Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Live Like a Tree beside Water

Pastor Sherry’s message for February 16, 2025

Scriptures: Jer 17:5-10; Ps 1; 1 Cor 15:12-20; Lk 6:17-26

For several weeks, I have been preaching about what God wants from us, behavior-wise:  He wants us to love others abundantly and to remain humble.  Today I want to focus on trusting in Him.

Consider this true story:

“There is no situation I can get into that God cannot get me out. Some years ago when I was learning to fly, my instructor told me to put the plane into a steep and extended dive. I was totally unprepared for what was about to happen. After a brief time the engine stalled, and the plane began to plunge out-of-control. It soon became evident that the instructor was not going to help me at all. After a few seconds, which seemed like eternity, my mind began to function again. I quickly corrected the situation.

“Immediately I turned to the instructor and began to vent my fearful frustrations on him. He very calmly said to me, “There is no position you can get this airplane into that I cannot get you out of. If you want to learn to fly, go up there and do it again.” At that moment God seemed to be saying to me, “Remember this. As you serve Me, there is no situation you can get yourself into that I cannot get you out of. If you trust me, you will be all right.”  That lesson has been proven true in my ministry many times over the years.” 

(Pastor James Brown, Evangeline Baptist Church, Wildsville, LA, in Discoveries, Fall, 1991, Vol. 2, No. 4.)

Many of us have learned this over the years, but we need to be reminded of the fact occasionally, don’t we?  We say we trust God with our finances until we discover we owe IRS a bundle with no foreseeable way to pay it.  We say we trust God with our health, until we get the cancer or heart disease diagnosis.  We say we trust God with our relationships until a spouse cheats on us or dies. We seem to trust God as long as He is arranging our lives the way we want them.  It’s when life throws us a curved ball that our faith is stretched and strained. But the wise person trusts in God no matter what comes!

Our Scripture passages today all encourage us to keep trusting in God, no matter the scares we face in life:

A.  The portion of Jeremiah we read today is from chapter 17,verses 5-10. Remember that Jeremiah is the “weeping prophet”, called to pronounce God’s judgment on His disobedient people.  God had warned him ahead of time that no one would listen to him and that no one would heed his words. He was called to a mission of failure–by worldly standards–yet he persevered.

Perhaps he did so because he knew these verses.  God sets out curses and blessings in verses 5-8:  Curses if you put your trust in what human beings say is right; but blessings if you trust in what God says is right.

Jeremiah says those who trust in the Lord are like (v.8, NLT)…trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water.  Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought.  Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.  What an amazing promise!  Like Jeremiah, we might not experience our blessings this side of heaven, but we can trust in God’s word that if we have been faithful, these blessings are coming.  We want to trust in God, not in news casters, weathermen, climate consultants, economic prognosticators, political analysts, pollsters, etc.  They are only human and can get things wrong.  But God (vv.9-10): search[es] all hearts and examine[s] secret motives.  He knows that the human heart (the Hebrews thought the heart was where we made our decisions, rather than our brains) can be the most deceitful of all things.  We humans can justify to ourselves whatever dishonest or immoral thing we decide to do.  The Lord sees when humans are tripped up by their own dishonorable motives or flawed thinking.  Rev. Dr. J. Vernon McGee puts it this way: “Unfortunately we all have heart trouble …”(Through the Bible Commentary on Jeremiah, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p.81).  In other words, only God sees and knows the Truth all the time.  We need look no further for an example of this than the corruption, fraud, and waste of taxes, recently uncovered by DOGE, and perpetrated by unelected bureaucrats.  These unknown persons dishonorably diverted our tax payer dollars into favorite causes of their own—some even contrary to US interests! Cheating the government is not new. The Israelites at the time of Jeremiah were doing the same or similar things

This passage reminds me of Proverbs 3:5 (NLT): Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.

B. Given the remarkable coherency of Scripture, Psalm 1 says essentially the same thing:  Joy comes to those who (v.1): do not follow the advice of the wicked or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers.  These are all folks who proudly assert they are correct.

They don’t trust in God or God’s judgment.  Righteous people, on the other hand—those who love the Lord and try to follow His ways–(v.2):  are like trees planted along a river bank bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither and they prosper in all they do.

Again, we are reminded in Proverbs 1:7: Fear [awe, reverence] of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge; but fools despise wisdom and discipline.  And in Proverbs 3:6: Seek His [God’s] will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.  Human wisdom is limited but God’s wisdom is eternal and infinite.  We would all do well to consult with the Lord prior to making an important decision.

C. St. Paul is still arguing for the truth of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:12-20.  He is asserting that because over 512 eye witnesses saw and interacted with the Risen Jesus, we can trust that Jesus was raised from the dead.  Reports of this event are trustworthy and true.

Jesus’ resurrection did happen.  If that were not so—and Paul utilizes the word if six times—then none of what we believe as Christians would be worth much.  Since it is true and has been verified, however, it is a truth worth dying for! Over the centuries since Jesus ascended to Heaven, hundreds upon thousands, even millions of Christians have died for this truth.  In 2025, we can stake our lives on its truth as well.

D. Finally, we have Jesus’ words of truth in His Sermon on the Plain, Luke 6:17-26 (Luke’s version of Matthew’s “The Sermon on the Mount”).  Because there were no electronic nor any social media at the time, Jesus had to repeat His primary teachings over and over again to different audiences.  He wanted to be sure folks heard His Words/His Truths.  Though many probably came to be healed or to witness healings, many also wanted to learn from this increasingly famous, itinerant rabbi.  And since there were Gentiles from Tyre and Sidon in this crowd, Jesus focused on sharing His expectations of all of His followers for ethical or righteous living.

He pronounces blessings on those who currently suffer.  He has special compassion on the poor, the hungry, and those who grieve.  They will—at some future time and because they believe in Him—experience total provision, satisfaction, and joy.  And if they experience persecution for Jesus’ sake, they can be (1) greatly reassured, for the prophets were treated the same way; and (2) they can rejoice because they are promised a wonderful reward in heaven.  His message is one of hope: Hold on, because the righteous will be blessed.

But He also pronounces curses or “woes” on those who neither care for God nor for other people.  If they were not generous to others with their wealth, their riches while they were alive will have been their total reward—not to be carried over into the afterlife.  If they are solely focused on the good life now, they will not enjoy their life on the other side.  If they are carried away with mirth, pleasure, and entertainment now, they only will grieve later.  If they enjoy accolades now and do not realize they are accountable to God, they will find themselves on the outside of heaven later on. 

Jesus’ message is clear:  Live your life in such a way now that you clearly demonstrate that you love God as well as your fellow human beings.

So how can we live like a tree planted by water?  Remember our three hurricanes of the past year?  We lost many trees in Suwannee County, Florida, blown over by hurricane-force winds and even some tornadoes spawned by the storms.  Many Water Oaks, whose root systems are shallow, running just undergrown and spreading wide, were felled.  Live Oaks, however, which have roots that grow deep into the ground, remained upright.  Trees planted by water tend to send their roots deep.  Our trust in God is like that—it keeps us anchored, no matter what storms blow around us.

The Bible says over and over again that Fools reject God, but those of us who love Him, trust in Him and His Word.  Consider the following  poem:

Trust Him when dark doubts assail thee,

Trust Him when thy strength is small,

Trust Him when to simply trust Him

Seems the hardest thing of all.

Trust Him, He is ever faithful,

Trust Him, for his will is best,

Trust Him, for the heart of Jesus

Is the only place of rest.

We believe in God.  We remember there is more evidence for the truth of Christ’s Resurrection than there is for the existence of Julius Caesar. 

(Josh McDowell, More than a Carpenter, Tyndale House, 1977, pp.96-97)

Jesus expects us to demonstrate our love for God and our love for others in the way we live.  Let us live a life that shows us firmly planted and well watered.  Let us live a life that reflects well on God and on other Christians. Amen!

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Profiles of Humility

Pastor Sherry’s message for February 9, 2025

Scriptures: Isa 6:1-13; Ps 138; 1 Cor 15:1-11; Lk 5:1-13

Remember Muhammed Ali?  The famous boxer who used to humbly claim, “I am the greatest!”?  Well, the story is told that he was seated on a plane getting ready to take off, and the flight attendant noted he wasn’t using his seatbelt.  She politely asked him to fasten it.  He replied, ”I’m Superman and Superman don’t need no seatbelt.”  To which she responded, ”Superman don’t need no airplane either, so please fasten your seatbelt.”   

 (Steve Jones, “God’s Spiritual Stimulus Plan—Humility, www.sermomcentral.com, 2/6/25.)  

By the way, a parishioner of mine told me (following this sermon) that her father was a city bus driver in Louisville, Kentucky, for years, and that Muhammed Ali (aka, Cassius Clay) rode his bus daily as a child going to school.  Her father said the great boxer had always had a tendency to brag about himself.

 A second story regarding humility involves Benjamin Franklin:  Apparently he once… “made a list of character qualities that he wanted to develop in his own life. When he mastered one virtue, he went on to the next. He did pretty well, he said, until he got to humility.  Every time he thought he was making significant progress, he would be so pleased with himself that he became proud.”

(“Illustrations on Humility,” the Disciplers Blog, 2/7/2025.)

It’s hard to be humble, isn’t it?  But our Scripture passages today provide us with some pretty strong reminders that the virtue of humility pleases God.

A.  Let’s look first at the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1-13).  This story recaps his call, by the Lord, to become a prophet.  The context for Isaiah is the death of the good king, Uzziah.  Uzziah had ruled the Southern Kingdom (Judea and Jerusalem) for 52 years, from 791-740 BC.  He subdued Israel’s traditional enemies, the Philistines (ancestors of today’s Palestinians), the Arabs, and the Ammonites.  And, as long as Uzziah sought God and did not get too proud, he led the country into a period of peace and prosperity.  When Uzziah died, however, Isaiah was grieved and worried for the future of Judea.  Fortunately, Isaiah took his worry to the Temple, where he placed it on God’s altar through prayer.  No doubt he was lamenting. “Lord, what shall we do? What will happen to us all now?”  

The Lord responds to him with a vision and a calling.  The vision is of God on His throne.  The Lord is so immense that the train of His garment fills the Temple.  God wants to reassure Isaiah that all is well:  Isaiah’s earthly King is dead, but his heavenly King is alive and well and sovereign over all things.

Isaiah also sees 6 seraphim—in the Hebrew, the name means to burn—flying about the Throne.  While the job of the cherubim is to protect the holiness of God, the job of the seraphim is to seek out sin and destroy it.

(J. Vernon McGee, Through the Bible Commentary on Isaiah, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p.68.)

This is important because Isaiah immediately becomes aware that he is a sinful man who has seen God himself.  He knows from Moses’ dialogue with God in Exodus 33:20, that—No one may see Me and live.  No sinful being may exist in the physical presence of the Living God.  So he cries out (verse 5, NLT)—It’s all over!  I am doomed, for I am a sinful man.  I have filthy lips and I live among a people with filthy lips.  Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.  Isaiah is honest—he admits and takes responsibility for his sinfulness.  He doesn’t blame his environment, his parents, or any sinful associates.  He humbles himself before God.

God then directs a seraph to cleanse Isaiah’s lips with a burning coal from the altar where sacrifices for sins are carried out.  Prior to Jesus’ once- and-for-all-perfect sacrifice of Himself, an animal was chosen to be offered in one’s place.  The sinner consigned his/her sins to the animal’s head, the priest slit the animal’s throat, drained its blood, and placed its body on the sacrificial altar to be burned.  The life blood of the animal paid for the sin of the human.  The burning or live coal the seraph brought to Isaiah came from the altar at which such atonement for sin was made.  McGee goes on to assert that this act foreshadowed the coming cleansing we would all experience through the shedding of Jesus’ blood (Ibid., p.71).  Remember the words of the old hymn, “What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”  Instead of hurting Isaiah, Christ’s future (to him) finished work on the Cross cleansed and healed him.

Then the Lord calls Isaiah to a frustrating work in which he will convey God’s words to a people group who will neither listen to nor receive what the Prophet has to say.  Again, Isaiah humbly agrees to answer the call–Here I am; send me–even though it is to a mission that will feel very frustrating.

B.  In Psalm 138, King David offers thanksgiving to the Lord for His love and protection.  He says in v. 1—I will sing your praises before the gods.  By gods, David was referring to the false gods of Israel’s neighbors, Egyptian, Philistine, and Canaanite gods.  For us, today, the meaning is anything we put ahead of God in our lives (McGee, p.156 of his commentary on the Psalms).  This could be money, power, status, influence, certain relationships with people, and addictions.

In verse 2, he goes on to praise God for His love and His trustworthiness.  In verse 6, he insists—Though the Lord is great, He cares for the humble, but He keeps His distance from the proud.

There it is, the theme of humility and how it pleases God.  Later, James, the half-brother of Christ, will write (James 4:6)—God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.  Similarly Peter will state (1 Peter 5:6)—So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time He will lift you up in honor. 

C.  St. Paul, in his 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians (verses 1-11), refutes the first heresy to arise in the infant Christian Church: That there was no resurrection.  He carefully enumerates all the folks who saw and interacted with the risen Jesus.  There were more than 512 eye-witnesses.  Then he, himself, saw Jesus on the road to Damascus.

Next, he humbly recounts (vv.8-10, NLT)—Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw Him.  For I am the least of all the apostles.  In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted the Church.  But whatever I am now, it is because God poured out His special favor on me….

Some say Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, was the greatest of all the apostles; but here he humbly reminds us that if he is so, it is only due to the grace and forgiveness of Christ.

D.  Finally, we have the example of Peter (also of James, John, and Andrew, Peter’s brother) in Matthew 5:1-11.  Jesus uses Peter’s (and Andrew’s) boat to address the crowd of His followers.  The fishermen are cleaning their nets, but they are also listening to Jesus.  He dismisses the crowd and urges Peter to pull away from the shore and launch his nets again.  It’s daylight and they have already fished all night with no results.

They are tired, and Peter seems crabby.  He knows from experience that the fish they sought tend to swarm only at night.  He must wonder, “What’s the point of going back out now that it’s daylight?”

But Peter does as Jesus says and is amazed to haul in a gigantic haul of fish!  They bring in enough to tear their handmade nets.  They land enough to nearly sink Peter’s boat and that of the Zebedee brothers, James and John.  Peter recognizes both the miracle of the catch and that Jesus has the surprising power to accomplish miracles.  Like Isaiah before him, he immediately becomes aware of his sinfulness.  He humbles himself.  He feels so unworthy, he even asks the Lord to leave him.  But Jesus instead invites him—all 4 fishing partners, in fact–to become “fishers of men/people.”

Peter humbles himself and Jesus makes him a disciple—an apostle.

The Prophet Micah (6:8) has asserted that the way we please God is…”to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”   Ali lacked humility, Franklin–like us–struggled to attain it, but Isaiah, King David, Paul, and Jesus’ Apostles all demonstrated it.  It is a virtue we can develop.  It is something we can intentionally cultivate and attain.

How do we do it?  King David was right:  (1) Put God first in our lives.  We decide to try to please Him.  (2) Then we recall James 1:17 (NLT)—Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, Who created all the light in the heavens.  He never changes or casts a shifting shadow [meaning He is not mercurial but is the same yesterday, today, and forever].  Whatever we do that might make us proud is actually something God prompted in us, inspired, or helped us to do.  Then, we must willingly give Him the praise for every good thing we accomplish and every good thing we experience.   Thanks be to God Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Alleluia, Alleluia!

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Pastor Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Mary, Did You Know?

Pastor Sherry’s Christmas Eve message 12/24/2024

This is the 9th Christmas Eve worship service I have attempted to help us wrap our minds around what it means to realize that Jesus was born.   I have asked us in the past to consider what each of the participants might have felt as they responded to Him:  (1) The shepherds—remember the little boy who thought the words shepherds were watching their sheep by night, were instead shepherds were washing their socks by night?  That misperception led me to images of shepherds, sitting around camp fires, washing their white tube socks and placing them on sticks to dry.  (2) The wise men, possibly disciples of the prophet Daniel, who traveled for miles and miles, seeking the Christ Child.  (3) The angel, Gabriel, ever obedient to God, but wondering if it was such a good plan to send Jesus to earth as a baby—afterall, they are not all very trustworthy or nice down there.  (4) The inn-keeper in Bethlehem, who no doubt wished he had built on even one more room for the young, very pregnant couple.  (5) Jesus’ adoptive father, Joseph, tasked with protecting and providing for his special little family.  6. Even God the Father–what must it have cost Him to send His only Son to earth to die?  And (7) we have examined the feelings and perceptions of the young Mary, unwed, but chosen by God to be the mother of the Messiah.  Tonight I want us to consider again the feelings, the wonder, the awe, the love of Jesus’ mother, Mary.

Perhaps you are aware of the song, “Mary, Did You Know?”  It’s my new favorite Christmas song.  We bless Mary because she said “Yes” to God.  We know she was a devout, humble, faith-filled young woman.

Scholars believe she was somewhere between the ages of 14-16YO, a teenager.  She was also unmarried, yet promised to an older fellow named Joseph (30?  Young girls in those days tended to marry older men who were established in a career and had the means to support a family).  When the angel, Gabriel, appeared to her she was first afraid; then perplexed about how she would have a child though a virgin; and then obedient, willing to bear the long awaited Messiah, no matter the personal cost to her (NIV, Luke 1:38)🡪”I am the Lord’s servant,” said Mary.  “May it be to me as you have said.”

Mary was willing to do God’s will, but did she understand what her obedience would mean?  Consider the words to the song, “Mary, Did You Know?”

Mary, did you know that your baby boy would one day walk on water?

Mary, did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters?

Did you know that your baby boy would come to make you new?

This child that you delivered will soon deliver you?

Mary, did you know that your baby boy would give sight to a blind man?

Mary, did you know that your baby boy would conquer storms with His hand?

Did you know your baby boy has walked where angels trod?

When you kiss your little baby, you kiss the face of God?

Oh, Mary did you know? (repeated several times)

…the blind will see;

…the deaf will hear;

…the dead will live again;

…the lame will leap;

…the dumb will speak the praises of The Lamb.

Mary, did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all Creation?

Mary, did you know that your baby boy would one day rule the nations?

Did you know that your baby boy is Heaven’s Perfect Lamb?

The sleeping child you’re holding is the Great I AM!

(Lyrics by Mark Lowry, 1985; Music by Buddy Greene, 1991; my favorite version can be located on YouTube, sung by the Pentatonix.  It is well worth the listen.)

It’s such a beautiful song!  It causes us to wonder what she might have known, as well as what she probably never expected.

I asked a long time Christian mentor of mine. who also has a doctorate in Marriage and Family Therapy, what she thought Mary might have been cognizant of as she raised her Holy Son.  We agreed she certainly knew He possessed miraculous powers (Remember she encouraged Him to change water into wine at the wedding at Cana).  She would have known He had mastered the Scriptures (Remember she and Joseph found Him at 12 years disputing the meaning of Old Testament passages with Jewish scholars in the Temple). She of course knew that He was the Son of God, Messiah, and that He would save us all.

But did she know how it all would work out?  Did she suspect the extent of His miracles, even to raising people from the dead?  Did she worry about the tangles He would get into with the Jewish religious leaders?  (Remember at one point she and her other children tried to rescue Him, thinking He was crazy.)  Did she suspect she would witness the horrendous way He died?   Probably not, but thank God she said “yes”!  This brave young woman who, as the song says, kissed the face of God.  This Christmas Eve, let us all follow her example and say “Yes” to God’s will in our lives.  This Christmas Eve, let us welcome Jesus into our hearts and into our homes.  Amen!  May it be so!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Touched by God

Pastor Sherry’s message for December 22, 2024

Scriptures: Mic 5:2-5a; Lk 1:46-56; Heb 10:5-10; Lk 1:39-45

The story is told of a man, a nonbeliever, with cancer, who was being treated in the hospital.  His prognosis was poor.  He had been raised to know Jesus, but had quit going to church when his complaints about church and church goers multiplied.  You’ve heard what non-attenders say about us:  (1) The church is too small—I can’t hide out. The folks there are too nosy; the folks there are too judgmental.  (2) The church is too big—I’m lost in the crowd; no one knows my name, or cares if I am there or not.  (3) The people there are hypocrites—acting loving on Sunday, but knifing you in the back Monday-Saturday!  I don’t like the hymns–they are too old fashioned–or I can’t stand the multiple repetitions of contemporary Christian music. (4) All those people want is my money!  (5) YIKES!  They’ve got a woman preacher!  I don’t know this guy’s particular criticism but he had given up on church long before he was diagnosed with an incurable cancer.

One day a hospital chaplain entered his room.  The fellow hadn’t called for a visit from a clergy-person, so he was surprised.  The chaplain addressed him by name and asked if he would like some prayer.  The man thought, “Why not?  What could it hurt?”  The chaplain proceeded to pray for his comfort, freedom from pain, a miraculous healing, and that he might know and trust Jesus as his Lord and Savior.  When the visit ended, the man felt moved to write the following:

“Lying on my narrow, hospital bed, feeling the oil of gladness and healing, I knew I had little time. More importantly though, I felt by a wondrous grace that this was the first time in my memory that the Church was paying attention to me, individually, by name, naming me, praying for me to deal with my painful circumstances and my suffering, the suffering that is uniquely mine. All of a sudden I realized, I matter, I really matter. I still can’t get over the power of this feeling of mattering, of being an irreplaceable individual.”

(Mark Trotter, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com, 12/18/2024.)

Praise God the guy experienced being touched by God.  Though he referenced being attended to by the church, he learned that he mattered to Jesus.  Despite his previously negative judgments against churches and church-goers, he learned our Lord touched him, thorough a clergy-person, in his time of need.

Our Scriptures today all center on folks who were touched by God in very unique and important ways.  Let’s see what we can learn from them.

A.  Our Old Testament lesson is from the minor prophet, Micah (5:2-5a)—again minor because his book is short, not because his message is unimportant.  He served as God’s spokesman to both the Northern and Southern Kingdom capital cities from 750-686BC.  He correctly predicted the fall of Samaria (Northern Kingdom) to the Assyrians in 722-721BC; and that of Jerusalem and Judea later in 586.  He then went on to correctly predict Jesus’ birthplace, 700 years before His birth (NIV, v.2)—But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah [Bethlehem and suburbs], though you are small, out of you will come for Me [God the Father] One [Jesus] who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times. 

Though Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth, Jesus was born in Bethlehem–due to Caesar’s census–fulfilling this prophesy.  A number of Pharisees rejected Him as Messiah because they did not realize Jesus had actually been born in Bethlehem as predicted.  Furthermore, the prophet states that though Jesus arrived on earth as a baby, His origins are from old, from ancient times, meaning He dwelt with the Father from before the creation of the world.  Remember, the Apostle John wrote in the very beginning of his Gospel (NLT, 1:1-3)—In the beginning the Word [Jesus, God’s word made flesh] already existed.  The Word was with God and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God.  God created everything through Him and nothing was created except through Him.  Creation was the Father’s idea, but Jesus spoke everything into existence.  This is why He could accurately say to the Jewish religious leaders later, (John 8:58)—I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I AM!

From Jesus’ place of birth, Micah then jumps across the eons to predict the events of Jesus’ 2nd Coming.  At that time, God’s Chosen People will be scattered throughout the world, as they are now (It is said that there are more Jews in New York City than there are in Israel). The Jews will have suffered centuries of travail.  But the Lord Jesus will return to earth to re-gather them (and us, we who are grafted into Jesus’ line) and to shepherd them (v.4)—He will stand to lead His flock with the Lord’s strength, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God.

Jesus will care for His people powerfully.  They will accept Him as their Messiah, and He will usher in a time of world-wide peace.

Micah was certainly touched by God, inspired by Him to speak these truths to the people of Israel and to us. Through Micah, the Lord tried to touch His people.  Through the book of Micah, the Lord touches us today.

B. The writer to the Hebrews is adamant that Jesus was no afterthought, no Plan B because God’s Plan A had failed.   In Chapter 10, verses 5-10, the author makes it clear that the Lord always knew the blood of animal sacrifices could only temporarily atone for our sins. They covered the sins that were confessed, but did nothing toward any future sins—or even unacknowledged past sins.  So sacrifices would have to be made again and again.  Under that system, you would have to once again purchase or raise an unblemished animal, take it to the Temple, pronounce all your sins upon its head, and watch the priest kill it and sprinkle its blood over the horns of the altar.  But because Jesus was the only perfect, sinless man, the sacrifice of His shed blood covers our sins for all time.  He is the Once and for All Perfect Sacrifice for our Sins!  All of us who are “in Christ”—who believe in Him and who love Him—are credited by the Father with Jesus’ righteousness.  Praise God we have all been touched by God—redeemed–through Jesus!

C. Our psalm or song this morning is Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1:46-56).  Mary was, of course, very intimately touched by God.  She was no doubt awe-struck at the thought of having God’s Son.  This was the hope/the dream of every Jewish young woman…Will I be the one to bear the Messiah?  The Greek Christians later called her the theotokis—the God-bearer.   And so she celebrates this honor in 3 verses:  (NLT) Vv.46-49—Oh how my soul praises the Lord!  How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!  For He took notice of His lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed!  For the Mighty One is holy and He has done great things for me.

But the remainder of her Psalm is focused on what God is doing for His people through the arrival of the long awaited Messiah:  She praises God for being merciful to those who respect/revere Him; she reminds us of His past works of power; she celebrates His surprising propensity to reverse worldly expectations:  the lowly are raised up, while the lofty are brought low.  And she applauds God for fulfilling His promises to Israel: He is bringing forth a Messiah who will bless all the earth.  This King comes from King David’s essentially extinct dynasty.  Mary’s genealogy in Luke places her in David’s lineage, though as a very poor relation, and Joseph, as per Matthew’s genealogy, also comes out of this diminished promised line.

Mary is such a great model for us, isn’t she?  She is humble and obedient.  God’s favor upon us is often unexpected, but she immediately complied with God’s plan.  She said “Yes” to God; may we say “yes” to Him as well.

D. Our Gospel lesson today is the passage just before Mary’s song of praise (Luke1:39-45).  The angel, Gabriel, tells Mary her elderly cousin Elizabeth is expecting a child too.  I think he gently gave the unwed Mary a good reason to leave town for a spell. Did he mean to prevent her from being stoned?  Fornicators and adulterers were to be stoned in those days, according to the Law of Moses.  As far as her neighbors were concerned, Mary had conceived as an unwed person and was liable.  Or did God mean to provide her some respite from being judged and condemned by her friends and neighbors, and even her family?  Perhaps all of this, as well as to help her feel affirmed by someone who loved her and who also appreciated the miraculous touches of God.

Elizabeth greets her (v.42) Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!   Without their even having shared Mary’s condition, Elizabeth—inspired by the Holy Spirit—declares—(NLT) Vv.42-45—God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed.  Why am I so honored that the mother of my Lord should visit me?  When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy.  You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what He said.  Mary, you believed God, despite the awkward and dangerous position this placed you in at home.  Mary, your faith and trust in God to see you through will ever be a model to the rest of us.  Elizabeth has clearly been touched by God!

Do we all realize that our God so loves us that He broke into human history, as a helpless baby, to live among us and to die for us?  What a fabulous Christmas gift!  As we celebrate His birth this week, may we each be fully aware that we matter to Jesus.  And may we each come away from Christmas believing we have been touched by God. 

Amen!  May it be so!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

When God is Hidden, Part 2

Pastor Sherry’s message for October 6, 2024

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

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

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

2. Delaware to whisper in church.

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

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

5. Arkansas to mispronounce Arkansaw as Ar-kansas.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(1) God is good and God is love.

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

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

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Pick Up Your Cross

Pastor Sherry’s message for 9/15/2024

Scriptures: Pro 1:20-23; Ps 19, James 3:1-12; Mk 8:27-38

What do you think of when you look upon the Cross?  We have a cross both inside and outside our church.  The one inside is plain, crafted by Leonard Young, commemorating Jesus’ death and resurrection.  It’s empty because Jesus has risen from the dead.  The one outside is especially resplendent on Easter Sunday when we deck it out with flowers, symbolizing Christ’s victory over sin and death.

Coming home to Live Oak from seminary in Pittsburgh, I had to drive through West Virginia.  That state is very hilly!  Interestingly, on nearly every hill you will see 3 crosses:  The taller, central one for Jesus; the other two—often shorter–for the criminals crucified with Him.

The people of Siauliai, Lithuania, however, demonstrate a special devotion to the cross.  Sometime during the mid-19th century, they began to erect crosses in a particular place called “The Hill of Crosses.”  (Look it up on the internet and you will be amazed at the number and variety of crosses collected there.)  The Cross is the major symbol of the Christian faith.  To Lithuanians, it also represents the 3 major Christian virtues:  faith, hope, and love. 

When Lithuania has been under communist domination, the atheistic  communists have totally destroyed the crosses on this hill 3 times (in 1961, 1973, & 1975).  Each time, people clandestinely hurried to replace what had been destroyed.  Since 1980, and especially since the independence of Lithuania from Russia in 1991, more than 200,000 crosses of many materials and of many sizes, have been erected at this site.  So, to them, these crosses also represent persisting in their faith, despite persecution.

The Cross represents Jesus, Christianity, hope, love, persistence in the faith, and also courage➡️the courage to defy evil oppression.

(Billy D. Strayhorn, “At Cross Purposes,” www.sermons.com, 9/15/2024).

Like last week, our Scripture lessons offer us plenty of good advice on how to live life wisely.  Today, however, I want to focus on our Gospel lesson, Mark 8:27-38. Jesus covers quite a bit of theological ground in these 11 verses:

A.  First, He challenges the 12 about His identity.  They have just seen Him minster healing to two Gentiles.  On the road to Caesarea Philippi (present day Jordan), He asks them who folks are saying He is.  The answers suggest folks outside His inner circle think He is one prophet or another, brought back to life.  But since they are His closest followers and the most knowledgeable of His friends, He wants to know what they think.

Have you ever Googled yourself on the Internet?  It can be, surprising—even distressing–to see what information on you is circulating out there.

The story is told of a self-absorbed man who arrives at a hospital emergence room.  He rapidly  grows impatient with the long wait to be seen approaches the nurses’ station, and demands to be taken back to see a doctor, all while shouting, “Don’t you know who I am?”   The veteran, no-nonsense nurse at the desk calmly picks up a mike and states over the loud speaker, “I have a gentleman here who doesn’t know who he is. Can someone please assist him in finding out?  Thank you.”

(Stephen Sizer, “Who Am I?” www.sermons.com, 9/15/2024.)

Getting back to Jesus, Peter offers an inspired response (v.29)➡️You are the Christ [God’s anointed One; the Messiah].  Bravo, Peter!  He’s right!  And Jesus immediately asks the 12 to keep this truth to themselves.

B.  Then He proceeds to tell the 12 what will happen to their Messiah:  In roughly 6 months’ time, He will suffer many things.  He will be rejected by the religious authorities of Israel; even worse from their perspective, He must be killed; but after 3 days dead, He will rise again.

Peter, for one, cannot conceive that the Messiah would be killed, so he challenges Jesus.  Most Jews held that the Messiah would arrive as a conquering King and free Israel from the Roman’s oppressive regime.

Even though they had the Suffering Servant passages from Isaiah 43, 44, & 53—which so perfectly describe Jesus–they never believed these passages predicted what their Messiah would endure.  So Peter essentially tells Jesus He is wrong.  YIKES!  If we ever think God is wrong, we need to examine our own hearts and heads.  God/Jesus personify Truth/Wisdom➡️Our God is never wrong!

Peter had just previously answered so insightfully and brilliantly, but now he is just badly mistaken.  Jesus rebukes Peter for reciting thoughts inspired by Satan.  Satan excels in rebellion against the plans and the will of God.  Just as the evil one can manipulate Peter—a man who spent 3 years with Jesus and witnessed all of His teachings, healings, and miracles—so too can he tempt us to say and do things we later regret.  Without truly understanding God’s purposes, Peter is trying to talk Jesus out of obeying His Father.  Peter’s agenda, you see, is not the end or goal of God’s plan, but the means of securing Peter’s (and that of Judas).  Probably, without realizing it, Peter was using Jesus to get what Peter wanted.  None of us can do that!

C. This then leads Jesus into a teaching on what it means to pick up our cross and follow Him.  The pathway of true discipleship travels right through suffering (v.34)➡️If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.  First, we must deny ourselves and seek God’s will in place of ours.  This, in and of itself, may involve suffering. That’s the next requirement…take up your cross.  In what ways might you have suffered for Jesus?  Have you lost money?  I know a missionary who used to planted Walgreens drug stores.  He scouted out new locations for the retail store chain, and was headed up the corporate ladder, until God grabbed ahold of him.  I met him in Turkey in 2010 while on a short term mission trip.  He and his wife had taken a year to learn Turkish, then another 3 years to learn Parsi, the Iranian language.  His ultimate assignment was to minister to the more than 700,000 Iranian refugees who had fled their country to live in Turkey.  Among these immigrants, he had planted 18 Christian churches!  Since then, he now heads up a mission agency that plants churches in Moslem countries.  He may have lost money he might have earned from corporate America, but instead, he has brought many middle Easterners to a saving faith in Christ.

Have you lost opportunities to rise professionally?  Do your family and friends fail to understand you?  I have had friends shake their heads when I say I do not have a “Five Year Plan.”  I wouldn’t presume to make one, knowing that the Lord could change it radically tomorrow.  My 5 year plan is to follow Jesus.

Have some folks written you off as a religious nut or an intolerant bigot?  It’s interesting to me that our culture today considers Christians intolerant.  That’s exactly what the Romans used as an excuse to persecute followers of Jesus 2,000 years ago.  By refusing to proclaim, “Caesar is Lord,” or to worship the Roman panoply of Gods, the Roman authorities decided those who loved Jesus were narrow- minded and fanatically bigoted.  

Jesus is saying to the 12—and to us—“I am a King but not like any king you ever imagined.  I am a king who must die.”

(Timothy Keller, King’s Cross, Dutton, 2011, p.102.)

Additionally, if we refuse to travel the road to suffering for Christ—trying to save our lives—we will lose out in the end.  The Greek word Jesus uses here for life is psyche, which also means identity, personality, or our sense of self.  He is not calling us to allow our identity to be absorbed into some sort of cosmic soup, like most Eastern religions do.  Rather, He honors our unique identities—after all, He created them—but insists that we must leave off trying to control our destiny ourselves.  

He is also saying Jesus is saying we should not build our identity on the things of this world.  Collectivist cultures like those of Jesus’ time, and the Middle East now, base identity on honoring the family and on having children.  Individualistic cultures like those of modern Europe and America, claim our identity comes from our status, individual success, a fulfilling career, or the amount of money we make.  In both approaches to life, a person’s identity is based on their performance to please family or please self.  Jesus is saying this will never work for us, never satisfy or fulfill us.

What will satisfy and fulfill us is basing our identity on our love for and faith in Christ.  What will satisfy and fulfill us is basing our identity on Jesus and the Gospel.  We could say then that Jesus went to the Cross—He had to die—so that we would not have to strive in life, but rest in His completed work for us.

(Keller, King’s Cross, p.105)

So, if we lose our lives—by letting God lead, guide, and direct us—we will have eternal life.

And, additionally, if we can truly grasp this truth, we will realize how very much we are loved and how incredibly worthwhile we are.  I am often frustrated by those who weekly preach “hellfire and damnation.”  Yes, we are sinners who need to repent, but the Good News is that our God loved us enough to die in our place.  We are precious to Him.  Furthermore, if I base my identity on a romantic relationship, who am I if the relationship ends?  If I base my identity on a profession, who am I if I lose my job?  Instead, basing our identity on the Lord, we can firmly state, “Yes, we’re sinners, but the King of the Universe loved us enough to die for us!”

So what does the Cross mean to you?  Yes, it was an instrument of torture.  Yes, it is to many a symbol of hope, faith, resistance to oppression, and persistence despite persecution.  But it also represents for all time… 

Jesus’ submission to the will of the Father (There is no atonement for sin without the shedding of blood); our importance to God; an end to our need to strive; and Jesus’ sacrificial love for each of us.

Commenting on the meaning of this Gospel passage, C.S. Lewis wrote the following in his book, Mere Christianity (McMillan, 1943, p.168):  “The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self—all your wishes and precautions—to Christ.  But it is far easier than what we are trying to do instead.  For what we are trying to do is to remain what we call “ourselves,” to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life, and yet at the same time be “good.”  We are all trying to let our mind and heart go their own way—centered on money or pleasure or ambition—and hoping, in spite of this, to behave honestly and chastely and humbly.  And this is exactly what Christ warned us you could not do.  As He said, a thistle cannot produce figs.  If I am a field that contains nothing but grass-seed, I cannot produce wheat.  Cutting the grass may keep it short:  but I shall still produce grass and no wheat.  If I want to produce wheat, the change must go deeper than the surface.  I must be ploughed up and re-sown. “  The challenge to us all, just as Jesus stated it, is to  deny ourselves, pick up our Cross, and follow Jesus.  Amen!  May it be so!    

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Watch Your Mouth!

Pastor Sherry’s message for September 1, 2024

Scriptures: Song of Songs 2:8-13; Ps 45:1-2, 6-9; Ja 1:17-27; Mk 7:1-23

The following is a true story out of Charlotte, NC, that I shared six years ago.  I want to share it again because it is such a great example of truth being stranger than fiction.  A guy bought a box of very expensive cigars.  He also took out insurance on them against “decay, spoilage, theft, and fire.”  Then he proceeded to smoke the 24 cigars in the box over the next few weeks.  When he finished the box, he filed a claim with his insurance company, stating that the cigars were lost in a series of small fires. The insurance company rejected the claim (You can almost hear them say, “Oh, come on!”). But the guy sued the insurance company in civil court.

In an astonishing turn of justice, the man admitted he smoked the cigars, but still won his claim because of a technicality: the insurance company had failed to specify what sort of fire was excluded, and the jury awarded the fellow $15,000 in damages (Don’t forget, he had also enjoyed smoking the 24 fine cigars). However, when he exited the court, he was arrested and charged with 24 counts of arson.  After all, he had admitted to setting “the series of small fires” which had caused his property loss.  This time, the North Carolina court convicted and sentenced him to 2 years in jail and fined him $24,000.  His spurious lawsuit cost him 2 years of freedom, and a net loss, after legal fees, of $9,000.  This guy bet on the letter of the law instead of the spirit of the law, and lost.  Don’t we wish that courts would act similarly, all over the country, in such nonsense, nuisance law-suits?

(J. Fairless & D. Chilton, The Lectionary Lab, Year B, 2014, p.286.)

Our Gospel today, Mark 7:1-23—and this story—point to the danger of following the letter of the law while violating its intent.

Just prior to today’s passage, Mark describes Jesus’ multiplication miracle of feeding the 5,000 (maybe more like 15,000, if women and children were included in the count); Jesus’ walking on water miracle; and His healing an unknown number of people on the other side of the Lake (Sea of Galilee).

This event predates by about a year or two the confrontations with the Pharisees I preached about last week.

A committee of Scribes and Pharisees had come out from Jerusalem to observe and to test Him.  He is teaching and they challenge Him because His disciples do not wash their hands before eating.  They question Him (v.5)➖Haven’t You, Jesus, taught Your disciples the correct customs regarding cleanliness?

Now we know that hand-washing is not a bad practice. Prior to the Covid outbreak, the habit of hand-washing had been abandoned by many.  Since then, we have re-learned that washing our hands, especially before eating, helps to eliminate germs and to limit contamination.

Now Jesus was an observant Jew who treasured the Law of God. The Law was a gift from God, not a burden. In the Code of Hammarabi, a contemporary Mesopotamian set of laws, it was stated, for instance, that if you somehow knocked down your neighbor’s wall, he could rebuild it with you and your family plastered into the repair. The provisions for revenge were severe. But God’s Law put a humane limit on revenge. Furthermore, it didn’t just protect the rich and the powerful, but also safeguarded the poor and disadvantaged.  Our Lord intended for the Law to cut down on the extent of retribution, but especially to demonstrate the believer’s obedience (set-apartness) to God. The Hebrew Law demonstrated that God values human life, and that slaves, widows, orphans, and the poor—not just the rich and the influential—had rights that were to be respected.  At the time, these attitudes/provisions were unheard of in other religions or law codes. 

What Jesus confronts in today’s passage is that the Pharisees chose to obey the rules without remembering the relationships underlying the rules.

Don’t we do this too?  Should baptism be done by dunking or is sprinkling okay? Our tradition is to sprinkle water on infants. At what age should children be allowed to take communion?  Some want to wait until 10-12 years old, considered to be the “age of reason.” This way we can be sure the child understands what the bread and wine represent. I have a friend who was the chaplain at a preschool. They provided communion to the little ones at their chapel services. A mother complained. The chaplain asked her 3 year old son if he knew what was in the bread and the cup.  He replied, “Jesus is in there.”  That settled the argument. 

The story is told of a father of two teenaged sons who proudly bought a “Dodge Touring Car,” in 1918 for $785.00. It’s hard to imagine a new car for that sales price now. By three years later, however, he had grown frustrated over his sons’ increasingly hostile arguments regarding whose turn it was to drive it. The rule was that they shared and each could drive the car on alternate Saturdays. When the boys resorted to fist fights to settle their dispute, the father locked the car in a garage and pocketed the keys. Four decades later, a museum purchased the car—it was covered with dirt and chicken manure, and only had 1800 miles on the odometer. The father had gone to great lengths to teach his sons about the value of relationships over rules.

(J. Fairless & D. Chilton, The Lectionary Lab, Year B, 2014, p.288.)

Consider how many court cases get thrown out because some procedure (rule) was not followed exactly. The guilty are spared at the potential expense of keep citizens safe.  You see, the problem isn’t washing before eating, the right way to baptize, how to correctly discipline teens, or even keeping people safe. The real problem is the condition of our hearts!

To the Hebrew mind, the heart was where all moral decisions were made.

The prophet Jeremiah laments in Jeremiah 17:9➖The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?  The prophet Ezekiel asserts God’s intentions in Ezekiel 36:24-25➖I [God] will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a..  And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

Our faulty human hearts must be transformed by God. Jesus lets the Pharisees have it because they have forgotten this important fact:  It’s not about rules, it’s about relationships; our relationship with God, our relationships with each other. There was no law from God that they must wash their hands before eating.  This was a tradition they had adopted. They were criticizing Jesus for not conforming to their traditions.  To address that issue, He tells them what goes into us is not the critical issue—like how clean our hands are, or what types of food we eat. The crux of the problem is rather what comes out of our mouths—which has its origins in our hearts.

Put rather crudely, it’s not what we excrete that causes sin problems, but what we vomit.

In the 300’s, St. Augustine said, there is a hole in our hearts that only God can fill, and our hearts are restless until they rest in God.  We have a sin problem, and we can’t fix it by living according to a set of religious rules.

Being a celebrity or a fantastic athlete won’t cure it.  Even rigid religious systems that require people to accumulate merit badges of good deeds do not address it.  Politicians can’t legislate it.  Having taught US History and World History for 15 years, I can safely assert that Socialism and Communism don’t work because they operate in ways counter to our built in “heart issues:” our tendencies toward self-justification, self-centeredness, and self-absorption.  We have a serious “I” problem.

To correct our sin problem, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to change our hearts!  We acknowledge that the shed blood of Jesus Christ makes up for our sin and replaces it with His righteousness.  And, as James teaches us in our New Testament lesson, we cooperate with the Holy Spirit by increasingly shunning sinful attitudes and behaviors, and living out attitudes and behaviors pleasing to God.  We need to approach God and others with love.

A child’s response to Sesame Street is a great illustration of this point.  In a live audience of kids watching Sesame Street, the kids nearly always watched the muppets rather than the grown-ups who manipulated them—even when they could see the puppeteers seated on the floor.  One little boy even saw Big Bird take off his top half and watched an actor step out.  Rather than focus on the fact that Big Bird was not real, the child told his mother, “Mom, Mom!  Do you think Big Bird knows he has a man inside?”  

(J. Fairless & D. Chilton, The Lectionary Lab, Year B, 2014, p.289.)

You see, the goal of the law was/is to remind us that we have a sinful human being inside us, in our hearts, in our souls, in the center of our being. This part of us is not focused on our relationship with God or with others. It just wants what it wants, when it wants it. Unfortunately, everyone else has a similar human inside of them as well. Fortunately, however, we also have inside us that part of us that longs for God…that finds its rest in God alone.

Perhaps you have heard of the Native American legend of the black wolf and the white wolf. The wise grandfather tells the grandson that we are a mix of both, but the one that comes to dominate our character depends upon which one we nurture or feed. If we want to please God, we need to watch our mouths to discover or to observe what is in our hearts. We accept that Jesus paid the price for the sinful human inside us; and we allow the wonderful Holy Spirit to remind us not to give our sinful hearts power over us, but rather to honor relationships over rules; and to live out of a loving vs. a self-centered or fault-finding nature.

Amen!  May it be so!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

True Wisdom

Pastor Sherry’s message for August 18, 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Our Scripture passages today all comment on true wisdom:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1.) making the most of every opportunity;

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

3.) being fillied with the Holy Spirit;

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

5.) and giving thanks to God for everything.

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

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 

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

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

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

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

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

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Gather up for Snacks!

Pastor Sherry’s message for July 7, 2024

Scriptures: 2 Sam 5:1-10; Ps 48; 2 Cor 12:2-10; Mk 6:1-13

Do you remember, when your kids/grandkids were little, going to their T-ball or Coach-pitched baseball games?  I apologize now, but I thought they were both adorable and hilarious!  I often laughed my head off!  The kids were about 6-7YO and, as one wag has said, “had lots of enthusiasm, but the attention span of a gnat.”  While the coaches and assistants of the kids in the outfield kept yelling for them to pay attention and keep their “heads up,” or their “eyes on the ball,” the children playing the outfield would be searching the grass for bugs, looking up in the sky, adjusting their hats, or focusing on their friend at 2nd base.  Then, when the occasional opponent player actually hit the ball, no one was prepared to catch it. It would usually plop down in someone’s vicinity and the rest of the team would then abandon their positions to converge on the ball as if it were a rugby scrum.  So, when the game ended, you could always hear some child asking, “Did we win?  Did we win?  (They hadn’t tuned in enough to know.)  If the coach answered that they did, the kids would jump up and down and cheer in delight.  If he said they’d lost, they would kick the ground or throw down their hats in the agony of defeat.  But then they would quickly perk up again when coach called out, “Gather up for snacks!”

Winning and losing tends to be much more complicated for grown-ups, doesn’t it?  Isn’t it true that many of us lose, fail, or are disappointed more often in life than we win?  For the sake of our mental health, we need to figure out how to bounce back from setbacks, defeats, insulting words, and poor performances.  We need to develop some of what psychology calls “emotional resilience.”  And even the best of snacks is not likely to cheer us up or help us feel better.

(Concept borrowed from Fairless and Chilton, The Lectionary Lab Commentary, Year B, 2014, p.235)

Our Scripture passages today all deal with folks who are struggling with failure or disappointments of one form or another:  vocational failures, health struggles, faith challenges, and even life defeats.  They provide us with some good examples of how a mature believer might bounce back from such troubles.

A.  In our Old Testament lesson (2 Samuel 5:1-10), King David is finally crowned king of Israel.  Remember, he had been anointed King by the prophet Samuel when he was about 16YO.  He remained a shepherd until called by God to go up against Goliath (perhaps 17 year old).  Then, as a talented musician, he played soothing music for the troubled King Saul. He was also enlisted in Saul’s army.  He developed a deep friendship with Saul’s son, Jonathan, and married Saul’s daughter, Michal.  He served in Saul’s army until his father-in-law grew murderously jealous of his continued success as a warrior.  Saul tried to kill David both in his palace and in David’s home.  The as yet uncrowned King David then lived as an outlaw, in the wilderness, (for 10-12 years) until King Saul died.

So, here he is at age 30, finally crowned king of Judah (and Simeon). These 2 tribes recognized his authority, while the 10 remaining tribes supported Saul’s son, Ish-Bosheth.  Civil war broke out and lasted 7 years. Can’t you just hear David’s frustrated thoughts, “God said I would be king. This isn’t supposed to be happening”?

Then someone—not King David—assassinates Ish-Bosheth.  Finally, the 10 tribes who had supported Saul’s son approach David to reunite all of Israel as king. They claim their relational ties to him and recall that God Himself had anointed him for the role of king.  After seven years of civil war, they are only remembering this now? Why hadn’t they considered this seven years earlier?  Well, the truth had obviously not fit their narrative until they found themselves between the proverbial rock and a hard place.  Nevertheless, this rapprochement ends about 20 years of disappointment, frustration, and struggle for David.

In one of his first acts as king of the reunited Israel, David decides to move his capital to Jerusalem, which was said to be an impenetrable citadel. He tells his army commander to find a way up through their water supply tunnel.  He then overwhelms the Jebusites—the Canaanites who had underestimated him—and claims Jerusalem, from which he reigns for the next 33 years.

The lesson from David is never give up (predating Winston Churchill by millennia)! Despite setbacks and delays, persist!  He waited for years to actually become king of Israel. He had to have felt discouraged and wronged. Perhaps he even wondered if God had changed His mind, or if he’d sinned too much for God to honor him, or if God had forgotten him. But his patient, persistent faith, his resilience–despite delays and what appeared to be life defeats–paid off.  May it be so with each of us!

B.  Psalm 48 is what scholars refer to as a Millennial Psalm.  It celebrates Jesus’ great victory to come, when He reappears on earth and brings everyone under the sovereign rule of Messiah.  He will be victorious over the forces of evil and He will reign from Jerusalem, King David’s capital.  In His 1st coming, Jesus won for us salvation and eternal life; but the world will not know He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords until He comes again in glory.

Even Jesus must patiently wait, with faith, in God’s timing. Remember His disciples asked Him when He would come again and He replied that no one except the Father—and including the Son—knew the hour or the day.  May we learn to be as patient as Jesus and as King David.

C.  Paul, in our 2 Corinthians 12:2-10, bemoans a thorn in his flesh. In verses 2-5, he cryptically refers to a time he was lifted up into the 3rd heaven (1st heaven is where birds and airplanes fly; 2nd heaven is where the stars and planets exist; 3rd heaven is God’s dwelling place).  Then he claims that—to keep him from becoming conceited over this experience—God gave him a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me. 

What was it?  We don’t know.  I hope to ask Paul when I get to heaven.  Some scholars believe it was impaired eyesight, maybe cataracts?  We know that his hand writing and signature grew larger until he stopped writing himself and dictated his epistles to a secretary.  Others think maybeit was sciatica, pain in the hip as with Jacob after he had wrestled all night with the pre-incarnate Jesus.  Others think it might have been the Jewish folks who rejected Jesus who then followed Paul about, heckling him and agitating against him.

Whatever it was, He asks God three times to be healed of it and God tells him essentially “no”: (v.9)—My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.  In other words, this unnamed problem reminded Paul daily that he is not ministering in his own strength, skill, or gifting; rather, it is God who empowered and made a way for him.  In other words, our setbacks may be a way to wean us from our own pride and self-reliance and to teach us to depend more upon our Lord.

As with King David, the message from Paul is persist in faith, no matter our health or other obstacles.  May it be so with each of us!

D. Last, but not least, we have Jesus’ example in Mark 6:1-13.

Some scholars believe this trip to Nazareth was His second.  In Luke 4:14-30, His first visit as Messiah, they got so mad they tried to throw Him from a cliff.  But these are His friends and relations, so He returns in today’s passage, to try again to win them over.  This time they both marvel at His wisdom and understanding, but also doubt Him because they think they know Him.  He’s the hometown boy who worked as a carpenter.  His brothers and sisters are still among them, and they don’t appear to accept Him as Messiah. They can’t believe He could be anything other than what they had always supposed of Him.

Jesus is saddened by their lack of belief.  He admits (v.4)—Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house, is a prophet without honor.  And they lose out because His ability to heal folks is limited by their lack of faith.

But notice what He does next.  He doesn’t collapse into depression, wallowing in what appears to be a vocational failure.  He continues on to other towns and villages to teach and heal.  And He sends His disciples out, 2 by 2, to do the same.

Jesus is disappointed by the hometown rejection, but not defeated. He couldn’t do miracles in Nazareth because of their lack of faith in Him; He was stunned by this. If Jesus, who is God, the logos who spoke creation into existence, can or even needs to learn anything, He no doubt realized that you can control what you say, but not how people interpret it. You can control your own behavior, but not how other people respond to you. You can even control how you demonstrate your love to others, but not that they will receive it. Can we make another person love us?  No. Sadly, He recognized that lack of faith limits what He is able to accomplish in them and in us.

But His disciples didn’t seem to be discouraged by what happened there. They had seen Him, through the first 5 chapters of Mark’s Gospel, do miracle after miracle. So when He sent them off to do what they had seen Him do, they went with faith the Nazarenes lacked. As Paul would later write, they knew their weaknesses were made perfect in Jesus’ strength and power; and that His grace—His provision, His protection, His faith in them—was truly sufficient for them.  May it be so for us!

Well, there we have it!  Our journey with Jesus is not about winning or losing, is it? It’s about persisting in faith, even despite setbacks, waiting, and obstacles. It’s about keeping our “heads up” and our “eyes in God’s game.”  Who knows, we may even enter heaven like those little baseball kids, wondering if we won. Did we accomplish what God set out for us to do? Did we love Him and love our neighbors?  Did we obediently do what He set before us?  My hunch is that our Lord will then say, Glad to see you!  Gather up for snacks! 

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Empowering Faith

Pastor Sherry’s message for June 23, 2024

Scriptures : 1 Sam 17:5-50; Ps 9:9-20; 2 Cor 6:1-13; Mk 4:35-41

I have borrowed the following illustration from a pastor named Vince Gerhardy (“Sucked In, Washed Up, Blown Over,” www.sermons.com, June 18, 2024).  It’s about a traumatized Parakeet named Chippie:

“The problems began when Chippies’ owner decided to clean Chippie’s cage with a vacuum cleaner. She removed the attachment from the end of the hose and stuck it in the cage.  The phone rang, and she turned to pick it up.  She’d barely said, “hello,” when “ssssopp!” Chippie got sucked in.

“The bird’s owner gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum cleaner, and opened the bag.  There was Chippie—still alive, but stunned.

“Since the bird was covered with dust, hair, and all the stuff you find in a dust bag, she grabbed him and raced to the bathroom, turned on the tap, and held Chippie under the running water.  Then, realizing that Chippie was soaked and shivering, she did what any compassionate bird owner would do…she reached for the hair dryer and blasted the pet with hot air.  

“Poor Chippie never knew what hit him.

“A few days after the trauma, a friend who had heard about Chippie’s troubles contacted his owner to see how the bird was recovering.  ‘Well,’ she replied, ‘Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore—he just sits and stares.’”

The poor critter had a severe case of parakeet PTSD.  He’d been “Sucked In, Washed Up, and Blown Over.”  Trauma like that would steal away anyone’s reason to sing!

I imagine the disciples felt a lot like this when they encountered a fierce storm on the Sea of Galilee, while Jesus lay asleep in the stern (Mark 4:35-41).  We know what happens:  They panic, wake Jesus up, and He immediately quiets the storm.  Then, interestingly to us I think, He rebukes them for their lack of faith.  They had let the rough seas and the high winds replace what faith they had with fear.  

Now, remember we think John Mark wrote down Peter’s reminiscences for a mostly Roman audience.  So his Gospel is action-packed to appeal to men of action like Roman soldiers.  Soldiers would likely relate best to Jesus if they understood His authority.  So Mark’s Gospel begins with stories of Jesus that demonstrate His power.  The disciples had observed Jesus reveal His power over evil spirits, and over physical illnesses like fevers, paralysis, and leprosy.  They had witnessed Him debate and stymie the Pharisees.  They had heard Him declare Himself the Lord of the Sabbath.  But, to be fair to them, perhaps they had not yet perceived His power over and ability to control tumultuous nature. 

What if you had been in the boat with them that day?  Would you too have let your fear overcome your faith?  You know fear is a negative faith; it is faith in a negative outcome.  We who trust in Jesus are not to fear.  We worship the God of all hope.  We may go through tough times, but we can trust that the Lord is with us as we do.  If we believe in Jesus, we are not to be crippled by fear. 

Our Old Testament lesson (1 Samuel 17:4-50) provides us with a great example of how to overcome legitimate fear with faith.  The context is an ongoing war between the Philistines and the Israelites.  (By the way, did you know that the Philistines, perennial enemies of Israel, are the ancestors of present day Palestinians?)  The Philistines had invaded Israel and had amassed their army at Socoh, 15 miles west of Bethlehem.  They were now engaged in a stand-off against the Israeli army led by King Saul.  Daily, their champion, the giant Goliath, cursed and ridiculed them, trying his best to egg them on the send out one Israelite champion to fight him.  Mano-a-mano might not have been so intimidating except that Goliath was over 9 feet tall.  His chest armor weighed 125 pounds; the metal point of his spear weighed 15 pounds.  Archaeologists believe they have located the remnants of his bed, which is 13 feet long.  The guy was a beast!  He was totally intimidating!

Additionally, for 40 days, Goliath taunted the Israelites and not one of God’s chosen people volunteered to face off with him.  Three of David’s elder brothers were there–Eliab, Abinadab, and Shammah—and they hadn’t volunteered.  Neither King Saul nor his son Johnathan had been willing to take Goliath on.  Saul did offer a huge reward as an incentive for some warrior to step up and win: significant cash; Saul’s daughter, Michal, in marriage; and the promise of no taxation for life for the family of the warrior who might be brave enough.  Still no one came forward.  Do you think anyone was praying?  Praying for a brave soul or praying for God to intervene?

Into this tense situation, the young man, David (16-17 years old) arrives with food provisions for his brothers.  (In those days, there were no suppliers who traveled with the armies, provisioning them with rations.  Either your relatives sent you food, or you took everything not nailed down as your army passed through a locale.)  David hears Goliath’s taunts and is appalled (v.26)—Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?  Do you hear the faith that David has in God?

He recognizes that Goliath is not just a big, oversized bully.  Goliath is an enemy of God’s people and an enemy of God Himself.  David’s brother Eliab—probably jealous or perhaps even feeling guilty—lashes out at David and misperceives his brother’s motives.  David’s not conceited, thinking of how Goliath’s taunts demean him.  David is righteously outraged that a nonbeliever should be defaming God.

Saul tries to put him in armor with which David is not familiar.  He cannot believe that a teen could possibly pull this off.  But David lists his credentials (vv.36-37)—Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear [while guarding sheep]; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.  [Now listen to his statement of faith] the Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.  

When teaching psychology in college some years back, I encountered several young men whose bravado had led to serious consequences for them.  Two of them were in wrecks while driving cars on dirt roads going 120 mph.  Both had been thrown from their cars and survived, by God’s grace.  The truth is that the amygdala, a tiny, pea-sized organ in our midbrain—that tells us to fight, flee, or freeze when confronted with danger–is not sufficiently connected to the frontal cortex in young men until they reach the age of 25.  Our frontal lobes are the seat of logical thinking and accurate risk assessment.  This weak connection is what is responsible for young men taking unnecessary risks prior to age 25.  Car insurance companies have known that young men are more likely to be involved in wrecks prior to their mid-twenties and have therefore charged them high insurance premiums until age 25.  They had based their decisions on statistics but, until recent brain research, did not understand why.  The amazing thing in this story is that David is not suffering from inadequate risk assessment.  He recognizes the threat Goliath represents, as he has had experience with killing other apex predators.  Instead, his faith in God the Father outweighs or overwhelms his fear.     

He takes his slingshot and gathers 5 smooth stones.  He confronts Goliath verbally first, saying (vv.45-47)—You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head.…All those gathered here will know that is it not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give all of you into our hands.  

Such confident faith in God!  By the way, Biblical scholars think the stones David had were about baseball size, and hit Goliath at about 100 mph.  That kind of strike to the head would kill anyone.  Scholars also believe the extra stones were just in case Goliath’s four sons came for David after the giant’s death.

But look at what happens:  Praise God, David is victorious! The Philistines turn tail and run.  The Israelite army pursued them all the way back to their cities and killed many of them.  David’s unwavering faith in God—despite any fear he had—carried the day!  Real courage is feeling fear rather than denying it, but choosing empowering faith to overcome it. 

Our Psalm (9:9-20) provides further commentary on David’s unfailing faith in God’s protection.  King David appears to have written this psalm later on in his life, as an older, more experienced ruler.  In it, he celebrates God’s vindication of His people.  Some scholars even believe the older, more settled King David was thinking back to this battle with Goliath as he composed it.  David clearly views God as his protection, using images for the Lord like refuge and stronghold.  He is making statements about God drawn right out of his own experiences with the Lord:  In verse 10 he states—Those who know Your name will trust in You for You, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek You.  Additionally, the mature David has seen how those who oppose God reap what they sow (vv.15-16)—The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden…the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.

Then we have Paul, in 2 Corinthians 6:1-13, remind us that because we are “in Christ,” we are not to live carnal lives but to demonstrate our faith with our behavior.  We are servants of Christ who endure and persevere through tough times.  We live out purity, love, kindness, understanding, and patience.  We remain truthful even if others slander us.  How do we have the ability to do this?  We are empowered by the Holy Spirit, due to our faith in Jesus.

Like that traumatized parakeet, we may feel at times like we have been sucked in, washed up, or blown over, but we do not give up or give in to fear.  Instead, we hold on to our faith.  We continue to trust in our God.  We do not allow any fear to overcome our faith, but rather call upon our faith to empower us to overcome any person or circumstance we fear.  Amen!  May it be so! 

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams