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August 23, 2009
“Vacation Is Over”
Ephesians 6: 10-20
Sunday, August 23, 2009
For almost all of us, vacation is over. The opportunities to get away, to be tourists, to be self isolated from the forces and news of this world is over for most of us. We are back at work with colleagues who do not share our beliefs. Some of us work for organizations in which the official Mission statements are not in sympathy with our beliefs and personal priorities.
The end of vacation brings us back into the real world, the world that shows many evidences of its fallenness. We who live in God’s grace are living in a fallen world, a world whose systems are corrupted by the servants of the one who tempted Adam and Eve as a serpent.
A few weeks ago as she was giving a presentation to the deacons, Lana Johnston used the term “Spiritual Warfare”. I had not heard that term in a while, which means I have been in close Christian Fellowship mostly with Presbyterians in the last year. We Presbyterians seem to stress the cerebral elements of the faith and shy away from the emotional and sometimes spiritual elements. And if the term Spiritual Warfare is not an emotional and spiritual term, I would not know one.
But the fact that most of us Presbyterians don’t use the term “Spiritual Warfare” does not mean that such warfare does not exist. In fact there are several passages in our bible that speak about it in rather direct terms. One of them is this passage from Ephesians. In this passage the Apostle Paul makes it clear that there are dark, satanic forces at work in our world fighting against us as we attempt to build Christ’s kingdom on earth.
We see them in the enterprises that Lana’s Cooperative house is opposing with its Pornography Awareness event. We see them in the greed that has all but destroyed some of our industries and much of our economy. We see them in many of the battles that we are fighting in denominational structures that claim to be the church.
In this passage the apostle Paul reminds us that there are such forces afoot (as Sherlock Holmes would say) and he instructs us as how to prepare to fight against them.
This is certainly an interesting passage, and one that is helpful for those of us who like to envision things as we learn. Most of us have probably seen illustrations of the armor of God that Paul describes in this passage. It usually appears as a drawing of a Roman Soldier with in full armor with each part labeled with the spiritual quality Paul gave it. The shield would be labeled FAITH, the Helmet SALVATION, and so on.
But because the description of the armor in this passage is so interesting, I think there is a danger in missing something important that Paul wrote at the beginning of the passage before he gave the specifics about the armor.
In the 12th verse we read “For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places”.
First, I want you to notice the plurality of the enemy. Whether his phraseology is listing a number of separate categories or is giving different names to the same group of beings, there certainly seems to be more than one enemy here. In fact, I think it is safe to say that there are more than a few. We have many spiritual enemies fighting us or working against us as we try to labor for Jesus in this life.
I want you to notice especially one category of enemy he lists “the cosmic forces of this present darkness”. That is a very interesting phrase in the light of Paul’s time and culture. You see, Paul lived and worked in the district of Asia Minor of the Roman Empire during the first Century AD.
As far as the people living in that Empire were concerned, they were living in an age of enlightenment. They thought that they had driven out and conquered the darkness of the previous cultures and were now a great improvement on what had been.
But Paul, living in Christ and being enlightened by his Jewish background and it’s Scriptures saw the darkness of the enlightened Roman Empire. Over the ages that followed, many have come to agree with Paul’s opinion. The Roman Empire of the first century was dark and full of evil.
We, judging our culture from our Christian standards and beliefs should be able to see the darkness or sinfulness in our own time and culture.
But we need to be careful whom we blame for the darkness. Please notice that Paul wrote that “our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh”. The people whom we might see as being responsible for the sinfulness of our day and who seem to be fighting our attempts to bring more people into the kingdom of God are not our enemies. The murderers, the pornographers, the Terrorists, the Taliban, the Communists, the Republicans, the Democrats, or whomever you see as being responsible for the horrible messes we are in are not really our enemies. Our enemies, the ones who are responsible for the evil in this world are the spiritual beings who are on Satan’s side. When we fight for God and righteousness and truth we fight against them.
Now, not being a fan of ghost stories or the dark side of the supernatural, that is a scary thought to me.
But God has some equipment for us as we go up against them. As Paul thought about how to describe these commodities he used some imagery that was right in front of him. Literally. When Paul wrote this epistle he was a prisoner in Rome, much of the time chained to a Roman soldier in full uniform. The shield was probably leaned up against the wall, but all of the armor of a Roman soldier was right there in the room with Paul.
Paul believed that Christians were given armor to fight the principalities and spirits controlling much of this world.
Our belt is truth. The belt or girdle of the Roman Soldier bound up and tied close to his body the loose fitting tunic worn under the armor. The belt kept it from hanging loose and getting caught on things or tripping up the soldier. Truth keeps us from getting caught up or tripping. Our truth is simple truth. Lies do not serve our master. When we serve God we must be truthful. Little white lies are not helpful.
To protect your chest, your heart, and lungs, you have righteousness as your breastplate. This includes your own righteous behavior that you have learned from Christ, and the righteousness that is given to you by Christ. You can stand up guilt-free before your enemies because Christ has erased your sins.
Shoes are an important part of a soldiers outfit. Without good shoes an army can’t move. If it can’t move, it can’t fight. The battle of Gettysburg in the civil war started as a raid for shoes for the Confederate army.
Our shoes are whatever prepares us to proclaim Jesus as Lord, King, and Savior to others. If you are going to fight the enemy you need to be able to declare who your leader is.
The Roman soldier had a large shield that he could kneel down and hide behind in case of enemy archers. Our piece of armor that we can find shelter behind is our faith. Keep it strong. Do whatever helps you to keep a strong faith. Read your Bible, gather often for worship and fellowship with other Christians. Develop close friendships with other Christians and talk about your faith.
I have never trained for military service but I have in my youth taken boxing lessons, and I know that in order to fight, you have to keep your head up, not down. In order to fight you have to keep your eyes on what is going on. You look down at your peril. Soldiers of all times have worn helmets to protect their heads and eyes and brains when they attempt to see what is going on. Our Helmet is our Salvation - our assurance of eternal life with God in his kingdom. We can face anything in this life when we realize what is waiting for us. Our assurance of our future helps us to keep our heads and our heads up when the enemy seems overwhelming.
Our sword is God’s Word, which in our time is the Bible. The directions of the bible, the good news about Jesus, these are the things we use to hack away at the power of our enemies. That is why Christians need to know what the Bible says and what it means. We have two Bible study groups and two adult Sunday School classes here at Faith church. Sharpen your sword, be a part of at least one of them.
With all of those armaments, there is still one thing that needs to be done. Pray. At all times and for all Christians, especially your leaders, as Paul exhorted them to pray for him.
Vacation is over. The spiritual war of life for a Christian in this world is upon you. Suit up with all that God has given you. Be brave, be Bold, and pray.
Pastor David Horner
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Posted by faithpres at 05:54 PM | Comments (0)
August 16, 2009
“Solomon’s Choice”
I Kings 3: 1-15
Sunday, August 16, 2009
We all know that Solomon was the Son of King David who was chosen to be David’s Successor to the throne of Israel. But I want to remind you that Solomon did not ascend to the throne easily or without controversy.
In Royal families, the oldest Son was usually chosen to be the successor to the throne. Solomon was not the oldest. Of David’s 19 sons who are named in the bible, Solomon appears to have been the 10th. Now by the time David was ready to place his successor on the throne, the oldest 3 of his sons had already died, but that means that there were still 6 sons ahead of Solomon in line to be the next King of Israel.
David had already announced to his family that Solomon had been chosen by God and him to be his successor. But as David was declining in health and needed to be replaced as king, he had still not made plans to have Solomon’s coronation. So Adonijah, David’s oldest living son made a move to get himself declared as King. He had the support of the High Priest and David’s chief general Joab.
When David found out about Adonijah’s attempt to become king, David had Solomon’s Coronation ceremony and Solomon was officially recognized as the King of Israel. That did not stop Adonijah from making one more attempt to become king. For that, Solomon had him and General Joab executed and he removed the High Priest from office.
Solomon was now officially the King of Israel, but he had no reason to believe that there would be no further attempts by others in his family or other former advisors to his father to usurp his kingdom. This is probably why we see the new king Solomon, about 20 years old, going to Gibeon to offer sacrifices to God at some festival. With all of the possible threats to his kingdom, he needed God’s help and support.
Incidentally, we find him going to Gibeon for his sacrifices and to worship because that is where the Tabernacle was at that time. The Ark of the Covenant which was supposed to be in the Tabernacle was in Jerusalem awaiting the construction of the Temple, but the Tabernacle was in Gibeon.
While Solomon was in Gibeon for the Holy festival, God came to him in a dream. God said to Solomon “Ask what I should give you.”
What would you do if God asked you what you wanted Him to give you? If almighty God asked you what he could do for you, what would your answer be? Would you claim some favor for yourself or your family? Would you ask for world peace or prosperity for the people of the world? I suppose the answer would depend on what stage of life you were in and what your responsibilities were at the time.
Solomon was the 20-year-old king of a nation that had under his father emerged as a world power. There were a lot of buildings to be built, including a Temple for God’s people to Worship the One True God. There were many people to govern. There were officials to appoint. There were decisions that had to be made, and Solomon felt that he was in way over his head. He was a mere child in a world of skilled and shrewd adults.
Solomon did not ask for a larger kingdom or greater wealth for himself or for his people. He did not ask for a larger or stronger army. He did not ask for wise and influential advisors.
Solomon’s reply to God is given in verse 9, “Give your servant … an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?
Solomon did not ask God for knowledge, he asked Him for understanding. That he would be able to understand the real issues that would come before him and would be able to cut through the surface issues and the special interest groups and the political pressures that all rulers face. And he asked that this understanding would enable him in all things to discern between Good and evil.
Knowledge is a command of the facts. That may not help you to work toward a solution of a conflict. A wise and understanding mind is something else.
Understanding helps you get to the truth. In the later part of the 3rd chapter of I Kings, there is recorded one of the famous early decisions of Solomon. It is the case of the two mothers who claimed the same living baby. Solomon’s solution to the problem demonstrates his way in that case of getting to the proper solution, which was uniting the baby with his real mother. The threat to cut the baby in half was just a way to reveal who the real mother was. This case reveals something else about true discernment: it doesn’t always give us solutions that are repeatable. This solution would only work once. There is always a tendency to take a wise decision and force it on all cases that seem similar. True discernment will consider each case and search for the truth and the Good resolution in each.
As we begin the Sunday School year and the Academic year at our public schools and look toward the beginning of another academic year at our nearby local university, we ought to be praying that teachers will not only convey knowledge, but also display wisdom or discernment. We also need to pray that students will seek and recognize wisdom. That they will be able as students and later as adults to discern between good and evil.
And that brings us to the sad part of our story about Solomon. He went on to be a wise, discerning and famous king of Israel. He wrote 3000 proverbs, 1005 songs, and he studied plant life, and animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. But having the ability to know the difference between good and evil does not always give one the desire to choose the good. Solomon choose many wives who worshipped their own Gods. Solomon worshipped their Gods with them and built just outside Jerusalem temples for some of those other Gods. So Solomon, the young king who asked God to help him be King, became in his later years a polytheist. Wisdom or discernment won’t help you unless you live by it. We can still choose to do wrong.
In this passage we see that Solomon turned to God for discernment or wisdom as he faced the transition from being a 20 year old prince to being the King of Israel. God helped Him. Life is full of transitions. We go from childhood to being teenagers. We go from teens to young adulthood. We become parents of children, then parents of teenagers, then parents of adults. Then we face retirement and later retirement. In each age we have decisions to make. In each age we have to face issues we have not faced before. In each age we need God’s discernment. Discernment is a gift or grace from God. Ask him for it in the age or time of life you are going through. And when you have it, pray for the power to choose to do what you know is right.
And as you pray for discernment for yourself and the members of your family who are going through different ages or stages of life, remember to pray for wisdom or discernment for our political leaders. They commission studies and hold hearings so they can know what the facts are. Pray that God will give them discernment so they can make the right decisions for us and the other people of this world.
Pastor David Horner
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Posted by faithpres at 01:48 PM | Comments (0)
August 09, 2009
“How to Behave in the 21st Century”
Ephesians 4:25 – 5:7
Sunday, August 9, 2009
There is an interesting Scene in one of the Austin Powers movies in which Austin (portrayed by Mike Myers) looks into the camera to address the audience and says “Oh, Behave!, then proceeds to dance naked through a hotel lobby. I think that scene may serve as a metaphor for our age. In our time we are expected to behave according to some social or moral standards, but our examples, even those who demand that we behave don’t seem to know how to behave themselves and they seem less able to instruct us as to how to behave.
As we find ourselves in an age of increasing technology and as our abilities to infringe in greater ways on each other’s rights increases, the self appointed gurus of manners and morality seem to unable to keep up with their tasks.
If you look at television morning shows you will find “authorities” telling you about cell phone etiquette. Now added to the task are guidelines for how and when to “twitter”or “Tweet”. (I remember when “Tweety” was a little yellow bird constantly besieged by a black and white cat).
The television news people have been informing us about teenagers who have sent improper pictures over the internet and via phone messages. Some of these photographs are of themselves, but we are being warned that the posting and sending of such photographs of people under the age of 18 is illegal. We are in an age where many are having a difficult time understanding what is right and what is wrong.
And since we Christians live in our world as well as in our church, some of the confusion of manners and morals of our age are bound to creep into the lives of those of us who profess to be Christians. So I thought that this morning we should look at this passage in which the apostle Paul sets out some moral directives for the Christians who lived in Ephesus.
Ephesus in the first century was a city in the Roman Empire on the western edge of what is now Turkey. It was also a port city. And it was the location of many pagan temples, most notable of which was the temple of Artemis, a fertility Goddess. When you add these 3 elements together you get a city well involved in the excesses of the day.
It was a violent place. There are remains of cemetery for gladiators in the location of the old city. The sport of man fighting man and man fighting beast was a part of the city. It was a city full of merchants from everywhere, so it was a place where the truth was often sacrificed for profit. And as the home of the temple of a fertility Goddess, it was a place preoccupied with all sorts of sexual thoughts and acts.
And then into this wild city came the Gospel of Jesus. The Apostle Paul came there preaching the Gospel of Jesus and some of the folks of Ephesus believed in God.
Now although the city of Ephesus was in many ways much different from our place and time, in some ways it was not all that much different. Most of our vices are indulged in in a vicarious manner rather than hands-on, but the vices are much the same.
In verse 25 Paul deals with those who had gotten used to telling lies as they bought and sold things. He told them to put away falsehood. In the Greek it reads “Put away the Lie.” Stop lying. The reason for this is “we are members of one another”.
Christians are not to lie to each other because they are members of the same family, they have all been adopted into the family of God.
But Christians are also not to lie to those who are not Christians because we are also connected to them through Christ. Even though they might not know and do not believe in Jesus, God still loves them, so we are connected to unbelievers through the love of Christ. We love Him and He loves them, even though they don’t know it.
In a city with as much violence in it as Ephesus, there was bound to be a lot of anger. On that subject Paul wrote, “Be angry, but do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil.” Some of us get angry more quickly than others. Some of us get rid of it more quickly and easily than others. But we all get angry. And that is not all bad. Some Christians are surprised by this verse that permits and may even require anger. There is much in our world that should provoke our anger because it makes God angry. The abuse of Children, sexual or otherwise, makes God angry. The impoverishment of widows and orphans makes God angry.
If we are to behave like God’s people, we should be angry at the things That anger Him. But we need to remember that God’s anger is usually mixed with sadness when his loved ones are made to suffer. But before you go around thinking that your anger is God-like, let me ask you, “what makes you angry?” Do you become angry when you are cheated, lied to, or treated disrespectfully? These are all about you. Do you get angry when someone else is harmed? Do you get angry when children are harmed or abused? Do you get angry when some one else is insulted? I suspect that for most of us, our anger arises mostly when we are affected not when others are the victims. In other words, we don’t get angry when God wants us to and gives us permission to, we reserve our anger for occasions when we ought to be forgiving those who have offended us as Christ did.
Even when we are angry, we are not to nurture our anger, to allow it to grow and fester. We are not to keep our anger longer than the day. Get rid of it before sunset. To hold on to anger can give Satan a foothold in your life.
In the wild-west seaport town of first century Ephesus, there were those who earned their living by thievery, stealing from others by one method or another. Some of those thieves came to believe in Jesus. Paul commanded them to stop their thieving and to engage in honest work to support themselves. But Paul also added another reason for them to work. “so as to have something to share with the needy”.
Now I would guess that for the most part, none of us would be considered to be thieves, but how do you spend the results of your labor? Entirely on yourselves and your families? Do you save something to share with the needy? We are to work not just for ourselves but for the needy.
In verse 29 Paul wrote “Let no evil talk come out of your mouths.” There are many varieties of evil talk. There is dirty language or dirty jokes, there is mindless and needless profanity, there are words that make people think poorly of others. All of these tear down the work of God, they tear down people, they can divide God’s holy community. Rather Christians are to use language and words that build up people, that help people to be better people, that strengthen God’s Holy community. Your words should be a conduit of God’s grace for others.
I want to skip down a few verses to 5:3 = “But fornication and impurity of any kind, or greed, must not be even mentioned among you, as is proper among saints.” There are two main categories of sins dealt with here, sexual sins and greed.
What God forbids in the sexual realm is easy to determine. He forbids sexual intercourse in all cases except in a heterosexual marriage relationship. He also forbids the viewing or reading about such illicit acts as they can lead to the violation of his commandments and as they can cause us to have warped views of ourselves and others.
What God forbids in the area of Greed is any thing that causes you to keep more than you need or to defraud others.
In the 21st century our contemporaries have not changed the kinds of forbidden acts that are practiced. Sin is pretty much the same as it has always been. But by using our post-modern technology and our connections to other parts of the world, sexual sins have been promoted via pornography to constitute one of the largest world wide industries. This industry is destroying lives and relationships daily. And God wants us to stay away from it. He also wants us to help those who struggle in it or against it.
Lana Johnston (one of our members) belongs to the Stewart Cooperative house at Purdue. They are organizing a porn awareness night on campus for the students in September. The deacons have made a donation for this event. In a few weeks, you will also be given an opportunity to help. Lana will be here during the coffee hour to receive donations.
In our day Greed has a greater potential. We have seen it destroy good business and industries. Our modern technology allows the greedy to defraud entire nations. Beware of greed. God hates it.
After all of this forbidding, I am happy to turn to verses 32 - 5:2. These give us the positive expression of God’s desires for us. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved Children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Oftentimes I struggle to come up with titles for my sermons. For this one I came up with a title and a subtitle. The title is “how to behave in the 21st century. The subtitle is “the 10 commandments are still in effect”.
Pastor David Horner
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Posted by faithpres at 02:26 PM | Comments (0)
August 02, 2009
“The Bread of Life”
John 6: 25-40
Sunday, August 2, 2009
The staff of the Courtyard unit of Westminster Village has adopted a few families of Ducks. They have put a child- sized swimming pool on the patio outside the dining room (very close to where our sisters Mary Sholty and Margaret List take their meals). The ducks are fed by the staff of the Courtyard. The residents seem to enjoy seeing the ducks and ducklings as they eat their meals. But every time I see them, I announce, “If you feed them, you will never get rid of them.” This is true of every animal I know as well as many people.
Jesus seems to have realized this truth after he fed the 5000 with the 5 loaves of bread and the 2 small fish. In fact, when he returned to the area where he had fed the 5000, he recognized that several of the people there had come to him in the hopes of receiving another free meal.
This was frustrating for Jesus because he had done that miracle as a sign that he was the one greater than Moses who was to come after Moses. Apparently many people did not see the miracle as a sign or proof that Jesus was the Messiah, they saw only the free food.
According to John, Jesus said to them “you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”
These sentences should provide comfort for those who work in Christian ministries to the poor and homeless. They are often frustrated in trying to help their clients see that they are offering much more than a free meal or a bed for the night. They are also offering a connection with the almighty God and the way to eternal life as well as a path toward productivity and self-sufficiency in this life. It is comforting for those of us that are involved in Christian ministries to note that Jesus dealt with some of the same problems and frustrations that we deal with.
It is also helpful to all of us to notice that Jesus encourages us to set some higher goal for our lives than self-sufficiency or success in our lives. He wants us to invest ourselves in something that will endure for eternal life.
The folks who talked to Jesus that day wondered what the work was that lead to food that endures and eternal life. And Jesus replied “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom he has sent.”
In this answer, Jesus was saying two things. What God requires of us before we can receive eternal food and eternal life is Faith in Jesus. But that faith is not from within ourselves, it is a work of God that He gives us the faith so we can believe. If you believe in God and if you believe that Jesus is His Son who died to forgive your sins and give you entry to eternal life, then God has given you that faith to believe.
Those who were talking to Jesus that day were not easily convinced to stop trying to get Jesus to give them another free meal. They argued that if Jesus wanted them to believe he would have to do a sign, a miracle, and the one that came to mind was the miracle of the Manna in the wilderness. God and Moses gave their ancestors the manna-bread for 40 years in the wilderness. All Jesus had provided so far was one free meal. They were saying “Give us free food for the next 40 years and we will believe in you.”
Jesus then told them that His Father was already giving them the “true bread from heaven” and that God’s bread from heaven gives life to the world.
When they said “give us this bread always” he replied “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty”.
Jesus gives us all we need to have eternal life, he is the food that will sustain us for all eternity. We need to take Him into ourselves by believing in Him and obeying Him. We don’t need to eat Him, we need to believe in Him.
Several months after this conversation, Jesus invited his Apostles to eat the Passover meal with Him. During that meal he gave them bread to eat and said “this is my body, broken for you.” He did not mean that the bread had become His body, how could it? He was still in his body at that moment. He obviously meant that the bread represented his body. He was using that opportunity to repeat what he had said earlier a few days after the 5000 were fed. He was telling them that He was the Bread of God from heaven, sent down to give them eternal life. He was encouraging them to eat the bread and through the Apostles and the church He is encouraging us to eat this bread as a way of saying that we have taken Jesus into our lives and yes, even into our bodies through our faith in Him.
Jesus gave us this sacrament as a way of announcing to ourselves and to each other that we believe in Jesus as the Savior God sent into the world.
Jesus also gave us this sacrament to help us understand that Jesus is not an external force or person in whom we have faith. As we take the bread and wine into our bodies, so Jesus is to become in us an internal force. We are to allow him to control our lives so it can be truly said that Jesus lives in us and through us.
When we eat this bread and drink this wine we are reaffirming our commitment to live our lives for Jesus, and as we do so, Jesus is present with us, not in the bread or the wine, and not along with the bread and wine, but within us and around us in a mysterious yet very real way.
Let us now participate in this sacrament as a way of reaffirming our faith in Jesus and as a way of recognizing that Jesus is within us, renewing us so we can be fit for his kingdom.
Pastor David Horner
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Posted by faithpres at 06:24 PM | Comments (0)