Posted on by Cheryl Norman

God’s Perfect Gift

Pastor Sherry’s message for Christmas Eve, 2023

Scriptures: Isa 52:7-10; Ps 98; Heb 1:1-4; John 1:1-14

A pastor wrote, ”Yes, God is our loving and gracious Heavenly Father—but He eternally dwells in unapproachable [ineluctable, unavoidable, inescapable, certain] light. That means that God transcends us and is totally beyond us. In Theology proper a Latin term is used to capture this reality; God is defined as Deus absconditus, which translates as ‘the hidden God’. If God had not initiated revealing Himself to sinful and fallen mankind in the Garden of Eden and onward through the Old Testament; if God had not chosen to come out of His holy habitation—mankind would have hopelessly lived and died without knowledge of Him. Christmas is the time we celebrate God coming to be with us; no longer sending others, like prophets, priests, kings, and angels to give us His Word. Christmas is God Himself no longer sending–but coming.

“We should reflect upon how fortunate we are that God has mercifully and graciously come to us in our dreadfully lost condition. The writer of Hebrews described our distance from God quite simply as, “our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29). The imagery of God as [a] blazing and consuming fire aptly expresses God’s holy distance. Because of His holiness, God is eternally inaccessible to man. Our God always lives in an atmosphere of absolute purity, far too holy for mortals to ever enter. Note that Hebrews says that ‘our God is [not was!] a consuming fire.’ ”

“But to solve the problem of the God who is unapproachable, God Himself came to be with us—as one of us, to die for the whole world of lost sinners.”

(Dr. John Barnett, sermon entitled, “The Six Names Of Christmas – Immanuel – God With Us,” www.sermoncentral.com, Jul 10, 2018.)

The Scriptures appointed for today share with us God’s motivation for sending Jesus to earth as a tiny baby, as well as what our response to Him should be:

A. Again, the writer to the Hebrews puts it this way in our New Testament reading (Hebrews 1:1-4): In the past, God reached out to us through the prophets (v.1). But, more recently, He …has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe. The writer to the Hebrews wants us to realize that God reached out to us first. He initiated a relationship with us, not the other way around. First, He sent many prophets (Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, etc.) to let us know who He is and what He wants of us. When all those efforts fell short—because human beings were lukewarm, or even outright rebellious, in their response–He sent us His One and Only Son.

But Jesus is not just a messenger of God! The Son (v.3)is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. I love the way Peterson expresses it (The Message, p.2181)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! In other words, Jesus is higher than prophets or even angels. He is perfectly human, but also perfectly God. As God encased in baby flesh, He—the Holy One—can interact with sinful us.

B. The apostle John (1:1-14) begins His Gospel essentially asserting what the Writer to the Hebrews later wrotethat God intends to reveal Himself, His glory, through Jesus! Where Luke and Matthew begin with Jesus’ birth stories, and Mark, with Jesus’ entre into ministry, John takes us back to creation, before time and space began. Jesus was present at Creation. John wants to make sure we understand that Jesus, (v.1)the Word, was with God, distinct from the Father; and also that the Word was Godpart of the same deity. They share an identity of being; like the Father, Jesus is fully divine. The Apostle writes in verse 2 that the Father and the Son were in relationship with each other. Additionally, Jesus, the WORD, was the agent of Creation (v.3). God the Father planned it; but all things came into being through the words Jesus spoke. The WORD is life”the Life force.” Life comes to us not just through Him; in fact, His life is our light. Physically, we cannot live without light. Spiritually, His life enlightens (brings light into) ours. In John 8:12 Jesus saysI am the light of the world. As if to reinforce this notion, the 3rd verse of “Silent Night” statesSon of God, Love’s pure light, radiant beams from Thy holy face, with the dawn of redeeming grace, Jesus, Lord at Thy birth….

Jesus came to dispel the darkness of unbelief, sin, death, oppression, and bondage. Even though He made us, some of us will–and have– refused to believe in Him. In our rebellion, some of us (what John calls the world) will reject Him and the freedom He offers. But to those of us who have received Him (v.10)–we who have accepted His gift of Himself–He has given another gift: the right to become children of God! We are not biological heirs, not heirs through any human effort; instead, we are spiritual children of God, through Christ’s blood and the Father’s will.

In verse 14, John famously assertsThe WORD became flesh and made His dwelling among us! This is a break with all non-Christian thought: The agent of creation becomes a creature. Peterson describes it this way (The Message, p.1916)

The WORD became flesh and blood

And moved into the neighborhood.

We saw the glory with our own eyes,

The one-of-a-kind glory,

Like Father, like Son,

Generous inside and out,

True from start to finish.

Jesus came to demonstrate to us, in the flesh and through His behavior, the Father’s nature. He is God revealing God: (1) Behaviorally, (2) Relationally,

(3) Intellectually, and (4) Spiritually. He is our Savior, our Redeemer, our Healer, our Good Shepherd, our King. Our response to Him must go beyond intellectual agreement! We need to be in a personal relationship with Him.

We need to accept God’s Perfect Gift.

C. Our Psalm (98) anticipates Jesus’ 1st Coming and urges us to celebrate Him with great joy.

D. Our Isaiah (52:7-10) lesson anticipates Jesus’ 2nd Coming with the same excitement and joy.

James, the brother of Jesus, wrote (1:17)Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. This Christmas, let us remember that God the Father has given us the Perfect Gift, His Son, Jesus Christ. Even if there are no gifts for you under your Christmas tree, God has generously sent Jesus into your life. Because of this, we are truly blessed!

Because of God’s perfect gift of Jesus, we can state the following with confidence (please repeat after me) (Borrrowed from Joel Osteen’s The Power of I Am, Faith Works, 2015):

1. “I am forgiven. I am redeemed. I am wearing a robe of righteousness. I am clothed in Christ” (p.42).

2. “God promised me beauty for ashes, joy for mourning. I’m not staying here. I’m moving forward. New beginnings are in my future. The rest of my life will be the best of my life” (p.41).

3. “I have grace for this season. I am strong in the Lord. Those who are for me are greater than those who are against me” (p.41).

4. “I am getting stronger, healthier, wiser. My youth is being renewed like the eagles” (p.38).

5. “I am free. Addictions do not control me” (p.39).

6. “I am blessed. I am prosperous. I have the favor of God” (p.38).

7. Sickness, addiction, poverty, you are temporary. I am a child of the Most High God. I am overcoming you,” by the blood of the Lamb of God (p.44).

Jesus is the gift that just keeps giving! Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ. Alleluia, alleluia!

©️2023 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Saying “Yes” but Living “No”

Pastor Sherry’s message for October 1, 2023

Scriptures: Ex 17:1-7; Ps 78:1-4, 12-20; Phil 2:1-13; Matt 21:23-32

Isn’t it true that we see lots of examples today of folks who have said “Yes” to something or someone, then proceeded to live like they’d said “No”? Some current day examples include the following:

1. A college football player who signs on for a scholarship—including room, board, books, tuition, fitness training, tutoring, and other benefits—then refuses to go to class, to comply with his training regimen, to attend team meetings, or respect his coach.

2. Federal judges who take a vow to uphold the constitution, then bring in verdicts based on their political loyalties.

3. A husband or wife who promises to be faithful to their spouse in their marriage ceremony, then has affairs with others, often including other peoples’ spouses.

4. A money manager/investment specialist who promises to care for your retirement assets, then either invests them unwisely so that they are lost, or steals them to support their own greed.

5. Teachers who train to ethically convey a body of knowledge to our kids, who then try to indoctrinate them into their gender politics or political beliefs.

6. A “Border Czar” who says our Southern Border is secure while letting in millions of illegal immigrants.

7. Doctors who withhold critical information prior to surgery—like “You’ll be on meds the rest of your life,” or “This artificial joint will need to be replaced in 10-20 years”–or who perform surgeries/prescribe treatments that harm rather than heal (e.g., gender reassignment surgery in children).

You can no doubt think of other examples.

Nevertheless, this kind of behavior is abhorrent to our God. He really hates lying, fraud, cheating, willfully misrepresenting, and so many disreputable behaviors we see all too often today. He has shown us in Scripture how He wants us to behave.

Our Scripture passages today each point out in some way the very different standards by which our God urges us to act:

A. Jesus addresses, in today’s Gospel (Matthew 21:23-32), a specific kind of integrity that He and our Heavenly Father want us to practice: Neither is kindly disposed toward those who say “Yes” to God but then live like they have said “No.” He takes the chief priests and the elders—the religious establishment—to school in this passage. He knows that they have become more and more threatened by His popularity, His healings and His miracles, and the content of His teaching. They jump on this opportunity to confront Him publically regarding the source of His authority. They are saying essentially, “What gives you the right to challenge our teachings and the way we tell folks how they should live?”

We might restate what they are saying as “Who died and put You in charge?” Or, “Who do You think You are?”

He wisely side-steps their challenge (He doesn’t dance their dance-steps or play their game). If He had said He is God or that His authority comes from God, they would have charged Him with blasphemy. As in tennis, then, He sends the ball back into their court saying, ”I’ll answer you if you answer a question for me.” Verse 25John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or from men? If they agreed John the Baptist’s authority came from God, then they would have had to have admitted they were disobedient to God because they dismissed the prophet (Jesus said John was the greatest of all the prophets) as a wild-eyed religious nut and discredited his ministry. But they were afraid to put down John the Baptist in front of the Jewish crowd because he had been very popular with the people. Jesus thus puts them on the proverbial horns of a dilemma; His question positioned them between a rock and a hard place. Realizing this, they refused to answer Him and so He traps them and essentially says, “back at you, Friends!”

The real lesson from Jesus is contained in the parable He goes on to relate. One son says “No” then lives out “Yes,” while the other says “Yes” but lives out “No.” In verse 31, Jesus asks His religious adversaries the indicting question🡪Which of the two did what His father wanted?

They correctly answered that it was the one who said “no” first, then behaved obediently/walked out “yes.” He then points out to them that they have missed the proverbial boat. They have said “yes” they would serve God, but their behavior consistently demonstrates that they do not listen to or obey Him. They have followed their own wills, not the will of the Father. They have become religious judges and critics rather than servants of God who demonstrate the Lord’s love and grace. Their pride and their hardened hearts have led them to say “No” to God. But tax collectors and prostitutes—folks they despise (those who may have originally blown God off, only to accept Him when they realized they couldn’t manage life without Him)–are way ahead of them in their faith journeys. The chief priests and the elders have their credentials; but their lives lack faith in and understanding of the God they claim they serve.

B. Paul, in today’s epistle (Philippians 2:1-13), directs us specifically to live out a lifestyle of humility, caring for others as well as self, and having “the mind of Christ;” i.e., to say “Yes” and then live “Yes.” We say “Yes” to God and live out our “Yes” by having what Paul calls the mind of Christ. This is not just an imitation of Jesus. Instead it is a real life change, a real heart change, a consistent behavior change accomplished in us by the Holy Spirit.

Eugene Peterson paraphrases verses 1-2 in The Message (p.2138) this way: If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if His love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. Think back to our recent experience with Hurricane Idalia. One unexpected result of the loss of electricity was that traffic lights did not work. Without the lights, we should have treated each intersection as a 4-way stop, all drivers taking turns so that each could proceed through safely. Instead, many only thought of themselves and barreled on through. Until the lights were restored through generator power, we took our lives in our hands whenever we approached an intersection. Many people today are unwilling to consider…helping others get ahead. All too often they are …obsessed the getting [their] own advantage. Having the mind of Christ also means being as humble and as obedient as Jesus was and is. It means saying “Yes” to God and living out that “yes.”

C. Our OT lesson (Exodus 17:1-7) provides yet another example of how believers can and do say “Yes” but live out “No.”

How patient God is! How frustrated Moses became! Prior to today’s passage, God has rescued the people from Egypt, opened the Red Sea, wiped out the pursuing Egyptian army, fed them manna and quail, and provided them with water, several times over. Yet they still complain and whine and quarrel. They accuse God of bringing them into the desert to die. They remember their recent history as slaves with fondness—What? It defies logic! But isn’t it just like us? We forget what God has done for us in the face of our most recent pressing need. They should have prayed and trusted that God—who has provided for them many times over—would continue to do so. Instead they fail God’s test of them (Massah or testing) and quarrel (Meribah or quarreling) and the geographic place is named accordingly to memorialize this rebellion.

The same principle remains true for you and me. We need to trust in our God. We need to say “Yes” to Him, and live out our “Yes” to Him because He has proven Himself and His good intentions for us over and over.

D. This is the prevailing message of our psalm today (Psalm 78:1-4, 12-20). Credited to Asaph, it records the historical record of how God’s people, from Abraham to Moses, repeatedly demonstrated “practical atheism.” Dr. J. Vernon McGee says we demonstrate practical atheism when we say we believe in God, and we believe God’s promises, but then act as though we cannot trust Him. The psalm reports the marvelous things God did for His people, as well as how quickly they forgot their past experiences with Him when faced with a new dilemma. They were believers who said “Yes,” but—when encountering a tough patch—acted out “No.”

Let’s agree today not to do this to God. We don’t want to be “practical atheists.” We don’t want to be hypocrites, saying we believe, then living like we don’t. We want to live like we believe God is who He says He is and that He does what He promises He will do. We also want to cooperate with the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, who empowers us to have the mind of Christ. Let’s put our new intentions to work immediately by praying that the Holy Spirit would give us each the mind of Christ. Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Alleluia, Alleluia!

©️2023 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Render to God

Pastor Sherry’s message for October 22, 2023

Scriptures: Ex 33:12-23; Ps 99; 1 Thess 1:1-10, Matt 22:15-22

Today’s Gospel (Matt 22:15-22) recounts another confrontation between Jesus and Jewish leaders. The story is told that a…young woman…”was soaking up the sun’s rays on a Florida beach when a little boy in his swimming trunks, carrying a towel, came up to her and asked her, “Do you believe in God?” She was surprised by the question but she replied, “Why, yes, I do.” Then he asked her: “Do you go to church every Sunday?” Again, her answer was “Yes!” He then asked: “Do you read your Bible and pray every day?” Again she said, “Yes!” By now her curiosity was very much aroused. The little boy sighed with relief and said, “Will you hold my [dollar] while I go in swimming?” (As relayed by http://www.Sermons.com, 10/22/2023.)

This child was wisely trying to discover if the young woman was trust-worthy and honest enough for him to entrust her with his cash. But in our Gospel lesson today, the Pharisees and Herodians (a political party loyal to King Herod) were neither wise nor honest. They were unwilling to put their trust in Jesus. They really weren’t even all that interested in his input on an issue of doctrine. They were, in fact, hoping to trip Him up and make Him look bad enough to arrest.

If He supported paying a hated tax—and it was hated—they figured He could not have been their Messiah. Additionally, the coin used to pay the tax, a dinar, had Caesar’s image on it. Jews weren’t allowed to put the likeness of a human face on their coins—so this was already an offense to them. Even worse, the inscription on the coin declared that Caesar was the “Son of God” and “High Priest.” They firmly believed their Messiah would never condone such coinage. However, if He told them not to pay the tax, they could turn Him over to Rome as an instigator of rebellion. To defy Rome in those days usually led to painful death.

But Jesus is absolutely brilliant in His answer, isn’t He? He points out that the coin has Caesar’s image on it. Then without committing Himself to either choice they provided, He simply tells them to render (give or deliver) to Caesar what belongs to him and to God, what belongs to Him. Now the Romans had provided a unified coinage, good roads, and law and order throughout the empire. In other words, Jesus is saying that citizens should be expected to pay Caesar for such perks.

But, what has God provided them/us? How about life, for starters? A beautiful world in which to live? Skills and talents with which to make our way in this world? Family, friends, a nation to provide us with a sense of identity, and a sense of belonging in community? And let us not forget, Someone much bigger and more powerful than us to both give us standards to live by, and provide Himself as a divine entity to Whom we may direct our love and worship? Jesus raises the issue of what we should render to God, but He doesn’t specify His answer in this Gospel lesson, does He?

I think a case can be made that our other passages today provide some answers:

A. In our Old Testament lesson, Exodus 33:12-23, Moses expresses to God his wish to know Him (to see Him). We know Moses met with Him on the mountain top to receive the 10 Commandments, additional laws, and the design for the Tabernacle (Chapters 20-31). Did he see God up there? Not exactly. John 1:18 tells us that no one has ever seen God. So Who did Moses see whenever he visited the tabernacle to meet with the Lord? In John 14:9, Jesus says, Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. Jesus is the full revelation of the Father in human form. So, Moses was meeting with the Pre-incarnate Son of God, Jesus (in the Old Testament, He is often called “the Angel of the Lord”—not “an angel” but “the Angel”).

One verse before our lesson today reports The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Moses spoke with Jesus but did not see the face of the Father. In this passage, however, Moses expresses a desire to see the Father, face-to-face. He wants to know the Father more intimately. This is what Paul means when he says in Philippians 3:10—>I want to know Christ…. This is what Philip was referring to when he asked Jesus in John 14:8, Lord, show us the Father…. Rev. Dr. J. Vernon McGee writes (Commentary on Exodus, chapters 19-40, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p.120)—>”I believe every sincere child of God has a desire to know God.”

Now consider the Father’s response to Moses (v.20)—>You cannot see My face, for no one may see Me and live. He is going to pass before Moses, but He will shield the man from viewing His face.

Instead, Moses will see God “in his rearview mirror.” In other words, Moses has asked to become very intimate with God and the Lord has allowed it.

What does this mean to us? It means that if we pursue friendship with God as Moses did, our God will allow us this kind of intimacy with Himself.

We can render to God a desire to know Him intimately, to walk with Him daily, and to talk with Him often.

B. Psalm 99 celebrates God’s kingly might and His holiness. It calls upon all believers to praise the Lord. We are to praise Him because

1.) He reigns and is exalted over all the earth;

2.) He is holy and reigns justly. He does what is right, always.

(Wouldn’t we love to see this in our elected officials at all levels?)

3.) He answers prayers.

4.) He is present to His people of old and to us now.

5.) He forgives our sins, yet punishes us when we deserve it.

Verse 6 admonishes us to Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy. The psalm reminds us to render to our God worship and praise.

C. Paul commends the infant church in Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 1:1-10), for living out the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and love. They had turned from idolatry to faith in Christ Jesus. This was their work produced by faith (v.3). They experienced considerable persecution for their faith, but persevered regardless. Second, they labored for the faith because of their love for Jesus (and Paul). Love compelled their obedience to God (and to Paul’s teachings about Jesus). Love for God is expressed by us in our obedience to Him. Third, despite persecution by nonbelievers, their endurance [was] inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ (v.3). Their hope was in Jesus’ 2nd Coming—so is ours! Their hope did not reside in human heroes, political movements, presidential candidates, or the alignment of the stars, etc. It rested firmly on Jesus.

Martin Luther, the Protestant reformer once stated, “Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.” The British poet, Alexander Pope, wrote, “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.” Our own statesman and past president, Thomas Jefferson, said, “I steer my bark [small boat] with hope in the head [God], leaving fear astern [behind].” Thomas Carlyle, a Scottish philosopher (1795-1881), asserted, “Man is, properly speaking, based upon hope, he has no other possession but hope, this world of his is emphatically the place of hope.”

So, like the infant church in Thessalonica, we can render to God…our faith in Him; our love expressed in obedience to Him and in loving gestures to others; and in our continued hope—despite the current world situation–in Jesus’ 2nd coming, when He will make all things right.

So what shall we render (give or deliever) to God? Render to God our desire for intimacy with Him. Today, if you use the term intimacy, many people would assume this is meant in a sexual sense which would be abhorrent to God. Instead, I am referring to intimacy in the emotional and spiritual sense–coming to know God as well as you do your spouse, your children, or your best friend. Render to God sincere worship and praise for His power, righteousness, mercy, grace, and love. Render to God faith, love, and hope. Amen! May it be so!

©️2023 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Both/And

Pastor Sherry’s message for October 29, 2023

Scriptures: Deut 334:1-12; Ps 90:1-6, 12-17; 1 Thess 2:1-8; Matt 22:34-46

The story is told that…

“Isidor Isaac Rabi, a Nobel Prize winner in Physics, and one of the developers of the atomic bomb, was once asked how he became a scientist. Rabi replied that every day after school his mother would talk to him about his school day. She wasn’t so much interested in what he had learned that day, but how he conducted himself in his studies. She always inquired, ‘Did you ask a good question today?’

“‘Asking good questions,’ Rabi said, ‘made me become a scientist.’

“In order to ask a good question I think you need to have noble motives behind the question. You have to want to know the truth. The Pharisees, by contrast, already had the answers to their questions. They felt they already knew the truth. How many times have we had it in for someone, asking a question designed to trap them? We do it to our loved ones all the time. In a moment like this we are not trying to learn; we are trying to injure.

“The Pharisees come to Jesus once again with a question designed to do damage to the reputation of Jesus. And once again Jesus proves he is equal to the task. Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? Now, even though this question was used to test Jesus, it is nonetheless an important question. Perhaps in the life of Israel at that time [and in our lifetime today] it was THE most important question.

(Excerpt from a sermon titled “The Two Most Important Questions a Christian Can Answer” as posted on www.sermons.com, 10/29/2023.)

Jesus’ answer to their question came from the Old Testament:

Believing Jews knew the first part, love God above all things, came from Deuteronomy 6:4-5. It was part of the Shema, which believing Jews recite daily Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength [might; mind]. The second, love others as you do yourself, comes from Leviticus 19:18—>Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Jesus combined these two and pointed out (v.40) that—> All the Law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. The Pharisees and their buddies, the lawyers who specialized in interpreting the Law, counted 613 laws handed down by Moses. Jesus summarized them all into these two, both/and. They are also represented in the shape of the Cross. The vertical is our love for God; the horizontal, our love for others. Furthermore, Jesus strongly asserts that all the Law is based on God’s love for them, as was every action and teaching of each Old Testament prophet. WOW!

Knowing they had set out to stump and to discredit Him, Jesus then turns the tables on them, asking them a riddle: (v.42)—>What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is He? They correctly answer that the Messiah comes from the lineage of King David. Now, He’s got them! “How can Messiah be both David’s son and David’s master?” He’s doing a twist on “which came first, the chicken or the egg?” Remember, a crowd was watching and listening to this debate. Many were no doubt delighted to hear Jesus turn the tables, saying in essence,”two can play this game.”

Jesus, God’s Word made flesh, clearly knows His Scripture. He refers them to Psalm 110:1, which He recites from memory—>The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” Perhaps the Pharisees and lawyers did not know that Jesus was, through His mother Mary, a descendant of King David, making Him, in effect, David’s-many-generations-later son. Perhaps they did not believe His Father was God, through the Holy Spirit, making Him the Son of God and King David’s Master. He was and is both fully human and also fully divine.

Notice, this ends the public debate. The lawyers and Pharisees have no answer for Him. As the English Anglican Bishop, NT Wright says, “The answer the opponents couldn’t question was followed by the question they couldn’t answer.” (N.T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone: Part Two, Westminister John Knox Press, 2002, p.93.) If nothing else, this should have proven that Jesus knew and understood Scripture better than they did!

How humiliating for them! At this point, they stop trying to trip Him up in public. Now they will plot a clandestine attack, at night, in the Garden.

But let’s return to the biggest point His enemies missed: The answer to Jesus’ question of them was standing right before them, both David’s son and David’s master! Moreover, He will soon demonstrate the two greatest commandments, through His arrest, crucifixion, and death. He both loved His Heavenly Father enough to give up His life in order to do God’s will. And He loved us enough to take upon Himself the penalty for all of our sins, for all time, past, present, and future. This is extravagant love, poured out on both the vertical and the horizontal plains of the Cross. Again, as N.T. Wright writes, Jesus reveals that He is both King David’s descendant, “the true king of Israel,” and King David’s Lord and Master (Ibid, p.94).

We know the Jews were expecting a militaristic Messiah, a king who, like King David, would defeat all their earthly enemies. The book of Revelation promises us that when Jesus comes a second time, He will indeed arrive as such a conquering monarch. He will eradicate the enemies of God. He will once and for all eliminate sin and death. But in His first coming, He lived out humility and human servanthood. A military Messiah would be unlikely to inspire us to love God or to love others, especially those we dislike. Instead, God the Father knew we needed a humble, righteous, grace-filled and loving Messiah to both teach and to model for us what it looks like to love God and to love others as ourselves.

A unique and modern way of looking at it is that our suffering servant Messiah took on Satan in unarmed combat on the Cross and won! This is a king worth worshipping!

G. K. Chesterton, the famous British author and satirist, said 100 years ago—>“Jesus…tells us to love our neighbors. Elsewhere the Bible tells us Jesus said we should love our enemies. This is because, generally speaking, they are the same people” (repeated from an old sermon of mine in which, unfortunately, I did not cite the source— Sorry! But I do believe the quote is accurate.) The truth is that it is easier to love God than to love our neighbors—especially the irritating ones, or worse yet, the dangerous, sadistic, cruel, and immoral ones. We can do it, but we must be intentional about it. We begin by praying for them, again and again. We continually offer grace to them, just as Jesus has to us. We do not allow them to harm us—we can protect ourselves—but we try to act in a Christ-like manner toward them. As I have related to you before, my step-father (now deceased) was physically and verbally abusive to me during my childhood. I feared him as a child and this fear stayed with me long into my adulthood. I would not visit him and my mother without my own transportation—if things got dangerous, I wanted to have a means of escape. I had forgiven him but I did not trust him for years after I had left to be on my own. We can forgive but also protect ourselves from being re-victimized.

Our Gospel lesson today illustrates for us that Jesus was/is certainly a brilliant debater! He knows His stuff! He even knows His enemies’ motives, and beats them at their own game. He also walked His talk. Unlike His religious opponents, He was not a hypocrite. He meant what He said and said what He meant. I taught my first group of high school seniors in 1970. My wonderful principal—who mentored me as a new teacher—told me to always say what I meant and mean what I said. Especially around classroom discipline, she advised me to never threaten a disciplinary action I was unwilling to carry out. She also warned me that there would always be at least one student who would challenge whether or not I meant it by breaking the rule. She was right, just as Jesus was right.

Jesus truly knew what it meant both to love God above all things—including His own life–and to love us. May we all, by the power of the Holy Spirit, come to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength. And may we also learn to love our neighbors at least as well as we love ourselves.

Amen! May it be so!

©️2023 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman · 2 Comments

Family Reunion

Pastor Sherry’s message for August 20, 2023

Scriptures: Gen 45:1-7, 25-28; Ps 133; Ro 11:1-2a, 29-32; Matt 14:10-28

Amy Peterson writes, “…I started reading The Kindness of God by Catholic theologian and philosopher Janet Soskice. In her examination of the etymology of the word kindness, Soskice helped me see it for the first time as a strong virtue rather than a weak one. “In Middle English,” she writes, “the words ‘kind’ and ‘kin’ were the same—to say that Christ is ‘our kinde Lord’ is not to say that Christ is tender and gentle, although that may be implied, but to say that he is kin—our kind. This fact, and not emotional disposition, is the rock which is our salvation.” I paused after reading this sentence to try to take it in, to try to peel the sentimental layers off my definition of kindness and replace them with this fact: to be kind meant to be kin. The word unfolded in my mind. God’s kindness meant precisely that God became my kin—Jesus, my brother—and this, Soskice said, was a foundational truth about who I was. Not only that, but for speakers of Middle English, Lord had a particular meaning—a lord was someone from the nobility, the upper social classes. To say “our kinde Lord” was to say the difference in social or economic status between peasants and nobility was also erased through Jesus the “Lord” being of the same “kinde” as all, landowners and peasants alike. Jesus erased divisions that privileged some people over others.”

(Amy Peterson, Where Goodness Still Grows: Reclaiming Virtue in an Age of Hypocrisy, Thomas Nelson, 2020.)

The theme of our Scripture readings today is “Divine Kinship” or “Family Reunion.”

A. It begins with our Genesis reading (45:1-7, 25-28). After having lived in Egypt for about 22 years, Joseph has recognized his brothers and now reveals himself to them. Why would they not have recognized him?

By this time, he did not look Hebrew. They were bearded but he was clean shaven. Additionally, he was wearing an Egyptian wig (Egyptians shaved their heads, due to problems with lice, and were noted for wearing elaborate wigs). There was also his Egyptian style of dress and perhaps an arm bracelet and a jeweled collar signifying being a high Egyptian official. The last time they had seen him, he had been a gangly boy of 17; now he’s 39 years old and no doubt looked very different from the way he had in their last encounter. They also would have heard him speaking Egyptian/Arabic, but talking with them through an interpreter (even though he understood Hebrew). Finally, they were not expecting to see him again since slavery was usually implied a death sentence.

Unbeknownst to them, he has put them through two tests to see if they have changed in the intervening twenty two years. First, he has them leave Simeon behind and promise to bring back Benjamin, his full brother. He is checking to see how honest they are now. They had betrayed him. They had no doubt lied to their father. Will they sacrifice another brother to get what they want? Second, they return and bring back Benjamin, but Joseph has his favorite cup put into Benjamin’s bag of grain, and has his servants accuse their father’s new favorite of theft. Joseph wants to know if they have come to grips with what jealousy cost them in the past. Are they more loyal to Benjamin than they had been to Joseph? Have they developed more compassion for their aging and grieved father?

Apparently so because Judah, their leader, steps up and offers himself (and even his children) in place of Benjamin. Judah recognizes this dilemma is God’s punishment for what they had done to Joseph. He and the others cannot bear to imagine Jacob’s grief over losing Rachel’s only other son, Benjamin.

So, satisfied that his ten half-brothers have truly undergone a moral transformation, he reveals himself to them as their long, lost brother, Joseph. At first, they can’t believe it is him. Then they fear his retribution. But in a truly Christ-like way, he reassures them, [Peterson’s The Message, p.93] am Joseph your brother whom you sold into Egypt. But don’t feel badly, don’t blame yourselves for selling me. God was behind it. God sent me here ahead of you to save lives. There has been a famine in the land now for two years; the famine will continue for five more years—neither plowing nor harvesting [will take place]. God sent me on ahead to pave the way and make sure there was a remnant in the land, to save your lives in an amazing act of deliverance. So you see, it wasn’t you who sent me here but God. He set me in place as a father to Pharaoh, put me in charge of his personal affairs, and made me ruler of all Egypt. God uses Joseph to save his father, Jacob/Israel, his brothers, and his whole extended family (a total of 90 people). But Joseph’s wisdom also saves thousands, perhaps millions of Egyptians as well as untold, unnumbered, other Gentiles. What a fabulous and far-reaching family reunion!

B. In Psalm 133, King David continues the theme of family reunion. Verse 1 celebrates —How good and pleasant it is when brothers [and sisters] live together in unity! There is no back-biting, no sarcasm, no jealousy; no murderous rage, no hidden agendas. Instead, such family members experience love, support, and acceptance.

He goes on to mention two metaphors for how rich a blessing this could be: (1) a generous supply of anointing oil, representing empowerment of the Holy Spirit; and (2) abundant dew, highly desired and valued in an arid climate. As troubled and complex as were the kinship relationships in King David’s family, this psalm sets out his longing for this kind of God-inspired love, cooperation, and blessing among brothers and sisters.

C. In Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32, Paul continues his case for the Jewish people. True, most at that time, rejected Jesus as their Messiah. But Paul is adamant (v.1) that God has not rejected them, His Chosen People. They have rejected Him but He has not washed His hands of them. Instead, the Lord has a plan for bringing them to a saving knowledge of Christ.

Back in verses 25-26, he wrote —the harvest of the Jews will come after…the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved…. Just as God has been merciful to us, He too will have mercy on the Jews. Many students of the book of Revelation believe the main purpose of the Great Tribulation (assuming the Church has already been raptured) is to turn a massive number of Jews into Jesus-followers. What a grand family reunion that will be!

D. Finally, in our Gospel lesson (Matthew 15, also Mark 7), Jesus delivers a new doctrine and graciously responds to a Gentile woman.

The new teaching is on moral uncleanliness. Yes, it’s a good health practice to wash your hands before eating—but hand-washing has only to do with the physical. Instead, it’s what comes out of one’s mouth that demonstrates one’s spiritual condition. Our moral or spiritual cleanliness—our heart attitudes–are revealed by what we say. This is why we want to work hard to eliminate cussing and gossip and lying and slander from our daily speech. He calls the rule-bound religious leaders of the Jews blind guides, and appears—by this point–to have given up on appealing to them further.

In fact, He leaves the country for the first time, venturing North into Tyre and Sidon (cities in Phoenicia). No doubt He wants a time-out from his Jewish adversaries. But almost immediately, He encounters a persistent Syro-Phoenician, Canaanite, or Gentile woman. Remember, He says (v.24) was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel (not Gentiles).

She calls Him (v.22) —Lord, Son of David. She knows He is a descendant of King David. But she is an outsider, not a member of the family. She is an ethnic outsider; she is a religious outsider; and her gender, in those days, made her an outsider as Jewish rabbis would rarely have spoken directly to a woman.

But she has a demonized daughter that no one has been able to heal, and she is desperate. She is begging Him to heal/deliver her child. Jesus makes the point that she does not belong to “the family.” He came to feed the “children of Israel” (v.26)It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the puppies [the Hebrew word here means not adult dogs but the diminutive, puppies]. He is essentially saying, just as in a family, there is an order here —The children (Israelites) eat first; Then puppies get fed, but not from the table and not until the kids are done. He is not telling her she cannot expect help from Him, but rather that there is a set of priorities to His ministry.

She gets what He is saying, steps into His metaphor, and reminds Him (v.27) —…but even the puppies eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table. She knows she does not have a legitimate place at the Jewish table. But even as a nonfamily member, she has faith that Jesus can provide enough that some leftovers will be available to her and to her daughter. Notice, she doesn’t say, Give me what I deserve due to my goodness or my rights, as many today might demand. Instead, (as Timothy Keller asserts in his book King’s Cross , Dutton, 2011, p.89), she implies, “Give me what I don’t deserve on the basis of Your goodness—and, please, I need it right now.”

Jesus commends her faith (The Message, p.1775) —Oh, Woman, your faith is something else. What you want is what you get! Right then her daughter became well. She entered into His metaphor and responded with belief in Him. Because of her faith, He made her a member of His family.

There is no reason for us to ever feel like we are alone or outsiders. God’s family is made up of both Jewish and Gentile believers. Our weekly worship service is like a big family reunion. We who believe in Jesus Christ are members of God’s family. Come, every Sunday, to be with people who love Jesus and who love you. Amen!

©️2023 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Obeying God

Pastor Sherry’s message for 7/9/2023

Scriptures: Gen 24:34-67; Ps 45:10-17; Ro 7:14-25a; Matt 11: 16-30

I want to share with you a true story told by a Kenyan pastor, Dr. Nicholas M. Muteti (He now ministers in North Carolina). He recalls,

“Nearly thirty years ago, I was a middle school teacher in Kenya. One day I took 20 students, and I told them: “I will do my best to teach you and train you. If you obey me, you will be the best students of this school.” They were excited.

“In a short time, I realized that only some of them were willing to keep up with my training. Some of them said, “It’s too difficult.” Some said, “We have more important things to do.” Some of them said, “You see other students are having more fun than we do.” When they graduated, 2 of them were the best students of the school. Only 2 out of 20.”Download (PDF

(Contributed by Dr. Nicholas M. Muteti on Jun 15, 2011, www.sermoncentral.com)

I wonder if this is how God feels. We each could be absolutely the best we could become, if only we obeyed the Lord. He knows this and sees so few of us trying to live out the Christian life style. I wonder how frustrated He gets with us human beings.

Both Paul and Jesus have a lot to say today about obeying God:

Paul reminds us (in Romans 7:14-25a) that our sinful (carnal) nature does not cease to exist when we become Christians. Oh, if only it did! If anything, we just become more frustrated because now we recognize—and hopefully, regret–our sinfulness. The cry of Paul’s heart is so poignant. Can’t we each identify with him in verse 24 What a wretched man [or woman] I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? I find Peterson’s paraphrase of parts of this passage so helpful (The Message, pp.2043-2044) Yes, I’m full of myself—after all, I’ve spent a long time in sin’s prison. What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can’t be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God’s command [the Law] is necessary. But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it: I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions.

Paul makes the case that just deciding not to sin is not enough to keep us from sinning. Remember, last week he said (in Romans 6)…

[1] Start with faith in Jesus;

[2] Surrender yourself to God;

[3] Then ask God, the Holy Spirit, to help you live into your new intentions.

We need supernatural help. We need the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us to help us live more and more like Jesus.

Jesus, in our Matthew 11:16-30 passage, is speaking about how folks have rejected both His cousin, John the Baptist, and Him. He says they rejected John for being too severe, too austere. Those who have rejected Jesus have done so for the opposite reason. They say he’s too friendly.

Since He eats with tax collectors and sinners, they claim He is a drunkard and a glutton. (YIKES! I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes at the Last Judgment.)

So, He then rejects the cities in which He has spent the most time: Korazon, Bethsaida, and Capernaum—Capernaum had been His headquarters! Most of the residents of these three cities have blown off His teachings, His miracles, and His healings done. To Jesus, they now rate worse than the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, who God fire-bombed. (What might be worse than that? I hate to think it.)

Biblical scholars say it is at this point that Jesus turns from trying to convert the Jewish nation toward appealing to individuals who are open to Him. He offers rest to those who are weary and burdened. He asks them/us to join with Him and learn from Him. He promises rest for our souls, for My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Let me digress for just a moment: Jesus had been a carpenter, so He had most likely built wooden yokes for oxen. Jesus would have measured the oxen before fashioning their yoke—like us, all oxen are not of the same size or girth. Then the farmer would have returned about a week later to have the pair fitted with the new yoke. If it had been made to fit exactly, it would not chafe or injure their necks. Jesus is implying that he makes obeying Him individualized and non-stressful, if we partner in the effort with the Holy Spirit.

This is essentially what Paul later repeated, isn’t it? He wrote that we should put our trust in Jesus; we should do as He does, or at least obey what He says; and we should ask the Holy Spirit to help us when our sin natures want us to rebel. As J.Vernon McGee says, “The only place in the world to put that burden [our sins] is at the Cross of Christ.” The reward for this obedience is rest, deep shalom [total wellbeing] peace.

As with last week, the doctrines expressed by Jesus and by Paul are illustrated with a great story from the Old Testament, Genesis 24:34-67. Abraham had become very rich—he was like a prince or a high nomadic potentate by this time. Sarah had died at age 127, so Abraham was probably 137 years old. Before he died, he wanted to secure a bride for Isaac. He wants someone from his extended family, not an idolatrous Canaanite. So he sends his trusted representative to the area of Haran (Iran), to search out a suitable woman from among his extended family.

The servant prays to Abraham’s God and suggests a sign by which to recognize God’s choice of a bride for Isaac. She will encounter him at a well. She will offer him water to drink. She will even draw water for his 10 camels. Additionally, she will extend traditional middle eastern hospitality: water for his feet, food and refreshments, and overnight accommodations for him and his animals. Arriving in Haran, the servant then encounters a beautiful young woman who does exactly that. She gives him water. She draws water for his animals. She invites him home to meet her family. This woman is Rebekah, Abraham’s great-niece, the virgin granddaughter of Abraham’s brother, Nahor. Now of all the wells the servant could have visited, what are the chances that he would run into Abraham’s kin? God has clearly superintended this process. It’s a divine appointment.

The servant recognizes this and offers praise and thanksgiving to God.

In verse 26, we are told Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord, saying,”Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my masters’ relatives.” This woman, Rebekah, is clearly God’s choice for Isaac. The servant tells her the story of how he decided to approach her—he’d asked God for a sign. She doesn’t seem to have difficulty believing him. Then he gifts her with a ring and two gold bracelets.

Her brother, Laban, shows up, hears the story, and also invites Abraham’s servant to their home. Once again, the servant shares his instructions with everyone. No doubt Rebekah is somewhere listening in as the story is retold. Everyone appears to agree she is God’s choice of a bride for Isaac. The servant has surely filled them in on Isaac’s miraculous birth and the divine substitution of the sacrificial ram. They may have been impressed that Isaac seemed to be a man with a God-ordained destiny.

The family is impressed with the costly gifts bestowed on the maiden, signifying that Abraham is indeed wealthy. The bride-price is agreed upon, but by the next morning the family appears to have backed off a bit. In an intimation of things to come—Laban will renege on his agreement with his future nephew, Jacob—Laban, Rebekah’s brother, wants to delay his sister’s marriage. The family urges the servant to wait 10 more days. No doubt concerned for Abraham’s age and health, the servant insists they leave immediately.

In an interesting move in a paternalistic culture, the family members suggest Rebekah be consulted. From what she’s heard and experienced, she is ready to go—off with a servant she barely knows; to a country she’s never seen; to meet a husband she’s only heard of. What an adventure! What a courageous young woman!

What standards might this story point to for us today?

First, we note the faithfulness of the servant. He’s given his word to Abraham to do his best, but otherwise he has no stake in the outcome. Nevertheless, he works hard to fulfill his promise. He is obedient. He prays for the Lord’s favor. He diligently repeats his instructions from Abraham to the extended family members. He clearly does not want to mess up! This is a great example (from about 4,000 ago) of godly obedience.

Second, I am also struck by the willingness and courage of Rebekah. She doesn’t know Abraham from Adam’s house cat. She is looking at marrying a dude she’s only just heard of and never seen. She will be making her home far away from her family—in fact, she never sees them again this side of heaven. What convinces her to take the risk of leaving everything she has ever known? Perhaps she was impressed by the miraculous nature of Isaac’s birth, believing he is a man special to God. No doubt she had heard the story of his almost-sacrificial death, and been impressed with the fact that he could have overwhelmed his aged father’s strength, and taken himself off the altar. Nevertheless, he chose to be obedient to and respectful of his father, and of his father’s God. Maybe she rightfully understood that Isaac was special relationship with God and wished to attach herself to such a faithful and blessed man. And, if she had been a woman of faith, she could see and understand how God had indeed chosen her to be Isaac’s mate. After all, the servant had asked for a complex set of signs, and, without any prior knowledge of them, she had fulfilled each one.

Third, this story has a happy ending. It’s actually a love story. Scripture is God’s love story to us, but He never guarantees us “a rose garden.” He does, however, promise us blessings for faith and obedience. Rebekah gets on her camel and rides to Israel and to Isaac. The evening she arrives, Isaac is out praying. He sees her, the answer to his prayers. She sees him and leaps off her camel, indicating she is both single and eager to meet him. Cue the dramatic music! The faithful servant relates everything to Isaac, who obviously sees Rebekah as the answer to his prayers (and his father’s plans). Verse 67 tells us Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah [now dead], and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

This beautiful story is an indication of what can happen to the righteous—those of us who call upon the Holy Spirit to live obedient lives pleasing to God. Yes, we inherit heaven. But, we can also be abundantly blessed by the Lord here on earth. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

©️2023 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Trinity Sunday

Pastor Sherry’s message for June 4, 2023

Scriptures: Gen 1:1-31, 2:1-4; Ps 8; 2 Cor 13:11-13; Matt 28:16-20

Today is Trinity Sunday, traditionally the first Sunday after Pentecost. Many people have come up with metaphors to explain the Trinity—one God in three separate persons—but each of these images falls short somehow. Explaining the Trinity proves to be very difficult. Consider this true story from St. Augustine (396 to 430), Bishop of Hippo or present day Algeria. Many experts today still consider him to be one of the premier theologians of the Christian Church. It is said that,

“One day when St. Augustine was at his wits’ end to understand and explain the Trinity, he went out for a walk. He kept turning over in his mind, “One God, but three Persons. Three Persons–not three Gods but one God. What does it mean? How can it be explained? How can my mind take it in?”

“And so he was torturing his mind and beating his brains out, when he saw a little boy on the beach. He approached him to see what he was doing. The child had dug a small hole in the sand. With his hands he was carrying water from the ocean and was dumping it in the little hole. St. Augustine asked, “What are you doing, my child?”

“The child replied, “I want to put all of the water of the ocean into this hole.”

“St. Augustine asked, “But is it possible for all of the water of this great ocean to be contained in this little hole?”

“And then it dawned on Augustine, “If the water of the ocean cannot be contained in this little hole, then how can the Infinite Trinitarian God be contained in your mind?”

(Borrowed from a sermon by Rev. Gordon Curley, dated November 29, 2010, archived on http://www.Sermoncentral.com).

Again, it is very difficult to explain the Trinity using images like a three-leaf clover (one plant, three leaves), an egg (shell, liquid, solid), or water (ice, fluid, steam) because while these speak to the separateness of the three, they do not adequately describe the unity, the relationships among the persons, or their cooperative work together.

John Wesley (1703-1791), the Anglican pastor who founded our Methodist Church, may have come close. He once used the following analogy to explain the doctrine of the Trinity: He said,

“Tell me how it is that in this room there are three candles and one light, and I will explain to you the mode of the triune God.” “Although each of the three persons of the Holy Community has his own distinct identity, all work together harmoniously as one God to accomplish salvation.”

(Borrowed from Pastor Glen Key from his March 2, 2011 sermon; archived on website http://www.sermoncentral.com)

As it turns out, you won’t find the word Trinity in the Bible. People only began to use this term toward the end of the 2nd century. Theophilos, the Bishop of Antioch in 180 AD, used the term Trias to describe our one God in three persons. Later, the theologian Tertullian (155-220AD) who challenged many developing heresies in the early Church, changed the word to Trinitas. The church leaders who met in Nicea in 325 AD, and later in Constantinople in 381, set this reality as doctrine in the Nicene Creed. It’s a way of describing what the Bible tells us about the reality of God—in essence, One God, but formed of 3 distinct persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

But you will find citations of the three persons of the Trinity:

In John 10:30, Jesus says–>I and the Father are One. Later, in an epistle (1 John 5:7), John says For there are three that testify, the Father, the Word [Jesus], and the Spirit, and these three are one.

The Old Testament also mentions or implies the Triune nature of our God:

Job 33:6 refers to the Holy Spirit The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Isaiah 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? [implying more than one person]. The Hebrews never adopted the custom exhibited by later European monarchs of referring to themselves in the plural. If the Hebrew passage said us, it meant literally more than one.

Isaiah also predicts the 1st Advent of Jesus, within Whom will reside many gifts of the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 11:1-2) A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse [lineage of King David]; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit [Holy Spirit] of the Lord [God the Father] will rest on Him [Jesus]—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

Our Scriptures today all shine further light on the cooperative functions of the members of the Trinity:

A. In our Genesis 1:1-31, 2:1-4 lesson, two members of the Trinity are mentioned: (1) Verse 1 In the beginning God [the Father planned and directed it] created the heavens and the earth.

(2) Verse 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God [Holy Spirit] was hovering over the waters. Hovering here evokes such a lovely image. In the Hebrew it conveys the sense of a mother hen hovering over/covering with her wings her chicks. It’s a protective and a loving action.

(3) Verses 3-26 reveal the orderly mind of God and His attention to detail. The 1st day (v.3), He—John the Gospeler says this He is Jesus, who speaks creation into existence. In John 1:1,3, he tells us In the beginning was the Word [God’s Word made flesh, Jesus, the Logos], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…Through Him [Jesus] all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. That first day, Jesus spoke light into existence. Remember, Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world.”

The 2nd day (v.6), He created the sky, separating the waters above (rain, dew) from the waters below (oceans, lakes, rivers, etc.).

The 3rd day (vv.9-11), He separated out dry ground from the waters and made vegetation.

The 4th day (v.14), He formed lights in the sky, the sun, the moon, and the stars. (Notice, light itself was produced before these celestial bodies were placed in the heavens).

The 5th day (vv.20-24), He produced marine life and birds.

On the 6th day (26), He crafted land-dwelling animals and humankind, the pinnacle of His creation. He said Let us [plural, more than one] make man in our image, in our likeness. Adam, Eve, and the animals were to be fruitful and multiply; and Adam was to serve as a steward or overseer of over the rest of creation, as God’s agents.

So, according to the first chapters of Genesis and of John, all three persons of the Trinity were present at creation. God the Father devised the plan; God the Son spoke it into existence; and God the Spirit was both the power source and the breath (The Hebrew word for the Holy Spirit is ruach which means both breath, wind, and spirit).

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. As we know, the names of God and of Jesus are not everywhere honored today; some use them as curse words. But at Jesus’ 2nd Coming, all will know that God is real, that He exists, and that He rules in power and might. They will then either revere Him or be gone.

C. Both 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 and Matthew 28:16-20 are farewell addresses that include references to the Trinity. As Paul says goodbye to the Church in Corinth, he exhorts them to… (v.11) aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, and live in peace.

None of us is perfect, so what he means by this is grow up! In the first chapters of 1 Corinthians, he takes the believers there to task for being infantile in their faith (preferring milk to meat) and acting out of their carnal rather than spiritual nature. So, he is saying, essentially, “Don’t act like entitled children; learn to live a spirit-filled, disciplined life.”

Additionally, he wants them to pay attention to what he has taught them. He encourages them to try to maintain unity in doctrine and beliefs—which we know presently and personally is difficult. And he wants them to live in peace….We can’t create peace—only Jesus can—but we can conduct ourselves in a way that demonstrates we know Jesus can supply us with the peace that passes all understanding. Then he encourages them to greet each other with appropriate affection—no icky or invasive hugs or kisses.

Finally, he blesses them with a benediction that includes each member of the Trinity (v.14) May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God [the Father], and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. What a wonderful sendoff!

Jesus’s parting words in Matthew 28 are strikingly similar. We call His final instructions the Great Commission:

(1) We are to go! Through our neighborhoods, our county, our state, our country, to the entire world.

(2) We are to make disciples for Christ.

(3) We are to teach them about Jesus and that they and we are to be obedient to Him.

(4) And we are to baptize them (v.19) …in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Paul died but Jesus promises us to be present with us (through the Holy Spirit) (v.20)…to the very end of the age.

So what does this mean to us on this Trinity Sunday of 2023?

The story is told of a seminary professor who asked his students to close their eyes and see if they could summon up for themselves an image of God.

“After a few moments he had them open their eyes and, if comfortable, share what they saw. Most of them said the same thing: “An old man with a white beard floating in the clouds, looking down at us.” [The professor] then said, “If what you imagine God to be like is anything other than Jesus, then you have the wrong image of God.” Jesus is beautiful, and so are the Father and the Spirit: “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14 KJV).”.

(Borrowed from The Magnificent Story by James Bryan Smith, InterVarsity Press, 2018.).

We want to remember that God the Father and the Spirit are spirits. Jesus shows us the loving, grace-filled face of the Father, as well as the powerful, healing and sanctifying presence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. The truth is that our God exists in 3 persons—all the same God but taking on three personalities or different expressions—all of which is difficult for our finite minds to take in. I don’t understand gravity. I can’t see it, but I know it is real and I don’t plan to test it by jumping off a tall building. I think, until we reach heaven, we probably have to agree with St. Augustine and take the same stance with the Trinity.

©️2023 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

The Imprecatory Psalms

Pastor Sherry’s message for April 30, 2023

Scriptures: Acts 2:42-47; Ps 137; 1 Peter 2:19-25; Jn 10:1-10

I. Chuck Swindoll relates the following humorous stories (The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, Word Publishing,1998, p.493):

A man went to see his physician about some strange symptoms he was having. The doctor examined him and then told him that he had rabies. Immediately the guy set about writing a list. Thinking the man was writing his will, the doc hastened to inform him that he would not be dying because there is a successful treatment. The man then told the doctor he knew rabies wasn’t fatal but that he was making a list of all the people he wanted to bite.

In the 2nd story, a newborn is held up by her feet and smacked on the fanny to get her to breathe. Instead of crying, the baby girl screams angrily, “I want an attorney!”

Both of these stories are about the very human desire for revenge when we perceive we’ve been wronged. Our Cancel Culture today demands retribution and deliberately sets out to ruin whoever and whatever they target. We know this is not the perspective of our God. As far back as Genesis 50:19, we have the example of Joseph forgiving his brothers for having sold him into bondage. In Proverbs 20:22, Solomon, in his wisdom writes Do Not say, “I’ll pay you back for this wrong!’ Wait for the Lord, and He will deliver you. Nor was revenge ever advocated by Jesus.

Remember, Jesus forgave His murderers from the Cross. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:43-44), Jesus taught You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, ’Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you….’ In Romans 12:14, the Apostle Paul exhorts us to Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. He continues in verses 17 and 19: Do not repay anyone evil for evil….Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.

So then, we might ask, “What’s with the so called, ‘Imprecatory Psalms’?” These are a group of 10-14 Psalms that invoke or call down curses on enemies. They are a plea for God to avenge the psalmist for serious wrongs done to him or her.

1. Psalm 5:10 (a Psalm of David) says (Peterson’s The Message, p.915 Pile on the guilt, God! Let their so-called wisdom wreck them. Kick them out! They’ve had their chance.

2. Psalm 35:4-8 (another David psalm, MSG, p.952) When those thugs try to knife me in the back, make them look foolish. Frustrate all those who are plotting my downfall. Make them like cinders in a high wind, with God’s angel working the bellows. Make their road lightless and mud-slick, with God’s angel on their tails. Out of sheer cussedness they set a trap to catch me; for no good reason they dug a ditch to stop me. Surprise them with Your ambush—catch them in the very trap they set, the disaster they planned for me.

3. Our psalm today is another particularly bloodthirsty example (Psalm 137:7-9, MSG, p.1079-1080) God, remember those Edomites, and remember the ruin of Jerusalem, that day they yelled out, “Wreck it, smash it to bits!” And you, Babylonians—ravagers! A reward to whoever gets back at you for all you’ve done to us; Yes a reward to the one who grabs your babies and smashes their heads on the rocks! Yikes! These examples seem extreme, don’t they? Human enough, but not very Christian; and not much different from what our culture advocates today.

Let’s consider then why God has allowed them a place in the canon [the standard or tenets] of Scripture:

1. First, they are not just emotionally hot and irrational expressions of unchecked temper. They are instead passionate, emphatic requests for divine justice. Since they are included in the Bible, you can even make a case that they are divinely inspired.

2. Second, in Deuteronomy 27 and 28, the Israelites call down blessings upon their nation for godly behavior and curses upon their nation for idolatry and other serious offenses against God. They thereby pronounced imprecations upon themselves–and their children, in advance–for abandoning God’s commands. No wonder the Jewish people have had such a hard time of it over the ages!

3. Most of the imprecatory psalms were written by King David. They are not really calls for personal vengeance, but rather requests for God’s justice. David was a mighty and a successful military general. However, he also demonstrated remarkable restraint. He spared King Saul’s life several times when he could have easily slain him. He did not exact revenge on Nabal or Shimei (who both disrespected him), nor even on his beloved son Absalom who led an insurrection (palace coup) against him. In each case, he asked God to vindicate him, but was not personally vindictive.

4. Additionally, imprecatory psalms are human prayers asking for God to carry out His divine promises. Notice Jesus says, in Matthew 7:23 that on Judgment Day, He will say to hypocrites who claim to love Him but don’t I never knew you. Away from Me, you evildoers. This is a prayer based on God’s promises to meet out His justice at the end of times. Furthermore, our God hates sin. Jesus expects the Father to address sin.

5. The motivation behind imprecatory psalms is zeal for justice and righteousness. It’s like the difference between gossip and truth: Gossip seeks to run a person down, to build up self at the expense of others. Truth-telling may be just as negative, but it describes what actually is going on. Both may look and sound the same, but the motives are different. The psalmist is not asking God to destroy an individual, but rather to address and heal the harm done.

6. Usually the imprecations are aimed at a group, a class of persons—Edomites or Babylonians–“the wicked,” or those who oppose God.

7. And often the call for divine judgment comes after many efforts have been made to get the hateful group to repent. Paul urges us to pray for those who persecute us (Romans 12:20, quoting Proverbs 25:21-22) If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head and the Lord will reward you. But he also says in 1 Corinthians 16:22 If anyone does not love the Lord—a curse be on him. Come, oh Lord! In other words, by our grace-filled behavior, we may be able to transform an enemy into a believer; nonbelievers, however, have already condemned themselves.*

*(Ideas borrowed from Sam Storms at www.samstorms.org, April 28, 2023, article entitled, “Ten things you should know about the Imprecatory Psalms,” which I have collapsed to 7.)

8. Finally, I think they also provide a model for how we should respond to those who attack or harm us, verbally or otherwise: Rather than running down an enemy in person, or on line (which is so cowardly), or—in some cases–in the courts, we should present them to the Lord and pray for Him to respond to them with His just verdicts and judgments.

Now, let’s return to Psalm 137. What are the Israelites saying in this imprecatory psalm?

First, they have been captured and enslaved by the Babylonians. God allowed this to happen to the Northern Kingdom (by the Assyrians) in 722 and the Southern Kingdom (by the Babylonians) in 586. They were being disciplined by God for their idolatry. They had abandoned the Lord. They were living sinful lifestyles. God sent prophet after prophet to warn them, but they didn’t listen and repent.

So the Judeans find themselves in Babylon, most likely digging canals from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers to irrigate this dry land. They are despondent and depressed. They see no reason to celebrate in song. The Babylonians, however, had heard that they worshipped their God with songs and psalms, and now torment them to sing again for their entertainment.

It is said that over 100,000 worshipers would sing together in the Temple during the high feast days. That must have been glorious! But these despondent captives cannot be persuaded to sing. They miss Jerusalem.

They miss their home.

Instead, they beg for God’s justice against the Edomites, descendants of Esau, Jacob’s twin brother. Jacob went on to become the patriarch of the Israelites, while Esau’s descendants were Arabs from Edom. In other words, they were extended family members who rejoiced over Jerusalem’s fall. They also beg God’s justice against the the brutal Babylonian army who no doubt killed children too young to work, perhaps by bashing in their skulls on rocks. They would have also cut down the elderly and anyone with a handicapping infirmity.

The imprecatory psalms are a cry for God’s justice. Our God is able to do what we cannot. This is why we call upon the Lord to redress the problems with our greedy and corrupt leaders in Washington, DC. This is why we pray faithfully every Sunday for God to bring about a national turnaround in our government, our justice system, our communities, our schools, and in our families. We don’t call for the Lord to destroy those who are inspiring havoc and lawlessness in our country, but to change their hearts.

Come, Lord Jesus. Heal our land and heal our hearts!

©️2023 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Faulty Expectations

Pastor Sherry’s message for April 23, 2023

Scriptures: Acts 2:14a,36-41; Ps 116:1-4,12-19; 1 Pet 1:17-23; Lk 24:13-35

I read a story recently from “Our Daily Bread” that tickled me:

“A traveling salesman had a flat tire while driving, in the rain, at night, on a country road. But to his dismay he had no lug wrench. Seeing a nearby farmhouse, he set out on foot. Surely the farmer would have a lug wrench, he thought. But would he even come to the door? And if he did, he’d probably be furious at being bothered. He’d say, ‘What’s the big idea getting me out of bed in the middle of the night?’ This thought made the salesman angry. ‘Why, that farmer is a selfish old clod to refuse to help me.’

“Finally the man reached the house. Frustrated and drenched, he banged on the door. ‘Who’s there?’ a voice called out from a window overhead. ‘You know good and well who it is,’ yelled the salesman, his face red with anger. ‘It’s me! And you can keep your old lug wrench! I wouldn’t borrow it is it was the last one in the county.’”

Do you see how the salesman’s faulty expectations influenced his interactions with the sleepy farmer? He had worked himself into a “mad” over how he anticipated the conversation would go. He hadn’t even yet interacted with the man, but his imagined and negative expectations skewed the way he then approached someone who could have helped him. Psychological research tells us that our common default is to evaluate a situation negatively. We do this almost automatically and have to learn to override this in order to think positively. In olden times, there was a practical value to scanning the environment for dangers. Negative evaluations keep us safe, but they won’t get us to happy. Positive thinking is what does that.

Think about your typical expectations. Has faulty thinking ever been true of you? I once began a new job—prior to seminary—with a boss who claimed she was a Christian. I liked her initially and thought she would be a good person to work for; hers was the 5th firm in 2 years to take over the rehabilitation company that employed my team and me. She called her business, “RehabActs,” and told me she had named it for the book of Acts. My expectations of her were positive until I discovered later that she was using my mental health license to defraud Medicaid and Medicare. I confronted her and told her she was putting my license in jeopardy but she informed me that she was the boss and that I would sign off on services we had not performed or be fired. When she would not listen to reason, I had to quit in order to protect my credentials from ethics violations and possible criminal charges. My expectations that she would be an ethical employer had been extremely disappointed.

How often have your expectations of friends and family disappointed you? I recently learned of two adult children whose father did not invite them to his wedding, even though they both lived in the same town where the marriage ceremony took place, and could have attended. They both discerned from this that he did not hold either one in very high esteem. They were of course deeply disappointed.

How about business or financial decisions that turned out to be mistakes? Or retirement plans? I remember a woman who shared with me her broken heart. She and her husband had worked for years to fix up a lake house to retire to, only to have him die a week after they moved in. She awoke one morning to find him dead in his recliner. She had expected they would live out their retirement years in this tranquil and beautiful setting, but she sold the property on which they had worked so hard. The memories of what was not to be were too painful.

Our readings today address the issue of faulty (or mistaken) vs. sound expectations:

A. Our Gospel lesson (Luke 24:13-35) invites us to consider how many of Jesus’ followers probably responded to news of His death and resurrection. Afterall, death seems so final, the end of possibilities and dreams. These two on the road to Emmaus–Cleopas and a friend? His wife? His son?–were confused and disappointed. Many had thought that Jesus was the Messiah who would help them overthrow Roman rule. But now He had been executed like a common criminal. Rumors were spreading that He had been seen, alive and well. Jesus had apparently risen from the dead! They wondered, “Could this possibly be true?”

Then Jesus sets them straight—in what had to have been a phenomenal walk through the Hebrew Scriptures: Verse 27 and beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself. He shared with them the totality of how the Old Testament pointed to and described the Christ. No doubt He shared how Jesus’s life and ministry fulfilled these Scriptures. Did you realize that all of the items in the Holy Place and the Holies of Holies were symbolic of Jesus? How about the way the Israelites camped and marched in the Wilderness? They camped by tribes in the shape of a Cross, with the Tabernacle in the middle and the tribe of Judah ahead of it. No doubt He disabused them of their faulty expectations that Jesus was meant to be a conquering hero in His First Coming. No, He came first as a humble servant to save them and us spiritually, from our sins. But when He returns in His 2nd coming, He will then arrive as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, completing our rescue from the grip of human and satanic tyrants.

Notice, it was only as He blessed and broke bread with them that they recognized Him (v.31) Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, and he disappeared from their sight. How frustrating to have Him then suddenly vanish (oh, that resurrection body!). He reveals Himself to them, they get it, and He evaporates! However, they now know they too have encountered the Risen Christ. So, they hot-foot it back to Jerusalem to share their news with the disciples gathered there. Don’t you know they also gave a seminar on their faulty expectations vs. Christ’s reality?

B. In our Acts lesson (Acts 2:14a,36-41), Peter preaches a Pentecost sermon that converts the hearts of 3,000 Jews to Jesus. Having been empowered by the Holy Spirit, he is no longer captured by fear. Instead, he becomes a bold, authoritative street preacher. Gloves off, he accuses them in verse 36 Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. He confronts them with their national sin. They feel both convicted and guilty. They ask him and the other disciples (v.37)…Brothers, what shall we do?

In verse 38, he tells them to repent, be baptized, and receive the Holy Spirit. Isn’t this what each of us has done as we too have come to a saving knowledge of Christ? Our faith has led us to a desire to be baptized with water (if we were not as infants); and, hopefully, we have also been received the gift of the Holy Spirit. In other words, Peter was exhorting them to let go of their faulty expectations of the Messiah and accept that Jesus was and is the Christ.

C. Peter goes on to say in his epistle (1st Peter 1:17-23) that there is no other way to salvation except through belief in Jesus. In verses 18-19, he insists, essentially, that nothing can save us from our sins but Jesus…not money (gold or silver); not power and influence; not personal effort; not other gods (notice the little “g”). No, we are only saved by…(v.19) the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. This is one of the main reasons Christianity is becoming less popular in our culture today. Secularists take exception to the Bible’s exclusive claims. Jesus said no one comes to the Father except through Him; He is the only way to heaven. Many would prefer that there would instead be several routes to Paradise. Jesus is the only way to salvation because it is only He who paid the cost of all of our sins.

Additionally, as Rev. Dr. J. Vernon McGee says, “Jesus was not an ambulance sent to a wreck,” not an emergency response to a catastrophe (Commentary on 1 Peter, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1991, p.40.) Jesus’ saving work on the Cross was always God’s plan (v.20) He was chosen before the creation of the world [and] was revealed in these last times for your sake.

D. So, what is our response to be—our sound expectation–for this great Good News? Our Psalm (116:1-4, 12-19) tells us: (Vv.1-2) I love the Lord, for He heard my voice; He heard my cry for mercy. Because He turned His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live. Whoever wrote this psalm was a person in distress who chose to upon the Lord for help. Asking God for help is a choice, often peoples’ last option after they have done all they possibly can in a given situation. But this composer believed the Lord would hear and would help. So he or she wrote this love song to God. As the psalmist teaches us, we respond to God with gratitude because He hears us. We respond with love for Him because He replies to our heartfelt prayers.

The truth is that God needs nothing from us. The best gift we can give God is our love. Another great gift to Him is our thanks.

We want to have only sound expectations of Jesus. We are to let go of any faulty expectations that get in the way of a sound faith and understanding of Jesus Christ. These include common misperceptions that Jesus should do what I want Him to do for me to have faith in Him. These also include my dependence on my own wealth, power, or influence–or my own will. King Louis XIV of France (1643-1715), also known as “the Sun King,” reigned for 72+ years. Upon losing a massive battle to the English at Blenheim, he is said to have exclaimed, “How could God do this to me? After all I have done for Him?” God bless him, but what hubris!

A wiser Frenchman, Blaise Pascal (a famous mathematician and philosopher who lived during Louis 14th’s reign, once said, “Human knowledge must be understood to be believed but divine knowledge must be believed to be understood.” If we read the Bible, it will correct our faulty expectations. If we ask for the help of the Holy Spirit as we read it, Scripture will teach us what we can accurately hope for from our God. The Spirit will correct our faulty understandings. The Spirit will deepen our faith and our love for God. Thanks be to God! Amen!

©️2023 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Immature Christians

Pastor Sherry’s message for February 12, 2023

Scriptures: Deut 30:15-20; Ps 119:1-8; 1 Cor 3:1-9; Matt 5:21-37

About 10 years ago, I was teaching Introductory Psychology at Santa Fe College, in Gainesville, Florida, when I had in my class a young man on the autism spectrum, likely diagnosed with Asperger’s Disorder. He was 18 years old, earnest, and smart, but also very concrete in his thinking. He seemed not to be able to comprehend abstract ideas. He told me he had an older brother who was a pharmacist, and his perception was that his brother was their parent’s favorite. He told me how hard he worked to be just as good as his brother, academically, and how important it was to him to make A’s to impress his parents. I noticed in the parking lot that he drove a brand new Ford Mustang GT with racing stripes, so his parents must have favored him more than he acknowledged.

Now the study of Psychology involves a great number of abstract ideas, so I was worried that he would not score well on my tests. Sure enough, he failed the first one. Given the amount of pressure he put on himself, I suspected his reaction to his score would be one of intense disappointment. What I was not prepared for was his startling behavior.

When the other students filed out of the classroom, he threw himself on the floor and had a temper tantrum like that of a 2 or 3 year old. He flailed his arms and legs. He screamed and cried. Believe me, I felt compassion for him in his distress; however, his behavior was thoroughly inappropriate for a college student.

I stood near him and told him, calmly, to stop that. I said his tantrum was not age appropriate. I asked him to get up off the ground and to seek the free counseling that the college offered (which he later did). He needed to learn to control his anger and to manage his distress, and he needed to learn to express negative emotions in an age-appropriate manner. Such a response was immature and would only earn him his peers’ and his professors’ contempt.

Immaturity is the issue that Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians 3:1-9. Let’s back up for just a minute and put Paul’s concern into context. In chapter #2, he had divided humankind into two classes of people: the unsaved and the saved. The unsaved he also called the natural man, or the fleshly man. Such persons either reject the idea that God exists– they are atheists–or, they worship gods they create in their own image, and we call them idolaters. Or they cling to their own wills, believing spiritual things are foolish. They are so fascinated by their own intellects that they believe they can save themselves (I have met many like this in academia).

Paul contrasted the unsaved with the saved or spiritual man. This man or woman has accepted Christ. They are spiritual enough, or practical enough, or wise enough to realize (1) they can receive the wisdom of God; but, (2) they cannot attain righteousness on their own. On other words, they know cannot save themselves—they need Jesus.

Now, in chapter 3, he further divides Christians (the saved; spiritual persons) into two classes: Paul asserts there are Mature Christians, who are cooperating with the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. You can see evidence that their life has changed since they came to know Jesus. They are not perfect, but they do most everything they do with the awareness that God is watching. A church in Live Oak has on their sign, “God saw that.” I think that’s funny. It’s also true since God is omniscient and omnipresent. He does see everything. Furthermore, mature Christians do most everything they do with a desire to please the Lord. They are also future thinking, often considering what might be the eternal consequences of their current actions and words. They are constantly learning from Jesus and/or Scripture and desire to share what they learn with others.

Then there are also what Paul calls Carnal or Immature Christians. They are Christians who look like and live like everyone else in the culture. Coming to know Jesus has not changed them at all. The Greek word for carnal is sarkikos, which means fleshly. In Latin and in French, carna means sensual. Thus, the word carnival comes from carna vale—or farewell to the flesh. This is why many cultures celebrate the Tuesday before Lent starts—Fat Tuesday—as the last opportunity for gluttony allowed before the traditional deprivations of Lent set in. This is who Paul meant when he wrote in Philippians 3:19 [they are the ones]…whose god is their belly. Paul thinks of them as “spiritual infants;” they are as immature acting as my former student.

Paul tells them he fed them milk, the basics, because they were too immature to digest meat. They may have come to know Biblical stories, but were probably not familiar with Biblical doctrine. When I arrived at a church in New Orleans to assist my friend, the lead pastor, we discovered the staff were all reading The DaVinci Code, by Dan Brown. They did not understand why Jesus would not have impregnated Mary Magdalene and left behind a child the Catholic Church worked hard to deny. We shared with them the doctrine that Jesus was sinless as he walked the earth. He needed to be in order to save us. Also, He would not have committed fornication, nor would He marry only to have shirked His responsibility as a husband or father. The staff were “baby Christians.” They hadn’t really studied Scripture (which is both milk, bread, meat, honey), like the Corinthians. Or perhaps they had studied God’s Word, but they had not digested the hard truths they found there (like in today’s Gospel lesson). They weren’t cooperating with the Holy Spirit, so there was no spiritual fruit in their lives, little grace for others, and no true desire to live a life pleasing to Christ.

In verses 1-3, Paul says that the Corinthians are immature, worldly, and carnal Christians. He is convinced his assessment is accurate due to their (a) quarreling (strife)—they are too fascinated with fallen humans; (b) jealousy of (and gossip about) one another; (c) factions; and (d) the fact that they allow gross immorality to go on in their fellowship in the name of toleration. He then reverts back to his arguments of chapter #1they are being carnal, immature Christians when they try to elevate Paul over Apollos, or vice versa. There is not to be any competition, as both are servants of God who do different aspects of God’s work: Paul planted the church and the “seed” of God’s Word in their hearts. Apollos then “watered” that seed as the great preacher and teacher who God used to deepen their faith. They were a kind of one-two punch for Jesus!

Paul wants them and us to be sure that God alone gets the glory. It’s not who the preacher or teacher is–not their personality or their skill set; not even whether we like them or not. It is, instead, whether God is using that person! He rarely ever uses only one person. I have heard other pastors criticize an Ed Young, Jr. and a Joel O’Steen because they preach “Gospel light.” They are both invested in attracting nonbelievers to Jesus. Once people have accepted Christ, they probably then move on to someone like Ed Young, Sr., Charles Stanley, or Dr. David Jeremiah to dig down deep to experience being discipled in the faith. I believe God uses many persons of differing skill sets to bring us to a full, mature faith. Again, Paul, Peter, and Apollos did not compete with one another. All three were doing the work assigned to him, under Christ’s Lordship.

Paul’s message in 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 is that he wants both the Corinthian Church, and us, to grow up in our faith! (Remember, I told you last week that God told me to “Grow up!” because I am usually reluctant to preach from Paul’s letters?)

We become mature Christians when we marinate ourselves in God’s Word, the Bible. Make it a practice to read a passage daily. If you don’t understand it, get a study Bible and/or a good commentary to help you. Ponder what you have read and notice how opportunities to apply it come up in your daily life. When I was doing fulltime therapy with folks, I often found the Scripture I had read that morning was immediately relevant to what they were going through, and because it was fresh on my mind, I could share it with them. The Bible consists of God’s thoughts–God’s wisdom–written down for our benefit, ”The Word of God for the people of God.” Let what it says begin to guide your behavior. Let what it says begin to corral and transform your thoughts. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you change the way you live and think so that you line up with how Jesus lived and how He thinks.

We become mature Christians as we notice things like gross immorality in our culture—like drag shows for toddlers and sex change operations for children—and refuse to participate in it ourselves. Pray that those who practice these things come to a saving faith in Jesus, rather than summarily condemning them. Instead of condemning corrupt politicians, pray they discover Christ. Instead of seeking revenge, pray the evil-doer has a life transforming experience with the God you know and love. Finally, look for opportunities to offer nonbelievers knowledge about Jesus. This could include your personal testimony about how faith in Him has changed your life. It might also involve sharing the truth that all of the addictions or immoral practices people are using to fill the God-shaped hole in their lives will never satisfy them as Jesus can and will.

Thanks be to God who desires to grow us up into Mature Christians through our Lord Jesus Christ! Alleluia! Alleluia!

©️2023 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams