Sermons
by mcarl | July 11, 2010 | In Uncategorized | Comments Off
No Millstone
By Rev. Michael Carl
Introduction
How many of you have played in some kind of organised sports?
Some of us played baseball, soccer, or have been in bowling league. Some of us play boccie. Or some of play board games like Scrabble, Monopoly or Risk.
There are rules for these games. Why? It’s because it would flatly not be any fun trying to play the games if there were no rules.
No one would know what to do. You wouldn’t be able to tell who gets points or who wins.
And we know that for most of us, it’s no fun playing with someone who cheats. We know that we have to keep our eyes on them all the time to make sure they’re not cheating.
We all know hoe chaotic or dangerous it would be if there were no traffic laws. I complain all the time about speed limits. However, I know good and well that if we didn’t have them, we’re guaranteed that someone would do 70 through a residential neighbourhood.
God is a God of authority and order. And He gives us those two precious gifts for our good. We need His authority and we need His order. We need His methods and His plan.
Sometimes these concepts are represented by something as simple as a logical sequence.
So what are we getting at?
Today’s Gospel passage is in an orderly sequence.
The Passage
32“ Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.
In this verse, we are informed that we have a Father. We have an earthly father and we have a Heavenly Father.
Our Heavenly Father is pleased to give us good gifts, and one of those is a way to enter into His Kingdom.
33“ Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys.
How? Take a look at the material that appeared in sequence before today’s Gospel passage.
This is Luke’s account of Jesus giving us the ‘”Seek Ye First.”‘ You see, Luke relates this in such a way that the ‘First’ is eliminated.
Luke is trying to tell us that compared to all other pursuits, there is no
other pursuit in life worth obtaining. Thus, Luke gives us Jesus saying, ‘”Seek His Kingdom.”‘
All else pales in comparison.
How do we do this rightly? Well, we have to have a heavenly perspective and order our priorities accordingly.
Luke quotes Jesus as saying we need to sell all of our things and give to charity.
Not the Bishop teaches that Jesus speaks in overstatement. And it’s true, Jesus does that on more than one occasion. However, we have to look at the context of the passage as well.
This statement of Jesus is a lot like the emphasis on ‘”Go and sell everything,” from the story of the Rich Young Ruler and then Jesus’ kingdom parables in Matthew 13 where Jesus tells about the man who sold everything he had to buy the field with the pearl buried in it.
Here’s the point. It’s time now for all of us to make up our minds that Jesus and His Kingdom are worth everything we have. We have to make up our minds that there is nothing, and no one, who is so important that he/she/it should keep us from gaining eternal life.
Is there anything in our lives that, if we were to be truly honest with the Lord and with ourselves, is preventing us from having the kind of relationship with Jesus that He wants us to have.
Is there anything we value so much that it’s worth keeping us from getting into heaven?
Yes, Jesus uses overstatement in many cases, but regarding this one issue, that when we get to its heart is an issue of idolatry, I think Jesus means that there is nothing in this world that should stand between us and our Lord.
So, we need to surrender it, bring it under the Lord’s authority, or possibly, if it’s material wealth or our possessions, get rid of it if it’s serving as an idol in our lives.
34“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
We need to cover this short verse separately. Our heart follows what we value the most. Our devotion is given to the item, thing or person that we in point of fact and procedure, cherish more than anything.
What you value, is where your heart is.
I’m always having to check myself to make sure that in process, sequence and in God’s order, I’m not in actual practise, putting something ahead of the Lord.
We all wrestle with this. And the reason we covered this separately is because this one sentence is where that true love of our life attitude is actually revealed.
It shows in how we behave. It shows in our schedules. Yes, we all have to work. And yes, we have to take care our families. However, when we’re not doing those things, what are we doing with our time?
Is God, in practise as well as in our jargon, truly first? Here’s a test: When we wake up in the morning, are we saying, ‘I can’t wait to go outside and …’? Or, are we thinking, ‘Cool, it’s quiet in the house, I can spend some quality time with the Lord’?
On Sundays, do we wake up and say, ‘O boy, o boy, I can’t wait to get to church’? Or do we say, ‘Oh, it’s Sunday, I guess I’ll get ready and go to church’?
‘Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’
Be in Readiness
35“ Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit.
36“Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks.
37“Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them.
38“ Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
39“ But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
40” You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.”
The readiness. Are we ready for Jesus to return?
That is the subject of verses 35-40. If Jesus were to come back today, would we be spiritually ready to face the Lord? Have we adequately prepared our hearts so that we are right in His eyes?
This passage is an examination of that subject.
Conclusion
We started out by talking about Jesus being a Saviour of order.
Here’s the sequence in this passage:
He says not to be afraid, for our Father wants to give us the Kingdom. That’s telling us of God’s good intentions.
Next, Jesus is telling us how to shape our lives so that we are devoted to the Lord. He talks about putting the Lord first and about making sure that the Lord is first, not just in words, but in practise.
Then He tells us that that priority should show in our daily routine, our habits and in our attitudes.
Then He tells us that in the end, and at some point, we’re going to have to be ready.
So if we’ve mastered the first steps, then we will be ready for the end when we face the Lord.
So let’s check ourselves and make sure that we’re ready. If we are ready, then we can honestly look forward to the time when we are called home.
Let’s pray.
A Milestone
By Rev. Michael Carl
Introduction
Do you remember when you were a kid and your mom would make you stand with your back to the kitchen wall? My mom did that a lot.
No, she didn’t paddle my behind, she made me stand up against the wall so she could see if I had gotten taller since the last time she made a mark on the wall.
If I had gotten taller, she would say, ‘You’re getting so big…’ It was a milestone as it were.
We all celebrate milestones. We celebrate wedding anniversaries, birthdays, and graduations from high school and college. We celebrate one year on the job or retirement from a lifetime of service with one company or the military.
These are milestones, marks in our lives showing growth, progress and achievement.
Here’s another milestone! This week, Christ the King Church is celebrating its one-year milestone!
One year ago, the Lord called a wonderful and adventurous group of people to start a new church in the Wakefield area. With a special sense of call and purpose, the Lord called a special group of people to start Christ the King Church.
Christ the King Church’s mission, vision and values are:
“Christ the King Church is a dynamic community whose purpose is to make Christ known to the world, help people grow into the likeness of Christ and to glorify God through Holy Spirit-filled, Eucharistically-centred, worship that flows from the Three Streams of the Early Church—the Evangelical, the Sacramental/Liturgical, and the Pentecostal.
“Our three values are Reaching the Lost, Growing Disciples and Glorifying the Lord!”
This is who we are. And we believe it strongly enough to put it on every bulletin.
Those Three Streams were clearly in evidence in the early church, and flowing in those Three Streams, the church advanced across three continents in less than five hundred years!
That’s power! That’s the Three Streams! And that’s Christ the King Church!
So this week, we’re celebrating one full year of the Lord’s faithfulness!
A Scriptural Reminder
In Joshua 23.14, it says, ‘“Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth, and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one word of all the good words which the LORD your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have been fulfilled for you, not one of them has failed.”‘
Then in 1 Corinthians 1.9 Paul writes, ‘God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.’
A faithful, promise-keeping, covenant-keeping God called this church into existence. He is good and He is faithful.
Let’s remind ourselves of some of the promises the Lord has made to us.
So what should our response be to these promises?
Let’s take with us the promise the Lord made to Joshua in Joshua 1.3: ‘“Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses.”‘
Then there’s the promise Jesus made to Paul in Acts 18.9-10: ‘And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.”‘
What’s the word for us this day? Let’s keep on pressing on in the Lord. Don’t be discouraged because it looks like this church isn’t growing. For we needed first to take this year to get our feet solidly planted on the ground. I am confident that we now know who we are as a church. We have our purpose that we trumpet to the world on our bulletin covers every week.
We’re solid. We’re prepared for growth.
The Lord has told us we’re to be His congregation for winning the lost, training disciples and glorifying Him.
We’re to be solidly rooted in the Word and in the Apostolic teaching that was passed down to the bishops. We’re to uphold orthodoxy in doctrine and worship practise and not be given to compromise with the world.
Again, we’re solid and we’re prepared for growth.
So, if we do the things He’s told us and if we walk confidently and authentically with the Lord daily, the Lord will be faithful to lead us to people with whom we can share the Gospel.
Conclusion
So let’s be confident and know that we serve a covenant-keeping God. And we’re ready to grow.
Let’s pray.
Good as Gold
By Rev. Michael Carl
Introduction
We’ve all heard the phrase, “He/She is as good as gold” hundreds of times. It’s a complement to the person who’s being compared to the shiny, yellowish, precious metal.
Naturally, if we’re on the receiving end of the complement, it makes us feel good. We like to be compared to someone or something that is considered valuable.
Have you ever said, “He’s/She’s so nice.” Nice is our other flexible standard by which we evaluate people. If they’re nice, they’re good. If they’re not so nice, we don’t like them.
Here’s the problem with both of these comparative phrases: They’re not accurate to really describe whether or not someone’s going to spend eternity in heaven. God’s standard for determining who get’s into heaven is completely different from our own.
If someone’s “as good as gold,” or “nice,” we believe they’re going to heaven. But the Bible tells us that’s not so. The reality is that on our own, we’re not “Good as gold.” And on our own, we’re not very nice either.
The Passage
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
Paul tells us in Romans 1.16-17 that, “16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
Yes, I know we talked about this verse last week. Yet last week we focused on the part about not being ashamed of the Gospel.
Now we need to talk about the Gospel being the ‘power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.‘
What do we believe about the Gospel?
This relates to our opening in today’s sermon. Don’t we still tend to evaluate a person’s potential candidacy for heaven by whether or not he/she is nice? Or, he/she is ‘Good as Gold.’
Only, we’re not either of things on our own. The Gospel is the power of God to salvation. That being said, what is the Gospel? If someone asked you to tell them what the Gospel is, you’d likely begin a Gospel presentation and say, ‘That’s the Gospel.’
According to Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, (and don’t let the name scare you), the Gospel is the Good News that God’s plan of salvation has been fulfilled in Christ. It is the fulfillment of all of the Old Testament promises of salvation, eternal life, and deliverance from the consequences of sin.
Or in other words, Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 5.19, ‘that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.‘
This is the point, the Gospel content is that God Himself came down as a Man and become the fulfillment of His own promises to reconcile the world to Himself.
Therefore, the Gospel represents fulfillment. When we come to Christ, we are fulfilled. When we come to Christ, all of our pre-Christian hopes and dreams for hope, satisfaction, purpose, identity and all of the other gripping questions about life, the universe, and everything have their answers.
In other words, coming to Christ in response to this fulfillment of God’s purpose, should rightly result in a transformation in our lives. To put it simply, when we come to Christ, we should become new, refreshed, energized, souped-up, remodeled, people.
Or, to put it another way, because the Gospel is the highest fulfillment of God’s plan, we should find the fulfillment in all of our plans. If we don’t, then we need to go back and make sure our plans are the right ones.
How many people do we talk to say, ‘I don’t feel any different.’ ‘I tried church and it didn’t work for me.’ Or, ‘There’s nothing there for me,’ or ‘I still feel empty.’
The answer for those people is that they need to go back and redo what it is they want out of life and make sure their ideas, desires, thoughts and objectives fit what God wants them to be. Most of the time, the reason people don’t find this fulfillment is that they’re holding on to pre-Jesus thoughts, ideas and wants.
Now, when Paul says, ‘For the Jew first and then the Greek,’ he means everyone. In New Testament usage, using the term Greek normally meant everyone who was a Gentile. Gentiles are anyone who aren’t Jews. So Paul intended this to mean that this power of God to salvation was for everyone.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
The righteousness of God is revealed in this Gospel message. How? It’s because God knows that we have no righteousness of our own. So, His righteous desire to see us saved is revealed in this.
The justice of God is satisfied that the ultimate sacrifice for our sin has been paid. And if there’s no sacrifice, if it doesn’t cost something, we usually don’t put any value in it.
The mercy of God is seen because we’re spared punishment and the grace of God is seen because He gives us His righteousness when we don’t deserve it.
Thus, the Gospel perfectly shows us God’s righteous character.
Then Paul quotes, and this is another example of the fulfillment, from Habakkuk, ‘The just shall live by faith.‘
Paul’s statement leaves us asking, “Who are the just?” The answer is in the previous verse. The Gospel is the “power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.”
The Gospel is the message that tells us Jesus’ salvation message. The Gospel is the message that tells us that the “Just” are those who trust Christ to save them. We receive Christ’s forgiveness for all of our wrongdoing by faith in only Him.
To be “Good as gold,” and to be declared righteous by the Lord, we need to put our faith in Christ and have Jesus put His life and His righteousness in us. How do we do that? We ask Him to save us and believe by faith that He saves us.
So it’s nothing we’ve done; it’s what Jesus did for us. He made it possible for us to believe.
Conclusion
So, this is the time when we have an opportunity to find fulfillment. It’s time to give up all of our worldly and fleshly dreams. It’s time to maximize the possibilities by allowing Jesus complete free reign in our lives.
It’s time to receive His best and to be ready to move on into the greatness that He has for us.
We are a people of purpose and this is a church of destiny. And that greatness if found in fulfillment—the fulfillment of the Gospel in our lives too.
Then we can be as ‘Good as gold.’
Let’s pray.
Ready
By Rev. Michael Carl
Introduction
Were you ever in a school play, or a Sunday School program in which you had to recite a part—to say your lines?
Or, did you ever have to give a speech or do something publicly?
You were nervous weren’t you?
Now imagine for a moment how you feel when you’re thinking about sharing the Gospel with someone. The butterflies turn into bald eagles and your palms get sweaty; and for the most part we can easily convince ourselves the time isn’t right to witness.
But sharing the Gospel is a vital part of our Christian life. It’s necessary so that we have an outlet for ministry. This is necessary to maintain balance.
We’ve all heard about the Dead Sea, how its salt content is the product of the stagnation of the water. It has creeks, rivers and streams feeding IN to its waters, but it has no outlet. So the water turns to a briny, salt-water compound.
Robert Morris is doing a series called Let’s Go, where he talks about the Biblical meaning of ‘Coming In,’ and ‘Going Out.’ His version of the Dead Sea illustration is how ponds, lakes and reservoirs that don’t have outlets eventually develop this chemical film look on the top. This is possibly the problem with Lake Quanapowitt. It has no real output, so that’s why when we’re walking along its banks, we can see this oily film gathering along the banks.
That’s what happens with Christians who don’t do something to give, share, witness or have some output. We get bored with church because we’re only ‘taking it in,’ but there’s no output.
‘Church doesn’t minister to me anymore,’ we may say. Of course it doesn’t. There’s no more room for more. You’re full.
Now today’s Scripture is Romans 1.14-17.
The Passage and More
14 I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise.
15 So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
Paul says in verse 14 that he is a ‘debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise.’
This is interesting here. The word for debtor is ??The word is ofehlehtes. It’s one who feels like he has to settle accounts—to pay a debt and to make things right. He’s morally bound to performing his duty.
This is an odd statement for him to make, for he’s telling us that he feels like he’s a debtor to the Gentiles. Why? He felt like he owed them the ministry of the Word. He felt obligated to those folks.
Let’s think about this: What is it about the Gospel message that is so wonderful that Paul felt like he owed them the message?
Now, how in the world could he feel that way? He was well-educated and respected. He was in the elite. But when he met Jesus, he gave it up to follow Christ.
It’s because the message of the Gospel is so life-changing, so incredible, so uplifting, so encouraging and so transforming, the peace, satisfaction, significance and power he received from Christ was so wonderful that he was willing to immediately toss it away and follow Jesus.
The, he felt so compelled to tell them about his wonderful Saviour that he put it in terms of owing them the message and the witness of Christ.
To explain this we look at 2 Corinthians 5.14, ‘The love of Christ compels us.’ He was compelled, driven, to share the Gospel. He saw the benefits of the Gospel so strongly and clearly that he felt bound by it.
In verse 15 he says ‘So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the Gospel to you who are in Rome also.‘
He says that he’s going to preach and share with everything that is in him. Paul is ready to give it all for the sake of Christ.
Now here’s the part that leads us to fulfill the opening illustration. He’s ready to preach the Gospel. He’s ready. He’s primed; he’s pumped. He’s willing; he’s on the edge, waiting for the opportunity.
Do we feel that way? Are we ready at a moment’s notice to share the Gospel?
Most of us say ‘No,’ because we’re nervous and afraid.
Have you ever given your best spiel in sharing the Gospel, your cleverest, your most clearly presented, most detailed but simple presentation and had the person to whom you were speaking say, ‘No’?
Or did they shoot down your witness with an argument you couldn’t refute?
I mean, you were ready to say, ‘What do you mean no?’ Or, maybe your feelings were hurt, or you were offended or even mad.
Then we ask, ‘How could Paul be so gutsy?’ The answer comes at the beginning of verse 16. ‘For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.‘
Paul wasn’t ashamed of the message and he wasn’t ashamed of the ultimate Messenger. He tells us that the message is the power of God to salvation. The Messenger is Christ. And he’s not ashamed of either of them.
Our intellectual elite constantly tells the world that Christians are anti-intellectual, ignorant, bumpkins. We’re portrayed as fools, intellectually deficient nit-wits or ignorant, superstitious hicks.
Jesus is maligned and made fun of. Jesus is belittled and mocked. He’s portrayed as weak and irrelevant.
That couldn’t be any further from the truth. For most of the world’s history since the beginning of the church, the leading scholars, intellectuals and scientists were and still are Christians.
Studies routinely show that the average evangelical Christian in the West is a college-educated professional. Many have graduate degrees. Chrisitans are business people, scholars, writers, doctors, scientists, researchers and techies.
Yet, that’s not the message of this book. Look through the pages of the Bible. The followers of the Lord were tough guys. Just to name a few, Moses was a murderer who spent forty years in the wilderness, tending sheep. We don’t approve of Moses’ actions killing the Egyptian, but what we see is a man who wasn’t a fearful, hand-wringing wimp saying, ‘O goodness, there’s an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, what do I do?’ He had the guts to take action and do something, even though it was wrong. He wasn’t a wimp.
Joshua was a military commander. Samson, for all of his faults, was a strong man. David was a successful military leader and a strong, confident king. The prophets endured harsh treatment and kept on going.
Then look at the New Testament. Peter, Andrew, James and John were fishermen. That was not a profession for the weak. Paul was an educated man, and after he was converted, he endured some of the harshest treatment imaginable. He was on the road, 24/7, 52. He was shipwrecked and he tells us he had to fight animals.
This is not the picture of a group of weak, indecisive, pushovers.
Yet, their motivation wasn’t fearful obligation. Their motivation was a faith that gives strength, peace, courage and satisfaction. They were motivated by love and knowledge that we have a wonderful Saviour who goes ahead of us preparing the way!
The Gospel is a message of transformation, of life. It is a message of beauty, strength, endurance, and power. This is a message that is completely compatible with academics and that can stand the scrutiny of the most skilled skeptics.
Conclusion
Why is this so? It’s because the Giver of the message is the strong tower, the Deliverer and the One who willingly endured the harshness of the worst anyone could dish out.
Jesus is the One who gives us His strength. He constantly takes what we have to give and grows it into something magnificent.
He changes us from the inside and refashions us into something beautiful. Here, beautiful doesn’t mean weak and delicate. In this case, beautiful is strong, capable, with abundant potential.
His version of beautiful means the weak become the strong. The doubter becomes the faithful.
So, let us resolve this day not to be ashamed of either the Gospel or the One who embodies it, Jesus Christ, the righteous One who generously gives us His righteousness. He is Jesus, the righteous One who puts His righteousness into us and gives us His strength.
Awaken, 2
By Rev. Michael Carl
Introduction
For an introduction to the essential details in today’s Gospel, we need to turn to last week’s Old Testament reading for a moment.
Go to Ezekiel 37, verse one, if you will.
There’s a simple phrase right at the beginning of this momentous chapter that covers this chapter and in general, covers the Lord’s dealings with us.
What is it?
That’s right, ‘The hand of the Lord was upon me…’ This goes along with Jesus’ words to His disciples on the shores of Galilee when He said He will make them become fishers of men, and then His famous statement in John 15, ‘”Apart from Me, you can do nothing.”‘
All three of these sentences make perfect sense when we take a look at how difficult it is to walk with Christ and do His work.
Ultimately the issue is the Lord’s power and the Lord’s authority. So let’s take a look.
The Passage
1 After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go.
We can’t overstate the importance of the key details in this verse. The Lord appointed 70 others.
The Lord appointed them. In other words, the Lord’s hand was upon them. He was in control of the situation. They were appointed to do His work by Him.
This point is so basic, but this point is also vital.
I’ll tell you something that’s really important. I’m always telling folks that they need to be in church. I’m always telling people that we need to sharing the Gospel; we need to be evangelizing.
In sermons and lessons, the point always comes out about how we need to be reading our Bibles, praying, fasting, etc.
Someone inevitably tells me, ‘Well you’re a pastor, we expect you to say these things. It’s easier for you because you have the time.’
I have some news for you. Pastors, preachers, evangelists, etc. are subject to the same feelings, emotions and thoughts that everyone else is. Pastors are prone to disappointment, frustration, even anger, as much as anyone else.
Even though we may have these grand visions of excitement, adventure, the big pictures, grandiose visions and all of those things, the enemy is always nipping at the elbows, whispering foreboding thoughts of failure, disappointment and depression.
So, this point that we do all of these things at the Lord’s appointment and in His power, with His hand upon us is relevant to the rank and file church member, the layman, as well as the professionally trained, vocational ministers.
We serve under His appointment, and thus, are working ultimately under His guidance and power.
iHis
2 Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.
We need to hear this kind of encouraging word from the Lord. ‘”The harvest truly is great.”‘
Why is that positive and encouraging?
Well, the Lord is assuring us that there are people out there who have been prepared for the message of the Gospel and who are ready to hear and be harvested. We know that somehow, some way, and at some point, there will be a harvest. People will respond to the Word.
Unfortunately, we’re also assured of one other thing. There will likely be a shortage of workers. The answer then is to get on our knees and to ask the Lord to call, commission, and send more workers.
The Lord is warning the sold out, zealous servants that they should expect to run into what church leaders now call the ‘80-20 Rule.’ That rule is the one that says that 80-percent of the work is likely to always be done by 20-percent of the people.
We’ve all seen it. We’ve all been in churches where no matter how many fired-up believers there were in the church; a minority of the church members was still doing most of the work.
What’s the answer? Let’s get on our knees and pray that the Lord will lay a call upon the heart of more people.
Remember, the harvest is plentiful. There are hundreds, if not thousands of people in the Wakefield, Reading, North Reading and Lynnfield area, who are primed and ready to respond to the Gospel message.
3 Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.
Jesus is telling us to be ready to go. We’re to go on our way serving Him.
Do you know something? There may come a time when our secular employment is so frustrating, so unfulfilling, so tiresome, and so anger-inducing that thinking about the Lord’s work and what His reward for us may be the only way to see good in that situation. The Lord will give us that desperately needed touch of grace and infuse us with the energy and vigour we need to keep going.
How? Everything we do on this side of eternity, for the most part, seems frivolous, without point, without purpose and so temporary. Everything we do on this side of eternity seems to be tarnished and any results seem so temporary. We’re tempted to say, ‘What’s the use?’
Yet, it’s when we tap into doing what we do for an eternal, life-giving, life-infusing purpose, and when we become aware that the ‘Hand of the Lord is upon’ us, that we’re given a new perspective on what all of this ’stuff’, or indeed, garbage, we have to endure is about.
This brings us to the last part of this verse, ‘”I send you out as lambs among wolves.”‘
How many of us feel like we’re frequently working among wolves? And these wolves have nothing but mean, angry, malevolent intentions for us?
Again, this is when we need to know that the ‘”hand of the Lord is on”‘ us. We need to have that assurance that when everything looks like it’s crashing down around us and we’re on the precipice of failure, that the Lord is not only with us, He’s the One who is holding us up, giving us whatever sense of stability we have.
4 Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals; and greet no one along the road.
We’ll close today with verse four. Why would Jesus tell them to go out and not to carry any provisions?
He simply wanted them to know that He was the One who would provide for them. Those early workers needed to see the Lord do the miraculous work of provision for them.
And I don’t think I need to remind us today that we too still need to have that reassurance that it is the Lord who is ultimately providing for us.
Conclusion
What’s all this about today?
It’s simply that we have the Lord’s hand upon us. It’s Him who has called all of us. Whether we’ve been given an extraordinary call with lights, whistles and bells or whether we get the sense of call from reading a Bible verse that says, ‘Go!’ We’re all called to serve Him.
We’re prepared to serve by being reminded that there are those out there who are ready to hear what we have to say.
We have the right message. In fact, as followers of Christ, we have the only message that carries weight for eternity.
So let us take refuge in His care and take encouragement from Him that He has appointed us. He has His hand upon us, and He is the One who will sustain us every day of our lives.
Awaken
By Rev. Michael Carl
Introduction
There’s a story told of Thomas Jefferson when he was Vice President of the United States.
Jefferson was travelling from Washington to his home and as a result, he was wearing some weather-worn clothes. He didn’t look like the sitting Vice President of the United States. On that trip, one night he stopped at an inn and asked to have a room.
The innkeeper saw the shoddily clad Jefferson and said, ‘Naw, we don’t have any rooms. Besides, you wouldn’t be able to pay me anyway.’
Jefferson went on and eventually found accommodations for the night.
On his return trip, he was riding a coach and dressed nicely. He stopped at the same inn where he had been turned down. Recognising him, the innkeeper rolled out the red carpet, so to speak.
But Jefferson refused the service and went on, saying, ‘If you didn’t want to take care of me before while I looked like a peasant, I’m not going to let you take care of me as Vice President.
The moral of the story of course is Jefferson’s humble approach. But it also speaks to another issue.
For most of us, what a difference it makes when we know who someone really is. And that’s the major point of our short Gospel reading for today.
The Passage
18 And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
19 So they answered and said, “John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again.”
20 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”
Peter’s answer is literally ‘God’s Christ.’ Christ means, ‘Anointed One.’
This truly means the One who fully has the power, the majesty, the authority and the machismo of God. It’s the One who has the identity of God.
This phrase reveals to us the fullness of the nature of Jesus and who He really is.
Now the question we have to ask is, ‘What difference does that make in my life?’
Does it really make a difference in our lives when we fully come to terms with who Jesus really is?
The answer depends on how far you’ve gone realizing this and how much latitude you have given to the Lord.
Truthfully, those who say they have not yet experienced God in all of His fullness are those who are either in process, on the way to reaching that level of penitence, peace and power,
Let’s look at these three things.
The Three ‘Ps’
The first ‘P’ is penitence. This is our humble willingness to realise our sinful condition and to confess our sin to the Lord. Knowing who Jesus is should give us a great awareness of our need for a Saviour. Knowing who Jesus is and the price He paid for us—if we really know and act on that knowledge—should cause us to realise our need for a Saviour and to readily make us willing to come to the Cross and repent of our sinful attitudes, thoughts, actions and practises.
This also means we accept His authority as Lord over our lives. We humbly realise our weaknesses and turn our lives over to Him. We give Him everything and let go of our hesitations and other hang-ups. This penitence is the launching place for fully dying to self.
There is a powerful statement that goes with this: ‘It is a profound thing to finally learn that dying to self and crucifying the flesh means to submit and subordinate all of our wants, desires, likes, preferences and opinions to Jesus as Lord over OUR WHOLE LIFE.’
The second ‘P’ is peace. Knowing that Jesus is truly the Christ, the Son of God—God in the flesh—should raise us to the level where can live life in a state of peace.
Let me make it clear that we’re not talking about delusional ignorance, where we willfully ignore the situations around us. We can feel like we have a sense of peace if we simply refuse to realise what’s going on around us. But, that’s delusional and we normally end up in a far worse condition when we ignore reality.
The peace here is the peace that only the Lord Jesus can give. It’s a peace that recognizes the situation, but looks at it from a position of faith. It’s a peace that says, I see the storms, but I know that Jesus is in charge. No matter what, I know that with Him, I will prevail and the situation will work out.
Then there’s the ‘P’ for power. This is power for living. This is a life-changing encounter with Christ where we have mountain-moving, attitude-changing faith. We take seriously the fact that He is Lord.
Now it is a dynamic relationship. It doesn’t mean that our personalities are sucked into a religious vacuum and we stop having thoughts. We don’t become computer-programmed robots. What happens is that we finally become full, active, partners in His plan and purpose for our lives.
How does this happen? It happens because we’re no longer trying to run the show, arguing with Him about what He should have us doing.
The Reality
When we come to Him on this level, we finally begin to see our lives the way He means for us to see them. We finally get to see who we really are. We learn more about ourselves once we finally turn over control to Him that we ever could when we were trying to tell Him who we think we are.
Not only that, we start doing things His way—the way He tells us to.
Folks, we finally say, ‘Jesus, You are Lord, period!’
I know I’ve overused some of my life stories, but I am most familiar with how this works looking at my own life.
In 1988, I was struggling with what I was supposed to do with my life. I thought I wanted to do a bunch of things and wasn’t sure of those things I had the ability to do.
The Lord said, ‘Join the Army.’
I said, ‘Lord, I don’t want to join the Army.’
The tug kept getting stronger and stronger as He said, ‘I want you to join the Army.’
So, I finally joined the Army.
The change was remarkable. Through a series of events and circumstances, I was sent to Fort Lewis, Washington, from where I went to do temporary duty in S. Korea.
I loved it. I loved the aura, the exotic sense of being in a far-away place. While I was in Korea on temporary duty, I found out I was on orders to go to Okinawa.
So, the Lord through the Army sent me to Okinawa. And I loved it. I loved the sights, the sounds, the smells of the food being prepared by street concessioners.
It was there that the Lord got my attention and brought me back into a real relationship with Him.
And it was there that He gave me my wife, my first son and a call on my life.
Then He sent me back to Georgia where I got my second son and had a short trip to Somalia. And as desolate as Somalia was, I loved being in Africa.
The issue here is giving up our own likes, dislikes and ideas of who we want to be and letting Jesus remake us in His image.
That’s the difference maker. When I did that, I found out who I was. I found out by submitting my life to Him and doing as He said how I am hardwired. I know more about who I am now than I ever could have before.
Through that deeper relationship with Him, I have a sense of identity, a sense of place and purpose.
That love of being in exotic faraway lands was refined into a deep sense of calling to minister to people all over the world. The Lord has taught me the amazing plan He’s laid out for me.
But I never could have learned that had I not obeyed God, done what He said do, followed His instructions and gave up trying to tell Him how He should run His business.
Conclusion
Folks, we steal more blessings from ourselves because we keep letting our own likes and dislikes get in the way of His work in our lives. And we’re never too old to make that level of surrender to Him.
See There!
By Rev. Michael Carl
Introduction
In his introduction to his contemporary classic work, The Great Omission, scholar Dr. Robertson McQuilken tells about a lecture on unreached people groups that he gave at an Urbana Missions Conference. After the lecture, a student shouted out the question, ‘How come?’
McQuilken replied, ‘How come what?’
‘With so many unreached people, how come so few are going?’
‘That is a very good question,’ McQuilken responded. ‘I know someone who asks that same question everyday.’
‘Who’s that?’ the student probed.
Dr. McQuilken turned his head heavenward. No further gesturing or answers were necessary. Everyone in the room knew that the Lord’s heart is broken over the U. S. church’s negligence in fulfilling the Great Commission.
Although last week’s Gospel reading was Jesus’ first installment in His 40-Day post-resurrection missions seminar, this week’s Gospel is just as powerful for the lesson it teaches.
The passage is our Gospel for today, John 21.1-12
Passage and Exposition
1 After these things Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and He manifested Himself in this way.
2 Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together.
3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will also come with you.” They went out and got into the boat; and that night they caught nothing.
4 But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
5 So Jesus said to them, “Children, you do not have any fish, do you?” They answered Him, “No.”
6 And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch.” So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish.
7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.” So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put his outer garment on (for he was stripped for work), and threw himself into the sea.
11 Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not torn.
12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples ventured to question Him, “Who are You?” knowing that it was the Lord.
13 Jesus came and took )the bread and gave it to them, and the fish likewise.
14 This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples, after He was raised from the dead.
The disciples are sitting around a few days after coming to the Galilee, and apparently they’re getting bothered. In His post resurrection appearances, Jesus told the women to tell the disciples to go to the Galilee and He would meet them there.
Well, they’ve been there for several days and probably thinking, ‘Well, Jesus must not be coming, so let’s go fishing.’
In reality they’re saying, ‘I’ll bet Jesus isn’t coming, so let’s fall back on what we know. Let’s go back to the familiar.’
So Peter says, ‘I’m going fishing.’ The word is the participle form of the first person singular pronoun. The Greek is ‘hupago.’ The regular first person form is egv. That is, ehgo and do we know the English word we get the word, ego. This word means that we believe the world revolves around us.
We’ll see the results of the self-centred activity in a minute.
The scene is the shore of the Sea of Tiberias, or the Lake of Galilee. It’s early morning and the disciples are out on the lake in a boat, trying to fish.
They worked all night and caught nothing. The band of disciples is looking through the light of a new day at an empty net. Jesus asked them if they had any fish.
Now in verse 5, the Greek actually reads, “Children, you do not have any fish, do you?”
Why is this important? It’s because Jesus is immediately addressing the Apostle’s situation. He knows they’ve caught nothing and He’s accenting it by how He asks, ‘Hey, you guys don’t have any fish, do you?’
They say, ‘No.’
In answer to that, Jesus tells them to throw the nets on the other side of the boat. Logically that shouldn’t make any difference. The water on one side of the boat is the same as the water on the other. It’s not like there was an unseen boundary line running parallel to the mid-point of the boat.
Yet, about four hours after I wrote that and sent it in, a note arrived in my email inbox from some man who was talking about ocean currents merging together.
The story went on for some time, but the point is that the man said he could sit in his boat at the meeting point for the currents coming together and there could be a 40-degree variance in the water temperatures on opposite sides of the boat.
I pondered that for a while and thought I had ‘egg on my face’ from writing something that was pithy but now possibly inaccurate.
Then I found a 1987 article from Schenectady Gazzette outdoor editor Larry Curthoys in which he talked about the issue of finding fish based on the water temperature of fresh water lakes.[1]
He said that you’ll always find the most fish in the warmer water. The reason is that fish are cold-blooded animals and colder water has higher density. Because of the higher density and other water factors, fish move better and can get more oxygen out of warmer fresh water.
So what are we saying?
Could there have been an actual difference in the number of fish on one side or the other under the boat?
There could have been, because if they were near their hometown, they would have been near the northern end of the Lake of Galilee. A cold river flowing from the mountains in the northern Galilee feeds the lake.
If you move farther south, the water warms because you get closer to the place where the lake feeds the Jordan River.
So there you have it. It’s possible that those men could have had their boat at the edge of the point where the cold water from the river finally begins to mix with the warmer water.
So now you’re saying, ‘You mean this deal is because Jesus had knowledge the disciples didn’t have?’
Folks, in every issue of life we can gain insight by drawing nearer to the Lord and discovering the insights He has for us.
However, Jesus also knew that those men were not simply on the edge of differing currents and water temperatures. Remember that the text tells us they were sitting around not doing anything. They were waiting on the Lord.
Yet, they were getting antsy waiting on Jesus to show up.
Hey, they had maybe been there a few days. Jesus hadn’t shown up yet. And Jesus knew they were on the edge of trying to return to their old life.
Hey, we do that. Jesus seems like He’s late. He’s not showing up on our schedule. So we get impatient.
We try to do things on our own strength. Or what’s possibly even more difficult to understand is the difference between doing something on our own and doing something through Him.
It’s difficult sometimes to tell the difference.
So in their frustration, they were on the edge of either going back to their old way of life and they were launching out on their own strength.
What’s important here is that Jesus is making a point about being a ‘Fisher of Men.’
This story brilliantly shows us that what Jesus told them in John 15 was true then and it’s still true now. ‘”Apart from Me, you can do nothing.”‘
So Jesus said, ‘”Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch.”‘
The Greek literally says, ‘Balete eis ta daxia mera tou ploiou to diktouon,’ or, on the right side of the boat. That’s right as opposed to the left. Yet, it also means to be on someone’s ‘good’ side.
Being God, Jesus knew where the fish were. Jesus had the divine knowledge of where they could find the fish. And He no doubt commanded those fish to move up from the warmer water and into those nets.
The text tells us that the nets were filled to bursting. And when they got to the shore, breakfast was ready.
Jesus was really telling them, ‘Do this the right way,’ or ‘Do this My way and you’ll have the catch.’ You will get results. You will get results that have a lasting impact. You’ll touch people’s lives for the good. You’ll have results that last for all eternity.
Then with the fish already on the grill He was saying, ‘I have the situation under control.
Conclusion
So if you’re ready in this life to have results that really make a difference; and if you want to see your effort amount to something; and if you want to leave a positive lasting mark on the lives of the people your life has touched, or is touching, turn the effort over to Jesus.
Jesus shows us what the results will be when we follow His direction. And the potential for great results is so much bigger with Jesus in control.
Let’s pray.
[1] Larry Curthoys. “Temperature Change Key to Spring Fishing on Lake Ontario,” Schenectady Gazette. (April 23, 1987), 40. Downloaded from Google at
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1917&dat=19870423&id=wBAhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oHIFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2547,5730418 , accessed 16 April 2010.
Confession
By Rev. Michael Carl
Introduction
In Monty Python’s Flying Circus, they did a skit called ‘The Spanish Inquisition,’ where a chap who’s being questioned says, ‘I wasn’t expecting the Spanish Inquisition.’
At that moment, some men wearing the old leather flying cap and Cardinal’s robes would burst through a door saying, ‘Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.’
Eventually, the red-clad goofy inquisitors would say something like, ‘Confess, to the heinous sin of heresy.’
They were trying to get the person to admit to a grievous error or mistake. As the old saying goes, ‘Confession is good for the soul.’
That’s one definition of ‘confession.’
Dictionary.com says the word ‘Confession‘ also means ‘An avowal of belief in the doctrines of a particular faith; a creed,’ or ‘a church or group of worshipers adhering to a specific creed.’
As Church History teaches there are famous confessions of faith, two of the most famous being the Augsburg Confession and the Westminster Confession.
They were statements of belief that were verbally confessed before groups of usually like-minded fellow travellers.
There is power in our words, and as we’re going to find out today, our Epistle reading teaches us something quite profound about the power of verbal confession.
The Passage and Explanation
Paul was quite the theologian and expositor, because when you read through the passage, you’ll likely notice that there are sections that are italicized. Those are quotations Paul is using from the Hebrew Scriptures.
5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.”[b] [Leviticus 18.5]
6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’”[c [Deuteronomy 30.12]] (that is, to bring Christ down from above)
7 or, “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’”[d] [Deut. 30.13] (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”[e] [Deut. 30.14] (that is, the word of faith which we preach):
We actually begin our study at verse 7 where Paul assures us that ‘The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.’ This is a quote from Deuteronomy 30.14.
But look at the promise. The Word is near us. And if you’ve come to faith in Christ, the Word became flesh, the Word is living inside of you. He is in your heart and on your lips.
If we confess Christ as Saviour and Lord, the Living Word comes to live inside and sets up residence in your life. And if we have confessed Him as Saviour and Lord, we have the Word’s power available to us.
Let me say a bit on making Jesus Lord. There is no such thing as being saved unless Jesus is Lord. He can’t work in your life the way He wants if you don’t make Him Lord and confess that you will not merely believe in Him, but obey Him as your Lord, your Leader and your Master.
Why? Folks, most of the work He does in your life is through the situations to which He will lead you. If you don’t follow Him in obedience, He can’t take you where He wants you to go so that He can work in you the changes He desires.
We know this because straight-away in Luke 14.27, Jesus says, ‘”Whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”‘
Paul spends a good part of Romans chapter eight talking at length on the life of a disciple. Paul says that we have to follow Christ in obedience into those places that may make us smart and be a bit uncomfortable.
Then the tough-minded, Christ-obeying Apostle tells us that we will go through difficulties and trials. Yet, Paul tells us that those things are nothing compared to the great and awesome reward we will receive in heaven.
As we move on to verse nine, Paul comes to the point of the confession. Here is a place where a confession brings life.
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Again, verbal confession. We speak it. We profess publicly that we believe it. We live like we believe it. It is here that we have life. We verbally confess that we have Jesus and that He is Lord, and believe to the core of our being that He was raised from death, we have life.
It’s interesting here that the Greek word for confess in this passage is the word, homologeses, which is from the same root as the word, Homily, the sacramental, liturgical word for the sermon or teaching time.
This means that the sermon is also supposed to be a verbal confession of the truth and a statement of what the preacher believes. Thus, the preacher, if true to the Lord’s call, confesses the truth to life for the hearers.
The power of confession is the reason the Church Fathers and bishops gathered at the Council of Nicea and wrote the Nicene Creed. They understood the power of a verbal witness and wrote a statement that the whole church could confess together.
There is more power when we do it as a group.
This is just a few lines from the Nicene Creed, the creed developed by the Church Fathers at the 325 A.D. Council of Nicea.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
This and the Apostle’s Creed are succinct statements that declare the very life-giving truths of which Paul is speaking in Romans 10.9, a confession of the truth to salvation–to life.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”[f] [Isaiah 28.16]
This is cool and we’ll end with this today. We believe in our hearts these truths to righteousness. But with we confess with the mouth to salvation.
Here Paul makes a vital distinction. When we appropriate these things as true in our hearts, they change our behaviour, our attitudes and our actions. We verbally confess them to give us life.
There is power in the connection between our mouth and our hearts. Many prisoners of war were tortured and beaten in the camps in Germany, Korea, and Vietnam.
There’s a famous man named Jeremiah Denton who made Admiral in the Navy, but as a flight officer in the Vietnam War he was shot down and held in Hanoi. He was tortured to near death. He was beaten, starved and underwent torments that boggle our imagination.
Other prisoners died under the pressure.
What sustained him? He was a Christian and he spoke with his lips the faith he held dear and he spoke verbally of his desire to live so he could make confession of his faith in Jesus. Those that died sat silently and tried to hold their pain inward. They didn’t speak verbally of their will to live.
By the confession of his lips, Jeremiah Denton powerfully spoke the will to live another day to serve Jesus.
Conclusion
This is the power of witnessing for the Lord. We speak the words of life to reaffirm them to ourselves and to share life with others. This is the heart of evangelism—verbally confessing the truth of Christ as a life-giving, life-sustaining power that brings life to those who hear and who also will confess their faith that Jesus is Lord.
Let’s pray.
