Given on New Years Day

It’s interesting that our new year begins during winter – the season when things look drear and drab. We have grape vines in our back yard. Every winter the leaves fall off and the runners dry up. To all appearances, the vines look dead. You can even snap the ends off the runners and there is no trace of green at the break. The first few times I witnessed this phenomenon I thought there was no hope for the vine. How could something which was dry and shriveled up turn green again?

But then spring comes. The seemingly dead vines start to swell and bud. Soon leaves burst forth and by the time summer is over, the vine produces so much shade that sometimes you have to cut it back so it doesn’t prevent other things from growing.

However, there’s another characteristic of grape vines. If you want a vine to produce a lot of fruit, you have to cut back the runners one or two joints from the main stem. Even from a single vine you can end up with a huge pile of leaves and runners. It seemed to me, when I first saw this kind of drastic pruning, that it would kill vine. Yet this is not the case. Life, in the form of fruit, comes from dying. The runners must be killed for the vine to fulfill its purpose.

It is the same way with us spiritually. In order to live, we must die. God desires to prune all that is wrong and evil out of our lives. From our perspective it seems like there is nothing left. But without the death of ourselves, the fruit of the Spirit will never be found in us and we will not fulfill the purpose for which God made us.

The Apostle Paul expresses it this way in Colossians chapter 2, beginning in verse 9, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:9-14 NASB)

To rephrase what Paul wrote, if we want fullness – that is, if we want meaning in life – we have to die. We have to let Christ prune everything away which holds us back from living for God. But when we allow Him to do this, He takes our dead selves and makes us alive.

This is one of the purposes of baptism. It is in baptism that Christ strips away our old nature and gives us a new one. He nails everything that stands between us and God to the cross.

We gather each week to remember what we were, what Christ has done for us and what we are now. He made us alive when we were dead. He prunes us back so we can bear fruit.

The bread we eat reminds us of His sacrifice. The juice we drink reminds us of His blood which covers our sins. As we partake this morning, let’s thank God for the season of renewal He has given us. That He brings us into life out of death.

Let’s pray.

(Prepared to go along with a sermon on Revelation chapter 14.)

We live in an industrialized and a technological society. Personally, I’m very grateful that we do. Life is, in many ways, much easier than it used to be. Our technology makes us far more efficient than before. We are able to do a whole lot of things that we couldn’t before. As only one example, I write books. Because of the technological advances over the last few decades, I am able to typeset and publish them on my own without having to go through a traditional publisher. Without that ability, I probably wouldn’t be able to publish them at all because I doubt that any publisher would consider taking them on.

There’s an aspect of our technology that we hardly give any thought to because we’re so used to it. Can you imagine the nightmares we’d have without interchangeable parts? Let’s say a light bulb burns out. In order to change it, you have to sort through a couple dozen of them before you find one that fits the socket. Or suppose that a part breaks on your car. Instead of just going down to the parts store and buying a replacement, you have to have a machinist make you one from scratch so that it fits. It’s bad enough that different phones use different styles of USB cables, but at least the styles are standardized. Just think what it would be like if the cable you have only fits your phone. Nobody else’s cable will work. What would you do if you forgot to take your custom-fit cable with you on a trip?

All of this interchangeability assumes that there are standards. You want to cook a meal. The recipe calls for a cup of milk. If there wasn’t a standard for how much a cup is, the meal would turn out totally different for each person to tried to cook it. You measure your floor and find that you need 8 feet of vinyl to cover it. You come back from the store only to find out that their measure of 8 feet is only 7 foot, 6 by your measure. We can be very grateful that this country has a bureau of standards to ensure that an inch is an inch is an inch. My uncle worked for IBM. I remember him telling me that the company once sent him to the the bureau of standards to collect a rod which was exactly one inch in length. It was packaged in a special, environmentally sealed container. He had to hand carry it and buy an extra airplane seat for it – so that nothing could possibly change or damage it in transit. By having that standard, the company could ensure that all of its measurements were accurate.

Just as standards are essential to make physical life practical, we need them in spiritual things as well. Without standards, we wouldn’t know how we measure up to God’s expectations. We wouldn’t know how to evaluate our lives. In writing to the Christians at Corinth, the Apostle Paul urged them to test or evaluate where they were. In chapter 13, verses 5 and 6 he writes, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you – unless, of course, you fail the test? And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test.” (NIV)

What is the standard by which we are to compare ourselves to see whether or not we pass the test? In the verses we just read, Paul implies that the standard is Jesus Christ. May I suggest that one of the many reasons Jesus asked us to commemorate Him on a regular basis is so that we can evaluate where we are in comparison to the standard of Himself and how He acts.

We often use Paul’s account in 1st Corinthians 11 during Communion. In verses 28 through 31 he writes, “A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.” (NIV)

Paul says that we must “recognize the body” when we participate in Communion. What does that mean? Earlier, in verse 21, Paul took the Corinthians to task for not waiting for each other when they gathered for the Communion meal. In verse 33, he again instructs them to wait for each other. In chapter 12, he goes on to describe the church as a body and how each part of the body is essential to the functioning of the whole. So, in the context, it looks to me like Paul is saying that “recognizing the body” when we come to Communion means caring for one another. It means putting the welfare and interests of the other parts of the body ahead of our own.

And what better time to examine ourselves. Jesus is our standard. The Communion reminds us of how He put our interests ahead of His own. He sacrificed His life so we could live. He gave His blood for our freedom. As we partake of the bread and juice, let’s test and evaluate ourselves. Am I putting others first? Do I sacrifice for them as Jesus sacrificed Himself for me? How healthy am I spiritually speaking? Am I in danger of becoming weak or sick or even dying because I don’t treat the other parts of the body as I should? How do I measure up to Jesus’ example?

Let’s pray.

(Given in conjunction with a sermon on John 5:31-47, titled “Reasons to Believe”)

We humans can be a rather inconsistent lot. On the one hand we are prone to believe some pretty far-out conspiracy theories. On the other hand we refuse to accept things for which there are overwhelming evidence, if those things don’t happen to agree with our preconceived notions.

Let me give you an example. I have vivid memories of one evening when I was a teenager, living in Lahore, Pakistan. It was July 21st, 1969. My father and I were in a darkened room (as I recall the electricity was off). We were listening avidly to a short-wave broadcast of the Voice of America. I remember the thrill which passed through me when I heard Neil Armstrong say, as he set foot on the moon, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” My wife to be tells me that at the same time I was listening to those words, she was watching the event on live television, half a world away.

Many years later we were in a “life group” at church with a man who was a sailor on the aircraft carrier which recovered the space capsule. Some of the pictures he took of the recovery were published in the National Geographic.

In spite of the overwhelming evidence that the moon landing took place, there are still people today who refuse to believe that it ever happened. They think it was merely an elaborate hoax pulled off by the US government to boost its international prestige during the Cold War. However, when you start to analyze what happened, you soon discover that it would be far harder to fake the evidence than to actually land on the moon. To put it another way, it’s far more reasonable to believe that the moon landing happened than to maintain that it didn’t.

We shouldn’t be surprised at people’s skepticism. There really are some things which are hard to believe. They just don’t fit with our experience or our concept of what’s appropriate. On the Sunday morning after Jesus was crucified, something happened which was far outside the experience or expectations of the Apostles. However, as the evidence accumulated, they were forced to the conclusion that Jesus had risen from the dead. They were still too stunned to process what Jesus’ resurrection meant, but after He appeared to Mary, Peter, the two men on the road to Emmaus and then to the whole group which was meeting behind locked doors, they pretty much had to accept as true that He had risen.

But not everyone was willing to accept the initial reports. Thomas just didn’t buy it. I can imagine him becoming upset with the others, “I don’t know what you guys are trying to pull, but knock it off! I watched Jesus die. I saw Him buried. There’s no way He can be alive now!” When the others persisted he said, “…Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” (John 20:25 NIV)

It is to Thomas’ credit that when the risen Jesus confronted him a few days later, he accepted the evidence. His belief in the risen Lord was so strong that church history tells us he traveled as far as India preaching the Gospel. To this day there is a group of of Christians in South India who trace their heritage back to the Apostle Thomas.

Thomas believed because he saw. “Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”” (John 20:29 NIV)

We’re gathered here today because we believe. Though we haven’t been privileged to see the risen Lord with our own eyes, our belief is not without evidence. No, we believe because of the testimony of people like Thomas who did see it for themselves. The Apostle John writes, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:1-3 NIV)

We believe because they saw and passed the evidence down to us. Each week we gather to eat a piece of bread and drink a cup of juice which reminds us of Jesus’ death and resurrection. When we eat and drink we are proclaiming that we believe. As incredible as the resurrection of Christ from the dead may seem, we accept the evidence. We believe.

The corollary to this is that if you do not believe, then the bread and the cup are not for you.

Let’s pray.

(Prepared to go with a sermon on Hebrews 13:1-14)

We live in a huge country. It’s so big that it’s hard for foreigners to grasp just how big it is. Even for those of us who live here, it’s sometimes hard to wrap our heads around the distances involved. Every time my wife and I travel east of the Cascades I marvel at the endurance and fortitude of the pioneers who took months out of their lives to travel the Oregon Trail. Even yet, there are miles upon miles of emptiness.

How did they do it? How did they know where to go? How did they know where the passes through the mountains are and which places to avoid? How did they know where to find water and where to camp? What gave them the confidence they needed to leave their old life behind and push on into the unknown?

One answer to these questions is, of course, that others had already made the journey. There were published guide books which described what to expect on the trail. The fact that others had already passed that way gave people the confidence that they could make it, too. But even with guide books and scouts who had been over the trail before, the journey was still incredibly risky. Over 50,000 people died on the trail, mostly from illness. That’s as many as our soldiers who died in the Vietnam War.

Spiritually, we’re also on a journey. Sometimes it seems long. Sometimes it seems daunting. Sometimes we wonder whether we’ll be able to make it to the next watering hole. Sometimes we wonder if there’s an end to the trail.

Though the trail sometimes seems rough and hard, we can have confidence in our journey and especially that we can reach our destination. The reason we can have that confidence is that Someone has already gone before us and has shown us the way. The writer of Hebrews puts it this way, “But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:12-23 NIV)

Yes, we can have confidence on our journey toward heaven because our trail-guide is faithful. He not only has gone before us to blaze the way, he has equipped us for our journey by means of the sacrifice He made for us.

One of the purposes for our gathering today is to remember our guide and the sacrifice He made. As we eat the bread which reminds us of His body, and as we drink the juice which reminds us of His blood, let’s renew our confidence. As long as we follow our guide, we’re guaranteed to reach our heavenly destination.

When we look around us it’s easy to become discouraged when we see the increase in violence and crime that’s taken place in just the last few years. Leaving crime to one side, it seems to me that plain old courtesy and respect are on the decline. People live in fear.

Something else I’ve observed is that many of the solutions our leaders propose for making our society safer and more law abiding, at best, address symptoms rather that the root causes of our problems. For example, the solution to the rising number of homicides is not to confiscate guns. I read somewhere that each year more murders are committed with baseball bats than with guns. The solution is not to confiscate all the baseball bats, but to deal with whatever it is in people’s hearts that drives them to commit murder.

Similarly, our leaders are concerned about the rise in drug addition. And, it is something to be concerned about. But providing needles and so called “safe” places where people can shoot up under supervision is not going to cure drug addiction. No, until we address the root cause – the thing which attracts people to use drugs in the first place, the problem is only going to become worse.

So what is the answer to things like violence and addiction? The antidote to all evil is holiness. God our Maker, is holy. Frankly, one of the reasons our society is going the way it is, is that for the last several decades there has been a concerted effort to remove God from every aspect of life. If we remove the source of holiness from our culture is it any wonder that our society is becoming less and less holy?

God wants us to be holy. The Apostle Peter writes, “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”” (1 Peter 1:14-16 NIV)

But this raises a question: The Scriptures tell us that, “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23 NIV) Once we have sinned and become unholy, how can we become holy again?

People do many things in the attempt to become holy. Some go on pilgrimages. We see a minor example of this right here in our own city – people go to the grotto on Sandy Boulevard and walk the path around the various statues, light candles and offer prayers because they think that by doing so, they will be made holy. Other people perform what they believe are works of merit. The idea is that if they do some extraordinary act of goodness that it will wipe out the evil they’ve done. The problem with that idea is we’re supposed to do good all the time. There is no extraordinary good. If we have the ability, that act of kindness is our responsibility – it can’t offset the time we weren’t kind. Still other people abuse their bodies, or fast or vow to do something. But all of our attempts to become holy through our own efforts are doomed to failure. Scripture says, “…There is no one righteous, not even one;” (Romans 3:10 NIV)

If our own efforts are insufficient to make us holy, then how can we attain to holiness? In speaking of Christ, the Apostle Paul writes, “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation – if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel…” (Colossians 1:19-23)

In this passage we see that God, Himself, made a way for us to become holy. What we were unable to do for ourselves, God did through Jesus Christ. This holiness was not without cost. The price of being reconciled to God is the cross of Christ. Without His blood we cannot be holy and we cannot be at peace with God.

Each week we gather to eat a piece of bread which reminds us of Christ’s body which was hung on the cross and through which we are reconciled to God. We drink some juice which reminds us of Christ’s blood through which we are made holy.

But there is another condition as well. Not only does our holiness depend upon Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf, notice that Paul writes that we must continue in our faith. Obtaining holiness is not a one-time event. It is a continuous process. In fact, it is counter-productive to have the holiness of Christ imputed to us once and then abandon the faith through which we were made holy.

If you are not in the faith, or if you have turned away from Christ, then you are not holy and you cannot have peace with God. These reminders of what God has done for us through Christ are not for you.

Today as we partake of the bread and juice, let us remember that it is only through the blood of Christ, and not our own efforts, that we are made holy. As we partake let us renew our commitment to remain firm in our faith.

(Written to go with a sermon from Romans 3:21-31)

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you needed to raise some money quickly? Perhaps there is a family emergency and you have to make an unexpected trip out of town. Or perhaps a pipe breaks in the house and you are left without water until you can make repairs. The problem is that all of your credit cards are already maxed out. Your friends don’t have any ready cash they can loan you. There isn’t time to sell any securities or borrow against a retirement fund. What can you do?

There is a time-honored way to raise cash in a hurry. You can put up some of your possessions as security and receive a loan at a pawn shop. True, you only receive a fraction of what the items are worth, but at least you get something. It may even be enough money to tide you over.

Along with the cash, the pawn shop gives you a ticket for the items you put up for security. The idea is that within a specified period of time you can come back and redeem or buy back the items you pawned. For a fee, of course!

But what happens if the time limit expires and you don’t have enough money to redeem the items you put up for security? The shop takes possession and will sell your things for whatever price it can get.

We find this concept of redeeming or buying back throughout the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments. It’s often used in reference to material possessions, just like in the illustration of the pawn shop. People put up something for security and have the opportunity to buy it back. For example, redemption of property is a major plot point in the story of Ruth.

However, redemption of property is also a metaphor for the redemption of our souls. The Bible likens what happens when we sin to selling our souls into slavery (Romans 7:14). We can think of it as giving our souls for security in exchange for the pleasure we receive when we sin. The problem is that once we have sinned, we don’t have anything with which to redeem or buy back our souls.

It follows that if I can’t redeem myself, I can’t redeem you either. Nor can you redeem me. The Psalmist put it this way, “No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him – the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough – that he should live on forever and not see decay.” (Psalm 49:7-9 NIV)

Since man is incapable of redeeming himself, God decided to pay the price Himself. He came to earth in the form of Jesus Christ and paid the price we never could. The Apostle Paul writes in Titus chapter 2, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” (Titus 2:11-14 NIV)

One of the reasons we come together each week is to remember how God redeemed us. Since we couldn’t do it, He paid the price to buy us back from sin.

The bread we eat reminds us of Jesus’ body which He gave in exchange for ours. The juice we drink reminds us of His blood which paid the price sin demanded. As we eat and drink let’s give thanks for our Redeemer! If we belong to Christ, we are no longer in the Devil’s pawn shop!

Have you ever really, really hoped for or looked forward to something only to have those hopes disappointed? For example, suppose you were really looking forward to being promoted at work. You worked really hard, you went through the continuing education to qualify yourself for the position. You went above and beyond to demonstrate your loyalty to the company. And then, just when the promotion seemed to be within your grasp, there was a consolidation and downsizing and your position was eliminated altogether. Not only didn’t you receive the promotion, the job you had is gone.

As another example, suppose that you’ve really been looking forward to having a house of your own. You’re tired of renting and want a place that you can arrange the way you want it. You’ve scrimped and saved. You’ve denied yourself a lot of things that you would have liked to have for the goal of buying your dream house. But houses just keep getting more expensive. Inflation keeps reducing the value of your savings. It seems like the house is forever just beyond your reach.

When we go through things like that it can be pretty discouraging. You’ve done all the right things, but it seems like you just can’t get ahead. For you, the American dream is just that – a dream that never comes true.

We can experience the same kind of disappointment in spiritual things too. We repent and turn away from our old lifestyle. We surrender our hearts to Christ. We make a sincere effort to live a holy life. But then, it seems like the harder we try to do what’s right, the more trouble comes our way. People make fun of our moral choices. They even go so far as to accuse us of hating others because we won’t endorse their sinful behavior. We lose friends.

When things like this happen it can be very discouraging. We came to Christ hoping He’d solve our problems, and it looks like our problems are getting worse. (Of course, they’re different problems than we had before, but they are problems all the same.) The opposition we face can become so painful and stressful that we can be tempted to leave the Lord.

When those feelings come, we need to remind ourselves that God’s promises are still true, even though they might not be fulfilled as soon as we’d like. The book of Hebrews was written to people who were suffering for their faith in Christ. Some of them were asking whether it was worth it. They were tempted to go back to the Jewish faith to avoid the problems and troubles that came to them while they were trying to live for Jesus. In chapter 10, verses 32 through 39 it says, “Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, “He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.” (Hebrews 10:32-39 NIV)

The writer says that the reason we should hold onto our faith and not lose our confidence, in spite of trouble, is that Jesus is going to return. We know from other Scriptures that when Jesus returns, He is going to make things right. He is going to reward those who follow Him with a new heaven and earth – the home of righteousness. In other words, all the troubles and hassles we face now, will be done away

One of the reasons we come together each week is to remember that promise. Jesus is coming back! We remember by partaking of the Lord’s Supper. The bread and juice remind us of Jesus’ suffering. But though He suffered, the suffering led to His being exalted. In the same way, we might have to be disappointed here, or even have to suffer. But after the suffering, comes our reward.

So, as we eat this bread and drink the juice, let’s renew our confidence. Jesus said to do this until He comes. That’s a promise that He is coming. And, His coming puts all of our troubles into perspective. As the Apostle Paul said, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NIV)

One of the things which is ingrained into our culture is the idea of rugged individualism. We get it from the pioneers who came over the Oregon Trail or migrated west during the Great Depression. You either did it yourself, or it didn’t get done. Those who tried to sponge off others didn’t survive. The attitude still manifests itself is in the “do it yourself” ideal we have. For example, we don’t think it strange at all if a corporate executive works on his own cars. People like to show off the furniture they’ve made or the sweater they’ve knitted. Most of us tackle minor repairs around the house ourselves. We only call in the professionals if it’s something major or we don’t have the time, or we don’t want to bother with it.

In many other places in the world, stores like Lowes or Home Depot or the car-parts places would go broke because people just don’t do things for themselves. They don’t have the tools or the knowledge to handle repairs on their own. If something goes wrong, they call in the professionals. Some of it’s due to the idea that you should stay within the boundaries of your class. House repair is something office workers don’t do. And some of it is because of the prejudice against doing manual labor. It’s beneath a person’s dignity to get his hands dirty.

For example, shortly after we moved to Pakistan back in 1960, my father needed a few boards for something. He went down to the bazaar and had the boards sawed (precut dimensional lumber wasn’t available). When the boards were ready, thinking nothing of it, Dad put them on his shoulder and walked home. Everyone in the bazaar started laughing at him. Carrying your own lumber was something that just wasn’t done – it was totally inappropriate for a sahib to pretend he was a coolie.

As another example, several years ago I was in a bank to cash a check. While I was standing at the teller’s window I could see into the back office. A computer monitor had gone bad and was being swapped out. To my way of thinking this was a minor chore which anybody could do. Much to my surprise, it took a technician to unhook the old monitor and attach the new one. A peon was required to haul the old one away and carry in the new one. And a supervisor stood there the whole time barking orders at the other two. Three men to accomplish a two-minute job the technician could have handled by himself without any trouble!

Now, we can shake our heads at people’s prejudices which cause them to think that some forms of work are beneath them. We can look down our noses at people who define rigid work boundaries that impede efficiency. But there’s also a danger to our “do it yourself” philosophy. You see, we can easily get the idea that we can do anything if we decide to do it. We don’t need any help, thank you very much. And, we can easily transfer that attitude to God. We can take care of our own problems. We don’t need the Spirit to change us. We can make our own way into heaven.

The truth is that once we’ve sinned, we are incapable of restoring our relationship with God. There’s nothing we can do to earn our way into heaven. This is one project that can’t be done DIY. This is one time we really do need that specialist to do the work we are incapable of doing ourself. Fortunately, God has provided for us what we can’t provide on our own. We need to be humble enough to admit that we can’t earn salvation on our own terms. If we want it, we have to accept salvation as a gift.

The Apostle Paul puts it this way, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:1-9 NIV)

Each week we come together to remember that we can’t make it on our own. We come to give thanks that Jesus did what we were incapable of doing. We come to thank God for His mercy and grace.

The bread we eat reminds us of Jesus’ body which He sacrificed on our behalf. The juice reminds us that it is only through His blood that we are cleansed and made whole.

When God created the universe, He declared it very good (Genesis 1:31). Unfortunately, mankind managed to mess it up. We introduced sin into the world. Sin has not only affected us, the Apostle Paul tells us that the whole of nature has been subjected to futility or frustration because of it (Romans 8:20).

When God pronounced judgment on Adam and Eve because of their sin, He also gave them the first promise of a Savior. Someday one of Eve’s offspring would crush Satan’s head (Genesis 3:15). I’m sure that Adam and Eve must have wondered when this would happen. If they asked the question, the answer was, “The time hasn’t come.”

Hundreds of years passed. Sin increased. The spiritual condition of mankind continued to worsen. Many must have wondered when the promised Savior would come. It must have been discouraging to wait year after year without the promise being fulfilled. From time to time God would send another reassurance. Every so often another prophet would renew the promise and give a little more detail about the coming Savior. But still, the Savior didn’t come. Peter writes, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven…” (1 Peter 1:10-12 NIV) Without the reminder of the promises, it would have been extremely discouraging to watch mankind’s slide into darkness. “The time hadn’t come.”

Finally, “…when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5 NIV)

During this Christmas season, people all around the world are preparing to celebrate the coming of Jesus, the Savior of the world. We recognize the importance of Jesus’ birth. We recognize the hope we have because He came. Yet, at the time, hardly anyone knew of His birth. Even fewer understood the importance of it. From their point of view, life went on as normal. Spiritual darkness continued to spread. For those who still clung to the prophecies, they still appeared a long time coming.

Even after the Savior came to this world, it still took time for God’s plan to be accomplished. There’s a phrase which shows up repeatedly in John’s Gospel, “his time had not yet come.” Even the Apostles didn’t understand what Jesus had come to do. In the words of the Christmas Carol, Ring the Bells, Jesus was, “Born to die that man might live, Came to earth new life to give, …God the Father gave His own Beloved One To this wicked, sinful earth, To bring mankind His love – new birth!” But the disciples didn’t understand that Jesus had to die in order to bring salvation.

It wasn’t until Jesus met in the upper room with His disciples the night before His crucifixion that John records that His time had come. Jesus died. He was buried. He rose again.

In one sense, the redemption and salvation God promised for so many thousand years, was completed and accomplished. Yet in another sense, it is not. We’re still waiting. We still wonder when the time will come.

In some ways, our situation is the same as the prophets of old. They were waiting for the coming of the Savior. We are waiting for His return. Just like them, we have the promise, but we don’t know when. As we look around us and see sin and degradation it’s easy to get discouraged. It’s easy to get discouraged when we look at ourselves and see how far we still fall short of God’s standards even though we’ve been Christians for many years. Without the promise that Christ is coming again and that some day we will be like Him, it would be easy to lose hope and give up.

One of the reasons we gather each week is to remember the promise. At the last meal Jesus ate with His disciples before His death, Jesus gave them bread and wine as a memorial, “do this in remembrance of me.” Connected with the memorial is a promise, “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (1 Corinthians 11:26 NIV)

It’s the reminder of that promise which keeps us from discouragement. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11, “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” (NIV)

Today, as we eat the bread which reminds us of Christ’s body, and as we drink the cup which reminds us of His blood which He gave for us, let us also be encouraged by the reminder that just as He came to save us, He’s coming again to take us to live with Him.

(Prepared for a Sermon on Matthew 26:1-16)

Not too long ago our state had to pass a law which made it illegal to text while driving. Why? Because drivers were being distracted from their driving and causing accidents. The truth is that our minds are designed to focus on only one thing at at time. If we allow our minds to wander from the task we’re supposed to be working on, chances are we’ll make a mistake. We’ve all experienced this, not only with driving, but with the other routines of life. Many a cook has salted the soup twice or left the baking soda out of the cornbread because she was thinking about something else. How many times have we made a silly mistake at work because we weren’t devoting our entire attention to it?

The same thing can easily happen to us in spiritual things. Our hearts are designed to be devoted to only one thing. Unless we are fully devoted to Christ, we won’t be successful in living the righteous and holy lives God requires of us. Jesus told a parable which illustrates this. It’s the parable of the sower. When a farmer sowed seed in his field, some of it fell among thorns. Jesus explained, “The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.” (Matthew 13:22 NIV) To put it another way, such a person has divided attention. Since he allows the worries and pleasures of the world to distract him from his relationship to Christ, he won’t see much change in himself. This is the type of person who says, “Yeah, I gave Christianity a try, but it just didn’t do anything for me.”

Jesus stated the problem even more bluntly in the “Sermon on the Mount,” “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” (Matthew 6:24 NIV) We can’t have it both ways. If we want the benefits of following Jesus, we must be fully devoted to Him.

Do you think that is unreasonable? Well, look at it from the other side for a moment. Where would we be if Jesus hadn’t been fully devoted to God’s plan to provide salvation for us? If He hadn’t been devoted to it, He would never have gone to the cross. And if He hadn’t gone to the cross, our sins could not be forgiven. Thank God that Jesus was devoted. Though He knew that it meant going to a gruesome death, the Gospel of Luke records, “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:51 NIV) Later on in the Garden of Gethsemane He prayed, “…My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” (Matthew 26:42 NIV) I, for one am very grateful that Jesus devoted Himself to doing the Father’s will and went through the torture of the cross.

Each week we gather to remember that sacrifice through which we have been given salvation. The bread we eat reminds us of Jesus’ body. The juice we drink reminds us of His blood. Today as we eat and drink let’s thank God for Jesus’ devotion, and let’s re-commit ourselves to be totally devoted to Him.