Reflections: Psalm 16

Psalm 16

Welcome! Today we are going to spend time remembering the Lord with the bread and the cup, and we will also have a sharing time where we can as a group talk about lessons the Lord has taught us in 2009 as well as what we look forward to in 2010. I thought we could begin this process this morning by spending a little time looking at Psalm 16. At the front of the Psalm, its says that this is a “miktam” of David. “Miktam” is an interesting word – it can be translated as “secret,” in which case this is the “secret of David.” Another meaning is “gold” and all gold symbolizes, something that doesn’t decay, or lose value, and is highly valuable – like a treasure, so we have the “treasure of David.” So what is this secret? What is this treasure?

Keep me safe, O God, for in You I take refuge. I said to the Lord, "You are my Lord; apart from You I have no good thing." As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight. – Psalm 16:1-3

More Than a Baby

(Not Just a Baby)

I have just a few minutes this morning to share with you. The message title is “More than a Baby.” The story of Jesus’ birth is so familiar to us. We’ve heard the words of Luke 2, year after year. “

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world … And everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth … to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” And the shepherds got up, went to Bethlehem, and found the baby there.

Broken Vessels: Prophets, Part IV

Welcome! Today is our final message from the series entitled Broken Vessels. In this series we have studied the lives of a large number of Old Testament Characters, from Adam up to Elisha. Two general observations from this series: First, we have seen a lot of sin. Without fail, people called by God, people for whom God had spectacular plans, have fallen far short of what they were called for. From the absolutely catastrophic sin of Adam, to Noah getting drunk, to the deceptions and favoritism issues of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and on and on – Moses striking the rock in anger, Gideon’s weak “second half,” Saul’s complete abandoning of God, David’s infidelity and murder to cover it up, Solomon’s turning to other gods and the pleasures of this world, and then the long succession of wicked kings in the fractured nations of Israel and Judah, even the prophets failing – for example, Elijah’s meltdown – we have seen a lot of sin.

Now how should we respond? Should we say, everyone sins, so I guess my sin is not that bad? Absolutely not! Romans 1 is clear that sin happens because people choose to suppress the truth that they already know. People choose to not glorify God, and one of the reasons is that they do not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God. Romans 1 says that God responds by “giving them over” to what they desire to do. He gives them over to their foolish thinking and their shameful lusts. And then they do what just comes naturally. So is our sin “not that bad”? Quite the contrary – our sin separates us from God; it severs a tie that God has with us. And the ultimate price for sin is an eternal severance, an eternal separation from God. What, in all creation, in all imagination, could be more serious, more devastating, than this?

Jesus the Vine

Welcome! This morning in a little while we will remember the Lord with the bread and the cup, continuing a practice that Jesus Himself taught His disciples shortly before He was crucified. There are almost countless names and titles for Jesus described in the Bible. Some of these were names He gave Himself. One of these is the Vine. This morning I would like us to spend a little time reflecting on what it means for Jesus to call Himself the vine.

As we have been going through characters of the Old Testament over the past months, I thought it would be appropriate to look at the symbolism of the vine in the Old Testament. These images and scriptural references would be immediately familiar to many of the Jews at the time of Jesus.

Many scriptures refer to the nation of Israel as a vine. One example is Psalm 80, a psalm of Asaph.

Broken Vessels: Prophets, Part III

Welcome! We are coming close to the end of our series entitled Broken Vessels, where we have looked at the lives of a number of Old Testament characters and seen how, far from perfect though they were, God used them to accomplish His purposes. We are in a series-within-a-series on prophets, focusing in on a period in Israel’s history where Elijah, Elisha, and other prophets tried to get wicked kings and people who had forsaken God to return to their Creator, to the One who wanted to be their Savior and Shepherd.

Last week we focused in on the latter half of Elijah’s life, and what we saw wasn’t very pretty. Something happened to Elijah after God’s fire miraculously consumed the altar and offering that he set out in the presence of false prophets and of the people, and after it miraculously began to rain again after more than 3 years of what appears to be total drought. I have two theories about what happened to Elijah – internally, in his head and heart. These are not mutually exclusive – it is possible that both were true, and indeed, this is what I think. It is also possible that neither were true, but I share them so you can consider them.

Broken Vessels: Prophets, Part I

Welcome as we continue in our series entitled Broken Vessels, where we have considered the good, the bad, and the ugly in the lives of people God used, willingly or unwillingly, to serve His purposes in the history of Israel. And the history of Israel is really the history of everyone, as it was through this line that Jesus, the savior of all nations, came into the world.

The titles of the messages for the last several weeks has been Kings, and we have started to progress through the history of the kings the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah. In Judah, there have been some good kings and some bad kings, but in Israel it has been all bad. Last week we talked about Asa, king of Judah, one of the relatively good kings, although he did not finish well, refusing to seek the Lord in sickness. Today we are going to look at Ahab, an especially rotten king in the line of rotten kings of Israel, and as our title says, we are going to look more deeply at the lives of prophets who lived during these kings. Today we are going to focus on the prophet Elijah. Let’s pick up the story with the introduction of King Ahab in I Kings 16.

Broken Vessels: Kings, Part II

Welcome! Today we continue our series called Broken Vessels, in which we have explored major characters from the Old Testament. The last time, which was two weeks ago, I gave you a handout on the kings of ancient Israel and Judah. We spent our time looking at the first kings of the divided kingdoms, Jeroboam and Rehoboam. Prior to these kings, Israel was a united kingdom under David and then Solomon.

When Solomon died, Rehoboam his son became king. Rehoboam was a weak leader, and the people were not unconditionally in support of him. Two weeks ago we learned how the people of Israel outside Judah demanded that Rehoboam treat them with a light hand. Rehoboam, rejecting the wise counsel of Solomon’s advisors, and instead consulted his own young foolish friends who said he should tell the people that he would be even harsher than his father, much harsher. Foolish Rehoboam took this advice, and the result was that Israel (except for Judah and the tribe of Benjamin) rejected him as king. Jeroboam, a man who was called by God by the prophet Ahijah much like how David was anointed during Saul’s reign, stepped into the power vacuum and became king of Israel, beginning the centuries-long division between Israel and Judah.

Broken Vessels: Kings, Part I

Welcome! Today we continue our series called Broken Vessels, in which we have been learning by example how God uses people, fallible, broken people, to fulfill His good purposes. I want to start with a picture – the picture above. What is wrong with this picture? Take your time looking at it. We will come back to it.

Now, I want to talk about an incident late in Solomon’s life that sets the stage for the next 400 years or so. Fred has taught on Solomon the last few weeks, and we saw how Solomon, when he became old, allowed some of his many wives to turn his heart away from the Lord and towards the false gods that his wives followed, including Ashtoreth, Molech, and Chemosh. He actually built altars on high places and sacrificed offerings to these false gods. This brings us to I Kings 11:9

Broken Vessels: Solomon, Part II

David pretends to capture the city of Rabbah that has already been captured:

Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon and captured the royal city. Joab sent messengers to David and said, “I have fought against Rabbah, I have even captured the city of waters. “Now therefore, gather the rest of the people together and camp against the city and capture it, or I will capture the city myself and it will be named after me.” So David gathered all the people and went to Rabbah, fought against it and captured it. Then he took the crown of their king from his head; and its weight was a talent of gold, and in it was a precious stone; and it was placed on David’s head. And he brought out the spoil of the city in great amounts. He also brought out the people who were in it, and set them under saws, sharp iron instruments, and iron axes, and made them pass through the brick kiln. And thus he did to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.--II Samuel 12:26-31

Broken Vessels: Solomon, Part I

Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba

 
Bathsheba did not get her name from her habit of taking baths.  Her name Bathsheba means “the daughter of an oath”.  Her father’s name was Eliam meaning “people of God”.  Her grandfather’s name was Ahithophel the Gilonite. It is believed that this is the same Ahithophel the Gilonite from the city of Giloh mentioned in II Samuel 15:12. Giloh was one of the cities allotted to the tribe of Judah by Joshua in Joshua 15:51.  For this reason, I believe that she was from the tribe of Judah.

We have no record of how she met and married Uriah the Hittite.  We don’t know that she even knew of David’s scheme to have her husband murdered by the Ammonites.  Furthermore, we have no evidence that would suggest that the Lord would not have worked things out righteously to have David eventually marry this Bathsheba or have some other woman bear David a son that would have resulted in the line of David that would eventually lead to the birth of Jesus Christ so that he could be called son of David. We do know that Jacob (who was later named Israel) prophesied when he blessed Judah before he died saying, “the scepter shall not depart from Judah nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet until Shiloh comes.”

Broken Vessels: David, Part III

Welcome! Today we will do the third part of our series on David, a part of our larger series called Broken Vessels, a series where we have looked at how God has used people as part of His larger plan even though they repeatedly sin and fail, and how God has even used these failings into His larger plan.

Last week I left you with a cliffhanger! We were reading in I Samuel 30 how David and his men had just come back to their town, Ziklag, a town deep in Philistine territory, only to find that the town was a smoldering ruin and all the women and children and the few men that had been there were gone! Upon seeing this calamity, the passage says that “David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. David’s own wives had been taken – Ahinoam and Abigail; David’s first wife, Michal, if you recall, was now another man’s wife, this all having been arranged by Saul, who was fixed on killing David because of jealousy and his fear of losing the throne to him. 

Broken Vessels: David, Part II

Good morning! Today we are continuing our 3-week mini-series on David, a part of the larger series entitled Broken Vessels, an exploration of the lives of key people in the Old Testament. I mentioned last week that there was no way we could have time to cover everything about David in only 3 weeks, and so this week and next we will do some skipping around.

Last week we went up to the point where David, although distraught and exhausted fleeing from Saul, continues to praise the Lord and follows the Lord’s leading and saves the town of Keilah from the Philistines. There was a powerful lesson for us here – that we too, regardless of our circumstances, should continue giving God worship and praise and also that we too, regardless of our circumstances, should continually seek the Lord and strive to do His will, particularly in terms of helping others. For us this means to keep on being salt and light to people, praying for them, giving them the good news of Jesus Christ, and helping them to grow as new believers. David is a model for us in these things.

Broken Vessels: David, Part I

Welcome! Today we begin a new miniseries within the general series called Broken Vessels, a series that focuses on personalities of the Old Testament, looking at their strengths and weaknesses, their victories and their failures, their faith and their lack of faith in God. Our focus for the next three weeks is David. Now, there is more than enough material in the Bible on David to last 20 weeks, so we will just look at certain highlights of David’s life and try to get the “big picture” of this complex man.

Previously, we focused on the life of Saul, a man who repeatedly wanted to do things his own way instead of God’s way, a man filled with a mix of pride, insecurity, and fear that is common today and in every age. Saul’s life ended tragically with him taking his own life on the battlefield, at a battle in which not only Saul fell, but his sons and his nation as well.

Broken Vessels: Saul, Part II

Today we finish a two-part series on the life of King Saul. Actually, last week in a way we finished the life of King Saul, because we saw Saul continue to disobey the Lord to the point that the prophet Samuel, speaking for the Lord, declared that Saul was no longer king, that another would become king in his place. Now we know that this is David. From this point on, the stories of Saul and David intertwine. As we go forward, I will mention David where it is essential to understanding the story of Saul, but I will save an analysis of David’s life for the coming weeks when we focus specifically on David.

Last week I started with an unflattering quote from the New Testament about Saul; this week, I thought I would start with a passage from Deuteronomy that instructs what kings should do.

Broken Vessels: Saul, Part I

Welcome! We are in the middle of a series called “Broken Vessels,” looking at key people in the Old Testament history and examining their faith and their experiences with God, warts and all. We have seen that each person has had their strengths and weaknesses, their victories and failures, and we have also learned a lot about God; His unchanging nature, His holiness, His wisdom, His goodness, His justice, and His mercy. Some of these attributes were always plainly seen from the very beginning; others, such as His mercy, we only saw glimpses of; but all attributes of God are only seen in their complete fullness in Christ. Given that this is true, it is good to be reminded why we are spending so much time in the Old Testament; it is because, as it says in I Timothy 3:16, “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, correcting, rebuking, and training in righteousness.” And we have focused on people of the Old Testament in part because Hebrews 11 gives examples of people with regards what it means to live by faith, and of course this is something we want to do. And so this week, we begin a two-part “mini”-series on Saul.

Broken Vessels: Ruth and Samson

After a couple of weeks off, we come back to the series of Broken Vessels. This series is a study of the lives of men and women in the Old Testament. The purpose of this story is to see how God works, how God uses us, in spite of our weaknesses, our brokenness.

Today, we are going to discuss a well known man and a well known woman: Samson and Ruth. These stories are full of examples that help us understand God and the meaning of His Word in the New Testament. I worked really hard to shorten this message, and I think I’m going to keep it to less than 90 minutes.

The story of Samson starts with the familiar opening from Judges:

Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, so the LORD delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years. Judges 13:1

Jesus: the First and Last

Today we are going to spend time remembering Jesus’ willing sacrifice of Himself on the cross for us. We will remember Him in the way Jesus Himself taught His disciples 2000 years ago, with the bread and the cup, symbols of His body broken for us and His blood shed for us. In preparation for the time, I want us to meditate on one of the titles for Jesus, the First and the Last. This phrase is used repeatedly of Jesus in the Book of Revelation:

When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. Then He placed His right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. – Rev. 1:17

These are the words of Him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. – Rev. 2:8

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. – Rev. 22:13

Broken Vessels: Gideon

We have a lot of ground to cover, so we will get right into the story of Gideon, in Judges chapter 6.

Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help. – Judges 6:1-6

Broken Vessels: Ehud and Deborah

Today we will look at two characters from the book of Judges. In Judges we see a repeated pattern described in Chapter 2:

Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the Lord's commands. – Judges 2:16-17

Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, He was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them. But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways. – Judges 2:18-19

Jesus: the Bread

Today we have a shortened teaching followed by a time of remembering the Lord with the bread and the cup, as He has asked us in His Word to remember Him. We will follow this with a “sharing time” in which anyone is welcome to share what the Lord has been teaching them in the past month. And then we will spend some time in prayer together.

There are some grand themes in the Bible, and as we have been going through this current series on Broken Vessels, looking at the imperfect lives of the Old Testament that God has used to further His purposes on Earth, one theme I have noticed is that of the provision of food. The actual historical events of the Old Testament not only simply happened and were recorded for us to learn from; they also were shadows of things to come. These things are often veiled, partially hidden, but they are there for those who look, for those who seek, and they point to our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Broken Vessels: Moses Part II

Last week we looked at some events in the early life of Moses. We talked about how Moses, when grown up, killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew, and how Moses, after his secret was found out, fled from Pharaoh into the desert and started a new life as a simple herdsman. After 40 years of living in the desert, God appeared to him in a burning bush that did not burn up, and charged Moses with going back to Egypt and being the vessel God was to use to rescue the Hebrews from Egypt. Moses was reluctant, to say the least, and ultimately, after God explained how He would be with Him through everything, said, “Oh, Lord, please send someone else to do it!” I talked about how we can be like this as well – even though in the gospels we are told that God will be with us even until the end of the age, we are hesitant to do many things that take us out of our comfort zone. Sharing the gospel with friends and neighbors and even strangers is something over which we tell God, “Oh, Lord, please send someone else to do it!”

Broken Vessels: Moses, Part I

Today we are going to look at the first part of the life of Moses. The story really begins before Moses is born, and so we are going to look substantially also at the lives of Moses’ parents. In Exodus Chapter 1, we learn that the descendants of Joseph and his brothers became exceedingly numerous as generation after generation came and went. Eventually a new Pharaoh became concerned about how many they had become and feared that they could side with their enemies, overthrow him, or cause other terrible problems for Egypt. So he made them become slaves and forced them to do difficult, dangerous, and oppressive work, hoping that this work would kill off many of them. But what happened is that the Israelites continued to multiply.

Pharaoh then asked the Hebrew midwives to kill the babies after they were born if they were boys. They did not want to do this, and made up a lie that the Hebrew mothers gave birth before they could arrive. Then Pharaoh told his people to throw every Hebrew boy who was born into the Nile.

Broken Vessels: Joseph

The story of Joseph’s life has to be one of the most well known of the Old Testament. It is a great story that has everything in it. There is intrigue and betrayal, rescue and restoration, redemption and reunion. Not to mention, a happy ending. While God does not speak audibly to Joseph in the same way he did to Jacob, it is clear that God is orchestrating Joseph’s circumstances and blessing him even in and through the difficulties. Acts 7:9 puts it succinctly, “But God was with him.”

There is also a lot of story here. No fewer than 12 chapters of Genesis deal with the account of Joseph’s life. If I read the entire story, it would take longer than we normally spend on a message. So, I’m going to pick and choose a little bit, but I won’t take away too much because it is so important to see Joseph’s full life.

In fact, when both Jacob and Joseph are mentioned in Hebrews 11, it isn’t their faith during their lives, but their faith at the ends of their lives that get mentioned.

By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. 

 
By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.--Hebrews 11:21-22

Jesus the Author

Today we are going to spend time remembering Jesus’ willing sacrifice of Himself on the cross for us. We have the bread and the cup, instituted by Jesus Himself as a way for us to continually remember Him. Now, this month we have been going full speed into our Broken Vessels series, examining the lives of a number of the personalities in Genesis who are also described as people commended for their faith in Hebrews 11. Today I want to start with a familiar passage from Hebrews 12.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. – Hebrews 12:2

What does it mean that Jesus is the author of our faith? In addition to author, the word also means chief leader, or prince, as well as one that takes the lead in something and becomes an example. I believe all of these meanings apply here. The same word is used in Hebrews 2:10, where Jesus is called the author of salvation.

Broken Vessels: Jacob

Today we are going to look at Jacob, Abraham’s grandson and the father of what became the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob is one of my favorite characters in the Bible, I think because I identify with some of his weaknesses. Now, there are far more passages on Jacob in the Bible than we have time to cover, so we will need to be selective. Let’s start, however, at the beginning:

This is the account of Abraham's son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean. Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. – Gen. 25:19-21

Broken Vessels: Abraham

Abraham, originally called Abram, was the son of Terah. He was born in the Sumerian city of Ur (in modern-day Iraq). Terah, like his father and others before him, worshiped false gods – we know this because of Joshua 24:2, which says,

Joshua said to all the people, "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'Long ago your forefathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River and worshiped other gods.'" – Josh. 24:2

Sumerian worship involved temples called ziggurats. In the image, you can see the Ziggurat of Ur, called Etemennigur, which, translated, means “house whose foundation creates terror.” The ziggurat was in the city center along with administrative buildings, and it was believed to be the dwelling of the moon god, Nanna, on earth. His symbol was a crescent moon. This next image shows an artifact from around the time of Abraham. You can see the crescent on the top.

Broken Vessels: Adem, Abel, Enoch, and Noah

Welcome! Today we kick off our “Broken Vessels” series in earnest. Now most weeks in this series, we focus on a single Old Testament character; some characters will get multiple weeks. But this week is unique in that we are going to look at four, four different major characters of the Bible. Obviously, we cannot talk in depth on each of these people. And as I have studied this week, I realize I could have spent a month on these guys. So let me not waste any time, and start right at the beginning, with Adam.

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. – Gen. 1:26-27

The History of Broken Vessels

Today we begin an approximately six-month long series of teachings on the Old Testament called “Broken Vessels.” Today I want to introduce the series, talking about the Old Testament in general, and talking about the purpose of the series.

Six months may seem like a long time to focus on the Old Testament. Will we really not look at the New Testament for six months? No, of course not! We will tie things forward into the New Testament whenever we can, and we will continue to have our monthly communion and sharing times at the end of each month, times that really focus on Christ. But perhaps some of you still have some reservations, so I would like to speak to you regarding this idea.

Falling Down Before the Throne

Carl planned a new series for us starting next week titled “Broken Vessels.” These messages will take a look at the lives of men and women throughout the Old Testament. However, I’m going to sneak ahead and look at one of the kings of Judah, one of these broken vessels, today.

Does anyone remember King Amaziah? Can you say anything remarkable about his reign as king or how he came to be king? If anyone says, “yes,” I’ll be surprised.

Amaziah was the son of Joash. Amaziah’s son was Uzziah. Here is the beginning of the record about his life from II Chronicles 25:1-2:

Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Jehoaddin; she was from Jerusalem. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly.

Jesus: The Returning One

One day in a stable a baby was born;

He was the King’s Son, but came unadorned.

That special Babe would be Savior to all.

He was called Jesus and born in a stall.

He was brought to the Temple and praised by some,

Though more did not know what soon was to come.

Joseph and Mary, His father and mother,

Knew not that their Son was above every other.

Jesus was born a poor carpenter’s Son,

But whatever He did was always well done.

He went back to the Temple and got scholars mad;

They said He was crazy; He called God His Dad.

Jesus, the Risen One

Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed!

In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis makes the lion Aslan a Christ figure by having him killed and then resurrected back to life. Aslan himself says, “though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, … she would have read … a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward.”

Is this an appropriate picture of Christ? How deep does the analogy go? Is there a “deeper magic”? What is it? Let us not waste any time and get right into reading John’s account of the resurrection.

Jesus, the Crucified One

Today we begin a 3-week series called Jesus: The One. The title for these series comes from a number of verses, including this:

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. – John 1:14

The word in Greek for “One and Only,” also translated “Only Begotten” in some translations, is monogenes. It is only used in the context of sons and daughters. Like logos, (The Word), it is a deep word, when you spend time thinking about it. In purely human terms, Jesus was not an only child; Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3 mention four “brothers” of Jesus: James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. And the same verses talk about unnamed “sisters” as well. And although there is some question whether these people were Jesus’ half-brothers and sisters, His step-brothers and sisters, or even His cousins (personally I take the verses at face value and assume they were half-brothers and sisters), we can be absolutely certain that in no way were these people Jesus’ full brothers and sisters, because God and not Joseph was the true father of Jesus. In this Jesus was truly the One and Only.

King of Glory

Last week we finished the nine week series on Knowing and Overcoming Sin. The purpose of the series was twofold.

First, it should help us realize how everyone in the whole world is tangled up in the ravages of sin. Fred shared statistics about each of the seven deadly sins last week. As I started to overlap the statistics for different sin areas in my mind: this many affected by abuse or sexually transmitted disease, that many affected by addictions motivated by greed, sloth, and gluttony. The realization began to grow in my mind that no one is untouched by these sins. The conclusion is the same as it was as 2000 years ago.

“There is no one righteous, not even one.” Romans 3:10 (as Paul quoted from the Psalms and Ecclesiastes, Ps 14:1-3, 53:1-3, Ecc 7:20)

The other purpose was to serve as a warning to us to guard ourselves “so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness” (Heb 3:13) and to challenge us to excel still more in pursuing righteousness. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians,

“Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more… It is God's will that you should be sanctified … that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable.” I Thessalonians 4:1b, 3b, 4

Knowing and Overcoming Pride

I cannot think of a better way to begin today’s teaching except to read a passage from Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis. This book is a transcription of a radio series Lewis taught in England during World War II. The chapter is appropriately called, “The Great Sin,” and it is all about pride. Here is how he begins the chapter:

"Today I come to that part of Christian morals where they differ most sharply from all other morals. There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which everyone in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves. I have heard people admit that they are bad-tempered, or that they cannot keep their heads about girls or drink, or even that they are cowards. I do not think I have ever heard anyone who was not a Christian accuse himself of this vice. And at the same time I have very seldom met anyone who was not a Christian who showed the slightest mercy to it in others. There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others.

Knowing and Overcoming Envy

Facing the Green-Eyed Monster


There was once a monk who lived in a wilderness cave. He was known far and wide for holiness, so much so that his reputation reached even to hell itself. So the devil took three of his most effective demons with him to tempt the monk out of his godliness. They found the monk sitting at the mouth of his cave, a serene look of contentment on his face.

The first demon planted in his mind the temptation of great power, with visions of glorious kingdoms. But the monk’s face remained serene.  The second tempter planted in the monk’s mind the temptation of great wealth, with visions of gold and silver and prosperity. But still the monk’s face remained serene and contented.  The third demon planted in his mind the temptation of sensuous pleasure, with visions of beautiful women. But the monk’s face remained quiet and godly.

Annoyed, the devil barked, “Step aside, and I will show you what has never failed.” He strolled up beside the monk, leaned over, and whispered into his ear, “Have you heard that your classmate Makarios has just been promoted to bishop of Alexandria.” The face of the monk scowled. 

Knowing and Overcoming Anger

We have been going as a church through a series of messages called Knowing and Overcoming Sin, focusing week by week on the categories of sin traditionally known as the seven deadly sins. Today we come to anger, or wrath. There are a variety of words in the Bible used to denote this emotion. A number of these words have very interesting and picturesque roots and associations. Today, rather than give you a definition in English, we will build up the meaning by looking at some of these words in the Hebrew and Greek.

One of the most used Old Testament words is ‘af, which literally means “nose.” The association is due to the fact that when someone is enraged, his nostrils flare wide open and his breathing rate is much faster than normal. A related word is za’af, which literally means to foam at the nose or mouth. Another word is chaymah, which literally means a cup of poison that burns as it goes down. A related word is charon, which literally means “burning.” Often some of these words are paired together, as in charon ‘af, which means, much like we say it, to burn with anger. Cha-as is another word, which means to be offended and yet another is evrah, which means literally to pour out. Another word is katsaf, which means literally to break, as in the idea of holding back anger until it breaks out and bursts forth. One last Old Testament word is rogez, which carries with it the idea of tumult, turmoil, trembling. It is also used to describe a horse going wild as well as thunder.

Behold the Lamb!

Welcome! In a little while we will remember the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ on a dark day some two thousand years ago. We will remember Him with the bread and with the cup, doing what Jesus Himself taught His disciples to do. As Paul wrote in I Cor. 11,

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. – I Cor. 11:23-26

Knowing and Overcoming Sloth

Have you heard the Procrastinator’s Poem? It goes like this:

I’ve gone for a drink and sharpened my pencils, searched through my desk for forgotten utensils.

I reset my watch, I adjusted my chair, I’ve loosened my tie and straightened my hair.

I filled my pen and tested the blotter, and gone for another drink of water.

Adjusted the calendar, and raised the blinds, and I’ve sorted erasers of all different kinds.

Now down to work I can finally sit; oops, too late; it’s time to quit.

Knowing and Overcoming Greed

One of the mothers in the church told me Friday night that she thought her youngest boy would be a good illustration of greed, but it didn’t end up where she had expected. He came up to her with a proclamation. “Mommy, we need another Christmas.” Two of his pens from Christmas ran out of ink that same day, so she thought, "Maybe, he’s going to “need” more pens or “need” more toys." “So David, why do we need another Christmas?” “Cause we need another Christmas tree with ornaments.” We don’t know exactly why David needs another tree. Maybe to spruce up the living room? And while his first thought was not about Jesus, at least it was not about getting more stuff.

Today’s topic is greed. I cannot think of a more aptly timed subject. With all the economic turmoil, it seems as though greed is nearly daily in the news. We hear constant reports of someone lying, cheating, stealing, and being irresponsible or unjustly compensated in the pursuit of wealth. Of course that has been going on since Adam’s first sin in the garden, but now we are seeing the consequences of greed crippling the economy of the entire world.

Knowing and Overcoming Gluttony

What is gluttony? The word has its roots in the Latin word gluttire, which means to gulp or swallow. A simple of definition of gluttony is that it is the over-indulgence and over-consumption of food, drink, or intoxicants. But I think a better definition also includes the phrase “over-attention to” these things.

In contrast, I love this short passage from I Timothy:

But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. – I Tim. 6:8

Christ Died to Save Sinners

Today in a little while we will participate in the bread and the cup together, remembering Christ’s sacrifice for us. We have these times once a month as a church and encourage you to do this even more often because we wish to obey Christ in remembering Him in the manner He told His disciples to do so. Also, we do this because we know that there can hardly be a more profitable and beneficial way to spend time than by remembering the Lord and worshiping Him for His sacrifice of Himself to us. And, in addition, we do this simply because we love Him!

Following this, we will have a sharing time, where all are welcome to share a word of encouragement, a scripture, a prayer request, even a poem; anything that the Lord lays on your heart. We do this because we truly believe that the Holy Spirit lives in all believers and can speak through every believer. Also, we do this because we truly believe that all believers in a local body are gifted with different spiritual gifts that are intended to be used to edify the entire body. And in addition, we do this simply because we love each other; especially, we love to see Christ in each other just as the early church in Acts saw Christ in each other when they had the same kind of fellowship together.

Knowing and Overcoming Lust

Be Imitators of God

Ephesians 5:1-21
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason it says,

A New Year, a New Series

Welcome! I hope you are excited about the fact that we are about to embark on a brand new series, a series on an encouraging, uplifting topic – the topic of … sin. Now, actually I do believe this will be an encouraging and even uplifting series, because, if we are honest, we have to admit that sin is a huge issue in all of our lives. I think sometimes we think that talking about sin is depressing, discouraging; but the reality is that it isn’t the talking that is discouraging, it is the actual sinning and the effects of sin that are so depressing. The name of our series is Understanding and Overcoming Sin because I hope that this series can help us in our daily battle against sin and help us more to do what we want to do. We are all familiar with the Apostle Paul’s cry in Romans:

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. – Romans 6:15

Looking Back, Looking Forward

As we begin the year 2009 A.D., I think it is appropriate to spend some time looking back over the past year and looking ahead to the year to come. I think it is valuable to do this as individuals, as a body of believers, and even as a nation. I will focus on the first two of these today.

About 10 of us just came back from the Faithwalkers conference in North Carolina. There were about 800 people at our location; in a parallel conference in Missouri, there were about 2300 in attendance. The conference was filled with worship, fellowship, and challenging teachings. The theme of the conference was “Total Commitment,” and teachings focused on commitment in the areas of living in the grace of God, honoring Christ as Lord of your life, being devoted to God’s Word, dying to self, living a life of purity, resolving conflicts, carrying out the Great Commission, serving a local church, and fighting the good fight for the rest of your life.