Let us Pray - Creator and maker of us all - bless the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts - grow thou in us and show us your ways and inspire us to live by your truth. Amen
On Sunday afternoon, June 1st 1975, Darrel Dore was on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
Suddenly it wobbled, tipped to one side, and crashed into the sea. Darrell was trapped inside a room on the rig. As the rig sank deeper and deeper into the sea the lights went out and the room began to fill with water.
Thrashing about in the darkness, Darrel accidentally found a huge air bubble that was forming in the corner of the room. He thrust his head inside it.
Then a horrifying thought sent a shiver down his spine. "I'm buried alive". Darrell began to pray - out loud - and as he did, something remarkable happened. He said later:
"I found myself actually talking to Someone. Jesus was there with me. There was no illumination, nothing physical, but I sensed him, a comforting presence. He was real, he was there."
For the next 22 hours that Presence continued to comfort Darrel. But now the oxygen supply inside the bubble was giving out. Death was inevitable. It was just a matter of time.
Then a remarkable thing happened. Darrel saw a tiny star of light shimmering in the pitch-black water. Was it real? or after 22 hours was he beginning to hallucinate? Darrel squinted his eyes. The light seemed to grow brighter. He squinted again.
He wasn't hallucinating. The light was real. It was coming from a diver's helmet. Someone had found him. His 22 hour nightmare was over. Rescue had come. He was saved.
That true story is a remarkable illustration of what Christmas is all about.
Sin had wobbled our world, tipped it to one side, and sent it crashing into the waters of spiritual disaster. Darkness was everywhere. The human race was hopelessly trapped. There was no hope. Humankind was doomed to certain spiritual death.
People turned to God. They prayed in the words of the prophet Isaiah - "O Lord, you are angry and we are sinful, all of us have become unclean. Yet O Lord, you are father. Save and deliver us."
They prayed, and they waited for the time promised to them - the time of the Messiah, the time of the one who would inherit the throne of David and rule - in peace forever.
Then, when the night seemed darkest, something remarkable happened.
A tiny spark of light appeared.
An angel spoke to a young woman and told her that she would conceive and bear a son, and that son would be the Son of the Most High God - that he would be the Messiah.
Another angel told the man engaged to her that though she was pregnant, that he should go ahead and marry her - that her child was the child of God.
The light was dim at first - but its spark could be seen in the cousin of the young woman, who, despite her age and the fact that she had never been able to bear a child before, was suddenly pregnant.
The light was dim - but it brightened through the next weeks and months - at least for some who were looking for such a light. It appeared to them as a star in the sky - a star which they followed in the hope that it would lead them to the birthplace of a great king.
But for all the rest the light was still unseen, and even to those who had seen it it still could be mistaken for nothing but a dream, the hallucination of a drowning man, a hope based on an illusion.
Finally, on the night that the baby was born and laid in a manger, the light appeared to certain poor shepherds who lay a-keeping their flocks, and an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them as the angel spoke, and said "Behold - I proclaim to you good news of a great joy, for today in David's city a Saviour has been born for you, He is the Messiah, the Lord you have waited for."
And so the nightmare of the human race came to an end. Rescue had come. Jesus, the son of God, had come down from heaven to save the human race, just as the diver had come down to save Darrel Dore.
That is what Christmas is about.
Its about salvation, its about seeing the light come into the world to deliver us from sin and darkness, its about God coming to us, and dwelling with us, and rescuing us from certain death.
Listen to the prophets speak:
Hear O house of David, the Lord himself will give you a sign, behold, a virgin is with child, and shall bear a son, and shall call him Emmanuel.
You, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for God one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. He shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
There will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. He will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who lived in a land of deep darkness, on them light has shined. For a child has been born to us. A son given to us. Authority rests upon his shoulders, and he is named - Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
This is the other half of the Christmas story, the half we often neglect as we wrap gifts and cook and prepare our homes for Christmas day. This is the part of the story that goes beyond the manger, beyond the beauty of a new born child, beyond the peace of motherhood and the love of kindly strangers.
His birth, his ministry, his very personhood, is summed up in the words of one his disciples and apostles,"The word became flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life."
The other half of the Christmas Story is the Easter Story - the story of how beyond the manger - lies a cross and the empty tomb.
Let those who have ears listen, the King of Glory has entered in. Amen and Amen.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
A little bit of faith
A nun who works for a local home health care agency was out making her rounds when she ran out of gas. As luck would have it there was a station just down the street. She walked to the station to borrow a can with enough gas to start the car and drive to the station for a fill up.
The attendant regretfully told her that the only can he owned had just been loaned out, but if she would care to wait he was sure it would be back shortly. Since the nun was on the way to see a patient she decided not to wait and walked back to her car.
After looking through her car for something to carry to the station to fill with gas, she spotted a potty she was taking to the patient. Always resourceful, she carried it to the station and filled it with gasoline. As she was pouring the gas into the tank of her car two men walked by. One was heard to exclaim, "Now that is what I call faith!"
Back to the sermon:
I am going to tell you a story, this story about a business traveller who was on his way from his home town to a large city in the Middle East by road. One night he met two other travellers travelling on the same road as he was. Their name was Fear and Plague. Plague told the traveller that once they arrived at the city, they were expected to kill 100,000 people in that city. The traveller asked Plague if Plague was to do all the killing by himself. Plague said, “Oh, no. I shall only be killing a few hundred people; it is my friend ‘Fear’ who will do the killing of all the others.
Fear, whether it is real or imagined, can discourage us, overwhelm us, beaten us and even strangle us. Dreadful things happen everywhere. There are people around the world paralyzed by fear. Fear is such a terrible thing!
Fear is widespread in this society of ours; in fact it is widespread throughout the world. We have personal fear – fear of failure, fear of embarrassment, fear of not being loved, a fear of having no work, a fear of not being up to the measurements of our peers, a fear of not being able to help our families, a fear of being looked down by others. We also have social fear, fear that war and disasters will go on forever, a fear that society will collapse, a fear that the pollution in the air will kill us, and so on and so on. Even inside the church too there are fear, personal fears, social fears and spiritual fears. Do you have any fears?
There are many people who feel:
- That they are not able to do anything of real importance
- That they cannot and do not make a difference to society
- That they cannot and do not make a difference to anyone
- That they are unable to do even a part of what it is that God asks them to do
- That they will let God down or that God will let them down.
There are so many Christians in this world who are in a mess. They have forgotten what their faith is all about. They have forgotten that as long as it is the will of God, God will give to you the strength and the means to have it accomplished. Do these feelings describe your life – fear, despair, a sense of failure, a sense of not being competent, and a sense of hopelessness? Do you feel unexcited by your worship of the Lord? Do you feel unsure of just what the good news of the Gospel is? Do you feel burdened by life and by the tasks set to you by God? And yet wanting to believe, wanting to do the right thing, wanting to have the life that God has promised us even in the here and now?
Wanting, and yet……
How can I feed the hungry?
How can I clothe the naked?
How can I help the sick?
How can I bring peace to those around me?
How can I help my family?
How can I help others?
How can I spread the gospel of Jesus Christ?
How can I forgive the people who have hurt me so badly?
How can I even experience the joy that is supposed to be part of life with God, let alone help bring it to others?
The disciples had exactly the same feelings. From our Gospel reading of today, we hear of them crying out to Jesus. A cry similar to one that you may have made to God at one time or another.
They were feeling that what they were facing in life, not to mention what they were facing or will be facing as the ones following Jesus was too much for them to bear, too much for their small faith to handle and so they cry out to the Lord, “Jesus please increase our faith”. “Lord, help us believe enough so that we can do what it is that you have commanded us to do – help us trust enough so that we can live as you say we should be living. Lord, take away our fear.”
Jesus please increases our faith.
And what did Jesus do – how did he answer their prayers? Did he laid his hands upon them and pray and give them more faith as they asked? Did he just snap his fingers and grant them a double dose of his Spirit and his Faith?
No, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ – he did not – instead he told them that “if you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted it in the sea and it would obey you.”
If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and plated it in the sea and it would obey you!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, do you not find that answer of Jesus to be a strange answer? But really it is the best answer that could be given, for you see, the real issue for everyone of us is not “how much faith do we have?” but rather the question of “do we have any faith at all?”
I would like to share a story with you: Many years ago a shoe company in England sent one of its sales people to Africa to start a business. After a few months this salesperson sent a message back to his head office telling them that he is coming home as nobody in Africa wear shoes and therefore it is a waste of time and money being there. This shoe company did not give up, so they sent another salesperson to Africa to replace the returning one. After a few months this second salesperson sent an urgent message to head office asking them to send more order forms as nobody in Africa is wearing shoes and there are plenty of opportunities making sales. The second salesperson saw the opportunity in his situation – not the difficulties that he is facing, and more to the point, he had in himself and in his products, and because of that he succeeded where the first salesperson failed.
I would like to suggest to you that faith is a bit like being pregnant. You see, you cannot make a valid distinction between having a little faith and a lot of faith, anymore than claiming someone is a little pregnant but not really a lot pregnant. I think you will be completely confused or started laughing if one day I tell you that my wife, Jenny is a little bit pregnant. You would think that Edwin must have either gone crazy or he is too happy and said the wrong thing for there is no such thing as being a little bit pregnant. It is a matter of either she is pregnant or she is not. Same with faith, it is either you have faith or you do not. You cannot just have a little bit of faith. It is something that does not make sense to the one who is listening. If we do believe in the promises of Jesus, the promises of God our Father in Heaven, even a little bit, then my brothers and sisters, we are already on the right path. I do sincerely believe that all of you who are here today are on the right track. All of you, who, if you are like the disciples were asking for an increase of our faith, are already, going on the right way.
Having said all that, and having understood the distinction between having faith and not having any faith, the question for us to answer is not how much faith we have, but what do we really have faith in.
There are many Christians in this world who look at themselves instead of God. Often we look at ourselves and say – I cannot do that. I am not strong enough, loving enough, giving enough, wise enough; I do not have the income or the money, the power or the faith to be successful in what I am doing. And those doubts, my brothers and sisters are completely true – we by our own powers are not able to accomplish what God wants us to achieve. We do not have what it is needed what it comes to dealing with what is truly important matters. We will not even last a day in this world without God looking after us. But my brothers and sisters in Christ, God has the power; God is able to do anything that he wishes to do. All we need to do is pray to him and believe in him. Ask God for help and his power will be able to flow through us, and he will work through us to complete what he wants us to complete.
Some of us, at one time or another has met people who have been through very difficult and trying times, and our thoughts were that they must be people of great faith to come out of their trial and tribulations as well as they have. If we ever say to them with respect and admiration that we do not think that we could have faced what they have faced. Your faith must be very strong indeed. Do you know what their answer would be? Their answer would almost always be with words like these: “My faith is no greater than anyone else’s. I just did not know what I had until I have need for it. God helped me through it. If it was not for him I would never have been able to make it.”
Have you not heard of this kind of thing yourselves? Is it not one of those times when we may have said to ourselves: “I wish I had a faith like theirs”?
I wish I had a faith like theirs!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, you know that those people of faith that we admire are correct in what they tell us. We very often do not realise just what we have in ourselves. We let our faith in God lie sleeping inside of us, and we go out looking for it. While all the time, God is there, and our faith in God is there, but our faith is doing nothing because we allow it to go to sleep.
The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ covers all areas of human life:
- It tells us of forgiveness and peace
- It tells us of eternal life
- It addresses the problems of poverty and of war
- It gives solutions to despair and answers to human distress.
But most of all, my brothers and sisters in Christ, it tells us:
- That alone by ourselves we can do nothing
- That we are, as many of us think, inadequate, incapable, sinners lost in a dark world.
- It tells us that are not alone, and that God cares for everyone of us
- That God works in the lives of all those who believes in him
- That God’s good purposes cannot be stopped by anyone or anything
- That his word does not return to him empty
- That he desires to transform not just the human heart but he wants to transform the world in which we are all living in
- And that all we need to do is to reach down to that little seed within us and begin to do what we have been called by God to do and God will do the rest
God will do the rest, which is his promise, however, we must do our part, just like Moses having to stretch out his rod, , just like Moses striking the rock with his staff in order to get water for the people, or the people who need healing must come to Jesus first. God will work in us and through us and bring his word to pass. He will pluck up the mountains and fill in the valleys. He will bring about the kingdom of God here on earth as we pray for. We are after all his partners in his work in this world.
What I am trying to say this morning is not ‘have more faith’ – but rather work with the faith that you already have inside you. My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, when we started acting in faith the very first thing we will notice is that a little is a lot.
There is a Chinese proverb that tells us that the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. I should know as I am Chinese by race, and I am suggesting to you to take the step; follow he commands of God – hear his advice found throughout the scriptures and believe – believe in what God has promised us will come about. He is not one who speaks empty words.
Remember that no matter how small the step you may be taking, each step will bring you closer to your destination when it is taken. But you have to take the step, you have to start claiming God’s word as your own if you are to receive what God has promised and do what God has called you to do.
When you practice your faith, when you pray, when you believe and when you do, then in the language of the story that I began this talk with, you will overcome – God will overcome – plague and his far more dangerous companion – fear, and the blessings of life will be completely yours, yours and your family and the world. Praise be to God, day by day – Amen.
The attendant regretfully told her that the only can he owned had just been loaned out, but if she would care to wait he was sure it would be back shortly. Since the nun was on the way to see a patient she decided not to wait and walked back to her car.
After looking through her car for something to carry to the station to fill with gas, she spotted a potty she was taking to the patient. Always resourceful, she carried it to the station and filled it with gasoline. As she was pouring the gas into the tank of her car two men walked by. One was heard to exclaim, "Now that is what I call faith!"
Back to the sermon:
I am going to tell you a story, this story about a business traveller who was on his way from his home town to a large city in the Middle East by road. One night he met two other travellers travelling on the same road as he was. Their name was Fear and Plague. Plague told the traveller that once they arrived at the city, they were expected to kill 100,000 people in that city. The traveller asked Plague if Plague was to do all the killing by himself. Plague said, “Oh, no. I shall only be killing a few hundred people; it is my friend ‘Fear’ who will do the killing of all the others.
Fear, whether it is real or imagined, can discourage us, overwhelm us, beaten us and even strangle us. Dreadful things happen everywhere. There are people around the world paralyzed by fear. Fear is such a terrible thing!
Fear is widespread in this society of ours; in fact it is widespread throughout the world. We have personal fear – fear of failure, fear of embarrassment, fear of not being loved, a fear of having no work, a fear of not being up to the measurements of our peers, a fear of not being able to help our families, a fear of being looked down by others. We also have social fear, fear that war and disasters will go on forever, a fear that society will collapse, a fear that the pollution in the air will kill us, and so on and so on. Even inside the church too there are fear, personal fears, social fears and spiritual fears. Do you have any fears?
There are many people who feel:
- That they are not able to do anything of real importance
- That they cannot and do not make a difference to society
- That they cannot and do not make a difference to anyone
- That they are unable to do even a part of what it is that God asks them to do
- That they will let God down or that God will let them down.
There are so many Christians in this world who are in a mess. They have forgotten what their faith is all about. They have forgotten that as long as it is the will of God, God will give to you the strength and the means to have it accomplished. Do these feelings describe your life – fear, despair, a sense of failure, a sense of not being competent, and a sense of hopelessness? Do you feel unexcited by your worship of the Lord? Do you feel unsure of just what the good news of the Gospel is? Do you feel burdened by life and by the tasks set to you by God? And yet wanting to believe, wanting to do the right thing, wanting to have the life that God has promised us even in the here and now?
Wanting, and yet……
How can I feed the hungry?
How can I clothe the naked?
How can I help the sick?
How can I bring peace to those around me?
How can I help my family?
How can I help others?
How can I spread the gospel of Jesus Christ?
How can I forgive the people who have hurt me so badly?
How can I even experience the joy that is supposed to be part of life with God, let alone help bring it to others?
The disciples had exactly the same feelings. From our Gospel reading of today, we hear of them crying out to Jesus. A cry similar to one that you may have made to God at one time or another.
They were feeling that what they were facing in life, not to mention what they were facing or will be facing as the ones following Jesus was too much for them to bear, too much for their small faith to handle and so they cry out to the Lord, “Jesus please increase our faith”. “Lord, help us believe enough so that we can do what it is that you have commanded us to do – help us trust enough so that we can live as you say we should be living. Lord, take away our fear.”
Jesus please increases our faith.
And what did Jesus do – how did he answer their prayers? Did he laid his hands upon them and pray and give them more faith as they asked? Did he just snap his fingers and grant them a double dose of his Spirit and his Faith?
No, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ – he did not – instead he told them that “if you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted it in the sea and it would obey you.”
If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and plated it in the sea and it would obey you!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, do you not find that answer of Jesus to be a strange answer? But really it is the best answer that could be given, for you see, the real issue for everyone of us is not “how much faith do we have?” but rather the question of “do we have any faith at all?”
I would like to share a story with you: Many years ago a shoe company in England sent one of its sales people to Africa to start a business. After a few months this salesperson sent a message back to his head office telling them that he is coming home as nobody in Africa wear shoes and therefore it is a waste of time and money being there. This shoe company did not give up, so they sent another salesperson to Africa to replace the returning one. After a few months this second salesperson sent an urgent message to head office asking them to send more order forms as nobody in Africa is wearing shoes and there are plenty of opportunities making sales. The second salesperson saw the opportunity in his situation – not the difficulties that he is facing, and more to the point, he had in himself and in his products, and because of that he succeeded where the first salesperson failed.
I would like to suggest to you that faith is a bit like being pregnant. You see, you cannot make a valid distinction between having a little faith and a lot of faith, anymore than claiming someone is a little pregnant but not really a lot pregnant. I think you will be completely confused or started laughing if one day I tell you that my wife, Jenny is a little bit pregnant. You would think that Edwin must have either gone crazy or he is too happy and said the wrong thing for there is no such thing as being a little bit pregnant. It is a matter of either she is pregnant or she is not. Same with faith, it is either you have faith or you do not. You cannot just have a little bit of faith. It is something that does not make sense to the one who is listening. If we do believe in the promises of Jesus, the promises of God our Father in Heaven, even a little bit, then my brothers and sisters, we are already on the right path. I do sincerely believe that all of you who are here today are on the right track. All of you, who, if you are like the disciples were asking for an increase of our faith, are already, going on the right way.
Having said all that, and having understood the distinction between having faith and not having any faith, the question for us to answer is not how much faith we have, but what do we really have faith in.
There are many Christians in this world who look at themselves instead of God. Often we look at ourselves and say – I cannot do that. I am not strong enough, loving enough, giving enough, wise enough; I do not have the income or the money, the power or the faith to be successful in what I am doing. And those doubts, my brothers and sisters are completely true – we by our own powers are not able to accomplish what God wants us to achieve. We do not have what it is needed what it comes to dealing with what is truly important matters. We will not even last a day in this world without God looking after us. But my brothers and sisters in Christ, God has the power; God is able to do anything that he wishes to do. All we need to do is pray to him and believe in him. Ask God for help and his power will be able to flow through us, and he will work through us to complete what he wants us to complete.
Some of us, at one time or another has met people who have been through very difficult and trying times, and our thoughts were that they must be people of great faith to come out of their trial and tribulations as well as they have. If we ever say to them with respect and admiration that we do not think that we could have faced what they have faced. Your faith must be very strong indeed. Do you know what their answer would be? Their answer would almost always be with words like these: “My faith is no greater than anyone else’s. I just did not know what I had until I have need for it. God helped me through it. If it was not for him I would never have been able to make it.”
Have you not heard of this kind of thing yourselves? Is it not one of those times when we may have said to ourselves: “I wish I had a faith like theirs”?
I wish I had a faith like theirs!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, you know that those people of faith that we admire are correct in what they tell us. We very often do not realise just what we have in ourselves. We let our faith in God lie sleeping inside of us, and we go out looking for it. While all the time, God is there, and our faith in God is there, but our faith is doing nothing because we allow it to go to sleep.
The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ covers all areas of human life:
- It tells us of forgiveness and peace
- It tells us of eternal life
- It addresses the problems of poverty and of war
- It gives solutions to despair and answers to human distress.
But most of all, my brothers and sisters in Christ, it tells us:
- That alone by ourselves we can do nothing
- That we are, as many of us think, inadequate, incapable, sinners lost in a dark world.
- It tells us that are not alone, and that God cares for everyone of us
- That God works in the lives of all those who believes in him
- That God’s good purposes cannot be stopped by anyone or anything
- That his word does not return to him empty
- That he desires to transform not just the human heart but he wants to transform the world in which we are all living in
- And that all we need to do is to reach down to that little seed within us and begin to do what we have been called by God to do and God will do the rest
God will do the rest, which is his promise, however, we must do our part, just like Moses having to stretch out his rod, , just like Moses striking the rock with his staff in order to get water for the people, or the people who need healing must come to Jesus first. God will work in us and through us and bring his word to pass. He will pluck up the mountains and fill in the valleys. He will bring about the kingdom of God here on earth as we pray for. We are after all his partners in his work in this world.
What I am trying to say this morning is not ‘have more faith’ – but rather work with the faith that you already have inside you. My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, when we started acting in faith the very first thing we will notice is that a little is a lot.
There is a Chinese proverb that tells us that the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. I should know as I am Chinese by race, and I am suggesting to you to take the step; follow he commands of God – hear his advice found throughout the scriptures and believe – believe in what God has promised us will come about. He is not one who speaks empty words.
Remember that no matter how small the step you may be taking, each step will bring you closer to your destination when it is taken. But you have to take the step, you have to start claiming God’s word as your own if you are to receive what God has promised and do what God has called you to do.
When you practice your faith, when you pray, when you believe and when you do, then in the language of the story that I began this talk with, you will overcome – God will overcome – plague and his far more dangerous companion – fear, and the blessings of life will be completely yours, yours and your family and the world. Praise be to God, day by day – Amen.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Being Prepared
I heard this story of two young boys who were spending the night at their grandparents a couple of weeks before Christmas. At bedtime, the two boys knelt beside their beds to say their prayers when the youngest one began praying at the top of his lungs.
"I PRAY FOR A NEW BICYCLE...
I PRAY FOR A NEW GAMEBOY...
I PRAY FOR A NEW VCR..."
His older brother leaned over and nudged the younger brother and said, "Why are you shouting your prayers? God isn't deaf." To which the little brother replied, "No, but Grandmother is!"
Today we are gathered together here to celebrate the Sunday of joy. We are celebrating the joy of God. During the past two Sundays we have been preparing for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are being called to keep alive the vision which will provides us with the hope in order for us to seek the Peace of God. The peace that only God can keep, the peace that is not the peace as we understand it. The peace that which will only come to us when we repent and turn to our God. The peace that we will have only when we take up the walk with our Lord Jesus Christ.
Joy in our hearts is not something that we can buy. Joy is not something that we can get from the supermarket. Joy is not from the Christmas presents that we will get. We from time to catch glimpses of what it is that God is all about. We from time to time come across situations where we see God’s promises coming true, and we suddenly have this great joy in our hearts.
I would like you to imagine for a minute that you are John the Baptist lingering in prison. Herod is about to have him killed. We have no doubts that John the Baptist is very much aware of what is awaiting him, although how he is going to die will be decided by Harod’s wife and daughter.
John is having serious doubts as to whether his mission in this world is completed or not. He is uncertain as to whether Jesus is the Messiah or not. So he sends messengers from prison in order to ask Jesus – “Are you the one who is to come, or should we wait for another.”
Again imagine for a moment how he heard the answer to his question. Imagine the joy and happiness in his heart when his own disciples reported back to him what Jesus said: “God and tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. Blesses are they who take no offense at me.”
Imagine that you are John the Baptist. Imagine how you will be feeling to hear that all that you have been yearning for as child of Abraham is now coming true. The promises that have been given in the Old Testament is now coming true. You can see God working a great work through Jesus, the child of Mary, the kind of work that the prophet Isaiah spoke of in our first reading of this morning.
JOY.
Joy should never be confused with happiness. Joy and happiness is something that a lot of people in this world do get confused with. Joy is not happiness, not even contentment.
The feeling of joy is something that will overwhelm you. It is something that comes to us when we witness God at work. Whether it be in our own personal problems, in our family relationships, in our friends, in our church, in our community or in the world.
I call today’s sermon as the giving and receiving of the gift of Joy, not just to be in keeping with our Advent theme. The theme as suggested by the lighting of the Advent candles. I give it this name in order to highlight to all of us the realities of the gift of joy – that reality of Joy is something that cannot be sought or purchase, it is a gift that can be received and given by us.
Whenever we see the works of God being done, we receive the gift of joy. And whenever we allow God to do his works through us, we give to others the gift of joy, or at the very, very least – the possibility of them receiving that gift of joy from God.
This is part of what this 3rd Sunday during Advent is all about. It is about going about the work of God. It is about caring about other people. It is about praying that joy may come with the giving. It is about praying that the hand of God may be seen.
Joy is a great and wonderful thing. Joy is a thing that will overtakes us when we are traveling on the path shown to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. Joy is something that will overwhelm us when we are taking our walk with our Lord Jesus Christ. Joy is not a feeling that is with us all the time, it is not continuous, at least not in this world, but it comes up whenever we see God at work. When we see the sick healed, when we see the lame cured, when we see sight given back to the blind. When we see the good news of our Lord being proclaimed to those who are poor in spirit. it comes up whenever we are doing the work of God, and understands that God is doing His work in the situations and circumstances surrounding us.
Everlasting joy will be in our hearts, so testifies Isaiah on the day of the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
On that day, he testifies, the wilderness and the dry land shall be
glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall
blossom abundantly, on that day, the ransomed of the LORD shall
return, and come to Zion with singing; and everlasting joy shall be
upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and
sighing shall flee away.
There is a day coming which we are called to be prepared for, a day coming, of an eternal joy, a joy which we receive a taste of in the here and now when we receive the gift of seeing God at work, and when we do the works of God and thereby make it possible for others to have the joy of seeing him.
Blessed be the name of God, day by day. Amen
"I PRAY FOR A NEW BICYCLE...
I PRAY FOR A NEW GAMEBOY...
I PRAY FOR A NEW VCR..."
His older brother leaned over and nudged the younger brother and said, "Why are you shouting your prayers? God isn't deaf." To which the little brother replied, "No, but Grandmother is!"
Today we are gathered together here to celebrate the Sunday of joy. We are celebrating the joy of God. During the past two Sundays we have been preparing for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are being called to keep alive the vision which will provides us with the hope in order for us to seek the Peace of God. The peace that only God can keep, the peace that is not the peace as we understand it. The peace that which will only come to us when we repent and turn to our God. The peace that we will have only when we take up the walk with our Lord Jesus Christ.
Joy in our hearts is not something that we can buy. Joy is not something that we can get from the supermarket. Joy is not from the Christmas presents that we will get. We from time to catch glimpses of what it is that God is all about. We from time to time come across situations where we see God’s promises coming true, and we suddenly have this great joy in our hearts.
I would like you to imagine for a minute that you are John the Baptist lingering in prison. Herod is about to have him killed. We have no doubts that John the Baptist is very much aware of what is awaiting him, although how he is going to die will be decided by Harod’s wife and daughter.
John is having serious doubts as to whether his mission in this world is completed or not. He is uncertain as to whether Jesus is the Messiah or not. So he sends messengers from prison in order to ask Jesus – “Are you the one who is to come, or should we wait for another.”
Again imagine for a moment how he heard the answer to his question. Imagine the joy and happiness in his heart when his own disciples reported back to him what Jesus said: “God and tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. Blesses are they who take no offense at me.”
Imagine that you are John the Baptist. Imagine how you will be feeling to hear that all that you have been yearning for as child of Abraham is now coming true. The promises that have been given in the Old Testament is now coming true. You can see God working a great work through Jesus, the child of Mary, the kind of work that the prophet Isaiah spoke of in our first reading of this morning.
JOY.
Joy should never be confused with happiness. Joy and happiness is something that a lot of people in this world do get confused with. Joy is not happiness, not even contentment.
The feeling of joy is something that will overwhelm you. It is something that comes to us when we witness God at work. Whether it be in our own personal problems, in our family relationships, in our friends, in our church, in our community or in the world.
I call today’s sermon as the giving and receiving of the gift of Joy, not just to be in keeping with our Advent theme. The theme as suggested by the lighting of the Advent candles. I give it this name in order to highlight to all of us the realities of the gift of joy – that reality of Joy is something that cannot be sought or purchase, it is a gift that can be received and given by us.
Whenever we see the works of God being done, we receive the gift of joy. And whenever we allow God to do his works through us, we give to others the gift of joy, or at the very, very least – the possibility of them receiving that gift of joy from God.
This is part of what this 3rd Sunday during Advent is all about. It is about going about the work of God. It is about caring about other people. It is about praying that joy may come with the giving. It is about praying that the hand of God may be seen.
Joy is a great and wonderful thing. Joy is a thing that will overtakes us when we are traveling on the path shown to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. Joy is something that will overwhelm us when we are taking our walk with our Lord Jesus Christ. Joy is not a feeling that is with us all the time, it is not continuous, at least not in this world, but it comes up whenever we see God at work. When we see the sick healed, when we see the lame cured, when we see sight given back to the blind. When we see the good news of our Lord being proclaimed to those who are poor in spirit. it comes up whenever we are doing the work of God, and understands that God is doing His work in the situations and circumstances surrounding us.
Everlasting joy will be in our hearts, so testifies Isaiah on the day of the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
On that day, he testifies, the wilderness and the dry land shall be
glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall
blossom abundantly, on that day, the ransomed of the LORD shall
return, and come to Zion with singing; and everlasting joy shall be
upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and
sighing shall flee away.
There is a day coming which we are called to be prepared for, a day coming, of an eternal joy, a joy which we receive a taste of in the here and now when we receive the gift of seeing God at work, and when we do the works of God and thereby make it possible for others to have the joy of seeing him.
Blessed be the name of God, day by day. Amen
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Prepare the way for the LORD!
I heard this story of two young boys who were spending the night at their grandparents a couple of weeks before Christmas. At bedtime, the two boys knelt beside their beds to say their prayers when the youngest one began praying at the top of his lungs.
"I PRAY FOR A NEW BICYCLE...
I PRAY FOR A NEW GAMEBOY...
I PRAY FOR A NEW VCR..."
His older brother leaned over and nudged the younger brother and said, "Why are you shouting your prayers? God isn't deaf." To which the little brother replied, "No, but Grandma is!"
I do not know about you, but a lot of people find it difficult to understand John the Baptist and what value are his message is to us today.
I have a feeling that very few people, whether it be 2000 years ago, or in today’s world really understand what he was trying to tell us when he was telling everyone that his job was to ‘prepare the way of the Lord and make his paths straight.” At least I must admit that I did have a problem in understanding it.
I do not think that there were that many people who could even begin to understand it when he said that “After me comes one whose sandals I am not worthy to untie”
And among all the people who responded to his call of, “Repent and be baptized” they must have been deeply confused to hear him declaring to them “I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
What was John all about?
Why was he doing what he did?
And what is the importance of his message for all of us gathered here today?
To me, John the Baptist is the very voice of Advent, he is the voice of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to this world to intervene for us in the relationship between God and ourselves.
His message was not only a word about our Lord Jesus.
It was the Good News, in other words, the Gospel. It was the beginning of the Good News for you and me. It was the beginning of the Good News for the entire world.
The entire episode of John and his message was at the beginning of the Ministry of Jesus in this world, and John, as well as his message, still is the beginning today for everyone who want to walk with Jesus. This is for everyone who wants to find their way out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land…..
There is an old Chinese proverb, and I should know, as I am Chinese by race, that a journey of a thousand miles must begin with one step.
John’s purpose in his ministry was to point out to everyone in those days, and to all of us in today’s world what that first step must be. He was pointing out to us that the way of our Lord Jesus Christ must be prepared, and that we are not simply talking of a highway in the desert, but it must be a highway in our very hearts, a route or direction that we must all take, if we are to be ready for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
One day a university professor went to visit a great master by the name of Nan-In.
The university professor asked the Master to teach him what he needed to know in order to have a happy life. He told the Master that he studied the sacred scriptures, he already visited all the greatest teachers in Japan, and yet he was not able to find the answer, and humbly he was asking Nan-In to show him the way to a happy life.
Nan-In started serving tea to his guest. Nan-In poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring and pouring so that the tea began to run over the rim of the cup and across the table, and still he poured, until tea was flowing down from the table onto the floor. The professor watched this until he could no longer restrain himself. “It is overfull, stop, no more will go in”. He cried out.
Nan-In said, “Just like this cup, you are full of your opinions and speculations. How can I show you the way to a happy life until and unless you have emptied your cup?”
Indeed how can we ever welcome Christ? How can we ever enter the Promised Land with Him, if we ourselves are so full of our faith and trust in our own strengths, so full of our own high opinions of ourselves, so full of our poor opinion of other people, or so full of our own speculations, and therefore have no room for Him. How can we ever welcome the Jesus into our hearts and minds if our hearts are not prepared? How?
How can we ever welcome Jesus into our hearts and minds if our hearts are not prepared? How?
John the Baptist came in order to prepare the way of the Lord. He prepared the way of the Lord, not by building a highway in the wilderness of Judea. He prepared the way of the Lord by preparing the hearts and minds of all who were willing to listen to him and to repent of their ways.
John the Baptist called on the people to hear his message and to take action, so that they would be able to greet the Messiah, and walk in the way of the Lord.
Repent, and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins, he cried out, for after me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.
REPENT!
What does the word repent mean?
It simply meant to “turn around”, to change the direction that we are going, to face a new way, to begin to move on that new way, and to leave behind the old way. It means to turn to the Lord and not to rely on our own resources, for never could we have salvation by our own efforts or to be able to face our daily trails or to walk with our Lord. By our own efforts we will not even be able to live another day!
Much as the professor had to empty himself to learn the way of how to have a happy life, so each and everyone of us must change direction if we are to truly see the Lord and walk with Him from the wilderness to the Promised Land through all the trials and tribulations we faces in this world.
You may tell me, ‘But Edwin, we are living in Hong Kong, and not in the wilderness of Judea. What are you talking about?” The wilderness we are in, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ is contained in our hearts. The wilderness is in our hearts.
The wilderness is in our hearts.
It is not what is outside that defines our wilderness, rather it is what is inside ourselves, it is created by what we are done, or what we left undone. In other words, it is define by our own actions or inactions.
However, outside things do have a great influence and they can, especially during certain time in the year, to point out to us just how barren and how unfruitful our present way of life is.
During Christmas time we can more easily detect the hazards of a life unprepared for our Lord Jesus Christ.
We can more easily see what we are lacking in, and have a more of an experience of our need for God, for something or for anything that will ease our burdens in life.
Christmas can be such a lonely time.
It is a lonely time, not only for those of us who are far away from family and loved ones, but also for those who are alone because they are widows or single mothers. It is also a lonely time for those who have no peace in their minds. It is a lonely time for those who have been deceived into thinking that they can ever buy happiness for their families and friends by purchasing bigger gifts, better gifts or more expensive gifts.
It can be such a barren time and a time without joy, for those who think that somehow all that they ever needed could be found at Christmas parties, whether it be in the office or someone’s home, or in having just the perfect tree, or the nicest decorations in the whole city block, or the best decorated house in the entire province.
Even for those of us who place great value on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Christmas can be a time of year that reveals our need for a new way of doing things. A time of the year that shows that we too need to repent, and that we too need to empty our cups so that they can be filled with the water of life.
In so many ways we are all in a wilderness at this time of the year. A wilderness that is not of rocks and sand, heat and thirst, but a wilderness that is just as desolate and which makes us feeling spiritually dry.
Being busy is a feature of this desert of ours. Endless rounds of Christmas shopping, meetings and partying. At the end of the day, all this busyness leaves us exhausted and emotionally drained. All this busyness takes us away from Jesus and from thoughts of our reliance on God.
Noise attacks us. From the noise in the large shopping malls to the endless noise of carols, advertisements attacking us in the middle of our city of Hong Kong, or wherever you might be, not to mention from radios and televisions.
There is great pressure on us to feel happy, to be full of Christmas cheer, to enjoy ourselves, even when we are feeling much too tired, or wrapped up in our private and important grief.
We all feel compelled to spend money that we do not have. Either charging up great big debts on our credit cards, and for those who do not have credit cards, borrow money from money lenders in order for our families and friends either in Hong Kong or overseas can have the latest toys and gadgets that they do not really need.
Before you join the rush, it would be wise to consider this question: In the years to come, how much of your efforts will be appreciated, or even remembered, by family and friends? How many of last year's Christmas gifts and parties do you remember? Probably not many.
On top of all that, we get so many appeals for this charity or that charity, and we are also asked to work harder and longer hours, so that we might, as it was possible in our absence, make our family happier.
We are certainly in a wilderness, a wilderness both within ourselves and outside, and we need desperately the way of the Lord to be made ready in our lives so that we can emerge from that wilderness and come to the place where there is rest, the place of hope, joy, peace, and love, the place where our God resides – within our hearts.
Over the years I heard a lot of suggestions as to how we might better prepare the way in our lives, and in the lives of other people and I would like to share them with you.
The suggestions are ways of turning around in how many of us go through Advent and Christmas, a kind of repentance as it were.
It might be worth considering that instead of doing more things during Advent and Christmas, we might consider doing less, that we might consider slowing down and relaxing a bit more, as these precious Christmas days are much too precious to spend in doing what other people wanted us to do. Maybe we can consider having a month of saying NO.
NO to meetings that I can put off until the month of January. No to invitations that I may regret of giving out or accepting when the date arrives. NO to demands that take our attention away from our families and loved ones. When I say No to all such things, I will be able to say YES to other things, things such as Yes in trying out that new Christmas recipe. Yes to writing to neglected friends and relatives, Yes to sharing Christmas stories and singing the beautiful songs of the season with people I love. Yes to cuddling up to your spouse and love ones.
Maybe we can even consider inviting someone whom we know is lonely over to our house for Christmas dinner? What about reading the scriptures and praying for our church and our world? What about letting go of some unnecessary activity so that we will can have more time for family, church, home and friends. What about meditating each day on the generosity of God and his call for us to live by His love?
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, repentance is what most of us needs, the turning around that most of us requires. It is not such a hard thing to do. It is a necessary change of attitude toward life, and towards the things in this world that we hold as important right now.
Repentance is not all about beating on your breast and saying what a miserable sinner I have been. Repentance is not saying I am sorry over and over again. Repentance is doing things in a new way. A way that will give life both to yourselves and to other people. Repentance is the only way that will allow our Lord Jesus Christ to enter more deeply into your hearts.
All of us here today know more about John the Baptist than the people who first heard him some 2000 years ago. We do know that the one, who followed, the one that he called people to prepare for, was the Lord of Life, a man who bestowed health and wholeness on all who were ready for him.
However, John’s words to us are just important today as it was 2000 years ago.
John calls on us to the new life revealed in Jesus.
He reminds us that if are to have that life, we must do just a little more than just wanting it. We must prepare ourselves for it, by making changes in our directions. We must prepare ourselves for it by doing certain things differently than we have done in the past.
To repent is to recognize that the old ways in which we have been traveling on will lead us only to a spiritual death, and will lead further and further away from God. To repent is to recognize the need to turn around, and to ask for God’s forgiveness and help, and by the help of His grace started walking in the way that will lead us to the light.
Repentance is a beginning that is blessed by God, a beginning that we all need to make each day, one day at a time.
As we turn to face Jesus, our lives are warmed, for his light shines on our path. As we walk forward from the place we were, we find our paths are made straight, the valleys in our way are raised up, the mountains and hills are made low, the rough places are leveled out, the rugged places becomes a plain, for Jesus is walking with us.
I hope that we know that the key to having the 'best Christmas ever' is not buying more or decorating more, but focusing on what matters most. The true significance of Christmas is found in pausing to celebrate God's love for us and expressing that love to one another."
Comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, all her sins has been paid for. AMEN.
"I PRAY FOR A NEW BICYCLE...
I PRAY FOR A NEW GAMEBOY...
I PRAY FOR A NEW VCR..."
His older brother leaned over and nudged the younger brother and said, "Why are you shouting your prayers? God isn't deaf." To which the little brother replied, "No, but Grandma is!"
I do not know about you, but a lot of people find it difficult to understand John the Baptist and what value are his message is to us today.
I have a feeling that very few people, whether it be 2000 years ago, or in today’s world really understand what he was trying to tell us when he was telling everyone that his job was to ‘prepare the way of the Lord and make his paths straight.” At least I must admit that I did have a problem in understanding it.
I do not think that there were that many people who could even begin to understand it when he said that “After me comes one whose sandals I am not worthy to untie”
And among all the people who responded to his call of, “Repent and be baptized” they must have been deeply confused to hear him declaring to them “I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
What was John all about?
Why was he doing what he did?
And what is the importance of his message for all of us gathered here today?
To me, John the Baptist is the very voice of Advent, he is the voice of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to this world to intervene for us in the relationship between God and ourselves.
His message was not only a word about our Lord Jesus.
It was the Good News, in other words, the Gospel. It was the beginning of the Good News for you and me. It was the beginning of the Good News for the entire world.
The entire episode of John and his message was at the beginning of the Ministry of Jesus in this world, and John, as well as his message, still is the beginning today for everyone who want to walk with Jesus. This is for everyone who wants to find their way out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land…..
There is an old Chinese proverb, and I should know, as I am Chinese by race, that a journey of a thousand miles must begin with one step.
John’s purpose in his ministry was to point out to everyone in those days, and to all of us in today’s world what that first step must be. He was pointing out to us that the way of our Lord Jesus Christ must be prepared, and that we are not simply talking of a highway in the desert, but it must be a highway in our very hearts, a route or direction that we must all take, if we are to be ready for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
One day a university professor went to visit a great master by the name of Nan-In.
The university professor asked the Master to teach him what he needed to know in order to have a happy life. He told the Master that he studied the sacred scriptures, he already visited all the greatest teachers in Japan, and yet he was not able to find the answer, and humbly he was asking Nan-In to show him the way to a happy life.
Nan-In started serving tea to his guest. Nan-In poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring and pouring so that the tea began to run over the rim of the cup and across the table, and still he poured, until tea was flowing down from the table onto the floor. The professor watched this until he could no longer restrain himself. “It is overfull, stop, no more will go in”. He cried out.
Nan-In said, “Just like this cup, you are full of your opinions and speculations. How can I show you the way to a happy life until and unless you have emptied your cup?”
Indeed how can we ever welcome Christ? How can we ever enter the Promised Land with Him, if we ourselves are so full of our faith and trust in our own strengths, so full of our own high opinions of ourselves, so full of our poor opinion of other people, or so full of our own speculations, and therefore have no room for Him. How can we ever welcome the Jesus into our hearts and minds if our hearts are not prepared? How?
How can we ever welcome Jesus into our hearts and minds if our hearts are not prepared? How?
John the Baptist came in order to prepare the way of the Lord. He prepared the way of the Lord, not by building a highway in the wilderness of Judea. He prepared the way of the Lord by preparing the hearts and minds of all who were willing to listen to him and to repent of their ways.
John the Baptist called on the people to hear his message and to take action, so that they would be able to greet the Messiah, and walk in the way of the Lord.
Repent, and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins, he cried out, for after me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.
REPENT!
What does the word repent mean?
It simply meant to “turn around”, to change the direction that we are going, to face a new way, to begin to move on that new way, and to leave behind the old way. It means to turn to the Lord and not to rely on our own resources, for never could we have salvation by our own efforts or to be able to face our daily trails or to walk with our Lord. By our own efforts we will not even be able to live another day!
Much as the professor had to empty himself to learn the way of how to have a happy life, so each and everyone of us must change direction if we are to truly see the Lord and walk with Him from the wilderness to the Promised Land through all the trials and tribulations we faces in this world.
You may tell me, ‘But Edwin, we are living in Hong Kong, and not in the wilderness of Judea. What are you talking about?” The wilderness we are in, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ is contained in our hearts. The wilderness is in our hearts.
The wilderness is in our hearts.
It is not what is outside that defines our wilderness, rather it is what is inside ourselves, it is created by what we are done, or what we left undone. In other words, it is define by our own actions or inactions.
However, outside things do have a great influence and they can, especially during certain time in the year, to point out to us just how barren and how unfruitful our present way of life is.
During Christmas time we can more easily detect the hazards of a life unprepared for our Lord Jesus Christ.
We can more easily see what we are lacking in, and have a more of an experience of our need for God, for something or for anything that will ease our burdens in life.
Christmas can be such a lonely time.
It is a lonely time, not only for those of us who are far away from family and loved ones, but also for those who are alone because they are widows or single mothers. It is also a lonely time for those who have no peace in their minds. It is a lonely time for those who have been deceived into thinking that they can ever buy happiness for their families and friends by purchasing bigger gifts, better gifts or more expensive gifts.
It can be such a barren time and a time without joy, for those who think that somehow all that they ever needed could be found at Christmas parties, whether it be in the office or someone’s home, or in having just the perfect tree, or the nicest decorations in the whole city block, or the best decorated house in the entire province.
Even for those of us who place great value on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Christmas can be a time of year that reveals our need for a new way of doing things. A time of the year that shows that we too need to repent, and that we too need to empty our cups so that they can be filled with the water of life.
In so many ways we are all in a wilderness at this time of the year. A wilderness that is not of rocks and sand, heat and thirst, but a wilderness that is just as desolate and which makes us feeling spiritually dry.
Being busy is a feature of this desert of ours. Endless rounds of Christmas shopping, meetings and partying. At the end of the day, all this busyness leaves us exhausted and emotionally drained. All this busyness takes us away from Jesus and from thoughts of our reliance on God.
Noise attacks us. From the noise in the large shopping malls to the endless noise of carols, advertisements attacking us in the middle of our city of Hong Kong, or wherever you might be, not to mention from radios and televisions.
There is great pressure on us to feel happy, to be full of Christmas cheer, to enjoy ourselves, even when we are feeling much too tired, or wrapped up in our private and important grief.
We all feel compelled to spend money that we do not have. Either charging up great big debts on our credit cards, and for those who do not have credit cards, borrow money from money lenders in order for our families and friends either in Hong Kong or overseas can have the latest toys and gadgets that they do not really need.
Before you join the rush, it would be wise to consider this question: In the years to come, how much of your efforts will be appreciated, or even remembered, by family and friends? How many of last year's Christmas gifts and parties do you remember? Probably not many.
On top of all that, we get so many appeals for this charity or that charity, and we are also asked to work harder and longer hours, so that we might, as it was possible in our absence, make our family happier.
We are certainly in a wilderness, a wilderness both within ourselves and outside, and we need desperately the way of the Lord to be made ready in our lives so that we can emerge from that wilderness and come to the place where there is rest, the place of hope, joy, peace, and love, the place where our God resides – within our hearts.
Over the years I heard a lot of suggestions as to how we might better prepare the way in our lives, and in the lives of other people and I would like to share them with you.
The suggestions are ways of turning around in how many of us go through Advent and Christmas, a kind of repentance as it were.
It might be worth considering that instead of doing more things during Advent and Christmas, we might consider doing less, that we might consider slowing down and relaxing a bit more, as these precious Christmas days are much too precious to spend in doing what other people wanted us to do. Maybe we can consider having a month of saying NO.
NO to meetings that I can put off until the month of January. No to invitations that I may regret of giving out or accepting when the date arrives. NO to demands that take our attention away from our families and loved ones. When I say No to all such things, I will be able to say YES to other things, things such as Yes in trying out that new Christmas recipe. Yes to writing to neglected friends and relatives, Yes to sharing Christmas stories and singing the beautiful songs of the season with people I love. Yes to cuddling up to your spouse and love ones.
Maybe we can even consider inviting someone whom we know is lonely over to our house for Christmas dinner? What about reading the scriptures and praying for our church and our world? What about letting go of some unnecessary activity so that we will can have more time for family, church, home and friends. What about meditating each day on the generosity of God and his call for us to live by His love?
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, repentance is what most of us needs, the turning around that most of us requires. It is not such a hard thing to do. It is a necessary change of attitude toward life, and towards the things in this world that we hold as important right now.
Repentance is not all about beating on your breast and saying what a miserable sinner I have been. Repentance is not saying I am sorry over and over again. Repentance is doing things in a new way. A way that will give life both to yourselves and to other people. Repentance is the only way that will allow our Lord Jesus Christ to enter more deeply into your hearts.
All of us here today know more about John the Baptist than the people who first heard him some 2000 years ago. We do know that the one, who followed, the one that he called people to prepare for, was the Lord of Life, a man who bestowed health and wholeness on all who were ready for him.
However, John’s words to us are just important today as it was 2000 years ago.
John calls on us to the new life revealed in Jesus.
He reminds us that if are to have that life, we must do just a little more than just wanting it. We must prepare ourselves for it, by making changes in our directions. We must prepare ourselves for it by doing certain things differently than we have done in the past.
To repent is to recognize that the old ways in which we have been traveling on will lead us only to a spiritual death, and will lead further and further away from God. To repent is to recognize the need to turn around, and to ask for God’s forgiveness and help, and by the help of His grace started walking in the way that will lead us to the light.
Repentance is a beginning that is blessed by God, a beginning that we all need to make each day, one day at a time.
As we turn to face Jesus, our lives are warmed, for his light shines on our path. As we walk forward from the place we were, we find our paths are made straight, the valleys in our way are raised up, the mountains and hills are made low, the rough places are leveled out, the rugged places becomes a plain, for Jesus is walking with us.
I hope that we know that the key to having the 'best Christmas ever' is not buying more or decorating more, but focusing on what matters most. The true significance of Christmas is found in pausing to celebrate God's love for us and expressing that love to one another."
Comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, all her sins has been paid for. AMEN.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Can love be wrong
Let us pray – Creator and maker of us all – bless the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts – grow thou in us and show us your ways and inspire us to live by your truth. Amen.
Can love be wrong?
In my humble opinion, the Book of Ruth is one of the most beautiful books in the Bible. To me it is a beautiful story; it is a story that contains in it so many different elements. It is a story about life and death, famine and feast, love and loss, and love regained.
I would encourage you to read the story for yourself sometime this week. It is a very good story, it is a good story, if you got a good translation, will give you and your family entertainment, and to top it up, it is just as good, if not better, than a good television show.
In my sermon of today, which incidentally, is a story sermon, I would like us all to look at the love between Ruth and Boaz and what it might mean to our faith – in other words, what it might mean to how we are going to love our neighbours and our God.
I want to start off by telling you the story of Jonathan, that mysterious person whom we have been hearing about in today’s Old Testament from the Book of Ezra.
To give you a bit of background to the story, I will like to remind you that what happened in the Book of Ezra actually took place over five hundred years after what happened in the book of Ruth.
Even before Jonathan got to the corner of the Old Inn he could already hear someone praying in the square right in front of the house of God.
He knew immediately that something special was happening. Within the city of Jerusalem there was an unusual quite (imagine Causeway Bay being quite during a business day), and apart from the quietness, he noticed that for the last hour he had seem groups of people drifting towards the direction of the temple.
What finally aroused Jonathan’s curiosity and caused him to put down his tools and headed towards the temple was due to the unusual quietness and the movement of the people.
However, he could hardly see anything when he finally got to the temple square as there was already a huge crowd gathered there. All he could see was people everywhere.
Jonathan was very persistent, and after a couple of minutes, having moving first this way, and then that, he finally came to a place where he could see between the adults who were in front of him and over the heads of the children who were also present. And when he finally could see, he saw Ezra, the priest, on his knees before the temple in the middle of an intense prayer.
Ezra had torn his clothes and his tunic. He was also weeping and rocking back and forth. He was rocking back and forth, as he prayed to the Lord God of Israel, and in his voice, a voice which carried clear and loud over the square, Jonathan heard in the voice of Ezra the sound of grief.
Jonathan listened with all the people in the square to the prayer, and heard Ezra confesses to the Lord that his people had sinned, he heard Ezra expressed his fear that God’s people would sin once again, and that they would once again break the commandments of God and become unfaithful to Him. Ezra expressed his fear that the people would once again make treaties with corrupt nations and marry people from countries that scorned and despised both the laws of God and His chosen people. Jonathan as well as all present at the square witnessed Ezra weeping. He heard the anguish in Ezra’s voice, as he prayed that the people of Israel will not be acting the same way that they had been acting in the past. He prayed that they will not again run the risk of total destruction by loving those whom they should not love, and as a result binding themselves to foreigners, to people who worshipped other gods.
Jonathan felt deeply moved upon seeing and hearing the prayers of Ezra.
He too grieved for the glory that Israel once had and now lost. He too mourned for the Israel’s loss of innocence, for the time when David was King, and not only the true faith, but the entire nation was strong.
Jonathan knew, as did all the people present at the square that day, that some kinds of love are simply wrong.
He knew, from the history of Israel that some kinds of love were very dangerous to the nation and to the true faith, and Jonathan felt greatly tempted to join in his voice to those of all the other people who began to weep bitterly with Ezra over the sins and plight of Israel.
He was also tempted to take the vow that they were taking, after Ezra had finished praying. The vow that Shecaniah proposed while everyone was weeping:
- the vow to divorce those whom they should have never married;
- the vow to divorce them and send them as well as their children to the lands to which they originally came from, back to the lands of corruption from which they first came.
As the people around him wept and lifted up their voices in agreement with Shecaniah, Jonathan was tempted to join in with them, but something inside him would not allow him to do so.
Something held Jonathan back from joining the people that day. He was not certain what it was that held him back from that day, but as he walked away from the square with the other people. With a heavy heart he thought about it, and what he was going to do when the people were going to be gathered again in three days time to take action on Erza’s words and to fulfill the vow that had been made.
Jonathan thought about how from the very beginning the people of God had been warned about intermarriage.
Moses had told Israel that it would surely lead to idolatry, and that foreign women would corrupt the faith of their husband, and teach their children to love and worship other gods, until finally the day would come when the nation would perish, because it no longer worshipped the Lord God of Israel.
As Jonathan continued on working in his shop during the next two days, he kept on recalling how Ezra had claimed that the destruction of Israel and of Jerusalem and of the temple happened because the people of Israel had ignored Moses’ warning and their God.
He kept on remembering how Ezra had explained to the people that the current poverty and weakness of Israel was due partly to the same problem, that the people were suffering because they were once again contaminating the nation by marrying foreign women; and that they had weakened themselves by loving the wrong people.
The more he thought about it, Ezra’s words seem to made sense to Jonathan. He was not sure as to hwy he had held back from taking the vow. After all, he did not have a foreign wife, and he nothing to lose personally by going alone with what to all appearances seem to made sense.
Different traditions often do not mix well.
Different faiths more often than not conflicted with each other, and in such a conflict, both faiths normally perish, for a faith that is changed is a faith that is lost.
There were other people besides Moses and Ezra who said that if one truly loved God with all of one’s heart and soul and mind and strength then they would not risk their faith by marrying foreigners, or by loving a person from a different culture and belief.
That kind of love could not help but be dangerous; it could not help but being wrong, and it could very much be like inviting a wolf to come and live inside a sheep pen, no matter how kind the wolf seems to be, and how loving the sheep are, nature would end up having her way.
Jonathan kept on thinking about these things, and he felt confused and disturbed by his reluctance to take the vow – a reluctance he continued to feel despite all the arguments that he had thought of regarding the taking of the vow. It was in this kind of a state of confusion raging in his mind when he went up to the temple square on the third day with all the men of Judah and Benjamin.
His state of mind was exactly the same as the weather of the day – as it was a miserable rainy day. He sat in the square with several thousand other men, trying in vain to stay warm and dry as Ezra mounted the temple steps to talk to them.
Jonathan suddenly felt a measure of desperation when Ezra began to speak.
He still did not know what she should do when Ezra called out for all the men of Israel to renounce their foreign wives. He did not know that if he could agree to the action that would be legislated that very day.
But then, just as Ezra spoke he suddenly what was bothering him.
As Ezra once again proclaimed to the people that the men of Israel had been unfaithful to God because they had married foreign wives, he suddenly understands what had been bothering him all this time. He realized why he had not taken the vow proposed by Shecaniah, son of Jehiel.
It was all because of Ruth.
He remembers that his mother had often told him the story of Ruth and Boaz, about how Ruth had followed Naomi from Moab to Bethlehem, after the death of her first husband. He remembers hearing of how she had worked in the fields gleaning the wheat left behind by the reapers so she could care for herself and for her mother-in-law, until one day Boaz had noticed her and shown her his favor by instructing the harvesters to leave some sheaves for her.
Jonathan remembers how his mother had always loved the story of Ruth, she delighted in telling of the cleverness of Naomi in arranging things so that Ruth would meet up with Boaz again, and how Boaz had won Ruth from the relative who should have married her as according to the law of Moses by getting him to renounce his claim in public.
Jonathan’s mother had dearly loved the story of Ruth and now he realized that it was the story or Ruth that had prevented him from taking the vow of Shecaniah.
Jonathan knew that some kind of love are dangerous, but he also knew as well that all kinds of love can be used by God, it can be used by God, and it can be blessed, even if it may seem to be wrong to have that love.
Jonathan realized that the reason for his hesitation in the square three days ago was because he had known somewhere in his inner being that although it can be a dangerous to love a sinner, however, that love does not necessary end in disaster.
Jonathan remembered what Ezra and Shecaniah seems to have forgotten.
He remembered that Ruth was a Moabitess, she was a foreigner, she came from a tribe who were famous for corruption and idolatry.
Despite Ruth’s switch of faith; despite her proven loyalty to Naomi, Ruth was a like an Irish Protestant marrying a Roman Catholic; Ruth was like a black person marrying a white person in the United States way back in the 1930’s; Ruth was like a prostitute marrying a church elder.
Ruth was the leopard that according what Ezra said about foreigners, could not change its spots; she was the one who led to the destruction of the first temple and the defeat of the nation.
According to Ezra, she was the one, who even now, was destroying the people of Israel.
Jonathan, as he sat huddled down in the square, with the rain pouring down on him, suddenly felt a thrill ran through his body as he remembered how the story of Ruth and Boaz ended, and he thought about what would have happened if Boaz hade to take the vow of Shecaniah.
You see, after Ruth and Boaz got married, she became the mother of Obed, and Obed was the father of Jesse, and Jesse was the father of David, who became the king of Israel, the very king out of whom was to come the Messiah, the very king who had made Israel a great nation and the God of Israel famous throughout the known world.
If Boaz had not loved Ruth, who was a foreign woman, and it was supposedly wrong to love, then all the right things would never have happened. There would have been no king David, no king Salomon, no temple, no glory, no kingdom, no power, no might…nothing!
As so as Jonathan sat in the rain and watched Ezra and the people of Jerusalem weep again for all their sins, and decide to send away all the foreign women that they had married. He praised god for the love that they called wrong, for the love that had given to Israel its greatest king and which would soon give to the whole world the Messiah that the world desperately needed.
He praised God, and he, along with three other men present in the square that day, refused to agree with what Ezra proposed. He refused to be in agreement that the love of Ruth and Boaz had been wrong.
Can love be wrong?
In my humble opinion, the Book of Ruth is one of the most beautiful books in the Bible. To me it is a beautiful story; it is a story that contains in it so many different elements. It is a story about life and death, famine and feast, love and loss, and love regained.
I would encourage you to read the story for yourself sometime this week. It is a very good story, it is a good story, if you got a good translation, will give you and your family entertainment, and to top it up, it is just as good, if not better, than a good television show.
In my sermon of today, which incidentally, is a story sermon, I would like us all to look at the love between Ruth and Boaz and what it might mean to our faith – in other words, what it might mean to how we are going to love our neighbours and our God.
I want to start off by telling you the story of Jonathan, that mysterious person whom we have been hearing about in today’s Old Testament from the Book of Ezra.
To give you a bit of background to the story, I will like to remind you that what happened in the Book of Ezra actually took place over five hundred years after what happened in the book of Ruth.
Even before Jonathan got to the corner of the Old Inn he could already hear someone praying in the square right in front of the house of God.
He knew immediately that something special was happening. Within the city of Jerusalem there was an unusual quite (imagine Causeway Bay being quite during a business day), and apart from the quietness, he noticed that for the last hour he had seem groups of people drifting towards the direction of the temple.
What finally aroused Jonathan’s curiosity and caused him to put down his tools and headed towards the temple was due to the unusual quietness and the movement of the people.
However, he could hardly see anything when he finally got to the temple square as there was already a huge crowd gathered there. All he could see was people everywhere.
Jonathan was very persistent, and after a couple of minutes, having moving first this way, and then that, he finally came to a place where he could see between the adults who were in front of him and over the heads of the children who were also present. And when he finally could see, he saw Ezra, the priest, on his knees before the temple in the middle of an intense prayer.
Ezra had torn his clothes and his tunic. He was also weeping and rocking back and forth. He was rocking back and forth, as he prayed to the Lord God of Israel, and in his voice, a voice which carried clear and loud over the square, Jonathan heard in the voice of Ezra the sound of grief.
Jonathan listened with all the people in the square to the prayer, and heard Ezra confesses to the Lord that his people had sinned, he heard Ezra expressed his fear that God’s people would sin once again, and that they would once again break the commandments of God and become unfaithful to Him. Ezra expressed his fear that the people would once again make treaties with corrupt nations and marry people from countries that scorned and despised both the laws of God and His chosen people. Jonathan as well as all present at the square witnessed Ezra weeping. He heard the anguish in Ezra’s voice, as he prayed that the people of Israel will not be acting the same way that they had been acting in the past. He prayed that they will not again run the risk of total destruction by loving those whom they should not love, and as a result binding themselves to foreigners, to people who worshipped other gods.
Jonathan felt deeply moved upon seeing and hearing the prayers of Ezra.
He too grieved for the glory that Israel once had and now lost. He too mourned for the Israel’s loss of innocence, for the time when David was King, and not only the true faith, but the entire nation was strong.
Jonathan knew, as did all the people present at the square that day, that some kinds of love are simply wrong.
He knew, from the history of Israel that some kinds of love were very dangerous to the nation and to the true faith, and Jonathan felt greatly tempted to join in his voice to those of all the other people who began to weep bitterly with Ezra over the sins and plight of Israel.
He was also tempted to take the vow that they were taking, after Ezra had finished praying. The vow that Shecaniah proposed while everyone was weeping:
- the vow to divorce those whom they should have never married;
- the vow to divorce them and send them as well as their children to the lands to which they originally came from, back to the lands of corruption from which they first came.
As the people around him wept and lifted up their voices in agreement with Shecaniah, Jonathan was tempted to join in with them, but something inside him would not allow him to do so.
Something held Jonathan back from joining the people that day. He was not certain what it was that held him back from that day, but as he walked away from the square with the other people. With a heavy heart he thought about it, and what he was going to do when the people were going to be gathered again in three days time to take action on Erza’s words and to fulfill the vow that had been made.
Jonathan thought about how from the very beginning the people of God had been warned about intermarriage.
Moses had told Israel that it would surely lead to idolatry, and that foreign women would corrupt the faith of their husband, and teach their children to love and worship other gods, until finally the day would come when the nation would perish, because it no longer worshipped the Lord God of Israel.
As Jonathan continued on working in his shop during the next two days, he kept on recalling how Ezra had claimed that the destruction of Israel and of Jerusalem and of the temple happened because the people of Israel had ignored Moses’ warning and their God.
He kept on remembering how Ezra had explained to the people that the current poverty and weakness of Israel was due partly to the same problem, that the people were suffering because they were once again contaminating the nation by marrying foreign women; and that they had weakened themselves by loving the wrong people.
The more he thought about it, Ezra’s words seem to made sense to Jonathan. He was not sure as to hwy he had held back from taking the vow. After all, he did not have a foreign wife, and he nothing to lose personally by going alone with what to all appearances seem to made sense.
Different traditions often do not mix well.
Different faiths more often than not conflicted with each other, and in such a conflict, both faiths normally perish, for a faith that is changed is a faith that is lost.
There were other people besides Moses and Ezra who said that if one truly loved God with all of one’s heart and soul and mind and strength then they would not risk their faith by marrying foreigners, or by loving a person from a different culture and belief.
That kind of love could not help but be dangerous; it could not help but being wrong, and it could very much be like inviting a wolf to come and live inside a sheep pen, no matter how kind the wolf seems to be, and how loving the sheep are, nature would end up having her way.
Jonathan kept on thinking about these things, and he felt confused and disturbed by his reluctance to take the vow – a reluctance he continued to feel despite all the arguments that he had thought of regarding the taking of the vow. It was in this kind of a state of confusion raging in his mind when he went up to the temple square on the third day with all the men of Judah and Benjamin.
His state of mind was exactly the same as the weather of the day – as it was a miserable rainy day. He sat in the square with several thousand other men, trying in vain to stay warm and dry as Ezra mounted the temple steps to talk to them.
Jonathan suddenly felt a measure of desperation when Ezra began to speak.
He still did not know what she should do when Ezra called out for all the men of Israel to renounce their foreign wives. He did not know that if he could agree to the action that would be legislated that very day.
But then, just as Ezra spoke he suddenly what was bothering him.
As Ezra once again proclaimed to the people that the men of Israel had been unfaithful to God because they had married foreign wives, he suddenly understands what had been bothering him all this time. He realized why he had not taken the vow proposed by Shecaniah, son of Jehiel.
It was all because of Ruth.
He remembers that his mother had often told him the story of Ruth and Boaz, about how Ruth had followed Naomi from Moab to Bethlehem, after the death of her first husband. He remembers hearing of how she had worked in the fields gleaning the wheat left behind by the reapers so she could care for herself and for her mother-in-law, until one day Boaz had noticed her and shown her his favor by instructing the harvesters to leave some sheaves for her.
Jonathan remembers how his mother had always loved the story of Ruth, she delighted in telling of the cleverness of Naomi in arranging things so that Ruth would meet up with Boaz again, and how Boaz had won Ruth from the relative who should have married her as according to the law of Moses by getting him to renounce his claim in public.
Jonathan’s mother had dearly loved the story of Ruth and now he realized that it was the story or Ruth that had prevented him from taking the vow of Shecaniah.
Jonathan knew that some kind of love are dangerous, but he also knew as well that all kinds of love can be used by God, it can be used by God, and it can be blessed, even if it may seem to be wrong to have that love.
Jonathan realized that the reason for his hesitation in the square three days ago was because he had known somewhere in his inner being that although it can be a dangerous to love a sinner, however, that love does not necessary end in disaster.
Jonathan remembered what Ezra and Shecaniah seems to have forgotten.
He remembered that Ruth was a Moabitess, she was a foreigner, she came from a tribe who were famous for corruption and idolatry.
Despite Ruth’s switch of faith; despite her proven loyalty to Naomi, Ruth was a like an Irish Protestant marrying a Roman Catholic; Ruth was like a black person marrying a white person in the United States way back in the 1930’s; Ruth was like a prostitute marrying a church elder.
Ruth was the leopard that according what Ezra said about foreigners, could not change its spots; she was the one who led to the destruction of the first temple and the defeat of the nation.
According to Ezra, she was the one, who even now, was destroying the people of Israel.
Jonathan, as he sat huddled down in the square, with the rain pouring down on him, suddenly felt a thrill ran through his body as he remembered how the story of Ruth and Boaz ended, and he thought about what would have happened if Boaz hade to take the vow of Shecaniah.
You see, after Ruth and Boaz got married, she became the mother of Obed, and Obed was the father of Jesse, and Jesse was the father of David, who became the king of Israel, the very king out of whom was to come the Messiah, the very king who had made Israel a great nation and the God of Israel famous throughout the known world.
If Boaz had not loved Ruth, who was a foreign woman, and it was supposedly wrong to love, then all the right things would never have happened. There would have been no king David, no king Salomon, no temple, no glory, no kingdom, no power, no might…nothing!
As so as Jonathan sat in the rain and watched Ezra and the people of Jerusalem weep again for all their sins, and decide to send away all the foreign women that they had married. He praised god for the love that they called wrong, for the love that had given to Israel its greatest king and which would soon give to the whole world the Messiah that the world desperately needed.
He praised God, and he, along with three other men present in the square that day, refused to agree with what Ezra proposed. He refused to be in agreement that the love of Ruth and Boaz had been wrong.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
It can be hard for us to understand John the Baptist today
O Lord, we pray, speak to us all here in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your children listen. Amen.
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near
I do not know about you, but a lot of people find it difficult to understand John the Baptist and what value are his message is to us today.
I have a feeling that very few people, whether it be 2000 years ago, or in today’s world really understand what he was trying to tell us when he told everyone that his job was to ‘prepare the way of the Lord and make his paths straight.” At least I must admit that I did have a problem in understanding what it means for us in today’s world.
I do not think that there were that many people who could even begin to understand it when he said that “After me comes one whose sandals I am not worthy to untie”
And among all the people who responded to his call of, “Repent and be baptized” they must have been deeply confused to hear him declaring to them “I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
What was John all about?
Why was he doing what he did?
And what is the importance of his message for all of us gathered here today?
To me, John the Baptist is the very voice of Advent, he is the voice of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to this world to intervene for us in the relationship between God and ourselves.
His message was not only a word about our Lord Jesus.
It was the Good News, in other words, the Gospel. It was the beginning of the Good News for you and me. It was the beginning of the Good News for the entire world.
The entire episode of John and his message was at the beginning of the Ministry of Jesus in this world. John’s message, still is the beginning today for everyone who want to walk with Jesus. This is for everyone who wants to find their way out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land…..
There is an old Chinese proverb, and I should know, as I am Chinese by race, that a journey of a thousand miles must begin with one step.
John’s purpose in his ministry was to point out to everyone in those days, and to all of us in today’s world what that first step must be. He was pointing out to us that the way of our Lord Jesus Christ must be prepared, and that we are not simply talking of a highway in the desert, but it must be a highway in our very hearts, a route or direction that we must all take, if we are to be ready for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
One day a university professor went to visit a great master by the name of Nan-In. The university professor asked the Master to teach him what he needed to know in order to have a happy life. He told the Master that he studied the sacred scriptures, he already visited all the greatest teachers in Japan, and yet he was not able to find the answer, and humbly he was asking Nan-In to show him the way to a happy life.
Nan-In said nothing and started serving tea to his guest. Nan-In kept on pouring tea into his visitor’s cup, and kept on pouring and pouring so that the tea began to run over the rim of the cup and across the table, and still he poured, until tea was flowing down from the table onto the floor. The professor watched this until he could no longer restrain himself. “It is overfull, stop, no more will go in”. He cried out.
Nan-In said, “Just like this cup, you are full of your opinions and speculations. How can I show you the way to a happy life until and unless you have emptied your cup?”
Indeed how can we ever welcome Christ? How can we ever enter the Promised Land with Him, if we ourselves are so full of our faith and trust in our own strengths, so full of our own high opinions of ourselves, so full of our poor opinion of other people, or so full of our own speculations, and therefore have no room for Him. How can we ever welcome the Lord if our hearts are not prepared? How?
How can we ever welcome the Lord if our hearts are not prepared? How?
John the Baptist came in order to prepare the way of the Lord. He prepared the way of the Lord, not by building a highway in the wilderness of Judea. He prepared the way of the Lord by preparing the hearts and minds of all who were willing to listen to him and to repent of their ways.
John the Baptist called on the people to hear his message and to take action, so that they would be able to greet the Messiah, and walk in the way of the Lord.
Repent, and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins, he cried out, for after me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.
REPENT!
What does the word repent mean?
It simply meant to “turn around”, to change the direction that we are going, to face a new way, to begin to move on that new way, and to leave behind the old way. It means to turn to the Lord and not to rely on our own resources, for never could we have salvation by our own efforts or to be able to face our daily trails or to walk with our Lord. By our own efforts we will not even be able to live another day!
Much as the professor had to empty himself to learn the way of how to have a happy life, so each and everyone of us must change direction if we are to truly see the Lord and walk with Him from the wilderness to the Promised Land through all the trials and tribulations we faces in this world.
You may tell me, ‘But Edwin, we are living in Hong Kong, and not in the wilderness of Judea. What are you talking about?” The wilderness we are in, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ is contained in our hearts. The wilderness is in our hearts.
The wilderness is in our hearts.
It is not what is outside that defines our wilderness, rather it is what is inside ourselves, it is created by what we are done, or what we left undone. In other words, it is define by our own actions or inactions.
However, outside things do have a great influence and they can, especially during certain time in the year, to point out to us just how barren and how unfruitful our present way of life is.
During Christmas time we can more easily detect the hazards of a life unprepared for our Lord Jesus Christ.
We can more easily see what we are lacking in, and have a more of an experience of our need for God, for something or for anything that will ease our burdens in life.
Christmas can be such a lonely time.
It is a lonely time, not only for those of us who are far away from family and loved ones, but also for those who are alone because they are widows or single mothers. It is also a lonely time for those who have no peace in their minds. It is a lonely time for those who have been deceived into thinking that they can ever buy happiness for their families and friends by purchasing bigger gifts, better gifts or more expensive gifts.
It can be such a barren time and a time without joy, for those who think that somehow all that they ever needed could be found at Christmas parties, whether it be in the office or someone’s home, or in having just the perfect tree, or the nicest decorations in the whole city block, or the best decorated house in the entire province.
Even for those of us who place great value on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Christmas can be a time of year that reveals our need for a new way of doing things. A time of the year that shows that we too need to repent, and that we too need to empty our cups so that they can be filled with the water of life.
In so many ways we are all in a wilderness at this time of the year. A wilderness that is not of rocks and sand, heat and thirst, but a wilderness that is just as desolate and which makes us feeling spiritually dry.
Being busy is a feature of this desert of ours. Endless rounds of Christmas shopping, meetings and partying. At the end of the day, all this busyness leaves us exhausted and emotionally drained.
Noise attacks us. From the noise in the large shopping malls to the endless noise of carols, advertisements attacking us in the middle of our city of Hong Kong, or wherever you might be, not to mention from radios and televisions.
There is great pressure on us to feel happy, to be full of Christmas cheer, to enjoy ourselves, even when we are feeling much too tired, or wrapped up in our private and important grief.
We all feel compelled to spend money that we do not have. Either charging up great big debts on our credit cards, and for those who do not have credit cards, borrow money from money lenders in order for our families and friends either in Hong Kong or overseas can have the latest toys and gadgets that they do not really need.
On top of all that, we get so many appeals for this charity or that charity, and we are also asked to work harder and longer hours, so that we might, as it was possible in our absence, make our family happier.
We are certainly in a wilderness, a wilderness both within ourselves and outside, and we need desperately the way of the Lord to be made ready in our lives so that we can emerge from that wilderness and come to the place where there is rest, the place of hope, joy, peace, and love, the place where our God resides – within our hearts.
I remember hearing of suggestions as to how we might better prepare the way in our lives, and in the lives of other people.
The suggestions are ways of turning around in how many of us go through Advent and Christmas, a kind of repentance as it were.
It might be worth considering that instead of doing more things during Advent and Christmas, we might consider doing less, that we might consider slowing down and relaxing a bit more, as these precious Christmas days are much too precious to spend in doing what other people wanted us to do. Maybe we can consider having a month of saying NO.
NO to meetings that I can put off until the month of January. No to invitations that I may regret of giving out or accepting when the date arrives. NO to demands that take our attention away from our families and loved ones. When I say No to all such things, I will be able to say YES to other things, things such as Yes in trying out that new Christmas recipe. Yes to writing to neglected friends and relatives, YES to sharing Christmas stories and singing the beautiful songs of the season with people I love. YES to cuddling up to your spouse or love ones.
Maybe we can even consider inviting someone whom we know is lonely over to our house for Christmas dinner? What about reading the scriptures and praying for our church and our world? What about letting go of some unnecessary activity so that we will can have more time for family, church, home and friends. What about meditating each day on the generosity of God and his call for us to live by His love?
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, repentance is what most of us needs, the turning around that most of us requires. It is not such a hard thing to do. It is a necessary change of attitude toward life, and towards the things in this world that we hold as important right now.
Repentance is not all about beating on your breast and saying what a miserable sinner I have been. Repentance is not saying I am sorry over and over again. Repentance is doing things in a new way. A way that will give life both to yourselves and to other people. Repentance is the only way that will allow our Lord Jesus Christ to enter more deeply into your hearts.
All of us here today know more about John the Baptist than the people who first heard him some 2000 years ago. We do know that the one, who followed, the one that he called people to prepare for, was the Lord of Life, a man who bestowed health and wholeness on all who were ready for him. However, John’s words to us are just important today as it was 2000 years ago. John calls on us to the new life revealed in Jesus.
JOHN IS CALLING ON US TO THE NEW LIFE REVEALED IN JEUS.
He reminds us that if are to have that life, we must do just a little more than just wanting it. We must prepare ourselves for it, by making changes in our directions. We must prepare ourselves for it by doing certain things differently than we have done in the past.
To repent is to recognize that the old ways in which we have been traveling on will lead us only to a spiritual death, and will lead further and further away from God. To repent is to recognize the need to turn around, and to ask for God’s forgiveness and help, and by the help of His grace started walking in the way that will lead us to the light.
Repentance is a beginning that is blessed by God, a beginning that we all need to make each day, one day at a time.
As we turn to face Jesus, our lives are warmed, for his light shines on our path. As we walk forward from the place we were, we find our paths are made straight, the valleys in our way are raised up, the mountains and hills are made low, the rough places are leveled out, the rugged places becomes a plain, for Jesus is walking with us.
Comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, all her sins has been paid for. AMEN.
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near
I do not know about you, but a lot of people find it difficult to understand John the Baptist and what value are his message is to us today.
I have a feeling that very few people, whether it be 2000 years ago, or in today’s world really understand what he was trying to tell us when he told everyone that his job was to ‘prepare the way of the Lord and make his paths straight.” At least I must admit that I did have a problem in understanding what it means for us in today’s world.
I do not think that there were that many people who could even begin to understand it when he said that “After me comes one whose sandals I am not worthy to untie”
And among all the people who responded to his call of, “Repent and be baptized” they must have been deeply confused to hear him declaring to them “I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
What was John all about?
Why was he doing what he did?
And what is the importance of his message for all of us gathered here today?
To me, John the Baptist is the very voice of Advent, he is the voice of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to this world to intervene for us in the relationship between God and ourselves.
His message was not only a word about our Lord Jesus.
It was the Good News, in other words, the Gospel. It was the beginning of the Good News for you and me. It was the beginning of the Good News for the entire world.
The entire episode of John and his message was at the beginning of the Ministry of Jesus in this world. John’s message, still is the beginning today for everyone who want to walk with Jesus. This is for everyone who wants to find their way out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land…..
There is an old Chinese proverb, and I should know, as I am Chinese by race, that a journey of a thousand miles must begin with one step.
John’s purpose in his ministry was to point out to everyone in those days, and to all of us in today’s world what that first step must be. He was pointing out to us that the way of our Lord Jesus Christ must be prepared, and that we are not simply talking of a highway in the desert, but it must be a highway in our very hearts, a route or direction that we must all take, if we are to be ready for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
One day a university professor went to visit a great master by the name of Nan-In. The university professor asked the Master to teach him what he needed to know in order to have a happy life. He told the Master that he studied the sacred scriptures, he already visited all the greatest teachers in Japan, and yet he was not able to find the answer, and humbly he was asking Nan-In to show him the way to a happy life.
Nan-In said nothing and started serving tea to his guest. Nan-In kept on pouring tea into his visitor’s cup, and kept on pouring and pouring so that the tea began to run over the rim of the cup and across the table, and still he poured, until tea was flowing down from the table onto the floor. The professor watched this until he could no longer restrain himself. “It is overfull, stop, no more will go in”. He cried out.
Nan-In said, “Just like this cup, you are full of your opinions and speculations. How can I show you the way to a happy life until and unless you have emptied your cup?”
Indeed how can we ever welcome Christ? How can we ever enter the Promised Land with Him, if we ourselves are so full of our faith and trust in our own strengths, so full of our own high opinions of ourselves, so full of our poor opinion of other people, or so full of our own speculations, and therefore have no room for Him. How can we ever welcome the Lord if our hearts are not prepared? How?
How can we ever welcome the Lord if our hearts are not prepared? How?
John the Baptist came in order to prepare the way of the Lord. He prepared the way of the Lord, not by building a highway in the wilderness of Judea. He prepared the way of the Lord by preparing the hearts and minds of all who were willing to listen to him and to repent of their ways.
John the Baptist called on the people to hear his message and to take action, so that they would be able to greet the Messiah, and walk in the way of the Lord.
Repent, and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins, he cried out, for after me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.
REPENT!
What does the word repent mean?
It simply meant to “turn around”, to change the direction that we are going, to face a new way, to begin to move on that new way, and to leave behind the old way. It means to turn to the Lord and not to rely on our own resources, for never could we have salvation by our own efforts or to be able to face our daily trails or to walk with our Lord. By our own efforts we will not even be able to live another day!
Much as the professor had to empty himself to learn the way of how to have a happy life, so each and everyone of us must change direction if we are to truly see the Lord and walk with Him from the wilderness to the Promised Land through all the trials and tribulations we faces in this world.
You may tell me, ‘But Edwin, we are living in Hong Kong, and not in the wilderness of Judea. What are you talking about?” The wilderness we are in, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ is contained in our hearts. The wilderness is in our hearts.
The wilderness is in our hearts.
It is not what is outside that defines our wilderness, rather it is what is inside ourselves, it is created by what we are done, or what we left undone. In other words, it is define by our own actions or inactions.
However, outside things do have a great influence and they can, especially during certain time in the year, to point out to us just how barren and how unfruitful our present way of life is.
During Christmas time we can more easily detect the hazards of a life unprepared for our Lord Jesus Christ.
We can more easily see what we are lacking in, and have a more of an experience of our need for God, for something or for anything that will ease our burdens in life.
Christmas can be such a lonely time.
It is a lonely time, not only for those of us who are far away from family and loved ones, but also for those who are alone because they are widows or single mothers. It is also a lonely time for those who have no peace in their minds. It is a lonely time for those who have been deceived into thinking that they can ever buy happiness for their families and friends by purchasing bigger gifts, better gifts or more expensive gifts.
It can be such a barren time and a time without joy, for those who think that somehow all that they ever needed could be found at Christmas parties, whether it be in the office or someone’s home, or in having just the perfect tree, or the nicest decorations in the whole city block, or the best decorated house in the entire province.
Even for those of us who place great value on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Christmas can be a time of year that reveals our need for a new way of doing things. A time of the year that shows that we too need to repent, and that we too need to empty our cups so that they can be filled with the water of life.
In so many ways we are all in a wilderness at this time of the year. A wilderness that is not of rocks and sand, heat and thirst, but a wilderness that is just as desolate and which makes us feeling spiritually dry.
Being busy is a feature of this desert of ours. Endless rounds of Christmas shopping, meetings and partying. At the end of the day, all this busyness leaves us exhausted and emotionally drained.
Noise attacks us. From the noise in the large shopping malls to the endless noise of carols, advertisements attacking us in the middle of our city of Hong Kong, or wherever you might be, not to mention from radios and televisions.
There is great pressure on us to feel happy, to be full of Christmas cheer, to enjoy ourselves, even when we are feeling much too tired, or wrapped up in our private and important grief.
We all feel compelled to spend money that we do not have. Either charging up great big debts on our credit cards, and for those who do not have credit cards, borrow money from money lenders in order for our families and friends either in Hong Kong or overseas can have the latest toys and gadgets that they do not really need.
On top of all that, we get so many appeals for this charity or that charity, and we are also asked to work harder and longer hours, so that we might, as it was possible in our absence, make our family happier.
We are certainly in a wilderness, a wilderness both within ourselves and outside, and we need desperately the way of the Lord to be made ready in our lives so that we can emerge from that wilderness and come to the place where there is rest, the place of hope, joy, peace, and love, the place where our God resides – within our hearts.
I remember hearing of suggestions as to how we might better prepare the way in our lives, and in the lives of other people.
The suggestions are ways of turning around in how many of us go through Advent and Christmas, a kind of repentance as it were.
It might be worth considering that instead of doing more things during Advent and Christmas, we might consider doing less, that we might consider slowing down and relaxing a bit more, as these precious Christmas days are much too precious to spend in doing what other people wanted us to do. Maybe we can consider having a month of saying NO.
NO to meetings that I can put off until the month of January. No to invitations that I may regret of giving out or accepting when the date arrives. NO to demands that take our attention away from our families and loved ones. When I say No to all such things, I will be able to say YES to other things, things such as Yes in trying out that new Christmas recipe. Yes to writing to neglected friends and relatives, YES to sharing Christmas stories and singing the beautiful songs of the season with people I love. YES to cuddling up to your spouse or love ones.
Maybe we can even consider inviting someone whom we know is lonely over to our house for Christmas dinner? What about reading the scriptures and praying for our church and our world? What about letting go of some unnecessary activity so that we will can have more time for family, church, home and friends. What about meditating each day on the generosity of God and his call for us to live by His love?
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, repentance is what most of us needs, the turning around that most of us requires. It is not such a hard thing to do. It is a necessary change of attitude toward life, and towards the things in this world that we hold as important right now.
Repentance is not all about beating on your breast and saying what a miserable sinner I have been. Repentance is not saying I am sorry over and over again. Repentance is doing things in a new way. A way that will give life both to yourselves and to other people. Repentance is the only way that will allow our Lord Jesus Christ to enter more deeply into your hearts.
All of us here today know more about John the Baptist than the people who first heard him some 2000 years ago. We do know that the one, who followed, the one that he called people to prepare for, was the Lord of Life, a man who bestowed health and wholeness on all who were ready for him. However, John’s words to us are just important today as it was 2000 years ago. John calls on us to the new life revealed in Jesus.
JOHN IS CALLING ON US TO THE NEW LIFE REVEALED IN JEUS.
He reminds us that if are to have that life, we must do just a little more than just wanting it. We must prepare ourselves for it, by making changes in our directions. We must prepare ourselves for it by doing certain things differently than we have done in the past.
To repent is to recognize that the old ways in which we have been traveling on will lead us only to a spiritual death, and will lead further and further away from God. To repent is to recognize the need to turn around, and to ask for God’s forgiveness and help, and by the help of His grace started walking in the way that will lead us to the light.
Repentance is a beginning that is blessed by God, a beginning that we all need to make each day, one day at a time.
As we turn to face Jesus, our lives are warmed, for his light shines on our path. As we walk forward from the place we were, we find our paths are made straight, the valleys in our way are raised up, the mountains and hills are made low, the rough places are leveled out, the rugged places becomes a plain, for Jesus is walking with us.
Comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, all her sins has been paid for. AMEN.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Proverbs 12:4
"An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, But she who causes shame is like rottenness in his bones." Proverbs 12:4
Everyone wants quality. Most men, if they have to wear a suit, would love to own a custom tailored suit. A suit from the best tailor in town cut to our own body shape would feel wonderful. Unfortunately, most of us can't afford such a garment. Most of us would love to drive a Mercedes Benz or luxury car or sports machine. The feel of fine tooled leather; the power available at the touch of foot to pedal; the exhilaration of such precision machinery must be "out of this world." Unfortunately, most of us drive our old clunkers until they are beyond repair and then buy someone else's cast-off and do it all again.
Most women would love to have the finest jewelry, perhaps a $100,000 diamond ring to go with her luxurious furs and designer clothing. Unfortunately, most of them live on a very small budget. All of life is a trade-off. We desire the best. We settle for the best our money can buy.
Solomon tells his son that the best wife in the world is a treasure worth clinging to. Whatever a man does, wherever he goes, his wife makes him look good. It may not be that she is the most beautiful woman, physically, in the room. It is that she is smooth and secure. Her role is to support her husband. She makes sure he looks good in his clothing. She sees to it that he knows what is happening (after all, we all know that most men are clueless!) and what is soon to happen. She makes her home a palace to be enjoyed by her family. She is frugal in her extravagance. (See finds a way to furnish her home and clothe her family with products that look like they cost a million, and she does it on pennies.)
Yes, we all desire the best our money can buy, and we are proud of what we own.
God is the same way. He has chosen us because He sees in us the excellence He created in us. He sees beyond the zits and flaws and sins. He sees deep into the soul, and He sees not the filth, but the perfection He created and will recreate. God does not make mistakes. Never has. Never will. His desire is that we become His showpiece. Oh, He knows our limitations, he did create us. He knows our flaws. He wept over each one as we inflicted them upon ourselves. But He knows what is yet to come. In many ways He is like a diamond cutter. What I see as a pretty rock, He sees as a brilliant cut diamond. What I see as a flaw, He sees as raw material ready for the Craftsman. What I see as failure, He sees as an opportunity to witness His power and love and grace and mercy.
To God, we are like an "excellent wife." He desires for us to make Him "proud." And, what's more, He gives us the tools, the opportunities, and the experiences to do just that. Are you allowing Him to make you into a "crown jewel"? Amen and Amen.
Everyone wants quality. Most men, if they have to wear a suit, would love to own a custom tailored suit. A suit from the best tailor in town cut to our own body shape would feel wonderful. Unfortunately, most of us can't afford such a garment. Most of us would love to drive a Mercedes Benz or luxury car or sports machine. The feel of fine tooled leather; the power available at the touch of foot to pedal; the exhilaration of such precision machinery must be "out of this world." Unfortunately, most of us drive our old clunkers until they are beyond repair and then buy someone else's cast-off and do it all again.
Most women would love to have the finest jewelry, perhaps a $100,000 diamond ring to go with her luxurious furs and designer clothing. Unfortunately, most of them live on a very small budget. All of life is a trade-off. We desire the best. We settle for the best our money can buy.
Solomon tells his son that the best wife in the world is a treasure worth clinging to. Whatever a man does, wherever he goes, his wife makes him look good. It may not be that she is the most beautiful woman, physically, in the room. It is that she is smooth and secure. Her role is to support her husband. She makes sure he looks good in his clothing. She sees to it that he knows what is happening (after all, we all know that most men are clueless!) and what is soon to happen. She makes her home a palace to be enjoyed by her family. She is frugal in her extravagance. (See finds a way to furnish her home and clothe her family with products that look like they cost a million, and she does it on pennies.)
Yes, we all desire the best our money can buy, and we are proud of what we own.
God is the same way. He has chosen us because He sees in us the excellence He created in us. He sees beyond the zits and flaws and sins. He sees deep into the soul, and He sees not the filth, but the perfection He created and will recreate. God does not make mistakes. Never has. Never will. His desire is that we become His showpiece. Oh, He knows our limitations, he did create us. He knows our flaws. He wept over each one as we inflicted them upon ourselves. But He knows what is yet to come. In many ways He is like a diamond cutter. What I see as a pretty rock, He sees as a brilliant cut diamond. What I see as a flaw, He sees as raw material ready for the Craftsman. What I see as failure, He sees as an opportunity to witness His power and love and grace and mercy.
To God, we are like an "excellent wife." He desires for us to make Him "proud." And, what's more, He gives us the tools, the opportunities, and the experiences to do just that. Are you allowing Him to make you into a "crown jewel"? Amen and Amen.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Psalm 42:1-2
"As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?" Psalm 42:1-2
I don't know a lot about deer, so I will talk about camels. Well, actually I don't know a lot about camels - but I've read quite a few books that talk about camels. Camels can smell water several miles away. . . especially after they have been driven through a desert for several days. We all know that camels have an astounding reservoir inside their bodies. This allows them to spend days in the desert without water. Still, when they are running dry, they will run to a distant water hole. Many a desert traveler has been saved by simply holding on to his camel.
Something I do know about is dogs. Dogs spend a lot of time outdoors in the summer. After spending several hours outside the first thing they rush to is the water bowl! It's just natural for animals of all kinds to find water. It is the most elemental of needs for most living creatures. It seems that man is the only living creature who does not long for water naturally. The average person would rather drink a flavored beverage than plain old water. It would serve us well to "pant for water" in a literal way!
David says his desire for God is as strong as a thirsty animal's desire for water. Nothing will stand between him and his God. So should it be for us (though I suspect that if we had to make a choice on a given non-church night we just might choose our favorite TV show.) How thirsty was David for God? How thirsty should we be for God? David wanted to - no anxiously looked forward to - the time he would meet God face to face! How many of us can say that? We need to - no we must desire God above all else. Why? Our very lives depend upon it. Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.
I don't know a lot about deer, so I will talk about camels. Well, actually I don't know a lot about camels - but I've read quite a few books that talk about camels. Camels can smell water several miles away. . . especially after they have been driven through a desert for several days. We all know that camels have an astounding reservoir inside their bodies. This allows them to spend days in the desert without water. Still, when they are running dry, they will run to a distant water hole. Many a desert traveler has been saved by simply holding on to his camel.
Something I do know about is dogs. Dogs spend a lot of time outdoors in the summer. After spending several hours outside the first thing they rush to is the water bowl! It's just natural for animals of all kinds to find water. It is the most elemental of needs for most living creatures. It seems that man is the only living creature who does not long for water naturally. The average person would rather drink a flavored beverage than plain old water. It would serve us well to "pant for water" in a literal way!
David says his desire for God is as strong as a thirsty animal's desire for water. Nothing will stand between him and his God. So should it be for us (though I suspect that if we had to make a choice on a given non-church night we just might choose our favorite TV show.) How thirsty was David for God? How thirsty should we be for God? David wanted to - no anxiously looked forward to - the time he would meet God face to face! How many of us can say that? We need to - no we must desire God above all else. Why? Our very lives depend upon it. Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
2 Corinth 13:5
"Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you are disqualified." 2 Corinth 13:5
Some people hate tests. They would cram for them and study the material and could know it inside and out - and still hate tests. Finals are the worst. They usually carried 1/3rd the weight of an entire semester's grade. Do poorly on one of those and you repeated the course. The fear of failure is always present - and we hate failure as much as we hate tests. Still, tests are a necessary evil in the scheme of education. Without them, we would have no incentive to learn. We would never have mastered the dreaded multiplication tables. We would never have studied Shakespeare. We would have totally ignored some subject matter that has proven to be absolutely nonessential for our every day lives.
Tests have helped make me into the man that I am - well rounded (don't laugh about my physical appearance - I mean mentally!) man. Come to think of it, though I used to like tests, I still like them now - of course a high grade is not the issue any more. Success in life is the issue.
Successful Christian living is the issue. And sometimes, the lives of people around me are the issue. All of these are far more important than whether or not I can "ace" the course. Paul tells us to take a test - a self-test. On that exam is one question. "Am I in the faith?" What does that mean? "Am I right with God? Or, have I parted ways with Him?" In all honesty, we are either one or the other. There is no middle ground. It is a black and white question demanding a "yes" or a "no." "Maybe" or "Sometimes" will never do. And the answer we give will indeed shape our lives.
So, how did you do? Now bear in mind that this is not the final for the course. It's only a "pop quiz." If you aren't satisfied with the answer, you can work to change it. You can improve it. Oh, by the way, it's an "open book" exam. You can check your answer against the Word of God - it's always available. You can always bring it to "class" and its yard stick is always accurate. If your answer is not adequate, I hope you will work on it. We never know when the final will come. Amen and Amen.
Some people hate tests. They would cram for them and study the material and could know it inside and out - and still hate tests. Finals are the worst. They usually carried 1/3rd the weight of an entire semester's grade. Do poorly on one of those and you repeated the course. The fear of failure is always present - and we hate failure as much as we hate tests. Still, tests are a necessary evil in the scheme of education. Without them, we would have no incentive to learn. We would never have mastered the dreaded multiplication tables. We would never have studied Shakespeare. We would have totally ignored some subject matter that has proven to be absolutely nonessential for our every day lives.
Tests have helped make me into the man that I am - well rounded (don't laugh about my physical appearance - I mean mentally!) man. Come to think of it, though I used to like tests, I still like them now - of course a high grade is not the issue any more. Success in life is the issue.
Successful Christian living is the issue. And sometimes, the lives of people around me are the issue. All of these are far more important than whether or not I can "ace" the course. Paul tells us to take a test - a self-test. On that exam is one question. "Am I in the faith?" What does that mean? "Am I right with God? Or, have I parted ways with Him?" In all honesty, we are either one or the other. There is no middle ground. It is a black and white question demanding a "yes" or a "no." "Maybe" or "Sometimes" will never do. And the answer we give will indeed shape our lives.
So, how did you do? Now bear in mind that this is not the final for the course. It's only a "pop quiz." If you aren't satisfied with the answer, you can work to change it. You can improve it. Oh, by the way, it's an "open book" exam. You can check your answer against the Word of God - it's always available. You can always bring it to "class" and its yard stick is always accurate. If your answer is not adequate, I hope you will work on it. We never know when the final will come. Amen and Amen.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Psalm 68:6
"God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land." Psalm 68:6
It's all about love. That's the sum total of the human experience. Of course we define love in many different ways, but when it comes down to it, we are all looking for the same thing - a love that passes understanding - one that is pure and satisfying beyond description. It's beyond the physical, though that is were many stop in their search. The physical is simply a shallow imitation if what we all desire. We want that eternal love, one that transcends time and space. There is only one place to find that kind of love - in the Father's arms.
The prodigal son found that out. When he was in the pig sty (a rough place for a young Jewish boy), he knew that what he had experienced, what he thought was love, was nothing. When the money was gone, the love was gone. He realized that his father's servants felt more love than he did. He would have been satisfied with the love his father gave the servants.
Still, when he approached home, his father saw him, ran to him, put his arms around him and gave that lost son all that he wanted and needed. The prodigal found perfect love in the arms of his father.
David says that God places the lonely in a family. The lonely, like the prodigal, have mostly given up on ever finding perfect love. They have convinced themselves that second or third best or none at all in the love category is all they are worthy of.
But the Father has other plans. He wants to give them all that He has for them. He desires above all else to provide perfect love - His love. All they have to do is start out for home and the Father will come running to them. Perhaps you know of some lonely people. Do you shun them, or do you give them love? Do you cross the street and tell your children to look the other way, or do you feed them? How do you look at the homeless, the downtrodden, the poor, the filthy, the addict? They are people that Jesus died for. If God was willing to pay that price, don't you think you should be able to give them some of the Father's love - share the love He has freely given you? Don't be stingy with your love, give it away! The Father will give you much more in return - guaranteed! Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.
It's all about love. That's the sum total of the human experience. Of course we define love in many different ways, but when it comes down to it, we are all looking for the same thing - a love that passes understanding - one that is pure and satisfying beyond description. It's beyond the physical, though that is were many stop in their search. The physical is simply a shallow imitation if what we all desire. We want that eternal love, one that transcends time and space. There is only one place to find that kind of love - in the Father's arms.
The prodigal son found that out. When he was in the pig sty (a rough place for a young Jewish boy), he knew that what he had experienced, what he thought was love, was nothing. When the money was gone, the love was gone. He realized that his father's servants felt more love than he did. He would have been satisfied with the love his father gave the servants.
Still, when he approached home, his father saw him, ran to him, put his arms around him and gave that lost son all that he wanted and needed. The prodigal found perfect love in the arms of his father.
David says that God places the lonely in a family. The lonely, like the prodigal, have mostly given up on ever finding perfect love. They have convinced themselves that second or third best or none at all in the love category is all they are worthy of.
But the Father has other plans. He wants to give them all that He has for them. He desires above all else to provide perfect love - His love. All they have to do is start out for home and the Father will come running to them. Perhaps you know of some lonely people. Do you shun them, or do you give them love? Do you cross the street and tell your children to look the other way, or do you feed them? How do you look at the homeless, the downtrodden, the poor, the filthy, the addict? They are people that Jesus died for. If God was willing to pay that price, don't you think you should be able to give them some of the Father's love - share the love He has freely given you? Don't be stingy with your love, give it away! The Father will give you much more in return - guaranteed! Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Gen 37:3-4
"Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him." Gen 37:3-4
Joseph wasn't the problem so much as Israel's reaction to him. Israel lavished upon his youngest (at that time) son. He "loved him more that all his sons." I suppose there was some just cause. He was the last born son of Israel's favorite wife (that's another story). He gave Joseph all the advantages. While he dressed the other sons well, he made Joseph special clothes. It's like buying most of your children clothes from the Salvation Army Family Stores, (a charitable shop run by the Salvation Army here in Hong Kong) while buying your favorite child only designer garments from the fanciest store in town.
It will always cause problems. Joseph's brothers were jealous - and rightfully so. (You could say they had "older brother syndrome" - "you never killed a fatted calf for me!") They already had a severe disliking for their youngest sibling. Joseph didn't help matters much by relaying his dreams of his prominence to his brothers. Really now, why should they bow down to him? Here's the problem.
If you openly exalt one child over another, you will invariably damage all of them. It's a fact. Look at the trouble that arose from Israel's favoritism. Hatred, distrust, contemplated murder, slavery, imprisonment, suffering, loss, lying. All of these things resulted from this misplaced "love." Sure, good came of it.
Joseph survived the suffering. Israel survived the loss of his favorite son. Murder was avoided because reason prevailed. The family was ultimately saved because of Joseph. That doesn't mean all the decisions were right - all that happened was the way God wanted it. But it worked out.
Parents, I encourage you to learn from Israel's error. Do your best to treat all your children equally - give them all the love they need. Don't squander your love on one at the expense of the others. Israel would probably be the first to tell you that the suffering, the pain, of this mistake is severe. It is better to love all and have all than to love one over the other and lose all.
This advice can apply to many other situations as well. Teachers, take note. Preachers, take note. Employers, take note. All of us need to take note and avoid this pitfall. It leads to trouble. Amen and Amen.
Joseph wasn't the problem so much as Israel's reaction to him. Israel lavished upon his youngest (at that time) son. He "loved him more that all his sons." I suppose there was some just cause. He was the last born son of Israel's favorite wife (that's another story). He gave Joseph all the advantages. While he dressed the other sons well, he made Joseph special clothes. It's like buying most of your children clothes from the Salvation Army Family Stores, (a charitable shop run by the Salvation Army here in Hong Kong) while buying your favorite child only designer garments from the fanciest store in town.
It will always cause problems. Joseph's brothers were jealous - and rightfully so. (You could say they had "older brother syndrome" - "you never killed a fatted calf for me!") They already had a severe disliking for their youngest sibling. Joseph didn't help matters much by relaying his dreams of his prominence to his brothers. Really now, why should they bow down to him? Here's the problem.
If you openly exalt one child over another, you will invariably damage all of them. It's a fact. Look at the trouble that arose from Israel's favoritism. Hatred, distrust, contemplated murder, slavery, imprisonment, suffering, loss, lying. All of these things resulted from this misplaced "love." Sure, good came of it.
Joseph survived the suffering. Israel survived the loss of his favorite son. Murder was avoided because reason prevailed. The family was ultimately saved because of Joseph. That doesn't mean all the decisions were right - all that happened was the way God wanted it. But it worked out.
Parents, I encourage you to learn from Israel's error. Do your best to treat all your children equally - give them all the love they need. Don't squander your love on one at the expense of the others. Israel would probably be the first to tell you that the suffering, the pain, of this mistake is severe. It is better to love all and have all than to love one over the other and lose all.
This advice can apply to many other situations as well. Teachers, take note. Preachers, take note. Employers, take note. All of us need to take note and avoid this pitfall. It leads to trouble. Amen and Amen.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Mark 10:33-34
"Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again" Mark 10:33-34
Writers often us a technique called "foreshadowing" to hint at things to come. Sir Conan Doyle uses such gimmicks to lead the reader in correct - or misleading - paths on the way to the solution of a mystery. Another writer, Angela Lansbury often did the same in the "Murder, a series she wrote for the television. It is a wonderful tool for the fiction writer.
Today we see the same tool used by Jesus as He and His disciples are on their way to Jerusalem. To us, it seems that these verses are rather obvious. Jesus is telling His disciples that He will be betrayed into the hands of His enemies. He will be tortured, mocked, ridiculed, beaten, condemned to death, and hung on a cross. He also tells them that He will rise from the grave.
The only problem was that the disciples did not seem to be listening. James and John were seeking a favor of Jesus - "when you come into you kingdom, can we have the places of honor?" They missed the point Jesus was making - totally! Sure, He would have a kingdom - but it would come at a great price. And that kingdom would not be of a nature that they thought. They could see themselves sitting on golden thrones on either side of Jesus' much larger and glorious jewel studded throne. They never heard Jesus say he was about to die.
Surely the others thought James and John were a bit out of line. The ten weren't listening to Jesus either. They were indignant at the request of James and John! Their anger burned towards their toward brothers - and justly so. Those two had been Jesus' favorites from the very beginning. The ten wanted their share of the kingdom too. It's really too bad the twelve didn't listen to the only person worth listening to. It would have certainly helped them understand what would happen in a few short days. They would not have been so frightened when Judas betrayed Jesus. They wouldn't have fled when Jesus was taken captive. Peter might not have denied Jesus three times before dawn on that eventful Friday. Sure, Jesus would die - but the final clause of His statement was so very important: "and three days later He will rise again."
Imagine what would have happened if the disciples had paid attention. The crucifixion could have been a victory celebration. The resurrection an expected climax to a most important week. But they didn't - and they would soon suffer the consequences because they did not hear the foreshadowing statement of their Master.
Jesus often gives us a foreshadowing of what is to come in our lives. Our pastor might be talking about sorrows coming to believers to make us strong. We are drawing cartoons on our bulletin. He tells us to be "prayed up" in advance of the coming troubles. We are telling the kids to quit fighting. Then, when the sermon is over and the invitation sung, we exit the sanctuary thinking the pastor failed to tell us a thing. Three weeks later we wonder why he didn't warn us that the enemy would be having a field day at our expense. If he had only warned us, we would have been praying!
If we can learn anything from today's verses it is this: when God speaks, we had better listen. Amen and Amen.
Writers often us a technique called "foreshadowing" to hint at things to come. Sir Conan Doyle uses such gimmicks to lead the reader in correct - or misleading - paths on the way to the solution of a mystery. Another writer, Angela Lansbury often did the same in the "Murder, a series she wrote for the television. It is a wonderful tool for the fiction writer.
Today we see the same tool used by Jesus as He and His disciples are on their way to Jerusalem. To us, it seems that these verses are rather obvious. Jesus is telling His disciples that He will be betrayed into the hands of His enemies. He will be tortured, mocked, ridiculed, beaten, condemned to death, and hung on a cross. He also tells them that He will rise from the grave.
The only problem was that the disciples did not seem to be listening. James and John were seeking a favor of Jesus - "when you come into you kingdom, can we have the places of honor?" They missed the point Jesus was making - totally! Sure, He would have a kingdom - but it would come at a great price. And that kingdom would not be of a nature that they thought. They could see themselves sitting on golden thrones on either side of Jesus' much larger and glorious jewel studded throne. They never heard Jesus say he was about to die.
Surely the others thought James and John were a bit out of line. The ten weren't listening to Jesus either. They were indignant at the request of James and John! Their anger burned towards their toward brothers - and justly so. Those two had been Jesus' favorites from the very beginning. The ten wanted their share of the kingdom too. It's really too bad the twelve didn't listen to the only person worth listening to. It would have certainly helped them understand what would happen in a few short days. They would not have been so frightened when Judas betrayed Jesus. They wouldn't have fled when Jesus was taken captive. Peter might not have denied Jesus three times before dawn on that eventful Friday. Sure, Jesus would die - but the final clause of His statement was so very important: "and three days later He will rise again."
Imagine what would have happened if the disciples had paid attention. The crucifixion could have been a victory celebration. The resurrection an expected climax to a most important week. But they didn't - and they would soon suffer the consequences because they did not hear the foreshadowing statement of their Master.
Jesus often gives us a foreshadowing of what is to come in our lives. Our pastor might be talking about sorrows coming to believers to make us strong. We are drawing cartoons on our bulletin. He tells us to be "prayed up" in advance of the coming troubles. We are telling the kids to quit fighting. Then, when the sermon is over and the invitation sung, we exit the sanctuary thinking the pastor failed to tell us a thing. Three weeks later we wonder why he didn't warn us that the enemy would be having a field day at our expense. If he had only warned us, we would have been praying!
If we can learn anything from today's verses it is this: when God speaks, we had better listen. Amen and Amen.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Repaint and Thin no more
Lord of light – shine upon us. God of love fill our hearts with your wisdom. Holy Spirit, bring yourself closer to us in my words and how we hear them, in our thoughts and how we think them. Use this time – and uses us to accomplish your good will. Amen.
The life we are having in this world is not all that there is to it – there is a lot more to come, and what is to come is based on – to a very large extent to what we do here and now – it is basically based on the kind of foundation that we are building for ourselves with the help of God.
The two Scripture readings we heard this morning speaks of the future life and of what lies beyond this mortal coil of ours. And the Scripture readings do so in a most solemn manner – one with the story of Lazarus and the rich man, the other one with a reminder to us of what it is we should all be about, what we should be doing in this life.
Reading from Timothy –
As for you – pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith – take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called…
And again –
As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everyone for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.
Pursue righteousness – godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Set your hops on God rather than riches. Do good, share with each other.
Very simple instructions – ones in fact contained in the Law and the Prophets. Yet how often in our daily lives do we really go about building the foundation of our future using these set of instructions?
Let us all take into consideration the story of Lazarus and the Rich man for a moment –
Lazarus, a poor beggar – ends up in heaven, while the Rich man – ends up in hell.
Do you know what happened? What is all seems to come down to is that the rich man failed to share even the crumbs that fell from his table with the beggar who was laying right at his gate during his lifetime – the Rich man failed to have any compassion for his neighbour.
The Law and the Prophets tell us to feed the hungry. We are to look after the widows and the orphans. We are to do justice to those who are foreigners and the strangers in where we are living in. We are to take car of those who are suffering. We are to love God and to we are to love our neighbour as ourselves.
The Rich man probably knew what he was supposed to do. He probably obeyed most of the Law and the Prophets, but for some reason or other, the beggar at his gates did not seem to be worthy of his attention. For some reason or other the beggar was not even worthy to be given the leftovers of his feast. How about us?
Do we ever notice the poor people who are in our community? Do we ever notice the suffering of some of the people in our community? Do we ever notice the hardship of the orphans and widows? Do we do justice to those who are foreigners and strangers here in our community?
As we eat our fast food meals, as we go out to nice restaurants and watch television shows like “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”. As some of us may be dreaming of winning the great Mark Six lottery prize or some other lotteries so that we might become even richer – do we spare a thought – let alone a few crumbs – a few dollars – to help those who se sores are fill of puss – whose bellies know little but dirty water and the odd bit of bread that others may from time to time have provided for them?
I heard recently a story of a Texan who, after a whole lifetime of striving, finally struck I struck it rich in oil. The first thing he did was to take a trip to Dallas and got himself an outfit that he has been dreaming for all his life – boots, spurs, a 10 gallon hat, together with all the trimmings – including a nice big Cadillac with a set of Texas Longhorn horns mounted on the front end of the car. No sooner had he got home from his trip to Dallas, he had a heart attack and died. His wife, knowing of her late husband’s new found pride and joy, decided that the only appropriate thing for her to do is to have him bury with his new finery. Accordingly a concrete vault was prepared, and a large crane was hired for the occasion. With his hat, his boots, and all the trimmings, the body was placed behind the wheel of the Cadillac. As the crane lifted the car and began lowering the Cadillac with his body in it into the vault, a friend of the deceased nudged someone standing close by and said “Man, that is living.”
I am afraid that there are many people in the world who think that way. They think that life is all about living affluently. They think that living is all about having a DVD player and a television, a nice car and a nice apartment or house, not to mention a nice funeral when it is time to go.
But that, my dear sisters and brothers in Christ, that is not living, that is dying.
Andrew Carnegie, who amassed a fortune of over 400 million dollars, ended up giving away 99.5% of his fortune away. When interviewed as to the reason for his doing so, he said – “The man, who dies rich, dies in disgrace.”
The bible seems to give us an indication that only does the rich man died in disgrace, but he also ended up in hell. While the very people that the rich man very likely despised during his lifetime, the poor beggars of our society, the welfare cases that a lot of people only talked about but never lift a finger to help, the millions of children around the world who die each year for lack of basic sanitation and a lack of food, all ended up in heaven.
What do think are riches worth in the very end of our lives? Riches that have not been shared with the needy?
Some of you here sitting here in church this morning are probably thinking – “this teaching of Jesus does not apply to me. I am not rich. I only earn very little money every month. I do not have sumptuous feasts or live in a big mansion.” However, please allow me to remind you, wealth is a relative thing – and I dare say to you that most of us sitting here are rich beyond measure when you compared yourself to 90% of the world’s population, and not doing too bad if you compared yourself to about 40% of people in Hong Kong or in your own country.
What good will all that does to us in the end? Unless we are first rich, as Paul so puts it in verses 18 and 19 of today’s Epistle reading, and unless we are rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, and thus have stored up for ourselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future.
Some people may say that this is a hard teaching, and I do not doubt that at all, for it is. However, again using the words of the Apostle Paul, it is the way to take hold of the life that really is life.
Jesus, in another passage in the Scriptures tells us that a rich man is as likely to get into heaven as it is for a camel to get through the eye of a needle.
Some interpreters of the Bible say that what Jesus was referring to in this particular passage was an ancient gate that went through the walls of Jerusalem and into the city. This gate so we understand was so small, that anyone wanted to pass through with his camel will have to first get off the camel, unload his camel, and then have to have the camel kneel down and basically go through the gate by repeated crouching down and rising up movements. There are interpreters who rejected the idea of there ever being such a gate in existence. However, the message to us is very clear, whether this gate existed or not, you cannot be so attached to your possessions, to your wealth and your pride and your position in life, and hope to be able to enter the Kingdom of God. You rather have them put aside, you rather that you give them away, you rather that you get down from your high place and in an attitude of humility, then walk through the gate.
There are many people in this world who would love to be able to have their hunger satisfied with what falls from our table. And there will be come a time when we will all be reduced to being equal with all those people
A time of dying
A time of judgment
Although the mercy of Christ is there for those who will seek it, but personally I doubt whether it is going to do us much good, if we do not prepare ourselves during this lifetime, if we have not laid a good foundation for ourselves, a foundation that is based on the love of God and the love of our neighbours. I am talking of all our neighbours, not just the ones whom we think as being worthy of our love.
A deacon of a church went out one day to paint his house. He purchased five gallons of white paint and began the job. As he got to the third side of the house, he notice that he was running out of paint, so he added some turpentine to the remainder of the paint and kept on painting. On the final side of the house, he noticed that he was again running out of paint, so he added a bit more turpentine and succeeded in finishing off painting. After the paint dried, he noticed that the last two sides of the house were streaky, the whole thing looked awful. Being a religious man, he bowed his head in prayer, and asked God what he should do. A voice came from heaven and said to him – REPAINT AND THIN NO MORE.
This is also the message of Christ for us. He calls us on us to repent and sin no more. We are called by Christ to repent of our selfishness, of our lack of caring for those who do not fit our concept of deserving, of our tendency to pass judgment in such a way that we can justify ignoring those who are outside our gates.
Where does the Grace of God fit into all that I have talk about today?
It is in the very fact that all of us can enter the Kingdom of God, and this is the will of God for each and every one of us.
As Paul wrote in his epistle:
As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Set your hope in God, and build a good foundation for the future, by using what God has given for our enjoyment to increase the enjoyment of others. Visit those who are sick. Cloth those who are naked. Feed those who are hungry. Give a cup of cold water to those who thirst. And bless God’s name for the fact that God has made it possible for you to show His love and His grace to those who are in such deep need for it.
The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.” But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your many good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us. The rich man then said, “Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house – for I have five brothers – that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.” Abraham replied – “They have Moses and the prophets, they should listen to them.” The rich man said, “No father Abraham, but if someone should rise from the dead, they will repent.” Abraham said to him – “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convince even if someone rises from the dead.”
Listen my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, to Moses and the Prophets. Their message is the same as that of the one who rose from the dead. Listen – do what they have told us to do, and thereby build a good foundation for the future.
Blessed be God – day by day. Amen.
The life we are having in this world is not all that there is to it – there is a lot more to come, and what is to come is based on – to a very large extent to what we do here and now – it is basically based on the kind of foundation that we are building for ourselves with the help of God.
The two Scripture readings we heard this morning speaks of the future life and of what lies beyond this mortal coil of ours. And the Scripture readings do so in a most solemn manner – one with the story of Lazarus and the rich man, the other one with a reminder to us of what it is we should all be about, what we should be doing in this life.
Reading from Timothy –
As for you – pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith – take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called…
And again –
As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everyone for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.
Pursue righteousness – godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Set your hops on God rather than riches. Do good, share with each other.
Very simple instructions – ones in fact contained in the Law and the Prophets. Yet how often in our daily lives do we really go about building the foundation of our future using these set of instructions?
Let us all take into consideration the story of Lazarus and the Rich man for a moment –
Lazarus, a poor beggar – ends up in heaven, while the Rich man – ends up in hell.
Do you know what happened? What is all seems to come down to is that the rich man failed to share even the crumbs that fell from his table with the beggar who was laying right at his gate during his lifetime – the Rich man failed to have any compassion for his neighbour.
The Law and the Prophets tell us to feed the hungry. We are to look after the widows and the orphans. We are to do justice to those who are foreigners and the strangers in where we are living in. We are to take car of those who are suffering. We are to love God and to we are to love our neighbour as ourselves.
The Rich man probably knew what he was supposed to do. He probably obeyed most of the Law and the Prophets, but for some reason or other, the beggar at his gates did not seem to be worthy of his attention. For some reason or other the beggar was not even worthy to be given the leftovers of his feast. How about us?
Do we ever notice the poor people who are in our community? Do we ever notice the suffering of some of the people in our community? Do we ever notice the hardship of the orphans and widows? Do we do justice to those who are foreigners and strangers here in our community?
As we eat our fast food meals, as we go out to nice restaurants and watch television shows like “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”. As some of us may be dreaming of winning the great Mark Six lottery prize or some other lotteries so that we might become even richer – do we spare a thought – let alone a few crumbs – a few dollars – to help those who se sores are fill of puss – whose bellies know little but dirty water and the odd bit of bread that others may from time to time have provided for them?
I heard recently a story of a Texan who, after a whole lifetime of striving, finally struck I struck it rich in oil. The first thing he did was to take a trip to Dallas and got himself an outfit that he has been dreaming for all his life – boots, spurs, a 10 gallon hat, together with all the trimmings – including a nice big Cadillac with a set of Texas Longhorn horns mounted on the front end of the car. No sooner had he got home from his trip to Dallas, he had a heart attack and died. His wife, knowing of her late husband’s new found pride and joy, decided that the only appropriate thing for her to do is to have him bury with his new finery. Accordingly a concrete vault was prepared, and a large crane was hired for the occasion. With his hat, his boots, and all the trimmings, the body was placed behind the wheel of the Cadillac. As the crane lifted the car and began lowering the Cadillac with his body in it into the vault, a friend of the deceased nudged someone standing close by and said “Man, that is living.”
I am afraid that there are many people in the world who think that way. They think that life is all about living affluently. They think that living is all about having a DVD player and a television, a nice car and a nice apartment or house, not to mention a nice funeral when it is time to go.
But that, my dear sisters and brothers in Christ, that is not living, that is dying.
Andrew Carnegie, who amassed a fortune of over 400 million dollars, ended up giving away 99.5% of his fortune away. When interviewed as to the reason for his doing so, he said – “The man, who dies rich, dies in disgrace.”
The bible seems to give us an indication that only does the rich man died in disgrace, but he also ended up in hell. While the very people that the rich man very likely despised during his lifetime, the poor beggars of our society, the welfare cases that a lot of people only talked about but never lift a finger to help, the millions of children around the world who die each year for lack of basic sanitation and a lack of food, all ended up in heaven.
What do think are riches worth in the very end of our lives? Riches that have not been shared with the needy?
Some of you here sitting here in church this morning are probably thinking – “this teaching of Jesus does not apply to me. I am not rich. I only earn very little money every month. I do not have sumptuous feasts or live in a big mansion.” However, please allow me to remind you, wealth is a relative thing – and I dare say to you that most of us sitting here are rich beyond measure when you compared yourself to 90% of the world’s population, and not doing too bad if you compared yourself to about 40% of people in Hong Kong or in your own country.
What good will all that does to us in the end? Unless we are first rich, as Paul so puts it in verses 18 and 19 of today’s Epistle reading, and unless we are rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, and thus have stored up for ourselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future.
Some people may say that this is a hard teaching, and I do not doubt that at all, for it is. However, again using the words of the Apostle Paul, it is the way to take hold of the life that really is life.
Jesus, in another passage in the Scriptures tells us that a rich man is as likely to get into heaven as it is for a camel to get through the eye of a needle.
Some interpreters of the Bible say that what Jesus was referring to in this particular passage was an ancient gate that went through the walls of Jerusalem and into the city. This gate so we understand was so small, that anyone wanted to pass through with his camel will have to first get off the camel, unload his camel, and then have to have the camel kneel down and basically go through the gate by repeated crouching down and rising up movements. There are interpreters who rejected the idea of there ever being such a gate in existence. However, the message to us is very clear, whether this gate existed or not, you cannot be so attached to your possessions, to your wealth and your pride and your position in life, and hope to be able to enter the Kingdom of God. You rather have them put aside, you rather that you give them away, you rather that you get down from your high place and in an attitude of humility, then walk through the gate.
There are many people in this world who would love to be able to have their hunger satisfied with what falls from our table. And there will be come a time when we will all be reduced to being equal with all those people
A time of dying
A time of judgment
Although the mercy of Christ is there for those who will seek it, but personally I doubt whether it is going to do us much good, if we do not prepare ourselves during this lifetime, if we have not laid a good foundation for ourselves, a foundation that is based on the love of God and the love of our neighbours. I am talking of all our neighbours, not just the ones whom we think as being worthy of our love.
A deacon of a church went out one day to paint his house. He purchased five gallons of white paint and began the job. As he got to the third side of the house, he notice that he was running out of paint, so he added some turpentine to the remainder of the paint and kept on painting. On the final side of the house, he noticed that he was again running out of paint, so he added a bit more turpentine and succeeded in finishing off painting. After the paint dried, he noticed that the last two sides of the house were streaky, the whole thing looked awful. Being a religious man, he bowed his head in prayer, and asked God what he should do. A voice came from heaven and said to him – REPAINT AND THIN NO MORE.
This is also the message of Christ for us. He calls us on us to repent and sin no more. We are called by Christ to repent of our selfishness, of our lack of caring for those who do not fit our concept of deserving, of our tendency to pass judgment in such a way that we can justify ignoring those who are outside our gates.
Where does the Grace of God fit into all that I have talk about today?
It is in the very fact that all of us can enter the Kingdom of God, and this is the will of God for each and every one of us.
As Paul wrote in his epistle:
As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Set your hope in God, and build a good foundation for the future, by using what God has given for our enjoyment to increase the enjoyment of others. Visit those who are sick. Cloth those who are naked. Feed those who are hungry. Give a cup of cold water to those who thirst. And bless God’s name for the fact that God has made it possible for you to show His love and His grace to those who are in such deep need for it.
The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.” But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your many good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us. The rich man then said, “Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house – for I have five brothers – that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.” Abraham replied – “They have Moses and the prophets, they should listen to them.” The rich man said, “No father Abraham, but if someone should rise from the dead, they will repent.” Abraham said to him – “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convince even if someone rises from the dead.”
Listen my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, to Moses and the Prophets. Their message is the same as that of the one who rose from the dead. Listen – do what they have told us to do, and thereby build a good foundation for the future.
Blessed be God – day by day. Amen.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Rom 3:23
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Rom 3:23
I had done my best, honest. I had worked that clay just like the teacher said. I turned it just so. I rolled it just right. I shaped it and formed it and . . .well I don't understand why she didn't like my pottery. Sure, it didn't look like hers. She was 75 or 80 and I was 10 (well at 10 anyone over 20 is ancient!). She had an edge on experience. How humiliating to get a "D" in art! And my English at that age was just as bad!
I had missed the mark - fallen short - I had sinned by not being able to meet my art teacher's expectations.
We've all done that - missed the mark. We most likely do it every day. We set goals for ourselves and don't get them all finished. We missed the mark. The boss tells us to get this done before we go home - and we fail. We missed the mark. We have sinned. Now don't get me wrong. These are not life threatening "sins" - at least most of them aren't. But they are "sins" none the less. But there are more important "sins" that we must consider - we have all committed our share of them.
We have missed God's idea of perfection. He says "do not lie", and we have all told lies in the past. He gives us a list of 10 things that we should not do - or do. We have failed in more than one. But let's imagine for a moment that there is some wonderful person out there who has managed to sin only one time. "That's wonderful" you may say. And indeed it would be. But there is only one problem. One sin is as bad as a hundred - or a thousand - or a million. That one sin will keep that near sinless guy out of heaven. Why? Because God set the standard - and He set it high.
"Then no one can get to heaven! Right?" It would seem like that - until we understand that Jesus is standing between you (and me) and God. If we have accepted Him as our Lord and our Savior, He will speak to the Judging Father and say something like this, "Daddy, this man is indeed a sinner. However, at the age of 10 he accepted Me as his Lord. He has been washed in My blood. I have redeemed him. Therefore he stands before you spotless - sinless. You must accept Him into Heaven." And the Father will look beyond Jesus, and say to us, "Well done. You are a good and faithful servant. Enter into your reward!"
But, if you haven't put your trust in Jesus. If you have rebelled against God and have rejected His provision for salvation, no amount of good works on your part will change the words of the Father as He speaks "You are unworthy of the kingdom of God. You have not taken advantage of My provision for your purity. You shall not enter into this perfect world. Instead, you must spend all of eternity in hell." If this latter describes your current condition, admit that you are a sinner. Call upon Jesus to save you. I don't want to spend an eternity without ever meeting you in Heaven. Amen and Amen.
I had done my best, honest. I had worked that clay just like the teacher said. I turned it just so. I rolled it just right. I shaped it and formed it and . . .well I don't understand why she didn't like my pottery. Sure, it didn't look like hers. She was 75 or 80 and I was 10 (well at 10 anyone over 20 is ancient!). She had an edge on experience. How humiliating to get a "D" in art! And my English at that age was just as bad!
I had missed the mark - fallen short - I had sinned by not being able to meet my art teacher's expectations.
We've all done that - missed the mark. We most likely do it every day. We set goals for ourselves and don't get them all finished. We missed the mark. The boss tells us to get this done before we go home - and we fail. We missed the mark. We have sinned. Now don't get me wrong. These are not life threatening "sins" - at least most of them aren't. But they are "sins" none the less. But there are more important "sins" that we must consider - we have all committed our share of them.
We have missed God's idea of perfection. He says "do not lie", and we have all told lies in the past. He gives us a list of 10 things that we should not do - or do. We have failed in more than one. But let's imagine for a moment that there is some wonderful person out there who has managed to sin only one time. "That's wonderful" you may say. And indeed it would be. But there is only one problem. One sin is as bad as a hundred - or a thousand - or a million. That one sin will keep that near sinless guy out of heaven. Why? Because God set the standard - and He set it high.
"Then no one can get to heaven! Right?" It would seem like that - until we understand that Jesus is standing between you (and me) and God. If we have accepted Him as our Lord and our Savior, He will speak to the Judging Father and say something like this, "Daddy, this man is indeed a sinner. However, at the age of 10 he accepted Me as his Lord. He has been washed in My blood. I have redeemed him. Therefore he stands before you spotless - sinless. You must accept Him into Heaven." And the Father will look beyond Jesus, and say to us, "Well done. You are a good and faithful servant. Enter into your reward!"
But, if you haven't put your trust in Jesus. If you have rebelled against God and have rejected His provision for salvation, no amount of good works on your part will change the words of the Father as He speaks "You are unworthy of the kingdom of God. You have not taken advantage of My provision for your purity. You shall not enter into this perfect world. Instead, you must spend all of eternity in hell." If this latter describes your current condition, admit that you are a sinner. Call upon Jesus to save you. I don't want to spend an eternity without ever meeting you in Heaven. Amen and Amen.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Deut 6:16
"You shall not tempt the LORD your God as you tempted Him in Massah." Deut 6:16
Sometimes the Israelites argued against anything and anyone. So it was at Massah (aka Meribah). The people had just escaped from Egypt and were roaming in the wilderness. At some point, their water was a growing a bit strong... and they complained to Moses. No, really they were about to string Moses from the nearest tree, if there happened to be one nearby. Moses did what all men of God should do. He went to his knees supplicating the Father to do something about this situation.
God instructed Moses to take the rod he had used to strike the Nile and a few trusted elders to a nearby stone. Once there, Moses was to strike the stone with the rod. Sounds a bit strange, but then Moses was used to the strange and unusual from God. After all, that rod, when it hit the Nile, caused the river to turn into blood, and that was after the same rod had turned into a viper and devoured the snakes of the Egyptian sorcerers!
Expecting something strange to happen, Moses walked up to the rock, struck it and stood back from a gusher of a crack in the stone! From within the rock flowed the sweetest water in sufficient quantities to feed the multitude. Before you picture a nice little stream of water like you might see in an Italian fountain, realize that this stream was sufficient to water over a million people and to do it on a daily basis. Wouldn't that rod come in handy if you live in the desert.
The people managed to "snooker" God, or so they thought. They tested God and found they could manipulate Him. "Grumble enough and God will give you the desires of your heart," or so the people thought. But God was not to be "snookered" and would not be manipulated by a rowdy crowd. Moses tells the next generation, before they entered the Promised Land, that they had best not "put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah." Ah. So they tested God. Other references add some light to the meaning of the word "tested." Deuteronomy 9:22 says that the people "provoked" God. That sounds a bit stronger than "tested." Provoking indicates that the people were pushing God to the limit. He was on the verge of anger, AND I DON'T THINK I LIKE AN ANGRY GOD. Deuteronomy 33:8 says that the people "contended" with God. That sounds like a brawl. They started arguing unreasonably and inconsolably with God. Finally Psalm 95:8 says that the people "hardened their heart" against God. That is a serious charge. Hardened hearts are not only inconsolable; they are nearly murderous in nature, as if a person could kill the One True God!
In conclusion, don't you just love it when I conclude? In conclusion, it is ok for God to test us. But we had best not get in the habit of testing Him, except when Malachi gives us instruction: "Bring the whole offering into the warehouse.. test me in this." (Malachi 3:10) Don't test God... except in the tithe. Only in this test will you be permitted to put God on the spot, and He will invariably bless the tither. Amen and Amen.
Sometimes the Israelites argued against anything and anyone. So it was at Massah (aka Meribah). The people had just escaped from Egypt and were roaming in the wilderness. At some point, their water was a growing a bit strong... and they complained to Moses. No, really they were about to string Moses from the nearest tree, if there happened to be one nearby. Moses did what all men of God should do. He went to his knees supplicating the Father to do something about this situation.
God instructed Moses to take the rod he had used to strike the Nile and a few trusted elders to a nearby stone. Once there, Moses was to strike the stone with the rod. Sounds a bit strange, but then Moses was used to the strange and unusual from God. After all, that rod, when it hit the Nile, caused the river to turn into blood, and that was after the same rod had turned into a viper and devoured the snakes of the Egyptian sorcerers!
Expecting something strange to happen, Moses walked up to the rock, struck it and stood back from a gusher of a crack in the stone! From within the rock flowed the sweetest water in sufficient quantities to feed the multitude. Before you picture a nice little stream of water like you might see in an Italian fountain, realize that this stream was sufficient to water over a million people and to do it on a daily basis. Wouldn't that rod come in handy if you live in the desert.
The people managed to "snooker" God, or so they thought. They tested God and found they could manipulate Him. "Grumble enough and God will give you the desires of your heart," or so the people thought. But God was not to be "snookered" and would not be manipulated by a rowdy crowd. Moses tells the next generation, before they entered the Promised Land, that they had best not "put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah." Ah. So they tested God. Other references add some light to the meaning of the word "tested." Deuteronomy 9:22 says that the people "provoked" God. That sounds a bit stronger than "tested." Provoking indicates that the people were pushing God to the limit. He was on the verge of anger, AND I DON'T THINK I LIKE AN ANGRY GOD. Deuteronomy 33:8 says that the people "contended" with God. That sounds like a brawl. They started arguing unreasonably and inconsolably with God. Finally Psalm 95:8 says that the people "hardened their heart" against God. That is a serious charge. Hardened hearts are not only inconsolable; they are nearly murderous in nature, as if a person could kill the One True God!
In conclusion, don't you just love it when I conclude? In conclusion, it is ok for God to test us. But we had best not get in the habit of testing Him, except when Malachi gives us instruction: "Bring the whole offering into the warehouse.. test me in this." (Malachi 3:10) Don't test God... except in the tithe. Only in this test will you be permitted to put God on the spot, and He will invariably bless the tither. Amen and Amen.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Gen 17:21
"But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year." Gen 17:21
Sometimes it's very hard to put a promise on the shelf and wait until God does His work. As we have seen, Abraham had that problem. He tried to promote a trusted slave. He and Sarah contrived to produce Ishmael. Now there was nothing wrong with Ishmael - except that He was not God's way to fulfill God's promise. It would seem that Ishmael would have fallen by the wayside and never been heard from again.
WRONG! To this day the descendants of Ishmael are thorns in the side of Israel, God's chosen people. God is not one to back down from a promise, so he extended a secondary promise to Abraham that would be fulfilled through his first born son. He, too, would become a father of nations - just not the chosen nation. Those nations have worked for centuries trying to claim the land God gave Abraham. Their claim is that they are the rightful heirs - being the first-born. If you have understanding this conflict, check the international news stories detailing the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian and Muslim worlds.
Sometimes when we get in the way of God, we make problems that can never completely be undone. Abraham always had his Ishmael. We will always suffer the consequences of our own sins. Some we can escape. They can be reversed. Forgiveness can be petitioned. Restitution can be made. Others are much more complicated. Trusted friendships once broken are often irreconcilable. Confidences once made and broken can never become a confidence again.
When you receive a promise from God, wait on Him to fulfill it. He will. If you take the fulfillment upon yourself, you will only make things worse - if not impossible. If you have already muddied the waters with your own efforts, STOP! Step back and confess to the Father that you have sinned. Ask Him to forgive you. Be willing to accept the consequences - and let God do His work. He is faithful to fulfill all His promises and covenants. Amen and Amen.
Sometimes it's very hard to put a promise on the shelf and wait until God does His work. As we have seen, Abraham had that problem. He tried to promote a trusted slave. He and Sarah contrived to produce Ishmael. Now there was nothing wrong with Ishmael - except that He was not God's way to fulfill God's promise. It would seem that Ishmael would have fallen by the wayside and never been heard from again.
WRONG! To this day the descendants of Ishmael are thorns in the side of Israel, God's chosen people. God is not one to back down from a promise, so he extended a secondary promise to Abraham that would be fulfilled through his first born son. He, too, would become a father of nations - just not the chosen nation. Those nations have worked for centuries trying to claim the land God gave Abraham. Their claim is that they are the rightful heirs - being the first-born. If you have understanding this conflict, check the international news stories detailing the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian and Muslim worlds.
Sometimes when we get in the way of God, we make problems that can never completely be undone. Abraham always had his Ishmael. We will always suffer the consequences of our own sins. Some we can escape. They can be reversed. Forgiveness can be petitioned. Restitution can be made. Others are much more complicated. Trusted friendships once broken are often irreconcilable. Confidences once made and broken can never become a confidence again.
When you receive a promise from God, wait on Him to fulfill it. He will. If you take the fulfillment upon yourself, you will only make things worse - if not impossible. If you have already muddied the waters with your own efforts, STOP! Step back and confess to the Father that you have sinned. Ask Him to forgive you. Be willing to accept the consequences - and let God do His work. He is faithful to fulfill all His promises and covenants. Amen and Amen.
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