Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Bought at a Price

Pastor Sherry’s message for August 3, 2025

Scriptures: Hosea 11:1-11; Ps 107:1-9. 43; Col 3:1-11; Lk 12:13-21

Last week, we saw how in Hosea 1:1-11, the prophet was told he was to live out a metaphor of God’s faithful love for His faithless people.  God tells Hosea to marry a whore, a woman who would be repeatedly unfaithful to him. How painful for poor Hosea! The Lord meant for the Northern Kingdom to view Hosea’s tragic marital life as a portrayal of how He (the Lord) felt about the entire nation’s “spiritual adultery.”  Hosea’s wife, Gomer, humiliated him time and again by running around with other men. By Jewish law, Hosea would have been justified in stoning her to death.  

But God told him to break the law God Himself had created in order to make his life an object lesson for the people.  So, Hosea remained faithful, as does our God, to a spouse who was a serial or repeated adulterer.  

Worse yet, Gomer bore him 3 children, but he could not be sure they were his. The Lord had him name his 2 boys and 1 girl names that reflected the Lord’s increasing disappointment with and distress over Israel: (1) A son, Jezreel, whose name meant, variously, God scatters, not pitied, or bastard; (2) A daughter, Lo-Ruhamah, whose name meant not loved; and (3) A second son, Lo-Ammi, whose name meant not My people.

Through these children, God was saying to the people of the Northern Kingdom, I have faithfully loved you, but you have been consistently and blatantly unfaithful to Me.  I am withdrawing from you.  I will scatter you.

Interestingly our Lectionary skips Chapter 3, in which Gomer finds herself trapped in sexual slavery, and on the auction block—for sale to the highest bidder.  The Lord tells Hosea to go bid on her and buy her freedom.

Imagine how this woman has humiliated him, yet he has to demonstrate God’s unfailing love by using perhaps all the money he has to set her free.

Scripture tells us he offers 15 pieces of silver—a slave in those days cost 30. This would amount to about $230 in today’s money.  Remember Who was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver?  Jesus, the King of the Universe, was handed over to His enemies for the price of a slave.  Hosea paid half that in cash–perhaps because it was all he had—so he also added a bag and ½ of horse feed.  The man gave everything he had to buy her back!   Hold on to this metaphor:  Hosea redeemed Gomer at great price to himself!

Now, in chapter 11 (today’s reading), God changes the metaphor from a marital relationship to a parent-child relationship. He poignantly recalls (vv.3-4): It was I who taught Ephraim [Israel] to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them.  I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them.  God had rescued them from slavery in Egypt.  He freed them, loved them, healed them, led them, and fed them.  And how did they respond to His continuous, long-suffering, fatherly love for them?  They turned away from Him, like Gomer, to take up with pagan gods.  So, the Lord names the nation He will use as His method of discipline: Assyria (who defeated and ravaged the Northern Kingdom in 722BC (Hosea prophesied this message in approximately  750BC). 

Chapter 11 also movingly portrays God’s love and His emotional agony as He considers disciplining His people.  Verse 8 (NLT): Oh, how can I give you up, Israel?  How can I let you go?  How can I destroy you like Admah or demolish you like Zeboiim [2 cities neighboring Sodom and Gomorrah, probably just as evil and destroyed as collateral damage].  My heart is torn within Me, and My compassion overflows.   The Lord is heart-broken!  Nevertheless, His love endures.  The chapter closes as He expresses His intention to re-gather His scattered people and to bring them back to the Land (at Jesus’ 2nd Coming). 

Now perhaps you are asking yourself, why is this Hosea-Gomer saga paired with today’s Gospel, Luke 12:13-21?  They don’t seem very connected, but I believe they are.  Let’s examine how that may be:  A man from the crowd listening to Jesus’ teaching asks Him to make his brother share an inheritance.  We all know how these situations can be, don’t we?  One sibling gets more than the others, and resentments grow as jealousy and envy reign.  Or one sibling hires a slick lawyer to get a fair settlement overturned in their favor.  I personally know of a situation where the younger two siblings sued their older brother for a larger share of the inheritance.  They wrestled over this in court for five years, such that much of the remaining money went to attorneys.  The guy’s beef may be legitimate, but Jesus won’t go there!  His focus during His 1st trip to earth was to save us.  It will only be at His second coming that He will arrive to judge us. 

So instead of addressing the inheritance issue directly, He replies with a proverb (v.15; NLT): Beware.  Guard against every kind of greed.  Life is not measured by how much you own.  Then He teaches what’s now known to us as “The Parable of the Rich Fool.”   Peace, happiness, health, true friends do not come as a result of how many possessions or things we have.  Desires for abundant material goods are insatiable:  John D. Rockefeller, the richest man in America in the 1950’s was once asked how much money was enough.  He answered, “One dollar more than I have.”  No matter how much we have, we always want more because money or material things don’t truly satisfy. Furthermore, there are no U-hauls going to heaven.  The parable calls this kind of greed folly:  It violates the 1st and 10th Commandments and it puts having stuff ahead of loving God, which is idolatry.

The man in the parable is wealthy.   Even if people don’t realize it,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   wealth (and the ability to accrue it) is a gift from God.  James 1:17 says: Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights.  Our Psalm 107 reminds us: For He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

Jesus focuses in on the man’s surplus, which is a problem for him.

He is already living well.  The man does not need the extra.  But he is greedy and self-centered.  Notice how often he uses the words, me, my, I, and myself: 11 times in 3 verses.  What letter is at the center of the word sin?  It’s I, isn’t it?  Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 5:10: Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loses wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.  Paul states emphatically in Ephesians 5:5: For of this you can be sure:  No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man/woman is an idolater—has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.  He reinforces this in Colossians 3:5, Our New Testament reading: Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature:  sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.  Selfishly, the man has no plans of providing for others out of his surplus; but, instead, he plans to horde his excess profits.  The Greek word used for the rich man is actually aphron: without mind, spirit, or emotions.  He thinks he is smart; but spiritually, he’s a zombie, a dead man walking.

Jesus is saying the man’s plan for the good life is foolish!  His life, like all that he has, is transitory, on loan and God is calling the loan in.  Jesus knows the man in the crowd is invested in gathering more money.  He also knows, and so should we, that our money, our worldly wealth cannot save us.

So, Who or What does save us?  Just as God the Father used Hosea to redeem Gomer from sexual slavery, He sent Jesus Christ to redeem us from slavery to sin and death.  In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV) Paul asserts: You are not your own; you were bought at a price!  As I have said many times, the Old Testament always points to the New (finds its completion in the New Testament).  The price for our redemption wasn’t 30 or even 15 pieces of silver and a bag and ½ of horse feed.  It was the precious blood of Jesus Christ!  Scholars believe Hosea bid all the cash resources he had to free Gomer.  We know that Jesus gave all He had to gain our freedom!   Hosea and Gomer present a picture of what was to come about 780 years later through Jesus’ great sacrifice on the Cross.

Do you suppose Gomer was grateful that Hosea had rescued her?  As she stood on the auction block and heard the demeaning things carnal men said about her—perhaps she was even groped!—she must have been so relieved to see her long-suffering husband come to her rescue.   This side of Heaven, we can’t know for sure, but we can hope.  Similarly, I believe we need to live every day grateful that Jesus bought us with His own blood.  Years after Jesus’ ascension into heaven, Peter wrote (1 Peter 1:18-19 NIV): For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. His saving act removed us from the auction block of sin.

Let us pray: Thank you, Father God, for loving us so much as to send us a Redeemer.  Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your selfless love foreshadowed by Hosea, and for volunteering to be that Redeemer. We could not save ourselves, but You were and are our Savior.  Please keep us ever mindful of this fact. We thank you, we love you, and we worship you in gratitude, now and always. Amen!

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

If You Thought This was Spectacular….

Pastor Sherry’s message for April 6, 2025 

Scriptures: Isa 43:16-21; Ps 126; Phil 3:4b-14; Jn 12:1-8

I love stories of healing:  (1) One of our parishioners told us once that she felt God free her from years of a smoking addiction while sitting here in our sanctuary.  (2) We learned several weeks ago that someone we had been praying for for weeks was suddenly healed of Stage 4 Cancer. (3) John Wimber, who founded the Vineyard Church (a charismatic, nondenominational church that focuses on healing), reported many healings but one in particular seems pretty spectacular to me:

“…he received a phone call from a distraught father.  The man was sobbing and could hardly talk.  ‘My baby is here in the hospital,’ he said, ‘and they have tubes from machines attached all over her body.  The doctors say she will not survive the night.  What can you do?’  John said he would come to the hospital.  After he put the phone down, he prayed, ‘Lord, is this baby supposed to die?’  John sensed the Lord saying, ‘No!”  John walked into the hospital with the knowledge that he was a representative of Christ, a messenger who had a gift for that baby girl. 

“When John entered the baby’s room, he sensed [a spirit of] death, so he said quietly, ‘death, get out of here [in Jesus’ name].”  It left, and the whole atmosphere of the room changed, as though a weight had been lifted. Then he went over and began praying for the girl.  After only a few minutes he knew she was going to be healed, and so did her father.  Hope came into his eyes.  

“She is going to be okay,’ he said; ‘I know it.’. 

“Within 20 minutes she had improved greatly; several days later she was released, completely healed.”

(Graham Twelftree, Your Point Being?,  Monarch Books, 2003, p.132.)

Stories like these touch our hearts. They remind us of God’s great love for us.  They deepen our faith.  And they are evidence that our God didn’t just do miracles in Bible-times.  There is in some corners of the Church a believe called dispensationalism. Folks who subscribe to this belief feel convinced that all miracles of healing or deliverance stopped with the death of the last Apostle.  But we know this is simply not true.

All of our Scripture passages today seem to suggest God’s great delight in surprising us with his grace and goodness.  It’s as though He is saying to us, If you thought this was spectacular….

A. In Isaiah 43:16-21, the prophet Isaiah reminds God’s Chosen People of His redeeming work on their behalf.  They had been bound up as slaves in Egypt for 400 years.  God had tucked them out of the way while He waited on the Canaanites to accept Him as their Lord.  They didn’t.  So God sent Moses as His choice of a leader to free the Israelites.  Miraculously, then, Moses led 2 million people, plus their animals and belongings, through a supernaturally dried up Red Sea (1446BC). They walked through on dry land, while the Egyptian army and the chariots that pursued them were drowned.

Isaiah speaks for God saying essentially, “If you think that was spectacular, wait til you see this new thing I am going to do. In verses 18-19 (MLV), the Lord says—But forget all that—It is nothing compared to what I am going to do.  For I am about to do something new.  See, I have already begun!  Do you not see it?  He is referring to how He, the Lord, will lead His people with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.  He will provide them with supernatural food (manna) from heaven and supernatural water from rocks.  He will protect them from enemy attacks. physical diseases, and even from wear and tear on their clothes and sandals.

But, most spectacular of all, He is predicting—through His prophet—the redemption of all humankind He has planned through the efforts of Jesus Christ. In the entire history of the world, there has never been a religion in which the deity comes to earth to save human beings.  This is clearly “a new thing.”

B.  Psalm 126 offers a similar refrain.  This time the Jewish people have been released from their 70 year exile in the Babylonian-Persian Empire.  God had allowed the forces of King Nebuchadnezzar to defeat Judea, destroy Jerusalem, and cart the people off (586BC).  He was chastising them—after many warnings of judgment to come—for their idolatry and stubborn disobedience.  The news that they were free to return to Jerusalem stunned the Jewish captives!  The psalmist writes in vv.1-3—When the LORD brought back His exiles to Jerusalem, it was like a dream!  We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy.  And the other nations said, “What amazing things the LORD has done for them.” Yes, the LORD has done amazing things for us! What Joy!

This probably felt to them like a spectacular new thing.  God’s miracles for His people were clearly not at an end.  And, just as the Isaiah passage predicted Jesus’ 1st Coming, this psalm looks forward to the Jesus’ 2nd Coming. 

C. The Isaiah reading dealt with the Exodus, and our psalm, with the return of the Babylonian exiles.  Paul takes us in a different but related direction in Philippians 3:4b-14.  Paul had, prior to coming to Christ, thought he could manage his own salvation by his own efforts.  He lists 7 credentials he had accumulated that made him a religious superstar:

1.) He had godly parents, who saw to it that he was circumcised on the 8th day—by Jewish Law. 

2.) He was purely a Jew—no nonbelieving Gentiles in his gene pool. 

3.) He was a member of the tribe of Benjamin, Jacob’s favorite son after his loss of Joseph.

4.) He was an elite leader.

5.) He was a Pharisee by training, dedicated to teaching and enforcing Jewish Law.

6.) He was so zealous that he persecuted the infant Christian Church.

7.) And he kept short sin accounts with God, making the requisite sacrifices when he sinned.

But, since becoming a follower of Jesus Christ, he considers all his worldly accomplishments worthless. And so should we.  It’s not about impressing others with what we have done or not done. Paul knows he could not make himself right with God through his own efforts.  He wants us to realize that (v.9)—…God’s way of making us right with Himself depends on faith.  It’s about having faith in Jesus Christ.  He is now dedicated to getting to know Jesus better and better, and to helping others do so too.  And so he presses on (vv.13-14)—Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus is calling us. 

This is definitely a spectacular new thing: Salvation does not come from our efforts, but has been won for us by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  We don’t have to try to be perfect. Our sins are covered by the sacrificial blood of the sinless Son of God. Our striving can cease, replaced by our faith.

D. Finally, in our Gospel lesson (John 12:1-8), we see a young woman do something extraordinarily new to honor Jesus.  The scene is a dinner party in Jesus’ honor at the home of Lazarus.  Rev. Dr. J. Vernon McGee says the Lazarus family represents 3 essentials in every Church:

(1) The resurrected Lazarus has new life in Christ.

(2) Martha no doubt prepared and served the meal, so she represents service.

(3) Mary kneels at Jesus’ feet, worshiping and adoring Him.

(McGee, Through the Bible Commentary on John, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p.38.)

Notice how extravagant are Mary’s efforts.  Jesus will wash His disciples’ feet with water at the Last Supper, but she anoints His feet with a very expensive perfume from India, and dries them with her lovely long hair.

Mary of Bethany realizes how very special Jesus is and she honors Him with a pound of spikenard worth a year’s wages.  She, like Paul who comes after her, has made worshipping Jesus the most important thing. Jesus accepts her worship as if she is anointing Him for His death some 6 days ahead. We could say she is fully committed and has the utmost faith in Jesus. 

I don’t know about you, but I find that Jesus often surprises me by answering prayers I haven’t even put into words.  There’s a certain busy intersection, with no light in my town, into which it is very difficult to turn left. For several days, as I have approached this intersection, there has been—amazingly—no traffic in either direction. As I have easily executed my left-hand turn, I have laughed and thanked the Lord. This is not as spectacular as opening the Red Sea, returning exiles to Jerusalem, or healing a dying baby.  But it serves as a reminder to me that Jesus sees me, loves me, and wants to have me cross the intersection safely.

Like Paul and like Mary of Bethany let’s during what’s left of Lent, focus on how grateful we are to serve a God who enjoys gifting us with spectacular large and delightful small surprises.

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

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Good Friday, 2024 

Pastor Sherry’s message for March 29, 2024

Scriptures: Isa 52:13-53:12; Ps 22; Heb 10:16-25; John 18:1-19:42

Our Scripture passages today are all very solemn, fitting this day we remember the death of our Lord, Jesus Christ, on the Cross:

A. The Passion narrative according to John, takes us through…

(1) Jesus’ arrest.  He had made Himself disappear suddenly, in the past, when He did not intend to be captured.  This time, knowing what He was to do, He allowed them to capture Him.  Did you notice, they fell back when He identified Himself as Jesus of Nazareth?  Were they frightened?  Did they glimpse a hint of His divinity?  He seemed firmly in control as He calmly surrendered.  They had sent a group of 500 men to capture Him, armed with clubs and weapons.  But He wouldn’t allow a fight to ensue.  He tells them to let His disciples go.  Luke tells us He even healed Malchus’ ear, after Peter cut it off.

(2) Then to Annas,’ the former high priest’s place.  Out of favor with the Romans, Annas was still the religious power broker of Jerusalem—sort of like George Soros today.  Biblical scholars say Annas was both brilliant and satanic.

Many credit him with this plan to eliminate Jesus, waiting until the cover of night, when all those who loved and believed in Jesus would be at home.  Jesus challenges him honestly, (v.23)—If I said something wrong, testify as to what is wrong.  But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike Me?  Jesus, again calmly but firmly, reminds them they are out of line:  by Jewish law, no court trial could begin at night/be held at night; no one could strike a person on trial without a verdict; Jewish Law also prohibited sentencing a man on the day he was brought to trial.  But this was Annas’ Kangeroo Court, and side-stepping the law to suit one’s agenda is not new.

(3) Annas sends Him to Caiaphas, the Roman’s choice for “high priest,” Annas’ son-in-law (an early example of nepotism).  John reminds us that in Chapter 11:50, Caiaphas had said to the Sanhedrin, You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.  Caiaphas did not realize at the time that he was speaking prophetically.  In fact, Jesus knew He was laying down His life for the sins of Israel and for us.

Caiaphas and Annas find Jesus guilty of blasphemy, because He admitted He is the Son of God.  This was and is the truth, but they did not believe Him.  They would have liked to have stoned Him, but the Romans forbade any nation to invoke capital punishment but them.

(4) So Jesus is sent to Pontius Pilate.  Pilate tries every which way to free Jesus.  He knows the Jewish religious hierarchy are just jealous of Him.  Hoping to placate them, he has Jesus scourged (39 lashings with a whip).  He offers to set Him free due to the Passover Holiday.  He can find nothing wrong with Jesus, but hands Him over to be crucified when the Jews threaten to tell Caesar that Pilate has let go a man claiming to be king of the Jews.  Pilate is a political animal who wants desperately to leave Judea and return to Rome, so he capitulates, despite his conscience.

(5) And so, trading the sinless Son of God for a murderous rebel, the Jewish leadership have their way and Jesus is crucified.  Ironically, the sign on His cross identifies Him as King of the Jews: It is written In Hebrew or Aramaic, the language of religion; in Greek, the language of culture and education; and in Latin, the Roman language of law and order.  The Jews want it adjusted to read, “He claimed to be the King of the Jews,” but Pilate will not bend.

(6) Notice that John does not tell us much about the crucifixion.  He reports that the soldiers gamble over who will get His clothes.  John relates 3 statements Jesus makes as He is dying:  He asks John to care for His mother, Mary; He says He is thirsty; and, lastly, He asserts, It is finished (meaning He had completed the work of salvation He was sent to do).

(7) Finally, we learn He was taken down and buried just before the Sabbath began at sundown.

B. All 4 of the Gospelers were pretty circumspect about Jesus’ 6 hours on the Cross.  They highlight Jesus’ dignity. They did not want us to focus on Christ’s agony.  J. Vernon McGee says the Father deliberately made darkness come over the land from noon until 3:00pm so watchers could not see Jesus’ intense suffering as He took on all the sin of the world, past, present, and future; and as the Father turned His back on Him.

To get a sense of what the crucifixion was like for Jesus, we have to turn to Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22. 

A. Isaiah 52:13-53:12 is the 4th and final Suffering Servant Song, Messianic Prophesy (called the Gospel in the Old Testament).  Isaiah tells us Jesus will be raised high, lifted up (on the Cross) but also highly exalted (when it is all over).  No one would think so as they observed Him carrying His Cross.  He will in fact startle [not sprinkle] the whole world—render them speechless—because it will be through the loss of all things that He gains all things.  Such a paradox!

700 years before Jesus’ birth, Isaiah accurately predicts the kind of death Jesus will endure.  An ordinary man to begin with—not a fellow with Rock Star looks–He will be 

1.) verse 3—despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering…

2.) beaten beyond recognition;

3.) pieced, crushed, oppressed, afflicted;

4.) killed in the worst possible way, like a common criminal, hung between true felons;

5.) He will die childless—“cut off,” to the Hebrews, evidence of a tragic, futile existence due to no progeny to carry on the family blood line; 

In fact, people will think He got what He deserved, but He didn’t…

1.) Verses 4-5—Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows….the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.

2.) Verse 9—He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.

3.) The Father will richly reward Him—verse 11—After the suffering of His soul, He will see the light of life [resurrection], and be satisfied…Therefore I will give Him a portion among the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong.  God intends to reward Him as though He were a king sharing in the spoils of a great victory, because He went willingly to death, and because He interceded for our sins. 

B. Psalm 22 reveals to us Christ’s thoughts on the cross: He feels forsaken by His Father.  The Father was with Him when He was arrested.  The Father was with Him during His ridiculous trials.  The Father was with Him when He was beaten.  The Father was with Him when He was nailed to the Cross.  But the Father turned His back on Him when He became sin for us, from noon until 3:00pm.

He admits to feeling like a worm—a Coccus worm, in the Hebrew. This particular worm emitted a substance used to make red dye, symbolic of Jesus’ blood poured out for us.

From the Cross He feels surrounded by His enemies: The soldiers are many bulls…the strong bulls of Bashon.  His tormentors from the foot of the Cross—scribes, Pharisees, the hostile mob—resemble (v.13)— roaring lions tearing their prey; and (v.16)— dogs have surrounded Me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.  Nevertheless, He trusts in the love of His Father.

Biblical Scholars tell us Jesus fulfilled 28 prophesies of the Messiah from the Cross.  You can recognize them and count them from our Psalm and Isaiah passages.  The sinless Son of God laid down His life for us, paying the penalty for our sins; reconciling us to God the Father; and clothing us in His righteousness.  These sacred writings prove to us that Jesus—and only Jesus—was and is the Messiah, the Son of God.

Today through Sunday, Let us ponder His sacrifice and offer Him our gratitude and love.

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Setting Us Right With God

Pastor Sherry’s message for February 25, 2024

Scriptures: Gen 17:1-7, 15-16; Ps 22:23-31; Ro 4:13-25; Mk 8:31-35

I read a humorous story this week.  Again, it has to do with a child’s perception of how things “ought to be”:

“A Sunday School teacher held up a portrait of Christ. She explained to the class that it was not an actual photograph of Christ but only an artist’s conception of what Christ might have looked like.

‘’But,’ said one little girl, ‘you’ve got to admit it looks a lot like him.’’’

(Borrowed from a sermon entitled, “A Pair of Ducks and Abundant Life,” www.sermons.com, 2/23/2024).

Isn’t that just the cutest thing?  I love how literal children tend to be and the humor that often results.  Little kids are trying to figure out how things in life work.  I remember when my 49 year old son was about 2 or two and a half and was trying to figure out animal categories. We had a dog with 4 legs, two ears, and a tail. In his child-logic, he looked at cows and told me (since they had 4 legs, 2 ears, and a tail), “Moo-tows are Biggggg doggies!”

It would be interesting to hear a child’s perspective on the elderly Abraham—at a great-great grandparent age—having a baby and his faith that God’s promise to him could still come true.  This constitutes the focus of several of our readings this morning:

A. In our Old Testament reading, Genesis 171-7, 15-16), God appears to Abraham for the 5th time, and reiterates His Covenant Promises:

God is giving him lots of land (the Promised Land, Canaan, or present day Israel; and even a baby from him and his elderly wife, Sarah.  Notice, the passage emphasized Abraham’s age, 99 (Sarah’s is 89).  God the Father wants Abraham—and us– to know that neither Abe’s biological age, nor his body’s elderly condition, could prevent God’s from fulfilling His promises.

Our God is capable of making awesome promises, with spectacular fulfillments.  The Israelites later did occupy God’s Land Grant.  And, at age 100 for Abraham (and 90 for Sarah), Isaac was born to them.  The Jewish people came from Abe via Isaac, and later Jacob.  The Arab people came from Abe via Ishmael, and Jacob’s twin, Esau.  By now, those two people groups constitute, in fact, millions upon millions of Abraham’s descendants.

B.  Paul is very taken by this fact, as evident in today’s epistle reading from Romans 4:13-25.  He is arguing for Abraham’s faith, and the need for our faith!  He is saying God fulfilled His promises to Abraham not based on anything Abe had done for God (except for trusting in Him).  God fulfilled His promises to Abraham due to Abe’s faith in the Lord to fulfill His promises.  This is so important for us to understand!  We are to trust in God, as Abraham did.  We are not looking for a promised baby in our old age, or a promised land.  We are looking for salvation.  Perhaps we are looking for healing or for peace.  We are anticipating living with God forever in Heaven—our happy ending.  But none of these gifts are due to any of our actions or our works.  Our salvation comes from the actions, the completed work of Jesus Christ and Him alone. 

Who would have thought His death on the Cross and His resurrection would be the means by which God would redeem us?  Who would have thought a 100 year olf man would birth a man who would then go on to have…first 2, then 12, then dozens, then hundreds, then thousands, then millions of descendants?  Clearly Isaiah the Prophet was correct when he quotes God as saying (Isaiah 55:8-9, as per Peterson’s The Message, p.1317)”I don’t think the way you think.  The way you work isn’t the way I work.”  God’s decree.  “For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think.“

Our God makes awesome promises.  He provides spectacular fulfillments.  In deed, He set us right with Himself.

C.  This is why Jesus gets so upset with Peter in today’s Gospel (Mark 8:31-38).  This interaction takes place just after Peter tells Jesus, “You are the Christ,” meaning the Messiah or the Anointed One.  It is also just before Jesus reveals Himself as God on the Mount of Transfiguration—during which Peter is present.  Jesus is trying to tell them all what His mission entails:  To redeem human kind, He must (v.31)— …suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the Law, and that He must be killed, and after three days rise again.  Peter was so outraged after hearing this that he probably stopped listening when he heard Jesus say He would be executed.  We can imagine this, can’t we?  It’s just so human.  We don’t want someone we value or love or admire to die early.  Neither do we want them to die a horrible, gruesome death.  No, we want them to continue to live so we can enjoy their presence.  In speaking up so, poor Peter doesn’t realize he has just voiced to Jesus Satan’s short cut—take the crown but reject the cross.  Poor Peter doesn’t realize until he’s said it that Satan has used him to again tempt Jesus.  Jesus’ response is swift, isn’t it? (V.31)—Get behind Me, Satan!  Then He admonishes Peter—You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.  Or, as Peterson paraphrases it, Peter, get out of My way.  You have no idea how God works.”

It’s true, isn’t it?  Peter doesn’t want Jesus to suffer and die.  He wants Him to keep on teaching, interpreting Scripture, healing, and casting out demons…being his friend.  Obviously, these are the desires of men and women, but in this case, not of God.  Having total faith in the Father, Jesus is committed to doing God’s will God’s way.  Nothing will deter Him from it.

He knows His mission is a huge undertaking. It is nothing less than setting us right with God! 

D.  Additionally, Jesus is familiar with Psalm 22.  We will note on Good Friday that the first portion of the psalm predicts Jesus’ thoughts from the Cross.  In the portion assigned to us today, verses 23-31, King David (and later Jesus) assert that they will praise God the Father amidst the congregation of all the people.  Even from the cross, Christ will trust that God still loves Him.  The hours on the cross, when Jesus becomes sin for us, the Father will turn His face from Him.  Nevertheless, He knows His Father is waiting to welcome Him back, to resurrect Him.  Too exhausted to speak, He praises God in His heart, crying out only (v.31) Tetelestai/it is finished.

Jesus’ final words from the cross are that He has completed the work of redemption the Father gave Him to do.  He has set us right with God again.

Thank you, Jesus, for Your courage and bravery!  Thank you for Your great agapeo (New Testament)/hesed (Old Testament) love for us.  Your loyal, everlasting, long-suffering love for us.  Thank You that You love us enough to have done for us what we could not do for ourselves.  Thank you for setting us right with God.

None of us knows what You look like, but I’ll bet Your face in Your resurrected body is beautiful.  (Isaiah said that His face would be unremarkable in His first Coming, so as to not attract the kind of fame a rock star gathers about himself; see Isaiah 53:2.)  Keith Greene, a Christian musician who died at 28 years old–way too young–in a 1982 plane crash, wrote and sang a song about the face of Christ.  The words go like this: 

Oh Lord, You’re beautiful,

Your face is all I see,

For when Your eyes are on this child,

Your grace abounds to me.

I want to take Your word and shine it all around

But first help me just to live it, Lord

And when I’m doing well help me to never seek a crown

For my reward is giving glory to You.

Oh Lord, please light the fire

That once burned bright and clean

Replace the lamp of my first love 

That burns with holy fear.

Oh Lord, You’re beautiful,

Your face is all I see,

For when Your eyes are on this child,

Your grace abounds to me.

Listen here.

May it be so for each of us.  Amen and Amen.

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

The Necessity of Prayer

Pastor Sherry’s message for February 4, 2024

Scriptures: Isa 40:21-31; Ps 147:1-11, 20c; 1 Cor 9:16-23; Mk 1:29-39

Some time back, the devotional booklet, Our Daily Bread, ran the following story:

“A father took his small son with him to town one day to run some errands. When lunchtime arrived, the two of them went to a familiar diner for a sandwich. The father sat down on one of the stools at the counter and lifted the boy up to the seat beside him. They ordered lunch, and when the waiter brought the food, the father said, “Son, we’ll just have a silent prayer.” Dad got through praying first and waited for the boy to finish his prayer, but he just sat with his head bowed for an unusually long time. When he finally looked up, his father asked him, “What in the world were you praying about all that time?” With the innocence and honesty of a child, he replied, “How do I know? It was a silent prayer.”

(As repeated on the website, www.sermoncentral.com, 2/2/2024.)

Isn’t that just like a little kid? So literal: “If it’s truly silent, even I don’t know what I’m praying.” Whatever was on his mind and heart, I’m sure that it brought a smile to God’s face.

I believe that Jesus is taking us—and His disciples–to school today on the necessity of prayer. Prayer is talking to God or conversation with Jesus.

Technically, it’s our pleas or our praise directed to God, through the intercession of His Son, Jesus, and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Let’s see what our readings today have to add to this topic:

A. Our Gospel is from Mark 1:29-39—In it, Jesus gives us a great model for prayer. Remember, Biblical scholars believe Mark is actually Peter’s Gospel. Peter was too busy doing ministry, so he has his apprentice, John Mark, write down for him Peter’s experiences with Jesus. (I did this once for a friend from seminary. He was pioneering in bringing drug dealers, addicts, prostitutes, and pimps to Christ on the south side of Jacksonville, Florida. He had a substantial collection of hair-raising stories about such folks coming to Christ. I offered to write them down for him as he was too busy doing the work of ministry himself. I wrote, he edited, and we published a book called, Gospel Chains: Inspirational Stories of Changed Lives through Chains of Relationship, Anglican Revitalization Ministries, 2022. Peter was trying to win over a Roman audience to Christ. He focuses on something Roman soldiers would relate to and appreciate: the authority of Christ.

He reports in Chapter 1 that Jesus successfully overcomes the temptations Satan presents to Him. He then returns to Capernaum to recruit his first disciples, and to worship in the Synagogue there. As Jesus is teaching and preaching in the synagogue, a demon manifests in a man in the congregation. Jesus muzzles it with a minimum of fuss and casts it out of the man. The worshippers of Capernaum were amazed—and so too would have been the Romans—that Jesus has authority over the spiritual realm.

And so we find Him in today’s passage, leaving the Synagogue with James and John to visit at Simon Peter’s house. Let’s focus on 3 noteworthy points: First, Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law. This indicates that He has authority over physical illnesses. Second, the word travels after Sabbath just as you might expect in a small town—Jesus has freed a demonized man and now He has healed Peter’s wife’s mother. Imagine if our church offered a service in which we prayed for folks from Wellborn (which I hope we will begin doing later this year). Next imagine that many were healed due to our intercessory prayers for them. Needless to say, the very next time we offered prayer, people would crowd in, bringing their sick 2nd cousins, neighbors, and friends for healing. Verses 33-34 state it this way—The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but He would not let the demons speak, because they knew who He was. Somewhere reputable I read that the 4 Gospels list 31 healings. But the truth is that Jesus healed many, many more than Scripture describes. The Apostle John writes at the end of his gospel (21:25)—Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would have room for the books that would be written.

The 3rd important point is that Jesus, the Son of God, also operated under authority—that of God the Father. Verse 35 tells us—Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up and left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed. (I used to wonder, “Wasn’t He worried He might be assaulted by bad-actors, by Himself in the dark?” Then I realized, “Of course not. He’s God! Who could mess with Him and win?”). We do not know how often He did this, but I would bet that He checked in with His Father daily. Bu doing so, He nurtured their relationship, plugged back into His power-source, and He got His directions, His marching orders for the next step.

When Peter and the others look for Him, because a morning crowd has formed, they urge Him to return to the house to meet these additional needs. But Jesus does not bow to their demands; He’s not a people-pleaser. He asserts instead (v.38) Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come. Capernaum may be His headquarters, but He will not be limited to ministering there only—the mission the Father has given Him is broader than what the disciples considered. This fact, too, would have appealed to a Roman military audience, as they too served a mission greater than one duty station warranted.

B. Our Isaiah lesson (40:21-31) reminds us of God’s limitless power. Peter and John Mark—if they had thought of it–should have attached this reading to the Gospel account to impress the Romans. It is the Christian God who sits enthroned above the earth, not the Roman panoply of arrogant and merciless master-manipulators. Verse 23 tells us—He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. God the Father (and God the Son) (v.26) made and named the stars. God the Father (and God the Son) created (v.28) the length and breadth of the earth. It is He and Jesus who set things into motion and it is He and Jesus who sustain all things.

Furthermore, (v.29)—He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. We renew our strength when we abide with Him. Jesus knew this and so sought the Father in prayer. Have you ever noticed how un-frazzled you become after a time of prayer? Seeking the Lord calms and relaxes us.

We are also renewed when we hope in the Lord! Now Roman soldiers would have loved to have known that secret. This would have eliminated the need to use drugs to stay awake. They would have had no need to rely upon substances to increase strength. Evidence has been uncovered that indicates the Nazis used drugs to amp themselves up before an offensive action. We also know that the Hamas terrorists, who stuck Israeli kibbutzim on October 7th, were strung out on some drugs that gave them energy for days with no sleep, and also lowered their inhibitions so they could commit the atrocities they did. We don’t need to resort to such as God is willing to renew our strength in righteous causes. To quote Psalm 62:6, the Lord is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken. Additionally, Roman soldiers should have become impressed to learn that our God truly is the Commander in Chief, sovereign over all the earth!

C. Psalm 147:1-11 reiterates essentially the same message as the Isaiah passage: Verse 5 states—Great is our Lord and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit. Verse 3 promises, like Isaiah 61:1—He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He is both all-powerful and yet extremely compassionate. Verse 11—The Lord delights in those who fear Him [look to Him with awe], who put their hope in His unfailing love. It just makes sense to worship and to pray to an all-powerful God who loves us and cares for us.

D. And in our 1st Corinthians passage (9:16-23), the Apostle Paul wants us to know that his relationship to God compels him to preach the Gospel far and wide. Paul admits he is as winsome as he can be in an effort to appeal to all to accept the truth of the Good News of Jesus Christ. He did not want any impediments to exist in him that would inhibit spreading the Gospel to those who had not heard it. He doesn’t mention prayer per se, but we know he was a mighty man of prayer. He prayed for the wisdom and stamina to travel and to deliver the message. He ended many of his epistles by asking God to bless those who labored with him in this great endeavor around the Mediterranean Sea basin. I think we can safely assume he sandwiched all of his efforts at kingdom building with prayer.

Our readings today are telling us that daily prayer for us is a necessity. We need to communicate with the Lord to understand His will for us. We need to abide with or stay connected to Him to have the power to do His will. We need to pray to Him so as to remain attached to Him.

Firm attachment to the Lord renews our strength. Residing in God’s pocket (I like to think of myself as settled into His breast pocket where I can hear His heartbeat) allows us to soar like eagles. Amen. May it be so!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

SELF-LESS

Pastor Sherry’s Message for September 3, 2023

Scriptures: Ex 3:1-15; Ps 105:1-6, 23-26, 45b; Ro 12:9-21; Matt 16:21-28

         I came across this little poem the other day, whose author is anonymous (perhaps by choice?):

         I’ll go where You want me to go, dear Lord.

                    Real service is what I desire. 

          I’ll sing You a solo anytime, dear Lord,

                    But don’t ask me to sing in the choir.

          I‘ll do what You want me to do, dear Lord,

                    I like to see things of God come to pass.

          But don’t ask me to teach boys and girls, O Lord,

                    I’d rather just stay in my class.

          I’ll do what You want me to do, dear Lord,

                    I yearn for Thy kingdom to thrive. 

          I’ll give You my nickels and dimes, dear Lord,

                    But please don’t ask me to tithe.

          I’ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord,

                    I’ll say what You want me to say.

          I’m busy just now with myself, dear Lord,

                    I’ll help You some > convenient day.

(Chuck Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, Word Publishing, 1998, pp. 516-517.)

This is amusing, isn’t it?  We’re ready to obey the Lord, but on our terms.  If we obey on our terms, then just who is God to us? We sit on the throne of our own lives, and obey God if and when it’s convenient—which means we have dethroned the true King.


And where does this leave us?  The comedian, George Carlin, once had a routine in which he challenged the concept of self-help.  He said, essentially, that self-help is an oxymoron:  “Look it up,” he said, “if you did it yourself, you didn’t need any help. Pay attention to the logic of the language, people.”   How about the concept of self-service?  Isn’t service something we provide to others? Again, using Carlin’s logic, is it a service if we do something for ourselves alone?

(Fairless and Chilton, The Lectionary Lab Commentary, Year A, 2013, p.213.)

The Bible is pretty clear that God prefers for us to turn from serving or helping self toward serving Him and helping others.

         A.  Our Old Testament lesson (Exodus 3:1-15) is a case in point:  By the end of chapter 2, Moses had become a grown man with   a desire to help his people, the Israelites.  So when he observed an Egyptian overseer mercilessly beating a Hebrew slave, he took it upon himself to kill the Egyptian.  We have no indication that the Lord told him to do this.

He had assumed this murder would be helpful.  But he was unprepared for what might happen when the word got out—even among the slaves–that he was a murderer.  His own people didn’t trust him.  He had been trying to help, but by his own misguided efforts.  The Egyptians wanted to arrest him and kill him.  This resulted in his having to flee for his life to the Egyptian “outback,” to the south end of the Sinai Peninsula, a place called “Midian.”

There, in Midian, the Lord placed him in a godly family and provided him with (1) sanctuary from any avenging Egyptians, (2) a lovely wife, Zipporah, and two sons, and (3) a new way to earn a living, as a shepherd.  We could say he served a 40 year apprenticeship, caring for sheep and goats, prior to shepherding God’s Chosen People.  He was also learning not to rely on self (help).  He was emptied of pride and self-will.  The burning bush incident was meant by God to teach Moses to surrender his ego, his princely prerogatives, and to trust in the name and power of the Lord.  God tends not to use those who will not yield to Him.

         B. We know God used Moses mightily, as we read the rest of Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy (the Pentateuch or Torah, the Law, from Genesis through Deuteronomy).  After afflicting the Egyptians with 10 plagues—by the way, this was the Lord going to war with the gods of Egypt and winning every time!—Pharaoh gives in and lets the Israelite slaves leave Egypt.  Scholars believe King David wrote Psalm 105, to preserve and celebrate God’s actions on behalf of the Israelites from the time of Abraham to Moses.  This psalm retells their history.

The verses we read this morning recall how the Lord used Moses and Aaron, his brother, to display His power to Pharaoh, essentially saying, Dude, you and your gods don’t have a chance against the power of the Almighty God.

We’ve all just survived Hurricane Idalia.  Think of how Almighty God intervened to help us through.  A friend in Tallahassee who did not lose power was watching the Weather Channel and heard Dr. Greg Postel say, the day after Idalia hit land (8/11/23), that they observed “curious changes” that did not match their scientific predictions:  (1) The eye wall “eroded,” or “fell apart at the middle and lost convection so that the wind weakened just before landfall.”  130 mph suddenly dropped to 85 or 90—such a huge, immediate drop is not usual.  This Category 4 killer storm reduced to a Cat 2 or 1 as it reached land.  He admitted the science could not explain this.  (2) Though the storm surge was bad, due to the full moon, it materialized as less than expected because it hit at low tide rather than high tide, as had been predicted.  Perhaps the lowered wind speeds helped change the timing of the storm with the tides.  How amazing!  (3) Additionally, the winds at ground level during impact appeared to have separated from higher, more vicious winds which operated up to 1000 feet above land.  The winds that hit us were actually lower in velocity than the higher winds in the storm mass.  We were spared the really dangerous, brutal winds.  Remember our prayers, since the beginning of hurricane season against a dangerous hurricane hitting Florida?  No doubt we were not the only Christians praying this way.

Truly we were spared the devastation of a Cat 4 storm by divine intervention.  Never doubt the power of Almighty God!  All praise belongs to Him!

         C. In his letter to the Romans (12:9-21), Paul lays out how we are to relate to other believers and to nonbelievers.

         If we are cooperating with the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, our actions toward other believers will be characterized by

                  a. Sincere love;

                 b. Hatred only for what is evil;

                 c. Devotion to each other out of brotherly love (philios);

                 d. Industriousness, rather than laziness;

                 e. “Joy in hope, patience in affliction, faithfulness in prayer”;

                 f. Sharing with the truly needy;

                 g. Practicing hospitality;

                 h. Blessing rather than cursing others;

                 i. Empathizing with each other’s pain or joy;

                 j. Living in harmony with others;

                 k. And being humble.

Toward non-believers, we are to (1) refuse to exact revenge for being wronged—leaving that instead to God.  Remember, the culture says, “What goes around comes around.”  Scripture says “we reap what we sow.” It’s the same law.  Often I have seen someone receive back exactly the evil treatment they had previously dished out to another; (2) do the right thing; (3) as much as we can ensure it, we must live at peace; and (4) verse 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

If we can demonstrate these attitudes and behaviors,we are truly demonstrating that we are surrendered to God.  If we can’t, we probably aren’t.

         D. Which leads us to our Gospel lesson (Matthew 16:21-28).

Jesus tells the disciples, for the 1st time, that He is going to Jerusalem to die (about 6 months prior to His crucifixion).  He will tell them four more times before His betrayal and arrest (Matthew 17:12, 17:22-23, 20:18-19, and 20:28).  He knows and accepts that this is the future set out for Him.

But Peter is appalled!  Seven verses earlier, Peter had confessed that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.  He can’t believe that Jesus would willingly die a     criminal’s death.  Whereas his first statement was inspired by the Holy Spirit, this second one is inspired by Satan.  How quickly we can move from being in alignment with God’s will to being antagonistic to it.  Jesus loves Peter but rebukes him strongly.  Even the Son of God—who is also God—must submit His will to that of the Father.

Self-help, self-service, even self-improvement rarely work for us.  I once worked with a very bright doctoral student in Sports Psychology.  Those folks are smart as can be.  They have to learn all the psychology I did, as well as the physiology of bones, muscles, ligaments, and tendons that impact athletic performance.  She suffered from depression and did not believe in Jesus.  Instead she worshipped “the goddess within.”  I wondered how she could continue to believe in the goddess within when that entity had not helped her overcome her battle with depression.  Self-improvement based on self or even on “the goddess within” is typically fruitless.  We need Jesus to heal us.   

Ultimately, we need to follow the examples of Moses and of Jesus.  We are to deny ourselves.  We are to be willing to sacrifice what we want.  We are to serve and obey God.  We are to help others.

When we can become self-less, then God has us right where He wants us.  This is the point at which He will use us to build up His Kingdom.  And, paradoxically, when we surrender to Him and pick up our cross, we gain eternal rewards—we are richly blessed.

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

The Seven Last Words

Pastor Sherry’s message for Good Friday April 7, 2023

Scriptures: Isa 52:13-53:12; Ps 22; Heb 10:16-25; Jn 18:1-19:42

In years past, on this day, I have tried to explain to us the meanings of the 4th suffering Servant Song from Isaiah—how Jesus exactly fulfilled what Isaiah prophesied 700 yrs. before His birth—how Psalm 22 reveals His thoughts as He hung on the Cross; and the events in John’s account of Jesus’ arrest, trials, torture, crucifixion, death and burial. Today, however, I want us to visit and meditate upon what are called “the seven last words of Jesus.”

Jesus made seven statements from the Cross. Each one had to have been very important to Him because to make them, He would have had to push up on His nailed feet to gather breath to speak, while also rubbing His lacerated back against the rough, splintery wood behind Him. To make each statement must have caused Him incredible pain,

But as St. Augustine noted (354-430), “The tree upon which were fixed the members [His arms and feet] of Him dying was even the chair of the Master.” In other words, even from the Cross as His body suffered, Jesus was teaching us. Even as His death neared, He had important lessons to leave with us. Let’s examine them in order:

A. The 1st is “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34). Through the millennia since, this statement has been known as “the word of forgiveness.” Wow! Such a powerful lesson! As He suffered agony, He prayed for God to forgive the very persons who despised Him and were responsible for His cruel murder. What an extraordinarily loving heart! How many of us could do the same?

But this is the challenge, isn’t it? Think of those who have harmed you, and of what they did that was so hurtful. Jesus is modeling for us what He wants us to do. He wants us to forgive those who have hurt us, no matter how badly they treated us; and no matter how much we might want them to suffer in return. We are to commend them to God in prayer. We are to offer them grace. We are to let go of our need for revenge. We place that desire into the Father’s hands, Who has said, Vengence is Mine.

B. The 2nd is “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). To add to Jesus’ humiliation, the sinless Christ was hung between two guilty criminals. One continuously mocked Him, demanding that Jesus free him from their death sentence–if He were truly God. The other may have begun that way, but in watching and listening to Jesus, he realized He was someone special. Like the Centurion below, this 2nd thief came to believe that Jesus truly was the Son of God. In his brand new faith, he asked Jesus to remember him when He came into His Kingdom. Remember, Jesus had taught (Matthew 7:7) Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives….How reassuring! This guy was in the process of dying, but expressed his faith in Jesus. This is truly a last minute, death-bed conversion. I have a friend who was for years a hospice chaplain. He talked many World War II, Korea, and Vietnam vets in Washington, D.C. into accepting Jesus as their savior as they lay dying. A simple, “Yes, Lord, I believe” is enough faith for Jesus to act on.

This statement is known as the word of salvation because this guy’s faith in Jesus saves Him. You are here today because you have given your heart to Christ. Pray for family and friends who have not yet done so.

C. The 3rd is from today’s Gospel (John 19:26-27) Dear woman, here is your son; [and to the apostle, John] Here is your mother.

Jesus sees them grieving at the foot of His cross and wants them to comfort each other. It is a statement of their new relationship. In this, Jesus’ last will and testament, He provides for His mother’s comfort, safety, and companionship. Even though Jesus had several half-brothers and half-sisters, he gives “custody” of Mary to John. He appears to have been redefining or extending the concept of “family.” We have our nuclear family, into which we are born—mother, father, siblings. We also have an extended family —grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins; a clan or kinship group, if you will. However, when we are in Christ, we also have a spiritual family, people with whom we become close due to our shared faith in Jesus. If our nuclear or extended families are not Christ-followers, we often find we have more in common with our spiritual family than with blood-kin.

Additionally, our Lord never means for us to be isolated, cut off from relationships with others. He has built into us a need for community, or connection with others. Brain researchers have discovered that when we spend time with people we love and who love us, it spikes amounts of the neurotransmitter, dopamine, in our brains, and we actually feel better. Seek out folks with whom you can share your thoughts, your faith, and your heart.

D. The 4th of Jesus’ words from the cross is, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:33-35). This word speaks to Jesus’ acute suffering. The physical was agony enough. But as He hung on the cross from noon to 3pm, He experienced—for the 1st time—the emotional and spiritual agony of abandonment. Remember He had taken upon Himself all of our sins. In His holiness, God His Father could not be present with Him. For 3 hours, Jesus hung alone. For the 1st time, He felt cut off from the strength and reassurance of His Father’s love. Only His solid trust in His unseen and unfelt Father helped Him to persevere.

Did you notice that He quoted from Psalm 22:1? This was a prayer of desperation. This is also meant to teach us what to do when we too feel desperate and abandoned—cry out to God! I was once fired from a church job for preaching the Gospel. Shocking, but it can happen. I went home, knelt by my bed and wept the lament psalms to the Lord. After a brief time, He told me to stop crying and call my friends in Tallahassee, Florida. It was truly a miracle that three of them—all busy persons—answered my first call. One agreed to drive to New Orleans to help me pack and move. A second one offered me a place to live. The third agreed to help me set up a private practice counseling business until I could land a church job. The Holy Spirit worked through my friends to help me move into a new future, 2 months before Hurricane Katrina nearly destroyed New Orleans. Jesus is the Only One we can truly count on when we are at the end of all of our own resources. Express your gratitude to Him for times when He Has rescued you.

E. Jesus’ 5th word was “I thirst!” (John 19:28). This, of course, refers to His very human state of dehydration. It was a statement of distressing physical need. Mark tells us He would not drink wine mixed with myrrh, a pain killer the Romans offered to those about to be crucified (Mk15:23). He knew He was to experience the totality of the pain inflicted upon Him. His last drink of anything may have been the final cup of wine the evening before at the Passover Feast. He describes His condition in Psalm 22:15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd [a broken piece of pottery], and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. The soldiers then offered him wine vinegar, which He drank from a sponge lifted up to Him. Perhaps that eased his need somewhat. But I think I thirst also means He thirsted then and continues to desire that all would come to know and believe in Him. May we also thirst for the salvation of the many in our culture who reject Christ.

F. Jesus’ 6th word was “It is finished!” (John 19:30). We know His life wasn’t finished as He was resurrected 3 days later. What was finished was His saving work to bring salvation to us all. Scholars say this was a statement of triumph. When I completed seminary, my graduating class had tee-shirts made for all of us that said, tetelestai, which means it is finished in the Greek of Jesus’ day. At the time, we thought we were being clever. Twenty + years later, it seems to me to be presumptuous and irreverent. We had just completed our mission of passing 3 years’ worth of divinity study, while Jesus had paid it all—the full penalty for all our sins—on the Cross. Thank God we are saved by His blood, the blood of the true Passover Lamb. Meditate on your gratitude for His work as our Redeemer 2,000 years ago.

E. Finally, Jesus spoke His last word, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46). What a wonderful final statement of reunion! He must have known He was about to breathe His last, and so He gave Himself back to the Father. He acknowledges that His pain, suffering, and alienation from the Father were at an end. I remember how the OR room nurses gave me a warm blanket and a glass of cold apple juice just after I had given birth (back in 1974). I felt such fatigue and relief that my labor suffering—only a fraction of that of Christ—was over and that my child was safely born with all his fingers and toes. No doubt Jesus too was tired, relieved, and exhilarated.

Where will our focus be when we too face death? And are we willing to commit our spirits to God right now?

(Ideas borrowed from Kevin Vost, Seven Meditations on Christ’s Seven Last Words, 2018.)

Jesus gifted us with 7 final lessons from His Cross. May we taken them to heart. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

©️2023 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Follow Me into the Light

Pastor Sherry’s message for March 19, 2023

Scriptures : 1 Sam 16:1-13; Ps 23; Eph 5:8-14; Jn 9:1-41

My new, favorite, contemporary, Christian song is, “Follow Me,” by Casting Crowns* (Thrive CD, 2013). The lyrics are as follows:

(Look/listen for the repeated themes.)

At the end of myself, I am empty and dry

I have nothing to give, But surrender inside.  

[Jesus responds] Let down your nets, This is not the end

From now on, you’ll be Fishers of Men. [Who is this? Peter, Lk 5:1-11]

Follow Me, Follow Me, Follow Me.  

At the end of myself, Judgment calls out my name

I’ve been looking for love, but I’m swallowed by shame. 

[Jesus responds] Throw away all your stones, Find forgiveness in Me.

Let me be your new passion, My daughter you’re free [Woman caught in adultery, Jn 8:1-11]. 

At the end of myself, I’ve done things my own way;

This world gave up on me, now it’s death I do pay.

[Jesus responds] You know who I am, I’m sin’s sacrifice;

Today you will be… in paradise.  [Thief on the Cross, Lk 23:32-45]

[Any seeker] Who is the man who calmed the seas?

And Who is this man who loves the least of these?

[Jesus responds] I am the Promised One; God gave His only Son.

And those who believe…Will live eternally.

At the end of yourself, just follow Me.

I will give you new life, just follow Me, Follow me.

If at the end of yourself, just follow Me.

You may lose everything, just follow Me.

I will give you new life, just follow Me, follow Me.

The repeated themes are, off course, Follow Me, and, At the end of myself. When we come to the end of our own resources, we know we need Jesus. Another way of saying this is that without Jesus, we are spiritually blind. Two of our Scripture passages today deal with blindness (physical and spiritual) and what it takes to come out into the Light of Christ. Let’s examine them together:

A. John 9:1-41 details Jesus’ healing of the man born blind.

The context is that of a Sabbath Day when Jesus spots this blind man begging before one of the Temple gates in Jerusalem. Blind and other physically impaired persons usually did not make a living—in those days–by practicing a trade. Instead, they customarily stationed themselves somewhere near consistent foot traffic and begged for food money from passersby.

Upon seeing him, the disciples want Jesus to explain the cause of the man’s blindness (a theoretical, theological discussion). But Jesus downplays the issue of who or what to blame, saying (v.3, The Message, Eugene Peterson, NavPress, 2002, p.1937)”You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. Then He proceeds to meet the man’s most pressing practical need, saying (vv.4-5, MSG)We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent Me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. [Remember, this was a predominantly rural culture with no one working past sundown.] For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world’s Light. (Other translations say, I am the Light of the World.) The poor guy has lived in darkness his whole life! Jesus isn’t going to stand there and argue the why’s of the fellow’s condition. He intends to heal him.

He also intends for them and for us to realize He is God. He makes an “I AM” statement—to Jewish ears, he was declaring His divinity. God the Father had identified Himself to them as “I am Who I am,” meaning that He has always existed; in a sense, our God is always exists in the present tense. In the Gospel of John, Jesus makes many I am statements so that the Jews would realize He was identifying Himself as God: I am the Living Water; I am Manna from Heaven; I am the Way, the Truth; and the Life; I am the Good Shepherd; I am the Resurrection and the Life; etc.

Now, this poor blind man has never enjoyed light in his life, but the One who is the Light of the World is going to bring it to him. He makes a kind of clay from saliva and dirt and places it on the guy’s closed eyes.

Now, consider this: The blind fellow has heard Jesus’ voice; he has felt Jesus’ touch; he has probably even smelled Jesus’ scent. He obeys his unseen Redeemer by going, as instructed, to wash the clay off in the pool of Siloam (which John tells us means “sent.” The man was sent by Jesus to the pool named “Sent”). He seems to trust Jesus, sight-unseen. He chooses to do what Jesus tells him (Contrast this with Naaman the Syrian general who was too proud to dip himself—as the prophet had instructed him—in the Jordan. His servants had to convince him to “follow orders” to obtain his healing.)

Throughout the rest of the incident, the Pharisees are trying to figure out how a rabbi who breaks Sabbath rules against working on that day—which makes Jesus a sinner in their eyes—could possibly work a miracle of God. The guys’ neighbors can’t explain it. Some of them don’t even recognize him since he is now sighted. His parents do recognize him but are afraid the religious rulers will excommunicate them if they celebrate Jesus, so they avoid committing themselves. But the grateful and spunky guy takes them to task! He’s not concerned about their theological issues. He just knows he was born blind but now has his sight.

Then Jesus turns the tables on the Pharisees when He calls them physically sighted but spiritually blind. He has worked a miracle that they cannot accept. In so doing, He has fulfilled the prophesy from Isaiah 61:1 that Messiah would restore sight to the blind. But in their confidence that Jesus cannot really be the Messiah, they refuse to see the evidence before their own eyes.

B. Paul also addresses the topic of spiritual blindness in Ephesians 5:8-14. Of course he (and we) start from knowledge that Jesus is the Light of the world. As Peterson puts it his paraphrase (MSG p.2132), Paul exhorts us You groped your way through that murk [habitual sins] once, but no longer. You are out in the open now. The bright light of Christ makes your way plain. So no more stumbling around. Get on with it! The good, the right, the true—these are the actions appropriate for daylight hours. Figure out what will please Christ, and then do it. In other words, prior to accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we lived in spiritual darkness. Once we accept Jesus, we live the Light of Christ. As St. John would say later in 1 John 1:5-6 God is Light; in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. We demonstrate the fact that we dwell in Christ’s light by living a life different from that of our culture: We demonstrate goodness or kindness to others. We live lives that are righteous as we try to do those things of which Jesus would approve, and avoid doing the opposite. Our words and our manner reflect truth—i.e., we are sincere and genuine.

Finally, Paul urges us to (v.11) have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness….Dark deeds aren’t driven away by preaching or lecturing against them; but rather, our actions speak louder—and are a better witness to Christ—than are our words. Rev. Dr. J. Vernon McGee relates a true story of one of his parishioners. She was a married lady who grieved the fact that her husband was uninterested in Jesus. She wanted him to share her faith and to accompany her to church and in prayer. So she educated, begged, pleaded, nagged, and even resorted to crying through the two meals a day they were together. Dr. McGee told her to stop that immediately. He recommended she pray, fix excellent meals, and deal with her husband with a smile on her face and a loving attitude. It took about six months, but one day he suggested they attend church together. We cannot shame another into accepting Christ (McGee’s commentary on Ephesians, Thomas Nelson, 1991, pp.142-143).

The song I read earlier gives 3 examples of people who chose to follow Jesus: Peter, the woman caught in adultery, and the thief on the Cross. Our Gospel lesson provides an additional one, the man born blind. As with each of them, we often come to Jesus when we come to the end of ourselves; i.e., when we exhaust ourselves trying to save ourselves. We realize we can’t do it on our own. We recognize we need Jesus. Then, like the man born blind, we obey Him out of thanksgiving for His gift of salvation and healing.

Following Jesus means we don’t just claim we love Him, but we live lives that are changed due to our relationship with Him. We come to demonstrate the fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22) love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, goodness, patience, faithfulness, and self-control. We live out being good, being right with God, and being truthful.

Dear Lord, help us to live lives that are pleasing to You and that reflect Your Light to a lost, angry, and hopeless world. Help us to truly follow You. May the way we live attract others to You, O Lord, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

©️2023 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

*Follow Me by Casting Crowns’ video: https://youtu.be/LraPDltKlvI

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Where is Your Heart?

Pastor Sherry’s message for Ash Wednesday February 22, 2023

Scriptures: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17; Ps 51:1-17; 2 Cor 5:20b-6:10; Matt 6:1-6, 16-21

John Wesley began his small group meetings with the question, “How is it with your soul?” As the founder of our Methodist denomination, we know Wesley as a passionate evangelist. Even though ordained an Anglican, he had experienced the Church of England—in the 18th century–as spiritually dead. So he left church buildings and preached in fields, in town squares, or wherever he could find a responsive audience.

But he wasn’t just content to bring people to a saving knowledge of Jesus; he wanted them to be discipled in the faith. So he began to set up small groups, which he called “Bands.” These were like Cursillo or Emmaus Walk “Reunion Groups.” They met once a week to challenge themselves to move deeper into their faith. Cursillo and Emmaus groups ask, “When this week did you feel closest to Christ?” Sometimes the question is, “Where are you in your walk with Jesus?” Or, as Jesus asks in today’s Gospel (v.21), Where is your heart?

Today, the church season of Lent begins. For the 40 days leading up to Easter (not including Sundays), the Church—Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Episcopalians, Lutherans, and Presbyterians—commemorates Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness. Remember, following His baptism, the Holy Spirit drove Him out into the wilderness to fast, to pray, and to be tested. We too are encouraged to fast, pray, and to develop the strength to resist temptations, as Jesus did. The intention of this is to help us to take inventory of where we are spiritually, and to make course corrections. You could say the 40 days of Lent invite us to ask daily, “How is it with my soul?” or “Where is my heart?”

Our Scriptures today all speak to this issue:

A. In our Gospel lesson (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21), Jesus directs our attention to our motivation as we give (service or money), fast, or pray. Our understanding of our heart is that it is a very important physical organ that may or may not work well. We also see it as a metaphor for our tender feelings. We say, “She has a good heart,” meaning she is generous or compassionate. Or we say, “He has a tender heart,” when he is known for rescuing stray animals or showing kindness to children. We just celebrated Valentine’s Day, a day to focus on romantic hearts.

But the Hebrew understanding of heart was very different: To them, it is not just an important physical organ. The people of Jesus’ day considered the word heart as a metaphor for the whole self. They believed you decided with your heart rather than your brain. They saw the heart as the core of our identity (not race, gender, or nationality). Our heart, according to them, is what drives or motivates us. So, when Jesus says (v.21) For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also, He means we can each rightly discern our priorities by noting where we spend our time, attention, and money. Our priorities can be on acquiring physical things, like a fancy car, a fine home, an expensive item of clothing or of jewelry. Our priorities may be our spouses or our kids, our “grands,” or our pets. Our priorities may also be such values as success, security, happiness, or romantic love. None of these is bad in and of themselves; they become problematic when these treasures/priorities come between us and our relationship with Jesus.

So to spiritually wean ourselves away from whatever interferes with a heart-felt relationship with our Lord, we may choose, for 40 days…

a. to give up social media; TV; chocolate; eating out; etc. I recently read of a woman who decided to pare down the number of knickknacks and decorating items she had by donating a bagful a day to recycling shops. I think the Lord would approve of her desire to simplify her life’s distractions and clear away her clutter; but He probably would not be impressed if this were just another self-improvement project disguised as a Lenten discipline. He would want her to do whatever she does in order to draw her heart closer to Him.

b. Or, we may decide to take on a new spiritual discipline: I am taking (instead of leading) a Bible study on Zoom with some friends from Tallahassee beginning Monday night. You could take a walk daily with the purpose of having quiet time to talk with the Lord. You could read some Christian books—fiction or nonfiction–to increase your faith, etc.

The traditional disciplines, or methods of self-restraint, are what Jesus cites in verses 1-6 and 16-21: (a) Almsgiving or giving of your time, talents or cash to others; (b) Fasting; and (c) increased prayer. The point is to draw our hearts closer to Christ, not to impress others.

B. Briefly, the authors of our other lessons today encourage us to draw our hearts closer to Christ in the following ways:

1. Joel says (2:12-13) we draw closer to the Lord when we …return to [the Lord] with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and He relents from sending calamity. This return to the Lord involves demonstrating repentance.

We acknowledge our sins and turn away from them.

2. King David implies, by his example in Psalm 51, that we can return to a close relationship with God when we honestly acknowledge our sins. As we recite tonight verses1-17, we can clearly perceive his sincere grief and regret over what he has done. His sins were grave: coveting his neighbor’s wife, adultery with her, and murder of her husband. We know from Psalm 32:3-4 that he suffered emotional pain and agony as long as he covered up those sins. He openly begs for God’s forgiveness, asking for mercy. He also recognizes that it is only God Himself who can cleanse him (v.10) Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. He also affirms his faith that God will forgive him because he has asked (v.15) O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise, and (v.17) The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken spirit and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

3. Paul, with his typical zeal, exhorts us to (2 Corinthians 5:20b) Be reconciled to God. In chapter 6, verses 3-10, he reminds the Corinthian Church (and us) that we are to faithfully turn our hearts to Jesus no matter how dire or how happy our circumstances. We are to stay close to Christ because (5:21) God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

So, this Lent—beginning tonight—let’s ask ourselves, daily, “How is it with my soul?” or “Where is my heart?” Let‘s each take an honest inventory of our spiritual health. And then let’s engage in the attitudes and behaviors that will bring us right up, tucked up to Jesus.

And all God’s people say, “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