Daddy, Daddy, Wait for Me

 

Our text for today is from St Paul’s letter to the Christians in Galatia, in which he wrote: “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.” (Galatians 4:4-7)

 

He wrote similarly to the Christians in Rome: “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.” (Romans 8:14-16)

 

And so, what does this all have to do with you and me in 2026 – and with all others who live for Jesus as their Lord? And that is the limitation: Those who live for Jesus as their Lord.

 

The texts do not apply to any who reject Jesus’ lordship, or to those who give only lip service to Him,  Only those who obey Christ have the right to call God, ‘Father;’  Or ‘Daddy.’

 

As Scripture tells us: “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:10-13)

 

Several years ago, Nancy and I were vacationing in Orlando, Florida. During my morning time with the Lord in our hotel suite, I heard a young child outside our door call anxiously to her father, “Daddy, wait for me. Please.” 

 

I assumed her father stopped, and I heard a muffled response, “Come on, we need to go.” A moment later, small feet pattered past the door and down the hall. But her plea interrupted my prayer time, and I replayed her plaintive cry in my mind, “Daddy, wait for me, please.”

 

Although I couldn’t see him on the other side of my door, I sensed he was in a hurry to get wherever it was they needed to get to.

 

“Come on,” he said. “We need to go.”

 

Did he sound a little impatient? I can’t know for sure. As I said, his voice sounded muffled.  But I suddenly remembered myself several decades earlier in similar situations.

 

Countless times, I’m sure, our children called out to me as I raced to get wherever it was I needed to get to. “Daddy, wait for me, please.” And I know I must have called behind me – probably – and I am sorry to admit – most often impatiently, “Come on, we need to go.”

 

And then, as I thought about the little voice outside the door, and my memories of our children, the Holy Spirit changed my focus. It is that change of focus that I want to now draw our attention.

 

You remember the story of the two men hung between heaven and earth, nailed to crosses on either side of the One in the middle. Two men, thieves, struggling against death, knowing it was only a matter of time before death finally sank its talons into their flesh.  And all the while, they watched the Stranger in the middle.

Here is how St. Luke records this scene in his gospel: When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.” The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!” Now there was also an inscription above Him, “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:33-43)

 

I want to draw our attention to the three responses in this short section – and how they relate to the plaintive cry of all who know they are lost without the Savior – Daddy, Daddy, wait for me, please. Here are the

three responses: The response of the sinner to his sin; The response of the sinner to his savior; and the response of the Savior to the sinner.

 

First: One thief knew he deserved to die. He’d broken the law, and now was paying the penalty. The other, even while dying, joined the mob at the foot of the cross in mocking, cursing, and blaspheming the Stranger in the middle.

But the penitent thief would have none of it. And here we see the sinner’s response to his own sin. He acknowledged it. He confessed that he was wrong in what he had done. And he rebuked the other: “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.”

 

When was the last time you confessed to God that you were wrong and that God is right to demand of us righteousness?

 

Well, that was the sinner’s response to his own sin. Acknowledgment. We must all, every one of us, first do that. It’s called making a good confession – not a casual confession of sin to God, but honestly being SORRY for having sinned.

 

It’s like saying, “Daddy, wait for me, please. I’ve stumbled. I’ve fallen. I want to go with you, but I’ve allowed myself to be distracted. I’ve allowed myself to be tempted away from You. Daddy, please wait for me. I’m coming to you now.”

 

Have you ever in your life felt that way? Stumbled into sin? Fallen deeply into sin? But you woke up, took stock of where you were and where Daddy was . . . and you called out to Him – “Daddy, wait for me. I’m coming”?

 

If you’re like me, you’ve done that dozens and dozens of times in your walk with Christ. And if you have not – you need to get alone with yourself and ask yourself, “Why not?”  Maybe – and I suggest this very cautiously and kindly, but also firmly and with great earnestness – if you have not daily confessed your daily sins, then maybe God is not really your Father. Maybe He is for you just a nice idea.

 

Now let’s look at the sinner’s response to what He hoped would be the Savior’s mercy: “Jesus, remember me when you come into Your kingdom.” (Luke 23:40-42)

 

In that moment he did what everyone must do – not just once, but repeatedly in their life. The broken and contrite thief recognized Jesus had a kingdom. He recognized Jesus was Lord in His kingdom. And the thief wanted to be with Him forever in that kingdom.

 

If we think about it, the thief’s response to his own sin and to what he hoped would be the Savior’s response was not too dissimilar to King David’s response to the Savior after his sin with Bathsheba:

Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight . . . . . Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow ^{. . . .} Hide Your face from my sins And blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. . . . . (Psalm 51).

 

If you’re Catholic, you recognize how close David’s prayer is to the Act of Contrition often said in the confessional: O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because of Thy just punishments, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin.

Or another way of saying it: “Daddy. Daddy. Wait for me, please. I’m coming to You.”

The thief’s response was first to acknowledge his sins. To own up to them. His second response was to turn to the Savior in repentance, to ask for mercy and forgiveness.

 

Repentance does amazing things in and for our soul. It lifts us to where Jesus hangs on the cross, face to face with His nailed and bloodied body – brutalized because of our sins. Repentance frees us from ourselves, from our arrogance that binds us to eternal death. It teaches us humility and unveils for us our fleeting mortality and our desperate need for an eternal savior. Repentance brings us into an intimate relationship with the King of Glory reserved only for the penitent.

Here again is what the penitent thief said: “Jesus, remember me when you come into Your kingdom.” He spoke less than a dozen words. Short prayers from the heart are as efficacious as long soliloquies.

And finally, for today, the third response – this one is the Savior’s response to the penitent sinner who pleaded: Jesus, remember me. And Jesus responded: “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

 

How often did the Lord Jesus say to others, “Come, follow Me”?  Lots of times. His offer is embedded from one end of the Gospels to the other. And oh, how I want to follow Him. And I believe you do, too.

 

But how is it so often the case that you and I get sidetracked from following Him? Like little children distracted by a bug crawling in the grass, or the breeze blowing though leaves, or the cat cowering by the tree trunk – or even a piece of trash crumpled along the sidewalk – we so often get preoccupied by life events, and we take our eyes off the Shepherd and dally in the distractions – until we suddenly notice we’re not as close to Daddy as we were at the first.

 

“Daddy, wait for me, please.”

 

What causes a child to so easily lose focus? Whatever it is, and I know there are many things responsible for catching a toddler’s eye – whatever it is should not be what causes me or you to lose focus. St. Paul wrote something to this point in his letter to the church at Corinth: When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. (1 Corinthians 13).

 

Oh, may God almighty help us to mature into spiritual maturity and to better fix our eyes on Jesus as we follow Him wherever it is He wants us to go.

 

Daddy, wait for me please.

 

The good news this 19^th day of July in 2026 is this: Unlike human fathers who sometimes turn back and call impatiently to the lagging child, “Hurry up. We need to get going;” Unlike the human father, our heavenly Father never once, never ever once, has He ever turned back and said with impatience: “Come on. Hurry up. We need to get going.”

 

Instead, He always turns back and says to us – as we find in the great love story of the Old Testament, the Song of Songs, chapter 2:

 

‘Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along. ‘For behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. ‘The flowers have already appeared in the land; The time has arrived for singing. The voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land. ‘The fig tree has ripened its figs,
And the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance. Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along!’”

 

And so, on this Sunday, I’d like us each to remember the three men on Calvary’s hill and the responses of the men on either side of Jesus. One responded to his sin with a hardened heart. The other responded with a broken heart – broken enough to bring his sins and himself to the Man in the middle.

 

Almighty God’s promise threads its way throughout Scripture. Listen to the Psalmist: “The Lord redeems the souls of His servants, and none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.” (Psalm 34:22); And now to the apostle Paul: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1)

 

The story of the thief on the cross holds a critically important lesson for us in 2026. As often as we do what he did – humbly acknowledge our sin, our rebellion, the times we have turned our backs on His commandments – and then plead for Christ’s forgiveness – Jesus always responds: “Truly I say to you, you will be with Me in Paradise.” 

 

Another way of saying it: “Come along, my child. I’m waiting for you to return. Come home. All ye that labor and are heavily laden, come, and I will give you rest.

God's Heart

 

My text today is again from the fourth chapter of Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae. “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.” Colossians 4:2-6

 

We began looking at this text last time and we return to it today because the more I thought about what Paul wrote to the Christians in that Colossian community, the more I realized we’d barely touched the surface of what can yet be said related to this short verse.

 

In verses 3 and 4 he asks them to pray “for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.”

 

And for what was Paul asking prayer for him and his missionary companions? By context of his entire letter – indeed, of all his letters – he asked them to pray that when he told others the good news of Jesus, that he would do so with clarity. After all, Paul recognized that – as he wrote to the church at Thessalonica – the “just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts.” (2 Thessalonians 2:4)

 

In his proclamation of the gospel, Paul reiterated and rephrased the message Jesus proclaimed to a world shrouded in spiritual darkness “God so loved the WORLD that gave His only begotten Son” given for the reconciliation to Himself of every man, woman, and child.

 

As an aside, I want to say this: Jesus did not say God loved the ELECT – as John Calvin taught, and as do the churches that adhere to his theology, believing God predestined for salvation only a few ‘elect’  and all others He predestined to hell. No, Jesus tells us – and Paul asks for prayers that he will be clear in his proclamation to others – that God loves the entire human family. One by one. Individual by individual. Loving each one by name, as the shepherd leaves the 99 in the open field to search for the one name who is among the lost – those in your family. Those among your friends. And yes, for you and for me. By name. (See Luke 15).

 

Paul asked for prayer that he would be clear in sharing the gospel.

 

That’s a good prayer for us also to pray for each other, isn’t it? Please pray for me, that I be clear whenever I stand before you to teach and preach the gospel. It’s a good prayer to pray for yourselves, that you also would be clear when you tell others why you believe what you believe about Jesus. It’s good to pray for your small Christian community here at Ashwood, that each of you will all will be clear when they tell others the reason for the hope that is within all of you.

 

In the busy-ness of our lives and the confusion of our culture, it’s easy to forget what is God’s heart, but let me now remind us: God’s heart is all about our reconciliation with him. It’s His heart that we give our lives to Him and turn from sin because sin is always, without fail, self-destructive and destroys others. Do we wonder why God, who so deeply loves us, hates sin for what it does to us?

 

If anything in all human history explains God’s heart so clearly that a child can understand it – Calvary bountifully demonstrates God’s desire for our salvation. The cross reveals for all who choose to see that it is His heart to freely give forgiveness – total and unwavering forgiveness – to anyone burdened by sin and by a recognition that NOTHING they can ever do can ever wipe away their sin. If Calvary’s cross tells us anything, it tells that much to anyone who chooses to see.

 

Yes, it is true that sin is enjoyable. If it wasn’t, we wouldn’t do it. But as much as sin may be enjoyable in the short term – even for many decades – there always comes the time when realize sin took us further than we wanted to go, kept us longer than we wanted to stay, and cost us more than we wanted to pay. And for most of humanity, that realization comes too late.

 

But listen to God weep over the sins of His people – and over OUR sins – “[Oh!] how I have been hurt by their adulterous hearts which turned away from Me, and by their eyes which played the harlot after their idols.” Ezekiel 6:9 

 

What man or woman can’t understand – or at least imagine – the heartbreak of a husband or wife whose spouse is unfaithful – especially if the adulterer remains unrepentant? So, there should not be a person who cannot understand the cry of God’s heart for wayward humanity.

 

The prophet Hosea was – and is – a living, breathing, agonizing allegory of God’s love for obstinate and faithless humanity. If it’s been a while since you’ve read that book in the Old Testament, I remind you God told Hosea to marry a harlot. They even had children together. And when she again played the harlot, God told Hosea to take her back into his arms – making the point of God’s willingness to reconcile adulterous and faithless Israel to Himself.

 

It’s not possible for a person with an open and humble heart to read the Scriptures from Genesis through Revelation and not realize God is the very essence of love. Scripture tells us He ‘is’ love itself (1 John 4:8, 16). And what God said to Israel through Isaiah, He continues to say to us, even in the 21^st century: “Come now, and let us reason together . . . Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.”

 

Listen also to how God appeals through His apostle: “We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20 

 

I know I am being redundant, but I am redundant for emphasis because we MUST be sure for ourselves of God’s love for us before we can with certainty assure others of God’s deep love for them – despite their sins.

 

“It is a trustworthy statement,” the former blasphemous and murderous Paul wrote to Timothy, “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.” 1 Timothy 1:15

 

Reconciliation. No wonder, then, that God’s heart breaks when men, women, and children are led astray, when they are poisoned toward God’s zeal for them, when they are captured by “philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.” (Colossians 2:8)

 

You’ve read the lies before. You’ve heard the lies before. You may have even had conversations with people who think all religions are pathways to God; All temples, synagogues, mosques, and other place of worship are all ‘sacred’ to God. And as incomprehensible as it is, even some high-ranking church leaders say such despicable, heretical, and blasphemous things.

 

But listen to what God – who is revealed through His word as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – this is what God says about such children of Satan who claim all roads lead to eternal life: “Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.” (1 John 2:22-23)

 

The Lord Jesus made it very clear: “[The Father] has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live . . . ²⁸ Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:22-29)

 

Satan knows his time is short and is working tirelessly, relentlessly, to destroy as many souls as he can before he himself is cast forever into the Lake of Fire. You and I must ever be warned and reminded: God calls ‘sacred’ only those places where Jesus alone is worshiped as God-incarnate. It is only those who obediently follow Jesus alone who will escape the Lake of Fire where Satan, his fallen angels, and all who’ve rejected Christ will spend eternity.

 

When I first came to Christ in 1972, I was SURE the Lord would return within the next few years. But in those early days, I NEVER expected the blasphemies and lies that would filter into His Church – churches of all labels: Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, and so forth.

St Jude warned his readers 2000 years ago, and it is equally true in 2026: "For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand [d]marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ." (Jude 1:4)

And what St Paul warned the church pastors and elders in Ephesus applies likewise to us today: "From among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them." (Acts 20:30)

I want to say this as clearly as I can, as I have said it for years as your pastor – unless the Christian in the pew doubles down on reading, studying, and meditating on the Word of God, day after day, year after year – he and she will be at ever increasing risk of falling into deception. That’s why I always urge everyone to VERIFY with Scripture what their priests and pastors and Sunday School teachers tell them. I urge you to verify what “I” am preaching and teaching.

If the Christians in Berea daily verified what the apostle Paul told them (Acts 17:11), then no pastor, priest, deacon, or teacher should EVER be offended if their flock does likewise – verifying their words with Scripture.

 

Which now brings me to the second part of today’s text having to do with God’s heart to rescue the perishing. Paul writes: Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.

 

Without question, Scripture makes it crystal clear that the Christian is responsible to God to LIVE like a Christian. That was Paul’s point in that section we looked at from chapter three wherein he states unequivocally that immorality, greed, anger, slander, and so forth have no place in the heart of the Christian. Rather, the Christian must be compassionate, kind, gentle, patient, and so forth. And we dare not overlook forgiving each other their offenses against us.

 

But there have been those in Church history – even to this very moment – who put far more emphasis on LIVING the Christian life over SPEAKING the gospel. For example, St Francis of Assisi is quoted to have said: “Preach the gospel at all times, if necessary, use words.”

 

Now such an instruction might sound very pious, but the biblical mandate about evangelism is far more encompassing. To say that merely living a Christian-like life is sufficient to win souls for Christ is dangerously deficient of the full truth. Scripture commands us to ALSO use words.

 

Words are part of the Lord’s Great Commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

 

Listen to St Paul’s appeal to the Christians at Rome: “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!” (Romans 10:14-15)

Now hear his command to Timothy, whom he had left to pastor the church in Ephesus: “I solemnly charge you . . . preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:1-4)

 

And again we turn to the context of Paul’s words to the Colossians, asking them to pray for him and his missionary companions, “so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ.”

 

I’ve known – and so have many of you – non-Christians who are very moral, kind, and generous. Jews, Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses are a few examples. I’ve even known kind and philanthropic atheists. But the point of it all is this: Good works, kindness, generosity and philanthropy does not explain to the lost that they are lost, and that God is pleading with them to be reconciled with Him.

 

That is why we not only strive to LIVE the life of Christ before others, but we also use WORDS to proclaim Him to the lost. We don’t preach a philosophy. We don’t preach a church. We don’t preach a moral lifestyle. We don’t preach a religious belief.

 

We preach a Person – Virgin born, lived a sinless life, died on a cross as an atoning sacrifice for our sins, and rose from the grave three days later. And this same Jesus will one day return for His own – perhaps before this day is over.

That’s why Paul tells the Colossians – and us – to make the most of every opportunity to live and to tell others about God’s heart, about His plea for our reconciliation with Himself. Because His heart breaks as He watches humanity sink deeper and deeper into spiritual darkness.

 

In his memorable trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien put into the mouth of Gandalf: “All we have to decide is what to do with the time we are given.”

 

Those are words that should make every Christian pause. What will we do – you and I – with the time God still gives us to live and to serve Him? Solomon tells us, “He who is wise wins souls.” Proverbs 11:30)

 

We can live profligate lives, spending our time, talents, and treasures on ourselves for our own benefit and enjoyment, or we can spend those gifts He has given us to live the Great Commission.

 

And so we pray, “O Lord, our God, help us then to live like Christ, talk like Christ, give generously like Christ – and always be ready to tell others of the love, the mercy, the grace of God, and the heart of God.

 

If we don’t tell them – who will?

My text today is again from the fourth chapter of Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae. “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.” Colossians 4:2-6

 

We began looking at this text last time and we return to it today because the more I thought about what Paul wrote to the Christians in that Colossian community, the more I realized we’d only touched the surface of what can yet be said related to this short verse.

 

In verses 3 and 4 he asks them to pray “for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.”

 

And for what was Paul asking prayer for him and his missionary companions? By context of his entire letter – indeed, of all his letters – he asked them to pray that when he told others the good news of Jesus, that he would do so with clarity. After all, Paul recognized that – as he wrote to the church at Thessalonica – the “just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts.” (2 Thessalonians 2:4)

 

In his proclamation of the gospel, Paul reiterated and rephrased the message Jesus proclaimed to a world shrouded in spiritual darkness “God so loved the WORLD that gave His only begotten Son” given for the reconciliation to Himself of every man, woman, and child.

 

As an aside, I want to say this: Jesus did not say God loved the ELECT – as John Calvin taught, and as do the churches that adhere to his theology, believing God predestined for salvation only a few ‘elect’  and all others He predestined to hell. No, Jesus tells us – and Paul asks for prayers that he will be clear in his proclamation to others – that God loves the entire human family. One by one. Individual by individual. Loving each one by name, as the shepherd leaves the 99 in the open field to search for the one name who is among the lost – those in your family. Those among your friends. And yes, for you and for me. By name. (See Luke 15).

 

Paul asked for prayer that he would be clear in sharing the gospel.

 

That’s a good prayer for us also to pray for each other, isn’t it? So, I ask you to pray for me, that I be clear whenever I stand before you to teach and preach the gospel. It’s a good prayer to pray for yourselves, that you also would be clear when you tell others why you believe what you believe about Jesus. It’s good to pray for your small Christian community here at Ashwood, that each of you will all will be clear when they tell others the reason for the hope that is within all of you.

 

In the busy-ness of our lives and the confusion of our culture, it’s easy to forget what is God’s heart, but let me now remind us: God’s heart is all about our reconciliation with him. It is His heart that we give our lives to Him and turn from sin because sin will always, without fail, be self-destructive and serve to destroy others. Do we wonder why God, who so deeply loves us, hates sin for what it does to us?

 

If anything in all human history explains God’s heart so clearly that a child can understand it – Calvary abundantly demonstrates God’s desire for our salvation. The cross reveals for all with eyes to see His heart to freely give forgiveness – total and unwavering forgiveness – to anyone burdened by sin and by a recognition that NOTHING they can ever do can ever wipe away their sin. If Calvary’s cross tells us anything, it tells that much to anyone who chooses to see.

 

Sure, sin is enjoyable. If it wasn’t, we wouldn’t do it. But as much as sin may be enjoyable in the short term – even for many decades – there always comes the time when realize sin took us further than we wanted to go, kept us longer than we wanted to stay, and cost us more than we wanted to pay. And for most of humanity, that realization comes too late.

 

But listen to God weep over the sins of His people – and over OUR sins – “[Oh!] how I have been hurt by their adulterous hearts which turned away from Me, and by their eyes which played the harlot after their idols.” Ezekiel 6:9 

 

What man or woman can’t understand – or at least imagine – the heartbreak of a husband or wife whose spouse is unfaithful – especially if the adulterer remains unrepentant? And so, there should not be a person who cannot understand the cry of God’s heart for wayward humanity.

 

The prophet Hosea was – and is – a living, breathing, agonizing allegory of God’s love for wayward and faithless humanity. If it’s been a while since you’ve read that book in the Old Testament, I remind you God told Hosea to marry a harlot. They even had children together. And when she again played the harlot, God told Hosea to take her back into his arms – making the point of God’s willingness to reconcile wayward and faithless Israel to Himself.

 

It’s not possible for a person with an open and humble heart to read the Scriptures from Genesis through Revelation and not realize God is the very essence of love. Scripture tells us He ‘is’ love itself (1 John 4:8, 16). And what God said to Israel through Isaiah, He continues to say to us, even in the 21^st century: “Come now, and let us reason together . . . Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.”

 

Listen also to how God appeals through His apostle: “We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20 

 

I know I am being redundant, but I am redundant for emphasis because we MUST be sure for ourselves of God’s love for us before we can with certainty assure others of God’s deep love for them – despite their sins.

 

“It is a trustworthy statement,” the former blasphemous and murderous Paul wrote to Timothy, “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.” 1 Timothy 1:15

 

Reconciliation. No wonder, then, that God’s heart breaks when men, women, and children are led astray, when they are poisoned toward God’s passion for them, captured by “philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.” (Colossians 2:8)

 

You’ve read the lies before. You’ve heard the lies before. You may have even had conversations with people who think all religions are pathways to God; All temples, synagogues, mosques, and other place of worship are all ‘sacred’ to God. And as incomprehensible as it is, even some high-ranking Christian leaders say such despicable, heretical, and blasphemous things.

 

But listen to what God – who is revealed through His word as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – this is what God say about such children of Satan who claim all roads lead to eternal life: “Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.” (1 John 2:22-23)

 

The Lord Jesus made it very clear:  “[The Father] has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live . . . ²⁸ Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:22-29)

 

Satan knows his time is short and is working tirelessly, relentlessly, to steal as many souls as he can before he himself is cast forever into the Lake of Fire. And you and I must be warned and reminded: God calls ‘sacred’ only those places where Jesus alone is worshiped as God-incarnate. It is only those who obediently follow Jesus alone who will escape the Lake of Fire where Satan, his fallen angels, and all who’ve rejected Christ will spend eternity.

 

When I first came to Christ in 1972, I was SURE the Lord would return within the next few years – if not sooner. But in those days, I NEVER expected the blasphemies and lies that would filter into His Church – churches of all labels: Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, and so forth.
St Jude warned his readers 2000 years ago, and it is demonstrably true in 2026: "For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand [d]marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ." (Jude 1:4)

And what St Paul warned the church pastors and elders in Ephesus applies equally to us today: "From among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them." (Acts 20:30)

I want to say this as clearly as I can – unless the Christian in the pew doubles down on reading, studying, and meditating on the Word of God, day after day, year after year – he and she will be at ever increasing risk of falling into deception. That’s why I always urge people to VERIFY with Scripture what their priests and pastors and Sunday School teachers tell them. I urge you to verify what “I” am preaching and teaching.

If the Christians in Berea daily verified what the apostle Paul was telling them (Acts 17:11), then no pastor or priest should EVER be offended if their flock does likewise with what they tell them.

 

Which now brings me to the second part of today’s text having to do with God’s heart to rescue the perishing: Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.

 

Without question, Scripture makes it crystal clear that the Christian is responsible to God to LIVE like a Christian. That was Paul’s point in that section we looked at a week or so ago from chapter three wherein he states unequivocally that immorality, greed, anger, slander, and so forth have no place in the heart of the Christian. Rather, the Christian must be compassionate, kind, gentle, patient, and so forth. And we dare not overlook forgiving each other their offenses against us.

 

But there have been those in Church history – even to this very moment – who put far mor emphasis on LIVING the Christian life over SPEAKING to gospel. For example, St Francis of Assisi is quoted to have said: “Preach the gospel at all times, if necessary, use words.”

 

Now such a word might sound very pious, but the biblical truth is far more robust. To say that merely living a Christian-like life is sufficient to win souls for Christ is dangerously deficient of the full truth. Scripture commands us to ALSO use words.

 

Words are part of the Lord’s Great Commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

 

Listen to St Paul’s appeal to the Christians at Rome: “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? ¹⁵ How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!” (Romans 10:14-15)

Now hear his command to Timothy, whom he had left to pastor the church in Ephesus: “I solemnly charge you . . . preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:1-4)

 

I’ve known – and so have many of you – non-Christians who are very moral, kind, and generous, such as Jews, Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. I’ve even known of atheists who are kind and philanthropic. But the point of it all is this: Good works, kindness, generosity and philanthropy does not a Christian make.

 

That is why we not only strive to LIVE the life of Christ before others, but we also use WORDS to proclaim Him to the lost. We don’t preach a philosophy. We don’t preach a moral lifestyle. We don’t preach a religious belief.

 

We preach a Person – Virgin born, lived a sinless life, died on a cross as an atoning sacrifice for our sins, and rose from the grave three days later. And this same Jesus will one day return for His own – perhaps before this day is over.

That’s why Paul tells the Colossians – and us – to make the most of every opportunity to live and to tell others about God’s heart, about His plea for our reconciliation with Himself.

 

In his memorable trilogy The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien put into the mouth of Gandalf: “All we have to decide is what to do with the time we are given.”

 

What will we do – you and I – what will we do with the time God still gives us to live in this life? Solomon tells us, “He who is wise wins souls.” Proverbs 11:30)

 

May the Holy Spirit Himself, who lives within each true Christian, help us to live like Christ, talk like Christ, give generously like Christ – and always be ready to give others the reason for our expectation of eternal life.