Matthew 5:1-3

We have been through a lot over the past three years, haven’t we?  In just a short time, we experienced a Pandemic responsible for the death of millions, racial tensions so divisive that some are afraid to even mention what they believe or feel out of fear of what label they might receive, inflation is on the rise, another national recession appears to be immanent, the threat of a World War III seems more real than ever, and the only thing that has not changed is the ability politicians have to blame those on the other side of the aisle for the problems in our nation.  We are living in a season of extreme divisiveness and there does not seem to be any way of escape. 

The results of a major survey conducted by Edelman was published in 2021 that found more than half of Americans believe that the United States is in a cold Civil war, that government leaders and journalists are purposely misleading the public, and that we are in an era of “information bankruptcy.”[1]  In his book titled, Cold Civil War, Christian political philosopher Jim Belcher warns that America is polarized and fragmented so badly that there are two different versions of America represented on the political left and right that could eventually split the nation in two.

In his book, Belcher created a diagram that I find to be helpful in showing the four ways our nation is polarized and gravitating towards more extreme views.  Without going into great detail, I want to share Belcher’s diagram[2] to illustrate why a sermon series on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is timely and necessary for Meadowbrooke.

So, what does this diagram mean?  The further away from the “New Vital Center” one moves, the more extreme one becomes.  The “New Vital Center” as I understand it, is a return to a Christian influenced political identity where love of neighbor and the value of human dignity are foundational.  I am more pessimistic than Belcher is regarding the future of our nation and do not see any way back (I am not the only one who feels this way).  I am however, very optimistic that the Church has a voice that can speak into the polarization of our nation that can be profoundly redemptive. 

So here is a very brief summation of Belcher’s diagram:

Freedom Left: Truth is relative and what you make of it. Government must be neutral on the question of the “good” allowing the individual the final choice in determining the good life, questions of right and wrong, and ultimate purpose (extremes of this quadrant include: America’s founding documents were written by White Supremacist; white fragility exists, radical skepticism, and radical relativism). 

Order Left: Government has a moral obligation to eliminate poverty and to free the poor and ethnically marginalized into prosperity (extremes of this quadrant include: White Christian nationalism is evil, Critical Race Theory is objectively right, etc.). 

Freedom Right: Government has no right to regulate the borders, social life, expression of individual persons, nor does it have the right to limit market capitalism.  Everyone has a right to make it to the top if they are willing to work hard enough.  All men and women are created equal (extremes of this quadrant include: some forms of globalization…).

Order Right: Small government that has been traditionally conservative rooted in some form of a Judeo-Christian worldview (extremes of this quadrant include: I will leave it to your imagination as to who fits into the extreme of this category). 

Regardless of how you feel about the four quadrants that make up America’s political landscape, they are four different forces pulling/luring Christians from a center that the gospel of Jesus Christ calls us into.  The center that the gospel calls the Christian into is a new identity that is different from the identities politics and the media pressures us to affirm or to deny.  For example, many Mainstream or liberal forms of Christianity gravitate towa

Acts 2:42-47

Martyn Lloyd-Jones said that the difference between the Christian and the non-Christian is that the Christian lives his/her life in the awareness that he/she is always in the presence of God.  What compels the Christian to turn his/her face towards God is, in the words of J.I. Packer, the “tremendous relief in knowing that God’s love to me is based at every point on the prior knowledge of the worst about me.”

The four characteristics of the first Church in the book of Acts were present in the Church because they understood that God sent his Son to redeem them even though he saw the worst in them and because of the cross of Christ. They were aware of always being in the presence of God.  This my dear brothers was the catalyst and reason for the profound impact that the first Christians had on their world:

They were devoted to God.They were devoted to one another.They were devoted to prayer.They were devoted to the mission of God.

Apart from the diligent prayers of God’s people, the Church’s ability to live out her mission will fall flat.  The reason the church in Acts was characterized by a devotion to prayer was that they were convinced that the success of their mission (Matt. 28:19-20) was dependent on the power and ability of God, not on their own creativity. 

With the time that we have left, let us turn our attention to the last two characteristics of the first Church. 

They Devoted Themselves to Prayer

Charles Spurgeon said that, “True prayer is neither a mere mental exercise nor a vocal performance.  It is far deeper than that – it is spiritual transaction with the Creator of Heaven and Earth.”  If being devoted to the God is the act of his people turning their ears and their eyes to knowing and understanding him, then prayer is the act of God turning his ear to hear his children.  All healthy relationships require communication between the parties involved, and regarding our relationship with the Almighty, there is no exception. 

There is a prayer that the Old Testament Prophet, Habakkuk, prayed that helps me understand the relationship between prayer and the mission of God: “Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy” (Habakkuk 3:1–2, NIV).

Habakkuk heard of God’s reputation.  He heard of the God who spoke galaxies into being (Gen. 1:1).  He heard of how God delivered the Hebrews through the Red Sea (Exod. 14).  Habakkuk heard about the wall of Jericho falling (Josh. 6).  He heard about how Samson struck down one thousand Philistines with only the jawbone of a donkey, because God was with him (Jud. 15).  Habakkuk grew up hearing about exploits of King David and how he brought back the Ark of the Covenant after defeating the Philistines.  Habakkuk also heard how Uzzah died when he tried to keep the ark from falling into the dirt, even though he was told that no unclean person was permitted to touch the ark or lest that person die.  Habakkuk understood that Uzzah was arrogant to believe that his hand was cleaner than the dirt of the ground. 

I am sure that the prophet grieved over the long history of Israel’s idolatry and sin, which resulted in the discipline of the LORD, but he was also aware of God’s promise in 2 Chronicles 7:13-14, “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:13–14).

He was also aware that every time God’s people prayed for things that lined up with the heart of God, God moved powerfully.  These are the same reasons why the church in Acts was devoted to prayer.  When Judah[1] fell into moral and spiritual chaos, at the age of 25, a young man by the name of Hezekiah

Acts 2:42-47

What we learn from the Bible and history is that the first century church turned the world upside-down.  Four vital characteristics enabled the church in Acts 2:42-47 to become an unstoppable force resulting in God-shaped transformation in the communities that surround her.  I believe that if you devote yourself to the same four things that the first century Church devoted themselves to, you will experience the kind of vibrancy and life God wants for you and this church in 2022.  The four characteristics exhibited by first century Christians are the following:

The Church devoted themselves to God.The Church devoted themselves to one another.The Church devoted themselves to prayer.The Church devoted themselves to the mission of God.

I will unpack the first two characteristics today, and I will unpack the final two characteristics next week.  My hope and prayer is that we will not only use these characteristics to lay the foundation for the future of Meadowbrooke Church, but that you will be able to lay a foundation for a life of God-begotten and Christ-centered vibrancy in 2022 and the years to come.

They Devoted Themselves to God

How did the first century Christians devote themselves to God?  They did so by devoting themselves to the Apostle’s teaching.  What does that mean and what does that look like?  To be devoted to the Apostle’s teaching is to be devoted to the Word of God, or as commonly referred to, the Bible.  The Church was committed to the Word of God as the only authority of God almighty.

To be devoted to the Word of God means you must listen and obey it, not so that you can fill your mind with knowledge, but so that you know and understand God.  The Bible says that, “the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action” (Dan. 11:32).  In other words, when you have a proper perspective of who God is, you will have an appropriate perspective of everything else in your life.  This is why the Prophet Jeremiah declared: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts, boast in this, that he understands and know me…”  (Jer. 9:23-24). 

Who is God?  God is the One who spoke and made everything out of nothing (Gen. 1:1) just as the Scriptures declare: “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible” (Heb. 11:3).  God is the One who formed man from the dust of the earth and made him into his own image.  God is the One who is big enough to assign a name to every single star of the trillions that make up our universe (Psalm 147:4) and concerned deeply enough about you that he has already numbered every hair on your head (Luke 12:7).  Who is God?  God is the one who delivered the Hebrews from the grip of Pharaoh and his army by parting the Red Sea with the breath of his nostrils and destroyed the entire Egyptian army with a simple exhale (Exod. 15:1-18). 

God is the one who destroyed the city of Jericho with the sound of trumpets and the shouts of his people.  God is the one who conquered an army of 120,000 with only Gideon and three hundred of his soldiers armed only with torches and clay jars.  God is the one who killed the giant Goliath with a simple stone in David’s sling.  God is the one who, “…changes times and seasons; removes kings and sets up kings…”  (Dan. 2:21).

God is the one who promised a deliverer to every generation that has come after Adam and Eve.  God is the one who miraculously blessed Mary to be the mother of that deliverer even though she was a virgin.  God is the one who took on flesh in the person and work of his own Son, Jesus Christ.  God is the one who cursed his son while he hung in our place on the cross (Isa. 53).  After Jesus died and was buried, God is the one who raised him up from the grave and who “exalted him and bestowed on him th

Mark 15:42-16:20

I read a quote from R.C. Sproul some time ago that affected me; here is what the quote said: “Unbelievers can tolerate Christ only as long as he is stripped of his real identity.”  If Jesus was simply a moral teacher not unlike Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, or the Dali Lama, then there is nothing really all that offensive about Jesus because we can accept the things that we like about Him and discard what we do not like.  However, if Jesus really did rise from the grave, then that changes everything and leaves us with little option but to either accept Him as the Son of God or reject Him as a fraud.  However, for the disciples and Mark, Jesus was much more than a religious teacher.

The three questions the Gospel of Mark addresses are the big questions of life: Who is Jesus, why did He come, and what does it mean to follow Him?  How you answer those three questions will have life altering consequences.  If the resurrection never really happened, then Jesus was neither who He claimed to be nor was there anything moral about Him.  Think about some of the things He said:

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.  For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?  For what can a man give in return for his soul?  For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:34-38)

Jesus asked and expected people to drop everything to follow Him.  For those who did leave everything, Jesus promised: “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30).  If Jesus didn’t rise from the grave, then he lied and mislead those who staked everything on His claim as the promised savior of the world. 

Jesus Died for Sinners

Jesus was crucified! He was handed over by the religious leaders of His day to be sentenced to death by Pontius Pilate for treason, and although He was innocent of such crimes… he was sentenced to death by crucifixion.  Before He was forced to carry His cross, He was beaten, flogged, mocked, and beaten again.  Jesus stood mangled and hemorrhaging before a jeering crowd who demanded with shouts: “Crucify, crucify him!” (see Luke 23:18-25).  When Pilate told Jesus that he had the power to release him, Jesus replied: “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above” (John 19:11).  Pilate washed his hands in a bowl of water symbolizing his innocence and ordered that Jesus be crucified. 

Upon completing His journey to the place of His execution, Jesus was stretched out by force upon the cross where His hands and feet were nailed to his instrument of torture where He would hang until His death.  For six hours he hung on that cross and during that time we are only told of seven things that he said:

As the crowd mocked him and the soldiers gambled over his clothes, Jesus said, “Father, forgiven them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

Even after the thieves crucified on his left and his right jeered him, after the one thief asked Jesus to remember him when he entered his kingdom, Jesus replied: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

Before his mother and to his disciple John, Jesus entrusted the care of his mother with these words: “Woman, behold your son!” And to John he said, “Behold your mother” (John 19:26-27)!

While experiencing a death we all deserved for our sins, as Jesus tasted every

There is no associated manuscript with our Good Friday Sermon. There is associated audio if you would like to listen to our sermon from April 15th.

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Mark 14:32-52

Some time ago, I read an interesting perspective that I had not heard before on what it must have been like for Jesus to enter Jerusalem the week before his crucifixion.  We call this event, Palm Sunday.  The people who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem understood it to be his triumphal entry to finally reign as the promised messianic king who would crush Rome and any other opposition that threatened the Hebrew people.  Here is what I read that put Palm Sunday into perspective for me:

I want you to imagine a scene with me. There is a young doctor who has a wife and three small children. He volunteers to take a dangerous six-month mission assignment to a place where there is an epidemic of a rare disease and a good deal of hostility from the local people toward outsiders. He takes the assignment because nobody else with his special training was willing to go.

The months pass slowly, and the kids really miss their daddy. The wife does a valiant job of holding things together and trying to be mom and dad. Then the day of his return approaches, and the whole family is full of excitement. Mom has butterflies in her tummy, and the kids race around the house shouting, “Daddy’s coming home! Daddy’s coming home!”

At three o’clock in the afternoon a taxi pulls into the driveway. The kids charge out the front door followed by mom with her heart beating so hard she can feel it. The back door of the cab opens, and out steps dad, a good bit thinner than before and bearded to conceal his hollow cheeks, but with a big smile across his weary face. He kneels down on the grass and is smothered with six clinging arms and legs. “Hooray for daddy! Daddy’s home!” Each one gets his special hug and kiss while mom waits. Finally he pulls himself loose and they embrace: “Welcome home.” “It’s good to be back.”

Now I want you to look into this young doctor’s eyes, because there is a message there. And if you can see it and feel it, you will know something of what Jesus felt as he rode into Jerusalem to shouts of welcome and acclamation. What you can see in the doctor’s eyes is something he knows that his family doesn’t know: he caught the disease he went to heal and has one week to live.[1]

When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a colt, he understood what was coming.  The triumphal entry was his final week and there would be no sitting on the throne of David… yet.  The disciples were excited, for they were convinced that Jesus would take the throne that was rightfully his and Rome would finally be defeated.  What the disciples and the crowd failed to understand was that there was a greater threat than the empire of Rome. 

To understand the significance of Palm Sunday and Gethsemane we need to go back to another garden – the Garden of Eden.  When we read Genesis 1-3, we learn that Adam and Eve were given three commands: 1) Care for creation, 2) be fruitful and multiply, and 3) God specifically told Adam: ““And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:16–17).By the time we get to Genesis 3, Adam and Eve did exactly what God told them not to do and thereby sinned against Him as representatives of the entire human race. 

Adam’s sin accomplished two things: (1) When Adam sinned, he did so as a representative of the whole human race.  Romans 5:12 says very clearly that “sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…” (2) Adam’s sin is genetically passed down from parent to child. Romans 5 continues with these words: “Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam…” (v. 14).  In other words, sin is a sexually transmitted disease with only one cure.   Again, listen to what Paul wrote in Romans 5:18-21,

Therefore, as one trespass led

Q: 1. What does the Bible say about tattoos, and is it okay for Christians to get them? 

A passage in the Bible that some Christians who believe tattoos are immoral to receive will often cite Leviticus 19:28 which states: “You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the LORD.” 

The context of Leviticus 19:28 is how the Hebrew people were to live distinct lives that honored Yahweh amid a culture that worshiped other gods.  In this case, they were not to imitate the pagan practice of mourning that involved the cutting of one’s body as a heightened form of sorrow and marking it.  The word for tattoo literally means “tattoo marks.”  Because this verse is in the context of how the pagans would mourn their dead, it is possible that the marks being referred to had to do with symbols or words that were believed to ward off bad spirits. 

What I do know is that “tattoo markings” were used by the Egyptian women on parts of the body associated with fertility.  It is possible that other people groups used tattoo markings in similar fashion as a way of appeasing their fertility gods.  Israel was to have no other gods but Yahweh, which meant that they were to have nothing to do with such practices.

Does that mean you should run out and get tatted up?  The Bible encourages us to use wisdom that is shaped by the Word of God in the choices we make; this is especially true in the way we behave and how we treat our bodies.  Even though the Apostle Paul was specifically addressing sexual sin when he wrote 1 Corinthians 6:18-20, his point is applicable to everything we do with our bodies: “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:18–20).

Do I believe that the Bible forbids tattoos or that they are immoral?  No.  I just think you need to remember that your body is a gift from God and you should honor your body in a way that pleases God.  With that being said, we do have Revelation 19:16, which states that when Jesus comes again, he will come physically and on his robe and thigh will be written: “King of kings and Lord of lords.”  I am not sure that it will be written on his body or garments.   

Q: 2. Is the Daniel mentioned in Ezekiel 14:14 the same one that wrote the book of Daniel?  If yes, what else do we know about Daniel’s early life? 

It seems that Ezekiel is referring to the prophet Daniel.  The first part of Ezekiel was written shortly before the book of Daniel was most likely written, but the details of Daniel’s early life seem to be confined to the book of Daniel.  

On that note, the book of Daniel is an excellent resource for learning what a well lived life can look like when surrounded by a very pagan culture.  There were certain things Daniel abstained from, but he did so with grace and great care. 

Q: 3. What would happen to me and my fellow believers in the armed forces if we kill someone in combat?

There are verses that we are all aware of that condemn the killing of another human being as a horrible sin.  As early as in Genesis we are told, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image” (9:6).  One of the Ten Commandments specifically states: “You shall not murder” (Exod. 20:13).  Then you have what Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:43–45).  And, when Peter drew his sword and cut off the e

Q: 1. C.S. Lewis said in Mere Christianity that if you can love at a standard equal to your peers, then you are not being charitable enough. Does scripture support this?

Yes.  The definition of charity is this: “Generosity and helpfulness towards the needy or suffering.  Benevolent goodwill toward the love of humanity.”[1]  When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he answered: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.”  Jesus did not stop there but continued: “And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 22:34-40).  Love is the heartbeat of charity, which can be exhibited in any of the following four ways:

Your time: Making yourself available for the benefit of others to meet their physical or material needs.Your energy: Being present in the lives of others may mean listening to those who need to be heard, your attention when others need to be seen, your encouragement to the discouraged, etc.  Your talent(s): The willingness to use your skills and talents to bless others.Your money: The freedom to bless others with food, shelter, clothing, etc. with your own finances.

We read throughout the New Testament that the evidence of your belief in Jesus has resulted in you truly being born again is a love for Jesus (1 Pet. 1:8).  Jesus said that if you love him, you will keep his commandments (John 14:15ff.).  We read in 1 John 2:7-11 that the evidence that you belong to Jesus is that you love your brothers and sisters in Christ.  We are also told that the one who has been truly born again will exhibit the fruit of God’s Holy Spirit: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 5:22–24). 

If you are a Christian, not only have you been born again and now have the ability to love on a whole different level than the rest of the world, but we are called to live by a whole different set of ethics that is above the ethics of the world.  This set of ethics is described for us in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount; regarding our enemies, Jesus said in his sermon the following:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43–48)

To be “perfect” as our heavenly Father is perfect, is to be more like him.  This is the standard that his people are to pursue.

Q: 2. The author of The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry says Jesus’ ministry was supported by wealthy women.  Have you heard this before? 

We are not told to what extent Jesus was supported by others during his ministry years on Earth, but we are informed of some of the ways the women in Jesus’ life helped support him.  There is no indication that the women who did support Jesus’ ministry were wealthy, but women did play a significant role in aiding his ministry.  The most prominent person in Jesus’ life was his own mother.  However, we also are given a very brief description of others who helped in Luke 8:1-3,

Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil

Jeremiah 9:23-24

God has gone through great lengths so that you can get to know Him and to understand who He is!  There are two types of ways God has revealed Himself and made it possible for you to know Him; one way is known as “general revelation” and the other way is known as “special revelation.”  General revelation doesn’t give you all the information needed to know God; it is simply enough information provided given to everyone for the purpose of knowing that God exists.  Special revelation is the supernatural and direct way God has revealed himself to mankind.  The Bible is God’s direct and intentional way of reveling who He is to specific people.

God has delivered to you a handwritten personal letter for you about himself.  Think of Creation as the delivery box and the Bible as the detailed contents inside the box.  Your life was not meant to just appreciate the parcel box we call creation.  Your life was meant to know what’s behind the wrapping of the box; you were meant to know the Person behind creation.  God is the most important reality in your existence, therefore the most important thing about you is what you know about God.  C.H. Spurgeon once said to his congregation, “I believe… that the proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead.  The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.”[1]

This is the point the prophet was making in the Old Testament in Jeremiah 9:23-24,

“Thus says the Lord: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.’” (Jeremiah 9:23–24, ESV)

By pursuing the God of the Bible, by seeking to know him as he has revealed himself, you will spare yourself from being sucked into clever crafty statements that do not lead to the place of wisdom.  This is what this whole sermon series has been about. 

God Helps the Helpless… Because He is Yahweh

The most personal name for God is Yahweh.  We are introduced to the name, Yahweh, at the burning bush when God told Moses that he would be the one God would use to lead the Hebrew slaves from the bondage of slavery in Egypt.  The task was impossible, and Moses understood just how impossible it was.  Moses also rightly understood that he was not qualified for the role God called him into.  What Moses did not fully comprehend was that it was Yahweh who was with him; that is the self-existent, creator, sustainer, unchanging, and eternal God would be the one who would ultimately free his people from what seemed to be an impossible situation.  Yahweh is the God who rescues and redeems the helpless.  This is the story of the Bible.  Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17).  Why did Jesus come?  He told us why: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).

God Gives Us More than We Can Handle because He is El-Shaddai

There are seasons in life that are overwhelming.  God’s people have experienced this since Cain murdered Abel.  There was something in the Apostle Paul’s life that he wanted so desperately to be free from.  It was so hard for him to live with it that he prayed repeatedly that God would remove it from his life.  It was more than the apostle could handle, but whatever it was, it had a purpose and that purpose was to humble him for a season.  Paul tells us the purpose for his suffering: “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thor

1 John 3:1-10

This is the last statement we will be considering in our series.  I do have one final message to wrap this series, “Christians Say the Darndest Things” up, but its purpose will be to appropriately conclude this series in a way I hope will be helpful.  If you have been listening closely to each of the sermons in the series, each message was meant to build on the sermon that preceded it. 

“God helps those who help themselves.”“God will not give you more than you can handle.”“Everything happens for a reason.”“Bad things happen to a good people.”“Money is the root of all evil.”“Just follow your heart.”“I’m not getting fed”“Heaven gained another angel.”

Today, we will be considering another statement I have heard Christians say so many times: “We are all God’s Children.”  Let me begin by stating what is true about the human race.  For starters, we are a part of God’s creation.  We are not only a part of creation, but we as a species are uniquely set apart from the rest of creation as creatures who reflect the image of God, for we read in Genesis 1:26-27,

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26–27)

We also read of mankind in Psalm 8,

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. (Psalm 8:3–8)

Because we are creatures who bear the image of God who also have been given the authority to manage the rest of creation, we are above every other creature which will eventually include angels.  This is one of the reasons why the murder of another human being is a capital offence in God’s economy: “Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death” (Lev. 24:17; see also Exod. 20:13, Rev. 22:15).

However, unlike the rest of creation, with the exception of Satan and the demons, we as a species are still in rebellion towards God, for all of us have been born this way: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Ps. 51:5).  In Ephesians 2:1-3, humans are described as spiritually dead and all are guilty of deliberately or subconsciously, “following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience… and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” 

This epistle John wrote was written to reaffirm Christians of their salvation and it challenges those who claim to be Christian to examine the genuineness of their faith in Christ.  Essentially, 1 John answers what it means to be a genuine child of God; he even gives us the reason why he wrote his letter: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).  In the scripture passage we are looking at this morning, John contrasts the child of God against the child of the devil.  Let us now turn our attention to this passage to see how it speaks into the popular assumption: “We are all God’s children.”

Who are the Children of God?

Who are the children of God?  Well for starters, they are people who are the recipients of the love of God.  John is not suggesting that we consider the love of God, but instead is insisting the Christian step back and consider the depth of su