Sermon Transcript — August 11, 2007
You may not have heard of the young woman sitting in the congregation of a church with her little son beside her, and he was getting quite squirmy. She kept trying to settle him down and get him to be still. He just kept squirming, up and down off his chair, making little noises, shuffling here and there. This older lady behind her was watching this with great interest and wondering how this lady was ever going to get her child under control. Finally she bent over and said something to him and the child immediately sat up straight, folded his hands and sat perfectly still for the remainder of the service. So at the end the older lady said to the young mother, what in the world did you say? What did you do to get your young son to suddenly calm down and be so quiet and still? She said, I told him if he made too much noise he would cause the minister to lose his place and he would have to start over. That got his attention, I guess.
We are blessed to be here today in beautiful surroundings. We, of course, have had services and so have you in all kinds of halls, in all kinds of places, and we are blessed to be in this comfortable air-conditioned hall this morning, looking out the window at a little piece of God's beautiful creation. In spite of the heat and the conditions that we probably complain a little bit about from day to day, it is a gorgeous Sabbath day. Our lives are also beautiful lives, and I don't know if we always recognize it and realize it. I want to kind of bring us back to that thought this morning. Because while we live in a beautiful and lovely world right here today, the world goes on about us and the world is actually a pretty miserable and dark and ugly place. Many, of course, are out playing today and doing what they think is fun momentarily, but frankly most people also live without much hope. They live from day to day with no purpose. And even here in America where we are, and others of course may hear this message in far distant places, but here in America where we are we think we are very well taken care of, very well fed and comfortable. But many, many people who look comfortable on the surface are suffering a great deal inside and underneath. They live in spiritual darkness. There is a reason for that spiritual darkness and we know what it is. Let's be reminded momentarily in 2 Corinthians 4. Let's just cut in at verse 3.
2 Corinthians 4:3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost (or as the Greek more properly says, perishing. They are in the process of dying. They have no other purpose, no other hope). 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
So the world lives in darkness. The world is blinded. When you are blind you basically live in darkness. You have to find other ways if you physically blind to cope with what the seeing world deals with. Well, mankind is much the same. They have to find ways to cope in a blinded world, in a darkened world where they cannot see the light, the light which Paul calls the image of God, that is Christ, who would otherwise shine to them.
Now we have a responsibility and opportunity to bring that light, and we are working every day to try to move forward to more effective preaching of the gospel and preparing the way for the return of Christ, but God has not shined to all people at this time. Most of them are in darkness, misery, pain, and suffering of various kinds. And while we go through physical pain and suffering and various kinds of tragedies and losses like we have already heard about today, we know what life is about. We know why we are here. We know where we are going. We know what the hope of the future is. We have a purpose. We have the greatest purpose anybody could ever manage, the purpose for which God created the human race in the first place, which is to become part of his own spiritual family, a fantastic and marvelous purpose. But most of the world lives in darkness.
You and I don't live in darkness. Let's look at how Paul puts it to us in Colossians 1. We all know if we read Paul's writings very much that he is a powerful orator, at least a powerful writer, and we assume a powerful orator just because of his words. He called himself weak in some physical ailment and was apparently belittled for them, but he is a powerful orator in the sense of explaining God's way. Clearly he grasped things that nobody else of his time could understand.
Colossians 1:12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet (or fitting) to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: So while the world struggles in darkness he says God has seen fit to make us part of those who are going to inherit light. That light begins with Christ working in us. Of course it culminates in our change to glorious spirit beings in the family of God at the resurrection. But notice what he says in verse 13.
13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: We have been taken out of that darkness. Somebody reached down and snatched us out of that dark and miserable place and brought us into the light, and that light is the light of the power of God and the face of Jesus Christ as he says in other places. We have been given the light, and that light is marvelous, and glorious, and reveals who we are, why we are, where we are going, what God has in mind. It brings us tremendous hope and opportunity for the future. So while we are no better than our fellow man, while we are no different humanly than the people down the street, the people out playing or working or whatever they are doing today, we are different now because God has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. He has made it possible for us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Even as we look forward to the coming of the light again; remember, John says he came to his own. He was the light but men did not even comprehend it. He will return again in blazing light. But even as we wait for that we don't have to live in darkness. We live in the light. And we rejoice in the light. We have hope in the light. Paul says here, we ought to give thanks to the Father who made it possible for us to be partakers of that inheritance.
Let's look at Jesus' words back in John 16. Jesus finished this discussion just before his prayer on the Passover.
John 16:33. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
He tells us it is automatic, it is taken for granted, it is the reality of being in this world that you will have tribulation. Other places of course tell us that sometimes you will have persecution mixed with that tribulation because we are Christians. That all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. That the world will hate us because they don't know us, they don't understand us, even as they didn't understand Christ.
So sure, we will have tribulation, we will have persecutions, we will have combinations of those things. We will sometimes live in a pretty tough world even where we live. We will have challenges and difficulties and trials of various kinds. And those continue to some degree.
Remember the prayer that comes next here. I don't plan to read it but Christ says you are going to have troubles. You are going to have trials. And Christ said to his Father, I pray not that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil. So we live in the midst of a darkened world but we have been called out to the light. And for the most part that light takes us out of a great deal of the evil as well.
But from time to time that evil spills over and we feel it, in broken relationships perhaps with family members or others outside of God's church and God's truth; perhaps in our employment, our relationships on the job; perhaps even sometimes in the neighborhood where our way of life or our willingness of not meeting evil with evil but trying to overcome evil with good causes people to take advantage of us.
There are all kinds of things that we can fall into in this world that become tribulations, that become trials, that become difficulties. That is what Christ is talking about when he says you are going to have tribulation, but in me you will have peace. So the key to dealing with that tribulation, to dealing with those problems, to dealing with those pressures and stresses and criticisms and persecutions, whatever it is that you may be suffering today or this week or in the past month, or whenever it might be, the key to dealing with it he says is in me you will have peace.
So knowing God's way, knowing Christ's example, knowing that Christ gave his life for you and me so we can be freed from sin, so that we could be called out of darkness into his marvelous light is our means of coping with/dealing with those tribulations. In fact, if we can go back to an earlier comment, this sword right here gives us a great deal to do battle with the forces of the world, of Satan's darkness, confusion, and deception with which he has blinded the whole world. The world does walk in darkness.
Christianity is not easy. It is very fulfilling. It is very satisfying. It is a wonderful way of life. In fact, it is the only way of life. Every other way is the way of death. So Christianity, walking in the footsteps of Christ, serving God, is the only way of life, because we have been translated from the world of darkness into the presence of God as part of his church, which is the kingdom in embryo as we call it, to be born into the family of God. God's power, God's word, God's law, God's instruction, God's Spirit comforting us gives us the capacity to have peace even in the midst of misery, pain, and tribulation.
Sometimes we let the misery and pain and tribulation undermine that peace. Sometimes we have to repent and turn around and realize that we are very blessed. I can speak to that just from my own small trauma by comparison to what so many people face. I was completely frustrated arriving in this city, to go to work in a new job, to move into a different home, to try to get established in a whole new routine, and to find myself totally incapable of doing anything because my right hand was basically destroyed. It was a terribly frustrating experience.
And I found myself getting really discouraged some days and asking myself what should I do, what did I do, and why am I in this situation getting discouraged? And then you have to stop and think, wait a minute, there are all kinds of troubles and trials and problems that our brethren face, many far bigger than this, and I myself have faced bigger ones than this and other members of my family have faced bigger ones than this.
Why am I letting this get me down? Because I wasn't looking to God for the guidance and help of taking the comfort that is there and understanding that sometimes we have to go through these things to be humbled perhaps, to learn, to grow, to develop an approach to life. Sometimes what we need is not very pleasant, it is not what we would always like to have, but maybe it is what we need.
Even if all it does is force us to our knees and turn to God to ask for help. And to know that whatever we suffer today is what we ought to call small potatoes. I didn't use that expression the four or five years I lived in Salt Lake City because one of my churches was in Idaho and they don't know what small potatoes are. It didn't mean very much to them.
In the world ye shall have tribulation but in me you will have peace.
Today is kind of a microcosm of that, an example of that statement. We live here today right now sitting in this place in peace. And not very far outside of the doors we immediately run into various kinds of trials and traumas and difficulties and challenges and tribulation. If we did not know God's truth we would be in the midst of it all the time.
Christ knew what he was talking about when he instructed us in how to interact with him and appreciate these blessings in Matthew 11:28. This context of course deals with the bigger issue of conversion and surrender to God, which I spoke to you about the last time I was here.
Matthew 11:28 . Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
It's the same lesson we just read from John 16, isn't it? It is the same principle in play. It is saying, yes, life is tough. You are going to face challenges and problems and difficulties and frustrations. But if you come to me with those challenges and those trials and those difficulties and those frustrations I will give you rest. How does he do that? He begins to show us what life is about, how to live it so we can get in harmony with those things that give us rest, including harmony with this day. He begins to teach us the principles of life that make life work, but he also forgives us our sins. And he also walks with us and guides us and helps us through the difficult challenges of daily routine living.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; let me be your teacher; let me be your master, Christ says, and learn about me, and you will find that rest, that relief, that peace. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. He is using a common analogy here of a beast of burden, in this case an ox having a yoke.
We think of that in America because we have all been through our history books with the covered wagons and the yoke of oxen, and so forth. They are frequently used in the Bible. A yoke fits on the shoulders of the beast to which the load behind is attached, so that the yoke is sitting right on the animal and the animal is pulling the burden, but the yoke can rub and chafe and break the skin and cause infections and all kinds of things if the burden is too heavy and the beast is being abused.
Christ says, that is not the way my position as your Lord and master is going to be. You are going to in a sense come under my direction and control even as a yoke of oxen does under the driver, but my yoke is easy and my burden is light, so that you will find rest for your souls. It doesn't take away, necessarily, the labor and the heavy load, as in the previous verse, but it replaces it to the degree that you can put yourself in God's hands and let God guide and lead you and lift those burdens off you.
My yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Are we blessed to know that? Are we blessed to be the servants of Jesus Christ? Are we blessed to be carrying the load that Christ has put upon us in service to him as opposed to being blindness and in darkness and pain and misery that Satan's servants endure? It is kind of a no-brainer, isn't it? Of course we are blessed! Abundantly blessed, wonderfully blessed.
But it is so easy, isn't it, to let something get us down. It doesn't have to be a big thing. It can be something somebody says, or the look on somebody's face, or a physical debility, something that frustrates our goals and purposes, something that thwarts us. It can very quickly get us down. We are built so that it does, in one sense.
We are built to create and to plan and to work and think and grow and change and effect change in the world around us. So when we can't do that we are thwarted. And it does get very frustrating very quickly. But we are able with Christ's help to cope with that, to deal with that, because we are under his yoke and his yoke leads us into a way that is an easier and lighter result.
Christianity can be very hard at times, but even with the hard times that go with Christianity we are still far better off than those individuals who don't know what Christianity is all about. Sometimes people get ground down and begin to think God's law is this burden that God has put upon me of having to live my life in such a narrow frame of reference. I have to live within this box as prescribed by God. But you know what? That box is life. That box is peace. And what is outside of it is darkness.
Frustration, misery, pain, and death. So even when we think it is Christianity itself, we think it is God's way that is troubling us, it isn't God's way that is troubling us. It is those fiery darts of the wicked and our human nature, the society that Satan has built, the system in which we live, which is continually bombarding the truth. But living the truth will always produce good results. Living the truth will always produce long-term permanent good results. And most of the time it will produce short-term, immediate, visible good results. I say most of the time, because sometimes the immediate doesn't look good even though it might be.
The persecution or trial we are going through may not look good, but sometimes it is necessary for us to achieve what God wants us to achieve to come out in a positive frame of mind on the other side. So we have to cope even when life doesn't seem like it is going all that well. I have been there many times in the years I have been trying to serve God as a Christian. I've been there many times. Times when life looked pretty bleak.
In my case, it was more often on the psychological and stress level and spiritual conflict with various sources because of where I found myself than it was the physical trials and debilities that many face. You know, I lost a couple or three jobs before I went off to Ambassador College. I lost a couple or three jobs in that brief two years I was in the church before I went to college because they wouldn't let me have the Sabbath and the holy days off. But since I went to Ambassador College in 1965 I, unlike most of you, have never had to deal with the Sabbath off problem.
There was one very brief period. It wasn't in the church; I'm not talking about that one. But there was a brief period when I had to resign from the ministry briefly and find another job and the Sabbath was a bit of an issue momentarily, but it didn't cost me my job. But many of you have had situations where you have to cope with the Sabbath question all the time, or your children have to cope with it in school, one thing or another. Of course, we had that as well.
I'll tell you a story that just came to mind. Maybe it will be interesting to you. It was interesting to me. We are trying to get an estimate, a bid, for a deck on our house. We bought a new home but the home didn't have a deck on it. The back door was 6 feet off the ground. Man, the first couple of times I went out…no, they bolt them shut, of course. You can't go out. But it is 6 feet off the ground. So we are trying to get a deck built, trying to get some bids for the deck. Finally one of the fellows I had asked him to sharpen his pencil and get back to me, he called me a couple of days ago and said, I think I can do this.
I can work on another job Sunday through Thursday, and then I can come out and start yours on Friday, and I think I can get most of the deck…it wasn't the deck in this case, it was some concrete that had to be done before the deck could be built. He said, I think I can get that done on Friday and Saturday.
And I said, Adam, I should tell you up front before you finish this bid I don't want you to work on Saturday. He said, what do you mean? Well, I said, we don't work on Saturday, and we don't hire people to work on Saturday because we keep the Sabbath and we don't want you to work on Saturday. So when you figure your bid figure how you are going to do this. I know he works on Sunday, because he worked on Saturday and Sunday at the neighbor's when he built their deck.
So I said, when you are doing your bid, recognize you are not going to be able to work at my place on Saturday. He said, well what I was thinking, when I cut that hole in your basement I have got to cover it before it rains…well, maybe I could just put a board over it. Yeah, that's pretty simple isn't it? Put a board over it. I would rather have rain in my basement than God on the back of my neck or someplace. I would rather do it that way.
Anyway, it was interesting. He couldn't comprehend that. Why wouldn't you want me to work on Saturday? We will probably have our first Sabbath conflict today, as a matter of fact, because all of the lawns in the neighborhood had gotten their lawns, and when we get home all of them will be done except ours. And we will look like a sore thumb.
You never know where it is going to come from. Sometimes it is small, sometimes it is large. Sometimes it is just a nuisance. Sometimes our trials are just a nuisance but we would like to be comfortable and not have a nuisance. I don't like nuisances…even though I am one!
1 Corinthians 10:13.There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. The verse means that nothing has happened to you that is particularly unusual or different than what everybody else is facing. The world will have tribulation. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able.
What does that mean? Well, it sounds like no matter how bad it gets we can make it. No matter how bad it gets we can get through it. There is a way out. Not allow you to be tempted about that you are able. How are you able? How am I able to get through any trial? I have been close to bailing certain trials only to realize I was trying to overcome it myself. I was trying to beat it Salyer's way.
Whereas, Paul says I can do all things through Christ Jesus. So, the rest of this verse is talking about that. But will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. The way of escape may actually be getting out of it the easy way, but the chances are it is probably going to be getting out of it the hard way, because it goes on to say that you may be able to bear it. You will get through the trial. You will be able to bear it. God will make a way of escape. That way of escape isn't necessarily the way you and I would find by ourselves. It is not necessarily the way we would choose on our own. Sometimes God's way isn't so obvious to human reasoning. If we allow ourselves to fall into that human reasoning, I have to fix the problem THIS way.
That reminds me of another story. I was reading in Country magazine the other day. Anybody here take Country magazine? Lovely magazine, beautiful magazine. I was reading in Country magazine, maybe you read this article about a family growing fruits and vegetables, primarily watermelons. Nice article, good article, no problem there except that in the middle of the article (it was actually the diary of this lady on the farm), and during the discussion of their week came Sunday and she said, Sunday morning we all get up early to go to church because we believe that there's nothing like going to church together and worshiping together to bind the family together and to enjoy life. I am paraphrasing here.
Sunday morning is fantastic and we all go to church together. But this morning the men weren't with us. What do you think the next line was? The watermelons don't take a day off, so the men can't either. That is the way the human being figures it out. The watermelon doesn't take a day off so how can I take a day off? After she had seriously described how wonderful it was to all go to church together, they can't go to church together when the watermelons are getting ripe because there is too much work to do. So human reasoning can play with these things and come to the wrong conclusion in how to solve the problem.
God's way solves the problem. God's way doesn't create the problem. And when God makes a way of escape it might be fairly obvious, but we might not be able to see it unless we are looking at it the way God looks at it. But he will make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. So there is a way out. God will provide a way out. In the case of you and me, God has taken us out of the biggest problem. He has taken us out of darkness. He has jerked us up out of the miry clay and set our feet on a rock. We already have a tremendous advantage over the rest of the world.
So when we do stumble into the darkness, when we get off the path a bit, off that straight and narrow, wander into the darkness, let ourselves be temporarily blinded by some deception that is being thrown at us by Satan directly or by a fellow man under his influence, we can be temporarily in the wrong place and have a trial or a temptation or a challenge that is difficult for us. But how comforting it is to know, and to know that we know, that God says it isn't going to be too tough because I will take you through it. I have had to depend on that many times in my life when I thought it was going to be too tough. I can't do this, can't handle it. But if your mind comes back to the statement that it is not going to be tough beyond your capacity if you get the help you need from the source that can overcome all of those trials, in the world you will have tribulation but with me you will have peace. My yoke is easy, my burden is light.
This is a wonderful expression from the apostle Paul of God's concern for us. You are going to fall into trouble, he says. You are going to have problems in the world in which you live. But God is faithful. That little statement alone is a fantastic piece of knowledge that you and I have. God is faithful. He is not just going to disappear. He is not going to turn his back when you need him the most. He is faithful and will see you through it. And when you are in the middle of it sometimes you think this is more than I would like to deal with right now.
Romans 8 Paul deals with that as well. He obviously had more challenges and trials and persecutions on a physical level than most of us will ever come anywhere near. When you read the accounts of his travels and the persecutions and physical problems he dealt with, yet Paul was able to make this amazing statement in Romans 8:18.
Romans 8:18. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time (then he must have had some, and of course he describes some terrible challenges that he faced) are not worthy to be compared with the GLORY which shall be revealed in us. That is the important point. What are we comparing them with? They are not worthy of being compared with the goal for which we are battling the challenge. The goal for which we are in the battle in the first place is to be a part of the family of God. So how much of a battle is going to discourage or dissuade us from pursuing that goal?
This is the same thing as Christ saying count the cost, in one sense, isn't it? Paul was saying, look at what you are dealing with. Count the cost. What you are paying right now in pain and suffering and trials and challenge, whatever you are dealing with in your life, physical pain, sickness, disease, worry, fear, we have heard quite a bit of that in the prayer requests, and so forth. It is a reality in our world today. We are all dealing with it in one way or another. Sometimes even when it is small, like my hand problem, we can elevate it to a huge problem which doesn't even begin to compare to some neighbor's or brother's problem. But we can elevate it to be a huge problem.
Paul was telling us to think about why you are going through this, why it is necessary to put it in God's hands. If you think about what you are trying to achieve by living your life according to God's will even in the face of this challenge, life will get a little easier. You see beyond the immediate and see the long-range goal of the family of God, the reason for which you are all sitting here. At some point in your life you were all called or educated into if you are children, then called, but that's another subject. We are called to be responsive to God's truth. And the key to all of that is we want to be a part of God's kingdom, we want to be in God's family. So that is what we have to compare the suffering with. And if you compare the suffering that we go through on a physical level it can seem terrible, but if we count the cost and say this is what I have to pay in order to be a part of God's family, not to give up here, not to let Satan get me down, not to just decide that life is too difficult and I am going to go the easy way, because the easy way won't produce peace anyway. But that sometimes is human reasoning. I hate to tell you how quickly your mind can get astray.
I was feeling really miserable one day when I was at home and couldn't go to work. My hand was cracked and broken and I thought infected with some deadly flesh-eating disease. That's what your mind tells you. And I just happened to, because my Bible tells me I won't go through a trial I can't endure, I just happened to, maybe with a little inspiration, think about Job. And I thought, you wimp! You wimp! Where would you be by comparison to Job? Sitting in a pile of ashes scraping his body with a potsherd because his body was covered with boils, and everything he owned was gone, everything he loved was gone. Sometimes you have to say to yourself, give me a break! But we do it. I do it. I am suspicious that you probably do it. We get discouraged. We get down. We get frustrated. We get worried about whether we can endure, whether we can make it, whether we can accomplish what we have to accomplish. Read it again, verse 18.
For I reckon (you figure it up, you tabulate it, you count the cost) that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the GLORY which shall be revealed in us. It doesn't equate. It doesn't compute. It's not on the same plane. It's not even in the game. So we have to be able to come back to those thoughts and those promises and those instructions that God has given us through Christ himself or through his apostles, his prophets, through his word. God is there. God is in charge. God is going to see it through. God will take care of your needs. Come to me. Let me take care of you. Let me give you peace. Don't wallow in the tribulations of the world.
Matthew 23. This is in the midst of a different context but it shows an attitude, many different places that show God's compassion toward his people but this I like because it is such a direct antithesis. Matthew 23:37. Jesus is recounting the history of Jerusalem's attitude toward him and his prophets.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
It's not God's problem; it is not a lack of compassion on God's part; it is not lack of readiness or willingness on God's part. He stands ready, willing, and able to receive us into that peace, that recognition that there is something worth it beyond the immediate. Paul was able to see that. In fact, in the same chapter, going over to one of our favorite verses in verse 28.
Romans 8:28 We KNOW that all things work together for good to them that love God. If you don't know that, then going through a tough trial can be very destructive to your faith, very destructive to your relationship with God, because you think why am I having to go through this? Again, I called upon most of these verses and principles during my own brief and small trial by comparison. I hope you will call upon these thoughts, instructions, and principles. We KNOW that all things work together for good. Not necessarily right now, not today maybe. Maybe not even tomorrow, and in some cases it is a long, long time. I have known people who have endured trials for many, many years. There are some who have not yet gotten through them. I know others who all of a sudden are dealt a tremendous blessing that relieved them entirely of their situation.
Healing. Legal problem goes away. Something special happens in your life that changes everything. We don't always know when it is going to happen. Whether it is the trial or the relief from the trial, it will be good. It will produce good. It will result in good. It will result in what God intends. The rest of the verse says, to them who are the called according to his purpose. So if God has called us out of darkness and put us into his marvelous light, then he says he is going to see that we get through it, that all things work together for good in the long run, that we will be in the family of God. That we will succeed. Success is absolutely sure in God's mind. Only we can change that equation, because God has predetermined that we are going to succeed. He engages us as partners in that process, so we have to be ready, willing, and able to succeed. Success is entirely in our grasp because we are the called who love God and whom he intends to bring into his family. So Paul says, we know all things work together for good. And if he could say that with all that he went through, I would hope we would try to say the same.
Paul as he came to the end of his life in 2 Timothy 4 (I am not reading you things you have not read many, many times but it is strange how easy it is to get away from them, or take them for granted, or forget them in time of need.)
2 Timothy 4:5. He is talking of course to Timothy, giving sage advice to his younger protégé. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.(Get on with it in my absence.) 6 For I am now ready to be offered, (he is talking about death here) and the time of my departure is at hand.(We've had a good run, Timothy. You and I have been partners and I have taught you. You have followed my instructions and example. We have served the churches. And guess what? My time is over. The time of my departure is at hand.)
7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: (This is all the way at the end of his life. Sometimes you and I have trouble saying that at the end of the week, don't we? Really, some weeks you look back and about all you can do is repent of the mistakes you made, the stupid things you said. I told my wife this week about something I said to somebody. She looked at me and her jaw dropped about 3 inches. She said, you said that? Yeah, I said that. I think she wanted to say, are you sorry you said that? Do you realize how dumb that was? She didn't say that. She didn't have to. I already knew I put my foot in my mouth. Paul was able to look back and say, I fought a good fight, I finished my course. Is that because he never made a mistake? Never put his foot in his mouth? Never sinned? Never had conflict? Never had to work through some relationship issues? I think if you read through Paul's life he had a bit of that to do. But he was able to look back and say he had made it through all his trials. God saw me through it. I am coming out on the other side a winner. I have fought a good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith.)
8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but UNTO ALL THEM ALSO THAT LOVE HIS APPEARING. At that appearing the glory that shall be revealed in us will become a reality. It is at that appearing that everything we have endured in the meantime becomes nothing. By comparison it is not worthy to be considered.
So the question of whether that includes you or me is only a question for you or me to answer. If I love his appearing and am living my life accordingly and counting the cost accordingly, then there is a crown of life laid up for me. There is a crown of life laid up for you and it is a wonderful blessing to know that.
Luke 12:31. Again, he is talking about the difference of being in the world and being in his service. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. 32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.Think about those words for a moment. It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
How many people in the world, and particularly in certain kinds of religious organizations do you know who think God is doing everything he can to keep most people out of the kingdom except those who will utter a few words to be in the kingdom. It is a strange mix. God is a harsh, demanding, tough God, especially that Old Testament God, whoever he is. No that is not the way God is. It is God's good pleasure to give us the kingdom.
I suspect you could go back and ask Grandpa McLain after the service how it feels to give one of his grandchildren a gift, especially some special thing in the way of either an object, an opportunity, an activity, whatever it might be that child really relishes. I refer to him because I only have four grandchildren. He has five or six. But grandparents know what it means. Parents know what it means. Husbands and wives know what it means. Good friends know what it means. Brothers and sisters know what it means. You know what it means to give a good gift to somebody. You know how much joy is in that process.
Christ said it is more blessed to give than to receive. He knew exactly what he was talking about. We enjoy giving things away. We enjoy seeing other people respond to the gift. And when that gift is love and care and absolute commitment and attention, it is even more precious than any thing we might give. God is the author of that love, that giving. He is the meaning of the word give. He wants to give you and me the kingdom. It gives him good pleasure, great pleasure. He loves us. He cares for us. He wants to see us succeed. He is on our side.
We, of course, have to be on his side for that to work. Fear not little flock. It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. He is waiting to give that to us. He is prepared to give that to us. He wants us to succeed in becoming part of his family. Those fiery darts of the wicked and that deception that blinds us and makes life sometimes seem pretty dark has to be battled, and it has to be battled directly with the sword.
Again, going back to the writings of the apostle Paul in Philippians 4, he gives us one battle plan. Let's pick it up in verse 4.
Philippians 4:4.Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. We are coming to the Feast when that will be a major theme, but that should be a major part of our life always. He says always rejoice. 5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. We are going to be judged. 6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
It doesn't make human sense, nor can we experience it any other way. The peace God gives when we are right with God and doing God's will and believing God and trusting God and asking God for his help, that peace passes all human understanding. It shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. So the battle against those fiery darts, against discouragement, depression, frustration, pain, whatever it may be, the battle is largely in the mind in looking to God for the help and letting his peace keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest…you know this section. He is telling us how to focus on the positive, focus on the right, focus on the good. Don't let Satan pull us down into the mud. Whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
It is so much easier to think on the negative for me. So much easier to get frustrated and worried, and maybe even critical and judgmental. I do that. I should know better. I have been trying to serve God a long time. It is not a way of life with me, but it is something that happens when I get in the wrong place at the wrong time in the wrong situation and look at it humanly instead of looking at it with God's help.
Part of the battle plan is to think and see the wonderful good things God has given us. That is why I started by reminding us that we sit in a beautiful place, looking at a beautiful section of creation, and we are here at peace on the Sabbath day while the rest of the world is completely ignorant of why we would even be here. God is good, God is merciful, God is kind, God is compassionate. God wants to give us his kingdom.
It is our Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom of God, to see us through to the end and make us successful.
2 Peter 1. Having gone through the whole section of God's grace and mercy toward us, and our need to grow in grace and knowledge, Peter tells us in verse 10 not to let ourselves get bogged down in things of the world. Let's read verse 9 because he mentions blindness.
2 Peter 1:9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. (In other words, we wander back into that darkness out of which we have been removed and put on a path that is brightly lit with the lamp of God's way.)
10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall. We have a partnership with God. He is absolutely going to do his part and do things we could never do. But we need to be participating and letting him know we really do want that place and part in his kingdom.
11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you ABUNDANTLY (the red carpet treatment, you might say, everything laid out before us as a wonderful reception into the kingdom and family of God, an usher to show us the way) into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Brethren, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.