revmattil.org

At a recent Bible Study we were looking at a passage in the book of Job. That motivated me to read that entire book again. In the first chapter, we find that Job was an extremely wealthy man.

Job 1:3 … he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants.

The following verses describe an encounter between the Devil and the Lord. God holds up Job as an example of a faithful and righteous man. Satan says that is only true because Job has so much wealth. God gives Satan permission to afflict Job, but forbids him from attacking his person.

We hear next that four messengers bring bad tidings to Job. The first spoke of Sabean raiders carrying off his oxen and donkeys. The next brings news that fire consumed his sheep and servants. The third spoke of Chaldean raiders absconding with his camels. And the fourth brought the message of a tragedy resulting in the death of all his children. Satan lambasted Job with all his evil might. And yet, in spite of his tremendous losses, we read this:

Job 1:21–22  [Job] said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” ²² In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

Lord, give us such a faith as this, a faith that recognizes you are in control. Help us to remember the love that would not let us go, a love that sent your Son to rescue us from the sentence of eternal destruction that we deserve. Remind us how richly we have been blessed and how often we fail to honor you.

As I was thinking about this, I remembered the chorus of a song Ray Boltz released in the late 1980s. It was about Paul and Silas chained in a prison cell after having been beaten, and they said:

But I will praise the Lord
I will praise the Lord
No matter what tomorrow brings
Or what it has in store
I will praise the Lord

(You can listen to the entire song at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NA1gGHUATs)

We have the same confidence that Paul and Silas had, that Jesus is the Christ who paid for our sin and gives us the certainty of life everlasting. No matter what the Lord gives or takes away, may we join Job in praising the Lord.

A man driving along an interstate highway noticed a woman on the side of the road having trouble. She was trying to change a flat tire on her car. Being a gentleman, he stopped to offer help. It was a hot and humid day and it was hard and dirty work. But he did it. He was filthy and dripping with sweat as he completed the job. As he was moving to release the jack and lower the car, the woman said, “Please let the car down easily; my husband is asleep in the back seat.”

Can you imagine? How do you think that Good Samaritan felt when he heard that? I guess we could try to put the best construction on things and say there could have been several legitimate reasons why she had not wakened her husband: maybe he was ill; perhaps he was handicapped; he was mean and would have slapped her around; he could have been drunk. Yet it seems strange to us that a woman in this situation would not call upon her husband for at least for moral support. While this may seem ridiculous, listen to a similar situation.

Mark 4:35–41 (ESV) 35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

How many people today have Christ right in their life’s boat with them, but do not call to Him? Through faith in Jesus, you have His promise to be with you always. The amazing love of God is such that he goes right into the struggles, dangers, conflicts and crises of life with you. He is right there in your boat, with you, able and wanting to help. Do you wake Him?

According to Jesus, all the disciples really needed to do was waken their own faith. He said, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” Jesus was with them. Always. Through faith, they could draw on His strength and power in any circumstances. Eventually, they learned that the One who commands obedience from even the winds and waves could be absolutely trusted. They came to understand that He loved them with an everlasting love, a love for all people is that is constant, consistent, without hesitation or limitation. Each of you needs to discover and experience that love.

It is a simple story. Every evil thing that you have done and I have done, those things that make us deserving of eternal death, all of that was put on Jesus. He paid the price for all sin by letting Himself die in our place.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV) For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

After Jesus did this for you and for me, God raised Him from the dead to proclaim victory over death and the grave for all who trust that He is the Son of God and the Savior.

Romans 8:31–32 (ESV) What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Jesus is always right there with you in the boat as you go through life. Try to remember that.

One more day looking at John 14 using the thought “Your Father would like to have a word with you.”

John 14

 ¹⁸ I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹ Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. ²¹ Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”

Through the working of His Counselor, the Holy Spirit, mentioned in the verse just prior to this, we clearly see Jesus with the eyes of faith. We see that we are connected to Jesus and the Father because of the Word He has had with us. And we know that we are loved by our God. We see that in what Jesus did for us and for all people when He sacrificed Himself as the payment for the sins of the world.

²² Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” ²³ Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. ²⁴ He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

Jesus is speaking the words of the Father, because He knew the Father wanted to have a Word with us, His creation, His dearly loved children. And those who are His will be readily recognizable. They will be the ones who obey His teachings. This is how the world should be able to see Jesus.

²⁵ “All this I have spoken while still with you. ²⁶ But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. ²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. ²⁸ “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. ²⁹ I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. ³⁰ I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, ³¹ but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me. “Come now; let us leave.

Jesus was doing the will of His Father when He laid down His life for us. He did it to accomplish peace between us and our Father.  He was showing us the depth of His love.

Your Father would like a word with you. You and I have that quite literally not only in the written Word of God, but also in Immanuel, “God with us,” the Word made flesh. Because the Father had and has His Word with us, we have peace with God.

Yesterday I started going through John 14 with you using the phrase “Your Father would like to have a word with you” as our these. That continues today.

John 14
⁷If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” ⁸ Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” ⁹ Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. ¹¹ Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.

If you have seen Jesus, you have seen the Father. He is not just a representative. And it is more than just “He’s the spitting image of His dad.” It is not simply a resemblance. They are connected and intertwined. In fact, Jesus says “the words I say to you are not just my own.” They are the Father’s words, the word He wants you to know and have with you. The Father has His Word with you.

¹² I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. ¹⁴ You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. ¹⁵ “If you love me, you will obey what I command.

Recognizing all that Jesus has done in living without sin, dying to pay for our sin, and rising again in victory, gives us a picture of the depth of God’s love. Our response is to want to love Him, too. And He tells us that love will be expressed in our lives by doing what He commands, by listening to His Word. He said it this way in Luke 11:28: “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” If you love me, you will obey what I command.

 ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

Note how the Father makes provisions for when the Word made Flesh is no longer visibly among us. He gives us another one, the Holy Spirit, who speaks the Word and operates through the Word to lead us to faith and strengthen us in that faith.

The Father has His Word with us. I’ll wrap this up tomorrow.

Almost forty years ago the movie “Cocoon”  was released. As with most movies, if  you watch this with a discerning eye, filter out the foul language and humanistic teachings, you will discover that the basic plot or story line is taken directly from the Bible. This is nothing new. Much of the literature throughout history can be traced to the Bible for its origins. This particular movie is an account of the free gift of eternal life given to man.

The story is set in a retirement community in Florida. A couple of old men sneak into an abandoned house to use the swimming pool. Then some “people”, who are actually aliens, rent the house. They want to use the pool to revitalize some of their fellow aliens that were left behind thousands of years ago in cocoon-like pods at the bottom of the sea. They treat the pool with some chemicals and forces that will accomplish this task. However, the next time these old men sneak into the pool, they find that it has a rejuvenating effect on them. It is the long sought after fountain of youth, it gives them a new life. As the story develops, more and more people start using the pool and benefiting from its effects, but they use up all of its “power.” The aliens are unable to accomplish their mission, and must return. However, they offer to take a group of old people with them, promising them eternal life. The old folks naturally accept this free gift gladly. One old man, explaining to his grandson that he would be going away, tells the boy that he was going to a place where “we’ll never get sick, we won’t get any older and we’ll never die.” Of course they wanted to go!

’m sure you see the parallels to the Biblical revelation of God’s Plan of salvation. The pool is like our Baptisms. It gives us a new life, and should have a constant rejuvenating effect on us. In Baptism, we are “born again” as the Children of God. This should always empower us for our lives of service. We should feel like new men and women, since we have had all of our sins washed away.

Lot’s of religions include the teaching of eternal life, but only the Bible tells us that it is a free gift, earned for us by Jesus. In this world we have pain, and suffering and hardships, we grow old and die, all the result of sin and disobedience. This is not only because of  the sin we have inherited from Adam and Eve. We keep on sinning, daily. The only thing we deserve from God is hell, damnation, and eternal torment. But our loving God did not abandon us.  He provided the means of escape through the living bread, His Son, Jesus Christ our Savior. He paid the price for all of our sins on the cross. He took our punishment upon Himself in order to pay the price for our iniquities.

JOHN 6:41-51   At this the Jews began to grumble about Him because He said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”  They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  How can He now say, `I came down from heaven’?”  “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered.  “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets:  `They will all be taught by God.’  Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from Him comes to me.  No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God;  only He has seen the Father.  I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life.  Your forefathers ate manna in the desert, yet they died.  But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  If a man eats of this bread, he will live forever.  This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

The Bread of Life  gave Himself “for the life of the world.”  By His selfless act of love and mercy, we are saved. In real life, just as in that movie, the saving comes from an outside source, not from ourselves. The sad thing is that people are more willing to believe in a fantasy like that movie than they are to believe the fact of eternal life as a free gift from God to all who believe.

Jesus was and is the real deal. He earned us a place where “we’ll never get sick, we won’t get any older and we’ll never die.” He paid the price for us to have all that.

Ephesians 3:17b-19   …That you, being rooted and grounded inlove, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God

Where are your roots? I had a great aunt who decided to check into the Mattil origins, and she discovered that somewhere back there I am related to the great composer Mozart. If that is true, he must have used up most of the musical talent in this family.

While tracing your ancestors can be an interesting endeavor, that is not what I want to share with your today. When I ask “where are your roots?” I am asking about your spiritual roots.

Paul tells us to be rooted and grounded in love: love for Christ and for our fellow man.  That is the way for us to live lives that are pleasing to God, the one who has provided salvation for us. His love led Him to make payment for our sin and give us forgiveness. And if we are rooted in Christ, we will want to attach ourselves to fellow believers.

I have been privileged to see the giant redwood trees in California twice in my life, once as a child and then again when I was in my forties. When you see those trees, some of which are over 300 feet tall and 2500 years old, you might think that their roots go hundreds of feet into the ground. Actually, their roots are very shallow. The roots of those trees intertwine in such a way that the trees are all locked to each other. They stand up against the wind and the storms because of the strength they draw from each other. Each tree is important to the other trees in the grove.

In the church, we should be tied to one another in like fashion. All Christians are rooted in Christ. These roots in our common Savior should be linked to each other. We are to share in the fellowship with other redeemed sinners. By our love for one another, and our participation with each other in the work of the church, we will show the world what a difference Jesus makes in our lives. And we will always have the strength of our fellow believers to draw upon in our times of need.

The words that are translated as “rooted and grounded” also have as a meaning “to take up residence and dwell” in this love. We should live in the certainty of the love of Christ. That, then, will guide and direct our lives. It will control our actions. You will ask yourself in any and all decisions, “What would Jesus want me to do?”

Happy Father’s Day! A pastor asked a young boy if he could explain what Father’s Day is, what it meant to him. He answered, “Well, it’s just like Mother’s Day, only you don’t spend as much for the present!” It is good to have a day set aside to remember dads for all that they do. Many of us cannot say “Happy Father’s Day” to our dads because they have died. We’d love to be able to give him a hug or a gift or speak with him one more time, but he isn’t here. So if your dad is still living, take advantage of the chance to make this a special day for him.

Most of us resemble our parents, if not in physical and emotional traits, then maybe in abilities, attitudes and actions. Many times my mother commented about something I have said: “That’s something your father would say!” My wife will chime in with an occasional comment to my mom: “Who does that sound like?” And over the years, when one of our children imitated one of my less than sterling qualities, my wife would say to them in an exasperated tone, “You’re just like your father!” Being like your father or mother does not have to be all bad. The character of a child’s life reveals whose child he or she is. While this is typically true in terms of our earthly parents, it is even more accurate in terms of our spiritual Father.

1 John 3:1-2  How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

You and I are the children of God. Not by natural birth, though. By nature, we are children of wrath, enemies of God, orphaned and estranged from Him. We show this by the behavior that we so often lapse into, like those things I wish my kids hadn’t seen and imitated.

Have you noticed that no one wants to be held accountable for his or her actions? So many have the attitude, “Yes, I did it, but it is not my fault.” That excuse just doesn’t wash. Before God, you are accountable for all you have done and what you have not done. But you and I have something that will wash. We admit our sins, without making excuses for them, because we remember that we became God’s children through a washing that He provides. We have received the washing we need in the rebirth that comes through water and the Word, the rebirth of Baptism. Jesus stepped in, took our place, and paid the price for our sins. He did that through a perfect life, a cross, and a resurrection. He offers the benefit of all He did – forgiveness, life and salvation – in Baptism, which makes you clean in His sight and marks you as His children. By His grace, you and I have become His children through this REBIRTH, a spiritual adoption as it were, which God initiated and completed. We are His children!

More on this tomorrow.

Cheryl and I recently had dinner with a good friend. She told us that her grandson had moved to another state, and that he and his fiancée were going to get married. He had visited a church near his new home shortly after he moved there, but after attending several worship services, no one ever talked to him. The pastor did not contact or call him. He said he didn’t feel welcome. He decided to give the church another try so that they might possibly get married there. He met with the pastor, who reluctantly agreed to let them get married in the church. However, as they were making plans, every time they asked if they could do something, he said no. Our friend said it was a very difficult time.

I don’t know all the details or circumstances, but hearing that story made me sad. What could have been an opportunity to show the love of Christ and open a door for people to be welcomed into a community of faith was instead a rejection and slamming of the door.

How often do we do that in our lives? When someone visits your worship service, do you make that person feel welcome or do your actions (or lack thereof) make that person not want to return. Is that what Jesus asks us to do?

You and I have been welcomed into the family of God. We have heard that God loved us enough to do whatever it took to make sure that we could have forgiveness for our sins and the certainty of eternal life. We have seen the love and grace and mercy of God in the face of Jesus. It is something we should never keep to ourselves.

Matthew 5:14–16 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Are you opening doors for people to see Jesus or slamming them shut?

Lord, you have led me to faith and assured me of forgiveness. Help me to live today and every day in a way that helps others see you and your love. Amen.