1 SAMUEL 24:1-12 [NLTse]
After Saul returned from fighting the Philistines, he was told that David had gone into the wilderness of En-gedi. 2 So Saul chose 3,000 elite troops from all Israel and went to search for David and his men near the rocks of the wild goats.
3 At the place where the road passes some sheepfolds, Saul went into a cave to relieve himself. But as it happened, David and his men were hiding farther back in that very cave!

4 “Now’s your opportunity!” David’s men whispered to him. “Today the Lord is telling you, ‘I will certainly put your enemy into your power, to do with as you wish.’” So David crept forward and cut off a piece of the hem of Saul’s robe.
5 But then David’s conscience began bothering him because he had cut Saul’s robe. 6 He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this to my lord the king. I shouldn’t attack the Lord’s anointed one, for the Lord Himself has chosen him.” 7 So David restrained his men and did not let them kill Saul.

After Saul had left the cave and gone on his way, 8 David came out and shouted after him, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked around, David bowed low before him.

9 Then he shouted to Saul, “Why do you listen to the people who say I am trying to harm you? 10 This very day you can see with your own eyes it isn’t true. For the Lord placed you at my mercy back there in the cave. Some of my men told me to kill you, but I spared you. For I said, ‘I will never harm the king—he is the Lord’s anointed one.’ 11 Look, my father, at what I have in my hand. It is a piece of the hem of your robe! I cut it off, but I didn’t kill you. This proves that I am not trying to harm you and that I have not sinned against you, even though you have been hunting for me to kill me.
12 “May the Lord judge between us. Perhaps the Lord will punish you for what you are trying to do to me, but I will never harm you.

SERMON
In our reading, David (before he’s become king) is being hunted by Saul – who was king of Israel at that time. King Saul is hunting David because he has become jealous of David’s popularity with the people. (That, and because Saul has become harassed by demons on account of his only following the LORD when it benefits him.) As David has been on-the-run, living as a fugitive, a band of others who’ve suffered under Saul’s rule have also joined-together with him.
At the time of our reading, King Saul has an elite force hunting David and his men. What Saul doesn’t know is that David and his band are hiding far back in a cave, the same cave that Saul ducks into to use the bathroom! David’s men, seeing Saul alone and so vulnerable, take it as a sign that the LORD wants them to kill the king. But David interprets the situation differently. Saul has set aside his robe as he relieves himself, so David sneaks forward, cuts off a corner of Saul’s robe, and then retreats back into the cave.

Once King Saul has finished and is back with his troops and ready to resume the hunt, David comes out of the cave and shows the king and his troops the piece of Saul’s robe. “You are hunting me because you think I am trying to take over Israel,” David calls out to them. “But, King Saul, if I’d wanted to harm you I could have cut you as easily as I cut your robe.” Years later, because of such honorable and gracious acts on David’s part, when King Saul is killed in battle and Israel is looking for someone to replace him, David is looked upon favorably and they make him king over them.

What I’d like us to see in all this is that when David’s men saw the king come into the cave alone and so helpless, they whispered to David that this was his opportunity to kill the king. But David, looking at the exact same circumstances, knew the LORD well-enough to know that that’s not what the LORD wanted. That is, even though Saul had become David’s enemy, David knew the LORD wanted him to humble himself to Saul; to honor his enemy; to serve him…

As we live here in the world, I think that we, too, can find lots of voices whispering for us to come back with a clever put down, to make them pay for what they’ve done, to take advantage of their weakness to get the upper hand, tit for tat, do it to them before they do it to you… But, for those of us who are getting to know the Lord’s voice and His will as we study and trust in His Word, we know that more often than not, the Lord is calling us to be more humble; to be more honoring; to be the servant of all…

But this isn’t just the way the Lord calls us to treat our enemies…
When the Lord Jesus and His twelve disciples gathered around the table at that last supper, they all knew somebody needed to be assigned the job of washing off all their feet. Now, there weren’t many worse jobs out there than washing and wiping the dirt and dung off of people’s feet. It was the job for a slave, for the least of those among you, for the “lowest man on the totem pole”. But which of them was that going to be? Which of them would Jesus choose to embarrass and shame with such a job? But then Jesus took a towel and a bucket and redefined greatness by washing their feet Himself!

The Lord Jesus summarized His Own life this way: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45) And in the letter To the Philippians, through the apostle Paul the Holy Spirit calls every Christian to have that same attitude. Chapter 2:6-8 says, Though He was God, He did not think of His divinity as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine status; taking the humble position of being born as a human being! Then, after appearing in human form, He humbled Himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross.”

Taking seriously the Lord Jesus’ call to serve those around us tends to lead fairly quickly to the fear that: “If I do that, people will take advantage of me; they will walk all over me!” Which brings us to the difference between choosing to serve and choosing to be a servant.

When we choose to serve, we are still in charge. We decide whom we will serve and when we will serve. And if we are in charge, we’ll worry a lot about others taking advantage of us and walking all over us. But when we choose to be a servant, we give up being in charge. And the Lord Jesus shows us the great freedom in this.

Like the Lord, when we voluntarily choose to give up our rights, when we choose to be in a position where we can be taken advantage of, then no one can manipulate or control us. When we voluntarily choose to serve the great and the least of these, to do the great sacrificial acts as well as the unnoticed menial duties, we make ourselves vulnerable, but in choosing to do that ourselves, we make ourselves invulnerable.

It is the same power that lies behind turning the other cheek and taking a bully’s load farther than they’d asked and doing good to those treating us poorly: When we do such things willingly then others no longer have any power over us. We are no longer the victim. We have chosen to serve, to honor, to be humble, and so nothing and no one can hurt us.
William Law, in his famous 18th Century book A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, spoke of the life of a servant this way: “…condescend to all the weaknesses and infirmities of your fellow-creatures, cover their frailties, love their excellencies, encourage their virtues, relieve their wants, rejoice in their prosperities, compassionate their distress, receive their friendship, overlook their unkindness, forgive their malice, be a servant of servants, and condescend to do the lowest offices to the lowest of mankind.”

So, the fear that we may be taken advantage of and stepped on is justified. That is exactly what may happen. But who can hurt someone who has freely chosen to be stepped on?

Here are some types of servant-heartedness the Lord Jesus challenges us to. There is “hidden service”: That is, serving in such a way that no one knows you were the one who did it. Since serving can make us look good, hidden service keeps us humble and squashes our pride.

There is “serving in the little things”. When we only seek to serve as a part of big things we only need to sacrifice for a time. And many people are willing to do that. But committing to serve even in the little things requires us to sacrifice constantly, since there are always little things that need doing! The “service of little things” keeps us fighting against our natural tendency towards laziness.

The Lord Jesus calls us to guard the reputation of others as a part of our servant-hood. Paul charges young Pastor Titus to “speak evil of no one”. (3:2) But it’s not just for pastors. There is a discipline in holding our tongue that works wonders within us.

We serve when we let others serve us. Not getting caught up in the need to repay their kindness, but simply and graciously receiving their service to us.

We serve by treating others courteously. Some today have come to see social kindnesses as meaningless and even hypocritical. But saying “please” and “thank you”, holding the door open for another, and offering our seats to women and those older than us are simply ways of acknowledging the image of God in others and affirming their worth.
We serve by showing hospitality, even when there’s no food and it doesn’t happen in our own homes. At the heart of it, hospitality is simply welcoming another and being present with them; sharing their lives and sharing your with them.
We serve by listening to others. Just as our love for God often begins by listening to His Word, the beginning of our love for others often begins by listening to them.

We serve by bearing each other’s burdens: That is, letting others share their troubles and sorrows with us and then handing, or helping them hand those troubles into the strong, gentle arms of Jesus.

And, as we’ve been talking about and practicing in the Adult Class, we serve others by sharing what God has told us about them with them. It may be a word of comfort or of encouragement. It may be a word of challenge or of revelation. And, of course, God speaking to us for another doesn’t guarantee we’ll understand the message He has for them correctly. So we must speak and share such things humbly. But we must not hold back from serving one another in such ways.
The risen Christ calls us to the ministry of “the towel and the helping hand”. Such service, flowing out of the deep places of the heart, is life and joy and peace.

JUDGES 2:7, 10-19 [NLTse]
7 …The Israelites served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the leaders who outlived him—those who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.
…
10 After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things He had done for Israel.
11 The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight and served the images of Baal. 12 They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, Who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them. And they angered the Lord. 13 They abandoned the Lord to serve Baal and the images of Ashtoreth. 14 This made the Lord burn with anger against Israel, so He handed them over to raiders who stole their possessions. He turned them over to their enemies all around, and they were no longer able to resist them. 15 Every time Israel went out to battle, the Lord fought against them, causing them to be defeated, just as He had warned. And the people were in great distress.
16 Then the Lord raised up judges to rescue the Israelites from their attackers. 17 Yet Israel did not listen to the judges but prostituted themselves by worshiping other gods. How quickly they turned away from the path of their ancestors, who had walked in obedience to the Lord’s commands.
18 Whenever the Lord raised up a judge over Israel, he was with that judge and rescued the people from their enemies throughout the judge’s lifetime. For the Lord took pity on His people, who were burdened by oppression and suffering. 19 But when the judge died, the people returned to their corrupt ways, behaving worse than those who had lived before them. They went after other gods, serving and worshiping them. And they refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.

SERMON
Our reading this morning shows why we cannot trust in earthly leaders or victories the Lord gives us, or any other blessings or good things that come to us from God’s hand to keep us strong in faith and living for the Lord: Earthly leaders will always die; and, the victories and blessings and good things – no matter how thrilling and wondrous – will always fade over time and under the pressures of new challenges, temptations, and trials here in the world. And, if we are trusting in such good people or good gifts to keep us strong in faith and living for Christ, then it will only be a matter of time before – like God’s people among the Israelites – we return to “our corrupt ways, behaving worse than we did before, going after other gods, serving and worshiping them, and refusing to give up our evil practices and stubborn ways.” No, if we want to stay strong in faith – and grow stronger! – and if we want to live for the Lord – and live more and more abundantly! – we need look to Jesus Christ alone to be our leader, and we need the Holy Spirit to minister everlasting victories and blessings and good things within us. And for all that we need the spiritual practice of Study.

Many Christians remain in bondage to fears and anxieties simply because they are content with a “little word from God for today”. Such folks may be faithful in church attendance and earnest in fulfilling all their religious duties, and yet their character remains unchanged. I’m not talking just about those who are going through the “motions” of religion. This is true for those who are genuinely seeking to worship and obey Jesus Christ as Lord and Master. They may sing with gusto, pray in the Spirit, live as obediently as they know, even receive visions and revelations from God, but the flavor of their lives remains unchanged because they don’t invest themselves in the Word or let the Word do its saving work in them: They read, but they don’t Study.

You see, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the apostle Paul wrote that we are transformed – that is, we are changed to be more and more like Christ – through the renewal of our mind (Romans 12:2): Replacing old, destructive habits with new, life-giving ones. And that happens as we Study the Scriptures. Our minds are renewed as we apply them to – as we fix them upon – those things we desire to be transformed into. Paul says it like this: “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” (Philippians 4:8) The practice of Study is all about “fixing our minds on” such things.

The Lord Jesus made it unmistakably clear that knowing the truth would set us free. (John 8:32) Good feelings won’t set us free. Ecstatic experiences won’t set us free. Getting “high on Jesus” won’t set us free. Without a knowledge of the truth, human beings will not be free. (And this sadly includes, not only those who’ve never known God’s truth, but also those who have been taught false truths by unfaithful teachers.)

The mind will always take the shape of what it sets itself to. So, if you’re always watching or listening to or reading trashy stuff filled with backbiting, deception, violence, and sex, don’t be surprised to find your life becoming more and more focused and set on such things, as well. If you are fearful and a worrier, and you are content to follow your fears and to run with your worries, don’t be surprised to find yourself overrun by them.

That’s why, in the Bible’s book of Deuteronomy, Moses instructs the Israelites to “commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates!” Moses called Israel to such excessive practices so that they might set their minds repeatedly and regularly toward God’s truths about Himself, and His truths about them as His people, and His truths about their relationships with others and each other; to protect them from the way society thinks and what society can tempt them to think about; but to help them think about the good and glorious ways of the Lord Who loves them. Our habits – that is, what our minds tend to think about, how we respond in situations and circumstances – will take on the shape of what we Study! (Which is why Moses urges Israel to focus on God’s ways and commands, and why Paul urges us to focus on all that is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, gracious, excellent, and worthy of praise in the Lord.)

Sociology, anthropology, and the experiences of the great men and women of faith across history have come to recognize three major aspects of Studying: They are repetition, understanding, and reflection.

Fifth Avenue advertisers and nation-twisting propagandists have long understood that repetition affects the inner mind, even if the person doesn’t understand anything about what is being repeated. You can train your own and other’s thoughts by repetition alone, which will, of course, over time, change your or even an entire society’s ways of thinking and behaviors. (This is why what we and our families watch on television is so important. With lying, cheating, stealing, killing, and sleeping around being so commonplace on newscasts and prime time TV, such repetition alone alters the inner mind, training watchers in destructive thought patterns.) And so, hearing Scripture over and over again in Worship Services or reading Scripture over and over again in daily Bible reading or talking about Scripture over and over again in regular discussion with others can be so helpful in shaping us into Christ-likeness as we repeat His Word to ourselves and each other in all these ways again and again and again.

Add to repetition a firm understanding of what is being studied and we reach a whole new level. Remember, Jesus tells us that it is not just the truth but the knowledge of the truth that sets us free (John 8:32). Have you ever been trying to figure something out, when all the sudden, “Aha!” This great big “click” happens in our brains, and it all makes sense! Suddenly we can see it all so clearly, and we wonder how we ever missed understanding it all before! Understanding what we are Studying takes our transformation to a whole new level.

But even repetition and understanding can only transform us so much. The kicker is when we reflect on what we’ve been Studying. Repetition and understanding establish what the truth is; reflection establishes what that truth is going to mean for us! What will my day look like if I apply this truth to my daily living? That is, what must become a part of my life? What must never be a part of my life again? And how might it lead me to use my time differently? What will my speech be like if I live this truth out each day? How will it change what I say to my parents, my co-workers, my friends? How will this change whom I hang out with? How will it change what I think about and what I do with my free time? We ask all those questions, and more, when we reflect on the truth…

Of course, Study demands humility. We cannot truly Study if we are constantly judging what we are Studying: Judging the author’s credibility; judging the circumstances around it; judging whether or not it is true. We need to be subject to the subject matter. If we’re going to truly Study Scripture, we must trust it as God’s truth and come to it as a student to learn from it, no matter what it says or where it leads…

Some of you have heard the story of how I came to Christ. (I’ll share it again, briefly, for those who have not.) I was in seminary (the college you go to to become a pastor), and I was walking to class one morning. I had been reading through different sections of the Bible, all at the same time, for several of my classes. I had grown up in a church that didn’t believe the Bible to be the Word of God, but believed the Bible to contain the Word of God, each of us getting to determine for ourselves what was truth and what was not. All the Bible reading I was doing in my classes was challenging this fairly small understanding of the Scriptures. I was at a crossroads. I knew I needed to either trust the Bible completely (instead of picking and choosing what to believe based on what made sense to me) or I needed to drop out of seminary and become a part of some faith that I could trust and live wholeheartedly.

So, as I was walking to class that day I committed to the Lord that I would believe everything I read in the Scriptures for two weeks. If I read about a miracle, I would believe it happened instead of immediately questioning it. If I read about things that seemed to contradict each other, I would work to figure out how both could be true instead of so quickly saying, “See, it can’t be true.” If I read about things contrary to science or logic or history or whatever I would give the Bible the benefit of the doubt, where before I’d been very quick to simply write the Bible off. (It seemed like a faithful commitment. After all, if God is truly God, shouldn’t miracles be easy for Him? We encounter seeming contradictions around us each day in the world, but a little exploration and creativity often show us how they work together. And shouldn’t I expect God Almighty to know more about science even than scientists, and to know more about reasoning than even the best thinkers, and to know more about history than human scholars? And isn’t science and logic and our understanding of history changing almost every day on account of new discoveries? So, shouldn’t we expect God to know truths that we human beings haven’t come upon yet?)

So, I submitted myself to the Word. I believed everything I read in the Bible for two weeks. And God changed my world!
All of the sudden, He wasn’t so far away, He was right here with me, just like the Bible said He is. All the sudden, life made sense, and my place in it! All the sudden I knew what the Bible meant when we read that He makes us new, and washes us clean of pain, regret, and shame, and gives us a new start, a new life… I trusted the Bible to be truth and I let it teach me. And all that the Bible says God is and I am and the things of this life are came into stunning focus and clarity for me. Through humility as I Studied…

Daily devotional reading is important for every Christian as we grow in faith and live for Christ each day. But there are times when the unsearchable depths of God are calling out to us, calling us to spend time searching Him and plumbing His glorious heights and depths: God calling us to Study Him and know Him more intimately! The Lord wants us not just to know about Him, but to know Him – fully, deeply, like a lover and a best friend. And to grow to be more and ever-more like Him.
That takes Study…

JOSHUA 9:3-15 [NLTse]
When the people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, 4 they resorted to deception to save themselves. They sent ambassadors to Joshua, loading their donkeys with weathered saddlebags and old, patched wineskins. 5 They put on worn-out, patched sandals and ragged clothes. And the bread they took with them was dry and moldy. 6 When they arrived at the camp of Israel at Gilgal, they told Joshua and the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant land to ask you to make a peace treaty with us.”

7 The Israelites replied to these Hivites, “How do we know you don’t live nearby? For if you do, we cannot make a treaty with you.” 8 They replied, “We are your servants.” “But who are you?” Joshua demanded. “Where do you come from?” 9 They answered, “Your servants have come from a very distant country. We have heard of the might of the Lord your God and of all He did in Egypt.

10 We have also heard what He did to the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River—King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan (who lived in Ashtaroth). 11 So our elders and all our people instructed us, ‘Take supplies for a long journey. Go meet with the people of Israel and tell them, “We are your servants; please make a treaty with us.”’

12 “This bread was hot from the ovens when we left our homes. But now, as you can see, it is dry and moldy. 13 These wineskins were new when we filled them, but now they are old and split open. And our clothing and sandals are worn out from our very long journey.”

14 So the Israelites examined their food, but they did not consult the Lord. 15 Then Joshua made a peace treaty with them and guaranteed their safety, and the leaders of the community ratified their agreement with a binding oath.

SERMON
With the death of Moses, the LORD had chosen Joshua to lead the Tribes of Israel. They conquered the kingdoms on the eastern shore of the Jordan River, and have now had a series of decisive victories over several city-states within the Promised Land itself. So great is the idolatry, wickedness, and depravity of the peoples living in the land, though, that the LORD has told them to leave no survivors.

So, the kingdom of Gibeon, hearing of Israel’s miraculous victories, and less than a day’s journey away – it will be their turn soon – they decide to try and trick Joshua and the Israelite leaders in the hopes of surviving Israel’s bloody conquest. Even if they and their children must become Israel’s slaves, at least they will live! And, as we’ve read, the trickery works: Their representatives dress up as though they’ve travelled weeks or more, pretending to be from a kingdom outside of Canaan (the Promised Land), and they propose a treaty with Israel, and because Joshua and the elders don’t consult the Lord, they sign the treaty…

It seemed like a good idea. They did their best, after all. But there is a striking Proverb in the Bible, that has become a favorite of mine. It states: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but it leads to death.” (14:12) That is, there are situations and circumstances we face in this life that we think we can handle on our own, apart from the Lord’s guidance. “This one is easy God,” we think. “I can make this decision myself.” But as the Proverb implies, and as Joshua and the Israelite elders’ situation shows clearly, the LORD knows things we don’t, that we can’t – He knows hidden things, He knows the truth behind trickery, He knows the inner thinking’s and motives of people, and He alone knows the future that our actions and responses will lead to. And when we don’t submit ourselves to consulting Him in all things, we can make a lot of mistakes and lead ourselves into a lot of hardships that He’d like to save us from.

The 15th Century priest and Reformer, Martin Luther, once said, “A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. [And] a Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.” That is, the absolute freedom we live in as followers of Christ, and the overcoming power we have to face any and every circumstance comes from being willing and forever slaves to and subjects of this Jesus Christ. Our freedom in Him is the result of our slavery to Him. No power in Heaven or on earth has authority over us because we have submitted ourselves to Jesus Christ as Lord.

This idea of submission – of putting ourselves under the authority of another – is not a popular one in human culture. We want to be the head, not the tail; at the top, not the bottom; to win at all costs, not to lose… ever! And, of course, putting ourselves under the control of another means that we are not in control. But I tell you, this obsession to demand that things go the way we want them to go is one of the greatest bondages in human society today.

People will spend weeks, months, even years in a bitter fury because something in the past did not go as they wanted. People get sick, they get ulcers, over it! But if we truly believe in the sovereignty of God, and practice the discipline of submitting to Him and to the circumstances and people around us, we are released to let go of our grudges, to forget about it!

When the world talks about submission – putting ourselves under the authority and control of another – it often talks about it as being “our lot” in life: “Those are just the cards we’ve been dealt. Keep at it. You’ll get your turn to be on top and then you can pay everyone back for what they’ve done to you!” Sound at all familiar? Well, not the Christian.

At the heart of the Bible’s submission-mindset is Jesus’ amazing statement, “If any of you wants to be My follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow Me” (Mark 8:34). And many respond saying, “Give up my own way? But what about me? What about my hopes? What about my dreams?” But Jesus’ teaching on self-denial – about giving up getting our own way – is the only way to get to our own true hopes, to get to our own true dreams. Our happiness, our self-fulfillment, is not dependent upon getting what we want. As a matter of fact, Jesus says, “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it” (Mark 8:35).

And here’s the proof: Did Jesus lose His identity – did He ruin His life when He set His face toward Jerusalem and the cross? Did Peter lose his identity and fall into a meaningless, empty life when he responded to Jesus’ call to “Follow Me!” (John 21:19)? Did Paul lose his identity and take God’s second-best when he committed himself to the One Who had said, “I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of My name” (Acts 9:16)? Of course not. As a matter of fact, the opposite was true. They found their identity, they found true hopes and dreams and meaning for their lives beyond their wildest imaginations in the act of submission to God and self-denial! Our difficulty is due primarily to the fact that we have failed to understand Jesus’ teaching that the way to self-fulfillment is through self-denial.

The most radical social teaching of Jesus was His total reversal of human ideas of greatness. Leadership is found in becoming the servant of all. Power is discovered in submission. “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.” (Mark 9:35). The call for Christians to live in submission is rooted in the submissive life of Jesus Christ Himself.

Of course, there are limits to submission. When submission leads us into conflict with the Lord, it is no longer submission, it becomes rebellion!

Peter calls Christians to radical submission to government when he writes, “For the Lord’s sake, submit to all human authority—whether the king as head of state, or the officials he has appointed… (1 Peter 2:13-14). Yet when the properly authorized government of his day commanded he and his fellow apostles to stop proclaiming Christ, Peter was the one who answered, saying, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than Him? We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19-20). “We must obey God rather than any human authority” (Acts 5:29).

And the apostle Paul, understanding submission, wrote, Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God” (Rom. 13:1). And yet, when Paul saw the governing authorities in Philippi perverting justice, he called the leaders to account and insisted they do what was right (Acts 16:37)!

Peter and Paul simply understood that submission reaches the end of its blessing when it leads people against the will of God and against the Lord God Himself.

In his letter To the Ephesians, the apostle Paul explores what submission looks like in three of humanity’s most basic relationships: Husband and wife; parent and child; and, master and slave (or, for us today, employer and employee). As the Holy Spirit conveys to us through Paul, when you serve another person because you want to instead of because you have to, you’ve changed the whole power dynamic in the relationship. We see that so specifically in the Lord Jesus’ commands about turning the other cheek and going the extra mile. You see, the Roman soldier can force you to carry his bags a mile, and he’s in control! But when you then offer to carry his bags a second mile, all the sudden, he’s not the one in charge, now you are. Why the difference? Because at first he was forcing you. But once you submit yourself to willingly serve him, to seek his best and to be for him God’s blessing, now you’re in charge! (Or, at least, Jesus is in charge through you!)

The household power-plays of life between husband and wife, between parents and kids, between masters and servants – employers and employees – these power-plays come to an end when we begin to serve one another – submit to one another – to seek their good instead of just our own.
When you want what’s best for you and your husband or wife wants what’s best for them, you have a power-play. But when you want what’s best for you and you want what’s best for your husband or wife, then you are free to submit to them when the discussion seems to be going their way. You win, too, when you want them to succeed, when you want them to “win”.

When you’re fighting with your kids over what they want versus what you want, it’s a power-play. Even if you end up giving them what they want, it’s still a power-play because you know that a time will come when you can say to them, “Hey, I gave you what you wanted at that time. Now you need to give me what I want.” But when you genuinely want what’s best for your kids, when you are submitting yourself to them, there’s no power-play when you give in because you’re not giving in to what they want you’re giving in to what is best for them. It’s not you versus them anymore. You genuinely want their best; you genuinely want to help and serve them; and in such a situation we stop being parents who are either too strict or who spoil our kids and become parents who submit to the things that are best for those around us.

Submission changes everything. It turns our relationships and the world upside down, and it shines the light of Jesus so brightly. We are never more like Jesus Christ, we are never bearing our cross more boldly, than when we are submitting ourselves to others – giving up our rights to get things our own way – and practicing submission in our relationships…

Sometimes the limits of submission are easy to determine. A wife is asked to punish her child unreasonably. A child is asked to help an adult in an unlawful practice. An employee is asked to violate Scripture and their conscience for the sake of the powers that be. In each case we, as disciples, must refuse.

But other times the limits of submission can be extremely hard to define. What about the marriage partner who feels stifled and kept from personal fulfillment because of their spouse’s professional career? Is this a legitimate form of self-denial or is it rebelling against the Lord’s will? What about the teacher who unjustly grades a student? Does the student submit or speak out? What about the employer who promotes his employees on the basis of favoritism and personal interests? What does the deprived employee do, especially if the raise is needed for the good of his or her family? There is no such thing as a “law of submission” that will cover every situation. We need to trust that the Lord will lead and show us the way.

All this being said, there is an order to our submission here in the world: We must submit to the Lord first, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We must yield our body, mind, and spirits to His purposes. In the second place is Scripture: We must yield ourselves first to hear the Word, then to receive the Word, and, finally, to obey the Word. In third place is our family: Freely and graciously making allowances for each other, “submitting ourselves to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21).

Next we submit to our fellow-Christians, our neighbors, and those we meet across our daily lives: If they are in need, we must help them. After our neighbors is the Church: So often there are jobs to be done and tasks to be accomplished; we must look at each and everyone closely, is God inviting us to submit to Him and one another in any of these ways? We cannot do everything, but we can all do some things.

The sixth area of submission is to the weak and the hated, to the helpless and undefended in the world. The Bible speaks of such folks as “foreigners and widows and orphans” (James 1:27). The Lord calls us to be among them, to listen to them, and to serve them in His name. Lastly, the Lord of Heaven and earth calls us to submit ourselves to the world around us: To live as responsible members of an increasingly irresponsible world.

God first, then Christ (by the Holy Spirit) through the Scriptures, then our family members, then our neighbors and the Church, then widows and orphans and outsiders around us, and, lastly, the world as a whole. The Lord Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these, you were doing it to Me” (Matthew 25:40)!

NUMBERS 25:9-34 [NLTse]
9 The Lord said to Moses, 10 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel.
“When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11 designate cities of refuge to which people can flee if they have killed someone accidentally. 12 These cities will be places of protection from a dead person’s relatives who want to avenge the death. The slayer must not be put to death before being tried by the community. 13 Designate six cities of refuge for yourselves, 14 three on the east side of the Jordan River and three on the west in the land of Canaan. 15 These cities are for the protection of Israelites, foreigners living among you, and traveling merchants. Anyone who accidentally kills someone may flee there for safety.

16 “But if someone strikes and kills another person with a piece of iron, it is murder, and the murderer must be executed. 17 Or if someone with a stone in his hand strikes and kills another person, it is murder, and the murderer must be put to death. 18 Or if someone strikes and kills another person with a wooden object, it is murder, and the murderer must be put to death. 19 The victim’s nearest relative is responsible for putting the murderer to death. When they meet, the avenger must put the murderer to death. 20 So if someone hates another person and waits in ambush, then pushes him or throws something at him and he dies, it is murder. 21 Or if someone hates another person and hits him with a fist and he dies, it is murder. In such cases, the avenger must put the murderer to death when they meet.

22 “But suppose someone pushes another person without having shown previous hostility, or throws something that unintentionally hits another person, 23 or accidentally drops a huge stone on someone, though they were not enemies, and the person dies. 24 If this should happen, the community must follow these regulations in making a judgment between the slayer and the avenger, the victim’s nearest relative: 25 The community must protect the slayer from the avenger and must escort the slayer back to live in the city of refuge to which he fled. There he must remain until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the sacred oil.

26 “But if the slayer ever leaves the limits of the city of refuge, 27 and the avenger finds him outside the city and kills him, it will not be considered murder. 28 The slayer should have stayed inside the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the slayer may return to his own property. 29 These are legal requirements for you to observe from generation to generation, wherever you may live.

30 “All murderers must be put to death, but only if evidence is presented by more than one witness. No one may be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. 31 Also, you must never accept a ransom payment for the life of someone judged guilty of murder and subject to execution; murderers must always be put to death. 32 And never accept a ransom payment from someone who has fled to a city of refuge, allowing a slayer to return to his property before the death of the high priest. 33 This will ensure that the land where you live will not be polluted, for murder pollutes the land. And no sacrifice except the execution of the murderer can purify the land from murder. 34 You must not defile the land where you live, for I live there Myself. I am the Lord, Who lives among the people of Israel.”

SERMON
We’ve been reading through the Bible together since the beginning of 2017 and, as we’ve read, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy especially are filled with all manner of rules and regulations, definitions and descriptions. Measurements are exact and materials are specified for the construction of the Tabernacle and its furnishings. The different sacrifices are described in detail, including what can be offered in the variety of situations the people might find themselves in, and how much or how many are required. Laws and regulations are spelled out for family and community life: Laws and regulations that show what it looks like to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.

In these last chapters of Numbers, the Promised Land has been surveyed and divided up among the Tribes of Israel with great exactness: The larger Tribes getting larger allotments of land and the smaller Tribes getting smaller allotments. And here we’ve just read of the Cities of Refuge – the Sanctuary Cities – that Israel was to set aside as places where those who’d been accused of murder could flee for protection from avenging friends and family members until they’d been given a fair trial.

And then the Lord reveals why all these details are necessary, why all the precision is important, why all the exactness and detailed measurements and meticulous lists. The Lord says, “You must not defile the land where you live, for I live there Myself. I am the Lord, Who lives among the people of Israel.”

Since the opening pages of the Bible, when the Lord used to visit with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, God has shown His desire to be with us, that He wants to hang out with us, to live with us and among us, His family, His people. One of the Lord Jesus’ many titles, Emmanuel, underlines that it remains God’s desire and God’s heart, because this title of Jesus – Emmanuel – means, “God With Us”.

During His last supper with His disciples, the Lord Jesus said, “All who love Me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and We will come and make our home with each of them.” (John 14:23) Since “in the beginning” it has been the desire of God the Father and God the Son to live with and within human beings through the agency of God the Holy Spirit. Not some far-off deity, but God with us; God within us.

(Of course, this doesn’t make us God, to have God living with us and within us, just as it doesn’t make a dog a tapeworm if that dog has a tapeworm living inside of it. The dog is a dog. The tapeworm is a tapeworm. We are human beings. And God is God. And He is living with us and within us, the moment we put our trust in His Son, Jesus Christ, to save us from our sins; the moment we give our lives to get to know Him, to love Him, and to become more and more like Him.)
Which brings us to my point today: God wants to be with us and to live within us, but do we want to be with God? Do we want God living within us?

I think we do. At least, I know that many of you do, and I know that I do. So, how do we be with Him? How do we make ourselves more “homey”, more welcoming, to His indwelling presence?

Across the centuries Christians from among the famous and the influential alongside those most humble and simple in the circumstances of this life have found “exercises of grace” or “grace practices” that, when incorporated into their lives, have given them a growing sense of God’s presence with them and of sweet and deepening communion with Him within them. I’m going to use the Sundays between now and Easter to talk about some of these “grace practices” to help us nurture an awareness of God-with-us, and to help us cooperate with Him living within and through us each day.
As for today, I want to call us to the grace-practice of Worship: I call each and every one of you not to miss being in Worship on the Sundays from now through to Resurrection Sunday. If you can’t be here because you are out of town, then commit to participate in a Worship Service wherever you are. If you need to be traveling, then commit to identify a church along the way. Stop and take a break for the Worship Service as you drive by.

If the Lord is to be Lord, worship must have a priority in our lives. Come into Worship expecting to actually hear the voice of God. When Moses went into the Tabernacle, he knew he was entering the presence of God. It didn’t surprise the early church when the building they met in shook with the power of God. It had happened before! The Veil has been torn in two. In Worship, we are entering the Holy of Holies! We are coming into the awful, glorious, gracious presence of the living God! Gather with anticipation! Know that Christ is here among us! Expect Him to teach! Expect Him to touch you and those around you with His living power!

The Bible describes worship in physical terms, so be ready to move. The root meaning for the Hebrew word we translate worship is “to lay yourself out flat on your face”. The word bless (as in “bless the LORD, O my soul”) literally means “to kneel before”. Thanksgiving refers to “an extension of the hand”. Throughout Scripture we find a variety of physical postures in connection with worship: Lying prostrate, standing, kneeling, lifting hands, clapping hands, lifting the head, bowing the head, dancing, and wearing sackcloth and ashes. Worship is a physical activity. Sitting still looking dour is simply not appropriate for praise!

Prepare for Worship by going to bed early on Saturday night. Examine your life and confess your sins and faults to the Lord Who forgives us when we confess our sins to Him. Arrive in the Sanctuary early and ask God for His presence. Let go of any distractions so you can really participate.

Remember that the Worship Service is not about you. The language of Worship is not “me” but “we”. Genuinely desire for God’s life to rise up among the congregation, not just within yourself.

Come praying. Come expecting. Come looking for God to do a new and living work among us all.

EXODUS 32:1-16 [NLTse]
When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. “Come on,” they said, “make us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.”

2 So Aaron said, “Take the gold rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters, and bring them to me.”
3 All the people took the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded it into the shape of a calf. When the people saw it, they exclaimed, “O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!”

5 Aaron saw how excited the people were, so he built an altar in front of the calf. Then he announced, “Tomorrow will be a festival to the Lord!”

6 The people got up early the next morning to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.

7 The Lord told Moses, “Quick! Go down the mountain! Your people whom you brought from the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. 8 How quickly they have turned away from the way I commanded them to live! They have melted down gold and made a calf, and they have bowed down and sacrificed to it. They are saying, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”

9 Then the Lord said, “I have seen how stubborn and rebellious these people are. 10 Now leave Me alone so My fierce anger can blaze against them, and I will destroy them. Then I will make you, Moses, into a great nation.”

11 But Moses tried to pacify the Lord his God. “O Lord!” he said. “Why are You so angry with Your Own people whom You brought from the land of Egypt with such great power and such a strong hand? 12 Why let the Egyptians say, ‘Their God rescued them with the evil intention of slaughtering them in the mountains and wiping them from the face of the earth’? Turn away from Your fierce anger. Change Your mind about this terrible disaster You have threatened against Your people! 13 Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You bound Yourself with an oath to them, saying, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven. And I will give them all of this land that I have promised to your descendants, and they will possess it forever.’”

14 So the Lord changed His mind about the terrible disaster He had threatened to bring on His people.

15 Then Moses turned and went down the mountain. He held in his hands the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. 16 These tablets were God’s work; the words on them were written by God Himself.

Sermon
“CALF OR CHRIST”
There’s a couple things I’d like to highlight from this Word of God to us today before getting into the main meat of the message.

First: Wait on the LORD. Patience is one of the many fruits showing that the Holy Spirit is alive and living within a Christian person. The people of Israel began putting pressure on Aaron to make an idol for them to worship because Moses had been on the mountain, with no word from him or from the LORD, for more than a month. At the heart of their demand for Aaron to do something so that they could worship God was unbelief: The LORD had worked wonders to free them from slavery in Egypt; the LORD had worked wonders to keep them safe and deliver them when Pharaoh’s army chased after them; and the LORD had provided food and drink for them miraculously as they traveled towards Sinai and the Promised Land. But, Moses is gone for a month and more, and not only do they quickly craft a statue in the form of a golden calf and begin worshiping it as their god (even though the Lord had told them not to), but they begin celebrating and partying in ways the LORD told them not to, as well. So, yes, it can be foolish to sometimes wait too long, but more often in the Scripture we see examples of the foolishness that comes from impatience, giving into our feelings of desperation, and from not waiting on the LORD…

Second: Do you see in verse 6 where it tells us that “The people got up early the next morning to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.” Well, let that be a lesson to us: Just because people are excited about something that they believe God is doing does not mean that God has any part of it. People have attributed much to Jesus over the years that, if they’d read and trusted their Bibles, they would have clearly known to have been selfish and brutal and idolatrous and not of Jesus at all. The LORD tells us in Scripture and shows in Jesus how to worship Him and how to celebrate and truly “party” well. If that’s not what’s clearly going on around you, stay out of it until God shows Himself to show you the Way.

Third, do you see how the LORD distances Himself from those engaging in unrepentant sin? That’s the LORD God’s attitude towards us apart from Christ: He disowns the people, speaking of them, not as His people but, as Moses’ people; and He’s prepared to destroy them for their selfishness and wickedness, for all the harm they are doing because they think they can decide what is best apart from Him. It is Jesus’ sacrifice, and His sacrifice alone, that has God persevere in calling us His people and calling Himself our God, even when we sin in our ignorance or weakness. It’s Jesus’ sacrifice, and His sacrifice alone, that keeps God from keeping us away from Himself and destroying us through death and Hell. And yet, it’s so much more than that! Jesus’ sacrifice has moved God to draw near to us and to draw us near to Him, as sons and daughters, as beloved, the apple of His eye!

But let me bring us back to the main message as I understand it this morning:
This record of the “golden calf” episode shows us that people are looking for something or someone to lead them. History shows us that we’ll follow tyrants, we’ll follow madmen (and ‘women), we’ll follow movie stars and superstars, even if they don’t know where they are going any more than we do, as long as we have someone to follow.

The LORD has never allowed His people to make a statue of Him or draw a picture of Him: Not anything that was ever to be worshiped or bowed down to, at least. Living and breathing human beings are and always have been the image God has given us of Himself. He won’t let us belittle that through statues and pictures and other lifeless images.
Of course, humanity has messed up God’s image in ourselves through our sinfulness. The very best of human beings are trash bags compared to the loving goodness of Yahweh Almighty: The Great I AM; the Great He Who Is! And so the LORD had to come among us in the Person of Christ Jesus of Nazareth, to show us Himself in person. And Colossians 1:15 says, “Christ is the image of the invisible God.” And later in Colossians Paul writes: “In Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” (2:9) Who or what has the LORD God provided so that people might rightly bow down before to worship Him? Jesus Christ. Anyone else? Anything else? … No.

Paul goes on to say, “And you have come to fullness in Him.” (2:10) Yes, you, Colossians, yes you, EPCMilfordites, you have come to fullness in Him.

The Father has given the Son into the world so that we can see His image in Jesus, and know Him and worship Him. And the Lord Jesus has poured out the Holy Spirit on those who trust in Him so that non-Christians can see Jesus in us and, through seeing Jesus in us, come to know the Father and worship Him.

All of us have that role to play: Living surrendered to the Holy Spirit – His fruit and His gifts clearly seen in each of us – in order to point people to Christ Who is pointing people to the Father. Of course, this is especially true for us, Elders and Deacons, because the people of God themselves are looking to us (in addition to all the non-Christian people around us looking to us) to see what the Christian life looks like lived out. To see what a godly husband looks like here in the 21st Century, and to see what a godly wife looks like. Christian-folks are looking to us to see how to faithfully live out the conflicts they experience in their marriages, and how to faithfully relate to their parents, and how to faithfully relate to their children. They’ve read about these things in the Scriptures, many of them, but Christ has given us to them, Elders and Deacons, to show them what it looks like to be faithful employers and employees, what loving God looks like day-by-day, what loving neighbor as self looks like day-by-day, …

And just as the Lord Jesus said that “by their fruits we would know them”, Christ’s people and the people around us will know we are Christians and will know Christ Himself as they see the Holy Spirit’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control being produced in our lives. We cannot have Christ live in us by His Spirit and keep participating in immoral sex, giving into impure thoughts, words, and acts, lustful pleasures, idolatry, witchcraft (not even so-called “white witchcraft” that’s so popular out there these days); we can’t keep quarreling, being jealous, bursting out in our anger, pursuing selfish ambitions, taking sides, giving into envy, getting drunk, wildly partying, and other “pagan revelries” like these. Christ doesn’t keep living in us if we keep participating in such things.

We, and those around us, can know whether or not we’re worshiping the LORD because our behavior will begin to be transformed from these types of “revelries” to God’s kind of “fruit”. And we, and those around us, can know whether or not we’re worshiping the LORD because, when we fall short, and people call us on it, we will regret our bad behavior and we’ll be sorry and we’ll repent…

Two things I want to specifically point out to all of you Elders and Deacons. (These things are equally true for any of us who are Christian leaders or seen by those around us as Christian leaders. But here in this place they especially apply to our Elders and Deacons.) Do you see how quickly the LORD responds when His peoples’ leaders intercede for them? The LORD is going to cast them off and destroy them, but Moses intercedes, and God changes His mind! So, carry the people before the LORD in your prayers. Pray for them in their needs. Pray for them in their failures. Pray for them in their rebellion. Pray for them to our God Who wants to forgive and Who has already forgiven us in Christ.

And lastly – and again this specifically applies to Elders and Deacons but is likewise true for us all – Just as Moses comes down the mountain not knowing what he’s walking into but bearing God’s Word into it, regardless, bear God’s Word into all your interactions with the people. Bear His grace, bear His mercy, bear His blessing, bear His image – restored in you through your faith in Christ – bear God’s Word in all your interactions with God’s people: God’s people in your homes, God’s people in your workplaces and neighborhoods, God’s people in God’s Church. Bear His Word to them, always…

EXODUS 23:20-33 [NLTse]
20 “See, I am sending an angel before you to protect you on your journey and lead you safely to the place I have prepared for you. 21 Pay close attention to him, and obey his instructions. Do not rebel against him, for he is My representative, and he will not forgive your rebellion. 22 But if you are careful to obey him, following all My instructions, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will oppose those who oppose you. 23 For My angel will go before you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, so you may live there. And I will destroy them completely. 24 You must not worship the gods of these nations or serve them in any way or imitate their evil practices. Instead, you must utterly destroy them and smash their sacred pillars.

25 “You must serve only the Lord your God. If you do, I will bless you with food and water, and I will protect you from illness. 26 There will be no miscarriages or infertility in your land, and I will give you long, full lives.
27 “I will send my terror ahead of you and create panic among all the people whose lands you invade. I will make all your enemies turn and run. 28 I will send terror ahead of you to drive out the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites. 29 But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals would multiply and threaten you. 30 I will drive them out a little at a time until your population has increased enough to take possession of the land. 31 And I will fix your boundaries from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the eastern wilderness to the Euphrates River. I will hand over to you the people now living in the land, and you will drive them out ahead of you.
32 “Make no treaties with them or their gods. 33 They must not live in your land, or they will cause you to sin against Me. If you serve their gods, you will be caught in the trap of idolatry.”

SERMON – “Dependent – Dependable”
After miraculously crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites began traveling to Mt. Sinai, in the Sinai Desert. The Lord had told Moses to bring the people of Israel to Sinai to worship Him once God had freed Israel from their slavery in Egypt. And it was in the Sinai Desert that they camped and constructed the Tabernacle from God’s directions (their moveable worship place), and collected the Ten Commandments and God’s other laws, and where the Lord prepared them for their new life in the land He had promised them.

But as you can see there wasn’t much for the Israelites at Sinai. Lots of mountainous terrain for pasturing their flocks and herds, and lots of level terrain for setting up their camps. And, as we saw in the first picture, too, enough bunch-grasses and spikelets and other desert-scrub to feed their flocks and herds, but not a lot of farmable land to sustain them.
So, it seems that this new life the Lord was seeking to lead them to was a dependent life: A life they were to depend upon Him to direct; a life they were to depend upon Him to provide for.

As we read this past week, because of the barrenness of Sinai, the Israelites had to depend upon God for the miraculous manna – what they called “bread from Heaven” – that the Lord sent to them every morning, and that they gathered to make delicious manna-bread and manna-cakes. And He proved Himself dependable. And they had to depend upon God for the occasional miraculous feasts of quail He sent their way. And He proved Himself dependable. And they had to absolutely depend upon Him for the water He’d provided that kept gushing forth from a rock and making large pools and small lakes out of the different plots around them: Enough to water their flocks and herds and to satisfy them all! The Lord was teaching His people to depend on Him, and He was proving Himself dependable!

And, in our reading, the Lord promises Moses that if the Israelites would carefully obey Him, following all the Lord’s instructions, then He would get in the way of those who tried to get in their way, and He would fight for them against those who wanted to fight them. And He would make sure they always had enough food, and roofs over their heads, and He would keep them healthy. There would be no miscarriages or infertility in their land, and He would give them long, full lives. And, He would make all the bullies and those trying to hurt them turn and run!

And sometimes God takes us to desert places, too, doesn’t He? Situations where we can’t help ourselves. We have no hope but Him. Nothing, but Him… And we can be tempted to curse those times, saying, “Lord, why have You forsaken me?” But, He’s not forsaking us. He’s teaching us to depend upon Him. And if we will depend on Him, He shows us that He is dependable…

When the Lord Jesus died on the cross, He didn’t ask us to do this or to do that so that He might achieve our salvation. No. He went to the cross and saved us all by Himself. Jesus took our sins and gave us His righteousness without any effort on our part. He simply asked us, “Do you believe?”

And when we believed, He sent us the Holy Spirit to nurture His supernatural life in us and bring us to perfect holiness a little bit at a time, all the days of our lives. And He asks us to cooperate with Him in that, but He’s doing the work in us!
In Philippians 2:12-13 the apostle Paul writes, “Work hard to show the results of your salvation.” He doesn’t say, “Work hard to be saved.” No. Jesus has saved us. No. He writes, “Work hard to show the results of our salvation!” And how do we show that? By “obeying God with deep reverence and fear.” And how are we able to obey God with deep reverence and fear? We’ll need to depend upon God, and He is dependable, because, Paul writes, “God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.” We can depend on Him! He is dependable!

In 1 Corinthians 15:10, the apostle speaks about it this way, “Whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out His special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God Who was working through me by His grace.“

Hebrews 13:20-21 talks about such things this way: “Now may the God of peace—Who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with His blood—may He equip you with all you need for doing His will. May He produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to Him. All glory to Him forever and ever! Amen.

Not one word of, “Get your act together, Ben!” No commands for any of us to work, achieve, or perform. No, the prayer of Hebrews 13 is, “May God equip you to do His will,” because you can’t do His will on your own. And “may God produce in you every good thing that is pleasing to Him,” because we can’t produce anything that is pleasing to God on our own.
God has forgiven you through what Christ did on the cross, and there is nothing you can do to make you more forgiven or to make you less, except by not believing it. The Holy Spirit is within you, applying the holiness of Jesus to your soul – even as we speak! – and you can cooperate with Him in that by not giving in to the temptations you might face, but you can’t make yourself more holy. That’s an inside job, and only the Holy Spirit can do such inside work.
Ours is to depend on Him. He keeps proving Himself so very dependable!

Praise Team: Would you come forward as we pray? …
Abba: You want to protect us but we get in Your way seeking to protect ourselves; You want to take care of us but we won’t let you, set on taking care of ourselves; You want to heal us but we interfere by hiding our wounds away, keeping them, if possible, even from You; we want to make a life for ourselves instead of accepting the life You have for us; we strive and connive for meaning and worth instead of acknowledging the meaning and worth we have as Your daughters and Your sons… Forgive us, Dependable One. Grant us the gifts and help we need to rely on You, wait on You, trust in You no matter the threats or trials. You have always shown Yourself to be so very dependable, and we worship You…

Genesis 48:1-20 [NLTse]
One day not long after this, word came to Joseph, “Your father is failing rapidly.” So Joseph went to visit his father, and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 2 When Joseph arrived, Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to see you.” So Jacob gathered his strength and sat up in his bed. 3 Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. 4 He said to me, ‘I will make you fruitful, and I will multiply your descendants. I will make you a multitude of nations. And I will give this land of Canaan to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’

5 “Now I am claiming as my own sons these two boys of yours, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born here in the land of Egypt before I arrived. They will be my sons, just as Reuben and Simeon are. 6 But any children born to you in the future will be your own, and they will inherit land within the territories of their brothers Ephraim and Manasseh.
7 “Long ago, as I was returning from Paddan-aram, Rachel died in the land of Canaan. We were still on the way, some distance from Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). So with great sorrow I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath.”
8 Then Jacob looked over at the two boys. “Are these your sons?” he asked.
9 “Yes,” Joseph told him, “these are the sons God has given me here in Egypt.”
And Jacob said, “Bring them closer to me, so I can bless them.”
10 Jacob was half blind because of his age and could hardly see. So Joseph brought the boys close to him, and Jacob kissed and embraced them. 11 Then Jacob said to Joseph, “I never thought I would see your face again, but now God has let me see your children, too!”

12 Joseph moved the boys, who were at their grandfather’s knees, and he bowed with his face to the ground. 13 Then he positioned the boys in front of Jacob. With his right hand he directed Ephraim toward Jacob’s left hand, and with his left hand he put Manasseh at Jacob’s right hand. 14 But Jacob crossed his arms as he reached out to lay his hands on the boys’ heads. He put his right hand on the head of Ephraim, though he was the younger boy, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, though he was the firstborn. 15 Then he blessed Joseph and said,
“May the God before whom my grandfather Abraham and my father, Isaac, walked—the God Who has been my shepherd all my life, to this very day, 16 the Angel Who has redeemed me from all harm—may He bless these boys. May they preserve my name and the names of Abraham and Isaac. And may their descendants multiply greatly throughout the earth.”
17 But Joseph was upset when he saw that his father placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head. So Joseph lifted it to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. 18 “No, my father,” he said. “This one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.”

19 But his father refused. “I know, my son; I know,” he replied. “Manasseh will also become a great people, but his younger brother will become even greater. And his descendants will become a multitude of nations.”
20 So Jacob blessed the boys that day with this blessing: “The people of Israel will use your names when they give a blessing. They will say, ‘May God make you as prosperous as Ephraim and Manasseh.’”

Sermon
Words have power. What we say matters. The Lord Jesus’ half-brother, James, writes that our lips speak both blessings and curses, and that it should not be so! The Lord Jesus warns us to be careful about even the most insignificant word we speak, because they matter. In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth with words. And across the Bible, even filling up our readings these past weeks across Genesis, we see the power of blessings spoken and coming true! What we say matters, and the Lord God has called us to be a people who bless and are a blessing!

The Bible is filled with blessings: God blessing people; fathers blessing children; kings blessing God’s people and God’s people blessing kings! Here, in our morning’s reading, we see Grandfather Jacob blessing his son, Joseph’s, boys, Manasseh and Ephraim.

“Blessing” is a powerful word across the Bible and across our culture. It can be belittled to simply refer to any nice thing that happens to us or that we’d like to have happen to another. And yet, at the same time, it still echoes with a sense of the divine, the eternal, and the supernatural!

With so many people posting #BLESSED because they got what they wanted or because things are going their way, it’s interesting to me that, of the 112 references to the words bless, blessing, or blessed in the New Testament that none of them refer to material prosperity. Consider these passages:

“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for Him… God blesses those who mourn… God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right… God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are My followers…” (Matthew 5:3–4, 10–11)
“Blessed are all who hear the Word of God and put it into practice.” (Luke 11:28)
“What [blessings] for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight.” (Romans 4:7; quoting Psalm 32:1)
“God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation…” (James 1:12)
“Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on… Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” (Revelation 14:13, 19:9)

There is no hint of material prosperity or perfect circumstances in any New Testament reference. On the contrary, blessing is typically connected with either poverty and trial or the spiritual benefits of being joined to Jesus by faith. Makarioi is the Greek word translated “blessed” in these passages, and it means “to be fully satisfied”. It refers to those receiving God’s favor, regardless of the circumstances.

So, what is blessing, then? The Bible seems to portray blessing as anything God gives that points us to Him: Anything that draws us closer to Jesus; anything that helps us surrender in greater ways to the Holy Spirit; anything that helps us relinquish the day-to-day and hold on more tightly to the eternal.

We’re reading through the Old Testament as a church this 2017. (The daily readings are in our Bulletins each week, or you can follow along in The Daily Walk devotional if you’d like some commentary on what we’re reading.) A couple weeks ago, when reading Genesis 12, we read the blessing the Lord God spoke over Abraham, saying, “And I will bless you… and you shall be a blessing… and in you shall all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” So, as we see Jacob blessing his grandkids today and remember God calling Abraham to bless and be a blessing, I think the Father has been blessing us to bless, as well.

So, let me teach you how to bless someone. (I’m not just talking about saying, “God bless you,” to someone, though when we say that with authority it is a powerful gift. But, no, I’m talking about personally and powerfully asking the Lord to bring about, in some person’s life, that which will point them to the Father, draw them to Jesus, help them surrender more to the Spirit, and/or to let go of the temporal and hold on to God.

You can do it in very formal ways or fairly informal ones. You can raise your hand up over someone or you can lightly place your hand on their head or shoulder. (Always ask permission before touching someone, even to give them a blessing. Sadly, for some people, being touched has not been a good thing.) And then ask God’s blessing on them, or ask His protection for them. Have you ever seen the face of a grandparent light up when one of the grandkids comes in the room? Well, ask that they would know how the Lord’s face lights up like that when He looks upon them. Ask that they’d know and embrace His grace, and that they’d have confidence to pray knowing that He wants to give them good gifts. That they would know His wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety, soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, and harmony; that they would know that everything needed to bring them to God and keep them close to Him forever has been provided for in full!

Send notes of blessing. Offer prayers of blessing during your own prayer times. And, of course, reach out to bless that baby, or that person who’s struggling that the Lord just drew near, or that one who for some reason the Lord is simply drawing your attention to. Bless, as is our calling and our privilege in Christ!

Now, I want us to pair up. Find someone next to you or in front of you or behind you… (I know, if you’re shy you hate this kind of stuff. But I hope the Lord will surprise you with this…) If there’s nobody nearby you then move around to wherever you can partner-up with another. Just the two of you, please…
Anybody not have a partner? because then I’ll partner with you…
Now that we’re two-by-two, consider your partner and ask the Holy Spirit how you can bless this person. (I’ll give you a minute to ask the Holy Spirit and to then listen to the Holy Spirit.) …

Now, let’s raise our hand over, or, if we have permission, let’s place a hand gently on our partner’s head or shoulder, and speak the blessing that comes to us for them. After the one person is finished, it’ll be the other person’s turn to put their hand up or on and give their blessing… (It doesn’t have to be long, but it might be…) Let’s bless each other…

Words have power, and what we say matters. And God wants us to ask Him for good things; for great things! Great families, financial wealth, and good health are all wonderful gifts we can ask God for and even thank God for, but they are not His greatest blessings. God’s greatest blessing always rests in God Himself. When we have Him, we are truly #BLESSED.

INTRODUCTION
What’s the most important thing in the world to you? Grab a piece of paper, or a pew envelope, or a corner of your Bulletin, and write down the most important thing in the world to you…

GENESIS 22:1-19 [NLTse]
Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called.
“Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.”
2 “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”
3 The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants. “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.”
6 So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, 7 Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”
8 “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together.
9 When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. 11 At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!”
12 “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from Me even your son, your only son.”
13 Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
15 Then the angel of the Lord called again to Abraham from Heaven. 16 “This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed Me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by My Own name that 17 I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. 18 And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed Me.”
19 Then they returned to the servants and traveled back to Beersheba, where Abraham continued to live.

SERMON
Abraham was extremely wealthy. Kings considered him to be too powerful for them. He had so many workers, servants, and slaves that once – having armed them all – he defeated the combined military forces of several city-state nations! (With God’s help, of course.) The Bible talks about Abraham “camping” in different places, but Abraham’s “camps” must have been the size of large towns and city-states themselves!
But he had no son; he had no heir. Abraham had no children at all. One of his servants would end up inheriting his massive estate.

And then Isaac was born.

Abraham was 100. His wife, Sarah, was 90. But she miraculously became pregnant and she gave birth to Isaac!
And we can, perhaps, imagine how the sun must have risen and set on Isaac! After a lifetime of waiting Abraham finally had a son! He and Sarah finally had a son! And then the LORD commanded Abraham to offer the boy to Him as a sacrifice…
The very first of the Ten Commandments is “You must not have any other god but Me, says the LORD.” (See Exodus 20) And the Lord Jesus followed that up by saying, “Whoever comes to Me and does not hate father and mother, wife, husband, and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be My disciple.” (That is, when compared to our love for the Lord that our love for everyone and everything else must seem like hate—even our love for our fathers and mothers, our wives, husbands, and children, our brothers and sisters—and yes, even our love for our own lives must seem like hate compared to how much we love the Lord! Otherwise, Jesus says, we cannot be His disciples. And, I think we can know we have another “god” besides the LORD in our lives when we find that we don’t hate that one or that thing in comparison to our love for the Lord. As a matter of fact, I think we know we have another “god” in our lives besides the Lord when, if something happens to that one or that thing, then we get mad at the Lord and stop trusting Him and even, perhaps, start hating Him because of it!

Look at what you wrote on the pew envelope or piece of paper… If that person died, or if that thing was stolen or broke or was taken away, or if you lost the health you treasure or lost the job you love or was suddenly unable to do this or that thing that you love to do – whatever it is that you value most here in the world – if that was taken from you would you hate God for taking it (or for taking them)? Or is your love for our Father truly so great that, in comparison, you really do hate all else, and you truly would trust Him and surrender to Him the loss of even that which you consider most precious?

I remember, years ago, walking through a busy parking lot with my wife, Amy. We were waiting to cross at an especially awkward intersection when Amy saw an opening and ran across. It was like my life flashing before my eyes as in slow motion I saw a car that she hadn’t seen, and she was running right into its path. In that heartbeat I remember being so filled with my love for her and wondering if I would ever trust God again if He took her from me. In the next heartbeat I remember realizing that, if the devil could get me to hate or lose faith in God by hurting Amy, that then Amy would never be safe from the devil, because he would know that he could always use her to get in-between the Lord and me. And in the next heartbeat I realized that I needed to surrender Amy’s life and welfare into God’s hands: That her in His hands – alive, dead, sick, healthy – was the only place where she would ever truly be safe. And that she in His hands was the only place where I would ever truly be safe. And then the moment was over. The car braked. Amy made it safely to the other side. And I followed soon after.

God sometimes gives us opportunities to show Him, to show ourselves, and to show the watching world that He alone is the most important thing in our lives, and that nothing else is even close. And sometimes He does that by providing opportunities for us to “sacrifice” what may be competing with Him.
Of course, He’s worth it.

The Lord is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with love that never fails. He is good to everyone and showers compassion on His entire creation. (Psalm 145:8-9) Yes, He is rich in mercy and He loves us so much that, even though we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead. (Ephesians 2:4-5) No, He doesn’t deal harshly with us, even though sometimes we deserve it. He has removed our sins from us as far as the east is from the west! He is tender and compassionate to those who revere Him, for He knows how weak we are… (Psalm 103:10, 12) He is good, and so ready to forgive, and so full of love that will never fail for all who ask Him for His help. (Psalm 86:5)
Yes, He is worth it!

I want to invite you to make a sacrifice to the Lord right now. I want you to sacrifice to the Lord that which you wrote down on that envelope or piece of paper at the beginning of the message. I’m going to invite this morning’s Ushers to come get the Offering Plates and collect that which is most important to us in this world: Just fold your piece of paper in half and place it into the Plate as a sacrifice to the Lord. (If you’re not ready to sacrifice your most-loved one or thing then feel free to put in a blank envelope and blank piece of paper, if you’re self-conscious about it, and be asking the Father to help you sacrifice it to Him as the week goes on…) But, Ushers, won’t you come and gather our sacrifices to our God…

[Have them give the Plates to me. Spread them across the top of the Lord’s Table. And give the Plates back to the Ushers.] [Sing the Doxology.] [Then lead in a sacrificial prayer over the sacrifices.]

JOHN 1:1-5 [NLTse]
In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He existed in the beginning with God. 3 God created everything through Him, and nothing was created except through Him. 4 The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His life brought light to everyone. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

GENESIS 1:1-3, 6, 9, 14-15, 20, 24, 26, 31 [NLTse]
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
3 Then God said, “Let there be light.” …
6 Then God said, “Let there be a space between the waters, to separate the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth.” …
9 Then God said, “Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.” …
14 Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days, and years. Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth.” …
20 Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.” …
24 Then God said, “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind—livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals.” …
26 Then God said, “Let Us make human beings in Our image, to be like Us…
31 Then God looked over all He had made, and He saw that it was very good!

SERMON
God begins revealing Himself to humanity from the very first words of the Bible. He reveals Himself as creator, and He reveals that He Himself had no creator. He reveals that His image is not borne by winds or seas or by grass or trees or by sea-creatures or air-creatures or land-creatures, but that human beings alone – male and female – bear His likeness. The Lord reveals about Himself that He desired to create everything good, and that everything He created was, indeed, very, very good.

The Lord also reveals Himself as a Trinity.

In our reading from Genesis this past week (that we’ve also read this morning), the Bible opens saying, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…” and it goes on. But it’s important for us to know that the word for “God” here is plural, literally, “In the beginning gods created the heavens and the earth…” However, we can’t translate that sentence that way because the verb “create” is singular. That is, one God – Who is revealing Himself as being more than one Person – created the heavens and the earth. Clear as mud, right?

We see evidence of this again later in chapter 1 when this same God says, “Let Us make humankind in Our image, according to Our likeness…” (V. 26): Here, again, is the One God speaking of Himself in the plural!
How does this work? What does this mean?

We get to understand this reality that the Lord is trying to reveal about Himself to us better when we turn to the Gospel of John (which is why we read from John first). John writes, “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He existed in the beginning with God. 3 God created everything through Him, and nothing was created except through Him.” (Vv. 1-3) We find out later in John that Jesus Christ is this so-called “Word” Who was in the beginning with God and Who Himself was (and is) God and through Whom everything that’s been created was created.

And we see this in Genesis, too, because “in the beginning” we see God beginning to create the heavens and the earth, and we see the Spirit of God hovering over the formless and empty heavens and earth, and we see God speaking the Word and see the heavens and the earth take on form and become no longer empty through the Word. So, here in the first two verses of the Bible we see this One Who speaks of Himself as We: God (Whom later we are taught to call and know as “Father”), Jesus Christ (Whom John reveals to be God’s Word), and the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of God)! A tri-unity Bible scholars have called it over time: The Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And we see evidence of this elsewhere across the Bible, as well. The Bible speaks of the Father as God (Philippians 1:2). The Bible speaks of Jesus as God (Titus 2:13). And the Bible speaks of the Holy Spirit as God (Acts 5:3–4). Are these just three different ways of looking at God, or ways of referring to three different roles that God plays? The answer must be no, because the Bible also indicates that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct Persons.

For example, since the Father sent the Son into the world (John 3:16), He cannot be the same person as the Son. Likewise, after the Son returned to the Father (John 16:10), the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit into the world (John 14:26; Acts 2:33). Therefore, the Holy Spirit must be distinct from the Father and the Son.

The baptism of Jesus is another example: We see God the Father speaking from Heaven and God the Holy Spirit descending from Heaven (in the form of a dove) as Jesus, God the Son, is coming up out of the water (Mark 1:10–11).
Open up your Bulletins to the picture shown there at the bottom of the left-hand flap. That the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct Persons means that the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father. Jesus is God, but He is not the Father or the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God, but He is not the Son or the Father. They are different Persons, not merely three different of looking at God.

Maybe you’ve heard people say, “If Jesus is God, then He must have prayed to Himself while He was on earth.” But the answer to this objection lies in simply applying what we have already seen. While Jesus and the Father are both God, they are different Persons. Thus, Jesus prayed to God the Father without praying to Himself. In fact, it is precisely the continuing conversations between the Father and the Son that give us the best evidence that They are, indeed, distinct Persons with distinct centers of consciousness.

Another serious error people have made is to think that the Father became the Son, Who then became the Holy Spirit. But John 1:1-3 and Genesis 1:1-2, clearly show that this cannot be true: God always has been and always will be three Persons. There was never a time when one of the Persons of the Godhead did not exist. They are all eternal.
Of course, while the three members of the Trinity are distinct, this does not mean that any is inferior to the other. And the doctrine of the Trinity does not divide God into three parts. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each fully God. They are equal in power, love, mercy, justice, holiness, knowledge, and all other qualities.

If there is one passage which most clearly brings all of this together, it is Matthew 28:19: “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” First, notice that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinguished as distinct Persons. We baptize into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Second, notice that each Person must be God because they are all placed on the same level. In fact, would Jesus have us baptize in the name of a mere creature? Surely not! Therefore each of the Persons into Whose name we are to be baptized must be God. Third, notice that although the three divine Persons are distinct, we are baptized into their one name (singular), not into their name-s (plural). The three Persons are distinct, yet only constitute one name. This can only be if the three Persons are all one God.

We experience the Trinity because the Father has sent the Son and because the Father and Son send the Holy Spirit. We participate in the Trinity as we receive eternal life from the Father in the name of the Son through the Holy Spirit.
So the Trinity is to be our pattern: We are to be like it, joining together the one and the many. The church is the new humanity being re-made in the image of God. In the church we are striving – through the Holy Spirit – to express the plurality and unity of God; to be the individual and to be the congregation without compromising either. As Paul wrote, “In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.’ (Romans 12:5)

At the end of his Gospel John records this prayer of Jesus’: “That they will all be one, just as You and I are one—as You are in Me, Father, and I am in You. And may they be in Us so that the world will believe You sent Me… So they may be one as We are one. I am in them and You are in Me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that You sent Me and that You love them as much as You love Me.” (17:21-23)

God’s image in humanity has been marred by sin and death, so now God’s New Covenant people – individually and together made new in Christ – are His image in the world. The Church is to reflect the Trinity. We’re to love one another; share with one another; rejoice and mourn with one another; share our lives. We’re to make decisions with regard to the church when those decisions affect the church just as the church is to help us make our own personal decisions even when those decisions will only affect us personally.

Jesus says that when the world sees our Trinity-like life that it will know that Jesus was indeed sent by the Father to save the world. So, the challenge is this: When the world sees our life together as Evangelical Presbyterian Church, does it see a sign of God’s salvation in us? Does our life together show our neighbors, friends, families, and coworkers the tri-une reality of God?

PASTOR: INTRODUCTION

As our reading begins, the Lord Jesus is at table with His disciples. They are celebrating the Passover, what’s come to be called “the Last Supper” among Christians.

During this Worship-meal, the Lord has told them that He knows one of them is planning to betray Him. At this, the disciples each begin denying the charge, asserting their strengths and the great things they’ve done as evidence that it could not be them. And soon, the question as to which of them was planning to betray the Lord gets lost in their squabbling over which of them had the most valuable strengths and had done the greatest things…

ELDER READS: LUKE 22:24-34 [NLTse]
May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His Word…
24 A dispute also arose among [the disciples] as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest. 25 But [Jesus] said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. 26 But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves. 27 For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

28 “You are those who have stood by Me in My trials; 29 and I confer on you, just as My Father has conferred on Me, a kingdom, 30 so that you may eat and drink at My table in My Kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

31 “Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” 33 And [Simon Peter] said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You to prison and to death!” 34 Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow this day, until you have denied three times that you know Me.”

PASTOR BEN’S SERMON
Peter is weaker than he thinks.

The disciples are arguing amongst themselves as to which of them is greatest – having the greatest gifts, being the most valuable to Jesus, … – but the Lord interrupts them to let them know how weak they really are: That each of them will have turned their backs on Him by the end of that very same day.

Notice that the Lord doesn’t criticize them or berate them for their coming failures? No. Weakness is the human condition. And all kinds of weaknesses are acknowledged everywhere across the New Testament.

Jesus told His disciples that, in contrast to the spirit, the flesh is weak (Mark 14:38). Paul said that those who are poor are weak (Acts 20:35). The Corinthian Christians were weak in social status (1 Corinthians 1:26–27). Romans tells us that Jesus died for us while we were still weak, that is, while we were ungodly and lacked any possibility of deserving any kind of good (Romans 5:8). And we see that we are also often weak when we pray, lacking the words, lacking the know-how (Romans 8:26). And some Christians are spoken of as being weak because they judge others (Romans 14:1–4). Add to this the physical weaknesses Paul seems to speak of in different places (ie. 2 Corinthians 10:10), and his “thorn in the flesh” – whatever kind of weakness that was (2 Corinthians 12:7), and all the different types of troubles we can experience and find ourselves helpless – weak – in the face of (2 Corinthians 12:10).

If there were one broad explanation for weakness, it seems that it would be to lack: Being weak means we don’t have what it takes; we’re not sovereign, we’re not all-knowing, we’re not invincible; we’re not in control, we can’t be everywhere at once, and we can so very easily be stopped from doing the things we want to do and even be stopped from doing the things we feel God has called us to do…

If the Lord seems to so completely understand how weak we are – how lacking we are – then there must be a purpose for such weaknesses? There must be a goal or an aim for why our weaknesses exist, and why times of weakness come? Why insults, hardships, persecutions, calamities, troubles? Why can’t I find a job? Why does my dad have cancer? Why can’t I have children? Why do I have no friends? Why is nothing working in my life? Doesn’t God see? Doesn’t God care?
First, let’s remember that, as we’ve said, the Lord Jesus understands that we are weak: He understands our weaknesses. The Letter To the Hebrews makes clear that Jesus faced all the same types of weakness and times of weakness and lack that we do, the difference is that during such times Jesus didn’t give in to sin. So, the Lord’s not surprised by our what we can’t do and what we can’t be, He doesn’t condemn us for being weak: He’s experienced every single human weakness Himself. He just wants us to be like Him when we face weak times, and not give in to sin.

Because Satan wants to use times of weakness in our lives to destroy us and to destroy everything around us. Which is why it is OK to pray for relief when we’re feeling weak. After all, God doesn’t delight in our suffering! But Satan does and so he must be resisted.

That being said, God does have a purpose over and through Satan’s harassment in our times of weakness: The Lord’s seeking to develop our humility. Not the kind of humility that gets people saying they’re not good at something when they clearly are, but the kind of humility that reminds us Christian folk we need God. Peter was in danger of pride and becoming all puffed up with himself – “Lord, I am ready to go with You to prison and to death!” – and so God took steps to keep him humble: “Peter, the [rooster] will not crow this day until you have denied three times that you know Me.”
Our God and Father – the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ – thinks our being humble – knowing our need for Him – is more important than our being comfortable. Clearly, He finds our being humble – our knowing our need for Him – more important than our convenience and our being free from pain. God will give us a mountain top experience in Paradise, and then bring us through anguish of soul to protect us from thinking that we have risen above the need for total reliance on His grace. So His purpose in our times of weakness is our humility and lowliness and living in total reliance on Him.
Of course, the Father is also seeking to draw attention to the grace and power of His Son through our weaknesses. And sometimes He does that by granting us supernatural ability by the Holy Spirit or by miraculously delivering us from our troubles and trials! But sometimes He does that by leaving us in our weaknesses, but giving us what we need to endure and even rejoice in our tribulations. (We need to let God be God here. If he wills to show the perfection of Jesus’ power in our weakness instead of by our escape from weakness, then we need to trust that He knows best. Hebrews 11 is a good guide here. It says that by faith some escaped the edge of the sword (v. 34) and by faith some were killed by the sword (v. 37). By faith some stopped the mouths of lions, and by faith others were sawn in two. By faith some were mighty in war, and by faith others suffered chains and imprisonment.)

It is critical to remember the truth of God’s sovereign grace when we are weak in the face of hardships and calamity. We must remember that God is in control of Satan, of kings and prime ministers and dictators, of bosses and employees, of husbands and wives, of kids and parents, of neighbors and coworkers and friends… Nothing can happen to the sons and daughters of God – those trusting in and following Jesus Christ – that God does not design with infinite skill and infinite love for our good and His glory. (Let me say that again: Nothing can happen to the sons and daughters of God – those trusting in and following Jesus Christ – that God does not design with infinite skill and infinite love for our good and His glory.)

(With our reading this past week in mind, it’s interesting to me that, the Lord Jesus, facing His Own greatest time of weakness and hardship and suffering – the days leading up to the cross – that He spent His time attending Worship Services (as we see Him always in the Temple and celebrating the Passover), He spent His time in the Word (as we see Him quoting Scripture, correcting misunderstandings, and teaching truth), He spent His time in prayer (as we see Him going off alone, and agonizing in the garden), and, He spent His time serving others and giving God the glory for it!
(So, I am hoping that 2017 will be a year for us – sons and daughters of God on account of our trust in and following of Jesus Christ – where each of us grows more faithful and steadfast in Worship, more committed to Bible-reading and application, more practiced in disciplined and informal prayer, and more active in serving each other and those around us and giving God the glory for it!)

But, alongside that, and with Peter and the other Eleven in mind, I hope, in 2017, that each of us will also give attention and effort to finding our weaknesses and maximizing their God-given purpose. That is, I hope we’ll stop complaining when we find ourselves in times of weakness, those trouble that we can’t do anything about. I hope we’ll stop complaining – to God and to the people around us – about our shortcomings, about our temptations, about what we have or what we don’t have, about all that we’re no good at, etc… Instead, I hope we’ll look for ways to turn our times of weakness into times for showing those around us how much we trust in Christ to give us what we need and get us through. And I hope we’ll look for ways to turn our weaknesses themselves into ways we can draw people’s attention to the strengths of Jesus Christ! That is, because you can’t do this, that, or some other thing, then what has such a weakness put you in the unique position of being able to do for Him? Because you can’t read lots of books quickly and easily, can you read God’s book deeply and live it more fully? Because you can’t be very active, can you pray more or study and be able to teach others or have a phone-calling or letter-writing or email-sending ministry? Because you can’t have kids of your own or because your kids are out of the house and you miss them terribly, can you be a mom or dad to other people’s kids, serving in the Nursery or Sunday School or Youth Group or some other ways? …

The Bible makes clear that deepest need you and I have when we are weak and facing troubles is not quick relief, but the confidence that what is happening to us is part of God’s greatest purposes in the universe: Growing our humility, the heart-felt knowledge that we need God very badly; and, drawing people’s attention to the grace and power of Jesus Christ—the grace and power that bore God the Son to the cross and kept Him there until God’s work of love was done.
These are what God is building into our lives through times of weakness and our weaknesses…

Let’s sing our praises!
Let’s stand for The Doxology…