Treasure… where?

Posted on May 22, 2025 by Don Merritt
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People get caught up with “stuff”; most of us fall into this trap at one time or another.

How much stuff is enough?  Is it really true that the guy with the most toys wins?

A farmer may put his excess crop into a barn, but as you can see, the day comes when the barn falls into disrepair. The vines start growing up the walls, the brush over grows the area around it, and the roof begins to leak ruining what is stored inside…  What happened to the farmer’s security?

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Matthew 6:19-20

Jesus taught something entirely different; store up your treasures in Heaven, but what does that mean… is it like an investment account?

Well, not exactly.  It wouldn’t seem that Jesus was talking about saving up cash; He seems to have had something more profound in mind.  Of course, this takes us to the real question:  What is it that we really value?

If we really value money, things, and earthly ease this is a tough teaching.  If, on the other hand, our focus is on other things, eternal things of value, then the physical and earthly kind of wealth is of little import.

So, what really is important?

From the point of view of Jesus’ teaching, what’s really important is serving God by serving others in a way that advances God’s purposes. This would include focusing our lives on our relationship with Christ.  This would include seeking and saving the lost through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and teaching them to become His disciples.   This would include placing such a high priority on serving God and others that we stop being concerned by mere earthly things…

…And now we are back to the starting point: We begin the re-orientation of our value system by first and foremost focusing on our relationship with Christ.

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Simple Faith

Posted on May 22, 2025 by Don Merritt

Many have said that the simple things in life are the best.  Simple things don’t  cost much, usually aren’t flashy and are seldom mentioned in social media…  Things like devotion to duty, love of family, faith in God and serving others are the kinds of things that make life worth living…

Our Lord taught us that to love Him is to obey His commands (John 14:23) and at first glance this might seem difficult.  The truth is that it isn’t very difficult at all; it only requires simple and uncomplicated faith.  If we have simple faith to believe His teachings, then obeying Him is an easy burden to bear.

Faith is not complicated, it has no ulterior motive and it isn’t self promoting; it just boils down to a loving response to His loving act of saving us from death.  Simple faith is uncomplicated because we are relieved of the need to find a way to work it to our advantage or to use it to put others down; instead simple faith lifts everyone up.

Simple faith is like a tree that grows in the wild.  It doesn’t try to impress anybody, it doesn’t worry about the latest fashions or how to climb over other people on its way up the corporate ladder.  All the tree does is live, grow and do what God intended for it.

Simple faith is something more people ought to try!

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The Closing

Posted on May 21, 2025 by Don Merritt
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 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit —fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.

John 15:12-17

There is much more here than meets the eye and much more than churches usually teach, but seeing it all together is of great use and blessing to anybody who wants to follow Jesus Christ.  Here are the elements that can change lives:

1. Love each other

2. Love as Jesus loved you

3. A friend of Jesus obeys His commands

4. We are not just His servants but His friends

5. Jesus has commanded that we a) Love each other and b) bear fruit

OK, here’s how these concepts fit together:

First, we must love each other.  To love (agape) is to make a commitment to place others ahead of ourselves in everything, and in order to do this we must put self aside in all things.

Second, to love as Jesus loved us is to be willing to lay down our lives for our brothers.  This is the most selfless thing a person can do.  Even if we are not called upon to make such a sacrifice, we must be willing to lay self aside and put others first.

Third, Jesus’ friends do what He asks of them in obedience to His commands.

Fourth, there is a great contrast between a servant (Greek slave) and a friend, for a servant relationship is a relationship of inequality.  A friend, on the other hand, is a relationship of equality.  (We might want to think about the implications of that sort of relationship)

Fifth, now let’s put these all together.  Love each other by putting selfish desires and motives away for good: Always be willing to serve each other in unselfish love.  Obey the Lord in all things, particularly in the matter of unselfish love for each other.  Doing this will enable us to bear fruit for Christ, and in so doing our joy will be complete and our relationship with Him solid, sustaining and eternal… and God will grant our requests to fully enable us to bear fruit for His Kingdom. Oh, and by the way, as we bear more fruit, the world around us will be impacted in a big way.

Remember: We were not singled out to simply receive untold blessings, we are His disciples to accomplish His purpose, and in so doing the blessings will be greater than we can even begin to imagine.

What am amazing contrast to the news of what goes on in this world!

Just think about it…  What I have spelled out from John 15 is so utterly revolutionary that the people around us cannot help but see this godly love at work and marvel.  Anybody with a brain has got to ask us where they can get some!

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“But dear friends…”

Posted on May 21, 2025 by Don Merritt

But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

Jude 17-19

Jude is sharing his final thoughts now, thoughts that are both encouraging and practical.  The first of these is to remember what the Apostles have taught, with a characterization reminiscent of both Paul and John, not to mention of Jesus Himself.  There will be “scoffers”.  Jude has already stated that they scoff at Christ, authority, angels and at anything they don’t understand. Having rejected any authority, what are they left with? Only their own evil desires with the result that they are teaching others to engage in sexual immorality; how convenient! At the risk of stating the obvious, if a person wants to be sexually immoral, he or she will need someone to do it with… These are people who cause division in the church as they pry some away from the Truth of Christ, and away from godly teaching.

But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

Jude 20-21

Now Jude turns to the practical: When faced with false teaching of any sort, we have a choice. This is true with any kind of temptation; there is always a choice.  We can choose to build ourselves up in our faith and by praying in the Spirit we can keep ourselves in God’s loving presence.  Over the years I’ve had conversations with quite a number of people who were struggling with temptations and sin; they just can’t seem to shake them off.  When I ask how their prayer life is going, they always tell me how strong it is and how great their relationship is with the Lord.  At first, this would confuse me, but then I learned to listen more carefully, to ask more questions, and sooner or later they always reveal whether intentionally or not, that they don’t have much of a prayer life, if any at all, and that they really don’t have much of a relationship with Christ. It always comes down to the same thing in the end, for they are focused almost entirely on themselves.

It doesn’t have to be that way!

Start talking to God; work on that relationship.  It doesn’t need to be anything so formal and difficult, just start talking to Him. That should get the ball rolling, and it will grow and mature as time goes on.  

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The Closing

Posted on May 20, 2025 by Don Merritt

See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!

Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh. May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God.

 From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.

 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.

Galatians 6:11-18

The end of the letter, and Paul takes up the pen himself. Up to this point, he has been dictating to a scribe, but now, Paul seeks to remove all doubt about the authorship of this letter.  I’m guessing that it has occurred to him that when the letter is read in the Galatian churches, considering the subject matter of the letter, some smart alack is likely to jump up and say that it’s a forgery!  Paul is having none of that and takes the pen himself, and in his own handwriting finishes off the closing here.

He points out the large letters he uses. Paul can’t see very well, as we know.  He writes in large letters so he can see his own writing.  I can empathize with him−  If I am writing a note to myself, I too use big letters.  If I write a note to someone else, I don’t, and I can’t read what I’ve written, which is really irritating if I’m distracted while writing because I can’t tell where to start again.

Notice what Paul has written in his own hand: He has restated the entire argument that he has made in this letter so that nobody can say that he was fooled by a scribe who wrote his own letter and not Paul’s dictation:  No dummy old Paul! In this section he actually implies that those who were teaching circumcision were cowards, fearing persecution.  They think they can avoid persecution by telling other Jews that they are making Jews out the Gentiles, and they don’t even keep the Law themselves.  After that charge, Paul gets right in their faces with: May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. No sir, Paul isn’t fooling around on this issue…

It might seem that Paul has been about as strident as he can be, and then he cranks it up another few notches.  Circumcision means nothing.  The only thing that counts for anything in this life is “the new creation” which of course is what we are in Christ. Now he moves to the final greeting… oh wait, there’s another shot: Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God.

Did you catch that last part?  “The Israel of God.”  To whom was he referring?  This underscores the message Paul has been trying to teach the Galatians: The Law is over. The old ways are over. Everything is New.  The “Israel of God” is the body of believers that comprise the Church.

This letter began without the usual greetings and prayer of thanksgiving, and ends without the usual final greetings. Now, in the second to last line, Paul again fires a shot across the bow of the false teachers. Having insinuated that they are afraid of persecution he reminds then that he has been persecuted many times: From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.Only after that one last remark does he close this energetic little epistle.

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Unashamed and Uncomplicated

Posted on May 20, 2025 by Don Merritt
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There are times when I wish I could have a dog’s life.  What an easy life they have! They can do pretty much whatever they want, while we kill ourselves working and dealing with the stress of life, they sleep.  When we have to cook and clean and be responsible, they can run and play.  It doesn’t bother a dog that people take care of him; the dog seems to think that’s just how things ought to be.  When they do something dumb, nobody ever taught them to be ashamed, they just keep on doing whatever they like, and then they take a nice nap.  Yep, seems like a pretty good job to me, being a dog.

When God first created humans, they lived an unashamed and uncomplicated life as well.  They had a job to do tending the garden and ruling over the creation, but there was only one rule they needed to follow; leave that certain tree alone.  Compared to all of the nonsense we deal with now, that seems like another pretty good job to me; being Adam. But alas, it’s not to be.

I wonder sometimes how complicated our lives really need to be.  Sometimes I think that my life is rather too complicated because of choices I’ve made, rather than just things forced upon me.  Do we really need to be living such complicated lives?

Since we were redeemed by the blood of Jesus, we have a relationship with God much like in the beginning.  They had a purpose in tending that garden and having dominion over the earth; we have a job in making disciples.  They were to keep away from that tree, we are to keep away from doing evil.  They had fellowship with God; we have fellowship with God.  They had purpose; we have purpose.

What’s really so different?

Maybe, in its very essence, this life isn’t really as complicated as it might seem, if we keep our focus on God and His purpose, instead of on all of the distractions of  this world.  Well, if nothing else, it’s worth thinking about!

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God Cannot be Mocked

Posted on May 19, 2025 by Don Merritt

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Galatians 6:7-10

Paul is moving to the thrill-packed conclusion of his letter, pointing out that God cannot be mocked.  In saying this, it is important for us to note that he is speaking in a specific context of flesh vs. Spirit.  His major point then, is that we cannot follow Jesus by living a life dedicated to ourselves, our wants, likes, preferences and desires.

I’m, writing this and trying to think of an example of this “mocking” scenario, and the first thing that pops into my head is an example I hesitate to use, not wanting to appear to be too harsh… but consider this one:  People who are always late for church.  Yes, I’ve heard the excuses, they forgot to set the alarm… 10 weeks in a row.  The wife takes forever to get ready, can’t get the kids going that early, blah blah blah!  Funny thing: They get the kids to school on time, they get to work on time, but on Sunday it simply isn’t possible… and church is later than work or school.  Now, let’s be candid, these good folks aren’t fooling me, so they aren’t fooling God either.  They just don’t care very much about worshiping God; they can do it on their own terms, when they want.  This is “flesh” speaking, and if this sounds wrong to you, please reread “Rebellion.“

There are plenty of other examples, and you may think this one is cutting too fine a line; maybe you’re right!  Yet Paul is talking about priorities here, where do our priorities lie? Are they on the things of God, or are they on the things of the earthly life? Yes, I agree that timeliness may be a small matter, but it does reveal our priority systems.  How much more serious would it be if these priorities extend into other areas?  Something to think about…

In any case, Paul’s point is crystal clear, if we are focused on the flesh, things won’t always turn out so well. If we are focused on the Spirit, the rewards more than cover any inconvenience we might endure. Therefore, as much as is possible, we should “do good” for others, for this is pleasing in God’s sight, because it is an active expression of God’s love in our lives.

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Tell Us How You Really Feel!

Posted on May 19, 2025 by Don Merritt

These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

Jude 12-13

As Jude begins to wrap up his indictment of the false teachers in the church, he uses a battery of metaphors to describe them, beginning with “blemishes at your love feasts.”  This is the only place in the New Testament where the expression “love feast” is used, but the practice is discussed in 1 Corinthians 11:20-22.  In the first century many congregations observed communion in the context of a larger meal where fellowship among believers was expressed and the poor were fed.  Indications are that in the second century, these meals were separated from communion into two different occasions.

Other than that, I think Jude’s metaphors are pretty self-explanatory, and we easily can see his disdain for false teachers. In the next short paragraph, things get interesting…

Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

Jude 14-16

This is one of Jude’s uses of extra-Biblical source I mentioned earlier; it might help you with this section to go back to it if you don’t remember it. Here Jude uses this quote from 1 Enoch,and in so doing, he is summing up his case against the false teachers. That these people have run well afoul of the Lord is made abundantly clear with the reminder that they are headed for a fiery judgment.

That there is false teaching in the world around us should come as no surprise. Since “the world around us” is generally understood to mean that which is apart from Christ and the community of believers is clear enough, so apart from Him what kind of teaching would we expect to find?  The thing that has Jude writing a letter of this sort is that these false teachers are within the Body of believers, passing themselves off as followers of Christ, while teaching people to rebel against Him.  Ah yes, this is a different matter entirely.

Do we have such people within the larger Christian community today? Before you answer that one, please keep in mind that Jude isn’t accusing them of making mistakes, being confused or being in error unintentionally. His whole premise is that they are deliberately trying to pry people away from the truth for the purpose of deceiving them into turning their backs on their relationship with Christ; serious indeed, the devil’s work.  So, do we have this problem today? If so, how will we respond to it?

Something to carefully consider.

In the next section, Jude moves into his closing in a wonderful way.

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Sunday Sermon Notes: May 18, 2024

Posted on May 18, 2025 by Don Merritt

Matthew 19:23-30

Jesus was fully aware that the disciples would be confused after His conversation with the rich young man (Matt. 19:18-22) because, He had blown up a major cultural expectation of the time that the rich were more favored by God than others were. As a result, He begins to teach them…

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” (19:23-24)

The rich young man hadn’t been overly enthused at the prospect of giving up all of his wealth, and Jesus underscored the difficulty that many have in entering the Kingdom and leaving the priorities of this world behind. Looking at His example here of putting a camel through the eye of a needle, I think we can safely say that He was engaging in a touch of hyperbole to make the point. The reaction of the disciples speaks volumes about the prevailing assumptions of that culture: “Who then can be saved?”

If you notice, Jesus in His answer blows up a second predominant assumption of that time:

“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (19:26)

There are two cultural teachings that are being corrected here: First, that the rich are most favored by God, and the second is that a person can attain righteousness by reliance upon their own ability to keep the Law; both of these are false. This second teaching is still with us, sometimes it is obvious, and sometimes it is more subtle, we call it “works”. You cannot earn your way into the Kingdom by following the rules, “doing church right” or by doing good deeds, for you can only enter the kingdom by faith in God through Christ. Can the rich enter the Kingdom? Yes, they can, by placing their faith in God, and not in their earthly possessions and positions.

Peter is beginning to comprehend: “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” (19:27)

In His answer to Peter’s question, Jesus shows them that there is both good and bad news, so to speak, for they have left their “stuff” behind for the most part, but it may not be only possessions that get in the way:

“Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” (19:28-30)

Notice the relationships that may also need to be left behind, notice also that they are in the same list as “fields”, which is to say material possessions. The real point is that the follower of Christ must be willing to leave anything behind if it interferes with following Him, for with the Kingdom, you are either all in or all out. Aren’t these things that we all struggle with at one time or another?

This is one of those cases when the theology of the teaching is very simple, but living it can be difficult, yet with God, all things are possible. Consider this: The man who wrote this Gospel was a tax collector. He was rich, he also had a family, friends and associates, but by the grace of God, he was one of the Twelve, and he wasn’t the only one. Remember Zacchaeus? Joseph of Arimathea? Saul of Tarsus?

With God, all things are indeed possible!

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Bonus Topic: Extra-Biblical Sources in Jude

Posted on May 17, 2025 by Don Merritt

Jude does an interesting thing in his letter, he uses a non-Biblical source as though it were from Scripture, and he does so not once, but twice in a 25 verse letter.  Why does he do that?  Should that place the letter in doubt as to its inerrancy? Let’s take a look…

We’ve already seen the first of these in verse 9 when he mentions the story of Michael the Archangel struggling with Satan over the body of Moses. No doubt you will recall that this is found in a paragraph connected with a series of Biblical examples and connected by “in the same way” an unusual context to say the least.  As I mentioned at the time, this story is found in a work called The Assumption of Moses written early in the first century. The second use of a non-Biblical account is to be found in verses 14-15 where Jude actually quotes from the Book of Enoch, sometimes called 1 Enoch, which was written by multiple authors in the second century B.C.

These two books are part of what scholars call the pseudepigrapha, which is comprised of writings that are attributed to Old Testament characters but actually written at a later date by other authors.  These works were well-known in the first century, and other New Testament writers may have been familiar with them, and may even have been influenced by them, but Jude alone quotes directly from one of them and identifies it as a prophecy. Many people have been disturbed by this over the years, and it has produced some interesting discussion. For instance, Tertullian ((A.D. 160-220) argued that 1 Enoch should be considered inspired since Jude quoted it.  On the other hand, Jerome (A.D. 342-420) reported that there were those who rejected Jude’s letter because he quoted it.  Personally, I think they might have both been operating under a false premise, that Jude quoted it as inspired at all; this isn’t necessarily the case.

Other New Testament writers quoted non-inspired authors because they considered them be to right and useful, if not inspired. Paul for instance, quoted three Greek poets.  In Titus 1:12 he calls the Greek poet Epimenides a prophet since Cretans accepted him as such. The particular quote “Cretans are always liars…” was also an accurate statement. He also quoted Menander in 1 Corinthians 15:33 and Aratus in Acts 17:28.

It’s quite likely that Jude respected The Book of Enoch and considered the “prophecy” to be an accurate one without accepting it as divinely inspired, just as we might quote C.S. Lewis or R.C. Sproul today in making a point. Indeed, I myself have quoted Harry Truman in my writings more than once, because I felt that the remark I quoted was one of great truth and insight: “The only thing worth knowing is what you learn after you already know it all.”  President Truman was no prophet and I have never suspected his comments were divinely inspired, and if I had been around back in 1948, I probably would have voted for Dewey, but he sure got that one right!

At any rate, I do not think Jude’s quotes should lessen our respect for the authority of his letter; his message is a vitally important one for us, as it was in the first century: Beware of false teachers!

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