Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Look Up!

Pastor Sherry’s message for December 1, 2024

Scriptures: Jer 33:14-16; Ps 25:1-10; 1 Thess 3:9-13; Lk 21:25-36

Remember when you were a little kid, waiting on Christmas morning?  You knew Santa Claus would have come and that there were other surprises for you under that tree.  The time had finally arrived for you to unwrap those gifts you had spotted—with your name on the tags–that you had snuck around to shake, trying to figure out what was inside the box or bag.  That waiting was excruciating, wasn’t it?  Five more wake ups til Christmas…two more wake ups, etc.

Besides having to wait on Christmas, we wait on the arrival of a baby (especially when 8-9 months pregnant).  I think the last month of pregnancy is deliberately so uncomfortable that we are willing to go through the pains of labor just to be at ease in our bodies again.  How about the wait we undergo during the surgery of someone we love?  This time of year, we wait in lines in Publix, the Post Office, and the car wash.  Several days ago, I was waiting at the Customer Service counter at the grocery store. I only wanted a book of stamps, but I found myself in line behind a guy buying what looked like dozens of bouquets of flowers.  The cashier laboriously searched out the bar codes on each bunch.  Then the guy used a card to pay for his haul of flowers that did not work.  He had to search for another card that would.  As he fumbled in his wallet, I was becoming so impatient!  All I wanted were stamps, for heaven’s sake!  How ashamed was I to then be presented by the guy with one of his bouquets.  I was stunned!  Maybe it was his way of apologizing for keeping me waiting, but the store personnel told me he comes in weekly and buys up bunches of bouquets to give away.  How amazingly generous of him!  His gift reminded me that I needed to be more patient.

I also heard this week of a guy in NYC who was a professional line-waiter.  People paid him to wait in line to purchase tickets for them to a game, a concert, or a show.  He said his toughest wait was for tickets to “Hamilton” because his tent froze on the inside!  YIKES! He has also been paid to wait for a new IPhone model or for some other new tech gizmo to be released, or to purchase the latest limited edition hoodie, etc.  It is said that he made $86,000 a year!  Kind of an amazing service, isn’t it?

(as shared by www.sermoncentral.com, 11/29/2024)

With the possible exception of the professional line waiter, most of us hate to wait.  Today is the 1st Sunday of Advent, a time of waiting on Jesus.   We prepare for His 1st Coming, at Christmas, as a helpless infant, from a small, Hebrew, backwater town.  His mission then was to save a sin-sick and lost world.  We also await His Second Coming when He will return as a triumphant, all powerful king, with the mission to judge the world and create a heavenly, peaceful order on earth.  Our Scriptures today speak to both Advents or Comings:

A. In Jeremiah 33:14-16, the prophet reminds us that the promised Messianic King (Jesus) will be coming.  He will come from a righteous branch of King David’s family tree (a promise God had made to David that we spoke of last week).  This Messiah would save His people (Jesus’ name actually means God saves).

Jumping ahead to the end times, He will be called, “The Lord Our Righteousness.”   At His second coming, Jerusalem will Live in safety. 

It doesn’t now, by any stretch of the imagination, but it will then, praise God!

B. Our Psalm 25:1-10 is a plea from King David for God’s protection and love.  It suggests that God has a purpose as He makes us wait:  Waiting provides time/opportunity to learn (a) His ways more clearly: (v.4): Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths; (b) to trust in Him more deeply; (c) to ask for His mercy, love, and forgiveness; and (d) to cling to hope due to His great faithfulness.  We can do these things by reading Scripture; praying/talking with God as we wait; remembering when God has shown up in our lives before; and by learning how others have experienced God’s intervention in their life. 

C. Our 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 passage teaches us two other benefits of waiting: (1) God uses the time to strengthen a heart of holiness in each of us.  Waiting has been called “the crucible of the saints.”

One of my seminary professors used to say that as we wait, God is molding and shaping our character.  (2) He is also teaching us to abound in love–to love Him and to love others better. 

D.  In our Gospel lesson, Luke 21:25-36, Jesus gives us a few more clues as to what we can expect before His 2nd Coming:  Just as buds on trees broadcast the coming of Spring, we will know the end is near when…according to Peterson’s paraphrase of Scripture, The Message (p.1904): It will seem like all hell has broken loose—sun, moon, stars, earth, sea, in an uproar and everyone all over the world in a panic, the wind knocked out of them by the threat of doom, the powers that be quaking.  Heavenly bodies: stars, planets, our moon, will be shaken, doing never-before-seen things.  Worldwide, people will fear the roaring and tossing of the sea.  Does this mean an increase in the frequency and severity of hurricanes, typhoons, sunamis?  Perhaps.  What about a frightening incursion of water into previously dry land (like mountainous Western North Carolina during Hurricane Helena)?  Could be.  Whatever the case, everyone–especially non-believers–will be freaked.

Then, the Son of Man (Jesus’ favorite name for Himself) will come on a cloud.  He will arrive with power and with great glory.  Believers can and should rejoice.  We have every reason to Hope in Christ and in His return!

Today we lit the candle of hope on our Advent wreath.  “But,” you might say, “we hate to wait!”  Yes, but isn’t it also true that “good things come to those who wait” (consider my surprise bouquet of flowers)?  We believers in Christ Jesus celebrate His 1st Coming and dare to hope in His 2nd.  Remember, Hebrews 11:1 (New Living Translation, p.1572) tells us: Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.

One of my favorite stories about hope concerns Fiorello La Guardia, the Italian mayor of New York City from 1934-1946 (during the Great Depression and much of WWII).  It is said that he was…

“…quite a character. He would ride the city fire trucks, take entire orphanages to baseball games and whenever the city newspapers went on strike, he would get on the radio and read the Sunday “funnies” to the children.

“At any rate, one bitter cold winter’s night in 1935, Mayor LaGuardia turned up in a night court that served the poorest ward in the city, dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench himself [He was an attorney, but I doubt a mayor could substitute for a judge today]. After he heard a few cases, a tattered old woman was brought before him, accused of stealing a loaf of bread.

“She told LaGuardia that her daughter’s husband had deserted her, her daughter was sick and her grandchildren were starving. But the shopkeeper, from whom the bread was stolen, insisted on pressing charges. “My store is in a very bad neighborhood, your honor,” he said. “She’s got to be punished in order to teach other people a lesson.”

“The mayor sighed. He turned to the old woman and said, “I’ve got to punish you,” he said. “The law makes no exception – ten dollars or ten days in jail” [Remember, $10.00 meant a lot more in 1935 than it does now.]

“But even as he spoke, LaGuardia was reaching into his pocket and pulling out a ten dollar bill.  “Here is the woman’s fine,” he said, “and furthermore, I’m going to fine everyone in this court room fifty cents for living in a city where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat [There were no welfare services in 1935]. Mr. Baliff, collect the fines and give them to the defendant.”

“The following day, the New York Times reported that $47.50 was turned over to the bewildered old woman. It was given by the red-faced store owner, some seventy petty criminals, people with traffic violations and city policemen – and they all [75 people] gave their mayor a standing ovation as they handed over their money.”

(Erskine White, Together in Christ, CSS Publishing Company, as shared by www.Sermon Central.com, 11/28/2024)  

Mayor LaGuardia set such a great example of how things will operate when Jesus comes back to earth.  You might logically expect the worst in a given situation; but Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, will set things exactly right.  Tattered old grandmothers with poor, starving grandchildren will find mercy and provision.  The meek and the hungry will experience goodness and mercy.  Similarly, those who–like the baker—have been robbed, will be justly compensated for their labors.  Everyone wins!

Our Advent hope is that Jesus will come again, in His unlimited power and awe-inspiring glory, to restore us all to a true state of shalom: total well-being, physical, emotional, cognitive, and spiritual.  We can hope for this with confidence!

I don’t know how many of you have watched the 4 seasons thus far of “The Chosen.”  I think it is a beautifully dramatization of Jesus’ time with His disciples.  In an episode in which Jesus heals the woman who had been internally bleeding for 12 years, the series creators portray her huddled on her knees, head down in the roadway.  The crowd is clustered around her and Jesus wants to know who touched His garment.  A person who bled in those days was considered “unclean.”  Since her malady was chronic, she could not attend synagogue and had probably been shunned by her family and her community.  For 12 years she had been alone and alienated from all society.  Jesus tells her first to “Look up.”  He then goes on to reinstate her into Jewish community by calling her, “Daughter,” a relational term.  I was so stunned by His direction to her to “Lookup” that I bought a Chosen coffee cup that says exactly that: Look up!  Isn’t that precisely what we need to do when worried, troubled, or even joy-filled?  Because of Jesus Christ, we can all be brave and bold enough to Look up!  Amen!  May it be so this Advent and always!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Christ our King

Pastor Sherry’s message for November 24, 2024

Scriptures: 2 Sam 23:1-7; Ps 132; Rev. 1:4-8; Jn 18:33-37

Many of you met my houseguest, Elizabeth, last weekend.  She is a therapist I befriended at Honey Lake and had been recruited by them from Vermont (we’ve both since stopped working there).  When I learned she had never been to a major college football game, I invited her to attend last week’s Gator game against LSU.  It was a great game!  UF won in a surprise upset.  We both wore Gator shirts and hats, and I was amused to see her get so into the game, the cheers, the big crowd atmosphere.  We joked that the 90,000+ fans present outnumbered the entire population of the state of Vermont!

I must say, however, I became a bit frustrated by the lyrics to the UF alma mater, which I had never before really noted.  We were singing along to the words posted on the stadium “jumbotron.”  The last line states, “There’s no other name so glorious, all hail, Florida hail!”  It immediately hit me, “I love the Gators, but just a minute…there’s no other name so glorious?”  Are you kidding me?!!  How about the name of Jesus?

Similarly, if you follow professional fights, the announcers invariably use all kinds of hyperbole to introduce each fighter.  You’ll see them grab a mike lowered from above and shout out something like… 

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are liiiiiiivvvveeee! This is the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Iiiiiiiit’s TIME! Introducing out of New York City, he is the reigning, defending, undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, the one, the only, the infamous [fill in the blank] !!!” The crowd goes crazy.”

But let your imaginations go and consider what if he instead shouted this: “Ladies and Gentlemen, kings and lords, nations of the world, we are liiiiiivvvveeeee! This is the moment you have all been waiting for. It’s time! Introducing out of Bethlehem of Judea [having endured death on a Cross for our sins, and having risen from the dead 3 days later, we have the one, the only Son of the Living God, Jesus Christ, our Savior!!!]

(Concept and dialogue borrowed fromproclaimsermons.ccsend.com, week of 11/18/2024)

Wouldn’t that be something to amaze us and to applaud?  Today, the Church does just that.  Today we celebrate Christ the King Sunday.  It’s the final Sunday of the Church calendar.  Next Sunday we begin Advent, the time of commemorating the birth of Jesus, the “starting place” of the Christian Church.  No jumbotron/fight announcer proclaims it…but all of our readings today acclaim Jesus as greatest King of all times!  Follow along with me to see or hear how this is so.

A. Our Old Testament reading comes from 2 Samuel 23:1-7. These are the last words King David spoke publically.  They are prophetic and humble words.  King David reminds us his father was not a king, but a farmer and sheep-breeder.  He expresses gratitude that God raised him up to become Israel’s 2nd king (reigning after Saul for forty years, from 1010-970 BC).

In verse 3, he acknowledges that the Holy Spirit anointed him as a prophetic spokesman for God.  The Lord told him how a righteous king was to rule, and that he and his descendants would continue to rule over Israel until and unless they stopped worshipping and obeying God.  David says in verse 5 that he knows his family is not worthy—and they weren’t—all but 5 became idolaters!  So, his dynasty died out when Judah was taken captive by the Babylonians in 587BC.

Instead this last public statement becomes a prophesy of the One Who is worthy.  Many generations after King David died came Jesus, David’s descendant, the One King David called “Lord.”  God had promised him (2 Samuel 7:12) that the Messiah would come from his lineage.  (Both Jesus’ mother, Mary, and His step-father, Joseph, were poor descendants of David’s.)  Jesus would be the King that Isaiah will later call, “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (think “Halleluia Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah).

B.  Psalm 132 celebrates God’s faithfulness to King David.

The psalmist is unnamed, so not King David.  In verses 1-5, he describes David’s greatest ambition as king: to build a house, a Temple, in Jerusalem for God.  He recalls for us in verses 6-9 how the ark of the Covenant was brought into Jerusalem, how the Temple was built (by Solomon), and how God, who is omnipresent, made His particular presence felt there.

Next the psalmist reviews God’s covenant with David:  His line shall continue as kings of Israel provided they do not stray from God—which, as I said earlier–they did.   Unfortunately, most of David’s descendant kings became disobedient idolaters so God brought their reigns to an end.  But, as Isaiah prophesied (in 11:1, NLT)—Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot—yes a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. 

Then he culminates with this assertion in verses 17-18—…My Anointed One [Messiah, Jesus] will be a light for My people…He will be a glorious king!  Like King David, the psalmist–who celebrates David’s relationship with God—prophesies that David’s most famous descendant will the greatest king of all!

C. The Apostle John wrote Revelation (1:4-8).  It is a narration of what he saw in a Sabbath-day vision.  Late in his life, he was on the prison island of Patmos, praying, when the Lord Jesus appeared to him.  He obediently wrote what he was shown and now addresses this revelation to the churches in Asia Minor with whom he was associated (as Bishop of Ephesus).  The revelation was given to him by Jesus Himself. 

In it, Jesus tells John that He is (v.8)—the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end.  Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.  Jesus is saying He’s the A to Z, the complete package, all we have ever needed for salvation, blessing, and peace.

Earlier (v.5) John tells us that Jesus is—the faithful witness to these things [what is to be revealed], the first to rise from the dead [and not die again, like Lazarus, Jairus’ daughter, and the widow of Nain’s son], and the ruler of all the kings of the world.  There it is! John is stating that there is no king greater than Jesus.

D. Finally, we have Jesus’ own words in John 18:33-37.

King David, the psalmist who penned Psalm 132, and the Apostle John all testified that Jesus is the greatest of all kings.  Now Jesus Himself, on trial before Pilate, states that He is a king, but not a political one (v.36)—My kingdom is not an earthly kingdom.  If it were, My followers would fight to keep Me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders.  But my Kingdom is not of this world. 

Pilate, a cynic, probably didn’t know what to make of this, but he appeared to realize Jesus was not a threat to Roman rule—but rather to the authority of the Jewish religious establishment.  This side of the Cross, we know that Jesus is King over a spiritual kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven.  And that His rule will manifest all over the earth when He comes again in all of His sovereign majesty. 

While today is Christ the King Sunday, we also celebrate Thanksgiving this week.  This is a good time to remember to thank God that Jesus is our King.

Just prior to this sermon, we sang the hymn, “Now Thank We All Our God.” 

“This particular hymn was written during the Thirty Years War in Germany, in the early 1600s. [The 30 Years War was a war fought between Catholics and Protestants over which brand of the faith would take precedence in Europe.  I cannot think that Jesus would have ever commended Christians for fighting Christians.]  The hymn’s author was Martin Rinkart, a Lutheran pastor in the town of Eilenburg in Saxony

“Now, Eilenburg was a walled city, so it became a haven for refugees seeking safety from the fighting. But soon, the city became too crowded and food was in short supply. Then, a famine hit and a terrible plague and Eilenburg became a giant morgue.

“In one year alone, Pastor Rinkart conducted funerals for 4,500 people, including his own wife. The war dragged on; the suffering continued. Yet through it all, he never lost courage or faith and even during the darkest days of Eilenburg’s agony, he was able to write this hymn:

Now thank we all our God,

with hearts and hands and voices,

Who wondrous things hath done,

In whom the world rejoices

…[So] keep us in His grace,

and guide us when perplexed,

and free us from all ills,

in this world and the next.

“Even when he was waist deep in destruction, Pastor Rinkart was able to lift his sights to a higher plane. He kept his mind on God’s love when the world was filled with hate. He kept his mind on God’s promises of heaven when the earth was a living hell.”

(Erskine White, Together in Christ, as shared by www.sermons.com, 11/18/2024)

If this man can celebrate God and thank Him in the midst of death, famine, overcrowding, and chaos, can’t we do the same?  By comparison, our lives seem relatively trouble-free.  Let’s remember all we have to thank our God and King Jesus for as we celebrate Thanksgiving this year.  Amen!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Recognizing Everyday Saints

Pastor Sherry’s message for November 10, 2024

Scriptures: WMC, 11/10/24; Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17; Ps 42; Heb 9:24-28; Mk 12:38-44

I heard this story just the other day.  It appears to describe a large Catholic parish in the Midwest:

“A priest once asked one of his parishioners to serve as financial chairman of his parish. The man, manager of a grain elevator, agreed on two conditions:  (1) No report would be due for a year, and (2) No one would ask any questions during the year.

“At the end of the year he made his report. He had paid off the church mortgage of $200,000.  He had updated the church’s interior. He had sent $1,000 to missions [he could have been more generous here], and he had put $5,000 in the bank’s savings account.

“How did you do all this?” asked the priest and the shocked congregation.  Quietly he answered, “You people bring your grain to my elevator. As you did business with me, I simply withheld 10 percent [in other words, he overcharged them by 10%] and gave it to the church. You never missed it.”

(Contributed by James S. Hewett, http://www.Sermons.com, November 5, 2024)

Now please don’t get alarmed.  I am not going to launch into a sermon on tithing, or your monetary giving to our church.  Too many people just happen to visit a church on the very day the pastor encourages everyone to contribute more money.  They walk away believing the church is only interested in digging into their wallets.  My son attended a non-demoninational church of 22,000 members in Texas.  He said at one point the pastor preached on tithing every week.  I guess he had a large facility and an equally large staff to support, so money was uppermost in his mind.

Because of this, however, I hardly ever say anything tithing.  Instead, I will let today’s Gospel passage speak for itself.

Instead, I want us to focus today on what our Bible passages tell us about how we might go about recognizing everyday saints.

Last week, I distinguished between canonized saints and “everyday saints.”

Canonized saints are those holy people who led obviously Christian lives, may have died for their faith, and often performed some sort of miracle.

Reports about their lives are scrutinized by the Catholic Church.  And if they meet the 3 criteria, they are recognized as true “saints of the Church.” 

Conversely, “everyday saints” are those of us who love Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and who try to model our lives after Him and what we learn from Scripture.  Keeping this 2nd category in mind, let’s examine the passages appointed for today to see how they help us recognize “everyday saints.” 

A.  Our OT lesson is from portions of Ruth 3 and 4.   You may remember that Ruth was from Moab, one of the perennial enemies bordering Israel.  The Moabites originated from the incestuous relationship of a drunken Lot and one of his two daughters.  The girls had seen the destruction of Sodom and feared they would never marry or bear children.  So they got their father drunk and slept with him.  Naturally this was abhorrent to our God (Genesis 19:30-37).  The Moabites also tried to hire a false prophet, Balaam, to curse Israel.  He was not a follower of the Hebrew God, but he obeyed God when He told him he could not curse His Chosen People. (Numbers 22 and 23).  So Ruth was from a nation that Israel despised and avoided.

Nevertheless, she had met and married one of the sons of the Israelite woman, Naomi.  From Bethlehem, Naomi had moved to Moab, with her husband and two sons, to escape a famine.  They had located food in Moab, and jobs, but all three men got sick there and died.  Naomi was once again faced with poverty and starvation and decided to return home to Bethlehem.

She tells her 2 devoted daughters-in-law to return to their Moabite relatives.

One, Orpah agrees and, though sorrowful, leaves her; the other, Ruth, loves Naomi dearly and loyally accompanies her into Israel.

What might this tell us about Ruth, a woman we might term an “everyday saint”?  For one thing, she’s compassionate: She puts her mother-in-law’s needs for companionship and help ahead of her own comforts.  Those of you who have cared for aging parents now or earlier have done the same, haven’t you?   Additionally, she’s loyal enough to accompany Naomi to a land where she might always be considered a despised outsider (Think of what a member of Hamas would experience today if such a person attempted to become a Jew).  Ruth is certainly courageous, willing to leave all she’s ever known to go where she might be treated hostilely.  And, perhaps most important, she has become a follower of Naomi’s God.

As we pick up in today’s reading, Naomi plays matchmaker for Ruth.

Naomi owned land in Bethlehem, land owing what we might call “back taxes.”  Back in Genesis (38: 13-30), the Lord had made provision for widows through the concept of a Kinsman Redeemer.  This male relative could claim the widow’s land if he paid what was owed, and he could marry the dead man’s widow (to continue her dead husband’s line) if she agreed.

Another, closer relation wanted the land but not the foreign widow.  But Naomi knew the kinsman-redeemer, Boaz (who foreshadows Jesus as our Kinsman Redeemer), had signaled he liked Ruth a lot.  So, Naomi has Ruth get all dolled up and approach the sleeping Boaz at a harvest festival.  By placing the blanket at his feet over hers, she signaled to him that she wanted to marry him.  (This may seem a little strange to us today, but that was the custom then.)

They do marry, and happily pick up in chapter #4 where Ruth bears Boaz a son, Obed [servant of the Lord], who will become the grandfather of King David.  Because of Ruth’s faith and character, the Lord establishes from her son, Obed, the line of Jesse, the stump of Judah, from whom Jesus later comes.  The Lord so values Ruth for her faith and character, that He places her—a hated outsider (like Hamas)—in the lineage of the Messiah.

B.  Psalm 42 was written by some sons of Korah.  Though their father had been discredited and killed for leading a rebellion against Moses (Numbers 16), God spared his sons and grandsons.  Those descendants of Korah who had been spared their father’s fate become gate-keepers and choir members in the Tabernacle.

This psalm is called a maschil or a teaching psalm.  Its primary message is that we are to hope and trust in God despite our negative circumstances.  The sons of Korah are certainly evidence that punishment for evil in one can result in good behavior in others, and that people do often recognize and appreciate God’s grace.  The instruction in this psalm consists of realizing that we worship a God of grace and mercy.

C.  The writer to the Hebrews (9:24-28) wants us to be clear that we realize that Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself for our sins was sufficient.  It was enough to clear our debt to the Father for our sins, past, present, and future.  Jesus’ atoning death on the cross was complete, sufficient, and perfect.  We don’t’ have to do anything to assure our salvation except say yes to Christ.  He did all the heavy-lifting, for all time.

Our response to Him should be one of gratitude.

D. Finally, in our Gospel (Mark 12:38-44), Jesus condemns the Pharisees for being fakers, posers, and hypocrites, caught up in appearing righteous to others, while missing out on a legitimate, honest, humble relationship with God.  Everyday saints are sincere.

They don’t just try to look good, but their hearts are good.  They desire to please God more than to please people.  And they, like the widow who gave her last coins to the Temple treasury, are fully trusting and fully committed.

So what are the characteristics of everyday saints?  The Book of Ruth shows us that everyday saints are compassionate, loyal, risk-takers, and courageous.  They are also committed followers of God/Jesus.

Psalm 42 teaches us that everyday saints are grateful to God, trusting in Him, through bad times as well as the good.  As Paul later on states, (Romans 8:28): For we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, and who have been called according to His purpose.

Our Hebrews passage reiterates the powerful message that Jesus has done all that needed to be done to assure our salvation.

As He assured us from the Cross, It is finished.  Simply said, we are saved if we agree to believe in Him.

Finally, we demonstrate we are everyday saints if we are humble and sincere.  This means we don’t “put on airs” or fake our devotion to God.  This means we are not religious hypocrites.  Others will recognize we are everyday saints if we practice the Christian virtues our passages outline today

You may be thinking, “That’s a tall order to be compassionate, loyal, courageous, committed followers of Jesus, grateful, trusting, and sincere.”  Yes it is if we try to practice each of those virtues at once.  But we can consider which ones we already do pretty well, and then pick one we are less likely to demonstrate.  For this next week, try to practice one that is not yet true of you.  Psychology teaches us that it takes 23 repetitions to replace a bad habit with a good one. 

May the Holy Spirit empower you to cement these virtues in your life. Lord, make it so!  Amen!   

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Everyday Saints

Pastor Sherry’s message for November 3, 2024

Scriptures: Isa 25:8-9; Ps 24; Rev 21:1-7; Jn 11:32-44

Today we celebrate All Saints Sunday.  It is the Church’s attempt to counter the secular focus on ghosts, goblins, and all matter of scary Halloween folk, alive or dead, and instead highlight those followers of Jesus—Saints–who have gone on to glory.  Halloween was originally “All Hallows Eve,” when Christians everywhere meditated on their friends and family members—saints—who had entered into God’s glory.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t tend to think of myself as a saint.

Perhaps it is because the Roman Catholic Church has a lengthy process by which it canonizes someone into sainthood. Canonized saints had to have lived a holy life—in which they demonstrated the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and charity—and often were martyred for their faith.  They must also have performed some sort of miracle.  But the truth is that if we have been baptized into Christ, we too carry the name “saint.”  The academic dean of my seminary used to greet us all at every chapel service by saying, “Good morning, Saints!”

The following story provides an example of what we might call not a canonized but an “everyday saint”:

“During the course of earning her master’s degree, a woman found it necessary to commute several times a week from Victory, Vermont to the state university in Burlington, a good hundred miles away. Coming home late at night, she would see an old man sitting by the side of her road. He was always there, in sub zero temperatures, in stormy weather, no matter how late she returned. He made no acknowledgment of her passing. The snow settled on his cap and shoulders as if he were merely another gnarled old tree. She often wondered what brought him to that same spot every evening. Perhaps it was a stubborn habit, private grief or a mental disorder.

“Finally, she asked a neighbor of hers, “Have you ever seen an old man who sits by the road late at night?” “Oh, yes,” said her neighbor, “many times.” “Is he a little touched upstairs? Does he ever go home?” The neighbor laughed and said, “He’s no more touched than you or me. And he goes home right after you do. You see, he doesn’t like the idea of you driving by yourself out late all alone on these back roads, so every night he walks out to wait for you. When he sees your taillights disappear around the bend, and he knows you’re okay, he goes home to bed.”

(Contributed by Keith Wagner, Almost Heaven, adapted from Garret Keizer, Watchers in the Night, http://www.sermons.com, 10/31/2024.)

Everyday saints are big-hearted  souls like the old man in the story. .They generously  put themselves out for the benefit of others.  The young woman in the story didn’t ask him to watch out for her.  He just determined that someone needed to check on her safety, and that someone was him.  No fanfare; no publicity.  I believe a lot of us might similarly qualify as “everyday saints.”  I learned last night that my son-in-law, Job, went into action to help the police subdue some drunken, combative fans at a big football game in Jacksonville yesterday afternoon. These out of control football enthusiasts had thrown punches at the police who had come to escort them out of the game. Later Job said he helped the police cuff the drunks because he did not want them harming his family or any other observers in the crowd.  I told him this qualified him as an “everyday saint.”  Isn’t it true that so often we think, “Someone should do something about this or that situation,” and then we realize, perhaps I am that someone.

Our readings today all focus on the future home of both canonized and everyday saints.  Let’s examine them together to see what we have to look forward to.

A.  Our Old Testament reading is from the prophet Isaiah (25:6-9)—whose name means “the Lord saves.”  Imagine living out your life knowing this is what your name means.  In this passage, Isaiah is foretelling what the Millennial Kingdom of Jesus Christ will be like for all of us saints.  When the Great Tribulation ends and Christ returns to earth a second time, He will usher in 1,000 years of peace—known as the Kingdom Age, or the Millennial Reign of Christ—as He rules over all the earth.  He will reign from Jerusalem.  He will provide for all our needs.  This is what is meant by verse 6 (NLT version): …the Lord of Heaven’s Armies [Jesus] will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world [i.e., all those who believed in Jesus while they lived] .  It will be a delicious banquet with clear well-aged wine and choice meat.  We will eat well.  Our appetites will be satisfied.

Even better, verses 7-8 tell us: He [Jesus] will swallow up death FOREVER!  The Sovereign LORD will wipe away all tears.  He will remove forever all insults and mockery against His land and people.  The Lord has spoken!  In our new home, in our resurrection bodies, there will be no death or grief.  Jesus’ victory over death on the Cross will be a reality for each one of us.  Since He will have “swallowed death up,” death the concept and death the reality will ease to exist!

Verse 9 tells us: In that day, the people [we everyday and canonized saints] will proclaim, “This is our God!  We trusted in Him and He saved us!  This is the Lord in Whom we trusted.  Let us rejoice in the salvation He brings!  Our new home will be a place of joy and celebration.  We will be so grateful that we trusted in what Scripture has told us about our God.

B.  Psalm 24, Like Psalm 23 just before it, was written by King David.  In it, David prophesies that Jesus, our Chief Shepherd, will–at His 2nd Coming–be the King of the whole world.  David lived about 350 years before Isaiah, but he says essentially the same thing:  He predicts that Jesus will take possession of Jerusalem and Mount Zion, the Temple Mount.  There will be no more Dome of the Rock, the Moslem mosque that currently sits where the Temple used to be.  This is all possible because as vv.1-2 state: The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.  The world and all its people belong to Him.  Since our God created all things, including us, it and we all belong to Him.  If He means to reclaim the Temple Mount for Himself, He will.  Given the upcoming national election, it is good for us to remember, our country does not belong to Democrats or Republicans, or to socialists, communists, or capitalists.  America belongs to God, whether we all recognize it or not.

As the remainder of the psalm asserts, the gates of the city will open for Jesus, the King of Glory.  We will be there because we loved Him and believed in Him. We everyday saints will dwell with our Great Shepherd in our glorious new home.

C.  Our New Testament passage is from the end of the book of Revelation (21:1-7).  The Apostle John tells us that after the 1,000 year reign of Christ, the devil will be destroyed, once and for all.  God will then create a new Heaven, a new earth, and a New Jerusalem.  (Some scholars believe the old earth and the old Jerusalem will be destroyed by fire.)  As our other passages have foretold, there will be… no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.  All these things are gone forever. 

And, as the hymn proclaims, “Oh happy Day!”  This is what our eternal home will be like, Saints!  Don’t you want to be there?  I do.  As another anthem asserts, “Oh yes, I want to be in that number, when the saints go marching in!”

D. Finally, in our Gospel lesson (John 11:32-44), we remember how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.  What is so important to realize is both that (1) Jesus demonstrated His power over life and death;

(2) but also that He was so angry about death.  Yes, He was sad that Mary and Martha and others were grieved over Lazarus’ death; He Himself wept.

But He was also angry that death had not yet been defeated.  How ironic that it took Jesus’ death to break the power of death over us.

As the message has been repeated throughout our readings today, in our new home–as either canonized or everyday saints—we will no longer experience death.  The evil one will have been destroyed, and we will live eternal lives of comfort, safety, health, and celebration.

Perhaps you’ve noticed that I always want us to consider how the messages of our Scripture passages apply to us today.  These are ancient words that are still so very true.  Today, our focus is on what our new eternal home will be like. We certainly don’t want to miss out on it, do we?  We want to rejoice in our salvation and to please God.

We also want to live like everyday saints.  One example of how to do this comes from the following story:

“Several years ago, a New York City radio station ran a contest. Disc jockeys invited their listeners to tune in their clock radios. “Just for fun,” they said, “when you wake up to the sound of FM-106, call and tell us the first words you spoke when you rolled out of bed. If you’re the third caller, you’ll win $106.”

“It didn’t take long for the contest to grow in enthusiasm. The first morning, a buoyant disc jockey said, “Caller number three, what did you say when you rolled out of bed this morning?” A groggy voice said, “Do I smell coffee burning?” Another day, a sleepy clerical worker said, “Oh no, I’m late for work.” Somebody else said her first words were, “Honey, did I put out the dog last night?” A muffled curse was immediately heard in the background, and then a man was heard to say, “No, you didn’t.” It was a funny contest and drew a considerable audience.

“One morning, however, the third caller said something unusual. The station phone rang. “Good morning, this is FM-106. You’re on the air. What did you say when you rolled out of bed this morning?”

“A voice with a Bronx accent replied, “You want to know my first words in the morning?”  The bubbly DJ said, “Yes, sir! Tell us what you said.”  The Bronx voice responded, “Shema, Israel … Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.” There was a moment of embarrassed silence. Then the radio announcer said, “Sorry, wrong number,” and cut to a commercial.”

(Borrowed from http://www.Sermons.com, 10/31/2024.)

Wow!  Are the first words out of your mouth each morning a prayer of praise to our wonderful God?  This is clearly one way to live like an everyday saint.  Like the old man in the Vermont cold, it also comes as a result of looking out for the health and wellbeing of others.  Prompted by All Saints Sunday, let’s be aware this week of demonstrating our love to God and to others in practical, generous, and maybe even brave ways.  Amen!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Mountain-Moving Jesus

Pastor Sherry’s message for October 13, 2024

Scriptures: Job 23:1-10, 16-17; Ps 126; Heb 4:12-16; Mk 10:17-31 

This is apparently a true story:  Years ago, a fellow wrote a letter to the president of Pontiac, a division of General Motors.  His letter spelled out a complaint he had with regard to his new car.  The guy’s family would vote on what flavor of ice cream they wanted after dinner and the man would drive his new Pontiac to town to pick it up.  If they chose chocolate, strawberry, or butter pecan, the car would crank right back up and carry the man back home.  If, however, the family chose vanilla, the car would not start.  The man could not figure out what there was about vanilla ice cream that would cause his new vehicle not to start.

The president of Pontiac was puzzled, wondering if the man was a crank, but he sent an engineer to check into it. The engineer, expecting a nut, was surprised to find a well-dressed, educated man in a nice neighborhood.  That night, the family selected vanilla, so the engineer traveled with the car owner to the ice cream store. Sure enough, the car would not start.  The next two nights, the family chose other flavors and the car started just fine. Several nights later, the family wanted vanilla again, and sure enough—following the purchase—the car would not start.

The engineer could not believe that the family’s flavor choice would have any impact on the car’s tendency to start. He thought to himself,  “Pontiacs don’t operate that way.”  So he was determined to study the problem until he solved the mystery.  Over several days’ observations, he discovered the true issue:  Vanilla, the most popular flavor, was conveniently located toward the front of the store for ease of purchase.  The other flavors were in a larger display case toward the back of the store. Those selections took longer to make, and check out time was lengthier.

Time was the crucial factor, but what relevance did that have to the car starting/not starting?  The engineer discerned that the problem was not due to vanilla but rather to a condition called “vapor lock.”  The other flavors took more time to check out, allowing the car to cool down sufficiently to start.  The vanilla choice took less time to purchase, so the car engine had less time to cool and for vapor lock to dissipate. 

(Source unknown.)

One of my church members who knows a lot about cars says this is why they invented fuel injection engines.  Now you may be wondering what vapor-lock or vanilla has to do with today’s Scripture lessons.

Nothing.  But perhaps an argument could be made that this story simply illustrates that it’s often easy for any of us to draw the wrong conclusions about what causes our troubles.  You have probably heard that many believe our 4 hurricanes in the past 13 months were due to climate change or fossil fuel emissions.  Or you may have heard that the pile up of disastrous storms is due to God’s judgment on either Florida or the USA.  Causation is difficult to identify, and difficult to prove.

This is exactly what poor ole Job is trying to pin down.

A. In Job 23:1-10, 16-17, it’s clear he doesn’t know what he has done to bring about the calamities in his life.  You see, the prevailing belief in Job’s time was that wealth and wellbeing indicated a righteous life, while poverty, chronic illness, and just plain bad luck was due to sinfulness.  This is why Job’s friends worked so hard to “help” him determine his besetting sin.

But Job was pretty clear that he had lived a righteous life.  So, he wanted to meet up with God to try to understand what was going on.   In verses 3-4, he says—If only I knew where to find Him [God]; if only I could go to His dwelling!  I would state my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments.  Job wants to meet with God, but can’t find Him.  He wants to plead his case and fall upon God’s grace.  Afterall, other biblical greats did:  Abraham bargained with God not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if 10 righteous persons could be found there (Genesis 18:20-32).  Sadly there were less than 10 so God wiped the two cities out.  Moses successfully bargained with God not to destroy the rebellious, idolatrous, and ungrateful Israelites (Exodus 32:9-14; Numbers 14:13-20).

In today’s passage, it appears that Job is beginning to believe God is testing his faith (v.10)—But He [God] knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.  Even so, he appears to be depressed.  He worries that God has rejected him.  Chris Tiegreen, the contemporary Christian author of over 60 books, and a successful blogger about biblical themes, writes—Few things are more painful than rejection.  Deep in the heart of every human being is a longing to be known, to be understood and appreciated.  That’s one reason judging others is such a dreadful sin; it rarely takes into account their true selves, and it amounts to a rejection of their value.  From the Garden to the grave, rejection has been at the core of human relationships and fears. 

(Chris Tiegreen, “Job’s Rejection,” www.Filament.com, 10/9/2024)

We can identify with this, can’t we?  To me, rejection ranks right up there as the worse of all emotional hurts.  So here is Job, feeling rejected by God, but still trusting Him enough to want to meet with the Lord and hash things out.  He is still hopeful.  He has not given up on God, despite his troubles.  This is such a good example for each of us.

b. The message of Psalm 126 is actually very similar:  This is a “Psalm of Ascents,” sung by Hebrew pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem, which was essentially up hill.  Verses 1-3 celebrate Israel’s return to the Promised Land from exile in Babylon.  Babylon was not their home; exile means being away from our true home.  Refugees from Hurricane Milton in our area now are in a sense exiled from their homes.  Hopefully they will be able to return home soon.  When we humans can’t locate our true home, we often create for ourselves false homes, like money, pleasure, influence, fashion, fitness, power, etc.  

Verses 4-6 are essentially a prayer for full restoration from a troubled world to the conditions of the Garden of Eden.  When that happens, when Jesus comes again, we will all be so happy to be home.  Real return from exile comes from finding and following Jesus.  Job knows he is far from “home.”  He aches to return to a deep connection with his Lord.

C.  The writer to the Hebrews (4:12-15) wants us to know it is “home-safe” (as in baseball, or with my home security system which tells me I am “home safe” when the system is turned on) because Jesus Christ is our great high priest!  The Old Testament high priests could only enter the Holy of Holies once a year on Yom Kipur, the Day of Atonement.  They went into the holiest place in the Temple to intercede in prayer for the nation.  No one could go in there except the high priest; they firmly believed anyone else would die.  In fact, in case the high priest had not made sacrfices for his sins, he had bells attached to his hem, and a rope tied to one foot.  If the bells stopped ringing, the other Levites there knew he had died behind the curtain.  Since no one else could go in to reclaim his body, they would have to pull him out by the rope.

But Jesus Christ so far surpasses human priests that He has entered into Heaven, the true Holy of Holies.  He is continuously in the presence of God, not just on Yom Kippur.  And He makes active, effectual intercession for us with God the Father.  Again, Jesus, God’s Word made Flesh, is able to rightly discern our motives and behaviors, but loves us and forgives us anyway.

 We can count on our Mountain-moving Jesus.  Like Job, we never want to give up on God.  Job’s our model for enduring in the face of hardship.  Even if we don’t understand why we are being smacked again and again by devastating hurricanes; even if we don’t understand why we are so often sick, or in debt—seemingly unable to “get ahead”–or struggling with troubled relationships with family or coworkers, our God wants us to keep the faith.

Remaining connected to Christ is our “true home.” It’s where we experience God’s grace and mercy.  It’s home-safe for recovering from fear or rejection.  It is home-safe for feeling loved and secure.

This is where the rich, young ruler from our Gospel (Mark 10:17-31) missed out.  He claimed to have kept the last 6 commandments, the ones having to do with how we relate to and love others—the horizontal arm of the Cross.  He apparently didn’t keep the first 4, having to do with loving and worshipping God, the very important vertical of the Cross.  His wealth insulated him from needing God.  He’d found security in a false home such that he could not give it up in order to follow Jesus.

I would like to close with this poem about the mountain-moving Jesus:

Lord, I’ve never moved a mountain and I guess I never will.

All the faith that I could muster wouldn’t move a small ant hill.

Yet I’ll tell you, Lord, I’m grateful for the joy of knowing Thee,

And for all the mountain moving down through life You’ve done for me.

When I needed help You lifted me from the depths of great despair.

And when burdens, pain and sorrow have been more than I can bear,

You have always been my courage to restore life’s troubled sea,

And to move these little mountains that have looked so big to me.

Many times when I’ve had problems and when bills I’ve had to pay,
And the worries and the heartaches just kept mounting every day, 

Lord, I don’t know how You did it, Can’t explain the where’s or why’s.

All I know, I’ve seen these mountains turn to blessings in disguise.

No, I’ve never moved a mountain, for my faith is far too small.

Yet I thank You, Lord of Heaven, You have always heard my call.

And as long as there are mountains in my life, I’ll have no fear,

For the mountain-moving Jesus is my strength and always near.  Amen!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

When God is Hidden, Part 2

Pastor Sherry’s message for October 6, 2024

Scriptures: 10/6/2024, Job 1:1-22, 2:1-10; Ps 8; Heb 1:1-4, 2:5-12; Mk 10:1-16

I recently came across a list of laws on the books in various states that are both funny and even weird.  Apparently, it is illegal in…

1. Alabama to wear a false mustache that causes laughter in church. 

2. Delaware to whisper in church.

3. Alaska, to push a live moose out of an airborne plane.

4. Arizona to let a donkey sleep in a bathtub.

5. Arkansas to mispronounce Arkansaw as Ar-kansas.

6. Speaking of Illinois, to take a nap in a cheese factory.

7. Georgia to carry an ice cream cone in your back pocket.

8. Louisiana to eat more than 3 sandwiches at a funeral wake, or to let a snake loose at a Mardi Gras parade. 

(Jack Browning, www.onelegal.com , 4/7/2024.)

People can enact some pretty strange rules by which they want us to behave, can’t they?  We have been looking to the Bible this past month to discover what constitutes true wisdom.  Remember, from God’s perspective, wisdom is godly or righteous behavior (just think What Would Jesus Do?) and foolishness is anything but. We’d have to look hard to discover the wisdom behind some of these laws I just mentioned above.

The writers of the Old Testament, the Jews, considered the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job to constitute Wisdom Literature.  Someone has said that Proverbs is optimistic and teaches us that we benefit most when we try to live lives pleasing to God (when we utilize wisdom).  Ecclesiastes claims that human wisdom has its limits, and a life not centered on God is meaningless.  And Job argues that, while God may be hidden as we–even if innocent of wrongdoing–undergo human suffering, we need to remember that (a) Satan is actively making every effort to discourage us from loving God; (b) there is meaning and purpose to our human suffering; and (c) God has not abandoned us but rather is rooting for us as we persevere in faith.

So, this brings us to a second consideration of what we are to do when God appears to be hidden.  Our Scripture passages today provide some powerful answers. 

A.  In Job 1:1-22, 2:1-10, we are introduced to Job—> This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.  In Chapter 1, God (the Father) holds Job up to “the Satan” [in the Hebrew, “Satan” is a title which means he is the embodiment of all evil] as His prime example of a truly good man.  Notice we are told that the Satan had been busy (v.6)—>  …roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.  What’s that mean?  It means that he was sticking his nose in peoples’ business, trying to catch them at their worst so he could accuse them before God.  This is why Scripture calls him “the accuser.”

So what’s he say to God about Job?  “Well, yeah, Job loves You and does what You want him to, Lord, because You have greatly blessed him.

Let me get ahold of him and make his life miserable, and watch how quickly he blames You and turns his back on You!  Wow!  Notice the Satan’s pride?

He is saying, in essence, “I know humankind better than You, God.  I’m sure this guy can’t really love You minus the good things YOU do for him, that is, without all the perks you bestow on people, You aren’t worthy to be loved.”

YIKES!  God is love and God is good.  No wonder pride was the reason Satan was kicked out of heaven.  He hasn’t learned much over the millennia, has he?

God agrees to let Satan test Job, but He places a limit on what the Satan can do to Job–he cannot kill him.  So, poor Job suddenly gets word that Sabeans (raiders) have taken his 500 yoke of oxen (1,000 altogether); his 500 female donkeys who provided milk that was highly prized in those days; and killed all his herdsmen except the lone messenger.  In quick succession, Job also learns his 7,000 sheep have been hit and killed by fire from the sky (lightening? a meteor? a volcano?).  Additionally, Chaldean raiders have swept in and taken off his 3,000 camels.  And worst of all, a tornado hit the house where his 7 sons and 3 daughters were having dinner, and killed them all.  Job is hit with a series of tidal waves or tsunamis, one following hard on the heels after the other.

Job’s amazing response is (v.21)—> Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.  The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; May the name of the Lord be praised.  Strickly speaking, Satan (not the Lord) caused Job’s stock market to crash and all 10 of his children to simultaneously die.  Job seems to understand this and so he does not blame God.

Next, we pick up in Chapter #2,with a second test for Job.  Satan asserts to God, “Well, I ruined his finances and his family, but he still loves You because he has his health.  God allows Satan to take Job’s health and watches to see what he does.  Again, do we all notice who is responsible for the dirty work?  Again, it’s Satan, not God.  Furthermore, God believes in Job…think about that: God trusts in Job’s love and fidelity.  Wouldn’t we all love for Him to trust in us to that extent?  So, Satan covers Job’s body with painful, itchy boils.  Job sits on an ash heap, a sign of mourning.  He’s thoroughly grieved and he does not really understand why so many bad things have happened to him, but amazingly he still doesn’t blame God! Instead his wife–who may have only married him for his wealth, etc.—says to him (v.9)—> Are you still holding on to your integrity?  Curse God and die!  She’s really supportive, isn’t she?  Instead of comforting and encouraging Job, she very disrespectfully blows him and his grief off.  Maybe leaving her around while all their children were killed was another part of Satan’s dastardly plan.

Job actually presents an excellent model for us:  We need to remember his story when trouble comes to us.  It is the evil one who causes our troubles.  God allows them as a test, but meanwhile, God is for us, not against us.  Indeed He provides us what we need to meet and even overcome the test.  I am reminded of the present response to the victims of Hurricane Helene in the western Carolinas.  The federal government has been slow to respond, but churches, neighbors, and many non-profit agencies have marshalled resources to rescue, water, feed, and provide shelter to those who have lost so much.

B.  Psalm 8, written by King David, is a hymn of praise to God for creation.  It begins and ends with those wonderful words, O LORD, our LORD, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!  Then it goes on to celebrate God’s formation of the cosmos, from planets and stars to humans and infants.  We could call this a Messianic psalm because it speaks to a time when all persons will revere our Lord Jesus.  As we know, the names of God and of Jesus are not everywhere honored today; many even use them as curse words.  But with Jesus’ 2nd Coming, all will know that God is real, that He exists, and that He rules in power and might.  Those who love Him and believe in Him will discover the truth of what the prophet Jeremiah wrote in Jeremiah 29:11—> ”For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to proper you and to give you a hope and a future.”  Again, our God is for us and not against us.

C.  The writer to the Hebrews (1:1-4; 2:5-12) wants us to know that Jesus Christ is superior in position and power to all of the prophets who have lived and to all of the angels in heaven and on earth.  Previously, God had spoken to humankind through prophets He ordained to communicate His thoughts to us; less often, through angelic beings who came with specific messages to particular persons; and, then through the 40 Holy Spirit inspired authors of the Old Testament written for our edification over 1500 years.  But with the birth of Jesus, the Father has spoken to us through His Son, the full revelation of God.  Or, as Peterson paraphrases it (v.3)—> By His Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end.  This son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God’s nature.  He holds everything together by what He says—powerful words.

(Eugene Peterson, The Message, NavPress, 2002, p.2181.)

God has put everything into subjection under Jesus’ authority. And He has made us sons and daughters of God.  This is our position, no matter what life or the Satan throws at us.  For this reason, we can trust in God the Father and we can trust in God the Son, even when we experience trials and tragedies. 

So, when God’s purposes escape us, or when His actions—or seeming lack of action—frustrate us, let us remember…

(1) God is good and God is love.

(2) Thus, His plans and purposes for us are always good.

(3) And when He seems to be hidden from us, we can still, like Job, trust in Him and remain faithful to Him.  Amen!  May it be so!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

When God is Hidden

Pastor Sherry’s message for September 29, 2024

Scriptures: Es 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22; Ps 124; Ja 5:13-20; Mk 9:38-50

For several weeks we have examined the choice between living righteously for God—which the Bible calls ”wisdom”— and living foolishly for self.  The story is told of a burglar who cased a particular neighborhood, looking for evidence of folks who left their house unattended.

He observed one family loading suitcases into their car and decided to return to break into their house that night.  He rang the doorbell and waited for silent confirmation that no one was home. He then picked the lock on the front door and crept inside the home.

He called out, “Is anybody home?”  Expecting silence, he was shocked to hear, “I see you and Jesus sees you.”  Startled and frightened, he called out, “Who’s there?”

The voice again answered, “I see you and Jesus sees you.”

The burglar then switched on his flashlight in the direction of the voice and located a parrot.  He was relieved to hear the parrot say once more, “I see you and Jesus sees you.”  The guy laughed his head off as he switched on the lights.  That was when he saw the Doberman Pincer sitting under the parrot’s cage, beginning to growl.  At this point the parrot said, Attack, Jesus, attack!”

(Chuck Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, Word Publishing, 1998, pp. 594-595.)

I apologize for using a joke that seems disrespectful to Jesus.  I can’t imagine naming a pet after our Lord.  I mean, come on!  But perhaps the owners rightly viewed the dog, like the Lord, as their protector and guardian of their safety.  And certainly the burglar was unwise to have broken into that house.

To me this story also raises the issue of how we are to act when it appears to us that God is hidden.  The dog owners were not home, but the dog—and the parrot—were both at work.  Jesus prayed to His Father, in Matthew 11:25-26—> I praise you, Father, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned [the religious experts of His day] and revealed them to little children [we believers].  Yes, Father, for this was Your good pleasure.   Jesus appears to be saying that the Father does not always reveal His intentions to us at the time He is working.  But, if we have the faith of little children He does eventually reveal Himself and His actions.

Let’s look at how this truth plays out in the Scripture lessons appointed for today:

A.  Esther 7:1-10; 9:20-22 tells the amazing story of how a young woman (counseled by her wise uncle) saves the Jewish people living in the Persian Empire, post Babylonian Exile (500’s).  Unknown to King Xerxes of Persia, he chooses a beautiful Jewish woman to become his wife/queen.

Haman, the King’s “Prime Minister,” hated the Jews, especially Esther’s Uncle Mordecai, a palace scribe.  (Haman is descended from the Amalekites, long-term enemies of the Jewish people.)  He furtively manipulates the King into passing an edict that would allow citizens of his entire empire to attack and kill the Jews on a certain, future date.  Not realizing his queen is Jewish, Xerxes foolishly signs the edict into law.  Once he does so, according to Persian custom, his edict could not be rescinded.

Uncle Mordecai gets a message to Esther encouraging her to ask her husband to overrule his original edict with another which would allow Jews to defend themselves.  Our passage today describes her strategy: She invites the King and Haman to two banquets.  During the first, she does not make her request.  Xerxes is so pleased—and Haman is so flattered—that the King is willing to give her up to half his extensive kingdom.  But she simply invites the two men back to a second banquet.  At the second, she reveals that she is Jewish and asks that the king spare her people who are set to be annihilated.  The King has a short memory and he fails to realize he signed a death warrant for all the Jews in Persia.  Until Esther confronts Haman, Xerxes fails to remember the idea originated with his Prime Minister.

The King is furious and “takes 5” to mull it over.   Haman appears to attack the Queen as she is reclined on her eating couch.  Perhaps he was only frantically begging for clemency.  When Xerxes returns, however, he believes Haman intends to rape his wife in his own palace.  Ironically, Haman is immediately sentenced to death—for abusing the queen—on the very gallows or pike he had erected to hang or impale Uncle Mordecai!

Paul states for us “The Law of Sowing and Reaping” in Galations 6:7-8—> Do not be deceived:  God cannot be mocked.  A man reaps what he sows.  The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.  I think you would agree the Esther/Haman story is a dramatic example of the boomerang effect of the Law of Sowing and Reaping.  What we hurl out to another can and often does come right back at us.  Other scriptural examples include…

(1) Old Testament Jacob who tricked his blind father, Isaac, into believing he was his father’s favorite twin, Esau; later Jacob’s 10 sons tricked him into believing his favorite son, Joseph, was dead.

(2) Jacob cheated his brother, just as Uncle Laban later cheated Jacob, over and over again.

(3) Paul appears to have authorized the stoning of the first Christian martyr, Stephen; later, Paul is stoned, almost to death on his 1st missionary journey.

If we choose to do the devil’s work, the same kind of evil often later boomerangs back to us.  God’s hand may be hidden in the outworking.

We often only realize He was involved after we look back from the distance.

B. Psalm 124 recounts what happens to those who choose to love God—He protects them!  King David reviews Jewish history and notes how often God has protected His people.  He asks the rhetorical question (vv.1-2)—> If the Lord had not been on our side [what would have happened to us?].  He accurately credits God with having saved Israel from (1) enemies (vv.1-3); (2) The deep and broad waters of the Red Sea and the raging waters of the Jordan at flood stage (v.4). (3) And other overwhelming circumstances of life are also implied—like hurricanes and too much rain, As we and the folks of North Carolina have just experienced with Hurricane Helene.

David is quick to give God the glory in his famous last line:  Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.  When we choose to honor God, to trust in God, He blesses us in a positive boomerang.

C. In James 5:13-20, the practical disciple reiterates King David’s point.  God is trustworthy and takes care of us.  If we love and serve Him, He answers our prayers and rescues us from trouble; He listens when we pray intercession for others; and He delights in our praise.  James gives the example of Elijah whose God-directed prayers prevented rain in Israel for 3.5 years.  Then, when again directed by God, his prayers brought on the rain.  James reminds us in verse 16b—> The prayer of a righteous man [woman] is powerful and effective.  There was a period in my life when I believed God was not answering any of my prayers.  I knew enough to pray to Him but I was not living for Him.  Once I turned my life over to Jesus, the Lord began to answer my prayers.  Voila! Righteous living results in prayers that are effective.  What a fantastic, positive, boomerang effect!

D. In Mark 9:38-50, Jesus spells out both a positive and a negative result of the Law of Sowing and Reaping:  Verses 39-41—> Blessings come to those who do miracles and provide physical refreshment to others in Jesus’ name.  Even if the person is not clearly identified as a member of our crowd of Jesus followers, if that person is doing good deeds in Jesus’ name, they and their efforts are blessed.  They may not be of our denomination, ethnicity, citizenship, etc., but if they are for Jesus, we need to be for them.

Conversely, in verses 42-48, Jesus states what happens to the one who causes the innocent to sin—> it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck.  It brings to mind pedophiles and child-sex-traffickers, as well as drug dealers, doesn’t it?

There may be a special level of hell for those folks.  Again, if you/we perpetrate evil, it will boomerang back on us.  That concept is so important that we want to make every effort to keep our sin list with the Lord short.

We want to remain committed to Christ.  We probably need to ask His forgiveness daily.

Our God does not always take obvious credit for His work in our lives.  Just because He chooses to remain hidden does not mean He is not working on our behalf.  We can ask for eyes to see how He is at work in our lives.  And we can ask for faith to believe until He reveals Himself.

Meanwhile, this week, let’s try to be aware of the Law of Sowing and Reaping.  The Law of Sowing and Reaping is, like King Xerxes’ edicts, immutable.  Once our actions have put evil into play, we run the dire risk of having it return to us.  But, on the other hand, when we put blessings into play, blessings come back to us. 

With a thought toward reaping God’s best, this week let’s be aware of doing our best toward Him and others. Amen! May it be so!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

How to be Good at Life

Pastor Sherry’s message for September 8, 2024

Scriptures: Pro 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23; Ps 146; Ja 2:1-17; Mk 7:24-37

The story is told of a rancher in Colorado who received 9,374 notices from a magazine company that it was time to renew his subscription.  This was, of course, a mistake.  The company had changed its software responsible for tracking subscriptions.  Their new software obviously had a colossal glitch!  Imagine if you had been the one to receive 9,374 mailings from the same company?  Would you have been annoyed?

Stupefied?  What had it cost the company to send out so many?  Would you have felt furious?  After delivering 25 separate political and charitable solicitations to my mailbox one day recently, my mail carrier said he would be glad when the November 5th election was over.  (Me too!)

What’s hilarious to me, however, is that the Colorado rancher finally sent the magazine company a letter in which he signed up for a subscription!  He had never even been a subscriber!  But in his letter, he wrote, “I give up!  Send me the magazine.”  Their infernal persistence, like “Chinese water torcher,” had won him over.

(Borrowed from www.sermons.com, 9/5/2024)

Interestingly enough, this tactic is what also wins people over to Christ.  However, it is less about what we say to them and more about how we live our lives, daily, persistently.  Do they see us behaving in ways that are kind?  Do they experience us as listening to them uncritically, or without interrupting them to give our advice?  Do we respond to them with a warm smile, hug, or handshake?  Are we a consistent friend, rather than one who likes the person one day but turns on them the next?  Is our faith evident to them, especially when we go through tough times?  There is an old saying you may have heard before: “You may be the only Bible someone else ever reads.”  As Christians, we have a responsibility to so good at living life that we inspire others to follow Jesus.

Once again, our readings today all focus on living a wise life, one that reflects well on us and is a strong witness to others of the benefits of loving Jesus. 

A.  The book of Proverbs contains many pithy sayings that teach us how to be good at life.  Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23 urges us not to play favorites:  (Verses1-2)—>No matter our differences in race, creed, gender, economic status, or whatever, we were all created by God.

This is an important way in which we are all the same.  All of humankind shares this in common.  Nevertheless, as J. Vernon McGee says, “God created us all but He is not the Father of us all.”  Only those who love His Son may call Him “Father.”

(Through the Bible Commentary on Proverbs, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p.190.)

Verses 8-9 state that wicked people will come to a terrible end, but generous people will be blessed as they bless others.  And verses 22-23) assert that anyone who exploits the poor and the needy will be punished by God.  Remember, our God sees all and knows all.  There are no deeds kept secret from Him.  Our God wants us to live lives that are radically different from our culture due to our love and respect for others.

B. Our Psalm (146) implies that we are good at life when we habitually praise God for His goodness.   This psalm is considered one of several Hallelujah Psalms.  Literally, the word, Hallelujah, means, Praise ye the Lord!  We praise the Lord because He has given us life, and He has saved us.  Verse 3 reminds us—>Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men [or women] who cannot save.  We also praise God because unlike human agents, He is always trustworthy.  And He relates to us with love, justice, and mercy.

The book written by James, Jesus’s half-brother, contains 12 practical teachings on how to be good at life.  Our passage today (James 2:1-17) highlights two of these:  In verses 1-13, he tackles the issue of showing favoritism to the rich and influential.  He warns us not to do this because it springs from evil motives (We honor them so they might reward us somehow).  It also violates God’s command to love our neighbors as we love ourselves (Leviticus 19:18).  And, as Jesus taught in His Sermon on the Mount, if we are not merciful to others, God will not be merciful to us—>(Matthew 6:14-15)—>For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.  We are forgiven in the measure to which we forgive others, just as we are blessed in the measure to which we bless others.  This is God’s economy.

In his second lesson from our passage today (vv. 14-17), James defines genuine faith.  Real, true faith in Christ demonstrates itself in loving actions toward God and others.  In an article entitled, “The Results of Faith,” a commentator on James—Mark Norton–writes—>”Believers ought to be examples of heaven on earth.”   

(Cited on the website www.Filament.com , in his article on the book of James, 9/2024.)

D. As He always does, Jesus demonstrates in today’s Gospel lesson (Mark 7:24-37), authentic Christian responses to two “outsiders” considered “unclean.”  The first person is an unnamed Syro-Phoenician woman.  Some claim she was Greek; others say she was a Canaanite (she lived in present-day Lebanon).  Whatever the case, she was not a Jew. This is important because, as Jesus says, He came to save the Jews (the children of Israel) first.  She is desperate to have her little girl freed from demonic possession, so she seeks out Jesus.  She is humble but also quick witted.  Like the magazine company I spoke of at the beginning of this sermon, she is also persistent.

Jesus appears to be insulting her, equating her with dogs.  Jews then viewed many Gentiles as unclean and as dogs.  Jesus appears to be stating what He knew His disciples may have been thinking.  But she does not take offense.  Instead, she enters into His metaphor and replies that even the puppies get to eat what the children drop from the table.  He rewards the faith of this outsider and heals her daughter.

Next He encounters a man in the Decapolis, a region known for its 10 cities. It had originally belonged to the tribe of Manasseh, but they so intermingled with non-Jews that the area in Jesus’ time was primarily occupied by Gentiles. A deaf mute is brought to Him to heal (due to the faith of his friends?).  Jesus heals him using His saliva, which was thought by folks then to have healing properties.  The man receives both his hearing and his speech is restored to normal rhythm and cadence that he had not been previously able to comprehend.

By healing these two outsiders, those considered by the Jews to be unclean, Jesus was extending His love and mercy to Gentiles. His half-brother, James, would say the Christian who is living the good life is kind to those not like him/herself.  This is how we love others as we love ourselves.

We can learn how to be good at life—living the good life, a life pleasing to God—by following the lessons spelled out for us in God’s word:  (1) Proverbs—>Don’t play favorites but love everyone as you love yourself.  (2) Psalm 146->Adopt the habit of praising God daily for creating and saving you.  (3) James 2—>Again, don’t give special attention to the rich and famous, but demonstrate your faith in Jesus by performing acts of kindness to all sorts of people daily.  And (4) Mark 7—>Our Lord did this.  So should we.  This week, let’s try hard to be good at life. Amen!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

This Ole House

Pastor Sherry’s message for August 25, 2024

Scriptures: 1 Kgs 8:1, 6, 10-12, 22-30, 41-43; Ps 84; Eph 6:10-20; Matt 23:27-24:2

This Ole House

How many of you remember a song by Tennessee Ernie Ford called “This Old House”?  (Rosemary Clooney also recorded it).  The lyrics go like this:

This old house once knew my children

This old house once knew my wife

This old house was home and comfort

As we fought the storms of life

This old house once rang with laughter

This old house knew many shouts

Now it trembles in the darkness

When the lightning walks about.

Chorus:

Ain’t gonna need this house no longer

Ain’t gonna need this house no more

Ain’t got time to fix the shingles

Ain’t got time to fix the floor

Ain’t got time to oil the hinges

Nor to mend the window pane

Ain’t gonna need this house no longer

I’m getting ready to meet the saints!

This old house is getting shaky

This old house is getting old

This old house lets in the rain and

This old house lets in the cold

My old knees are getting chilly

But I feel no fear or pain

‘Cause I see an angel peeping through

The broken window pane

Repeat Chorus

When I heard this song as a child, I thought the man was talking about his home, a wooden house. But, the song is not really about a structure, is it? It’s a metaphor for the singer’s body, especially as he deals with old age. In Hebrew, the word “house” is also translated “Temple” or “Tent” or “Tabernacle.”  It can mean God’s special dwelling place on earth. And it can also mean our own bodies, as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20—Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, Who is in you, Whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your body.

Let’s consider together what the Scripture passages appointed for today have to say to us about the Temple.

A.  Our Old Testament reading, 1 Kgs 8:1, 6, 10-12, 22-30, 41-43, focuses on King Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the 1st Temple in Jerusalem.  It had taken 7.5 years to build.  30,000 Israelites worked on it, together with 150,000 others, mostly Phoenicians.  Their king had agreed with King David to supply the cedar and the workers.  The Temple was made entirely of stone and richly ornamented with gold, cedar, mosaics, and beautiful embroideries.  But, unlike pagan temples, it held no statue of God (The second commandment outlawed idols, including sculptures and paintings trying to depict God.)  King David had devised the plans and collected the materials.  King Solomon, his son, oversaw the construction.

It was meant to house the Ark of the Covenant and the other holy furnishings from the Tent of Meeting.  Neither David nor Solomon viewed it as God’s dwelling place.  David understood that God is omnipresent–in a sense, He cannot be contained or “housed.”  People throughout the ages have tried to put Him in a box of their own understanding, but He will not be confined to a box or to a house, even one built especially for Him.  Later, the prophet Isaiah would write (6:1)—I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple.  Note that just his train filled the temple.  God himself in all of His immensity, in Isaiah’s vision, must have hovered over the Temple.  So David rightly conceived of the Temple as God’s footstool (Psalm 99:5).  It provided a space for prayer, worship, and animal sacrifices to atone for sins.

In today’s passage, King Solomon dedicates the Temple with a prayer of praise containing 7 petitions.  Solomon reminds God of His promise that David’s descendants will always sit on the throne of Israel (provided they are obedient to God and maintain their covenant with Him).  He asks God to hear the prayers of His people from the Temple.  He asks that He will (help Solomon) render fair verdicts in cases where there are no witnesses and only the word of the defendant (another plea of Solomon for wisdom).  He prays that if God brings drought due to the people’s sins, that He will forgive them and restore the land if they confess their sins and repent.  He hopes that the same will hold true if there are others kinds of disasters caused by individual or corporate sins.  Finally, he prays that Non-Israelites will come to know the Lord and develop a close relationship with Him.

For the Israelites, in Solomon’s time, the Temple represented a place where worshippers could approach or meet with God, individually and in large groups.

B.  Psalm 84 was written by some descendants of Korah.  This is important to know because Korah had led a rebellion against Moses, and was judged for it.  He and his family were jealous of Moses and Aaron, enlisted help and rose up against them.  God had the ground open up and swallow them…YIKES!  (The message was “don’t touch God’s anointed!”)  But, by God’s grace, some descendants of Korah, Levites who served in the new Temple, had been appointed as gate-keepers (bouncers).  In verse 10, these doorkeepers joyfully sing—Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

The psalm is a song of praise sung by pilgrims walking to Jerusalem, celebrating their enthusiasm for being able to come into God’s presence in His Temple, and their deep desire to meet with and worship Him there.

Additionally, verse 9, is a reference to the coming Messiah, Jesus—Look upon our shield [earthly king], O God; look with favor on Your Anointed One [Messiah, Jesus].

C.  Paul’s concern in Ephesians 6:10-20 is that we all be aware that our enemies are not humans, per se, but the demonic spiritual entities that act through them.  He wants us to guard our spiritual house, our Temple, by putting on spiritual armor.  The pieces of the armor are reminiscent of what Roman soldiers wore.   A foundation of peace, the shoes come first.  Then a belt of truth (pants aren’t mentioned, so I like to think of perhaps the lycra shorts that competitive bikers wear); a breastplate of righteousness, to protect our heart and other vital organs; the helmet of salvation (to protect our mind); the shield of faith, with which to defend us from Satan’s ideas and insinuations; and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God (Scripture). The Bible and prayer are our only offensive weapons. The spiritual armor guards and protects our physical and spiritual house/temple from assaults from the evil one.

D.  Just before going to the Cross, Jesus lambasts the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy (Matthew 12:27-24:2).  He knows they are going to torture and kill Him soon, so what does He have to lose?

He publically, before crowds in the Temple, blasts them for misrepresenting God’s will and God’s heart to God’s people.  This is a serious sin—of which they seem to be oblivious—and they have thus incurred God’s judgment.

In this passage, He calls them out for (1) their desire for prestige; (2) their abuse of their teaching authority; (3) their false teachings on doctrine and practice; and (4) their preoccupation with teaching the people to focus on ethical minutia while overlooking the main points of God’s love, grace, mercy, and justice.  In the final episode of season four of “The Chosen” this is portrayed so well. Two Pharisees have joined Jesus at Lazarus’ home in Bethany to ask Him questions. One of them rejects Jesus when He disagrees with a human rabbi the man has quoted. The Pharisee is in the presence of God but refuses to believe in Him because he is wedded to the ideas of a human “authority.” The commentator, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, says Jesus implies that the Pharisees and Scribes are “spiritual zombies,” and that they are headed to Hell.

(Thru the Bible Commentary on Matthew, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p. 122.)

Jesus also predicts that this 2nd Temple (rebuilt through the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah, and further spruced up and enriched by King Herod) will be destroyed, which it was by the Romans in 70AD.  He takes no joy in that; in fact He weeps over Jerusalem.  He knows because the religious leaders of Israel have rejected Him and the warnings of the prophets sent before Him, that all of Jerusalem will also be demolished.

But He will raise this Temple—meaning His body–in 3 days.  This means that no human or spiritual force can annihilate Jesus.  Nor can any human or spiritual force eradicate His Church.  (Matthew 16:18—And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.)  Both Jesus’ physical body and the Church, His spiritual body, are eternal temples.

So, please remember that you are not just “an ole house,” but you are a Temple of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit lives within each of us who love Jesus and who claim Him as our Savior.  We may need sprucing up and repair from time to time, but we are loved and we are saved.  We bring our individual temples to this house to worship God each Sunday.  And, hopefully, we meet with God daily through prayer and Bible reading.  We want to armor-up our personal temples (our body) daily also.   And we want to be humble but alive followers of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen!  May it be so!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

True Wisdom

Pastor Sherry’s message for August 18, 2024

Scriptures : 1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14; Ps 111; Eph 5:15-20; Jn 6:60-71

The story is told of…a Dean at a college Faculty Meeting who encounters an angel.  The angel informs him that the Lord has noticed his “exemplary and unselfish behavior” and wants to reward him. He is given the choices of … “infinite wealth, wisdom or beauty.”  Without hesitating, the dean selects infinite wisdom.

“Done!” says the angel, and disappears in a cloud of smoke and a bolt of lightning. Now, all heads turn toward the dean, who sits surrounded by a faint halo of light. At length, one of his colleagues whispers, “Say something.”

The dean looks at them and says, “I should have taken the money.” 

(Betsy Devine and Joel E. Cohen, Absolute Zero Gravity, Simon & Schuster, 1992, p.29.)

Compare that story with the following examples of the wisdom of children:  

Patrick, age 10, said, “Never trust a dog to watch your food.”

Michael, 14, said, “When your dad is mad and asks you, ‘Do I look stupid?’ don’t answer him.”

 Michael, wise man that he was also said, “Never tell your mom her diet’s not working.”

Randy, 9 years of age said, “Stay away from prunes.”  One wonders how he discovered that bit of wisdom.

Kyoyo, age 9, said, “Never hold a dust buster and a cat at the same time.”

(Rick Stacy, 6/16/02, as reported at www.sermoncentral.com, 8/22/24.)

These takes on wisdom make us chuckle, don’t they?  But they beg the question, “What is true wisdom?” J.I. Packer (the brilliant Anglican Bible teacher and theology professor who lived from 1926-2000) once defined wisdom as “the power to see and the inclination to choose the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it. “ To see and to choose the best, the highest, and—realizing that with God the ends don’t justify the means—deciding to pursue the best in the best way.

(J.I. Packer, Knowing God, IVP, 1973, p. 80.)

Our Scripture passages today all comment on true wisdom:

A.  Let’s begin with our Old Testament reading, 1 Kings2:10-12, 3:3-14.  The context is Solomon’s ascension to the throne of his dying father, King David.  Solomon, the 10th of David’s 19 sons, has outlived Amnon (the rapist) and Absolom (the embittered rebel).  Though he was God’s choice to be the next king, and David’s choice to succeed him, he had to have David’s 4th son, Adonijah—a usurper– killed to secure his right to reign.  He also ordered Benaiah, his army general to kill Joab, David’s 2nd cousin—the guy who killed Absolom against the king’s orders–and Shemai, who had mocked, insulted, and even cursed David on his retreat from Jerusalem.  David would not allow his soldiers at the time to kill Shemai because he believed God might be saying something true through the vocal traitor.

So, interestingly, Solomon initiated his reign by assassinating his father’s enemies—loyalty to his earthly father–but he was not as loyal to his Heavenly Father.  Scripture does not report that he consulted the Lord about these political killings.  Additionally, he worshipped at “high places” which in those days were typically shrines to pagan gods.  It appears that Solomon “covered all his bases” by believing in the One True God, but also offering sacrifices to pagan gods, just in case.

Furthermore, Solomon was not a warrior or a man’s man, as his father had been. He had been raised among the women of David’s household. He seemed to understand women and to enjoy them.  And, since he went on as king to acquire 700 wives and 300 concubines, we can say from this side of the Cross that he most likely had a sexual addiction.

Nevertheless, he started out fairly well with the Lord when he admitted he lacked the experience to rule, and then requested the gift of wisdom.  The wisdom he had in mind was “political wisdom” or the kind of discernment that resulted in making wise decisions in matters of state.  Over time, however, it became evident that he lacked spiritual wisdom.  He practiced idolatry; he began his reign with several murders; and he broke covenant with the Lord. 

However, because the Lord had promised King David that Messiah would come from his lineage, God was willing to offer Solomon grace, and blessed him with secular wisdom, wealth, and honor among men. He is not, though, a sterling example to us of a truly wise man.

B.  Psalm 111 is a hymn of praise to God for His works of creation and redemption.  His works reveal His character:  He is righteous, compassionate, gracious, faithful, just, trustworthy, long suffering, upright, holy, and awe-inspiring.  And He wants us, His followers, to be people who mirror His character.  Verse 10, the final line of the psalm, makes the point that—>Fear [awe, reverence] of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom.  All who obey His commandments will grow in wisdom.  Solomon actually reiterated this thought in Proverbs 9:10Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom.  Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.  We might assume that he had learned by old age that dismissing God, or simply including Him among other gods, is a big, unwise mistake.

C.  Paul, in Ephesians 5:15-20, exhorts us to (v.15)So be careful how you live.  Don’t live like fools but like those who are wise.  Paul assumes we have choices in the ways in which we live.  We can choose to get drunk and to act foolishly; or we can refrain from this kind of behavior and instead remain within the will of God by…

1.) making the most of every opportunity;

2.) understanding what God would want us to do;

3.) being fillied with the Holy Spirit;

4.) making music in our hearts to the Lord;

5.) and giving thanks to God for everything.

This really sounds like the Doxology, doesn’t it?

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 

D.  By the end of this lengthy teaching of Jesus in which He calls Himself the Bread of Life (John 6:60-71), many of Christ’s crowds of disciples foolishly decide they cannot continue to follow Him.  They mistakenly thought He was encouraging cannibalism—eating His flesh and drinking His blood—and were disgusted.  Since “flesh and blood” is a euphemism meaning the whole person, He was intimating His bodily death to come on the Cross.  He was also referring to His later institution of Holy Communion, where bread and wine become a life sustaining means of intimacy with our Lord. They missed that He meant that He, not physical food, satisfies our spiritual hunger.  So, as He watches the crowds melt away, He asks the Twelve Are you also going to leave?  Peter answers for them all (except Judas who does not fully believe). Peter wisely recognizes that Jesus is God. There is no one else who can lead them into eternal life.

So how do we attain true wisdom?  Solomon had wisdom of a sort, but by not being as dedicated to the Lord as his father David had been, he missed the mark. Because of His promises to David that the Messianic King would be a descendant of David’s, God was willing to offer grace to Solomon. But true wisdom comes from worshipping God and Him only.

Similarly, our psalmist asserts that wisdom derives from trusting in the Lord, and committing ourselves to follow Him (trust and obey).  James reminds us in James 1:5If you need wisdom, ask our gracious Lord and He will give it to you.  He will not rebuke you for asking.  Just like Solomon, we too can ask for wisdom.

Paul believes we are wise when we live our lives in an “Attitude of Gratitude” to God for all He has done for us, despite how frustrating our current circumstances may be.

And Peter demonstrates wisdom when he says (John 6:58) Lord, to Whom would we go?  You have the words that give eternal life.  We believe, and we know that You are the Holy One of God.  This is true wisdom.  May we each desire it and achieve it!  Amen! 

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams