Pay Attention!

 Read Hebrews 2

Man, I am so broke that I can’t even pay attention.  That’s the tongue-in-cheek expression of these modern times.

Pay attention!

That’s how this chapter begins:  Pay Attention. People must have been checking their phones back then too. Their minds must have been wandering to places such as what’s for lunch or that trip to the beach. Maybe they were thinking ahead to Taco Tuesday.

Pay attention!

It’s not hey bruh. It’s not yo, yo, yo! It’s plain and simple pay attention.

Pay attention to what?

I gave you some Greek last week. Per my contract, I have to throw in 5 Greek words per year. But today, I give you a little Latin. It’s not that we use Latin much in our worship.

What Latin? Sine Qua Non.

Plain and simple, it’s: Without which, nothing.

Pay attention to this! If you miss this, you are spittin in the wind. OK, I am ready. Give it to me.

Read the Law of Moses sometimes with a focus on punishments and consequences. Sometimes the consequence is a punishment. There’s some mean stuff in there.

·       Kicked out of the group.

·       Parts of your house thrown away (mildew).

·       Dishonor.

·       The land will go the way of wickedness.

·       Death.

It’s sort of like signing one of those forms at the hospital before an operation where you acknowledge that everything doesn’t always go as planned. You may have side effects, discomfort, soreness, and let’s not leave out death.

Death! I’m just here for a simple procedure!

Many of God’s laws and directives include death as a consequence. Those without named consequences fall under the ubiquitous, the wages of sin is death.

If you have read Acts 15, you know that no person other than Jesus ever fulfilled the law. He said he came not to do away with the law but to fulfill it.  We know that he did exactly what he said he would do.

So what exactly is it to which I must give my full attention?  Without Christ you are already dead.

You have a preexisting condition that disqualifies you from living in God’s presence.  That condition is death. You are already dead. This terminal illness was brought on by sin, but there is no earthly cure.

Only Jesus can save you. He told us. His disciples told us. His holy word that we read daily tells us.  Without Jesus, we remain in our sins and have not only accepted but embraced our condition of death. We are content to live eternally without God.

That’s a terrible prospect. It’s been described as everything from a garbage dump that’s always burning to living in a fire that burns but does not consume us for all eternity.

Eternity is longer than you had COVID or the Flu or that the store was out of toilet paper. That’s a long time. You don’t want to miss this boat, this ark of salvation.

Pay attention! You can’t miss this boat. God doesn’t want you to miss this boat. I don’t want you to miss this boat. Do not miss the boat of salvation.

Salvation comes through Christ Jesus alone.

Obedience to the law won’t get you there. It never could. Sacrifices and offerings for our transgressions under the law only lasted for a year at best.

Christ was the perfect sacrifice—remember, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world—and his atonement for our sins is forever. You do not want to miss out on forever.

Pay attention!

If you mess up everything else in your life, get this part right. JESUS IS LORD! Profess it. Believe it. Live it as the way that God has given you.

Everything else that promises God or eternity or calorie-free chocolate in the hereafter is a rabbit trail that leads to destruction.

Jesus is Lord! Salvation is in him alone. He fulfilled the law for us. His righteousness is imputed to us so we may stand before God Almighty and be in right standing with him.

Pay attention. Don’t miss this boat. Pay attention.

It’s not like this is a blind leap of faith. We have each been given a measure of faith from God. It’s faith, but we have been given the accounts of God’s signs and wonders, his word given through the prophets, and in what the author would call these most recent times, a message delivered by God himself in the person of Jesus.

It's not blind faith. We have been given eyes to see the things of God and receive his gift of grace by faith.

We are without excuse; yet, we make excuses all the time.

Don’t worry, this topic of faith gets its own chapter later on.

Jesus didn’t just pop in for a quick sacrifice. He set aside his status as God for a time in which he would live a fully human life. He was and is God and human. He knows us and what we go through.

Jesus became a little lower than the angels for a time. God has put him in his right place for eternity, but for a time, Jesus had to live like we live.

When I went to Africa to teach pastors and church leaders, our host would often interject this phrase into our recurring introductions. He or they have left their comfortable beds in America to bring you God’s word.

OK. My bed at home was more comfortable than the kids bed that I slept in. Plus, I get my own personal towel at home. It’s a home with heat, air, and running water.

And we have indoor plumbing. The toilet is something you can sit upon and not just a hole in the ground to aim at.

While we complain about highway construction ad nauseum; the roads here are twenty times better than in Western Africa or Uganda.

In these United States, we drive on the right. In western Kenya, they drive on whatever is left of the road. The bigger your vehicle, the more likely you are to get that 20-meter stretch of asphalt for your use.

I left the comfort of America and went to Africa on a mission from God, and the people there noticed what I had given up for a time.

Jesus stepped out of heaven to live as a man, fulfill the law, teach us how to live, die as a man to atone for our sins once and for all time, and be raised to life as a promise of life eternal for us, and sometimes we forget what he did for us.

Sometimes, we forget. Pay attention!

Sometimes we forget how great the sacrifice was and how great the gift of life is.

For those who have not believed and professed Jesus as Lord and Savior, they need to take care of that business today.  That’s the only day which we can impact.

Yesterday is gone. There is no time machine to go back and fix things.

Tomorrow is not promised. Eternity is promised in Christ whom we receive by faith. But life in these bodies is not promised beyond the moment that you now live, and that makes now the only decision time that matters.

The author makes it a point to put a little hierarchy to this so that we may understand the magnitude of the sacrifice and gift.

Jesus was made a little lower than the angels. We were made a little lower than the angels, though if you receive the full biblical witness, you know that a redeemed man is a little above the angels. We will judge the angels one day.

If you do not know Jesus as Lord, don’t end the day in the same lifeless condition.  Repent and believe! Are you paying attention?

But most who receive this message have professed Jesus is Lord.  Most have been baptized. Most read their Bibles and participate in some Bible study.

Most of this message has been for people who are not here. But not all of the message was for them.

We still fall short. What must we do?

You don’t have to do anything for your salvation. Christ did it all, but…

Always beware of what follows the but in a sentence. We too should remember what Christ has done for us. We should remember not only his sacrifice on the cross but also the fact that he stepped out of heaven and lived as a man. We should meditate upon that on a regular basis.

God thought you were worth enough to make the sacrifice for your sins himself—even a sacrifice that involved death on a cross. God thought you were worth enough to make you worthy of living in his presence.

But we are saved from our sins and death, must we do anything else? Christ did it all. Is there anything left for me to do?

Not for salvation. That’s a done deal, but how we live says a lot about whether we just want to escape the flames of hell or do we really want to live.

For the believer, escaping the flames of hell is an incidental benefit to living the full life that God intended. It’s something of a carrot or the stick approach, but the carrot is really being able to live as God designed you to live.

Are we paying attention yet?

If I consider all that God did for me by sending his Son into this world to live the human life and die for my sins, would I not take his yoke and learn from him—from the One who gave so much for my sin-governed life.

Would we not desire with all of our being to put his words into practice?

He fulfilled the law so that we could move forward through him, the one and only—the unique Son of God. We use the term one and only quite a bit, but the word monogenés (mon-og-en-ace') also means unique.  How was Jesus unique?

Nowhere else is there an account of one who lived with God as God who put his divine status aside to live and die as a man. He did this all for us.  That’s unique.

This second chapter of Hebrews asks us to remember his uniqueness. Remember what Jesus did for us. Nobody else did or could have done for us what Jesus did.

Don’t miss the boat on salvation by not taking this to heart.

Don’t miss the boat on abundant life by relegating this part as a minor detail in a big story.

Do profess Jesus is Lord.

Do take his yoke and learn from him.

Do put his words into practice.

Do pay attention.

It’s time for those of us who believe to live in the fullness of our salvation. It’s time to value our gift so much that we will be the best disciples that we can be.

Are we paying attention?

Amen.

I'm not seeing it yet...

 Read Hebrews 2

In the next service I will focus on 2 words:  PAY ATTENTION.

I thought about preaching two other words:  CALM DOWN. That never seems to work.

I thought it went well with Be still and know that I am God. Actually, it works about as well. We don’t know how to calm down or be still or trust in the Lord with all of our hearts.

We struggle. Sometimes we go for a good stretch trusting God or at peace with God and our neighbors, but then we give into our human nature and own understanding.

We struggle.

Can you blame us? God is in control and this world looks like an absolute mess.  How can I calm down? How can I be still?

Why do I even want to PAY ATTENTION? We will spend more time on that later.

There are a few other words in this chapter that I want to spend some time on as well. Most folks don’t focus on them, but you are getting them this morning.

For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him.

We have yet to see all things put under him. We don’t see the orderly world that we think we should see. What does that mean?

Sin is still thriving in the world.

The Devil has not yet been consigned to his fiery eternity.

The righteous must endure the rule of the wicked for a while longer, though the faithful know this time will not endure.

We just don’t see everything falling into place like it should be, or like we think it should be. So, does that mean that God’s plan has gone awry?  

If you ever pay attention to a card trick, you will find that the owner of the trick wants you to follow along closely. He or she just wants you to follow the wrong things, so that he can pull off the trick.

We don’t see the perfect things of God because we get distracted. It is not God who is distracting us. We distract ourselves by relying on our own human nature which includes our own understanding.

Think of Peter being distracted by the storm and taking his eyes off of Jesus.

We don’t need sleight of hand to distract or deceive us. We deceive ourselves by not believing the promises of God.

We must affirm the statements and promises of God as we go through our lives.

It’s not a once-a-week thing to affirm that God has good plans for us. That’s a daily thing. In this upside world, it might need to be an hourly thing or a moment-to-moment thing.

We need to affirm to ourselves and each other that God really does love us.

We need to affirm to each other that God is love.

We need to affirm that God really is in control.

We need to affirm that God is indeed sovereign.

We need to affirm that the blood of Jesus really did take away our sins.

We need to take on his yoke and follow him.

We need to put his words into practice.

If we affirm these things on a regular and recurring basis, we might get a glimpse of the world turned right-side-up. It won’t happen on our schedule but we can see what is to be in the kingdom of God.

Therefore, we should live by what God has told us is true and will come. Thus…

We are never discouraged. God wins.

We never lose hope. He is faithful and just. He’s got us.

We never throw in the towel for we know what God did for us in the person of Christ Jesus. He stepped out of heaven and lived and died as a man so our sins would be forgiven and we would have a great High Priest who knows firsthand what it is to live the human life.

Jesus was tempted in every way but did not sin. What advantage did he have?

He knew his Father's kingdom was for real. He knew the journey, no matter how arduous, was worth it.

In his blood we receive his righteousness. Let us also receive his assurance that these trials are temporary and that heaven is real.

We are to be strong and courageous.

We live to be known as his disciples by our love.

We don’t know the whole story now, but we trust the Author.

We can’t see the whole picture now, but we trust the Artist.  OBTW—this is the same Artist that made you into a masterpiece.

We don’t know what tomorrow holds, but we know Who holds tomorrow.

Amen.

Son of God, Son of Man, Divine Priest, and the Christ

 Read Hebrews 1

You will get this in a slightly different way at the next service, but for now, we are going to do some big-picture stuff from Hebrews.

We don’t know who wrote it. Some say Paul with good reason, but there are as many reasons it wasn’t him.

The beginning of the book sounds like the classical poetry of Luke’s gospel.

We believe that God guided men in the Council (Synod) of Hippo About 1600 years ago to canonize this book. It’s part of our Bible and it has a lot to say, mostly about how everything is centered on, related to, or because of Jesus.

Here is a little big-picture stuff. What do we have in Jesus?

As we go through Hebrews we will see Jesus as Divine Priest, Redeemer Priest, Apostle Priest, and Eternal Priest.

Christ is the Son of God. He is the Son of Man. He is Christ the Priest.

We will come to these words.

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

We have such a priest!  So What do we do in response?

Draw near to God.

Believe.

Endure.

Love.

What themes will we encounter?

Son over the angels.

Jesus as Redeemer.

Christ over Moses.

Christ is greater than Aaron.

Jesus as Priest forever.

Assurance in our faith.

Examples of faith.

The endurance of our faith.

Workings of our faith.

So, who is Christ?

What is his relationship to us?

What is the why of this message?

Can we not respond in faith and receive the assurance of our pardon?

That’s where we are headed over the next few weeks.

For now, let’s just consider the first few words of this book.

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

In the next service, I will note how this short section is harmonious with so many other points of the full biblical witness. It’s something of a connect-the-dots sort of expose.

Get ready to see the superior person and personage of the Christ and the superior life that putting your faith fully in him will bring.

Amen.

 

Hebrews ties Christ into the whole story

 Read Hebrews 1

New  book! We are back in the New Testament.  Who was the original audience, at least as we discern by the title assigned?

The Hebrew people—the Jews as they were called after the Babylonian captivity—werte the primary, at least the original audience. We are all blessed by it as well, just not just its first audience

Who wrote it? We could spend some time on that one, and we might as we do our chapter-by-chapter navigation once again. How do you feel about our chapter-by-chapter approach?

This is an unpaid political announcement. Your elders who now serve on the session are your elected representatives in this part of the body of Christ. Tell them what you are looking for in the areas of education, worship, fellowship, and other matters regarding the life of the church.

We don’t know the author or location where this text was written. We do know that it was canonized in 393 at the Council (Synod) of Hippo. It was surely utilized by believers before then, just without the institutional authenticity.

We can see that the first part of this book like in Luke’s gospel was written in classical Greek.

Hebrews was something of a homiletic appeal to the Jews that Jesus was—is—the long-promised Messiah. In fact, scholars speculate that this text or texts was not a letter but sermon notes.

In many ways, it is a doctrinal compendium of so many things that are a part of this story of God’s creation and its redemption. Determining things decades or centuries after they were written comes with challenges.

There are just some things that we don’t know.

Experts examine and analyze, postulate and speculate, and sometimes they only spitball a guess. We don’t know who wrote this or where was written. We don’t even know if it was a letter or a sermon.

What do we know?

This book made it into our Bible. The Spirit of God was at work in the canonization of the book of Hebrews.

It’s not in our Bible for a reason. It is in our Bibles for HIS reasons and His designs. It is by man’s effort that we have this book today, but surely it is available to us this day by heavenly design.

We know that we are blessed to read some scripture because the scripture says so. I will say of my own accord, that you will be blessed to read, study, and discuss this book.

You will be blessed to embrace the process one more time. Read your chapter daily. Discuss in your Sunday School classes and tune in for a sermon that covers very familiar words. Come Sunday, you won’t be surprised by the text for the message. You will be ready to embrace the message because you know the text so well.

I even know what one of your blessings is going to look like. It looks like more questions than answers when you are finished. That’s often the case in adult education.

Now here’s the blessing. Your quest for answers will very likely lead to a hunger for God’s word. Once you truly hunger for what God has to say, you will realize how much you are blessed.

Your blessing for reading this book is hunger—hunger for more of God’s word.

Let’s get started. This biblical author is in concert with the full biblical witness.

In the beginning was the Word and the word was with God. The Word was and is God. That’s from John’s gospel. From its beginning, Hebrews confirms that the universe was made through Christ.

God spoke to humankind mostly through the prophets. Some of them were considered great men and others were scorned or persecuted by the worldly rulers. They were the primary means of communicating with God’s people, and even with a few pagans as well.

 Paul tells us that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. Hebrews says that the Son is the exact representation of God’s being. God’s most recent and fullest communication has come through Jesus.

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory. Read John’s Christmas story in comparison. 

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Christ died for our sins. Read it in Romans.

But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,  and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

It's only been 4 verses and we are already going to dive into Jesus stepping out of heaven into humanity and that at the end of this mission, his Father will exalt him and his name above all the angels.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,

    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

rather, he made himself nothing

    by taking the very nature of a servant,

    being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,

    he humbled himself

    by becoming obedient to death—

        even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

    and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

  and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

    to the glory of God the Father.

I make these associations now, so you may see that though we do not know the human author, this book is surely in tune with its divine author and those biblical authors who he inspired.  

Hebrews makes this point early. Jesus is the center of everything. God made it that way.

I don’t know how much time existed before God created the universe, but ever since that creation, Jesus has been the main force. He was there at the creation. He may have made other appearances. A wide range of interpretations are considered.

He came in the flesh, lived in the flesh, taught us in the flesh, died in the flesh, and overcame the death of his flesh.  We will talk about him being fully human in the next chapter but for now, understand Jesus is at the center of everything we know.

Jesus—the ultimate expression of God’s love—is the target and lens by which we will navigate this book.

Don’t worry, he and his Father and the Spirit are always in perfect harmony. Throw this Greek word into your Sunday lunch conversations:  perichoresis.  Essentially, it means the divine dance, specifically that one among the Father, Son, and Spirit.

Hebrews takes a foundation of the Supremacy of Christ and relates it to the Mosaic Law and Feasts. We should know that while Christ is at the center, the Father and the Spirit are at work as well.

While the triune God is always at work:

In this age, Jesus is center stage.

Even the angels in heaven fulfill the harmonious will of the triune God throughout the universe.

You will find some familiar scriptures as we move forward.

The word of God is living and active…  Many of you know it well.

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

There is no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We draw on this one frequently.

How about counsel to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus—the author and finisher of our faith.

Some of you are thinking, but you left out it is impossible to please God without faith.

How about the part about dying once and facing judgment? And don’t forget not to stop gathering together as believers.

And we have a great high priest who knows what it is to live the human life. And yet, we can approach his throne of grace with confidence.

We will get those and more in the weeks ahead. For now, remember that Christ is the center of this message. Christ is the ultimate expression of God’s love for us. Christ humbled himself to live the human life and suffer a human death as a sacrifice for our sins.

His name is the name above all names and he sits at the right hand of the Father.

Normally, I have a challenge for you about putting the words of our God into practice. I have challenged you to fulfill the law guided by love.

Today, I challenge you to read this book of Hebrews with the lens of the ultimate expression of God’s love coming in Christ.

Listen to the first part of Chapter 1 again.

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

Our salvation and much teaching come through Christ Jesus. We are to take his yoke and learn from him. We are to put his words into practice. The Spirit gives us the light to understand these holy words.  

For the next few weeks view everything you can from the perspective of Christ Jesus. Look through the lens of:

Messiah.

Savior.

Lord.

King.

Priest.

God.

Intercessor.

As the only one who ever fulfilled the law and what was given by the prophets.

You have been given the mind of Christ. Now take the view of Christ as we engage this book.

Let’s read faithfully and see if we can fit all of this together.

Amen.

Romping Through Ruth

  

 What a short book!  What an introduction to the kinsman redeemer model! What a picture of trusting in someone who knew God so much that the one true God became her God!

This was a short journey but full of challenges for us in these modern times.  Here are the links to the scripture and messages.

Be blessed!

Ruth 1

Seeing the image and likeness of God

Ruth 2

Who are these people?

Kinsman-Redeemer

Ruth 3

Just Report for Duty

I Will Do Whatever You Say

Ruth 4

You have survived 100% of your worst days ever…

Do your part

I Will Do Whatever You Say

 Read Ruth 3

Let’s get after it.

OK, girlfriend, things are better but not good enough for the long term.  I am old and likely not considered marketable as far as finding another man.

You, on the other hand, need a family not just a widowed mother-in-law. You’ve got some life ahead of you and you don’t need to be singing Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me.

You are still young and could have kids and enjoy family life like you once wanted with my own son. I want that for you too.

Fortunately, as a mother, I have skills. I have match-making skills. Let’s plan.

Take a long bath and use the good lotions and oils. Dress yourself to be as appealing as you can be. Put on some good perfume.

Are we going out bar hopping? Are we going to hang out at the COOP? Are we crashing a wedding?

No. We will skip the intermediate stuff and go to the coup de gras. Boaz is working on the threshing floor. Go there but don’t let him see you.

Let him finish eating and drinking. When he lies down for the night, it will be on the threshing floor. He isn’t going back to the house. He will sleep there. It’s a guy thing.

Lay at his feet and uncover them.

He is going back to the house for a shower first, right?

No. It’s a guy thing too. Don’t worry he is the boss and doesn’t sweat much. You’ll live.

OK. I’m in. Whatever you say, I’m all in.

She did as she was instructed. Boaz awakened a little startled. This isn’t your normal end of the day catch a few hours and back to work night on the threshing floor.

Who is there?

What can we surmise from this question? That’s easy. Boaz doesn’t sleep with a night light on. He knew what Ruth looked like. He just didn’t expect to see her at his feet while he was sleeping.

But he was pleased to see her. He felt blessed to see her. He told her, “I’ve got this. Just hang in there until I make sure we do this right. There is someone else who might have a say in this.”

So, what’s with this uncovering the feet business?

One explanation is that Ruth humbled herself and sought entry into the security of Boaz’s blanket. The blanket was the security that a Kinsman -Redeemer would provide. Boaz knew that Naomi was a relative and that he could be the Kinsman-Redeemer.

I have seen some interesting thoughts on this, most from Christian Tourists. Many say, that girl was asking for sex.

Others say that the feet were a euphemism for another part of the male anatomy.  I think I will go ahead and quote or misquote Freud on this one. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

I’m going with this as an act of respect and reverence for one who could become a Kinsman-Redeemer to Naomi and to her. Ruth was humble.

Was she wanting to be appealing to Boaz? Absolutely!

Did she have to manipulate Boaz to make this happen? I think we have surely put the pieces together. Naomi was not the real matchmaker here. God was.  If we follow the story, God will bring Ruth into the line of David and the Christ.

How much is cultural or social custom from which we have been chronologically distanced and really out of touch with the thinking? I won’t speculate, but I believe that she did exactly as instructed and the  best description that maintains fidelity with what God was doing is that she sought the safety and security that Boaz had and was capable of providing, and she was quite humble about it.

Did she desire marriage? Of course, she did!

Boaz acknowledged this.

The Lord bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character.

What should we understand? Naomi was not the real matchmaker.

Everyone here appeared to be acting with the best of intentions. This wasn’t a hook up and hope for the best.

God’s plan would continue in this way. We don’t always know the why. We don’t always understand the how. We often misunderstand the when.

Like I really needed an excuse to say this, but trust in the Lord with all of your heart…

Trust God. Trust his plan. Trust that those are good plans.

Sometimes those plans put you in the line of Christ. Sometimes they put you in Walmart with a pocket full of GOD LOVES YOU – LOVE ONE ANOTHER wristbands.

Sometimes they put you in these pews.

Sometimes, they put you in someone’s driveway with a box of food or a prayer or gospel or two.

Sometimes, they put you in the wilderness for a time to get your heart and mind in sync with God’s.

They should always send us into the world with good news, love, and a true desire to bring glory to God.

So what do we do when we know that God is telling us to do something but we don’t quite get the whole picture.

How about, we quote Ruth.

“I will do whatever you say,”

Ruth was speaking to Naomi, but those words should be even more applicable to what God is telling us.

Go tell that kid that God loves him. Whatever you say, Lord.

Speak the truth in a spirit of love to the person who has deluded themselves into twisting the word of God or convinced themselves that one more payday loan wouldn’t be a problem or anything else that God has placed on your heart to share with a person.

You don’t need an audible voice for most things. Have we not already been told what to do? Have we not received plenty of instructions?

Is not the lack of instructions that is the problem. It is the willingness and readiness to put them into practice.

Make a joyful sound unto the Lord.

Tithe.

Pray.

Pray some more.

Go ahead and just keep on praying.

Look after the less fortunate.

Count your blessings and be thankful.

Give cheerfully.

Worship.

Serve.

Study to be a workman approved.

Don’t be anxious.

Don’t worry.

Don’t be afraid.

God has already told us much of what we need to do.  How will we answer?

“I will do whatever you say,”

And yes, you might get some unwanted attention or scorn or disdain or in some cases, even persecution.  To that, I say good!

Sometimes the opposition from our world validates that we are seeking God and his kingdom and his righteousness before all things.

Would we not prefer to do what God commands over what the world demands?

Our lesson today is obedience and trust. Trust and obey.

Leave the planning to God. Don’t try to limit what God wants you to do.

As I quoted Freud earlier, I will make up for that by quoting Corrie Ten Boom.

“Don't bother to give God instructions; just report for duty.”

Just report for duty and be ready to follow orders. We try too hard to figure it all out. We want the blueprints and designs and modification authority. We want a say in how this will go and come out and what might be a might prickly.

Sometimes—no, most times, just report for duty. Here I am Lord. I will do whatever you say.

“I will do whatever you say,”

 

Amen.

 

 

Just Report for Duty!

 Read Ruth 3

You know the story. We have talked some about kinsman-redeemers. That comes into play again, but I want to spend our time talking mostly about us.

In the next service, I will talk a little about doing what God tells us to do. If Ruth could follow Naomi’s instructions, can’t we do a little better at following God’s directions?

We pray and hope for answers, right?

We want to know what God wants us to do.

We want things to work out, right?

Or do we?

Do remember the Words of Jesus series that we just finished?  We began with putting the Words of Jesus into practice is like building your house on solid rock.

We wrapped up with take my yoke and learn from me. Both came with promises of assurance and then real rest—rest to the soul, but our part is to learn from our Master.

Do we really want to do this?  What if it takes us out of our comfort zones, because it will.  I like to say that we should only be comfortable in one comfort zone—the labeled GROWING.

We must be learning creatures. We are not just sitting on the back pew waiting for Jesus to return. We are learning and growing and reaping the benefits of those two things.

But what if we are not?

We read the bible. We sometimes read it more than once or twice a week. Some of you may still be faithful to the read your chapter every day challenge that we started in March 2020. That was 4 years ago.

But are we putting God’s words into practice? Are we taking his yoke? Are we learning from him?

Some of you know that I have done Lectio Divina a couple times over the years.  Attendance has always been low, and I have a theory as to why.

Lectio Divina is divine reading. It’s not a Bible Study. It’s letting God’s word speak directly to you without the filter of the preacher, teacher, lesson plan, or human personalities inserted into a discussion.  It’s that whole living and active deal. God will speak to you.

And I think that scares people.  Bible studies can soften God’s voice with opinions and perspectives. They can also help us become a workman approved as we are charged to be.

But, what if God speaks directly to us. What if…

He calls us to go to Africa or Asia or even Dill City to spread the good news.

He is telling us to forgive. Stop analyzing and trying to balance every equation so you don’t get hurt again. Just forgive.

He says, coach that team.

He says to take that class.

He says to teach that class.

He says to stop looking for a new job every few months and grow where you are planted.

He says stop chasing the world and just draw nearer to me.

He says just take them some food.

He says to take a dozen gospels home each week and give them out.

He says be known as my follower by your love.

He says to offer to say the prayer.

God is not going to tell you to mix the Kool-Ade and get the people to drink it.

He is not going to tell you to twist the word of God. That’s not who he is. He speaks in metaphor and simile. He uses Thou shalt and Thou shalt nots. He speaks without an audible sound or with the boom of thunder.

But he does speak and we don’t have to vet what he says. Much of what he has already said is in writing for us.  But sometimes, hearing his holy words spoken aloud speaks directly to our souls.

Naomi told Ruth to take a long bath, put on some good perfume, and go to the threshing floor. After Boaz finishes eating and drinking and settles in for the night—on the threshing floor—go lay at his feet and uncover them.

We will talk a little bit about what this means at the next service, but for now just know that she did what she was told and God’s plan for Ruth and Naomi—who thought God was disowning her—was falling into place.

You will probably get this Corrie Ten Boom quote at the next service as well, and another hundred times over how ever many more months I have with you, but here it is.

Don’t tell God what to do. Just report for duty.

Just report for duty!

Sometimes we are the cleaning person in the Windex commercial from the sixties and seventies. I don’t do windows!

Sometimes that’s what we tell God. OK, God, I will take a turn in the nursery but I don’t give out gospels. I don’t do windows.

Just report for duty!

We must trust that God knows what is best, wants what is best for us, and tells us what to do so we can be our best and live our best and truly bring glory to God while we do it.

Here’s the kicker. If we report for duty and follow orders, we should expect to enjoy God as we do what he says.

That’s some cool beans right there.

Do not be afraid to hear God and do what he says. We don’t do fear. We do want to please our Lord and Savior and Master.

We want to put his words into practice. We want to take his yoke and learn from him. Take Ruth’s example. She probably didn’t know the one true God that well but she knew her mother-in-law did and she told her what to do.

How about us?

Just report for duty. Just do it!

Just do it!

Amen.