiener into little bits, so that I could put each bite of kraut into my mouth with a bit of wiener.
That way I could get it down.
My father could command me to eat my sauerkraut, and I would obey.
But it never occurred to him to command me to like sauerkraut, much less to love it.
I think that if these commands were not so familiar, we would wonder:
How can I make myself love God?
How can I make myself love my neighbor—especially when the Bible teaches that my “neighbor” is just everyone else in the world?
I. When God gave Moses the 10 Commandments they were pretty clear-cut.
A. You worship God, or you don’t.
You make yourself and idol, or you don’t.
You work on the Sabbath, or you don’t.
You kill people, or you don’t.
A lot of people take comfort from the idea that they’ve kept the 10 Commandments.
Now, we know that there’s a deeper dimension to each of these commandments.
But most people are pretty comfortable with them.
The 10 commandments aren’t so hard, and most people think they keep them pretty well.
That is why there’s a concrete tablet in the middle of the First Avenue bridge with the 10 Commandments carved in it.
Other towns have them on the courthouse wall.
But can you imagine anyone putting on the courthouse wall: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength…and love your neighbor as yourself”?
B. These “love commandments” are different from the Ten!
Can anyone ever say, “I love God with all my heart, and soul, and mind, and strength. I guess I’m all right with God”?
Can anyone say, “I love all my neighbors as myself”? I might love my wife as myself, my child…my best friend. But everyone…?
II. What can we say?
A. The first point: What God commands must be possible, and God will show us how to make it work.
Our love for God is a response to God’s love for us.
God first loved us.
He sent his Son, our Lord Jesus, into the world to die for us.
If we thoroughly understand what God has done for us—and what it cost him—how can we not love him with all our heart, and soul, and mind, and strength?
But there’s more:
According to Romans 5.5, God “pours his love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which he has given to us.”
Love is a fruit of the Spirit. In the list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, love stands at the head of the list.
Apple trees just naturally produce apples. Christian people, if they are real Christians, just naturally produce love.
John writes, “Dear children, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love…”
B. The second point: People generally misunderstand what “love” means in the Bible.
Love is not, first of all, a feeling.
It is hard to find in the Bible anything that suggests that godly love is a warm, happy attraction to someone. Those feelings are nice and they may help us love, but they aren’t love.
Love, in the Bible, is a way of behaving.
So we don’t have to try to be fond of everyone: be kind, considerate, respectful, helpful, encouraging…
The Bible says: “Consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10.24).
CONCLUSION
Rodney Stark, a sociologist, wrote a book, The Rise of Christianity, in which he examines the reasons why Christianity spread so rapidly in the Roman Empire—in spite of a hostile environment.
One of the reasons Christianity was so attractive was the love of the Christians for their pagan neighbors.
When devastating plagues swept across the ancient world, the pagans pushed the sufferers away and fled.
Christians stayed, showing practicing Christian love in caring for the sick. Many of the best Christians lost their lives as they cared for their sick neighbors.
A Christian named Dionysius wrote about a plague that came in 260 to Alexandria, Egypt. There was a huge death rate. Dionysius wrote that the Christians were terrified of the plague but they considered the plague a call to action.
They believed that as believers they must stay and help the sufferers, especially those who were pagans.
Dionysius wrote many of the Christian brothers and sisters in nursing and, curing others, became infected themselves and died in their stead. In this way they lost many of their elders, deacons, and most devoted laymen.
In this, and other plagues in ancient times, the pagans whose lives were saved by the Christians often became Christians themselves.
That is one way Christianity became credible to the surrounding world.
It is the same way today. We prove our faith, not by arguments but by our kindness and helpfulness.
God gives us love, not so that we can soak it up like a sponge but so that we can be channels of his love to others…
…especially to those who are difficult to love…
…especially to those who don’t love us in return.
Pray for the people you see every day. Pray that you can find some way to encourage them, to compliment them, to let them know that they are important to you—and to God.
“The love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay.
Love isn’t love till you give it away.”
MARK 12:28-31: LOVE GOD; LOVE OTHERS
Read Mark 12:28-31
“And one of the scribes came up
and heard them disputing with one another,
and seeing that he answered them well, asked him,
‘Which commandment is the first of all?’
“Jesus answered, ‘Hear, O Israel:
The Lord our God is one;
and you shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
and with all your mind,
and with all your strength.’
“The second is this,
‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
There is no other commandment greater than these.”
INTRODUCTION
We are so familiar with this text that we may not notice how impossible these two commands are.
When I was a little boy, we often had sauerkraut.
I like sauerkraut now, but when I was a kid I didn’t like it at all.
But I grew up during the Great Depression, and it was not an option to leave anything on my plate.
Dad served us whatever he thought we should have, and we didn’t leave the table until our plates were clean.
Whenever we had sauerkraut, we also each got a wiener.
In order to get the sauerkraut down, I cut my wiener into little bits, so that I could put each bite of kraut into my mouth with a bit of wiener.
That way I could get it down.
My father could command me to eat my sauerkraut, and I would obey.
But it never occurred to him to command me to like sauerkraut, much less to love it.
I think that if these commands were not so familiar, we would wonder:
How can I make myself love God?
How can I make myself love my neighbor—especially when the Bible teaches that my “neighbor” is just everyone else in the world?
I. When God gave Moses the 10 Commandments they were pretty clear-cut.
A. You worship God, or you don’t.
You make yourself and idol, or you don’t.
You work on the Sabbath, or you don’t.
You kill people, or you don’t.
A lot of people take comfort from the idea that they’ve kept the 10 Commandments.
Now, we know that there’s a deeper dimension to each of these commandments.
But most people are pretty comfortable with them.
The 10 commandments aren’t so hard, and most people think they keep them pretty well.
That is why there’s a concrete tablet in the middle of the First Avenue bridge with the 10 Commandments carved in it.
Other towns have them on the courthouse wall.
But can you imagine anyone putting on the courthouse wall: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength…and love your neighbor as yourself”?
B. These “love commandments” are different from the Ten!
Can anyone ever say, “I love God with all my heart, and soul, and mind, and strength. I guess I’m all right with God”?
Can anyone say, “I love all my neighbors as myself”? I might love my wife as myself, my child…my best friend. But everyone…?
II. What can we say?
A. The first point: What God commands must be possible, and God will show us how to make it work.
Our love for God is a response to God’s love for us.
God first loved us.
He sent his Son, our Lord Jesus, into the world to die for us.
If we thoroughly understand what God has done for us—and what it cost him—how can we not love him with all our heart, and soul, and mind, and strength?
But there’s more:
According to Romans 5.5, God “pours his love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which he has given to us.”
Love is a fruit of the Spirit. In the list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, love stands at the head of the list.
Apple trees just naturally produce apples. Christian people, if they are real Christians, just naturally produce love.
John writes, “Dear children, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love…”
B. The second point: People generally misunderstand what “love” means in the Bible.
Love is not, first of all, a feeling.
It is hard to find in the Bible anything that suggests that godly love is a warm, happy attraction to someone. Those feelings are nice and they may help us love, but they aren’t love.
Love, in the Bible, is a way of behaving.
So we don’t have to try to be fond of everyone: be kind, considerate, respectful, helpful, encouraging…
The Bible says: “Consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10.24).
CONCLUSION
Rodney Stark, a sociologist, wrote a book, The Rise of Christianity, in which he examines the reasons why Christianity spread so rapidly in the Roman Empire—in spite of a hostile environment.
One of the reasons Christianity was so attractive was the love of the Christians for their pagan neighbors.
When devastating plagues swept across the ancient world, the pagans pushed the sufferers away and fled.
Christians stayed, showing practicing Christian love in caring for the sick. Many of the best Christians lost their lives as they cared for their sick neighbors.
A Christian named Dionysius wrote about a plague that came in 260 to Alexandria, Egypt. There was a huge death rate. Dionysius wrote that the Christians were terrified of the plague but they considered the plague a call to action.
They believed that as believers they must stay and help the sufferers, especially those who were pagans.
Dionysius wrote many of the Christian brothers and sisters in nursing and, curing others, became infected themselves and died in their stead. In this way they lost many of their elders, deacons, and most devoted laymen.
In this, and other plagues in ancient times, the pagans whose lives were saved by the Christians often became Christians themselves.
That is one way Christianity became credible to the surrounding world.
It is the same way today. We prove our faith, not by arguments but by our kindness and helpfulness.
God gives us love, not so that we can soak it up like a sponge but so that we can be channels of his love to others…
…especially to those who are difficult to love…
…especially to those who don’t love us in return.
Pray for the people you see every day. Pray that you can find some way to encourage them, to compliment them, to let them know that they are important to you—and to God.
“The love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay.
Love isn’t love till you give it away.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)