On This Rock

Twenty years ago I read a statement in the "preacher's magazine." And it said, "The church is like Noah's ark, if it wasn't for the judgement on the outside, you'd never be able to stand the smell on the inside." I chuckled, I wrote it down, I filed it, but later I went back and read it and got angry. If that's the church I thought, if the only reason we stay in it is to avoid the judgement on the outside, then not only are we cowards but we are hypocritical cowards. And while some may feel that we need to accept the smell on the inside, I don't.

 

At the time you may recall it seemed like evangelical Christianity was a target in the media every other day, the church has been called to be many things, and to do many things, but it was never, never, never called to be a failure.

 

Christ told peter, "you are the very first to acknowledge me as Christ, and so you are the very first person in the church, and the church will be built upon my name and it will stand forever." And friends listen up, when the church becomes corrupt, and when the church becomes a failure, and when the church begins to stink, you can be assured that what you're smelling rot, isn't what Christ established. Instead it is just another human institution that has gone bad, and that needs to be purged.

 

This morning we are going to look at five critical characteristics about the church.

Matthew 16:18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means 'rock'), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. 1) The Church Is A Divinely Appointed Institution.
    

 

The church was not established by man, not by Peter, or Constantine, or Augustine, or Luther, or Calvin, or Wesley, or Guptill. The church has been established by Jesus Christ. The church is a divine institution. The problem is that all too often we get the church confused with the church. We get mixed up. A building may be a church building but it is never the church, I don't know how many times I've been asked by well meaning people, "How do you feel now that you have a church?" and my response is "We've had a church since 1995 now we have some place to put it."

 

You folks are the church, but not all of you and you're not all of the church.

 

Cornerstone Wesleyan Church, Full Gospel Church, Emmanuel Baptist church, The Rock Church, Stoneridge Fellowship are all man made, human inspired institutions. And God uses them, and works though them. But the church, the body of Christ is instituted, ordained, and approved by Jesus Christ. Paul refers to Christ as the head of the church and later talks about the church being the body of Christ, in the Revelation John refers to the church as the bride of Christ. And the New Testament reiterates time and time again that the church belongs to Jesus Christ.

 

God has used men through the years in guiding the direction of his church but don't be deceived, it is still God's church. When the Roman Catholic Church stopped serving God's purpose he rose up the reformers and men like Luther, Calvin and Zwingli saw his church go on. When the Anglican church of the 1700's became cold, detached and uncaring men like Wesley and Whitefield were used to see God's work continue. When the Methodist church in the states chose to bask in their new found respectability rather then defending the abolitionist movement of the early and mid 1800's Oange Scott was willing to be used. And out of the willingness came the Wesleyan church. And friends if we ever get to the point where we are more concerned about us, and more concerned with how people see us and view us, and respect us then we are with doing the job God set before us then God will call men and women out of the Wesleyan church to get on with the job.

 

Acts 2:41-42 Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all. All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord's Supper), and to prayer. 2) The Church Exists To Strengthen Believers.

 

The primary purpose of the early church was not evangelism, you did not bring your friends to a church meeting to get them saved, within the context of the church it is doubtful that you would ever hear an evangelistic message and very, very doubtful that an altar call would ever have been given, let alone done to forty seven verses of just as I am.

 

The early church was to provide strength fellowship and education to those who knew Jesus Christ as lord and saviour. Evangelism was carried out beyond the four walls of the church, regardless of whether those four walls were real or imaginary. The believers brought their friends and family to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and then and only then did they bring them into the church family. I mean you gotta understand that going to church wasn't the "thing to do" during those first years, it was not appropriate social behaviour, as a matter of fact church membership often resulted in an invitation to dinner with the lions.

 

What then was the purpose of the church? Well the description of the first church in acts 2 says that they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. And so it would appear that the first priority of the church needs to be education in general and the education of the saints in particular. Every person in this auditorium needs to be learning something, you need to know more scriptural, theological and doctrinally truths today then you did yesterday. People tell me, I'm not into doctrine; I just want to learn the bible. Listen up, you may not be into doctrine but the bible is. The bible is doctrine, the bible is theology, and if we are going to mature in the lord, then we will need to get into the word of God.

 

And while we can't limit our spiritual education to what we learn in church it's a good place to start. It may come as a shock to some folks but this is not the only service that Cornerstone has. We offer Discover the Word small groups and at various time we offer courses like Christianity 101, Lights Camera Jesus, different courses on parenting and marriage. We will be offering a course on parenting teens in the New Year. And yet most of us are content to be here on Sunday Mornings and only when that doesn't conflict with other things on our calendar. What would happen if you only ate a third of your meals? Went to work a third of the time? Went to school a third of the time? Or only took a third of your medicine? You'd never receive full benefit would you?

 

Our small groups not only offer bible study and prayer but they supply one of the most vital needs of Christians today and that is Christian fellowship. The purpose of the church is to help strengthen the saints.

 

God knows nothing of solitary religion, that's why Jesus appointed 12, and the spirit came to 120 in the upper room and 3000 were added after Peter's first sermon at Pentecost. Christ knew that we would need one another and that is the reason for the church.

 

Matthew 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. 3) The Church Exists To Make Life On Earth A Little Better

 

Two thousand years ago salt was used primarily for two reasons, to preserve and to season. And while preservation was the most critical in a practical sense the flavouring benefits of NaCl or sodium chloride can never be underestimated.

 

A number years ago a buddy of mine spent a couple of months in Zambia, in Africa. And he told me that the staple food there was called nsima. For breakfast you got nsima, at lunch you got nsima, for supper you got nsima, great heaping piles of nsima. And what you ask is nsima, nsima is ground maize and water, and John said that it tasted like a cross between oatmeal and wall paper paste. And there was no milk for it, and no cream for it and no sugar for it. And my buddy said that the only way that you could make it taste any better was by adding salt. And I remain convinced that without the Christian church that this world would be much like nsima, flavourless and dull.

 

We are here partly to make life on this old terrestrial ball just a little more flavourful. And we have! During the past two thousand years the church of Christ has been in the forefront of the battle to make the human existence just a little bit better. Throughout history when hospitals were established it was the Christian church, when schools were established it was the Christian church, when lepers colonies were established it was the Christian church, staffed by Christian men and women. In is no coincidence that the dog that is famous for rescuing lost travellers in Switzerland, the Saint Bernard, is named after a clergy man.

 

Do you remember in the early 80's the press played up the aid provided Ethiopia by rock groups who participated in band-aid, and USA for Africa. And the organizer of the event Bob Geldof was knighted for his part. Remember. What the press failed to mention is that the Christian church was there firstest with the mostest through groups like World Vision and World Hope and Compassion. But why wasn't that news, because it's expected of the church.

And twenty five years later when the rockers are all back to their hedonistic, self indulgent life style the church is still in the trenches providing aid. Geldof released a song in the nineties called the "The Great Song Of Indifference" and some of the lyrics said: "I don't care if the Third World fries It's hotter there I'm not surprised Baby I can watch whole nations die And I don't care at all." I know Geldof was using satire to make his point but here is another point, the church cared then and still cares today. When I was travelling in Africa when I saw groups that were making a difference the vast majority of time they were faith based Christian groups.

 

We fail to remember that the church was responsible for the end of child labour in England, and the end of the slave trade in the western world, and the feminist movement neglects to mention that it was the evangelical and holiness church that were in forefront of the women's rights movement at the turn of the century and the Wesleyan church today is on the front lines fighting to stop human trafficking.

 

Making the world a better place to live in not just a part of the history of the church, it needs to be our mission both for today and tomorrow. Individually we do it by following Christ's admonition in Matthew 19:19 Love your neighbour as yourself.' " Each one of us needs to reach our in love to those who surround us, the world is full of hurting people, and you shouldn't have to look very hard to find one.

 

Corporately as a local church Cornerstone Wesleyan Church will do it by following Christ's admonition in Mark 12:31 T 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' The church needs to continue to look beyond it's four walls to see where there is a need to fill. Whether it's through foreign missions, or Operation Christmas Child, Harvest for the Hungry, Ronald McDonald House, Operation Happy Feet or supporting the Gideon's we have been put here to make this world a better place.

 

As a denomination we do it by following Christ's admonition in Luke 10:27 "Love your neighbour as yourself."and the Wesleyan church again does that through relief work, world missions, home missions, and such ministries as the orphanages, senior citizens facilities and schools that we run as a denomination.

 

Matthew 5:14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden." 4) The Church Exists To Be An Example.

 

If salt was used to dispel blandness, then light is used to dispel darkness. We are here to provide a light for a world cloaked in darkness. People would say, "Well you're not doing a very good job of it." Au contrar, I think that we are doing an excellent job of it.

 

Sometimes when people asked what I do when I tell them they immediately bring up some of the scandals that have been in the news lately. I'm going to start telling people I'm in insurance, fire insurance.

 

Anybody here ever have a non-Christian friend wag that stuff under your nose, what about this and what about that.

 

But do you know why the world makes such a fuss over those incidents? Because they make the world look morally alright, the world could say "oh yeah, well what about. . ." But they forget that for every scandal you hear about there are millions of Godly men and women, who live holy lives day in and day out and who show the world for what it is, bad to the core.

 

Hebrews 11:7 It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith. How does Paul say that Noah condemned the world? By his righteousness. Because the dark doesn't look to bad until you light a candle. And the deepest, thickest darkness cannot cloak the light of a single candle.

 

There needs to be a standard, if you are not going to measure something that is 300 mm long, it is not that long, nor is it that long it is this long because this is 300 mm long. Hebrews 12:14 Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.. And in John 13:15 I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. And Stanley said of Livingston, "If I had been with him any longer I would have become a Christian and he never spoke to me about it."

 

Ezekiel 16:2 "Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable sins. 5) The Church Is Here To Confront Society.

    

Ezekiel 16:2 should be the watch word of the Christian church. We are not in a popularity contest, Jesus did not put on this earth to become little Miss congeniality, respectability isn't supposed to be the mission of the church, instead we are to stand tall in a corrupt and decaying world, and proclaim righteousness and decry unrighteousness, even if it don't make us real popular.

 

Abortion is killing babies, it's not removing foetal tissue, it's not terminating pregnancies, it not getting rid of a growth and it should not be legal and the Christian church needs to stand up and say "stop the killing."

 

Homosexuality is sin, not an option, not an alternate life style, within the context of the Word of God, and it is called sin. Human rights, nuclear armament, world hunger, AIDS, human trafficking

 

The church needs to use its voice. And if the world is going to take us serious then it needs to hear more then simply Jesus loves you. It needs to hear about the love of God but it also needs to hear about the wrath of God. At some point the church will have to decide if it is going to be a compass pointing in the right direction or if it's going to be a weather vane pointing wherever the winds of society say it should point. Let's never forget Proverbs 14:12 There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.

 

We weren't called to be popular but we were called to be faithful to the entire word of God.

 

It was the Scottish poet James Thomson who said " I think a bishop who doesn't give offence to anyone is probably not a good bishop." And Denn Guptill who paraphrased it to say " I think a church which doesn't give offence to anyone is probably not a good church."

 

And remember the words of Christ in Matthew 5:11 "God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. He didn't say if but when.

 

We don't have to look very far to realize that as a local church and as a denomination that if you don't stand for something then you will fall for anything. No I don't agree with the man who compared the church to Noah's ark, and I don't think the smell is all that bad on the inside. And I know what God knows and that is this that ultimately the church will be triumphant, because Christ told us the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and the failings of some Christians certainly won't bring the walls down around our ears.

 

 

The Crumbs the Dog Got

He was her last hope. She had spent months going from doctor to doctor, specialist to specialist only to be told the same thing, "I can't do anything, I'm sorry." She had tried every kind of alternative medicines, herbs, health food and vitamins and none of it worked. As much as she tried, as much as she did her daughter remained the same, and he was her last hope.

She had heard so much about the one from Galilee, heard about his healing, heard about his compassion, and heard about his love. Not only was he her last hope, he was her only hope. And so she sought out the one she had heard so much about and when she saw him all of her emotions rushed to the surface and she broke out of the crowd shouting to the master and pleading with him to help her daughter. But he just ignored her. And so she kept it up, crying out and pleading with Jesus until finally in frustration the apostles went to him and said, "Lord this woman is really getting on our nerves why don't you get rid of her." And so finally he turned and told her "I was sent only to help God's lost sheep—the people of Israel."

That wasn't exactly the response that she had expected, where was the compassion, the caring, the love? And so she pushed on hoping that maybe she could find what everyone had talked about. She fell to her knees in front of the one called Jesus and begged him "Lord, help me!" She was so sure that he wouldn't turn her down, how could he possibly deny her when all she wanted was that her daughter be healed. And so when he opened his mouth she knew that he would agree but instead he said, "It isn't right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs."

This incident in Jesus life is snuggled in between his walking on the water and his feeding of the 4000. In Verse 21 of the scripture that Shane read this morning we saw that Jesus left Genesserat and went to the territory near the cities of Tyre and Sidon. The cities that are referred to here are in what is now Lebanon and what was then known as Phoenicia. There is the only recorded incident of Christ travelling outside of the Holy Land and into Gentile territory. The story is recorded in Mark chapter 7 as well and Mark makes the observation that Jesus didn't want people to know where he was. He was kind of on a retreat

It's interesting to watch as Christ isolates or attempts to isolate himself from people and things in order to commune with God, his father. And this is what Jesus does, leaving the arena of action, to go to a place where he was simply another man, attempting to ease the building pressures which have come to bear upon him.

But it doesn't work because even here, in these great cities of commerce with all the hustle and bustle and decadence that often accompanies urban life a whisper starts about this man Jesus. Jesus who makes the blind to see, Jesus who makes the lame to walk, Jesus who makes the deaf hear and the mute speak. This Jesus who calls himself the Messiah, who confounds the authorities and controls nature. And as the rumours begin to be whispered up and down the streets of Tyre a Cannonite woman, who Mark said was a Greek, a Syro-Phonecian by birth heard them.

And as this woman, a mother heard the stories of a man who could make a withered hand straight, who could make leprous skin like new she began to think and dream and wonder. "Here is a man who can heal my little girl; here is someone who can take away the pain and the anguish. This man Jesus, he might be the one, he's my last hope." And somehow in that milling throng of humanity she discovered where this Jew from Nazareth was staying and she made her way to him and cried out saying Matthew 15:22 . . ., "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! For my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely." Now we don't know exactly what was wrong with her daughter, we may never know but we do know that she attributed it to demon possession. At first she got no response from Jesus and so she pleaded even more and that got some action. From the apostles, the compassionate bunch they were, "Get out of here, you're bothering us." And Jesus turned to her and explained how he had been sent to the people of Israel, but she wasn't going to be put off and so she fell to her knees pleading with him to help her. This mother who had come to plead for the life of her child wouldn't be put off that easily. Again he explained that his mission was first to the Jews but it's how he said it that confuses some people.

What he said was Matthew 15:26 Jesus responded, "It isn't right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs." Words that could have gently explained the situation or needlessly hurt. Have you ever noticed that the contents of the message are not necessarily as important as the way you convey your message. You can say "sure", or "sure".

My father told me that when he and his twin were growing up that their grandfather used to call them idjits. He'd say "You're both a pair of idjits and you'll be hung for horse thieves before you're sixteen." But Dad told me "Most of Grampy Guptill's old age cheque was spent on us."

Idjits

Jesus could have spit the words out , "It isn't right to take food away from children and feed it to the dogs" But I think there was a glitter in his eyes and a lilt to his voice as he told her it's not good to take food away from children and feed it to dogs.

Was Christ testing the faith of this concerned mother? Was he seeing just how far she would go for her daughter? Let's look at his words and what the original language can tell us.

When Christ starts by telling the woman that "it wasn't right" to give the children's bread to the dogs, he is trying to explain why his ministry was limited to the Jews at that time. It wasn't because he was a racist or a bigot. He didn't have something against Cannanites, it was simply that an effective start had to be defined.

There was a time in discussing ministry the term your wedge or my wedge was used fairly frequently. The analogy of course comes from the wedge that is used to split wood. The part of the wedge that is most effective is the sharp edge at the bottom. The focus of the wedge is very narrow and that allows it to penetrate the wood. If you turned it around and tried to use the blunt end it would prove to be very ineffective. In ministry you find the thing that you can use most effectively to reach people and you refine that edge and sharpen that edge. You don't ignore other aspects, but your focus is on your wedge.

It's the same with our personal lives and talents and gifts.

The wedge of Jesus' ministry was his reaching the Jews. Because he had fulfilled all the prophecies of the Old Testament relevant to the coming Messiah his message would be more easily accepted by the Jews than the Gentiles. Their acceptance would then become the width of the wedge which would finish the job. You with me? Jesus was simply saying "this is the most effective way for me to accomplish the task set before me."

He continues by saying Matthew 15:26 Jesus responded, "It isn't right to take food from the children . . ." The word children is used hundreds of times in the Old and New Testament and it's primary function is to describe the Jewish people as "God's Children". The food he speaks of is more properly translated bread and the bread he speaks of is himself. You might recall that time and time again he refers to himself as the bread of life.

And so it is the children of God or the Jews, who the bread of life, or Jesus was promised. And because of that it wouldn't be practical to give the bread to others. His next words are the ones which would appear to be less then kind, as a matter of fact they almost sound nasty. Matthew 15:26 Jesus responded, "It isn't right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs."

And yet these are the very words that this frantic mother grasps and holds on to like a life ring. We don't see or hear these words in the same light as she did because we're not hearing them as she heard them.

Throughout the Bible the word "dog" is used to describe someone or something undesirable. In the book of Revelation Chapter 22 verse 15 there are a whole list of folks who will be outside the gates of heaven. Revelation 22:15 Outside the city are the dogs—the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie.

And right at the beginning are "The DOGS", kind of sounds like an Alfred Hitchcock movie.

You see 2000 years ago most dogs weren't pet's but were dangerous strays who roamed the streets, feeding off the trash and whatever or whoever else they could find. The word used most frequently in the New Testament was a Greek word, which is fitting seeing the New Testament was written in Greek. The word was κύων

kyōn , koo´-ohn and it means "Dog or Hound"

In this story though both in Matthews account and Marks account Jesus uses a different word, he uses the word κυνάριον— , koo-nar´-ee-on which means a little dog, or a puppy. You see even though most dogs of that day were dangerous strays or work dogs, the very wealthy families of the day kept small lap dogs as pets.

Now I don't know if it was something that this woman heard in the voice of this Nazarene Carpenter or something she saw in his eyes but there was something that caused her to push on and she said, Matthew 15:27 She replied, "That's true, Lord, but even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their masters' table." She didn't get argumentative, she didn't deny what he had said was true, instead as Martin Luther said, "She caught him with his own words."

The woman simply claimed her rights under the conditions that he had set down. She didn't demand a spot at the table, she didn't want the children's portion instead she was content to accept her place in the household that she had been assigned. But she wanted the privileges that went along with that position.

How many people here own a dog now or have owned a dog at some time or another in their life. Then you know the cardinal rule of owning a dog, which is "If it falls on the floor then it belongs to the dog."

When I was growing up we owned a mutt named Spike. And my Dad always bragged on how good Spike was, how Spike would never take any food that he hadn't been given. Point in fact. One night when I was 16 or 17 I had been asked to pick up a box of meat from a cousin of ours who had just done in a cow. I brought the meat home and got ready to go out and forgot the meat on the kitchen floor, in a box, with the dog. Mom and Dad got home and the meat was still intact, the dog hadn't touched it. Spike was such a good dog, you could leave treats on the coffee table and never have to worry about the dog getting into them, Spike was a great dog.

One Christmas a couple of years before Spike went to doggie heaven my father was standing in the kitchen looking over the half wall that separated the kitchen from the living room. As he watched Spike came into the living room, carefully looked around to make sure he wasn't being watched, obviously not too carefully because he missed Dad. And then very deliberately he stuck in nose in a bowl of chocolates rooted around until he found one he liked and ate it leaving all the rest. Aren't you glad you never visited our house during those days and ate chocolates?

Our dog was not one of the children, but he was a member of the family and as such he had certain privileges, and one of those privileges were the crumbs that fell from the table.

This would appear to be the only time in the Bible that someone came out of one of these verbal jousting matches with Jesus, where they had the last word. Christ was a pro at this. Throughout the gospels we see him turn questions and statements around to his advantage. It would seem at least in this instance that he was bested and he seemed to enjoy it.

The response that Christ gave, the healing which Christ performed would indicate that he agreed with the woman and awarded her with what to the children may have appeared to be crumbs but to her, it was a veritable feast.

So what does the story tell us?

1) The Person of Her Faith The woman started with a head knowledge, she knew who Jesus was in her head. Matthew 15:22 A Gentile woman who lived there came to him, pleading, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! For my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely."

At that point she had no claim on him when she approached him as the Son of David, because she wasn't a daughter of David, it would be like you as a Canadian appealing to Barack Obama, there would be no obligation for him to hear you or to respond to your request.

The woman had heard about this miracle man, this wonder worker who was a Jewish teacher and that was how she approached him.

When you come to Jesus without a relationship it doesn't matter if He is God, he is not your God. And too many people view Jesus as did the woman, she knew he was supposed to be able to perform miracles, she knew that he could help her but she didn't know him.

And today it's the same way there are people out there who have no time for God until the kids get in trouble, or they get sick or they lose their job and then they come with cap in hand looking for a miracle. Jesus is just another genie in a bottle.

But somehow it changed for this woman, somehow it went from a head knowledge of "I know what you are" to a heart knowledge, "I know who you are", because we read in Matthew 15:25 But she came and worshiped him, pleading again, "Lord, help me!"

He was no longer simple a wonder working healer, she came to him and worshipped him for who he was, "Lord".

2) The Persistence of her Faith. So, she has found her way to the one called Jesus and his disciples rebuff her. She finally pushes through and makes eye contact with the one she came to see and he tells her that she's not a Jew and he has come for the Jews. She pushes on an continues to plead and he makes the remark about it not being right to give the children's bread to the dogs. I don't know about you but I'm really no good at stuff like that, when someone says no I usually say "Ok" and leave it at that, but not this woman she just won't give up, she was undiscouragable.

William Barclay states . "So many people, it has been said, pray really because they do not wish to miss a chance. They do not really believe in prayer; they have only the feeling that something might just possibly happen." But for this woman it was her only hope and she wasn't going to let go.

3) The Product of her Faith Most people think that the product of this woman's faith was her daughter's healing. Matthew 15:28 "Dear woman," Jesus said to her, "your faith is great. Your request is granted." And her daughter was instantly healed. But you understand that this woman was not the only woman with a sick child in the area. It is a reality, Jesus heals but it is also a reality not always. If Jesus always healed I wouldn't have to wear glasses, I wouldn't have a lisp and I wouldn't be allergic to cats. And you are thinking "But those aren't important things" "Well maybe not to you." But I love cats and hate glasses.

If Jesus healed all the time people wouldn't die. We know that but we want to choose who God will heal and who God won't heal. I wonder how it would change our prayers if we knew that there were a finite number of healings and if God healed you then someone else wouldn't be healed. Or more personally if God healed you than he wouldn't heal someone you loved? It continues to go back to the question isn't "Why me?" it's "Why not me" and you realize that we are healed many times in our life that we never give God the credit for. 300 years ago I would go through life with fuzzy vision because there would be no glasses.

The medication that you take without thought either has kept you alive or improved the quality of your life and it probably wasn't available a century ago. Defibrillators, neo-natal care, dialysis, chemo-therapy every hour of everyday people are healed. It isn't that we want healing it's that we want immortality and that is not ours to have, not on this side of death's door.

The real product of this woman's faith was God's Grace, God's favour. And that is available to everyone of us and while it may not guarantee us life it does guarantee us eternal life.

It is a grace that transcends the physical that doesn't end when our life ends.

Affair Proofing Your Marriage

I don't think any of us would doubt that Jesus had a strong view on marriage. We often think that divorce is a recent innovation but rules and decrees guiding how couples should split up are more common in the bible than how they should hitch up. You would be hard pressed to find guidelines for what a wedding should look like in the bible but you only have to go four books in to find the guidelines on how a marriage should be ended.

And two thousand years ago there were some of the same concerns about the sanctity of marriage whether or not divorce and marriage split ups were becoming way too prevalent as there are today. And so in the scripture that was read earlier Jesus was asked what his views were on the subject. Now understand that the Pharisees really weren't interested in Jesus opinion as much as they were looking for a reason to attack him.

But Jesus took a strong stand, much stronger than the church takes today and that is a sermon for a different day. And his answer is recorded in Matthew 19:4-6 "Haven't you read the Scriptures?" Jesus replied. "They record that from the beginning 'God made them male and female.' And he said, 'This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.' Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together."

God put them together and nobody should split them up, nobody. But as strong as the bond of marriage was for Jesus he saw one exception and that was given in Matthew 19:9 And I tell you this, whoever divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery—unless his wife has been unfaithful." Now some people see this as a loophole and others see this as an exception but I think Jesus saw very clearly that nothing could break the covenant like a physical betrayal, that a couple's commitment to one another was declared null and void with the act of adultery.

The Bible, the word of God takes a very dim view of adultery, as a matter of fact adultery didn't have to be specified as a reason for divorce in the Old Testament. Because in the Old Testament the punishment for cheating was death by stoning and there was nothing to prevent a widow or widower from remarrying. I've said before that while it may not have been a deterrent, it sure cut down on repeat offenders. A view obviously shared by Loretta Lynn who said "My attitude toward men who mess around is simple: If you find 'em, kill 'em."

Some recent studies indicate that 50% of married men and women will have at least one extramarital affair during their marriage. Think about it, that's 50 out of 100, 10 out of 20, 1 out of 2 married men and women will cheat on their respective spouses. Hilda Houlding co-ordinator of the Calgary Family Service Bureau, made this comment "An affair is often an attempt to find a little bit of paradise on the side, pursuing the belief that if one just finds the right sexual partner there will be instant happiness and everything will fall into place. An affair is often able to fulfil this myth, until itself becomes a relationship that has to be worked at and looked at in a long term light. Seen in this way "paradise" soon becomes a prison"

I'm old enough to remember when Gary Hart had to withdraw as a US presidential candidate because there was speculation about an extramarital affair, and I remember the late 90's when it seemed that America was quite willing to accept the fact that not only was their President an adulterer but was a serial adulterer.

Today adultery has become almost common place, not only has it reached almost crisis proportion out there, but the crisis has spread into the church as well. That which was almost unthinkable in the church thirty years ago has become all too common.

Keith Drury is an Author and Professor at Indiana Wesleyan University, listen to what he wrote, "The devil is a liar. No one falls in this area without believing some of the Devil's lies. God tells the truth. His word is light, not darkness. The Devil may be multiplying his attack on Christians because he has access to modern weapons like, TV, movies, videos, sexual advertising, cable and satellite TV. He serves these stimulants daily in the living rooms of the average Christian, especially those who 'watch TV to unwind.""

Too often when talking to people whose marriage is in trouble they want to tell me what the other person is or isn't doing. If I speak to someone who becomes involved with someone else, by the way having an affair is just a gussied up way of saying committing adultery, they tell me if their partner had of done more of this and less of that then they wouldn't have had to look for love in all the wrong places. And as much as I wish I could give you a list of ways to keep your spouse from cheating on you I can't. And there isn't anything you can do, legally anyway, that would absolutely guarantee that your spouse will always be faithful. How often have you heard of a marriage that seemed perfect and yet one or the other partner broke their marriage vows? I've spoken to people whose partner cheated on them and they've said "I thought everything was going great, I thought we were happy." And I've even spoken to some people who have cheated on their spouse who said "I don't know why I did it, everything was going great and we were happy and I just wasn't thinking straight."

So here's the bottom line: if we are going to be faithful in our marriage it's going to be up to us. If you came today to discover how to keep your spouse from cheating on you, surprise. You will never be able to control your partner's faithfulness, but you will always be responsible for your side of the relationship. How do you do that? Good question. The answer of course is that we work at it. Grab your pen, cause here are eight suggestions for affair proofing your marriage.

1) Don't Start Anything. Sounds simple doesn't it. That fact of the matter is that adultery is one of those things that start innocently enough. A mutual attraction to a neighbour, co-worker, or even someone you go to church with. You both understand each other so well. You have so much in common with one another and you enjoy those quiet moments you have together. They seem more eager to listen to you then your spouse does. Soon there are those special little words that are spoken softly between you. The little pats, a gentle squeeze of your arm, a meaningful glance, a lingering gaze, a quick hug, a short embrace, and eventually you have been led down a path you never intended to walk.

Don't start up the ladder of affection with anyone other then your spouse. Did you hear that? Don't start up the ladder of affection with anyone other then your spouse. Listen to what Solomon reminded us of three thousand years ago, Proverbs 6:27-29 Can a man scoop a flame into his lap and not have his clothes catch on fire? Can he walk on hot coals and not blister his feet? So it is with the man who sleeps with another man's wife. He who embraces her will not go unpunished.

Words from a man who knew what he was talking about considering that he was the result of the adulterous affair between his father, King David and Bathsheba. If you are involved at any stage of affectionate expression with anyone other than your mate than you are playing with fire. Stop. Turn around and turn back. I'm not saying that you can't be friends with members of the opposite sex, but you know what I'm saying.

Sue Johanson who hosts a show on WTN says: "You can't say, 'I didn't know what would happen.' That's a crock. You knew with the sweaty palms and sweaty pits. You knew with the long gazes. You made the decision not to decide and you let it just happen." If you are climbing the ladder of affection, then get down, right now, don't fool yourself into thinking that you are in control. The best time to stop disobedience is today

2) Listen To Your Spouse This one is especially for you guys. God seems to have given women the special ability to identify a strange woman on their turf. Don't write off spousal comments as jealousy, and even if at this point it is innoncent, it may not appear that way to them, and you can stand the warning.

If your spouse questions your relationship with someone of the opposite sex pay attention, they may notice a come on before you do. Twenty years ago Angela warned me about a woman I was working with outside the church, it was only when I stepped back and looked that I was able to see what Angela had been seeing. How'd she know, beats me, maybe God told her. I'm really not all that sure, but I'm really glad I listened to her.

3) Tell On The Other Person. If someone begins to quietly come on to you, then fink on them. Tell your partner that very day, don't wait until tomorrow to see if it happens again, tell your spouse before you go to bed. Your spouse is supposed to be the most important person in your life, let them help you deal with the problem. Sometimes it's an ego problem. It's been so long since anyone flirted with you, you had forgotten how good it felt, and besides it's not like it's hurting anyone, and you wouldn't think of taking it any further. Stop it. The both of you are in this marriage together and both of you need to learn to protect your relationship with each other and with God. Do it and do it fast. Tell your spouse if you suspect anyone; don't play his or her game. The quicker you realize that you are in this together trying to protect your marriage the better.

4) Don't Spend Time Alone With The Opposite Sex.
Keith Drury has this to say to Pastors "He who meets another woman alone in private hath no brains!" Don't place yourself into a situation where there is temptation or where temptation can be acted on. It's surprising how many martial indiscretions and outright adultery has sprung out of relationships established on the premise of "giving spiritual help" or "sharing our problems together" Hah! Do you remember what Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6:13 And don't let us yield to temptation. Only sometimes we don't need a whole lot of leading do we? We can do a pretty good job of finding temptation all by ourselves.

When I talk to teens and young adults about their dating habits I often warn them to stay out of situations where they are placing themselves into areas of greater temptation. Parking on lonely country roads, being home together when there is no one else around. There are some areas that are danger zones not only for teens but also for adults, and we need to recognize them and stay away from them. "The person who meets with someone of the opposite sex who is not their spouse alone in private, hath no brains."

5) Drink From Your Own Spring. Proverbs 5:15 Drink water from your own well— share your love only with your wife. It has been said that the best defence is a good offence. Though it's not a guarantee, "Keeping the fires hot at home," is a good defence against temptation. That has always been the case check out what Paul wrote almost two thousand years ago, in a letter to the church in Corinth, 1 Corinthians 7:2-5 But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband. The husband should fulfill his wife's sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband's needs. The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife. Do not deprive each other of sexual relations, unless you both agree to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time so you can give yourselves more completely to prayer. Afterward, you should come together again so that Satan won't be able to tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

The CEV says don't refuse, the NIV translates it don't deprive each other and the authorized version tells us not to defraud each other. And that's what happens when you provide a dry or boring spring at home. Hey guys and girls, sex wasn't the devil's idea it was God's and sexual fulfilment in marriage is God's plan.

But listen up; don't allow Satan to suggest that any lack of fulfilment in your marriage justifies a little sin to make up for it. It don't, never has, never will. Didn't for Charles and Diana, didn't for Bill and Hillary, and won't for you.

On the other hand if'n you're not providing a spring to be drunk from at home and your spouse goes looking for a drink elsewhere, while they aren't justified you are not entirely without blame. And the spring isn't' just a sexual one, make sure that your spouse wants to spend time with you.. If you are negative and miserable to be around your spouse might very well find someplace else to go. One Colorado psychologist's summary of more than a decades work counselling "The other woman" argues that the common trait that the "other woman" all share is being a good listener.

6) Be Aware of Emotional Adultery This is one of the first steps up the ladder of affection. Beware of getting emotionally attached to someone of the opposite sex who is not your spouse. I know that I'm sounding a bit extreme but affairs start in mostly innocent situations. Emotional attachments can lead to explosive situations where temptations come crashing in with unexpected force.

Emotional relationships often develop into something more and end up in disaster. And even if they don't lead to sin, they can hinder your own marriage relationship. If you are getting your emotional needs met somewhere other then home than you are leaving a gap in your relationship with your spouse. And that includes relationships that develop online.

Emotional attachments are explosive, they can cause someone to fall in love with or they can cause you to fall for someone else "who seems to understands me so well" or they can cause such deep emotional bonding that you find it impossible to walk away. If you are bonding emotionally with someone other then your mate then walk away from it before it ruins you.

7) Get Control Of Your Thought Life. Long before an affair happens physically it happens mentally. Listen to the words of a Minister who ended up with a ruined marriage and a ruined ministry after a one night stand "adultery isn't something that happens with the act -- it happens months beforehand. It's an attitude. You disconnect yourself from the person you've said you're spending the rest of your life with." Those thoughts may differ whether you're a man or a woman. With men they are more apt to be sexual fantasies with a woman romantic fantasies but if they involve someone other then your spouse they are wrong, wrong, wrong.

You say "But they are only thoughts" sure they are, that's why Conway Twitty wrote in one song, "We're not exactly strangers you and I, because I've already loved you in my mind." And why Jesus told us in Matthew 5:28 But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. And I don't think it would be unfair to the scriptures to say Matthew 5:28 But I say, anyone who even looks at a man with lust has already committed adultery with him in her heart.

If you are keeping pure actions toward someone, and have not uttered even the slightest words of attachment, yet you are guilty of impure thoughts, then you are perching on a precarious cliff which leads nowhere but over the brink into deeper and deeper violations of God's law.

Who do you think you are? Do you believe that you will be the first to escape God's law? Do you think that you can play with fantasy fire without burning your soul? Do you truly believe that you can keep God's anointing on your life even as you dwell on thoughts of disobedience? I'm not talking about temptation here, you will probably never escape that in this life. I'm talking about wilfully dwelling on impure thoughts, about thinking about them on purpose, playing and replaying them over and over again in your mind like a video tape. That my friends is sin.

There is incredible power in the mind, power that can be focused on good or on evil. Bring your thought life into captivity, before it brings you into captivity. Find out what triggers those thoughts and starve the source, it might be certain people, times, memories, places, television shows, movies or websites. Jesus said in Matthew 5:29 So if your eye—even your good eye—causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. Now we're not into self mutilation, but there may be some areas of your life that need to be poked out, for your own protection and the protection of your marriage.

8) Recognize That You Will Get Caught. This is the bottom line people, you will get caught. Are you involved in a suspicious relationship right now? Maybe nobody knows about it. It's a secret. You may think you are getting away with it. Satan is telling you that you will never get caught. You believe that you are the exception and you are wrong. You will get caught. Satan is a liar, and the word of God is the ultimate truth and it says in the Bible, the word of God in the book of Numbers 32:23. . . and you may be sure that your sin will find you out.

Sinners have always believed that they could get away with sin. From day one they believe that. Adam and Eve believed it and they got caught. Cain thought he got away with murder and he got caught. Rebecca and Jacob thought they had deceived everyone but they got caught. Joseph's brothers thought they had committed the perfect crime, but they got caught. Moses thought he'd buried his sin in the sand, but he got caught. Achan got caught, Saul got caught, David got caught, Jonah got caught, Anianas and Sapphira got caught, Jimmy Swarggart got caught, Gary Hart got caught and so did Bill Clinton, a couple of times. Well you know what Billy Sunday said, "Sin can be forgiven, but stupid is forever." It's simple, sinners get caught.

Do you really think that you can get away with a little sin? What makes you think that you will do what others haven't? Do you think you can break God's universal laws of life and get away with it? Do you think that you will be the first person who gets away with sin. Friend you will be like ever other sinner throughout history, you will get caught.

How? I don't know, maybe the other person will get a case of the guilts and confess, it's happened before. Or maybe someone else will tell. You think that nobody knows? When you are sinning Satan tricks you into believing that you are invisible, you're not. Someone will see you. Or maybe the burden of guilt will get so great that you will confess. You may even get away with it for awhile. If you do, than you will get more and more bold in your sin, and that in itself will make the sin so obvious that you will eventually cause yourself to get caught.

The devil promises you all the kingdoms of the world, if you will simply bow down and worship at his altar of impure desires. But you can't have it all. God says that your sin will find you out and you will have to pay the price, and God is the truth.

You cannot make your spouse be faithful, but you and only you are responsible for how faithful you are going to be in your marriage.

As serious as physical adultery is, and it is serious, there is a game that is even more dangerous then that. There may not be anyone here today who is cheating on their spouse, but I'm sure there are those here today who are cheating on God. Yep, the bible talks about us being unfaithful to God. As a matter of fact there is an entire book of the Bible which compares those who aren't in step with God to a cheating spouse. Maybe you know that you have wandered away from God, you maybe you've never made the commitment in the first place. But there is only one who can make it and only one who can keep it and that is you. God has already made it clear that he is going to be faithful In the book of Hebrews 13:5 it says God has said, "I will never fail you. I will never abandon you."

 

Thanks to Keith Drury for a lot of the ideas in this message.

Righteous is as Righteous Does

 

Have you ever done the right thing only to take it on the chin. Either the person you did the right thing for reciprocated in the opposite fashion or in performing the good deed you ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. You know you give someone a ride home and on your way back someone runs a red light and you're in an accident. It goes to prove the validity of Clare Boothe Luce statement "No good deed goes unpunished."

 

Most of us are familiar with the Beatitudes, you know the sayings of Christ from the Sermon on the Mount. And we find them comforting and inspiring. We love to hear that the poor in spirit and meek will be blessed. That God looks with favour on those who are humble and those who pursue justice. And who wouldn't agree that the pure of heart and those who seek peace deserve a special place in heaven.

 

There are organizations and groups who use the beatitudes as their guidelines and principles. The beatitudes have ended up on posters, bookmarks and mugs. But usually they stop before they get to the end. Because while we understand all that Jesus said about the poor in spirit, and the pure of heart and the peace makers the eighth beatitude isn't nearly as easy to comprehend as the first seven. Compared to number eight the first seven are down right self explanatory.

 

Matthew 5:10 God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. It's like karma in reverse. Not only does Christ say "Happy are those who are persecuted" but he adds "Happy are those who are persecuted for doing right." Now I think there is only one thing that would bug me more then being persecuted for doing wrong. Hey, we may know that we need to be punished but we don't have to enjoy it, do we? What would really bug me is being punished for doing good. It would be one thing to get a speeding ticket for speeding but a completely different thing to get a speeding ticket because you were rushing someone to the hospital.

 

Thank you very much we certainly appreciate the wonderful job you've done, off with your head. Doesn't make much sense does it? Not only is the basic principle of unjust persecution causing happiness confusing the very idea is downright bizarre.

 

But isn't it the person with the lofty ideals, high principles and fine behaviour who draws the applause from the world? Think about it, a number of years ago at Madam Tussauds Waxwork museum, in London, 35,000 international visitors were asked over a 10 year period to name the people they admired most in history, the top five choices were, 1) Winston Churchill 2) Joan of Arc 3) Jesus Christ 4) John F. Kennedy and 5) Robin Hood. Doesn't that prove that society recognizes and heaps honours on those who serve its causes and contribute to its welfare? Isn't that the tenant of the Canadian dream, do right and you'll be rewarded for it? Just think about Albert Swetzer, Mother Theresa, and Florence Nightingale. It's a long way from Canada to Australia but every September Aussies around the country laced on their sneakers for the Terry Fox run.

 

Our world revolves around those who do good and seek peace right? They are the ones who receive the rewards and accolades? Sure just ask Abe Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Joan of Arc, Jim Elliot and Yitzac Rabin. And yet many of us still feel that if we are good enough and kind enough and loving enough long enough that the whole world will hug us. And it's a real shock to discover that just ain't the way it is.

 

So the first thing you need to know is: We Will Be Persecuted Because Of Who We Are

 

After all we have to recognize that if society, and society is just made up of people, and people is people is people. If society could persecute and eventually murder Jesus Christ, the son of God, than the same society will ultimately persecute those who follow Jesus and call themselves by his name.

 

If Jesus suffered what he suffered at the hands of mankind, then it would be absurd for us to expect to escape. As a matter of fact Christ didn't leave his disciples in the dark; he discussed in great detail what they could expect. He told them in John 15:18-21 "If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? 'A slave is not greater than the master.' Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the One who sent me."

 

Bet that's not your favourite passage of scripture, I'd even be willing to wager that you forgot it was in the bible or you don't think it should apply to you. Now we have to realize what Christ is saying and that is that everyone who calls themselves by His name will eventually suffer persecution. That is inevitable, so if we are going to have to suffer the key question is: what are we going to suffer for? Something that won't cause happiness or something that will make you happy?

 

We Will Be Persecuted Because Of What We Do

 

Jesus states that happiness happens to those who suffer for the right reasons. In other words since we are going to suffer anyway, than it ought to be for the right reasons. Now if you suffer persecution because you are odd, strange or absurd in your conduct then it probably won't cause happiness.

 

Christians aren't called to be exhibitionist; we weren't called to stand out by our appearance but because of our actions. Some Christians call attention to themselves by outlandish behaviour or bizarre conduct but when they attract abuse by their absurd lifestyles they act outraged. But really aren't they just getting what they deserve? After all Daniel may have been in the Lions Den, but he wasn't pulling any tails. I don't think that Jesus was calling us to look for persecution, but I think he was telling us that there's a pretty good chance it will find us without any help at all.

 

In his book "Salt for Society" Phillip Keller states "Christ called us to be gracious in spirit, humbled in heart, easily entreated and disciplined to do his will in the world with mercy, peace and good will." Jesus didn't say blessed are those who are persecuted for absurdity sake, but blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. Or again happiness happens to those who suffer for the right reasons. And what are the right reasons? The one thing that Jesus kept going back to: the Kingdom of God.

 

Persecution that comes from our attempts to establish the kingdom bring happiness because they aren't in vain. But when we think about it we really have it easy today. Historically Christianity affected every area of a person's life, from their work to the social life to their family life. In the generation after Christ's death and resurrection believers literally lived in fear for their lives. Each year citizens of the Roman Empire had to pay tribute to the Emperor by offering a pinch of incense and saying "Caesar is Lord." After you made the statement you were free to do whatever you wanted. The problem was that the early Christians refused because of their belief that only Christ is Lord and because of that their lives became very cheap.

 

Those who belonged to the early church were often burnt at a stake, wrapped in animal skins and thrown to wild dogs or tortured on racks. The physical suffering they endured is beyond our imagination. If we were undergoing the same sort of persecutions today Christians would have to wear labels that said "Health Canada has determined that being a Christian is hazardous to ones health and well being"

 

We might not be tortured or killed in Canada in 2009, but persecution still exists for Christians. Even if it's the way we are depicted in the media and on television. Even if it means that you can't advance in your career because of the moral high ground you have claimed. Even if it means you are ostracized from your peers because of your stand. Why? Why are Christians still persecuted today? Why are those who live righteous lives so often wronged? Why is it that though out history the Cains continue to attack the Abels?

 

We Will Be Persecuted Because Of What They Do Josh Billings was an American humorist in the 1800's and he said "It is a statistical fact that the wicked work harder to reach hell than the righteous do to enter heaven." Not only do they work harder to reach hell but they work harder to justify their behavior, and don't appreciate criticism.

 

1) Good and Evil are mutually exclusive Truth and deception cannot coexist anymore then decency and degeneration, or right and wrong, or light and darkness. The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 6:14 Don't team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness?

2) The evil person, the wrong doer, the decadent individual always feels threatened by the righteous.

And the easiest way to stop feeling threatened by something is to eliminate it. And so those who are evil attempt to eliminate the righteous through outright attack, abuse or condemnation. Why do they feel threatened? Because if you live your life the way it's supposed to be lived than your very life is a rebuke to those who don't. Because they know that's how they should be living their lives but they have a whole range of excuses of why they can't live that way. It's too hard, I can't do it but nobody else can do it either so why worry? And then someone else does it. Hebrews 11:7 It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.

 

3) There Are Many People Who Aren't Good Moral Righteous People. Regardless of what people say we don't live in a Christian country, believers are in the minority, as a matter of fact with less then seven percent of the population attending evangelical churches we don't even come close.

 

God's people are in the minority, facing an unfriendly majority. Now the average man on the street isn't overly hostile to the church as much as he is apathetic. As long as the church feeds the hungry, clothes the naked and doesn't rock the boat everyone is happy as can be. But when the church begins to do what it was called to do, and that is to challenge the world and it's behaviour that's when the world begins to get upset.

 

And it's at this point that we will be persecuted whether we deserve it or not. I've said it before but it bears repeating. The world loves having the church as a lap dog, but let the puppy show it's teeth and see how long before it's in the backyard on a chain.

 

The more godly and more righteous we are the greater the chances are that we will be abused and persecuted. Joseph was dumped in a well then thrown in prison, Elijah was hunted like an animal, Daniel was thrown to the lions, Stephen was stoned to death and Jesus was hung on a cross to die. As a matter of fact Christ warns us in Luke 6:26 What sorrow awaits you who are praised by the crowds, for their ancestors also praised false prophets. How are men speaking of you these days?

 

Persecution today may not mean being thrown to the lions but it is still around. It may affect you in your work, your social life, and your family. If you've been there you don't need me to explain. And so the beatitudes end the way they began with the promise of receiving the kingdom of God.

 

It is here that something strange happens, Christ does something that he hasn't done in the previous eleven verses; he repeats himself. Every other beatitude is mentioned only once but listen to verses eleven and twelve Matthew 5:11-12 "God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way."

 

Now I wonder why Jesus felt it necessary to repeat that last thought? I wonder if maybe it was for the same reason that we sometimes repeat ourselves, because we think that what we're trying to communicate is important. We don't want folks to miss what we're saying. But again the emphasis is not on what others are saying about you nearly as much as why they are saying it. Christ specifically said Matthew 5:11-12 "God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way." Did you catch the important part? What they say has to be false, if they say you're a phoney and you really are a phoney you're not going to get a blessing.

 

And Jesus said when this happens, don't be discouraged, don't be frustrated, don't get angry and upset, instead he says Be happy about it! Be very glad! the NJKV says Be exceedingly glad. Why rejoice? For three reasons, the first is It Means You are Doing Something For God. If you're being persecuted because of Christ it is indicative that you are doing something for Christ and the enemy considers you a threat. Charles Spurgeon was a great preacher in England 150 years ago and he said "The best evidence of God's presence is the Devil's growl." Does Satan consider you a threat? When was the last time you heard him growl?

 

The second thing that we need to rejoice about is that The Story Is Not Over Yet. Matthew 5:11-12 "God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way." A couple of thoughts on this, the first is that God is no man's debtor and the second is that not all of His debts are settled this side of eternity.

 

Ray Stedman tells the story of an old missionary couple who had been working in Africa for many years and were returning to New York City to retire. With no pension and broken in health, they were discouraged, & fearful of the future.

 

They happened to be on the same ship as Teddy Roosevelt, who was returning from a big game hunting expedition. they watched the passengers trying to glimpse the president, the crew fussing over him, and the hoopla that accompanied the president's entourage.

 

But no one noticed them. The missionary said to his wife, "Something is wrong. Why should we have given our lives in faithful service for God in Africa all these many years and have no one care a thing about us? Here this man comes back from a hunting trip and everyone one makes much over him, but nobody gives two hoots about us."

 

At the dock in New York a band was waiting to greet the president. The mayor and other important people were present. Reporters were there to fill the papers with news of the event. But the missionary couple slipped off the ship unnoticed.

 

That night, in a cheap little apartment the man's spirit finally broke and he said to his wife, "I can't take this; God's not treating us right, it's not fair." His wife suggested that he go into the bedroom and tell the Lord how he felt, so he did. A short time later he came out of the bedroom and his wife could tell just by looking at him that something had changed. And so she asked, "Dear what happened?" "The Lord settled it with me" he said "I told him how bitter I was that the President should receive this tremendous homecoming, when no one met us as we returned home. and when I finished it seemed as though he Lord put his hand on my shoulder and simply said, "But you're not home yet"

 

The third reason we need to rejoice is laid down in the thought Christ ends on "And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way." You're in Good Company. This isn't a matter of "Misery loves company" but simply an acknowledgement that you aren't unique and being picked on.

 

Probably the question asked the most often when we suffer or wake up in the morning with a cold or go through persecution is "Why me?" And the answer is the same for all of the above "Why not?" The deeper answer to the first and the second is "because we are people". And we live on a fallen earth where tragedy and suffering happens. And the answer to the third is "because we are God's people" And don't look around and say "well so and so doesn't have any problems." You will never know the problems and suffering that go on behind closed doors.

 

In 28 years of pastoral ministry I have discovered that public personas don't always tell the whole story. Sometimes it's because people are ashamed of their problems and sometimes it just that they are private people and don't feel the need to advertise their suffering.

 

So here is a thought and a promise to finish this morning: the thought comes from Mark Twain who said "Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest."

 

And the promise comes from the Old Testament book of Isaiah where God promises his people, you, this Isaiah 43:2 When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.

Who’s Watching the Garden?

Imagine if you will that you own a beautiful and lavish home, not a far stretch for most of us here who live in a style that the majority of the world can only imagine, but I digress. Imagine if you will that you owned a beautiful and lavish home, a home that you had designed and built yourself. You didn't hammer every nail and lay all the carpet but you had watched and supervised and hammered the occasional nail and picked out the cabinets and the flooring and the colours. And you truly loved your home, I don't know if there is a home as loved as the one you actually have a hand in building. But the day comes that you decide that for whatever reason that the time had come to become a landlord instead of a homeowner. Perhaps you had built a nicer home, or maybe you had moved to another location but for whatever reason you decide that you will rent out your beautiful home.

So you find a tenant, you check their references, discuss the terms of the lease, get your damage deposit equal to half of the monthly rent and sign the lease. As you are leave you tell the tenant, "Enjoy".

The time finally comes that your tenant is moving out; perhaps you decide you want to live in the house again or maybe they are simply moving for whatever reason. So you come back to your house to move in and you can't believe your eyes, your beautiful lavish home has been trashed, literally trashed.

There is garbage all over what had once been a beautifully landscaped lawn, the front door is hanging off the hinges, you go in and can't believe what has happened to the house that you had designed and built with so much care. The hardwood floor is gouged and scratched, from the multiple cigarette burns it looks like it has been used as an ash tray, and your tenants had promised they didn't smoke. If the bathroom had ever seen cleaner or a sponge it was only a passing acquaintance, you can't even tell what the colour of the original fixtures were.

There are holes in the walls, the screens have been torn and it would appear that people had swung from the light fixtures. The house was permeated with the stench of garbage and filth and you knew in your heart of hearts that no matter what you did that your beautiful lavish home would never be the same again.

In anger you confront your former tenant and they look at you blankly as if they don't see the problem and they tell you, "I was paying rent so I assumed I could do what I wanted. After all, wasn't it mine as longer as I was paying you to live there?" You start to sputter, your eyes bulge out and homicidal thoughts race through your mind. You reach out to place your fingers around the neck of this inconsiderate lout when they say "But hey, you can keep the damage deposit." And they walk away whistling.

How would you feel? Would you agree with them that they had indeed paid their rent on time each month and that by allowing you to keep the damage deposit that everything should be all right? By virtue of renting did they have the right to do whatever they wanted to while they lived in your home?

Of course not. There was a certain understanding either written or implied that they were not to intentionally damage your home and were to return it to you in close to the same condition that they had received it.

I don't know how many of you know my son, he is a 25 year old artist, still at the idealistic age that he believes that he can change the world and a fervent environmentalist. A while back we were having a discussion; discussion is a good word, over big business, development, internal combustion engines and our society's reliance on fossil fuels. And in the midst of one of his discourses he challenged me, his father, to take responsibility for the mess the world was in. Can you imagine? And then he said something to the effect of "You say you serve and love God but how can you allow them to do what they do to His creation?" I sputtered out a response and he replied by saying "Why don't you use your influence to do something?" You can tell he is an idealist by assuming that I have that much influence.

Although on my bulletin board I have a quote by that great American philosopher George Carlin who said "I have as much influence as the Pope just fewer people believe it."

My response was "Well I've preached on the environment." To which he replied "Must have been after I left." I didn't even know he was paying attention. So I went back through my messages and sure enough I hadn't, felt kind of bad. Then I discovered that I wasn't alone. I am a contributor to a website called sermoncentral.com. It is a place that depending on your scruples you can use it to research messages or to plagiarize messages. I use it for research, my commitment to you is that other people may preach my messages but I don't preach other people's messages. As I told one colleague, some of us have to keep writing them if the rest of you are going to keep stealing them, but I digress.

So I went to Sermon Central and did a search in their data base of 150,000 sermons for environment and didn't get any hits, I was a little disappointed, then I realized that I had spelled environment wrong. So I spelled it right and hit search and out of the 150,000 messages I got 12 hits and 7 of those sermons had titles like "Remaining Encouraged In A Discouraging Environment", "How To Create A Safe Environment" and "How to Survive Working in a Hostile Environment". Out of a 150,000 messages there were 5 messages on the environment.

Apparently most evangelical preachers share Dan Quayle philosophy, he said "It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it."

So I got to thinking about our responsibility to God and the world he has allowed us to occupy. If we go back to Genesis 1:27-28 We read: So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground." And in those two verses humanity became tenants in the beautiful home that God had created. And to quote Peter Parker's Uncle Ben "With great power comes great responsibility".

Some people have developed an entire cult around the protection of mother earth, kind of an Eco-Theology and have begun to worship the creation instead of the creator, and that is wrong. Number 2 of the 10 commandments is given to us in Exodus 20:4 You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. Unfortunately for too many people the heavens, earth and sea have become idols. People miss out on the fact that there is a creator who is to be worshipped.

The opposite of that are those who believe that we have been given absolute dominion. In other words it has been given to us to use as we see fit and if that means that at the end of the game it is gone while so be it, after all we have been promised a new heaven and a new earth at the end of the story. They often will go back to the promise in Genesis 8:22 As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night. For them that is evidence that as hard as we might try to use it up or destroy it that the word of God promises that the earth will be around as long as we need it, and then who cares.

But really what does it say about our view of our creator when we are intent on destroying that which he created. My son is an artist through the years he has give me various pieces of art that he has created, and if I destroyed one of those paintings or ripped up one of his drawings because it was mine to do with as I like what would that say to Stephen? Would it say "I love you and appreciate what you have done for me?" I think not.

The third option is something called Creation Care, which sounds really cool but simplified it puts creation and the environment at an equal priority with the salvation of humanity. So when Jesus said in John 3:16 "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. Now we usually understand that to mean: John 3:16 "For God loved the (people of the) world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." But this philosophy would say that this scripture is not to be seen the way we would traditionally interpret it But instead it should be seen more along the line of John 3:16 "For God loved the world (the earth) so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

And with that it puts all of creation, all of nature, every species on earth on equal footing with humanity. And that's not what we are taught in scripture. Let's go back to the scripture that was read for us earlier Psalm 8:4-6 what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority.

And then we have Genesis 9:2-3 All the animals of the earth, all the birds of the sky, all the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the fish in the sea will look on you with fear and terror. I have placed them in your power. I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables.

Face, it if God hadn't wanted us to eat cows he wouldn't have made them taste so good. Although I think deer hunting would be a lot more fun if the deer got guns as well.

So I think I lean more toward a Global Stewardship model. This is where we are not only in charge of our environment but have a responsibility to respect it. Carl F. Henry once offered this sage observation: "Scripture does not set forth specific lines of ecological action, which may vary with time and place. But it does adduce fixed principles that indicate that God was not content to create a chaotic wasteland but rather a habitable universe and that he expects his designated stewards to maintain it that way."

Let's go back to Genesis 1:27-28 We read: So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground." The word that people try to define is translated "Reign over" in the NLT and 'Rule over" in the NIV in the KJV it is translated "Have Dominion over" in the original Hebrew it is רָדָה or rādâ and it can mean any or all of those things. The interesting thing is that is the same word that is used in Psalm 72:8 May he reign from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth. Or maybe you are more familiar with it in the old King James Version Psalm 72:8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. It was from that scripture that the name The Dominion of Canada came from.

And so the scriptures do not lay out specific guidelines for how we are to protect our earth, thou shalt not drive hummers and thou shalt separate thine garbage. The implication is there that if we are to be it's ruler we are to be a benevolent ruler. And the question might be: why? And the answer is: because it's not ours. Never was and never will be we are merely tenant, some of us might have a longer lease than others but ultimately it will all go back to the owner. God.

And so we should take care of it for Our Own Sake. For a minute let's go back to our original analogy, a house. If you don't take care of the house you live in eventually it begins to affect the quality of your life. The roof begins to leak, the wind blows through the cracks, insects begin to breed and take over. After all bugs love dirt and damp. You ever watch the program Extreme Makeover? Some of those homes are poor and spotless; you can tell that the occupants take pride in what little they have. Others are dives, dumps and it has nothing to do with the fact the folks are poor and hard done by they just don't care. I think they should do another program called Extreme Makeover: Two Years Later, and see what those new big beautiful homes look like.

We need to take care of this planet because we have to live here, that's the bottom line, we have to drink the water and we have to breathe the air.

And if that isn't enough, if it sound slightly self serving to just do it for our sakes we need to do it For Our Kids Sake Going back to our original analogy if you knew that the house you were living in you kids were going to live in and their kids were going to live in would it make a difference to how you treated it? If you knew that you weren't just responsible for the house while you occupied it would you take better care of it?

People are always commenting on higher rates of cancer and Alzheimer's today then there used to be and they may very well have a point. And I wonder if it has to do with the amount of garbage that was dumped into the environment over the past century? Those of you old enough will remember what happened with the "Love Canal" in Niagara Falls NY, and closer to home the Sydney Tar Ponds and even closer with the Halifax Harbour. And while we can't change the past hopefully we can change the future.

Bacteriologist Rene Dubos said "The most important pathological effects of pollution are extremely delayed and indirect." We are not just poisoning this generation but also the next one. Most of us are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure the safety and well being of our children and grand children. But are we willing to change how we live. And I know pollution and disregard for the environment isn't a new problem and we've come a long way from open sewers and garbage in the streets and if you don't believe that than travel with me to Africa or with Robin and Beth to Haiti. But we still need to get better at doing better.

And finally we need to change how we deal with the world For God's Sake If we go back to the original analogy of the house someday the owner is going to want it back and what will we say? I mean seriously what will we say? Each of those species that humanity has driven into extinction God created for a purpose and with the same thought he put into you. Every river that is now clogged with garbage and chemicals was created pure and pristine. It goes back to how we treat the creation is a reflection on how we view the creator.

And maybe part of the problem is when we lost sight of the command in Genesis 1:27-28 So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground." The command was to fill the world not just the cities.

American author Henry Miller wrote "What have we achieved in mowing down mountain ranges, harnessing the energy of mighty rivers, or moving whole populations about like chess pieces, if we ourselves remain the same restless, miserable, frustrated creatures we were before? To call such activity progress is utter delusion. We may succeed in altering the face of the earth until it is unrecognizable even to the Creator, but if we are unaffected wherein lies the meaning?"

So what am I calling you to do? Just be responsible, separate your trash, don't litter, personally I think people who litter should be publicly flogged but that is just me. Choose wisely. I'm not the greatest environmental example but we do drive small cars that get great mileage, I think hummers and escalades are just dumb, sorry if you drive one but they are. We have water savers on our showers, I try not to idle my car like I used to, we have programmable thermostats and have been replacing our lights with CFLs, little things can make a big difference.

Do I believe the ice caps are melting and the polar bears are drowning, not sure. I do know the past few winters haven't been any warmer nor have the summers.

Dr. Tim Ball is an environmental consultant and former climatology professor at the University of Winnipeg and I read this in a recent article he wrote "Over 30 years ago Roger Pocklington approached me about weather conditions in eastern arctic Canada. Roger was an oceanographer studying water temperatures from Newfoundland to Bermuda. He reported they were falling. He was welcome at conferences because it fit the consensus of the day, global cooling. Temperatures in eastern arctic Canada had declined for over thirty years and resulted in a cooler Labrador Current. Colder denser water was pushing farther south. We determined this would impact the cod fisheries of the Grand Banks, but nobody would listen. Roger was also ignored because he continued to record and report cooler temperatures but the politics of climate change had switched to global warming."

So what I'm saying is this, we are only tenants and managers and we are ultimately responsible for how we treat what has been given to us. And it was Albert Einstein who said "It is every man's obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it."

Time and time again in the New Testament Jesus tells us parables of servants who were trusted with money, talents and properties that acted foolishly and wasted that which they were entrusted with and in each case they were condemn. Not excused not commended but condemned for not doing the best with what they were given by their master. Interesting.