Month: February 2017

Psalm 121
Hebrews 12:1-3

A Kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they drew. She would occasionally walk around to see each child’s artwork. As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was.
The girl replied, “I’m drawing God.”
The teacher paused and said, “But no one knows what God looks like.”
Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, “They will in a minute.”¹

The little girl had her eyes set on God.

The same could be said of the writer of the 121st Psalm: “I will lift up my eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord.” We don’t know the historical context for the writing of this Psalm, but it’s not hard to imagine that for whatever reason he was downcast. His opening line “I will lift up my eyes” implies that he had been focusing in the opposite direction. And perhaps someone has reminded him as he reminds us that when we are feeling down we need to lift up the eyes of our souls and fix our gaze on heavenly things and therein rediscover hope.

That’s good counsel for those of us who either live in or worship in Chippewa Lake, for a sadness fell over the community last Tuesday afternoon when we learned that Mr. Bryon Macron, who many had been praying for was gone. Many are downcast. We are sad for him, sad for his widow and three daughters. Sad for his colleagues, the firefighters who were so close to him in life, and who were closely involved in the recovery of his body. (more…)

Psalm 126
Mark 4:21-34

There was a church hymn that was written in 1874 and was still popular in the 1980’s when I first began attending church. The song was written by Knowles Shaw who was inspired by the last couple of verses in Psalm 126 (5-6).

Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy.
They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.

Can anyone guess the song title?

“Bringing in the Sheaves.”

Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness,
Sowing in the noontide and the dewy eve;
Waiting for the harvest, and the time of reaping,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves;
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

In his The Treasury of David Commentary, the 19th-century English preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon writes:

He that goes forth and weeps, bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. He leaves his couch to go forth into the frosty air and tread the heavy soil; and as he goes he weeps because of past failures, or because the ground is so sterile, or the weather so unseasonable, or his corn so scarce, or his enemies so plentiful and so eager to rob him of his reward. He drops a seed and a tear, a seed and a tear, and so goes on his way. In his basket he has seed which is precious to him, for he has little of it, and it is his hope for the next year. Each grain leaves his hand with anxious prayer that it may not be lost: he thinks little of himself, but much of his seed, and he eagerly asks, “Will it prosper? Will I receive a reward for my labor?” Yes, good husbandman, doubtless you will gather sheaves from your sowing. ¹

(more…)

Matthew 5:13-16
II Corinthians 4:1-6

The prophet Isaiah uses light as a metaphor in describing Israel’s mission to the world.

Isaiah 42:6 says, “I the LORD have called unto you in righteousness, and have taken hold of your hand, and submitted you as the people’s covenant, as a light unto the nations.”

Isaiah 49:6 has it, “I have made you a light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.”

And in 60:3, Isaiah says, “And unto your light, nations shall walk, and kings unto the brightness of your rising.”

In other words, God wanted Israel to be a light; that is to be a witness so that other nations would also come to know and worship Him. They were to be a witnessing people in two ways. First, by their lifestyle and then by their proclamation; deeds and words. It was not just a matter of speaking; it was also a matter of right living. They were to live a lifestyle so dramatically different that it was a testimony to God. And then they were to verbalize the things that God revealed to them. Words and deeds, deeds and words; the two go hand in hand. And the tragedy is, they failed! That’s all that can be said, they just plain failed.

It’s no wonder then, that before He ascended into heaven, Jesus told His disciples that they were going to be His witnesses. In those words, the torch was being passed from the Jewish people to the Church comprised of all those who have embraced Jesus as the Son of God who came to give His life for the forgiveness of sins. We are His witnessing people. Individually and collectively, we are given the privilege of shining light in the darkness, of sharing God’s grace with the community. Be it our church sharing God’s grace with the community of Chippewa Lake or you as an individual sharing God’s grace with your community of folks; that is those in the sphere of your influence. (more…)

Ephesians 4:1-16
Speaking of church, Johnny’s mother looked out the window and noticed him “playing church” with their cat. The cat was sitting quietly and he was preaching to it. She smiled and went about her work. A while later she heard loud meowing and hissing and ran back to the window to see Johnny baptizing the cat in a tub of water.
She called out, “Johnny, stop that! The cat’s afraid of water!”
Johnny looked up at her and said, “He should have thought about that before he joined my church.”

In the second week of January, I went to see my physician for a physical. As usual, Dr. Jackson ordered a complete blood workup, which indicated that I have a little inflammation somewhere in my body. So she wrote me a prescription for an antibiotic that will eliminate the inflammation and restore my body to health.

In today’s text, Paul is giving us a prescription aimed at maintaining a healthy body, as he states in the last sentence: “so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love” (16).

The big picture of this passage is that for the body of Christ to be healthy there must be UNITY.

“Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all” (Ephesians 4:3-6).

Now to be sure, theological unity already exists in the Spirit of Christ that binds us all together in love. That unity is an amazing gift of God to His Church. According to Paul it is our responsibility ‘to guard, to maintain and/or to preserve the unity’ that exists in the Spirit.

Unity has nothing to do with looking alike or wearing a uniform or thinking alike for as you know, we are, all of us, remarkably different. (more…)