Who’s Waiting for You?

We met yesterday afternoon as we do every Sunday afternoon with two ladies who live in our condo building. We have a prayer, sing some church songs and usually read a part of the book of Luke, though occasionally we’ll go to another of the four Bible stories of the life of Jesus to fill in a gap. It is a fun and fascinating hour.

One of the ladies has been raised in the Catholic church and is very faithful there. The other lady is Danish and is a non-attending member of the Danish church. Neither of them, though, is familiar with the stories in the Bible.

We started with Shadrack, Meshack and Abednigo; went on to Daniel; to Moses; John the Baptist; then to Jesus. We are all four thoroughly enjoying it. It began as a response to being locked out of church because of COVID-19 but have now agreed that we will continue even after we return to church services.

Yesterday we sang the songs, “This World is not My Home” and “I’ll Fly Away.” I pointed out that I love the phrase in the latter song: “When I die, Hallelujah” by and by.” And we got to talking about death. One of the ladies told two stories.

The first was of a man who had been very near death for several weeks, but who was holding on. She just asked him, who was in Heaven waiting for him. He smiled and named a brother and his mother. He relaxed and was dead two hours later. The second was a similar story.

Those were powerful stories for me. So many of us are afraid of death, but we have no reason to be. God lives before, during and after the creation of time. He was, He is, and He is to come. Jesus has prepared a place for us and is waiting for us there. There is a welcome party planned, just waiting for the guest of honor to arrive. If God really has good works planned for us here (Ephesians 2:10) it is good for us to stick around here awhile to work on some of them, but when He is done with us here, we should be more than ready to go on home.

The Power of Song - Part 3

An excerpt from a sermon delivered at the Roseville Church of Christ

December 22, 2019

Music that, as I get older, deepens my longing for heaven.

As I get older, I have come to appreciate even more some of the funeral songs. Though I have loved “I’ll fly Away” since long before I qualified as a senior citizen. “When I die, Hallelujah, Bye and Bye, I’ll Fly Away.” When we get to the point in our understanding of God and His promises that we can throw a “Hallelujah” into a line about dying, then we know that we don’t have to be afraid of anything.

Not being afraid is a sermon all by itself, but I will summarize it like this: Psalms 56:3 says “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” And Psalm 56:11 says “In God I trust and am not afraid. What can man do to me?”  

Jesus said this in Luke 12: “For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. ²³ For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. ²⁴ Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds! ²⁵ And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life’s span? ²⁶ If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters? ²⁷ Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. ²⁸ But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith! ²⁹ And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying. ³⁰ For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. ³¹ But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. ³² Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom." 

“When I die, Hallelujah, bye and bye.” Death is our passport to heaven! There is no reason to be afraid.

“Jesus is coming soon” is one of my favorites in this regard. The second verse talks about trumpets, then the third verse goes like this. “Troubles will soon be o’er; happy for evermore; when we meet on that shore; free from all care. Rising up in the Sky; telling this world goodbye; homeward we then will fly; glory to share. Jesus is coming soon; morning or night or noon: many will meet their doom; trumpets will sound! All of the dead shall rise; righteous meet in the skies; going where no one dies; Heavenward bound.” Amen!

When I delivered a shorter version of this to the little men’s group about a week ago, one of the guys asked me if I distinguished between old songs and new songs. I knew what he was asking. There is something of an age war, a culture war going on. Some of the young people are not impressed with the older songs. And some older people really dislike the newer songs.

But I had to say that I love some of both sets. You know the name Fanny Crosby. She died in 1915. She wrote 19 of the songs in one of our current song books. Powerful songs like “To God be the Glory,” “Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross,” and “Tis the Blessed Hour of Prayer.” I pointed out to him that when she wrote it, those were new songs. I wonder if she was put down for her songs because they were new. But we have come to love them and to depend upon them for our worship of God.

At the same time, Charlene has a play list of songs by the group “A Capella” that she plays regularly. Some of them are a little older now, but I believe they are still putting out some new stuff. One of her favorites is “Everybody Said (But Nobody Did).” You may have heard it. It is done with a Jamaican accent and talks about the work of the church. What the song is saying is: 
“Well I'm too busy so I tell everybody
The work's got to get done by somebody
It can be done by anybody
But nobody (nobody), nobody (nobody), nobody did”

“Everybody said that anybody could do
The important things somebody should do
Everybody knows that anybody could do
All the good things that nobody did.”

That’s important new music. 

One of my favorite You Tube videos is of an auditorium full of U.S. Marines singing “Days of Elijah.” And Charlene loves one we learned in Haiti: “Ain’t no rock gonna cry in my place.” It goes on with the theme, “Aint no bird gonna sing in my place. And ends with: “As long as I'm alive I'll glorify his holy name.”

These songs have become a strong part of who we are. They are in our souls. You can’t separate us from them. If someone kidnaps us and holds us captive, they can’t take these songs from us. The songs have brought us to Jesus and have kept us with Him through the years. They are causing us to be excited about Jesus' second coming – to look forward to it. To listen for the trumpet call of God and the Shout of the Archangel.

If you are not there yet, listen to the song we are about to sing. If you are ready to be baptized or want us to pray with you, Come on down front while we stand and sing this song.

The Lord's Prayer - Part I

Last Sunday I gave the sermon at the Roseville Church of Christ on the Lord's Prayer. The first part of the prayer is about God: who He is, where He is, the honor we owe his name, His kingdom and His His intent for us here on earth. The following are my notes from that lesson. The other sections of the prayer will be in not-too-distant future posts.

SERMON

Roseville Church

October 27, 2019

The Lord’s Prayer

Matthew 6:5-15

INTRO

• You know it. Let’s say it together. 
• Some churches use it regularly, we don’t. We value our independence and our autonomy.
• But it is worth taking a look at. Jesus said in v.9 “Pray like this…”

 OUR FATHER

• The address. He could have addressed it to any of the many names used for God in the Bible:
• King of Kings; Lord of Lords.
• God is, after all, the creator of all things. He is to be honored, worshiped, feared even.
• He is great and powerful and mighty.
• But Jesus didn’t encourage us to use any of those terms to address the prayer.
• He said “Our Father.” Note: Our Father. That’s Jesus’ Father and ours.
• He used the most comfortable (and comforting) term to describe God, but not one often associated with Him at that time.
• Jesus called Him “Father”, but the rest of the people at that time didn’t think of him that way so much. The OT uses the words “God” and “Father” in the same verse 200 times, but it is always speaking to people about the God of your father(s). John 8:41 does quote some of the Jews as referring to God as their father, but that does not seem to be common.
• By addressing God as our Father, Jesus invoked an image of a protector & defender. And of a trainer. Someone who teaches us what is right and what is wrong.
• And someone who loves us very much.
• Maybe we should think of God in those terms, without losing our respect.

IN HEAVEN 

•  Jesus wanted to establish God’s whereabouts and He said “God is in Heaven.”
• But that does not take away from the fact that God is here. He is everywhere.
• Putting God in His heaven establishes His grandeur.
• You can think of God at this point as being on His throne, somewhere way off. The Bible does speak of His throne being in Heaven. (e.g. Psalm 11:4). But it also says Heaven is His throne and the earth is His footstool. (Isaiah 66:11)
• And I don’t have time this morning to fully explain what I have concluded about Heaven, but we know that God is everywhere (omnipresent) and that He is timeless.
• God is present right now, when you were born, when you were baptized, when you were married, at your most recent sinful act or omission. He is there on 9/11/2001 and on 10/27/2051.
• God was here before time started and will be here after time has ended. You may need to think about that. He was here, and will be here when there is no such thing as time. Does that mean that we, too, will see all of time at the same time? What great historians and philosophers we will be!
• And He is here this morning in Roseville and everywhere else around the world that His people are meeting (Mt 18:20).   
• And He is there at the G7 Summit, and in Britain’s Parliament as they consider withdrawing from the European Union, and in the White House and at the impeachment hearings.
• He is everywhere.
• So, my thought about God’s whereabouts is not that He is in one place on a throne somewhere. That was a metaphor to show that He is in charge, He is in control. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
• But God is always right here. Always has been. Always will be. Just a whisper or a thought away from us.
• That’s comforting.

MAY YOUR NAME BE KEPT HOLY

•  Then Jesus turns away from addressing the prayer to God and makes his 1st request.
•  In the old English of the King James version it says “Hallowed be thy name.” In some of the more modern versions it says something like “May your name be kept holy.”
• Jesus is speaking here to the way the people in the world see God, and particularly to the respect we owe Him. He is asking that people speak of God with reverence.
• That may seem a little strange that Jesus would have us ask God to control how people see him and speak of Him.
• What I think is going on here is that by us requesting God that his name be kept holy, we will keep his name holy ourselves. And that this prayer will serve as a constant reminder to speak of God in reverence. It is a reminder not to use His name flippantly, like “OMG” as an expression of delight or surprise.
• He is our protective father and we owe Him our respect.

LET YOUR KINGDOM COME

• When I am praying this prayer and I get to this part, I always express a little confusion. Many Christians have said that we should leave this part out.
• What they say about that is that Jesus taught this prayer before the church was established and since the church is now here, this part is meaningless.
• But, because it is here, as a part of the prayer Jesus suggested as a model, I would feel awkward omitting it.
• The way I think about it is this: The kingdom is here, but its influence is not what it could be. It is not everywhere.
• I think about the parts of the world, and even of my life, where the church could have more influence.
• What about “Thy Kingdom come into the new Karen refugee population next door to us here.”
• Or, “Thy Kingdom come into the condo or apartment or neighborhood where we live.”
• Or, “Thy Kingdom come into the halls of congress, or the White House.”
• Or even, “Thy Kingdom come more strongly into our church.”
• You get the idea. Think about the places or groups of people where God’s Kingdom is needed to be stronger.

LET YOUR PLEASURE BE DONE, AS IN HEAVEN, SO ON EARTH

• Who are we to ask God to have His will done here on earth? Certainly, He can do that if it is His will.
• I really have come to believe that this part of the prayer – this request and “Thy Kingdom come” and “Hallowed by Thy name” are all more for our own benefit. Jesus taught us to pray this way to emphasize for us the importance of keeping God’s name holy, of increasing the influence of His kingdom, and of doing His will here on earth.
• If we are praying for His will to be done, we are likely to attend to that ourselves. If we are praying this prayer every day, then in everything we do, we are likely to ask, “What is God’s will in this?”
• And it may remind us of Jesus’ teaching on the will of God:

o   Treat others the way you want to be treated (Mt 7:12)

o   Let your light shine before men so they can see your good works and give glory to God (Mt 5:16)

o   Don’t be angry with your brother (Mt 5:22-24)

o   Love your enemies (Mt 5:44)

o   Give to the poor (Mt 6:3)

o   Don’t be concerned about what you will eat or drink or wear (Mt 6:25)

o   Don’t be judgmental (Mt 7:1-2)