Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Correct Assessments

Pastor Sherry’s message for March 21, 2021

Scriptures: Jer 31: 31–34; Ps 51: 1–10; Heb 5: 1–10; John 12: 20-33

Do you remember a Scottish woman named Susan Boyle? She appeared on an English TV program called Britain’s Got Talent in 2001. She wowed the skeptical judges with her stunning rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables.

You may remember that she looked fairly frumpy; both the audience and the judges were cynical and dismissive, until she began to sing! Then they were awed and astonished. She has since gone on to improve her appearance and create award-winning albums.

Susan’s story proves the adage that we should not judge a book by its cover. Psychological research on perception says that we tend to size a person up in five seconds. We decided we would or would not like them based on very little information. We take more time than this to buy a car or rent an apartment. This makes it easier for us to quickly move on to other things but it also results in some misperceptions and erroneous assumptions.

Thankfully, our God has much more information on people and events than we do, and never makes some wrong assessment. His assessments are always correct!

Let’s start with our Jeremiah passage. Just prior to the passage, God says through His prophet to the Israelites, I have loved you with an everlasting love. God is foretelling the day when he will call all the Jews who are scattered throughout the world back to Israel. He will make a new covenant with them. Instead of abandoning them due to their unwillingness to except His son as Messiah, He will write his law upon their hearts. Instead of punishing them for turning away from Jesus, He will claim them to Himself again. As Peterson translates it, “they will no longer go about setting up schools to teach each other about God. They’ll know me first hand, the dull and the bright, the smart and the slow. I’ll wipe the slate clean for each of them. I’ll forget they ever sinned.”

We should rightfully expect judgment, but instead we get mercy, grace, forgiveness, and that everlasting love only God radiates. How surprising! How wonderful! How humble and grateful we should be that God assesses us and still desires to be in close relationship with us all.

Psalm 51: 1–13 is King David’s great penitential Psalm. He has broken the sixth, seventh, and tenth commandments. He had set up Uriah, a loyal bodyguard, to be murdered so that he could claim his wife, with whom he had had an adulterous relationship. And he kept quiet about his massive sins, only to suffer torment he was highly anxious and miserable.

When I kept it all inside, my bones turned to powder, my words became day long groans. The pressure never let up; all the juices of my life dried up.

The writer to the Hebrews (4:13) observes nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

Sure enough, God dispatches the prophet Nathan to confront him in story form. David could’ve lied and blown Nathan off. Like many absolute rulers, he could’ve had him killed. But in a plot twist from what one might have expected from any other ancient Middle Eastern king, David admits his guilt—he takes responsibility.

  • For his transgressions—Stepping over God’s boundaries, he transgressed against Bathsheba, Uriah, and to his family. He was a poor example to his sons and to his nation.
  • For his iniquities— those things that are grossly immoral and thoroughly wrong: adultery, murder, covetousness.
  • For sins— failure to meet God‘s standards.

However, David does provide a good model for us in this Psalm. He admits his sins, transgressions, and iniquities; he begs God‘s forgiveness, and he asks God to transform him by the power of his Holy Spirit. In today’s “cancel culture,” David would be toast. His life and his legacy would be ruined. But our God loved his heart, took pity on him, and forgave him. I don’t know about you, but this is the kind of correct assessment I would prefer God had of me.

Hebrews 5:5-10 is making it clear to us that Jesus is our great high priest. But he’s from the tribe of Judah, not descended from Aaron, nor a member of the Levites the priestly clan. However, given God’s correct assessment, the Father defines Jesus as our high priest in the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek is first mentioned in Genesis 14. He congratulates Abraham on his victory against four pagan kings and blesses Abraham in the name of the Most High God. As king of Salem, he gives Abraham bread and wine. Then Abraham awards him a tithe.

John 12 2333, some Greeks come to ask Jesus their questions. As outsiders they were consigned to the court of the Gentiles in the temple and could not be present to hear Jesus teach. They approach Phillip, perhaps because his name is Greek, who with Andrew bring them to Jesus’ attention. Jesus, knowing He is soon facing the cross, meets with them briefly. We don’t know what the Greeks expect or want to ask. But Jesus reiterates He is going to die.

A millennium later (Psalms 110:4), David speaks prophetically of a priest and king to whom he would bow, Jesus the Messiah. Today’s passage from Hebrews, written just after Christ’s Ascension, asserts that Jesus is a high priest from the order of Melchizedek, a higher order than the Aaronic or Levitical priesthood. Speaking God’s truth and accurately predicting His death, resurrection, and the destruction of Jerusalem, Jesus was a prophet in His earthly ministry. He will come again in glory as the universal king. And here we learn Jesus is our great high priest.

The kernel that falls to the ground but results are much fruit and many other seeds

He knows he’s going to the cross and it’s going to be very painful. He doesn’t want to, but he will. For the third time, God speaks encouragement to him. He will be lifted up as His followers hope, but on a cross not to a kingly throne…yet. Nevertheless, over hundreds of years, has He not drawn millions to Him?

So often our God does the opposite of what we might expect, or even what we wish Him to do, so how might we deal with this? We might want to remember that God’s assessments are always correct. We tend to trust in our own perceptions. Experience tells us we are sometimes—maybe even often—wrong. Nevertheless, we worship a God who is always accurate in his assessments.

Are we going to trust in our own perceptions or in God’s accurate assessments?

Proverbs 3:5– trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

Proverbs 28-26– he who trust in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe.

Prayer:

Lord, help us to put our trust in you, even above ourselves and our own perceptions, judgments, and assessments. Help us to rightly discern the truth and to live lives that are pleasing in Your sight. We pray this in the mighty, compassionate, grace-filled, and always accurate name of Your son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Copyright 2021 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

The Saving Power of God

Pastor Sherry’s message for March 14, 2021

Scriptures: Num 21:4-9; Ps 107:1-3, 17-22; Eph 2:1-10; Jn 3:14-21

Stories are told—true stories—of both Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria pardoning someone who had incurred the death penalty. In Queen Elizabeth’s case, the queen was traveling by barge on July 17, 1579. Not realizing her majesty was cruising through the area, a young man named Thomas Appletree was firing off shots into the air to impress his friends. Unfortunately for him, one of his bullets came within 6 feet of the queen, seriously wounding one of her rowers. The queen offered encouragement to the wounded man while young Appletree was summarily arrested by her guards and later condemned to death. Just as Appletreewas being led to the gallows, however, a pardon arrived from the queengraciously sparing his life. We don’t know her motivations. Perhaps she realized it had been a careless accident, “no harm, no foul.” Or maybe she had an appreciation for the folly of youth. Whatever the case, she let the guy go free.

In Queen Victoria’s case (just 18 years old when she came to the throne in 1837), she was asked to sign some documents, one of which concerned the execution of a criminal. She was reluctant to do this and asked, “And must I be a party to his death?” The Prime Minister answered, “I fear it is so, unless Your Majesty desires to exercise her royal prerogative of mercy.” In a surprising move for someone so young and so new to power, she responded, “As an expression of the spirit in which I desire to rule, I will exercise my royal prerogative.” She wrote, “Pardoned” on the document, and the man was freed.

​In both examples, neither fellow to be executed had any power to save himself.  Instead, both were pardoned by the sovereign authority—really by the saving grace–of God and of his compassionate monarch.

​Our scripture lessons today all attest to the saving power ​of our God:

Numbers 21:4-9 Recounts the 8th and final incidence of the Israelites grumbling against God during their desert wanderings.

No doubt they were tired of trudging across desert terrain, of the unchanging wilderness landscape, and of the food—marvelous though it was! Even a daily ration of steak or lobster would lose its appeal if that were all we had to eat.  So, they declare (v.5)àWe detest this miserable food. Despite the fact that it tasted good (like honey and coriander); was so nutritious that they had no diseases, cancers, or flues for 40 years; and they didn’t have to produce it by digging or hunting. They simply had to gather the flakes from the ground each morning.  Falsely asserting that they had it so good back in Egypt, they grumble one too many times.

Their behavior is what we might call “snarky,” or “snaky,” and certainly demonstrated a lack of gratitude to God. So, in an apt judgment for their lack of appreciation, the Lord sets loose poisonous snakes among them. No doubt these snakes bit the worst of the complainers first, and then struck fear into everyone else. (I mean, think of it! No chairs in the desert to jump up on to get away. No guns to shoot the things! YIKES!) But, when they beg Moses for help, God also graciously provides a curious snake-bite remedy: He has Moses fashion a snake out of bronze and affix it to a wooden pole, which he raises up so it can be seen. He then tells them that if they are bitten, they can look upon the snake on the pole and be healed.

This incident and God’s antidote are actually a foreshadowing, or a typology of Jesus: The snake represents the peoples’ sins, ingratitude and rebellion. The snake—sin–is nailed to tree, branch, or cross. (In the Hebrew, all three words are the same. Any portion of a tree, even a twig, was called a tree.) Jesus, on the Cross, exchanges our sins for His right-standing with God the Father.

Today’s Gospel, John 3:14-15, references and interprets this Old Testament event. Jesus says, Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life. In other words, as Jesus explains to the Pharisee Nicodemus–and to us–it will be/was necessary for Him to go to the Cross and to die for our sins. We are set free of the penalty for our sins (death) by looking on Jesus with eyes of faith.

John goes on to say, (3:16) For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Notice it says that God loves all, but only saves those who believe in Jesus. Under the Old Covenant, we paid the price for our own sins. We raised or purchased an animal for sacrifice. Our sins were transferred to that animal, which the priest then slaughtered in our presence and burned on the altar. We left sin-free until we sinned again and had to do the same thing over and over. But under the New Covenant, we are forever saved by the power of God through our faith in the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf. Please don’t miss the symbolism: Sin (not Jesus) is the snake! But through Jesus, our sin is nailed to the Cross of Christ–nothing else has to die and we are pardoned.

In Ephesians 2:1-10 Paul wants us to be mindful of the fact that we have no power, within ourselves, to save ourselves. Just like the two Brits who were saved by the two young queens, we are guilty of being sinners.

Paul writes, (verses 1-3, Peterson’s The Message) It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose His temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Some scholars believe that, without Jesus, we are all failures, spiritual zombies, lacking any ability to bring ourselves back to life.

But the great Good News is that (v.5)àInstead [of doing away with or executing us], immense in mercy and with an incredible love, He [God] embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on His own, with no help from us! Or, as Paul goes on to explain in verses 8-9 (NIV) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works so that no one can boast.

Another of my heroes of the Christian faith is Martin Luther, the German reformer in the 1500’s. He had an exacting, critical father who wanted him to be a lawyer. Luther aspired to be a Catholic priest instead.

To his father’s huge disappointment, he did get ordained, but suffered from depression—probably somewhat due to having never received his earthly father’s approval. Luther feared he could never be good enough to please God. It is recorded that he read verses 8-9 in Ephesians 2 one day and had a “Eureka moment!” He realized he didn’t have to work so hard to attain God’s favor. No daily confessions–apparently he had attended confession 2-3 times a day trying to overcome his sinfulness. No repeated praying of the rosary day after day and no need to beat himself with a hand-held whip to atone. Instead, he finally realized that God the Father is not like his continually disapproving earthly father. Because of his faith in Christ Jesus, he had God’s favor. Because of our faith in Jesus Christ, we have God’s favor.

Again, Peterson paraphrases Paul so beautifully here (vv.4-7) Now God has us where He wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all His idea, and all His work. All we do is trust Him enough to let Him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. God loves us, but His holiness and His perfect justice require that we confess our sins to and verbalize our need for Him. He has the power and the grace to then forgive us due to Jesus’ atoning death on the Cross, and to (pardon) save us.

Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22 spells out for us our appropriate response: In verse 1 the psalmist says we want to give thanks to the Lord because He is good to us and loves us. In verses 17-23 he exhorts us not to be rebellious and ungrateful, like the Israelites in the desert. In essence, we are urged to recognize God’s saving power.

The stories of the pardons of the two British queens are very grace-filled, are they not? They were gracious and magnanimous enough to eliminate the men’s punishment. But let’s remember that our God has done them one better. He didn’t just pardon us. He pardoned us thentook our sentence, the death penalty, so that justice was fulfilled and we wouldn’t have to pay the price There’s a contemporary Christian song with the following, relevant lyrics:

Amazing love, oh what sacrifice,

The Son of God given for me.

My debt He paid and my death He died

That I might live.

Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

C 2021 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

We Hate To Wait.

Pastor Sherry’s message from December 6, 2020.

Scriptures: Isa 40:1-11; PS 85:1-2, 8-13; 2 Pet 3:8-15a; Mk 1:1-8

WE hate to wait, don’t we?  We are used to fast food, fast times in the ER,  ATM’s that work quickly, vending machines that pop out a soda or water in seconds, and rapid computer start-ups.   And we can get very impatient if things take longer than we expect them to.

But God doesn’t appear to mind having us wait.   First of all, He operates out of KYROS –God’s time, not KRONOS —our time, chronological time.

Secondly, God has things to teach us while we wait.

Our Scriptures today all have something to tell us about waiting:

In 2 Peter 3:8-15a, Peter reminds us that God himself is patient.  He calculates time differently than we do–vv.8-9–With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.  The Lord is not slow in keeping His promises, as some understand slowness.  He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 

It may seem like He is slow to keep His promises (a day is like 1000 years); but, even so, He patiently delays because He wants to give us time.  He wants everyone possible to come to a saving faith in His Son, Jesus.  Consider what God told Abraham about the Canaanites:  He said Abraham’s numerous descendants would sojourn as captives in Egypt for 400 years, until the time of the Canaanites had come to an end.  Apparently God was informing these pagans about Himself during that interval and they rejected Him.  He gave them 400 years to come to Him and they apparently refused.  So, when the Israelites came into the Land of Promise, God told them to wipe out all the tribes of nonbelievers who were there.  If you want to stop smoking, you don’t hang out with smokers.  If you want to quit drinking, you don’t hang around drinkers.  God wanted His chosen people to remain faithful to Him and not adopt pagan ways.  The Israelites were disobedient.  They fraternized with the non-believers then let live and became idolaters, bringing upon them God’s punishment.

On the other hand, when God takes action, the swiftness with which He moves will blow your hair back!  He’ll move when you least expect it, v.10–But the day of the LORD will come like a thief.  We’ll all be shocked at how quickly He acts then.  So, we need to be prepared, to be ready.  The season of Advent reminds us to prepare our hearts to celebrate His first coming, and to anticipate His second coming, His triumphant return in majesty and authority.  Thus, we might be able to better bear up under waiting if we can remind ourselves that God Himself is patient.

Our Old Testament reading is from Isaiah 40:1-11.  These famous words are sung in arias in Handel’s Messiah.  1st, the Lord speaks a word of reassurance:  verse 1–Comfort, comfort my people; speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

The double comfort is an emphatic reassurance of God’s tenderness and goodness.  God is announcing, through the prophet, that their 70 year captivity in Babylon is ended.  The people have paid for their sins, and God is about to engineer their release and return to Jerusalem.

Verses 3-5 explain that John the Baptist is going to show up and point out the Messiah.  Our Gospel (Mark 1:1-8) lesson echoes this passage and identifies John the Baptist as the long prophesied forerunner of Christ.  Mark quotes from Malachi 3:1–“See. I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me.  Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to His temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.  Then Mark recites Isaiah 40:3—A voice of one calling [John] in the desert, prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.

            In verses 6-8–God reminds us of how short our lives are compared to the eternal value of God’s Word—His Word written, the Bible; and His Word made flesh, Jesus.  You may recognize verses 9-11 as another of the arias in Handel’s “Messiah.”  The prophet tells us that Jesus will come with power at His 2nd Coming; but He will be a tender and gentle shepherd during His 1st Coming.  In other words, we can wait patiently because wonderful things are sure to happen!  And did you notice that our God loves to comfort us!

            The portions of Psalm 85 we read today, remind us that God keeps His promises to His people:  Messiah is coming.  When He comes again, He will bring a world-wide peace.  Furthermore, the psalmist speaks of several qualities as if they were living beings, saying thatlove and faithfulness will meet at Jesus’ return;  righteousness and peace will kiss each other;faithfulness will spring forth from the earth;and righteousness will look down from heaven.  In other words,Jesus will arrive with these four attributes:  love for us;faithfulness to God’s direction;righteousness, or right living; and God’s deep shalom Peace.

Jesus is coming, John the Baptist will prepare folks for His arrival, and Christ will demonstrate peace, love, holiness, and faith.

We hate to wait, so what thoughts might help us wait with grace?  It has been said that we can bear any how if we know the why.

First, I believe we need to understand that waiting can reveal to us our true motives.  Waiting requires that we are committed enough to take some time for things to unfold.  If we cannot wait, we might just have to ask ourselves how committed we are to God or to someone else we are waiting upon.  If we are so “me focused” that we are impatient, we may lack that commitment and perhaps are unwilling to postpone our own gratification.

Second, waiting builds the spiritual fruit of patience.  The old saw goes, Don’t pray for patience.  If you do, God will put you in a situation that requires that you develop it.  God will and does answer that prayer, but you may wish He had taught you that virtue another way.

Third, waiting builds anticipation, so that we better appreciate those things that did not come to us immediately.  One Christmas, my daughter located all of her gifts that I had hidden away prior to wrapping them.  On Christmas morning, she asked where a purse was that I had gotten her.  I had forgotten it and even where I had put it.  She knew where it was and that gave her secret away.  I asked her if it had been worth it to have found everything ahead of time.  She was sorry that she had spoiled her surprises. Similarly I think when we have to work hard for something and wait to gain it, we tend to value it more when it comes to us.

Fourth, waiting builds intimacy with and dependence upon God.  As we wait, we either come to believe that God is not answering our prayers and lose heart—or even get angry with Him—or we deepen our faith in Him.  As we see Him then resolve what we had asked Him for, we become more dependent on Him, more surrendered to His will.

Finally, we want to remember that waiting is the crucible of the saints!  Waiting is a grand Biblical tradition:

  1. Abram waited 25 years for Isaac; (his descendants waited 440 years to inherit the Land).

2. Jacob, Abraham’s  grandson, worked for his shifty Uncle Laban 21 years                                before returning to “the Promised Land” as Israel.

3.  Moses waited 40 years + 40 more years (in the back of beyond as a

shepherd) before he led the Israelites out of their Egyptian bondage.

4. King David was anointed by Samuel, then waited 20 years to actually become king.          

5.  Even Jesus waited.  He could have been teaching and preaching from age 12, but God sent Him back to Nazareth to grow in stature with God and humans before beginning His ministry at age 30.

Waiting molds and shapes our character.  God uses it to train us (to help us learn to trust him and to persevere in doing the right thing).  God uses the time to burn off such impurities as impatience, pride, lust, greed, etc.   God uses waiting to make us dependent upon Himself.  The prophet Isaiah extolls the value of waiting in Isaiah 40:31àThose who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not grow weary; they shall walk and not be faint.  The psalmist of Psalm 27:18 writes—O tarry and await the Lord’s pleasure; be strong and He shall comfort your heart; wait patiently for the Lord.

We have a God who keeps His promises, and who often requires us to wait!

Let us wait in faith.   Let us not grow anxious or weary, but, instead, let’s trust in God’s goodness and loving kindness towards us, and in His perfect timing!  Amen and Amen!

©2020 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

It’s Good to be Humble

Pastor Sherry’s message for November 1, 2020

Scriptures: Joshua 3:7-17; 1 Thess 2:9-13; Matt 23:1-1

Back before the Civil War, there was an exchange in the US Senate that went something like this: The senator from North Carolina pontificated, “I come from North Carolina, a great vale of humility, lodged between two mountains of conceit.” The two mountains of conceit he was referring to were his neighboring states of Virginia and South Carolina.While there is nothing new under the sun regarding human nature, how gentlemanly an insult that was compared to the way our politicians attack one another today. Not to be outdone, the senator from Virginia stood and replied,“That is true but only because North Carolina has a lot to be humble about.” The Virginian meant his remarks as a slur, thereby missing the point that, according to our Lord, It’s Good to be Humble.

Several of our Scriptures today testify to this point. In our Old Testament lesson, Joshua 3:7-13, the people of Israel are poised to enter the Promised Land. As we read last Sunday, Moses has died and has passed on the mantle of leadership to his assistant, Joshua. Now Joshua announces to the people how the Lord intends for them to proceed into Canaan: The Jordan River, massively swollen from Spring rains, is at flood stage. Rivers at flood stage flow quite quickly and carry a lot of debris. You don’t want to step into one as you might be swept off your feet by the current or hit by a floating tree truck. Nevertheless, the priests are to carry the Ark of the Covenant into the midst of the river. Once they do, the river’s flow will stop and the people will pass over on dry land. From the time the Ark had been constructed, it had been carried on two long poles supported by priestly shoulders and suspended from golden loops—i.e., it was not to be touched by human hands. The Ark of the Covenant was holy—set apart—for the Lord.

Now remember how God had parted the Red Sea: Moses held out his staff and a strong wind separated the ocean. Crossing the Jordan perhaps took more faith as there was no such demonstration. Those poised on Jordan’s banks had only heard the stories of the Red Sea Crossing and the 10 Plagues upon Egypt.

Only Caleb and Joshua had actually experienced these miraculous events. So, what was God demonstrating by leading His people with His Ark? All throughout the wilderness wanderings (40 years), the Ark had traveled, or rested, in the middle of the camp. This had signaled to them that God was in their midst. Now, though, the Ark was to go first, signifying:

(1) God is leading His people (as Hebrew shepherds do).

(2) He is more powerful than the gods of Canaan. Baal, chief of the Canaanite gods, had—by legend–defeated the gods of the sea. So the Canaanites believed the flood waters of the Jordan were Baal’s efforts to prevent the Israelites from entering what they considered to be their land. God is going to demonstrate to everyone that flood waters are no barrier to Him.

(3) Additionally, God will assist them in overcoming the tribes who now occupy the land (Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites). No doubt the folks in Jericho thought they had plenty of time to prepare for a big fight. It would never have occurred to them that the God of the Israelites could or would stop and cross a flooding Jordan.

(4) And since God was leading the Israelites, He is claiming Canaan—the Promised Land—as His own (which of course it was). The people were to pass by the Ark about 3,000 feet distant. Scholars tell us the Ark is a “type” (symbol) of Christ; after all, Jesus is Emmanuel, GOD with US. (By the way, when the Israelites camped, they arranged the members of 3 tribes to the North, three tribes to the South, 3 tribes to the East, and 3 tribes to the West of the Ark, which was in the middle of all 12 tribes.)

(5) Finally, since it occurred just as Joshua predicted, God is demonstrating His confidence in Joshua as Moses’ successor. Joshua is actually a great example of a humble leader. He does not assert himself as God’s choice, but instead obediently follows through on God’s instructions; and he allows God Himself to confirm him as God’s choice of a leader.

Our Epistle lesson today is from 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13. In it, Paul expresses his gratitude to the church at Thessalonica for their faithful obedience to the Word of God. Paul had brought them this word. He thanks God for them because they believed the Gospel. He commends them for faithfully serving God, and for being humble and obedient to Jesus. He reminds them that he was simply doing God’s will and God’s work when he came among them. Paul claims to have ministered to them in humility and encourages them to follow his example.

Our Gospel lesson from Matthew 23:1-12 shows Jesus publically denouncing the Scribes and Pharisees for their overweening pride. Remember, they have dogged Him as he has attempted to teach in the Temple, and have asked numerous questions to try to entrap Him so they could have Him arrested. The role of the Pharisees and the Scribes was supposed to have been to teach the people how to live in relationship with God. They were to explain who God is, what God expects of us (the Law), and how to talk to Him and hear from Him. That’s pretty much what the job of a pastor is today.

Jesus first commends them, saying (v.1) they…sit in Moses’ seat….

Moses collected and taught the meaning of the 10 Commandments. They are continuing his function as teachers of the Law. Jesus is saying they have authority to do so. However, He goes on to qualify this in (v.3) So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. You see, the Scribes and the Pharisees made two mistakes:

(1) They preached religiosity (live by the rules) rather than relationship;

(2) And they didn’t live up to the standards they taught–like the politicians and news commentators who have condemned us for not wearing masks, then were caught on camera not wearing masks themselves.

We look at folks like that and say, “Hypocrites!” Rather than remaining humble and obedient to God, the Pharisees wore large symbols of their special office, to draw attention to themselves. They also enjoyed special treatment, privileges, and deference. Furthermore, they gave themselves special titles: Rabbi/teacher when only Jesus is our Rabbi; and Father when only God is our Father.

Now I wear robes and you call me Pastor—is that bad? No, some terms and clothing help us both to remember the duties of the office. What Jesus has a problem with is pride that comes from such things. He clarifies this when He says, (vv.11-12) The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Jesus does not want us to get carried away with pride. Jesus wants us to stay humble. Jesus wants us—like Joshua, Paul, and the Thessalonians—to remain obedient to God’s authority.

Today the Christian Church celebrates All Saints Day. I believe one of the marks of a true saint is not so much holiness (who of us is truly holy?) as the recognition that we are set apart for God. God has done this for us. Our appropriate response is our humility. We are all called to be humble servants of God. In our country today, we have replaced our belief that we all have equal rights and opportunities with the secular notion that–no matter how we behave–we have the right to be proud of ourselves and to demand that others respect us. Even in the Church today, we have replaced an awareness of our sinfulness and our need for a Savior—and gratitude for the great gifts of Jesus’ sacrifice and of His forgiveness and grace–with the simplistic notion that “God loves you no matter your behavior.” He does love us just the way we are, but He also loves us too much to leave us that way. So, unlike the Scribes and Pharisees, or any other proud and puffed up religious leaders, we want to be humble. We want to remember and emphasize loving the person over the rule. We don’t want to be “all show and no go.”

Today, All Saints Day, let us humbly remember that God’s love for us is more a function of His grace andmercy than of anything we have done or deserve; that we are all called to love and serve others—not as arrogant or proud persons–but as Servants of Christ. And let us remember that it’s good to be humble!

Copyright 2020 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney · 1 Comment

Trick Questions

Pastor Sherry’s Message for October 18, 2020

Scriptures: Ex 33:12-23; Matt 22:15-23

Anyone who has spent any time with young children knows they can ask some questions that contort our minds as they force us to search for explanations they can understand (assuming we understand).  Here are some examples you may have heard in the past:

  1. Why do leaves change colors; why do they fall off the trees?
  2. If shampoos come in so many shades in the bottle, why is it only white when you use it to scrub your head?
  3. If the #2 pencil is the most popular kind, why is not #1?
  4. Why can’t dogs have kittens?
  5. Where does the water in the sink come from?
  6. Why is the sky blue?

The story is told of a young child who had been watching TV.  She grew tired of the political ads and the programming aimed at adults; So she asked her Daddy to please read her a fairy tale instead.  He had no sooner begun when she interrupted with a question:  “Daddy, do all fairy tales begin with “once upon a time?”  “No,” he answered, “only those that begin with, “And when I am elected….”

Two of our Scriptures today involve important questions.

Let’s examine them together.  First, our Gospel lesson, Matt 22:15-23, takes place just a day or two before Jesus is arrested.  He is teaching in the Temple.  A group of Pharisees gather—together with a delegation of  Herodians–to entrap Him by using a question.  Now the Pharisees were nationalists.  True, they felt responsible for teaching the Israelites how to relate to God, but they also loved their country.  As a result, they hated Roman rule.  The Herodians, on the other hand, were not even a religious group but rather a political party.  They favored the rule of the secular

Herodian kings.  And they supported Roman rule because doing so was their pathway to wealth from influence-peddling.  Needless to say, with these 2 unlikely groups in cahoots or colluding together, Jesus knew something was fishy.

Notice their approach:  They begin with flattery.  If they truly believed what they said, they would not be trying to entrap Him.  They claim they know He is a man of integrity.  They say they believe He teaches accurately and truthfully.  They affirm that He does not pander to any specific interest groups–He’s not on the take like they are, and He does not slant what He says in order to gain popularity, like most politicians, and like them.

If they truly believed their flattery, you would think they would admire Him and leave Him be.  But no, they are in a devilish pact to bring Him down.

So they ask …is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?  I have so much admiration (and love) for Jesus.  He is so smart and so cool!  He calls them out on their conspiracy!  In v.18, He asks, Why are you playing these games with Me?  Why are you trying to trap Me? (This is the way Eugene Peterson translates it in his modern paraphrase of the Bible called The Message.)  Now if Jesus said don’t pay taxes, don’t support Rome, the Herodians would have had a fit and tattled to Rome.  Rome would have considered such a statement treasonous, and would have invoked the death penalty for Jesus.  On the other hand, if our Lord said do pay taxes, the Pharisees would have accused Him of being disloyal to the nation.  In Jesus’ calm and unruffled way, He sidesteps their trap by asking to see a coin.  The inscription on the coins (denarii) of that day read, “Tiberius Caesar Divi August: Filius Augustus Pontifex Maximus,” translated this meant, “Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus, high priest.”  This inscription claimed Caesar was a god, which he clearly was not!  Jesus, who is God, looks at the coin and says, This engraving, who does it look like?  And whose name is on it?  They have to say Caesar’s as that is whose head was on it and that is what the coin read.  Then, He says, give Caesar what is his, and give God what is His.

As He often does, He has turned their question back on them and evaded their trap brilliantly!  In the Greek of that day, the word Jesus uses is apodote, which meant, render, give what is due by obligation.  Now the Jews resented Roman rule, but they also profited from Roman roads, viaducts, and architecture, Roman trade, and Roman law and order.  They clearly owed Rome something in taxes.  Jesus is saying the coins which bear Caesar’s image belong to him; thus, they were to give Caesar his due.  As long as what Caesar required did not conflict with what God requires, Jews and Romans could peacefully coexist.  (Persecution broke out against Christians, however, when the Romans demanded that Christ-followers say, “Hail Caesar!  Caesar is Lord!”)

But there is the crux of the matter, isn’t it?  The really difficult, mind-contorting question is, “what do we owe to God?”

We saw the answer two weeks ago when I preached on the Parable of the Wicked Tenants.  They and we owe God our love and gratitude.  We owe God our worship.  And we owe God our obedience.

We see it again today in our Old Testament lesson, Exodus 33:1.  Moses has just come down from the mountainwith the 10 Commandments, carved into 2 stone tablets by the finger of God.  He arrives to the camp and is stunned to catch them dancing around a goldencalf.  They have committed spiritual adultery.  Right out of the gate, they have broken 3 of the newly minted 10 Commandments!

God has seen their apostasy, and has essentially told Moses He is fed up with them.  Because God keeps His promises, they may proceed on to the Promised Land, but He will not be going with them.  In other words, they will now longer enjoy a personal relationship with Him.  To their credit, the people do not want this, nor does Moses.  Moses intercedes for the Israelites.  He asks God to (v.13) teach me your ways so that I might know You….that is, “Help me to understand You better; Teach me about Your character, Your nature.”  Then he reminds God (v.16), How will anyone know that You are pleased with me and with Your people unless You go with us?  What else will distinguish me and Your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?  God then relents, because of His relationship with Moses and with His chosen people.

Next we see that God allows Moses to have a special, profound, personal revelation of Him.  Moses gets to see God—in the rearview mirror—and live. Imagine the state of his faith after this!

So that was ancient Israel.  What is the point for us, living today in the USA?

Now I am not suggesting we answer our grandchildren or our children’squestions with a question.That is a technique Jesus often used.

Neither do we want to be like the young photographer sent to record the fires on the West Coast, who didn’t ask enough questions.  He arrived on site and found he could not get good picturesdue to the dense, dark smoke.  So he prevailed upon his agency to charter him a small plane from which to memorialize the damage.  They agreed and he sped to the airport to hop on awaiting aircraft.  As He jumped on board with his gear and closed the door, he yelled, “Ready for take off!”

The little aircraft proceeded down the runway, and jerked and shook its way airborne.  The photographer, somewhat alarmed, noticed that the pilot looked young and nervous.  Nevertheless, he asked the pilot to fly low, over the flames.  ”Why?” the pilot asked.  ”Well because I’m a photographer and I need to be close to the action to record the fire.”  The pilot was silent for a few moments, then said, “Oops, I thought you were the flight instructor.”  We do want to ask the important questions.

Today’s important question is, “What we should render to God?”  Our Scriptures today teach us that we want to offer Him a heartfelt desire to know Him personally.  This sincere quest to know Him will lead us to loving Him, being grateful to Him, worshipping Him.  This also implies that we will become obedient to Him while serving Him.  When we do these things, God is with us and God protects and blesses us.  Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ.  Alleluia!  Alleluia!

©2020 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Obedience.XYZ

Pastor Sherry’s Message for September 27, 2020.

Scriptures: Matt 21:23-32; Phil 2:1-13; Ex 17:1-7

Norma Dearing, a woman who worked for years in the Christian Healing Ministry in Jacksonville, Florida (with Francis and Judith MacNut), used to use this metaphor when speaking at women’s retreats: Where is Jesus in the car of your life?  She would ask, Is He a hood ornament?  Or abumper sticker?  A decoration for all to see, but conveying no indication of your true commitment to Him.  Or perhaps He is in your trunk, taken along for the ride like luggage, or even bound and gagged, having minimal or no influence on your life at all.  Maybe you drive Him around in the back seat, from which He provides directions that you ignore.  Or, have you placed Him in the passenger seat such thatHe is companionably along for the ride, but with no real control over the direction you take.  Perhaps you have seen those bumper stickers that assert, God is my co-pilot.  Closebut not enough.  Jesus belongs in the driver’s seat of the car of our lives.  If we are obedient to Him, He determines the direction we take and the speed with which we get there.

         Some years back, I decided to use this illustration in a sermon I was giving as a seminarian.  On my way to the church where I was serving an internship–some 30 minutes from my house–I was driving along, practicing my sermon, when I got pulled over.  My 1st response was to fuss with the Lord:   Lord, I am on my way to do Your work…Couldn’t You have hidden me under the radar?  The cop walked up to my window and said, Lady, do you have any idea how fast you were going?  No Sir, I said, I’m afraid I was practicing my sermon and I wasn’t paying attention.  (Honest it was, but not very smart to admit I wasn’t paying attention.)  It turns out I was doing 65 in a 45 zone.  However, he expressed surprise that I, a woman, was on my way to preach (I figure he was probably a Roman Catholic and not used to female clergy).  He took my license and registration, and returned to his patrol car.  I continued to whine to the LORD and to beg for His divine intervention because, as a poor seminarian, I didn’t have the $180-$200 this ticket would cost.  The patrolman returned to my window and said, I’ll tell you what, if you‘ll promise to slow down, I ‘ll let you off this time.  He also asked me to pray for him and his partner.  I was absolutely delighted to comply!  As I continued on my way, more slowly, I was thanking God for His grace and mercy toward me, a sinner.  The Lord then said to me (in my spirit), Sherry, where is Jesus in the car of your life?  I replied, Lord, You know He is in the driver’s seat.  You know I have surrendered my life to Christ!  Sherry, that may be true, but whose foot is on the gas pedal?  I laughed with the Lord all the way to church that day.  I had learned yet another lesson about obedience.  Not just lesson.2 or.10 but .XYZ!

This, I believe, is the Lord’s point in our readings today:

Our Gospel comes from Matthew 21:23-32.  Jesus preaches this parable, in the Temple, on Tuesday before His arrest late Thursday night.  The Chief priests and the elders, the “usual suspects” are there, trying to find a justification to get rid of Him.  Earlier, they had observed Him clear the Temple of the moneychangers (2nd time); heal the blind and the lame; and had heard the peoples’ praise of Him.  These 3 events pointed to His authority as the Messiah, demonstrating Him in the roles of Prophet, Priest, and King.  They know the Scriptures, yet they want Him to state the source of His authority.  They should have been cognizant of the passages predicting Messiah and what He would be like.  They could have recognized Jesus was The One of whom the prophets proclaimed.  But they wouldn’t allow Him in the driver’s seat where He rightfully belonged.  Too concerned with holding their own authority, they were unable to expand their-too small box to include Him.

Our passage picks up with Jesus teaching in the Temple on Tuesday, again two days before His arrest.  He knows His religious enemies will be gathered there like so many vultures.  Nevertheless—and bravely—He teaches three parables on God’s judgment.  These stories are specifically aimed at the religious authorities for having failed as Israel’s spiritual leaders.  Our parable today is the 1st of these.

Jesus sets the parable in a vineyard. Everyone listening knows this symbolizes Israel.  Since grapes were a very important crop in Israel, the vine or the vineyard had become a metaphor for the nation.  The prophet Isaiah talks extensively of God’s disappointment in His disobedient vineyard in Isaiah 5:1-7.  Jesus teaches in JOHN 15:1, I am the true vine and my father is the gardener.  In this judgment parable, however, He introduces a father who commissions his sons to work in his vineyard.  The father figure is God.  He appoints leaders, sons, to work the vineyard, Israel.  Their work is to bring the people into intimate relationship with Him, and to assist Him to usher in His Kingdom on earth.

The first son says No, then apparently reconsiders and is obedient.  As Jesus interprets this, the 1st son represents the tax collectors and the  prostitutes—sinners, the unchurched, pagans—anyone common, ordinary person who has accepted Him as Lord.  They had probably rejected Jesus at first, thinking they didn’t need a Savior, and found themselves caught up in dead-end, sinful lives.  But, hearing Him teach and realizing they do need Jesus, they now have put Him in the driver’s seat.

The second son Jesus describes says, Yes. Lord, I’ll do what You’ve asked, but then doesn’t.  Jesus explains that these are the very ones who are there trying to trip Him up:  the chief priests & the elders. It was their job to guide the people to God and they had failed due to their spiritual blindness. They should have been able to recognize Jesus as the fulfillment of the Messianic prophesies, but they were too worried about hanging onto their power, positions, and influence.  They not only wanted to keep Jesus bound and gagged in the trunk, but they were ready to murder Him and toss His body out onto the roadside.  Jesus knows this and reprimands them for failing to believe in John the Baptist as well as for missing that He is Messiah.  Matthew explains in chapter 21:45-46, When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew He was talking about them.  They looked for a way to arrest Him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that He was a prophet.  

In our Philippians lesson (2:1-13), Paul tells us the way we keep Jesus in the driver’s seat of the car of our lives is to have “the mind of Christ.”  By this he means that Christ was entirely obedient to God the Father.  Jesus humbly gave up His self-will, and all of His heavenly prerogatives, and put God in the driver’s seat.  Jesus’ humble obedience is the best model of this that we have.

We only have to look at our Exodus lesson (17:1-7) to see a repeated example of how not to behave.  Those poor Israelites appear to have forgotten God’s gracious provision for them as soon as they meet a new or different roadblock.  All too like us,they put the Lord in the driver’s seat until they become afraid.  Even so, the Lord always provided for them—this time water from the smitten rock (a prophetic picture of Jesus’ death).  Look at the pattern:  they trust and obey until they come to some new crisis; then they cry, complain, or get angry.  How gracious of God to continually rescue them and to meet their needs, despite their rebellion and lack of trust.

Our lessons today pose the question, which kind of son or daughter are we?  Our Lord calls us to be obedient to Him…are we?  Maybe like the sinners Jesus lists, we said NO at first, buthave come to say YES later in life.  Or perhaps we had never invited Him into the car of our lives, but are happy we have done so now.  Or maybe we trust Him until we hit a bump in the road, then we panic.  Jesus wants to be in the driver’s seat of the car of our lives, hands on the wheel, controlling the speed and the direction we take.  We can trust in Him to get us where we need to go.

We don’t have to whine or complain or rebel…we just need to sit back, relax, and leave the driving to Him.  We can trust and obey, even down to allowing His foot to manage the gas pedal.

©2020 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Way-maker!

Pastor Sherry’s message for 9/13,2020,

Scriptures: Exodus 14:5-31; Ps 114

Osinachi Lalu Egbu is a 47YO Nigerian woman who has written more than 200 Christian praise songs.  She has shortened her name to Sinach.  Perhaps you have seen T-shirts emblazoned with the words,

“Way-Maker, Promise-Keeper, Miracle-Worker, Light-in-the-Darkness.”

These names of God begin the chorus of one of her currently popular songs, which ends with, “My God, that is Who You are!”  This song seems to be currently taking the Christian world by storm because it expresses such deep trust in God’s abilities to…1. Make a way where there seems to be none;2. Keep His promises to us;3. Work miracles on our behalf, often at the 11th hour;4. And provide light to us in our times of darkness.

I cannot think of a more dramatic event from the Old Testament that so fully demonstrates God as Way-maker, Promise Keeper, Miracle-Worker, and Light in the Darkness, as His fabulousrescue of His people in the Red Sea Crossing (Ex 14:5-31).  

Remember from last week’s lesson, God had sent the final plague—the death of the 1st born—upon Egypt.  Those Israelite slaves, however, who had applied the blood of the Passover Lamb to their door frames were spared. This final plague seemed to have broken the back of the Pharaoh’sresistance to losing his free labor-force.  He gave the word that they and their livestock could leave Egypt the next morning.  So they did…2 million of them.

Our reading today begins with them trekking through the desert region between the Nile and the Red Sea. God had them avoid two well-traveled land routes to the north, both of which paralleled the Mediterranean Sea. He knew that Egyptian spies were watching their exodus. He also realized that they would report to Pharaoh that the freed slaves seemed to be apparently wandering aimlessly. Once again underestimating God, Pharaoh decides to pursue the Hebrews with his 600 chariots. He seemed to believe his crack troops would either make mincemeat of the 2 million untrained slaves, or be able to reroute them back into captivity. Despite the recent lessons of the 10 plagues, Pharaoh appeared confident he could recapture his unpaid laborers. This, as we know, was a massive case of hubris!

Our God was not ambushed! Instead He effected a Divine Rescue:

1. As the Way-Maker, He led the people thru the desert.

The Israelites were not lost; instead they were being guided by GPS—God’s Planned Strategy.  With the Red Sea to the left and Egyptian Special Forces to the right, it seemed like the people were caught in a deadly trap between the Devil (Pharaoh) and the Deep Blue (Red) Sea!  But God purposefully led them to this situation.  The cloud-by-day, fire-by-night suddenly shifted from front, leading the people, to the back, providing a rear guard.

2. God had promised to deliver the Israelites from Egypt. So He instructed Moses to raise his staff, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, God blew open the Red Sea. Walls of water stood up on both sides of the escape route. On dry ground—let’s not miss this!—and hidden from the Egyptians, the people were able to cross through all night long. God literally had their backs! He engineered their escape as the divine Miracle-Worker.

3. The Promise-Keeper shielded the people from the their pursuers by essentially turning out the lights.

4. Meanwhile, our God provided bright firelight to reveal the path of escape for the pursed. He provided Light in the Darkness.

​There were no phones, drones, or video cameras to record this set of miracles.  Nevertheless, word of them made it to the Canaanites, especially those living in Jericho.  A Canaanite document dated from 1375BC warned of a fearsome people, called the Habiru (or Hebrews), whose powerful God fought for them. Rahab, the Canaanite prostitute who hid Joshua’s two spies, told them (Joshua 2:9-10), I know that the LORD has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are living in fear because of you. We have heard how the LORD dried up the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt.

So, what are the lessons for us today from the Exodus?

1. We want to remember that God is the Way-maker.

When we are caught in circumstances that seem impossible for us, we are to pray, to ask for God’s help, and to trust He will provide it. Our God hears us and often provides a response we never considered nor could have predicted! Money might manifest from some unexpected source. We might enjoy a needed delay or reprieve from some consequence we had dreaded. We might experience a cure for a disease or from an addiction we had not yet overcome. We might have undergone a sudden change of heart, or seen an altered attitude or positive behavioral shift in a friend or relative. A job or an opportunity we never imagined might have presented itself.

2. We want to remember that God is a Promise-Keeper.

He promised to save us and He has, through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice of Himself upon the Cross. He promises to never leave or forsake us. He promises to protect those who love Him. He promises to be present to us. He promises to answer those who call upon Him. He promises to love us, even when we act in ways that make us unlovable. He promises to forgive us if we ask Him. The writer to the Hebrews says that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. James tells us (1:17)…the Father of the heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows. He does no posing, He exhibits no fakery. He keeps His word!

3. We want to remember that God is a Miracle-Worker.

He has all of the resources of the universe at His command. It’s not like He has to search around for ways to provide for us. He doesn’t have to do fund raisers or set up a “Go Fund Me” page. He can just speak the word and His will is accomplished. Scripture tells us again and again that nothing is impossible with Him. Some people write off the Red Sea Crossing as a myth. They seem to believe even God cannot violate the laws of physics. They must not believe in the God of miracles that I do, that you do. Since God set the laws of physics into being, isn’t it clearly possible that He can override or supersede them? Our God is able to do whatever He decides todo.

Additionally, no schemes of evil men or of the Devil can thwart His plans. To me the greatest example of this is how Jesus is appearing—in dreams and visions—to people caught behind the Moslem Curtain. Hostile Moslems tell their people that Christian missionaries are evil purveyors of sex trafficing and molesters of children. Radical Islamists then use this as a justification for capturing Christian missionaries, torturing them, and thenkilling them in those countries. But no human or government can capture or kill Jesus. It’s already been done and it didn’t stick!4. Finally, we want to remember that God is the Light in the Darkness. The news media daily inundates us with negativity and fear-producing predictions. Consider what they say just with regard to thethe Covid-19 virus:a. It will have a resurgence. So far this has not really happened.b. So it’s very dangerous to send kids back to school, or to reopen businesses with face to face contact. Schools have reopened now in Florida without the dreaded upsurge predicted, as have restaurants and hair salons. The developing vaccines will either not work or will have dangerous side-effects. We will have to wait on this one, but I am willing to take a dose of vaccine when one is released. d. We can never again hug or shake hands. I have been hugging folks and shaking hands with no ill effect for several weeks. In addition, I have been careful to wash my hands well before eating.e. Our economy will never recover. This also remains to be seen; however, some are predicting we will be back to pre-pandemic economic levels by early 2021.

The person of faith wants to focus on their faith in God and not innews casters. The person of faith daily puts on the whole armor of God (Eph 6): the shoes of the Gospel of Peace; the belt of Truth; the breastplate of Righteousness; the helmet of Salvation; the shield of Faith, and the sword of the Spirit. The person of faith recalls 2 Cor 10:3-5àFor though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. The person of faith recites, in Jesus’ name, No weapon formed against us will prosper/prevail (Isa 54:17).

Israel has long celebrated God’s rescue of His people in the story of the Exodus.  The freed Hebrew slaves directly experienced God as their Way-maker, Promise-Keeper, Miracle-Worker, and Light-in-the-Darkness.  And if we ponder it long enough, we will have to admit that we have probably too.  Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

Copyright 2020 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

God’s Picks

Pastor Sherry’s message for August 23, 2020

Scriptures: Exodus 1:8-2:10; Ps 124; Matthew 16:13-20

This story falls under the category of “truth is stranger than fiction”:  Back in the mid to late 300’s, there was a slave in Egypt named “Moses the Black” (330-405 AD). He was a tall, intimidating Ethiopian, who stole from his Egyptian master.The master also suspected of him of murder.Rather than sell him off, the master fired him and threw him out. So, Moses the Black joined a gang of thugs. Almost immediately he became their leader, and for years his band of hoodlums terrorized folks along the Nile River Valley.

At one point, Moses the Black attempted to evade the law by hiding out in a desert monastery.  He thought he was pretty clever to take refuge in a church, but the joke was on him–as he encountered Jesus and gave his life to Christ in that place.  Perhaps even more incredible is the fact that 4 of his former gang members—not realizing he was there—decided to rob the monastery.  Moses the Black completely overpowered them (making a citizen’s arrest?), tied them up, and dragged them before the abbot.  Because he didn’t slit their throats, the thugs were so moved that they too gave their lives to Christ, and became monks as well.

Legend has it that he was martyred, as an old monk, by a different band of robbers who did not know Moses the Black’s reputation or his conversion story. The former robber, murderer, and adulterer had been transformed by God into a Christ-following teacher and priest. Interestingly enough, the former gangster who had lived by the sword also died by the sword. Nevertheless, the Catholic Church has proclaimed him a saint.

Isn’t it interesting who God chooses to do His work?  Often it is some pretty unlikely persons! Our Old Testament lesson, Exodus 1:8-2:10, introduces us to Moses’ backstory. Moses was born to an Israelite family, from the tribe of Levi, working as slaves in Egypt. Almost 350 years after the death of Joseph–the one God used to save the fledgling Israelite nation and Egypt from a massive famine–the new leadership in town had no gratitude for the Hebrew who saved his countrymen and women. The new Pharaoh (Ahmose? Rameses?), who either didn’t know the history or didn’t care, ascended to the throne of Egypt. He looked around and saw how numerous the Israelites had grown.  Here is the outworking of the promise to Abraham from Genesis 12: his descendants would outnumber the stars or the grains of sand on a beach. God would see to it that they would become a “great nation,” and they have indeed. This new Pharaoh was afraid he and his countrymen were vastly outnumbered by Hebrews.  So, he decided to contain any threat by enslaving them.  He worked them hard and harshly.  Even so still they seemed to multiply.

As the story unfolds today, Pharaoh is concerned that the Israelites are reproducing too rapidly. He calls in the head Hebrew midwives and tells them to go ahead and deliver any girl babies, but kill the boys (this is one time in ancient history when it paid to be a female). The midwives are wise; they fear/respect God more than they do Pharaoh. They refuse to practice male infant genocide. Pharaoh notices that male Israelite infants are surviving and wants to know why. The wise midwives claim Hebrew moms are very hardy and complete the birthing process without calling upon them.

This is no doubt a lie, but it seems to prevent Pharaoh from exacting revenge.       

Moses is born in the midst of this national birth-control strategy. As a male, he should have been euthanized. However, his mom, Jochabed, rears him to 3 months. Then she places him in a carefully water-proofed basket and sets him adrift on the Nile. In an amazing twist of fate—like Moses the Black, thief and murderer becoming a monk—Moses the Levite is spotted and rescued by Pharaoh’s eldest daughter. Childless, she decides to raise the child as her own son. Miriam, his biological sister, has been watching over him and suggests a woman to nurse him, the baby’s own biological mother, Jochabed, for pay! How ironic, and how like our God to place the future deliverer of Israel within the very household of Israel’s chief oppressor. A Hebrew slave will learn the Egyptian language, culture, history, and military strategies. God has once again placed one of His own into a position of authority and influence in Egypt. Whether Pharaoh realizes it or not, God is also demonstrating that Pharaoh will be impotent to destroy God’s people or His program (developing the lineage of Jesus).

Psalm 124 is a Psalm of Ascents, sung by Jewish pilgrims on their way to the Temple Mount to celebrate one of the major feasts.

They praise God for His protection of them in the past. They worship Him for having protected them just as He did Moses.

In our Gospel lesson, Matthew 16:13-20, our Lord commends Peter for both recognizing and testifying to whom Jesus really is. Remember, Jesus is still outside the borders of Israel, this time in aRoman resort/retirement town, 2 days’ walk north of the Sea of Galilee.Simon, inspired by the Holy Spirit, asserts that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God—a Deliverer even greater than Moses. Jesus commends him and He renames Simon as Peter, or we might say, “Rocky.” Jesus Himself is the “ROCK”—but it is on faith like Peter’s and on believers like Peter that Jesus will establish His fellowship, His Church.

In addition, Jesus proclaims that (V.18)… the Gates of Hades/Hell will not overcome it [His Church]. The deaths of believing individuals will not extinguish the flame of the Church, just as Satan did not kill off the Jews through either slavery or Pharaoh’s schemes. No one person, or groups of persons, can thwart God’s plan and program.

Next, Jesus gives Peter (the apostles, the early church, and us) (v.19) …the keys of the kingdom of heaven: authority to preach and teach the Gospel. Roman Catholics claim Jesus was hereby making Peter the leader of His Church (the 1st Bishop of Rome, the first Pope) and authorizing him to forgive or fail to forgive sins.  Others—primarily Protestants–interpret this somewhat differently: If we, as Jesus-followers, loose or proclaim God’s truth on earth, the powers of heaven will support our efforts. As it says in Isaiah, God’s word will not return to Him empty.  Teaching and preaching the Scriptures will result in bringing many into God’s Kingdom. But if we bind it on earth (fail to proclaim or prevent its dissemination), the Church will not live into its destiny.

Last week, I asked us to consider who gets saved.  This week, I hope I have drawn your attention to who God picks to work in His program of redemption.  He appears to pick the unlikely: (1) The reprobate, Moses the Black, becomes a major force forChrist in the 4th century Church as a teacher, pastor, martyr, saint.  (2) Moses–born to Hebrew slaves–is nurtured and educatedunder Pharaoh’s own nose, then used by God to free His people.  (3) Peter, who takes his eyes off Jesus, resorts to violence in theGarden, denies Him three times, and fails to show up at the Cross to support Him, is selected by God as a leader in the 1st Century Church.

The beauty of all of this is that God picks unlikely, even weak and flawed people to carry out His program of redemption. He trains us up. He strategically places us. He chooses and uses folks like you and me.

What’s really amazing to me that He puts so much trust in us.

Let’s agree to live into His trust and to assist Him in His goal to bring the lost to Christ. This week, look for opportunities to tell those who don’t know Jesus (1) Who He is; (2) How much He loves them; and (3) How knowing Him has changed our lives for the good.

Thanks be to God who gives us the victory thru our Lord, Jesus Christ!  Alleluia, Alleluia!

©2020 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Looking to Self or to Jesus?

Pastor Sherry’s message for August 9, 2020

Scriptures: Gen 37:1-38; Ps105:16-22; Matt 14: 22-33

This is a true story:  In early February, a sheriff’s officer clocked a 2020 grey Kia sedan cruising at the brisk pace of 95 mph on Interstate 10 through Florida’s panhandle.  Two men, in their mid-30’s, were headed east towards Live Oak and Jacksonville, then on their way south to Orlando. This corridor is a major feeder for drug trafficking into the Sunshine State, so officers are constantly on the lookout for signs of suspicious activity.


Federal law permits officers to stop those who are breaking the law, issuing arrests and tickets accordingly. But the Fourth Amendment prohibits the search of vehicles without probable cause, or reasonable suspicion. One lawyer explains it this way:   “Basically, a law enforcement agent’s hunch without proof of illegality isn’t enough for him or her to look through a car legally. Before rummaging through a vehicle, the officer would have to observe something illegal. Examples of this are seeing or smelling an illegal substance. An admission of guilt by the person driving the car is another situation in which an officer can legally examine a car.”


When the officers pulled this vehicle over, they noticed— right in plain sight–two plastic zip-locked bags. Both were clearly labeled “Bag Full of Drugs.” This sight, needless to say, provided sufficient probable cause to warrant a search of the carand of the bags. Inside, Santa Rosa County Sheriffs found a treasure-trove of methamphetamine, GHB, cocaine, fentanyl, MDMA tablets, and various drug paraphernalia. Both driver and passenger were booked into the Santa Rosa County Jail without bond, on charges of drug trafficking. Later, the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office posted the following message to Facebook:


“Santa Rosa K-9 Deputies recently assisted [Florida Highway Patrol] on a traffic stop on I-10 where a large amount of narcotics were discovered. Note to self — do not traffic your illegal narcotics in bags labeled ‘Bag Full of Drugs.’ Our K-9’s can read.”

Law enforcement must abide by the 4th Amendment, but to our God–who knows all–words like probable cause and reasonable suspicion are meaningless. He is omniscient. We may attempt to hide our sins, or at least not place them in bags labeled “Bags full of wicked things,” but still He sees. He sees when the door is closed. He hears when the windows are shut. He knows even when our browser history has been completely wiped clean. 

We have a very similar event recorded for us in Genesis 37—as well as its antidote in Matthew 14.  Let’s examine them more closely.

Genesis 37:1-36 records for the backstory behind the enmity of Joseph’s brothers toward him.  Thus far, in each generation of the founding family of the Israelites, God has chosen the younger sibling over the elder:  God chose Abraham’s son by Sarah over the older son, Ishmael;God then chose Jacob, deceitful though he was, over his elder twin, Esau;once again, in this newest generation, God choses the baby son, Joseph, over all 10 of his strapping elder brothers.

Joseph, the son of Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel, is also Jacob’s favorite.

Reuben was the 1st born, but he disqualified himself by sleeping with his stepmother, Bilhah.  Not only is this icky to consider, but it says to his father, in effect, “I wish you were dead.”  The next two eldest, Simeon and Levi, prove themselves to be violent men lacking in integrity.  They violate a treaty their father had made with the King of Shechem.  They are rightfully incensed when their sister, Dinah, is raped by the prince of Shechem.  They expect swift retribution, the prince’s death.  However, their father forges an agreement with the king which would allow Dinah and the prince to marry, provided all the male Shechemites submit to circumcision (i.e., become Jews). The brothers think this is weak on their father’s part, and that he does not sufficiently value their sister’s honor.  So, they sneak into the Shechem at night and kill all the males recovering from circumcision surgery, including their sister’s fiancé.  Father Jacob/Israel is now royally angry and disgusted with all of them, except Joseph.  He fears they have demonstrated to the Canaanites that Jews do not keep their word and violate legitimate treaties.  By this point, Jacob clearly favors Joseph over all of them.  He unwisely uses him to spy on them as they graze their father’s flocks.  He also increases their jealously and enmity by giving Joseph a special garment, in effect saying that Joseph—not any of the other 10–is the heir.

 Naively, Joseph doesn’t help make himself more popular with his siblings when he shares 2 dreams in which it appears he will one day rule over them.

In today’s passage, they stop short of killing him; but instead sell him to Ishmaelite (remember Ishmael, 1st son of Abraham?) traders bound to sell him into slavery in Egypt.  They concoct a plausible story for their Father, not anticipating the depth of his grief.  And they essentially invoke the death penalty upon their brother—as few people in that day survived long as a slave.  Scholars say that ½ of the later Roman Empire consisted of slaves.  They had no pay, no days off, and no rights, so many died early deaths.

 Joseph’s ordeal is memorialized in our Psalm (105:16-22) today.

The jealous and hateful brothers never appear to check out their feelings, or their actions, with God.  They are filled with murderous rage and they act on it.  But our psalmist reminds posterity (both the Jews & us) that God (v.17)...sent a man [Joseph] before them [into Egypt, all of Jacob’s other sons and all their families]—Joseph, sold as a slave.  The equivalent of a prince of his family suffered, being encased in shackles and irons;

He did serve as a slave for 14 years, until…(v.19)…what he had foretold [the two dreams] came to pass, til the word of the Lord proved him true.

 We know the rest of the story:  Pharaoh, nudged by God, appointed Joseph over all of Egypt to superintend the storage and distribution of grain during a 7 year famine.  As a result, he then becomes the means of saving his extended family—including those jealous, murderous brothers—from starvation.  God redeems Joseph, and his brothers and their families.

How might the story have been different if the brothers had consulted God? How might the story have been different if they had prayed for Joseph—and their father, Israel—instead of acting on jealousy, rage, and vindictiveness?

The 10 elder brothers together provide a vivid example of how not to be.

 

For an example of how to be, let’s look at our Gospel lesson, Matthew 14:22-33.  The context is that Jesus has fed the 5,000 + women & children.  He then sends the disciples out to sea in their boat while He trudged up a mountain to pray.  Apparently He prays all night.  He comes walking toward them during what the Romans referred to as the 4th watch, 3-6:00am.  It must have been pretty alarming for them to see Him striding toward them on the waves.  1st they mistake Him for a ghost. He responds (v.27) àTake courage!  It is I.  Don’t be afraid.  He knows they aren’t expecting to encounter Him this way.  He understands their fear, and He compassionately reassures them.

Peter has sized up this unusual situation and desires to walk on the water too.  I don’t blame him—wouldn’t you jump at the chance to defy Physics, or to do something with our Lord that was unheard of?  We observe that Peter did fine, until he took his eyes off Jesus.  There’s the lesson for us all:  Keep our eyes on Jesus!  When we follow hard after God, He holds an umbrella of protection over us.  But when we say in effect, that’s OK God, I don’t need you.  I’ll do this myself, we step out from under that umbrella of protection.  Bad things, scary things, unjust things, stupid things, even evil things happen when we place our attention on ourselves only–like Joseph’s jealous and murderous brothers; or like the 2 drug runners traveling I-10 in the Kia.  Bad things, scary things, unjust things, stupid things, and even evil things can also happen when we put all our attention on persons or activities that divert us from  Christ. 

 Like the old hymn says, we need to “Turn your eyes upon Jesus.”

 

Turn your eyes upon Jesus…

Look full in His wonderful face,

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

In the light of His glory and grace.

 

O soul, are you weary or troubled?

No light in the darkness you see…

There’s light for a look at the Savior,

And life more abundant and free.

 

Through death and into life everlasting

He passed and we follow Him there.

Over us sin no more hath dominion

For more than conquerors we are.

 

Jesus keeps us afloat. Jesus lifts us up and out of ourselves, out of our difficult situations, and into the safety and security of His tender care.  This week, let’s try to remain safe and sound under His umbrella of protection.

 C 2020 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams>

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Surrender … but hold on!

Pastor Sherry’s Message for August 2, 2020

Scriptures: Genesis 32:22-31; Ps 17:1-7

Can you remember how you felt when you knew you had to face some pretty unpleasant event?  I can think of two such events when I was a kid and even one as an adult.  When I was going into the 7th grade, my dad was transferred to Hawaii.  This was in the late 50’s when the islands were still a territory, not yet a state.  So we had to endure a series of painful immunizations.  I dreaded the days we had to present ourselves for those shots.  The anticipation was far worse than the actual event.  In another example, my brother and I had misbehaved badly for our mother.  When our abusive stepdad went out to sea, we both felt like the clamps had come off and I am sure we manipulated our mother something fierce.  One particular time, she threatened, “Just you want ‘til you dad comes home!”  She marked the days on the calendar.  We got more and more distressed as the weeks sped away and the date of his return loomed before us.  I am sure my brother and I were the only ones on the dock, as the ship came in, who were not celebrating its return.  He did beat us, rather severely.  I was only about 9-10, but I remember recognizing that my mother was a weak disciplinarian who never should have left the job to another.  Interestingly, she never seemed to be able to figure out why we didn’t love him better or have happier memories of our childhood.

As an adult, I had stood up as the lone dissenter in a vote for a new pastor.  The rest of the committee got very angry with me as we decided everything by unanimous vote; they perceived that I was holding up the process.  We eventually decided the matter by drawing lots—an old Biblical tradition—and the guy I felt so strongly about won the job unanimously!  Later the new pastor (who thought I was the lone holdout against him) told me I had to be reconciled with each of the other 11.  I did so, and believe me, I approached each individual appointment with anxiety.  The whole experience was an exercise in humility.

This is essentially the situation the patriarch Jacob faces in today’s OT Lesson, Genesis 32:22-31. He is returning to the Promised Land after 20 years of exile.

Recall that he was named “Jacob” (which meant heel grabber, deceiver) as the younger of a set of twins.  He later manipulated his slower, less cerebral brother, Esau, out of his birthright:  The lion’s share of their father’s property & livestock; but also the Covenantal relationship with God.  This is bad enough, but—with his mother’s complicity—he tricks/deceives his blind father into giving him his blessing!  His mother, Rebekah, should have known better.  God had told her that the older twin would serve the younger.  She should have remembered and waited on God to see how He meant to work this out.  Instead, the wily Jacob and his mother demonstrate no respect for Isaac, no love for Esau, and no faith in God.  Jacob gets the blessing, fraudulently, but he earns the murderous rage and hatred of his only sibling.  This forces him to flee the country—never to see his mother again.

As our passage from last week indicated, Jacob is taken to the Spiritual Woodshed by his mother’s brother, Uncle Laban (Let us all hope we never encounter an Uncle Laban in our lifetime):  Jacob agrees to work 7 years for the lovely Rachel, only to be given the less attractive, older sister, Leah, on his wedding night.  The deceiver is deceived!  Uncle Laban justifies his trickery with the custom that older daughters must marry before younger ones.  Once Jacob recovers from his shock and anger, he agrees to work another 7 years for his true love.  The two “sister wives”compete over who can give Jacob the most sons.  The ladies add two more “sister wives” to fuel the race.  Leah, the less valued wife, ends up with 6 sons and a daughter of her own, and two sons by a surrogate.  The favorite wife, Rachel, struggles with infertility, but has two surrogate sons and, finally, two sons of her own (dying as she gives birth to #2 after Jacob has settled in back home).

Once Jacob’s term of 14 years is up, he is forced to indenture himself to Laban for another 6 years, so as to amass sufficient resources to support 4 wives & 12 children.  Meanwhile, the jealousies, resentments, envy and animosity of the “sister wives” and their children continue to fester.  Laban keeps changing the terms of his contract with Jacob (10 times!), trying to cheat him.  We are talking a highly dysfunctional family here.  By the time of today’s lesson, Jacob has been out of the “Promised land” for 20 years.  Jacob, the “Trickster,” has been repeatedly tricked by an even cannier trickster.  I picture him as exhausted, harried, and burnt-out.

Now Jacob knows God has called him to return home, but what about the vengeful Esau?  When Jacob had last encountered his brother, Esau had been intent on killing him.  So Jacob has finally escaped one enemy—Uncle Laban—only to face another, Esau.  Just prior to today’s passage (Gen 32:9-12), Jacob prays a powerful prayer to God:  (1) He acknowledges how God has blessed him; (2) He reminds God that it is He who has called him home; and (3)He asks God to save him from his brother’s wrath.  He then sends his wives & family across the Jabbok (Wadi Zarqa, 20 mi. west of the Jordan).  Alone, he is suddenly grabbed by God!  He struggled all his life to prevail, no doubt thinking, “I can determine my destiny.”  1st, he had contended with Esau; 2nd, with Uncle Laban.  Now, he wrestles all night with the pre-incarnate Christ–Hosea 12:4-5 reports, He strove with the angel and prevailed, he wept and sought His favor.  He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with him—the LORD the God of hosts, the LORD is His name.

Now, finally Jacob realizes, God holds my destiny.  Actually, God is wrestling with one hand tied behind His back.  But Jacob won’t quit.  Jesus wants to go so He won’t be recognized.  Jacob has surrendered his will to God but he won’t let go of Him.  Jacob has become a perseverer.  Graciously, Jesus will not overrule Jacob’s will, so instead He puts his hip out of joint.  Jacob wisely asks for a blessing from the Divine Logos.  Jesus, who knows everything, asks him a rhetorical question, What is your name?  The Lord then changes his name from Jacob (Deceiver) to Israel (He who contends with God and men and overcomes).

By changing his name, Jesus is indicating that Jacob’s character has been purified. Jesus is also letting Jacob know that his future successes will result (Zechariah 4:6), ”Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty.

Israel wants Jesus’ name but the LORD will not reveal it to him.  We cannot overcome or control God; instead, we yield and hold on!  This is both a spiritual victory for Israel and a demonstration of human frailty in the face of God.  God will superintend the reconciliation with his brother.  As my prayer partner likes to say, God rules and overrules the hearts of men and women.  The apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 1:6, …He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  God had begun a good work in Jacob.

The spiritual woodshed was intended to transform him, mold and shape the deceptiveness out of him through adversity.  In wrestling with him, Jesus was saying—without words—your brother, Esau, will not overcome or kill you.  You do not need to fear him, because I and the angel armies are with you.

Among the many lessons of Jacob/Israel wrestling with God are these:

  • God accepts us as we are, but loves us too much to leave us that way. He doesn’t overrule our will, but He will discipline us.  Until we are transformed by this discipline, often the things we most want are what elude us.
  • Nevertheless, He will persist with us, giving us enough lessons to bring us

around.

  • When we finally do surrender to Him, He then blesses us.  Jacob/Israel re-entered the Land with 11 sons and 1 daughter, lots of servants, huge numbers of sheep, goats, cattle, donkeys and camels—enough excess to offer reparations to Esau—or at least “to sweeten” their first meeting.
  • I tell the clients I work with at Honey Lake Clinic, “If you want God to heal you, you have to set aside your ideas of how you will be healed and let God be God.” That is true for all of us. Not my will but yours be done, Oh Lord!  When we are dealing with God, our proper attitude needs to be one of surrender; surrender, but hold on!

 

©2020 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams