March 20, 2019 - “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings” Hosea 6:6

“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings”Hosea 6:6 

In our journey to obey our Lord by “Going and learning what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matt 9:13, we have arrived in Hosea 6 from which our Lord quoted when He challenged the Pharisees on that day in
Matthew's house.

It seems very clear from Hosea 6:5,6 that the reason the Lord sends us Words of judgement that hurt and kill our sin nature, is so that we might actually see the sin that grips our lives, and come to Him to seek forgiveness. 

Now we come to the cross of Christ, the sacrifice that ended all sacrifices, in order to receive forgiveness for our sins, but the people Hosea is speaking to would bring their animals to the temple to be sacrificed to God. God instituted these sacrifices for the purpose of granting forgiveness for sins. Those who didn’t see sin in their lives, still brought the sacrifices, but the sacrifices had no meaning for they had no sin, and so they made the mistake of thinking that God wanted the sacrifices for the sake of the sacrifice. God didn’t want the sacrifices for the sake of sacrifices - He wanted to show them mercy for their sins on the basis of the animal bloodshed – but they didn’t see their sin so they didn’t need mercy!

The word used for people who come before God and don’t see their sin is self- righteous! 

This was the Pharisee’s problem, and for some reason this self-righteousness creeps into Christians’ lives, the longer they live as children of God. It seems that as we surrender to God and His Spirit, and our behaviours begin to change, we stop comparing ourselves to our Holy God and begin comparing ourselves to people around us - and honestly, we look pretty holy compared to others - as long as we are doing the comparison of course! What a terrible trap we are in - what do we do on those Sundays when participating in communion? Well, it becomes an outward show, and outward action, with no inward meaning.

What do we do if we have no sins to confess? Well, we begin to think that the cross has a meaning other than the forgiveness of our sin and our love for Christ grows cold. In this we are the same as the people Hosea is speaking to - their issue was that their love was as temporary as the morning mist and dew.

Our Lord told us (Simon the Pharisee) that those who have been forgiven little love little, and He was very clear in pointing out Simon’s little measure of love for Christ. (Luke 7:40-50)

Is our love for Christ little or fleeting?

Pray for sight of sin - read the Bible and pay particular attention to the Words that pierce and hurt, Words that we disagree with or seek to hide from.

Bow before our Lord, seek forgiveness for these sins and bless His Name for His sacrifice and His blood that bought forgiveness for our souls.

The more we go to Him for forgiveness and receive mercy, the greater our love will grow!

March 19, 2019 - “Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets, I killed you with the words of my mouth— then my judgments go forth like the sun.” Hosea 6:5

“Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets, I killed you with the words of my mouth— then my judgments go forth like the sun.”
Hosea 6:5 

A quick cursory glance at this verse might cause us to think for a moment that God is like those around us who seek to harm us with their words. Proverbs 18:21 tells us - contrary to the little rhyme our teachers taught us which told us “names will never hurt me” – “that the tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” and so we understand the truth that words strike into the very core of an individual, causing both benefit and damage. We are presently seeing havoc wreaked in our younger generations, by them eating the fruit of words on social media – they cannot live without constantly checking their social media - and are reaping the negative benefits of this love of the tongue.

However, God is not a bully nor a hater of our souls, He is not speaking these Words that kill us out of malice, but rather from a good and gracious Heart. A Heart that knows what we need in order for us to be in a right relationship with the Lover of our soul.

We need Words that cut our sin nature into pieces.

We need Words that kill our old man.

God sends these Words of judgment to us every morning - but will we receive them?

Protection from harmful words will require our children to learn to live without the fickle accolades of social media.

Protection from harmful words will require our children to break off relationships with “friends”.

Protection from ourselves - our real enemy which is our sin nature- requires that we open ourselves up to the “harmful” Words of God!

Friend will you read those Words today from the Lover of your soul? 

Will you open up yourself to the Surgeon who operates on our hearts?

Will you open the bible and read today - paying particular attention to the Words that hurt?

March 13, 2019 - Suggested Reading Acts 13 for Mar 17ths message on Matthew 12:1-14 in our worship service at 10:45 am

“Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.”

Acts 13:39 (NIV) 

Acts 13 records the beginning of church-sponsored missionary activity. The church at Antioch set aside Paul and Barnabas to take the gospel to the Gentiles, and so they sailed to Cyprus and then on to what we call Asia Minor or present-day Turkey.

The details of how the Holy Spirit works through churches to send out missionaries are fascinating, yet I would like us to consider the message that Paul and Barnabas took. As with any true gospel message, Paul ends with a call to action, for he warns the people not to have the prophecy of destruction fulfilled in them.

However, the conclusion of his “good news” portion of his message contains the startling claim that the forgiveness of sins available to us through Christ Jesus provides a justification that was not available through the Old Testament system of temple worship set up under Moses. Perhaps the old preacher’s method of defining justification as “just as if I hadn’t sinned” comes from verse 39, for being set free from all sins is equated with justification. This greater forgiveness does not come through a system of laws and holidays and sacrifices but through the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Pharisees refused to heed the Words of Jesus spoken in Matthew 12:6 “I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.” May we be those who heed this truth and run to Christ Jesus daily for forgiveness of our sins. May we know (experientially experience) the truth that God desires mercy rather than sacrifice.

March 12, 2019 - Suggested Reading Matthew 23 for Mar 17ths message on Matthew 12:1-14 in our worship service at 10:45 am

“They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.”

Matthew 23:4 (NIV) 

Matthew 23 should put the fear of God into all instructors of God’s people, whether they are pastors, or Sunday school teachers, or parents, or mentors, or older siblings. The behaviour of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law is systematically categorized and condemned by our Lord Jesus Christ, in this chapter from verse 13 thru verse 36, and I for one do not want to emulate in any way the behaviours that are listed here in detail.

Now in the first 12 verses our Lord identifies for all of us the general sinful tendencies of spiritual instructors of any kind. and I see traces of these in my life today.

Behaviour #1 – the instructor does not practice what they teach (do I watch TV shows I won’t let my kids watch?)

Behaviour #2 – the instructor is the opposite of helpful- they burden instead of help

Behaviour #3 – the instructor is most concerned with personal reputation, respect and honour

Behaviour #4 – the tendency of the instructor and the instructed to want the instructor to fulfill God’s role in a person’s life

Behaviour #5 – the instructor wants to be served instead of wanting to serve

These tendencies of instructors that kill true righteousness are universal throughout time and culture, and we should be searching our lives for them and rooting them out. We tend to think of the Pharisees as a group of people isolated in time, and we forget that their behaviours towards our Lord and His apostles are examples of the tendency of religious observance to become the enemy of true righteousness and true Christian ministry. In short - every Christian has a Pharisee inside us, that will govern our lives if we do not make a concerted effort to
“know what it means that God desires mercy not sacrifice.”

The best way (the Jesus way) to not let legalism, self righteousness and hypocrisy become the rulers of our hearts and lives, is for us to continually identify these general tendencies in our own lives and to continually approach the throne of grace for forgiveness. It is only as we continually experience God’s mercy in our lives, that the inner Pharisee who whispers rules, appearances and reputation are most important will be broken and placed in submission to the Person of Christ who lives in our hearts through His Spirit. It is only as we know (experience for ourselves our daily need for mercy) that God desires mercy rather than sacrifice, will we become the spiritual instructors God
wants us to be.

March 11, 2019 - Suggested Reading Proverbs 12 for Mar 17ths message on Matthew 12:1-14 in our worship service at 10:45 am

“The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.”

Proverbs 12:10 (NIV) 

The English word righteous(ness)appears 76 times in the book of Proverbs, and if you read through those verses in 1 sitting you will discover that righteous(ness) is used in the context of living your life or behaving in such a way that aligns with God’s righteous Law. Righteous(ness) in Proverbs is about governing your life in such a way that your thoughts, words and deeds align with God’s Law, and therefore you are righteous (in right standing) with God.

This gem of a verse brings forward the concept that one of the ways you can identify whether or not an individual is aligning their life with God’s Law is by observing how they treat animals. If they care for the needs of the animals they own, they are demonstrating righteous behaviour, however if a person is known by the degrees of cruelty towards animals, they are likely wicked people who have no interest in aligning their lives with God’s Law.

No doubt animal rights activists would scoff at what I just wrote, for the vast majority of references to animals in the Law are about how to prepare and use them for sacrifice - “kind to animals give me a break” would likely be a mild response. However, a person living their lives completely concerned with glorifying God through their conduct understands that humans were created higher than the animals and have been placed in a position of care over the animals. Proverbs is not speaking here of treating a household pet better than most children in the world are treated, but rather caring for the needs of animals. However far the animal rights activists are from being concerned about being righteous with God, groups of people (whether they are Christians or not) who advocate for meeting the needs of animals reflect the glory of God and the order He placed in His Creation.

This general principle of caring for the needs of your animals is likely what our Lord was referring to in Matthew 12:11 when He asked the Pharisees the rhetorical question; “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?”. There is no specific Law stating that this was required, but our Lord knew that this was the practice of the people of God and rightly so. The issue was that the Pharisees who would condemn Jesus for helping this man on the Sabbath, would consider themselves righteous for helping their animal on the Sabbath. There is no way that helping an animal is more righteous then helping a human in God’s eyes - the Pharisees have a skewed view of righteousness - and so do many of us when it comes to our attitudes and actions towards animals versus our attitudes and actions towards humans.

Mar 3, 2019 - Suggested Reading Psalm 95 for Mar 3rds message on Matthew 11:20-30 in our worship service at 10:45am

“Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;”

Psalm 95:6 (NIV) 

What a contrast between the first 7 verses of this psalm and the last 4 verses!

I would say that if we would put into practice what is described in the first 7 verses, we will have no danger of being included in the last 4 verses.

So let us sing for joy to our LORD and shout to the Rock of our salvation- sure we can do this in church I guess- but why not right now wherever you are – sing and shout to God! Being thankful, making music, singing songs. Turn the worship tunes on and sing along.

Why should we do this now? Because He is above all gods, He is the Creator God, the great God, the great King above all gods. He deserves it, surprise Him, delight Him- bless His holy Name.

Then bow and kneel before Him for not only is He the great God, the great King above all gods, but He is our God! He cares for us, He has placed us in a pasture of His choosing, the place where we will be well fed.

Fall to your knees and surrender all your cares, all your worries, all your fears and most important – all of your dreams.

Friend is it not true that if I would do this each day in sincerity of heart, that I would not to have to worry about hardening my heart towards His voice, for my heart would be full of the knowledge of His love. To harden my heart towards God is to refuse to obey Him, because I refuse to believe that He will deliver me, for I refuse to trust in His love and provision for me.

We know that we can harden our hearts towards our spouse and towards our children, it happens over time if we don’t consciously forgive them and reconnect with them. This hardening of our hearts towards each other causes distress and trouble in families. How much more will hardening our hearts towards our God, bring troubles and distress in our lives, and even worse than that we will never enter into true rest and will therefore never truly possess the life God has for us.

Lets praise Him continually and keep our hearts soft.

Mar 3, 2019 - Suggested Reading Joshua 1 for Mar 3rds message on Matthew 11:20-30 in our worship service at 10:45am

“Remember the command that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you after he said, ‘The LORD your God will give you rest by giving you this land.”

Joshua 1:13 (NIV) 

As the Israelites prepare to cross the Jordan and enter into the promised land, Joshua repeats the command of Moses to the tribe of Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, recorded in Deuteronomy 3.

As we prepare to turn our minds to our Lord’s great invitation to give us rest as we come to Him and take His yoke upon us, I want us to realize that rest and possession of the land go hand in hand in the Scriptures, and the Jewish people listening to Jesus would have understood His invitation as an invitation to obey Him and receive from him the possession of their land.

I think sometimes that we think of spiritual rest as no work, and yet what this text teaches is that spiritual rest comes from possessing the land God gives you, and possession of the land takes work – does it not – and yet both rest and possession are a gift from God.

Our verse teaches that rest is a gift from God, just as surely as our land is a gift from God.

If rest does not mean no work, then what does rest mean?

Well it means that God Himself gives you the ability to live a fruitful life in the place He has given you. That you will bear fruit in your family, in your workplace and in your school
and neighbourhood.

Now I realize than many of the spiritual songs we sing and teachers we listen to have taught us for years that the Israelites crossing the Jordan into promised land where they found rest, finds its parallel in a New Testament context, when a Christian dies and enters heaven, and so there is a question in our minds as to the validity of teaching that the parallel to the Israelites possessing their land is us living fruitful lives in the places where God has placed us.

So I point out Hebrews 3 and 4 to you, and ask you to read them and realize that there is a place of Sabbath rest for Christians and it is a place we enter through faith.

That for me to experience rest in Christ enables me to truly possess my role in my family as a Christian husband and father, or put the other way to truly possess my role in my family requires me to find my spiritual rest in Christ.

As I read this I think some will consider it to be double talk. And yet I know that those of us who have entered into this spiritual rest are the only ones who are truly possessing their land. They stand out among us, the ones who exude godliness, the ones who are the spouses and parents God wants them to be, the ones who live their Christian lives in victory and peace despite their circumstances.

We sometimes talk about playing the hand life dealt us- when we really should be saying live the life God has placed us in to its fullest. This is a particular challenge for those who have lost a loved one, or who have suffered from illness or financial harm, or even family breakdown, and yet when we surrender our situation to Christ, commit our way unto Him and seek His grace to possess this life to its fullest, only then will we experience rest, and only then we will truly possess.

May we be those who have entered into our spiritual rest in Christ, who truly possess this life God has given us!