Who's in Control?

Who is in Control?

You can listen to this message here: https://youtu.be/NlaLXwcWTz4 

 

Before I get into the heart of my message today, we need to remind ourselves of three fundamental truths – and we need to remind ourselves of those truths again and again during our days left on earth. For if we forget them, or minimize them, or doubt them, then we will set ourselves up for failure when life splinters all around us.

 

First, at our faith’s most fundamental level, we must trust that when God says He is love itself, that He is, therefore, love itself. When His word tells us “He is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His deeds” (Psalm 145:17), that He IS righteous and kind in all He does or does not do. As St John tells us, “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5)

 

So, that is the first thing of which we must ever remind ourselves. The second is this: We must acknowledge to ourselves again and again, our utter inability to understand the mind of God. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

And St Paul tells us: “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?” (Romans 11:33ff)

Thus, it is entirely natural and normal for God to do things or not do things that leave us confused, perplexed, and baffled. And that should be okay, because we will trust His goodness in all circumstances. 

And the third thing we must never forget is that God is utterly sovereign over all of His creation – from planets in orbit to every individual alive today. Presidents, kings, prime ministers, and ayatollahs – there is not one person among the 6 billion people living today – not one who can take his or her next breath without our Sovereign God’s express permission. And let me say it as clearly as I can: We cannot understand history itself – past or current history – without understanding the Scriptures – because the Scriptures tell us who is in control of – and who orchestrates – history.

 

 

God tells us through Isaiah: Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales . . . All the nations are as nothing before Him; They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.”  (Isaiah 40:15-17)

 

And from the time God spoke these words to Isaiah until this very hour, nothing has changed regarding God’s authority over nations and of their leaders.

And so, when life is unfair and tragic and out of control, we must seek the Holy Spirit to increase our trust in God to do what is good and right and just. We do not have to understand – or like what is happening. We simply must learn to trust His goodness, because God cannot be anything else but good.

 

Otherwise, unless the Holy Spirit supernaturally plants these three truths in our hearts and nurtures them, fear will inevitably replace faith, and we will do things we never dreamed we would do.

 

And speaking of fear, last week I spoke from Romans 13, one of the favored texts of tyrants and dictators who seduce biblically illiterate Christians into silence – even into compliance – with their evil governments.

 

I also focused attention on Jesus’ warning about a time that may be fast approaching in our beloved America – a time when neighbors and friends and even family members will betray one another, thinking they are following God’s commandment in Romans 13.

 

What I said last week might have generated fear in some of your hearts. And I want to address, but only for a moment, that emotion of fear because, as St. Paul wrote, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

 

There is not a person here who does not know that fear has spread its dark tentacles like a gangrenous cancer throughout our society. Fear has hurt relationships between friends – and even among families.

 

Fear feeds on itself. And if we are as close to the second coming of Christ as many Christians believe we are, then no one should expect the global fear to dissipate. It will only increase, and the love of the many will grow cold and colder.

 

Thus, it should be no wonder why God commands us, for example, in Isaiah 8: “You are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it. It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy. And He shall be your fear, and He shall be your dread. Then He shall become a sanctuary.” (Isaiah 8:13-14a)

So, Christian – seek the supernatural help of God the Holy Spirit to cease fearing what everyone else fears. As I mentioned a moment ago, such fear will only cause us to do evil. Instead, by God’s help alone, make Him what you fear. Make Him what you dread. THEN will He be for us a place of refuge and peace.

Which brings us now to part two of a three-part message I believe God wants me to bring to all of us as we watch the world around us shatter like Humpty Dumpty who had a great fall. I have titled this message: Who is in Control?

 

Look with me at Romans 15:4: “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

 

Hope. When we read the word ‘hope’ throughout Scripture, the word most often means in context a ‘confident expectation’ of something which God has promised. A confident expectation because God cannot lie to us. Ever.

 

Hope rooted in faith not only mitigates fear, hope rooted in faith vanquishes fear. Hope rooted in faith sends fear screeching back into hell where it originates. It is faith in our faithful God which is the victory that overcomes the world. (See 1 John 5:4)

 

So, what does God say in His word about His sovereignty over presidents, kings, and ayatollahs that emboldens our confidence to face whatever it is that we may face in our future? What does He say that can nurture our hope?

Well, God says quite a lot – and for good reason, because He wants to remind His children of His unparalleled power.

 

Take Pharaoh for example. Pharaoh and his government forced God’s chosen people into subjugation. Moses tells us they “put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor . . and worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly (Exodus 1:11-14). Pharaoh even ordered Jewish families to drown their newborn boys in the Nile.

 

Persecuted for their faith, enslaved because of their faith, murdered because of their faith. -- how many of the millions of enslaved Jews asked the question of God: Why?

 

But when He told them, I suspect many were not entirely happy with the answer – just as if He would tell US what He is doing in our world, I suspect many of us would not like His answer.

Here is what God said about the pompous and murderous Pharaoh: “[F]or this reason I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth.” (Exodus 9:16)

 

The Jews believed Pharaoh was too powerful an enemy to be vanquished. But He was not. Many likely believed God had abandoned them. But He had not. He was just waiting for the right time according to His timetable – and His timetable alone – to bring their deliverance AND to demonstrate across the millennia even to us in the 21st century that the mighty ones who think of themselves as gods are nothing more than tools in the sovereign hands of the Almighty God.

 

The same can be said about the Babylonian tyrant Nebuchadnezzar some 900 years later. According to both Biblical and extra-Biblical writings, especially those of the Jewish Talmud, Nebuchadnezzar was a vicious and sadistic ruler who ravaged nations, cities, towns, and people according to his whim. It was he who burned Jerusalem and the Holy Temple to the ground. Jeremiah tells us: “Her priests are groaning, her virgins are afflicted . . . . her adversaries have become her masters, her enemies prosper.” (Lamentations 1:4-5)

 

And in the aftermath of Nebuchadnezzar’s rampage through Jerusalem, the psalmist writes: “O daughter of Babylon, you devastated one, how blessed will be the one who repays you with the recompense with which you have repaid us. How blessed will be the one who seizes and dashes your little ones against the rock.” (Psalm 137:8-9)

 

The pagan king thought he was in supreme control over all the affairs of state and of life – until he met the supreme God of heaven and earth. For the sake of time, I will quickly remind you of a few incidents in his life, recorded for us by Daniel, that worked together to teach Nebuchadnezzar who REALLY was in supreme control over the affairs of state and of life.

 

The first incident he witnessed was the miraculous deliverance of Shadrack, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. Here is what he said in response to that deliverance: “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation or tongue that speaks anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses reduced to a rubbish heap, inasmuch as there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way.”  (Daniel 3:28-39)

 

And let me remind us of the time when God reduced the pompous pagan king to the level of a beast of the field. When it was all over, and God restored him to his throne, here is how Daniel records it for us in the fourth chapter of his book:

 

“But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation. “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’ (Daniel 4:34-35)

Fast forward to 2021. For anyone paying attention with spiritual insight, it is impossible to watch world events unfold and not recognize that a supernatural evil is parading across the globe. And for those whose eyes and ears have been spiritually opened and whose hearts are tied to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we know presidents and prime ministers and kings and ayatollahs are not at all in control of anything. ANYTHING.

 

It is our God, and Him alone, who is in total, complete, and unassailable control of all the events of this growing darkness we hear about on the nightly news. This is not to say God is DOING the evil. It is simply that we acknowledge that evil could not take its next victim anywhere in the world – including in Afghanistan – without our Sovereign God’s permission.

 

Remember what Jesus said to Pilate just before the Roman governor handed Him over to be crucified? When he reminded Jesus that he had authority to crucify Him or free Him, Jesus responded, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above.” 

 

Listen to it again!  Our Father in heaven is in absolute control of what happens to nations AND what happens to individuals – you and me.

 

You and I are invincible – until God alone says we are not.

 

And until you and I let the Holy Spirit implant and nurture the three truths I spoke of at the beginning of this message, the encroaching evil will do what evil does – generate fear in the hearts of God’s children and causing US to do evil. Hear what the psalmist said about that: Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.⁸ Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing. (Psalm 37:7-8)

What again are those three truths that I cited at the beginning of this message?

 

First, we must remind ourselves of every day is that God is the very definition of goodness. And love. That theme is repeated on almost every page of Scripture.

 

Second, we cannot ever hope to understand the mind of God. We can never know fully know why God does what He does, or why He does not do what He does not do. At our faith’s most fundamental level, we must recognize our utter inability to understand the mind of God.

And third, God is utterly sovereign over all of His creation – and that includes every president, king, prime minister, and ayatollah. No one can take his or her next breath without our Sovereign God’s express permission.

So, when life is unfair and tragic and out of control, May God help us to remember these three truths: we cannot understand God, except to know that He tells us He is sovereign. And that He is the essence of goodness and love.

 

For the one who has learned to really, really trust our good and loving God, it will not matter what life brings to us – as tragic as that might even be.

 

For when we have learned by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit to really trust our loving Father, we will find ourselves saying with Job: “Though He slay me, yet I will trust in Him.” (Job 13:15).

 

Whom Should We Obey?

 You can listen to this sermon here: https://youtu.be/_2LkEyKYb_0   

 

Our text today comes from Romans 13 – one of the most abused texts in the history of the Church. What do I mean by that statement, “one of the most abused texts”? Dictators, tyrants and despots have rushed – and continue to do so – to lift this chapter completely out of context and use it as a club to beat Biblically illiterate Christians into submission to their evil.

 

Here is the text. I am sure many of you are familiar with it:

 

“Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.” Romans 13:1-2

 

Surely, these first five verses of Romans 13 sounds like a pretty straightforward command of God to submit to their rulers as if submitting themselves to God Himself. But let’s now look more closely at the CONTEXT of that text to uncover what God is ACTUALLY telling us through St. Paul’s pen. Remember, a text out of context is a pretext for error. So we must always look at the surrounding verses of the text in question, the chapter in which we find the text, the book in which it is written, the testament in which it is found – Old or New Testament, and then the entire Bible itself.

 

Let’s then look at these first five verses of chapter 13 in Romans. First: There is no authority except from God. Certainly, this is true. God is sovereign. No one can take their next breath unless their Creator authorized it. But what does this text tell us about the REASON God established government? Well, it’s right here in verses three and four: 3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; 4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.

 

Listen, God knows we live in a fallen and sin-drenched world. Even a cursory glance at the history of humanity is evidence that humanity rejects a theocracy – that being a government ruled by God Himself. You might remember what Israel said to the prophet Samuel. They did not want God to rule over them, so they said to Samuel – Give us a king so that we will be like the other nations. You’ll find that in 1 Samuel 8:5. Now listen to God’s response in 1 Samuel 8:7 “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.”

 

And so, because fallen and sinful humanity rejects God’s direct rule over them, in His mercy, He set up human governments so humanity would not devolve into anarchy.

 

Scripture gives us abundant examples of such anarchy when people do what is right in their own eyes. If it has been a while since you have read the book of Judges, especially the last several chapters of Judges, I urge you to read it soon.

 

But his text in Romans 13 was never intended by God to be a carte blanche to fallen men and women whom God placed into positions of authority to do with His creation – you and me – whatever they chose to do simply because they are ‘in charge.’

 

Look again at that text in Romans. Here is the next verse, verse four: “For [governmental rulers are] a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid.”

 

Despots and dictators conveniently omit verse four and the rest of the chapter when they invoke the first verses of chapter 13 to ‘guilt’ their Biblically illiterate populace into submission, submission even to their evil.

 

For example, as Adolf Hitler’s power grew, he ordered church leaders – both Catholic and Protestant – to preach unconditional submission to his authority. And as is the case WHENEVER the people in the pews are too lazy or too indifferent to study the Scriptures themselves, they trusted their church leadership to tell them what to do.

 

When Hitler wanted to disarm German citizens, church leadership appealed to Romans 13 to seduce their biblically illiterate congregations to obey Hitler’s government. When the Nazi leader began rounding up those who disagreed with his laws, Christians remained silent because of church leaders appealed again to Romans 13. When Jews and Catholics and others were sent to death camps, Christians remained silent because of what their complicit church leaders taught them regarding Romans 13.

 

The Nazi’s government churches quickly became a perverted version of biblical Christianity. It became ‘government’ centered, focused on man’s rules instead of Christ centered and focused on God’s rules.

 

However, and this is important to note, during this growing evil of the Nazi government, a movement began within the Church to resist Hitler and his demonic government. The so-called ‘Confessing Church’ rose from within the lapdog ‘government’ churches to resist Hitler’s government.

 

Members of the confessing church, such as Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Martin Niemoller – who himself was a former Hitler supporter – rejected the Nazi government’s perverted use of Romans 13. It was Niemoller who wrote the now famous and instructive poem you might have read or heard before:

 

“They came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.”

 

The Confessing Church rejected blind allegiance to Hitler and his government. For them, the bottom line was what Peter and the other apostles said to their own godless leadership: "We must obey God rather than any human authority" (Acts 3:16ff).

Niemoller, Bonhoeffer, and the others did exactly what the WHOLE context of Scripture enjoins us to do – resist evil, refuse to participate in godlessness and to stand against anti-Christ government rules and their laws.

 

But that was Nazi Europe. What does that have to do with us in America?

Well, the US government has ruled that a woman has the right to have an abortion for any reason or for no reason. But don’t think for a moment that true and God-fearing Christians support, endorse, and vote for such evil. The same can be said for a host of other anti-Christ governmental laws forced on American churches.

 

Romans 13:1 in its proper context says government is to uphold good (meaning, godly) behavior and punish bad (13:3). We're to honor this authority, but there are, as I have said already, limits beyond which the Christian MUST NOT go.

Paul tells us two chapters later in Romans 15:4 “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 

So, what does the whole of Scripture tell us regarding allegiance to governments?

Let’s look first at Exodus chapter one. You might remember the story of the Jewish midwives who refused to obey the king’s decree to kill all the male babies as they were being born. Pharaoh had made a political decision to have them killed because he was afraid the boys would grow up and become part of an army that would lead Israel to freedom.

But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live. (Exodus 1:17)

Then there is the history of the three young men spoken of in Daniel chapter three. The Babylonian king commanded everyone to fall before a statue he’d constructed. Those who refused would be thrown alive into a fiery furnace. And yet, despite the governmental law, Shadrach (Hananiah), Meshach (Mishael) and Abed-nego (Azariah) replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar . . .let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18)

What do you think they would say to those who blindly and perversely apply Romans 13:1 to every rule of every government throughout time?

Then there is the story of 90-year-old Eleazar the Jewish scribe. He lived during the time of the Maccabees – some 150 years before Christ. The Jews were living under Greek rule and were ordered to give up their religious practices. Eleazar refused to even make a pretense of obeying the godless demand. Listen to what he said to the governmental officers:

“At our age it would be unbecoming to make such a pretense; many of the young would think the ninety-year-old Eleazar had gone over to an alien religion. If I dissemble to gain a brief moment of life, they would be led astray by me, while I would bring defilement and dishonor on my old age. Even if, for the time being, I avoid human punishment, I shall never, whether alive or dead, escape the hand of the Almighty. Therefore, by bravely giving up life now, I will prove myself worthy of my old age, and I will leave to the young a noble example of how to die willingly and nobly for the revered and holy laws.” (2 Maccabees 6:24-28)

For the sake of time, let’s look at only one more Biblical example of godly followers of the King of kings who refused to obey ungodly governmental laws. You’ll find this vignette in Acts 4. The religious government in Jerusalem commanded the disciples to cease and desist talking about Jesus.

“But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19-20)

Listen, my fellow Christians, you who follow our Lord Jesus Christ: A time is coming, and may be at the door, when those – like in Nazi Europe – when those who THINK they are Christians, who THINK they are obeying the Scriptures, will end up persecuting and betraying true Christians to the government. This is not simply my opinion pulled out of thin air. Listen to Jesus in Luke 21:12ff

“But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake . . . But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, and you will be hated by all because of My name.

And this is not as far-fetched in America as some of us might hope.

During his reelection campaign in 2009 Barack Obama created a website which urged supporters to turn in people who opposed the President’s health plan. Here is a part of his webpage:

“Rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help.

The web page then lists an email address for tattle-telling. But did you catch that? He wanted to be informed about CASUAL CONVERSATIONS among friends, neighbors, and so forth.

That’s not all. Just last month, in July 2021, Breitbart news published this report, stating the “Biden Administration Asks Americans to Report ‘Potentially’ Radicalized Friends and Family.”

Potentially? In whose eyes will someone in this room be ‘potentially’ radicalized? And whose definition of radicalized are we going to use?

Do not doubt for a moment that true Christians WILL BE at the top of the list of those who either this government or some future American government will consider enemies of the state.

What will we do if our government and some of our churches pervert Romans 13 to force our compliance with a godless government?

Let me close this message this way: The devil is lying to some of you right now as you listen to me. He is telling you one of two lies – maybe even both lies.

First, he is telling you to be afraid of him and what he is doing. BUT Almighty God tells you this: “You shall not fear what the people fear. You shall not be in dread of what they dread. It is the Lord of hosts whom you shall regard as holy. He should be your fear. He should be your dread. And THEN He will become your sanctuary.” You will find that text from Isaiah 8:12-14.

Satan might also be telling some of you right now that it is too late to start knowing the Bible. And to that I say on the basis of the whole of Scripture, “Nonsense!”

Our God is supernatural. And He knows what you will face tomorrow and what you will need tomorrow. He knows that as clearly as He knows what you faced yesterday and what you needed yesterday.

So, if you are not yet doing so, start reading the scriptures every day. Set a specific time and a specific place to read it. Make it a daily appointment with God the Holy Spirit.

Just as you make appointments with doctors to meet at a specific place and time – and you do not willingly break that appointment – so also set a daily appointment to meet with the Great Physician.  If you do that, if you start even today to make a daily rendezvous with your supernatural God, then TRUST HIM to bring to your remembrance what you’ve read when you need to remember it. 

After all, He is God. He does whatever He pleases. Nothing is impossible for Him.  But we have to do our part. We all make time to do things we consider important. How important is daily Bible reading going to be for you?

Missing the Banquet

As I’m reading again through Luke’s gospel, I came to the section in chapter 14 where a man invited many people to his banquet. But those who were invited began making all manner of excuses why they could not come: “The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’ Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’ Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ 

 

The rebuffed host sent his servant to the highways and the hedges to invite to the banquet as many as he could find “so that my house may be filled.” And he then added this ominous warning: “For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.’” (see Luke 14:16-24) 

I put the Bible down in my lap and wondered if there might be a warning in this vignette also for me. It’s this: “Don’t get so focused on the affairs of this life that you invent all kinds of excuses to avoid the King’s invitation. Don’t be so focused on this life that you grow cold to the next.” 

 

I thought then of Revelation chapter two. After initially praising the Christians at Ephesus for their toil and their perseverance for the gospel, Jesus then warned:  

 

“But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore, remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.” (Revelation 2:4-5) 

 

And I remembered the Parable of the Sower, a portion which reads: “The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” (Matthew 13:20-22) 

 

Before His crucifixion, Jesus promised to prepare a place for all who follow Him in obedience (John 14). That is why, as difficult as life in America is becoming, I must stay attentive to His voice so as to not make excuses why I cannot attend my King’s banquet. I must remain alert to His presence so as to not be seduced into forgetting my first love.  

 

I do not want to be like Lot’s wife. 

It Ain't Over Until . . .

 

Sermon

August 8, 2021

It Ain’t Over until it’s Over.

 

It always grieves me to hear men and women of God who have served the Master -- some for decades -- say that they feel God has put them out to pasture. That God is no longer able to use them as fruitfully as He has in the past. They’re too old, too feeble, too ignorant of Scripture, too inarticulate, too poor, too – fill in the blank.

And I am here to tell you today that that idea is a satanic lie intended and designed by the devil himself to discourage you from being all you can STILL be for Christ.

 

Still be!

 

Listen, what we are saying to God when we say such things of ourselves is that God is now unable to use a willing servant for His kingdom work. Really, is THAT what we want to say?

 

May I remind you of Hebrews 11:4 “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain . . . and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.”

 

The point? God tells us He is STILL using Abel, though he has been dead a very long time. Do you really think God cannot fruitfully use YOU, being still alive?

One of my favorite passages in the gospels is of the poor widow who shuffled up to the Temple treasury to deposit what amounted to a few pennies. You probably remember the story yourself from Mark’s gospel: “And He sat down opposite the treasury and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.” (Mark 12:41-44)

That impoverished widow had absolutely no idea that God would use her simple act of sacrificial faith as an example for as long as this earth continues – He would use her act as an example of fruitfulness for the kingdom.

How was her act fruitful for the Kingdom? We’re still reading about it 2000 years later, aren’t we?  And doesn’t her gift give us a glimpse into the mind of God who is more interested in our heart than in our wallet? Or in our gifts, or in our health, or in our mobility. Or in ANYTHING we consider important to being able to work for God. But if God has our HEART, then what can He not do with the rest of us?

Charles Stanley, in his booklet, We Shall Be Like Him, writes this: Do you know what God has called you to do? There’s much emphasis today on accomplishing something great for the Lord, and that can lead some of us to think that our ordinary life doesn’t amount to much. However, not everyone is called to preach to thousands or serve in distant lands. Being a mother, a student, or a hard-working employee is a tremendous calling, if that’s the task God has given you.

I will never forget my friend, Bill Santee. He was no one special, as the world might consider him. A blue-collar worker. No special skills that would warrant him any attraction by others. He’s gone on now to be with the Lord, but God used that humble servant to get my attention when I was succumbing to the satanic lie that I was not very useful to God’s kingdom.

One day as he and I chatted over coffee, our discussion turned as it always did to the Lord. As we finished our drinks and donuts and got up to leave, I mentioned how useless I sometimes felt because I thought what I was doing for Christ was only a small thing, compared to what others were doing.

 

When we stepped outside and headed for our cars, Bill stopped me. I’ll never forget what he said. He pointed his finger at my chest and said: “Don’t ever call what God has given you to do a small thing.”

 

I knew immediately that the Holy Spirit Himself had rebuked me. And I needed that rebuke. And maybe you also need that kind of rebuke.

Well, you might be wondering what my Scripture text is for today. It’s taken me a while to get to it – much longer than I usually take – but I purposely waited until this point in my message because I wanted to lay some Biblical and some personal underpinning to make my point as clearly as I can.

Last week we left of at verse 2 of Romans 12. Here, Paul continues in verses 4-13: “For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly . . . if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness . . . persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.”

Listen! If you and I want to be fruitful for Christ – in big things or in small things – then it is essential that we understand why the Lord told us of that poor widow. And it is essential that we learn to practice what the Lord tells us in John 15: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

 

We must ever be reminded: It’s all about Jesus’ supernatural power to take what is natural and of the flesh and use whatever we give Him for His glory. I mean, we’re talking about God here. So, stop thinking such foolishness that God is done with you, that He has put you out to pasture. Remember what St Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth – some plant seeds, some water those seeds, but God causes the growth. And it remains a satanic lie that God can no longer use you to plant or water. Even in your old age and in your infirmities and in your loneliness, and for some of you, your financial difficulties – keep giving yourself to God and He absolutely and most assuredly will use you for His Kingdom, and He will multiply the few fish and pieces of bread that you offer Him.

Let me give you another example from my life that I hope will illustrate that point again. To this day, I only know his last name. Funk. Navy Radioman First Class Funk. He was one of my instructors in the Navy Radioman school I attended in San Diego at the beginning of my enlistment in 1972.

 

I was 22, and in those years I swung like a pendulum between atheism and agnosticism – mostly atheism.  I thought I was too intelligent to believe such nonsense as the existence of God. And as for what I knew of Jesus, I was born and raised Jewish, so I knew virtually nothing about Him.

Radioman Funk was only a few years older than I, so we developed a sort of friendship. When we weren’t talking about the classes he was teaching, he often turned our discussion to religion. One day, he told me of a book he’d been reading. Much of the content covered the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. It was titled, The Late Great Planet Earth, written by Hal Lindsey.

A few weeks later, in December 1972, I graduated and went on to my next duty station. One evening, after I’d checked into the barracks and my new job, I met Jerry. His room was across the hall from mine. As we talked, I noticed a book on his shelf: The Late Great Planet Earth. I asked if I could borrow it.

Those of you who have heard my story know that as I read the first several chapters devoted to the Old Testament prophecies of the promised Jewish Messiah, I could hardly believe what I was reading. What little I knew of Jesus, I DID know the stories of His virgin birth, His crucifixion and His resurrection.

And there it was. All of it. In MY Jewish Bible.

Radioman First Class Funk put shoe-leather to gifts Paul cites in Romans 12. And as Paul talked of to the Corinthians, he planted the seed of faith in my heart. Hal Lindsey watered it. Afterward the Holy Spirit brought other men and women of God into my life to nurture what God had caused to grow.

St. Teresa of Avila (1515–1582) recognized this critical point: Christ has no body but yours; No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes with which He looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good. Yours are the hands, with which He blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are His body. Christ has no body now but yours.

The 25^th chapter of Matthew’s gospel should help put to rest such foolish ideas about our so-called uselessness to God. “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ (Matthew 25:34-40)

I hope you noticed how those standing before the Lord at the judgment were surprised to learn they’d been fruitful for Christ. All they’d done was fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited the sick, helped the helpless, spoken kindly to the depressed, cut the food of those who can’t cut it themselves, retrieved the wheelchair or walker for those who needed help getting up from the dining room table, read the scriptures to those who can no longer see well enough to read, prayed with and for those who feel all alone . . . simple things.

Do we really think God pays no attention to what we do for others? As St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta said: “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

At no time in the whole of Scripture did God ever put His child out to pasture because he was too old to do anything useful anymore.  You and I are in different pastures than we were when we were younger, but our different roles simply give us different opportunities to serve as His hands and feet. Listen, we are in different fields, but these fields are still white unto harvest.

My brothers and sisters – be encouraged. God is still using you. He has not shuffled you off to some corner of His Kingdom

I will close it with a final word of encouragement from the Scriptures. It’s a word about our labor for Christ, our planting and watering for Christ, our sacrificial giving and our moving forward toward ever-increasing maturity in Christ. It’s about being kind and thoughtful and prayerful and humble because you belong to Christ:

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)