Sermon Nuggets Week of June 8, 2009
Sermon Nuggets Mon June 8, 2009
Theme -Be Prepared
Verses- 1 Peter 1: 13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
BE PREPARED
June-Allyson Ieron wrote a story in the older conference magazine, The Standard. It was entitled "One Shot and I Blew It". As a seventh grader who was a chubby, freckle-faced kid she was like most Jr. Highers, wanting so much to be accepted by the in crowd at school. Because she did not feel accepted she sought acceptance by the teachers and worked hard to be given the title by others as teacher's pet. This brought her punches, pebbles thrown at her, classmates pushing her down, and name calling. But when you are in seventh grade you want more than anything to fit in. What if it meant no longer trying to get the all A report card? Would that make her more acceptable to others with feathered pretty blonde classmates?
June writes of Heather who was the envy of the class. She was shocked to have the unexpected happen. Heather invited her to a sleep- over for her Birthday with 12 others friends. Almost all of them were in the in crowd. Now she had a shot of being accepted. How great it is to be accepted by the important kids at school. They ate pizza, drank Coke, ran around the neighborhood on a scavenger hunt. But when she went to the room the girls decided to hold a séance. The idea of contacting other spirits wasn't right to June who accepted Jesus as a young girl. She crawled into her sleeping bag and pretended to sleep while all the time praying for the blood of Jesus to protect her.
When she returned to school the girls still wanted to be friends, but June writes she had changed. She started sitting with the social rejects at the lunch table, not because she had to, but because she wanted to. Some of those kids were mentally and physically handicapped, some were slow. Many were not good looking. She was one of the few students who would talk to them. These new found friends may not have worn the right clothes nor had the right combs sticking out of their pockets of their designer jeans, nor mood rings on their fingers. But she no longer had to pretend to be different than what she was. June was no longer in the in crowd. She was willing to befriend those who needed friends. She blew it. Or did she?
We are often faced with decisions in our lives who are we going to impress. Whose values do we live by?
Peter was writing to people who were not part of the in crowd in school or in their community. They were made fun of for going to a Christian church and razed because they wouldn't participate in some of the activities the others wanted them to. They instead looked at their commitment to Jesus as reaching all areas of their lives, even if it meant blowing their shot of being important.
When things get hard and lonely, some people want to quit. The principles that Peter gave this early church are for us as well. He reminded them of the plan of the Father to save us, the cost of Christ on the cross to purchase us, and the conviction, and work of the Holy Spirit that is ever with us. He encouraged them by pointing them to Jesus’ second coming and the glory and reward that will be worth it all.
As we discussed last week, there are some things to remember regarding suffering- it is temporary and means of building character, a means of proving our faith. The prophets and angels themselves wished they could see our great salvation.
How can we as Christians be prepared to endure hardship? Are we in it for the long haul? Indeed, Peter tells us, it is worth it.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Tues June 9, 2009
Verses- 1 Peter 1: 13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Be Prepared for Action. v. 13
To encourage his readers Peter instructs the suffering church to be prepared by preparing your minds for action. How do we do that? By studying, planning, and praying. We prepare minds by what we read and watch and think about. We go to school to prepare our minds. Peter wanted us to recognize right doctrine so we are not misled by every fanciful interpretation that comes along, and there are many. We are ready for hardship when we study the lives of the saints of the Bible. In other words, make the Bible part of your life. Study it. Meditate on it. Pray about it. Plan to put it in to practice.
I was encouraged as a younger pastor when Irv Bjelland joined our team as Stanchfield. He was one of the first Conference missionaries to Philippians. In addition to other responsibilities he was assigned to train pastors in Christian Education. He was semi-retired when we asked him to work with seniors, missions and C.E.
Irv would also pass books on to me he had just read so we could also discuss them. He kept bringing up seminars and classes that were offered that we should go to. When we do so, I was taking notes while he was sitting and listening. He commented that most of the material he already knew, but his goal was to leave each seminar with something new, different or applicable. He did not stop learning even as a senior adult. He wanted to keep reading and learning and preparing his mind for service to the Lord. I hope I will continue to do that in my retirement years.
What type of things feed your mind? Romance novels, and TV soap opera? Pornography? Gossip magazines? Would Jesus join you in your internet surfing and your favorite web pages?
In addition to preparing your mind is learning self-control. It is one thing to know the truth and another to practice it. Act on your knowledge. With most of our destructive behaviors the problem isn’t knowing what to do, it is the power to do it. Our emotions or inertia too often get in the way for productive Christian living.
There was a woman named Sonya with whom I worked in my nursing home days. Her husband left her. Her world caved in. It wasn't long before Sonja was in deep depression. She not only missed several days of work, but when she did come in she walked around like a zombie. Before, Sonya was outgoing and fun loving.
I visited her after she admitted herself to a psych ward and underwent treatment. When she returned to work she was on heavy doses of anti-depressive drugs. She continued holding bitterness against her husband. She wanted him to know how much he was wrecking her life.
One day I was surprised to find the old fun loving and outgoing Sonja. Her personality seemed to change overnight. I asked her what happened. She said, "It was time to grow up. I can't change what happened, and I can't change how I feel about it, but I can change what I'm going to do about it. I decided to stop having a pity party and I was time to get on with my life.”
Self control begins by not letting our circumstances control us. It is not denying the truth, but drawing upon a greater truth that Christ is in you. He is our hope. Self control involves acting according to the word of God and recognizes the Holy Spirit empowers us to move ahead.
The third way we can be prepared for action is looking at the longer picture. God has more to do and we are still being made into holiness. The hope on grace is the confidence in the second coming of Jesus. Yet God’s grace is brought to you day by day. How has God demonstrated His grace to you yesterday? What blessings have you ignored? Remember, greater grace is yet to come.
There is a saying in India, "The world is merely a bridge; Ye are to pass over it, not build your dwelling upon it." Suffering and loneliness, hardships and difficulties prepare us for heaven. If we seek satisfaction in this life we will be sadly disappointed. Setting our minds on truth, putting to action through self control and obedience, and focusing on the long picture is preparing for righteous action.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Weds, July 10
Verses- 1 Peter 1:14-16 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;
for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
Prepared for Holiness
Literally the word holy means set apart. Sabbath is holy because it is a different day than other six. A tithe is holy because it is God's not ours. God is holy He separated himself from all sin into righteousness. The trait most like God is holiness. He is completely set apart from sin. Peter wants us to be like our Heavenly Father by being holy, for God is holy.
Some think to be holy is to pray all night in a church prayer meeting. Or every time the church doors are open to be there, or to memorize the Bible. Others will define holiness by the things we do not do. “We don't gamble, we don't' chew we don't go with girls that do. We don't drink and we don't smoke, and we don't dance with any bloke."
Holiness must be looked upon in two ways. It is a fact that we have been set apart for Him in Christ. We have been forgiven of all our sin. As such holiness is a positional state making us acceptable to the Father based on our trusting in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins and the now we are ones in whom God's Spirit lives. Such holiness is bestowed on us at conversion.
But it is also true that sin still shows its ugly face in Christian. A holy life is different than a life given over to our desires and wants. Before people knew God and gave Him control they lived in ignorance of a personal relationship with Him. Ignorance is guessing about God, not knowing for sure who and where he is. Plato said it, "It is hard to investigate and find the father and farmer of the universe, and if one did find Him it would be impossible to express Him in terms that everyone could understand."
Jesus was that expression. Jesus became fully man in terms we can fully understand. We can know. Don't be conformed to a former lifestyle that does not fit the Christian lifestyle. Peter tells us not to fashion ourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance. Self gratification is the great problem of the Christian lifestyle today. Doing what we want to do because we want to do it is our greatest struggle.
The call for His children is to resemblance the Father. Peter wanted the suffering saints to know they had a Father who loved them dearly and whose care was given to them daily. The term "children" conjures all this up before our minds, and it is well for us. Remember that no matter what may distinguish us individually we are all God's children as followers of Jesus. We are to reflect the traits and characteristics of our Father. People may look like, but how much do we act alike? I would see some children and immediately know whose kids they are because the resemblance is so clear.
Peter is contrasting the children of disobedience, with the children of God. Whose child are you? Who do you resemble the most? Do you enjoy the things of God or not?
Such holiness is a practical call which relates to our conduct and not only to our position in Christ. It is never assumed in the Bible that a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ should lead anything but a holy life. If we do not have any desire to walk in holiness then this is clearly evidence that we do not belong to the Lord.
Jesus sought to do the will of the Father and was completely possessed by God. Christ not only wanted us to do the things he does, but have the relationship with His Father that is possible for us to have. He wanted us to be changed from the inside out because it is impossible to be changed from the outside in. It is only possible when we continue to let him be the ruler over us. Holiness then is not a pious look, or set standard of actions but living with God in charge.
Be holy or become holy. It is like a blossom of a flower opening up and becoming in the process. How much do you resemble God’s holy traits?
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Thur June 11, 2009
Verses 1 Peter 1: 16,17 for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.
Prepared for Judgment.
Just like holiness is living for God’s glory, to be set apart for Him and not our selfish wants and desires, so is our work and life to be for the goal of pleasing our Heavenly Father. Peter reminds his readers that their works will be judged fairly.
But even in our work and responsibilities we need an attitude of awe and respect toward God. This comes from sense of knowing who we are and who God is. I do get bothered when people treat the Lord as a chummy buddy. Nor is God aloof and unattached. Peter recognized that fear reverence needed to have a proper relationship with God of glory and God of holiness.
To be holy with our work is more than how we act on just our job. It is in all our responsibilities. When I think of my role as a father and my position as a son to my parents there was love but respect was important. We were not equals. Many times my children obey, not because they want to, but because of the consequence that is to fall upon them. Being a father means seeking to be a loving disciplinarian. As a father I didn’t always do it right.
I remember my Dad more than once judging me guilty when I was disrespectful to him or my mother. I experienced the consequences of my actions. He often asked, "Do you think I'm another kid in the street? I'm your father."
Although I resented that, I was more surprised by how some of my friends spoke to their parents. Rudeness, disrespect, lack of honor was displayed around me. You see it in school, on buses, in the playgrounds, with teachers. People who do not learn to respect authority always have problems. They have problems in the marriage not respecting their spouse. They have problems at work not respecting their employer or fellow employees. They have problems in the world not respecting law officers, or judges, and the consequences are many.
It is more so with my heavenly Father. He will not compromise with sin. He is merciful and forgiving, but He is also the loving disciplinarian who cannot permit his children to enjoy sin. After all it was sin that sent His Son to the cross. If we call God our Father then we should reflect His nature and give him respect.
But Peter states that our works will be judged. Respect is more than what we say and how we respond to another. If my father gave me a task to do it was also to be done in a way that demonstrated his desires not mine. Now that I am saved the Lord gives you and me gifts to be used for Him in holiness and love. I will be judged for my works based on the responsibilities and gifts given to me. I will not be comparing myself to others. I will not be held accountable for what someone else did or did not do.
We are to conduct ourselves as strangers in this life. So much of what this world thinks is important is not important to the Lord. What this world rewards in this world are not the rewards of the heavenly Father. What He rewards and deems important are the works that reflect His glory now and achieve for us a blessing when our tasks are viewed with the eyes of eternity. Being prepared is to live in the power, love, and obedience of God in the things we say and do.
Peter’s work changed when he saw who Jesus was. He even looked at fishing differently, but had a new calling to be a fisher of men. If at the end of his life all he had to show the Lord was a pile of fish, he missed out on so much more that was missed. But while a fisherman he had a far greater task to point people to the living God.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Fri June 12
Verses 1 Peter 1:18-21 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers,19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.
21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
Be Prepared in Hope
C.S. Lewis said, "The work of a Beethoven, and the work a charwoman, become spiritual on precisely the same condition, that of being offered to God of being done humbly as to the Lord. This does not of course, mean that it is for anyone- a mere toss-up whether he should sweep rooms or compose symphonies. A mole must dig to the glory of God and a cock must crow."
Jesus was called to the task of redemption of the elect for the glory of the Father. As redeemed people Peter challenges the suffering church to be prepared by remembering their redemption. It is from that redemption that we live for the glory of God in whatever gift tasks and responsibilties that come our way. Be not concerned with material things, for it was not silver or gold that redeemed them but the blood of Jesus Christ. We are set free by the payment of a ransom. Jesus laid down his life.
It is with wonder that God would send His Son to redeem us as sinners. When we grasp what it cost God to free us from sin, we all respond with reverential awe and renewed commitment to live a holy life. Think about what He did.
There were some 50 million slaves in that society. A slave if he was able to accumulate enough money could buy his freedom. Or if he had a loving master who would purchase him and grant him freedom that was the prerogative of that master. But the price of the slave had to be paid to the slave owner. The figure of redemption is one who is bought back. A slave could be freed with the payment of money, but no amount of money can set a lost sinner free. Only the blood Jesus Christ can redeem us. He gave his life as payment for us and then set us from the bondage of Satan.
One writer said, "God gave Him glory. Man had handed to Him hurt and shame, and gave Him up on a cruel tree to die the death of a criminal. God took Him from the tomb and gave Him glory. Then One Whom men crowned with thorns, God has crowned with glory and honor; the One Whom men crucified God has raised up and made Him both Lord and Christ. Peter says that God "raised him up and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God."
So we are to look to Jesus, the author of your faith. He was chosen before the creation of world revealed now for your sake. The fact that Jesus lived and died and rose again was no after thought with God. He was foreordained before the foundation of the world. This brings us to the place of reverence of respect and worship. This gives us hope in an unsettled world. Faith and hope is in God who went to the extreme to redeem us. Faith and hope is not on our works, our religion, or human relationships. The works of Jesus become the anchor that holds us.
Pastor Dale
