Sermon in Phoenix 25.03.2012

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, let us quieten this evening in opening prayer and thanksgiving.

Holy and righteous God, our beloved Heavenly Father, this evening as we have gathered together around your holy and precious word, we first, dear Father, wish to offer a prayer of thanks for the blessings of this day. You have kept us this day as your children. You have again revealed unto us through faith the depth and the width, the breadth and the height of your love. You have, dear Father, with your word already fed us this day. But not only through your word have we been fed, but we have also enjoyed and experienced the gifts and blessings of this life, where we have been nourished and fed and clothed.

We have also been able to enjoy those loved ones that you have given to us as escorts, and also those families wherein we can dwell, where we can experience the love even there amidst our mothers and fathers and children, brothers and sisters. And when we have faith in our heart that Jesus Christ is our God, we can enjoy the blessings even in these kinds of gatherings, where we remember and hear and feel that promise and testimony of your love. Where you have promised where two or three are gathered together in your name, you have promised to be there with them.

So this evening, as we gather around your word, we pray for your blessing. Grant unto us a service blessing. You know, dear Father, the hearts of your children. So we simply humbly ask that you who know all will also feed us according to your will. Amen.

Before reading a text, I would bring greetings. Last weekend we were in Prescott for the service day. Many asked from there that their greetings would be relayed to you, brothers and sisters here. This morning we also heard through our brother of those same greetings that were sent. And these greetings join us so closely together as God's children.

Our brother spoke this morning of the day that we celebrate the trials and the difficulties that he faced at the end of his life. So this Mary's Day comes as a bright spot, if you will, a day of joy in that time of prayer and fasting. And we heard through our brother of the events of that day when Mary received that news that she would bear a son, a Savior of all mankind.

It is also, on the other hand, the fifth Sunday of Lent. And I will, this evening, read of one of those texts that has been reserved for this fifth Sunday of Lent, which is considered Passion Sunday. And this Gospel text is found in the twelfth or the eleventh chapter of John. And I will read from the forty-seventh through the fifty-fourth verses. The word there is that follows in Jesus' name.

Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council and said, What do we? For this man doeth many miracles. If we let him alone, or if we let him go, if we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him, and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.

And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.

And this spake he not of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation, and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together and one the children of God that were scattered abroad.

Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death. Jesus, therefore, walked no more openly among the Jews, but went once unto a country near into the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples. Amen.

Beginning next Sunday, and I'm also sure next Sunday night when the Easter program is kept here for the congregation at the Sunday School of Children, we'll sing and read. We will begin to again recount the story of Easter time. Next Sunday is Palm Sunday when the Lord and Savior Himself entered Jerusalem the last time there in a triumphal return.

And then between Palm Sunday and Easter, those days called Passion Week, we remember and we recount of the many events that took place in those days. It was a very great sober time. It was a time of great fear for the disciples. It was a time of much teaching that Jesus kept.

If you were to go through the pages of the Bible and read of those events that took place in the last week of Jesus' life, they take up many of the pages of the writings of the Gospel. Many events and experiences are recorded there.

This text that we read this evening, it took place prior to this. When around Jesus in that day, there were those who had seen and witnessed, especially the leaders, the not only the religious leaders, but also the temporal leaders. Witnessed and saw that which Jesus was doing and had done.

Jesus had preached for three years openly. At the age of thirty, He started His public ministry. At the age of thirty-three, He suffered and died. He was a young man by all standards. Thirty-three, even in our day, is a very young person. Yet when we consider that which Jesus did in His life, it was a rich and full life. Every day of Jesus' life was spent teaching.

Either as an infant, when those as a little boy gathered around Him and marveled as to this gift that God gave for the benefit of the world, or as a gift of all of mankind, including us. Even as a young boy, He spoke in a temple and they marveled as to the wisdom that this young boy had. Often this question was asked that how and where did He become so wise? Wasn't He and isn't He the Son of Joseph the carpenter?

So, there were those who knew Him, who knew Jesus, and understood that He was the Savior that God sent. On the other hand, there were many more who did not comprehend that He was this kind of Lord and Savior at all. But perhaps some teacher, perhaps some prophet, but didn't recognize Him as being a God's Son.

And there were those, even in our text, that were worried, because of the popularity of Jesus, and those that followed after Him, that would they grow in number so large that even the followers would overtake the land of Israel. This fear came from the carnal portion, the carnal understanding of man. Fearful that what they had would be taken from them. Not understanding at all, that God is the one who gives according to His will.

We heard this morning through our brother of this very matter, when he spoke that Mary was given this responsibility to be Jesus' mother. She was blessed. It wasn't because of the goodness of Mary, but rather, it was God's chosen purpose for her. It remains the same for us today. God has a chosen purpose for each of us.

Some of you young sisters will grow to be wives and mothers. Some of you young men will go through school and become educators. Some of you become engineers. Some will work in the trades. God has prepared even these things for us.

We remember how Jeremiah, it is recorded for us in the scriptures, that before God knew thee and formed thee in the womb of your mother, God recognized and knew you. He knew that Jeremiah was going to be a prophet. He was going to be called in his day to do according to God's will.

Jeremiah wouldn't have had any opportunity at all to choose or to raise his hand and say I want to do thus or thus. But God formed him and made him accordingly. So also has God made us and given to us according to His will, and blessed us with this life that we live.

When we look forward, it is not easy, it is impossible to consider that what will tomorrow bring. We don't know. It is the future and we cannot see into the future. Yet God sees all things as if He looks in the palm of His hand. He knows all things as they are. And He is that One that is to orchestrate and does orchestrate and allows things to go as He allows things to go. And we are only and simply His children.

This is a good place to be in the care and the nurture of our Father. Our Creator. The giver of all good gifts.

But these men of that day that Jesus was teaching and sowing His Father's Word, they were fearful that this man would become so popular and knowledgeable perhaps that many of these people would start to follow Him. And they sought to kill Him.

Jealous, envious. Envy, rage. We could list many things that would cause such an emotion in an individual. But it is not right.

And so, in this portion of God's Word we see how this began to be. It says, Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees. They gathered a council and together what do we do? For this man doeth many miracles and works a great work in the midst of miracles.

And they didn't see Him at all except for this kind of magician. For you brothers and sisters, has Jesus been some kind of a magician? Or is it that you believe because you come to services and see some kind of magic show? Or is this the reason that you gather around God's Word to see what kind of new and flowery speech, what kind of new teaching will you hear when you gather around God's Word?

This isn't the place of a child of God at all, is it? We as God's children are leaky vessels. We need and we desire after the sincere milk of the mother. We hunger. We thirst. We don't come to see.

And even as the Apostle, or even as John the Baptist, they asked John the Baptist and rebuked those that saw John the Baptist. They didn't recognize him as being such an important or needy figure.

Rather, John the Baptist on the surface would have been that kind of one as we heard this morning. He was a cousin of Jesus. He was born just a few months before Jesus was. He was that one that was to go and prepare the way for the coming Savior.

And he was a very... It says in the Bible that he wore a camel hair coat. He ate locusts and wild honey. He lived in the wilderness. He wouldn't have been this kind of a city man, this kind of a man that would have been recognized and known among men.

But he had a very important job and a very important purpose. And that he was to prepare the way for Jesus. He was to preach the year and that sermon of repentance. Very few people liked him.

We also think in our day. You know, those ones that you've entrusted into the ministry, into the work, as brothers, servant brothers. We have a lot of very glowing inadequacies, don't we? We have a lot of those kinds of things that when we sit week after week before you, I just don't know what to say.

I know a little boy did the same and I'm sure you boys do the same. You'll take a watch out in time to see how long the minister preaches. You might count how many times someone said, we have these kinds of idiosyncrasies that are very obvious to the congregation.

And there are those things about us that aren't very well liked. But do you think God is unwise in these things? God has purposefully done it so. He allows it so that the word is preached not by the wise, not by the popular, not by the skilled orator, not by that one that everybody in this world loves.

And I think it's for a reason. So that brothers and sisters wouldn't follow after a man. But they would listen to that word that God speaks through him and believe upon that word and not believe upon the word of the man.

There's some dangers that would be if you and I start to follow after an individual man, an individual servant, and we build that servant to a point where we think, oh, you know, that particular servant is so much better than this one over here.

There's a danger to that in that in order for you, dear travel friend, to understand that you're starting to follow after a man, something would happen to that individual servant brother, that individual speaker brother, so that you would recognize and understand that, oh, he is only a man just like any other.

So it is important for all of us that we would, on one hand, be so thankful to God that he's given into our midst those kinds of gifts that can serve, that can speak, those ones that can come here and preach, so that we can know that we can be nourished and fed by God's word.

And we can even be thankful of those gifts that God has divided among the servant brothers, speaker brothers. This is right, but not to the extent that we start to build a special place in our heart for one or another. Start to compare and drag one down and raise one up.

This happened in the last heresy. The leader of that last heresy was very well known and very well respected and very well loved among those who departed. In order for many to be saved, in order for many to be understanding of their condition, this man fell and fell hard.

There have also been those kinds of times in my life where an individual speaker starts to garner a following. And some say, even as it was during the time of the Apostle, that, oh, I am of Paul, and I am of Apollos.

What did Paul say? He says, I plant Apollos waters, but it is God who gives the increase.

And so, I think it's twofold. That for the sake of the speaker brother, or that individual that you may be raising on some platform, some elevated position, for his sake, thank God for the gift that he's given, but not so much for the speaker brother himself.

God's word is important, and the preaching of God's word is important, but the preachers and the ministers are nothing. It is God who gives increase.

And then also, for that individual who may be following after this kind of reason, that there would be also something that would happen in your life for you to understand and realize that, oh, I am following after a man.

So we can see how there is a very fine line between thanking God for the gifts and the blessings that he sent here to serve us, and raising that to the point where it's harmful. Brothers and sisters, may it be.

And may it also be okay in our minds. The Apostle Paul wasn't looked at as such a man that everyone loved, but there was something about the Apostle Paul that was hard to look at. God's word says so.

The Apostle writes that it was a messenger of Satan to buffet him, so that he wouldn't be raised among our children. And so, the Apostle Paul was raised among our children.

And so, he was raised among our two high, that he would glory in his own goodness or his own understanding. God kept him and needed to keep him as a humble servant.

There are those kinds of, when we read also through history in our day, Lysadius in our day has been, by many, made, I don't know if it's mockery, the right word, but he's been looked at disdainfully.

And some have said, how can he be that one that you even attach the label from your church? Because his sermons were so law-minded and so demanding.

It wasn't he as much as that which God allowed during that day that we remember. It's the same as Mary. We don't venerate Mary to the point where we raise her as being some saint. But rather, she was given of that which God wanted her to serve with. It was a blessed place.

But so also, isn't it for you dear sisters, you mothers, also a very precious place from where you can serve. Does it feel often like a great blessing as you've been given 12, 13, 14, 15 children? Or rather, do you feel in your own flesh a struggle with this matter?

I would think more often, because you're human and you carry the fleshly portion, that it's not always so easy when you hear that you're expecting number 14 or number 15, that you rejoice inwardly and say, oh, thank you God for giving me another blessing.

But I would think rather, it is often the opposite. Where you struggle in your own flesh. You want to be faithful and obedient. You want to live that life as a dear sister in obedience to God's word. But you find yourself also struggling in those matters.

So it is so in God's kingdom that God gives blessings and he blesses. And all of us have been blessed according to God's will.

I can think in my own mind who I think might be blessed more than another. I may think that because someone has been given temporal wealth, he's more blessed than another.

But temporal wealth, for one, may be a great trial. Temporal wealth for another may be used as a blessing. Not only for the benefit of his own family, but perhaps also for the benefit of God's kingdom.

So it doesn't necessarily mean that we can visibly see and account for what blessings are. In our minds we think we would know and understand.

But Mary was blessed. The Apostle Paul was blessed. Lysadius was blessed. But so also have we. Because tonight we are God's children.

Everything else removed. Temporal wealth, honor, glory. All of that stripped aside. Just as it was for Job. Naked I came into this world. Naked I will leave. And he said, Blessed be the name of our God.

This is that which is important. And this is also teaching. And often central to the teaching. That Jesus kept.

This was also not liked by many of those of Jesus' time. Where did Jesus preach? And where did he teach? And who did he hang out with?

Jesus was with all men. But you know it was interesting. It remains interesting that Jesus often spent his time with those who were less than liked by society. Especially these Pharisees of whom in this text were trying to kill him. Or desiring to kill him. Or planning to make plans to kill him.

They didn't like the idea that Jesus was visiting and preaching to those sinners. He didn't like that he was breaking bread. He was breaking bread with those who were thought to be less desirable than others.

But this was where Jesus was. And where Jesus taught. And where Jesus preached. He preached and taught to those of whom needed him.

He once said that he didn't come to heal the well. For those that are not sick do not need a physician. But he came for those who were needy. Those who were struggling. Those that were doubting. Those that were fearful. Those that found themselves to be sinners.

That's whom Jesus came for. Does it sound this evening familiar brothers and sisters? Does it sound as if he came not only for them but also for you? You who found yourselves and find yourselves to be these kinds of needy ones.

This is the reason Jesus came. You can this evening remain believing all of your sins, doubts and temptations forgiven in his name and precious blood.

This is that which strengthens us. This is that lowly gospel that is the source of our strength. The food that carries us day by day and moment by moment. All the way to the end of this journey.

This was that sermon which Jesus kept. This was that which many of them followed after. Not because of the miracles. Not because of that which they saw outwardly as powerful. But they sought him for that word that was given through his Father.

But those were worried. Those were fearful. Because of their own fleshly desires. Their own jealousies. Their own envy.

And at the end of our text it says Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews. But went thence unto a country near to the wilderness into a city called Ephraim. And there continued with his disciples.

He would then make ready and plans for the day of his departure. But before he left the final time he told his disciples a very loving and a very important sermon for all of us to remember.

He told us. He told them and us. That he does not leave us comfortless. But rather he would send that comforter which was the Holy Spirit. And that Spirit was sent.

That Spirit that still today allows the work of God's kingdom to go forward. And that Spirit unites. It joins the hearts of God's children together wherever they may be. In mutual work. In mutual understanding. In mutual love.

That is God's kingdom. That work continues today brothers and sisters.

This Wednesday, Kevin and I will leave for Africa. That work that Jesus performed. That he entrusted to his own. Continues in our day. In many different places.

We will go there. And as one brother sent an email. He said tell Kevin. Welcome. He is coming to meet his brothers in faith.

That is that kind of day which we today live. Where the Spirit of God has joined so perfectly and so seamlessly us. In the work.

And I ask brothers and sisters from a personal note that you remember us there. As a servant we go. Because I carry such corruption. With doubts. With worries. With fears that would God bless.

Even in let's say a week was His work. Yet from my prior trips I have experienced and I should be without doubts. How God has protected. And how God has given necessary understanding in words.

But yet I even this evening find a doubting and fearful leaving. I ask for your prayers. I ask for your prayers. And not only prayers for us but also that you remember our families that we leave behind.

That God would protect them also. And that God would carry them in that which they have been left here to do.

But I would ask in closing that in the face of these many doubts and fears. Fierce worries. That can I still hear the gospel. I want to believe. And I want to trust in God's goodness.

It is that same gospel that we will endeavor and hope to preach there. God willing. And it is that same gospel that is the source of strength for all of God's own. Wherever they live.

You also remain confident in that care of the gospel. Your sins are also forgiven. In Jesus name. And precious. Adopt a blood.

We live in such a rich and gracious kingdom. I will also promise to remember to bring your loving greetings to those fellow brethren there in that far away continent of Africa.

Let us quieten in closing benediction. The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make his face shine upon us and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us peace. In the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.