Sermons

As the year drew to a close, there had been a longing to see many in the congregation brought to the place God intends for them. Yet the word came that this very fretting, with all its disappointment and pain, was itself a form of selfish desire. Diligent teaching and faithful service do not change a person; that is the work of God alone.

It is God who blesses those who hear the Word and come humbly, rebukes those who judge in their pride, and brings judgment on those who have wandered far away. A pastor’s prayer and devotion, like a parent’s sacrifice for their children, is simply what love does; but according to whether that love is taken for granted or received with thanks, God himself answers in their place with blessing or with rebuke. The message, then, was to set personal feelings aside, lay down both the sorrow and the reproach, and entrust each one to God in prayer, calling them by name.

There followed a testimony of receiving the diagnosis of an extremely rare blood cancer and finding, instead, a deep peace. To be called home tomorrow would be a blessing, and to be given more years would be a blessing too; so there was no need to fear, but only to fulfill the calling where one stands. In the light of that word came the hope that the new year would be met with selfish desire laid aside and with trust in God alone.

Pharaoh was not one of the people of Israel, and yet he came under God’s rebuke, for he regarded himself as the master of the land and its people, its soldiers and its livestock.

To think that we can live without God is pride; to live out, in the whole of life, the confession that we cannot live without him is humility. Christ opens his arms to embrace us as we tremble with fear, yet we cannot loosen our grip on the sword in our hands. To lay that sword down is obedience, and it is while we hesitate, unable to release it, that the wolf overtakes us.

Once our prayers are answered and we are at peace, in an instant we abandon the humble words and deeds of before and push God into second place. But God does not hand us a sharp sword first; he first gives the wisdom to wield it. When we hold fast to our place of service and give God the first place, he knows that faith, and it will never be lost to him.

As 2021 begins, the sermon looks back on a year in which the epidemic left everyone hemmed in. It was God who sent the calamity and God who lifted it, and so this season must be endured in repentance.

Faith comes by hearing. In Old Testament times God’s people could not hold the Scriptures in their hands, so they listened again and again, learned the words by heart and engraved them within; and through a father’s voice passing the word on to his children, the household was made firm in God. Today the Bible lies within arm’s reach, yet if faith does not grow, it is because the word has been heard but never written on the tablet of the heart.

Having passed through a time when the congregation could not freely come to church, Christians need to consider afresh how urgently they must hear the word and commit it to memory. Those who live out a faith that prays all day long, like those who once recited the word under their breath from morning till night, can hold fast to their faith and protect their families, however the world may turn.

The last Sunday of 2019 is a time to look back over the year. Even as a great windstorm arises and the boat is about to sink, Jesus sleeps on undisturbed, and the disciples wake him and cry out in complaint.

Being afraid and complaining when trouble comes is entirely different from believing that Jesus is there in the boat and giving commands by the word. The disciples had already heard and seen the word of truth, yet they never tried giving the command themselves and did nothing but complain to Jesus, and Jesus, seeing this, rebuked their lack of faith. Every problem met that year, too, is not something to complain about; it is each person’s own part, which they must deal with themselves by holding fast to the word.

When the time given is not simply let slip away but filled with faith that walks with God, that time becomes meaningful. God has promised that blessing will come upon those who listen to his word, wherever they go and in whatever they do. In the new year, may the church believe that promise and live with its self-esteem kept intact.