Sunday Sermon Notes: August 18, 2024

Posted on August 18, 2024 by Don Merritt

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
   a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
    a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
    a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
    a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
   a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
   a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

In the previous verses, 2:24-26, the Teacher has set forth a basic proposition that God is in control and that outside of His will, everything is useless, meaningless, empty, futile; vanity. Yet within His will there is satisfaction and true happiness; in this chapter, he sets forth to prove his point. In this first part, the Teacher reminds us that there is an undeniable pattern to life, a rhythm we might say, which has been established by God.

These vases are so familiar, they were even made into a hit song back in the 1960’s, but do we really grasp their significance?

To ensure that we really “get” this passage, commentators often go into great detail to analyze each of these couplets, to squeeze out every bit of juice from the poem, often engaging in great philosophical dissertations that are quite fascinating to ponder, and you are quite welcome to search these out if you like. If you choose to take this approach, you can join so many other great minds who suddenly find themselves trying to justify killing, tearing things down and hatred, into a Biblical context of love and compassion. It sounds like taking a side trip that involves a whole lot of chasing the wind to me…

I say this because these verses are not eight separate points, this passage does not stand on its own in the context of this book; it is one complete thought set up to demonstrate one part of the demonstration of one point in a series of points that make up the complete message of Ecclesiastes, and as richly rewarding as it may be to analyze this line by line, to do so misses the point entirely. I’m sorry that I have to admit this, but to my strange little mind, and with my oddball little sense of humor, charging off on such an errand would be hilarious and supremely ironic while studying Ecclesiastes, of all books.

The Teacher’s thesis is stated in the beginning of my comments above, and verses 1-8 are supporting point 1 in his attempt to back it up; this is evidence, not a philosophical treatise. What is he really trying to tell us? Simple: (go figure) 

Thesis: Satisfaction in this life and thus true happiness, can only be found when we are within the will of Almighty God.

First supporting point: God, in His infinite wisdom has ordained a season for every purpose of Man.

Ecclesiastes 3:9-15

Mankind lives in the sorry state of rebellion against God. Yes, I’m afraid that is the reality of life under the sun, but that doesn’t mean that God has lost His grip, for He has ordered things in a certain way under the sun; there are seasons that men cannot change, seasons for everything. Within all of this chaos, confusion, rebellion and order, God still has a purpose. Of course, His purpose is significantly clearer in the New Testament than in the Old, but there was Purpose in play even then. In the OT, every person who sprang forth from the seed of Abraham had a choice to make; they could either confine themselves to God’s will (purpose) for them, or they could live in rebellion under the sun. In our day, this choice extends to every single human being.

The Teacher makes this case here in Ecclesiastes 3. In this text, he deals briefly with three aspects of God’s purpose beginning in verses 10-11 where he speaks of our completion of God’s purpose, then in 12-13 he speaks of our enjoyment of God’s blessing and then finally in 14-15, he speaks of our contentment with God’s will. All of this is his answer to the question posed in verse 9:

What do workers gain from their toil?

We are those workers, so what do we get?

I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (10-11)

When we come to understand that we are put here for God’s purposes rather than our own, we begin to see that everything is beautiful in its time. To put this into Christian terms, we might ask ourselves what could be more beautiful than to see our labors result in someone coming into relationship with Jesus Christ. We might see that a man or woman who is able to be set free from bondage to addiction or poverty or hopelessness and enter into the fullness of His grace is a beautiful thing indeed, and more rewarding than all of the treasure of this world. Yes, He has put eternity into our hearts, for unlike the animals, we have the ability to plan and to think ahead, but what will our plans and thinking be: to serve God or to serve ourselves? With the former we will find beauty that others may miss, while with the latter, the only beauty we will find is that which will perish with us.

The Teacher continues:

I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.  That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. (12-13)

Those of us who do our toil for God’s purpose have a gift that others do not; real happiness and satisfaction. The Teacher has made great pains, and will continue in this book to take great pains, to document the utter futility of the pursuit of mere human endeavors, but the gift of God for those who labor in His service is a most excellent gift, for it is a gift that will endure and that will satisfy the craving within every man and woman to seek after the eternal things of God.

I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.

Whatever is has already been,
    and what will be has been before;
    and God will call the past to account. (14-15)

The Teacher winds up this thought in these verses in an interesting way as he gives us a contrast of sorts. God’s purposes and accomplishments last forever, we can neither add nor detract from God’s purpose. Where is the contrast?

The contrast is the works of men that are “meaningless” under the sun. Verse 15 makes this clear as the Teacher quotes himself (Ecc. 1:9) where he wailed about the futility of our accomplishments. God is in charge, not us; we can do whatever we want, but if we want our accomplishments to count for something, then we must accomplish things that are within God’s will and purpose for us, not our own flights of fancy. God has ordained this so that we might take notice, for everyone will be called to account.

The rest of this chapter, as you might guess, speaks of the justice of God; His most excellent justice. Before we dive headlong into God’s judgment, let’s pause and get our bearings. I’ve never actually come out and said this before, so lucky you; you get to read it first: God’s judgment is really something of a paradox: God is entirely and completely in control of it, but you decide the outcome.

Oh, I can hear the theologians screaming! Hey, not so fast; think about it. You decide whether your life will be used to advance His purpose or yours, and that decision will result in what becomes of you in judgment. Will you pursue all of those meaningless things as you chase the wind in this life under the sun, or will you labor for His purposes and enjoy His gifts of happiness and satisfaction?

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Proclaim His Praise

Posted on August 17, 2024 by Don Merritt
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It is good to praise the Lord
    and make music to your name, O Most High,
proclaiming your love in the morning
    and your faithfulness at night,
to the music of the ten-stringed lyre
    and the melody of the harp.

Psalm 92:1-3

At first glance, this is a simple Psalm of praise, but a little closer look reveals an interesting approach to the day.  Notice that it says “proclaiming your love in the morning.”  Have you ever tried that?  To begin the day proclaiming God’s love has a way of adjusting a person’s attitude to a place where we are more likely to notice the things that are really important, as opposed to the things that are simply there.  It has a way of helping us to prioritize the right way, so that when the day’s trials come we are better grounded in His love and not simply being tossed to and fro.

Notice also that the Psalm goes on to say “…and your faithfulness at night.”  Faithfulness, is a covenant term that means covenant keeping.  To be reminded at the end of each day that God keeps His promises is a wonderful tonic for our souls.  Whatever the day has brought our way, even if things haven’t gone our way, we need to keep in mind that God is reliable, trustworthy and true.  This is a recipe for a good sound night’s sleep; praising God for his faithfulness.

It is always exciting to see how much the Bible has to say that is practical and helpful in our daily lives, and every time we are reminded of these things, it seems that we walk a little more closely with our Lord the whole day through.

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The Beatitudes, Part 1

Posted on August 16, 2024 by Don Merritt

As mentioned previously, the Beatitudes are divided into three sections, the first two consist of 4 points, and the ninth falls at the end. The first 4 beatitudes deal with our relationship with God,, the second group of four deal with horizontal relationships, and the ninth beatitude expands upon the eighth.

Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:3

The first Beatitude speaks of those who are “poor in spirit”. Much has been made about the difference between Matthew’s language and that of Luke in Luke 6:20, for Luke merely says “the poor”. Does Matthew have more in mind than mere economic circumstances?

I’m happy to let others argue, but it seems to me that Matthew, a Jew, might be aware of the Old Testament idea of poverty not only in literal terms, but as a state of mind as well, for the Hebrew word for “poor” has this additional connotation to it. In those days, a poor person not only had to deal with bad economic circumstances, they also had to contend with the fact that they had fewer rights in society, for then as now, they lacked the resources to enforce their rights; consequently, they were at the mercy of others.

Living in such a state made it clear to anyone who could fathom the notion, that the poor must depend entirely upon God. Most of us today, even those of us who don’t enjoy material abundance, live in circumstances far better than those of a poor person in ancient times, and maybe we too have a hard time seeing what Matthew means; let’s look at it this way: In our world, a person of very limited means is never far from being destitute, while a rich person has a much larger buffer to get through tough times. The poor person knows they live close to the edge; the rich person can convince himself that everything is wonderful, that he is the master of his own life, and in doing so, he only deceives himself, for God is the master of everything. We see time and again in Scripture that a rich person has a great obstacle to overcome in following God, for he thinks he is the one in control, while a poor man has no such delusion to overcome, and no great wealth to hold him back. The poor person is free to follow the Lord, while the rich person carries his wealth as a millstone around his neck; woe is he.

The kingdom of heaven is both a present reality and a future hope, for it is with us today in Christ, and will be fully realized in its ultimate fulfillment when He returns. For the person who recognizes his or her current dependence upon God for everything in life, it is a present reality indeed, and a source of great joy, “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.

Matthew 5:4

Most of the time, we don’t associate blessing with mourning; maybe we should rethink this… Matthew didn’t actually say what those blessed ones are mourning; it could be the loss of a loved one, it could be the loss of their home or possessions, or it could be the sinful and rebellious state of this world. Maybe it doesn’t matter…

I think it is safe to say that for a person to truly mourn they first had to love; certainly this would be true in the loss of a loved one. It would also be true if a person is mourning the loss of possessions, for if they didn’t love the possession(s) lost, would they actually mourn?

It wouldn’t seem so.

If the person was mourning for the wickedness of this world, wouldn’t that show they loved God a whole lot?

Consider for a moment those who do not mourn; what a terrible and sad life they must lead! Never having enough of a relationship with anyone for love to develop; never being able to mourn? Never having a loving relationship with God so as to mourn for those who rebel against Him?

Never loving― never mourning?

Those who mourn will receive comfort from God, both in the here and now and in the ultimate future when all pain and sorrow will cease. I don’t know about you, but for me, just knowing this is a comfort that brings joy into my life.

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The Dog Days of Summer

Posted on August 16, 2024 by Don Merritt

There are several names for this time of year like “the lazy hazy days of summer” and the “dog days” of summer.  I can understand the lazy and the hazy, but I’ve never quite followed the dog days; what do dogs have to do with it?

My best guess is that it’s another way of saying the lazy thing, but I’m not sure.

Whatever you like to call it, it’s August, and in the Northern Hemisphere it’s summer, and this year has been fairly hot around where I live.

August has its own feel, don’t you think?  It really does feel a little lazy; it’s a great time for a long lazy cookout on a Sunday afternoon; there just isn’t much “Hustle and bustle” to the season… you can almost just relax and hope the next hurricane stays out to sea.

There are times for just about everything in life; even the Bible says so:

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under heaven:

Ecclesiastes 3:1; full context 3:1-8

This is the beginning of a huge sentence that goes on for 8 whole verses, and it pretty much tells us that everything has its own time.  So, maybe God made August for us to slow down just a bit, to spend time with loved ones, to do a little gardening and sit outside in the evening and listen to the symphony of the cicadas.  Maybe God thought that we run ourselves ragged too much, maybe He thought that we need to get re-focused on what things are really important.  Maybe He thought August would be a good time to start paying attention to the pennant races…  (OK, I just added that one)

The season will change soon, the kids will go back to school and the boss will come back from vacation; isn’t this a great time to “smell the roses” as they like to say?

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The Beatitudes: An Introduction

Posted on August 15, 2024 by Don Merritt

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him,  and he began to teach them.

Matthew 5:1-2

The Sermon on the Mount begins with nine “Beatitudes” in which Jesus describes the present reality of the Kingdom in the midst of the people who were listening to this sermon. Notice how Matthew has connected the previous section with what is about to happen: Jesus had begun His ministry, He’s been preaching and healing and the crowds have grown and grown. He looks around and there is a big crowd, so He climbs up a hill, sits down and begins to speak to the people.

His opening is a series of nine Beatitudes that break nicely into two main sections. The first section, comprising the first four beatitudes, (5:3-6) focuses on our relationship with God, the second group of four (5:7-10) focus on horizontal relationships, with the ninth expanding upon the eighth. Each is comprised of a statement identifying the character trait that is blessed by God (e.g., “blessed are the poor in spirit”) followed by a clause explaining the basis of their blessing (e.g., “theirs is the kingdom of heaven”). The section is bracketed by “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” in verses 3 and 7 which clearly define this introduction to the rest of the Sermon on the Mount discourse.

I’ve noticed over the years that people read these without an actual understanding of what the word “blessed” means. I did some research on the word to discover its meaning, and more often than I’d like to admit, people use the word in its own definition, even sometimes in some dictionaries, which, when I was in school, was strictly frowned upon. One definition said that “blessed” means “blest”. Gee, thanks for clearing that up!

The Greek word used here is makarios, which means: “fortunate, well off:—blessed, happy”. Thus, when Jesus says “blessed is (or blessed are)” He means that they are fortunate, well off, happy. When we read through these beatitudes, we need to be asking questions like, “Why would being poor in spirit make me happy, and what is the alternative to being poor in spirit?”

When we approach the Beatitudes like that, we will very likely discover a mine of great wealth to be explored. Consequently, as we go through these one by one, we will be exploring with those types of questions in mind. The reason is more than just our getting some good teaching; Jesus isn’t just teaching here, He is telling the people about the present state of the kingdom. It wasn’t that God would change our earthly circumstances if we would follow Him, it was that God would be in a close and personal relationship with the people in this age, and ultimately change the paradigm in the next age, this passage, therefore is not only messianic, but apocalyptic as well, and most deserving of our careful attention. We will kick it off when we next get together; you won’t want to miss it!

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The Way

Posted on August 15, 2024 by Don Merritt
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Kingdom, Teaching, and Healing

Posted on August 14, 2024 by Don Merritt

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.

Matthew 4:23-25

This interesting piece of text provides a transition into the next scene that covers chapters 5-7; the Sermon on the Mount, as it is commonly called. As we consider these verses,  we have a device that Matthew uses several times in the his book, that of a generalized summation of events that leads into the next scene which in turn, provides a more specific look at what has been generalized (cf. 8:16; 9:35; 12:15; 14:35-36; 15:30-31; 19:1-2).

In this particular case, we have a generalization in 4:23 that has a parallel in 9:35 that describes Jesus’ early ministry in very messianic terms, providing a sort of literary book ends to the content in between. As we move into chapters 5-7, we will have a very specific example of one of His teaching sections; the kind of teaching the people of Galilee were hearing as Jesus traveled from place to place. Then, in chapters 8-9 we will shift the focus onto the miracles He was performing in their midst, and when you put the two sections together into Matthew’s messianic context, we can see not only what was going on at the time, but what the Kingdom of Heaven is all about.

Notice verse 23 where we see that Jesus is moving through the region teaching and proclaiming the Kingdom, and healing the sick from every sort of sickness. Then in the remaining verses we find that the news of Jesus’ activities spread throughout Israel and into neighboring Syria to Jew and non-Jew alike. Then we discover that Jesus isn’t only healing illnesses, He is making the lame walk, giving sight to the blind and chasing out demons as well.

People come from every region to hear Him, to see Him and to be healed.

Before we move on, let’s pause just a moment to consider what was happening: The long awaited Messiah had come to Israel. He went out into the countryside preaching the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whenever He did this, people heard God’s Truth and were healed of whatever consequence of sin that afflicted them; that is what the Kingdom of Heaven does when it is filled with the power of grace and truth, for grace and truth bring with them love, and love builds community, and community brings fellowship and healing.

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Beautiful but Deadly

Posted on August 14, 2024 by Don Merritt

There are some things in this life that are absolutely beautiful.  Some are alluring, some are natural while others are man-made.  They might catch our eye or arouse our senses.  They may seem entirely harmless… and they might be good in and of themselves…

…but they can be deadly.

Take this gorgeous tiger for instance, God outdid Himself in the design, it’s simply beautiful, but I don’t think I’d want to walk up and pat him on the head.

Kitty, kitty, kitty!

That beautiful creature just happens to be a killing machine…

More often, we become entranced by things of beauty and make them more important than they really are in our lives.  I really enjoy old Victorian architecture; it is beautiful.  Every little detail can be a work of art, and nobody can say it’s immoral.  The question is how important will I allow it to become in my life?

I know people who define life by discovering Victorian treasures in unusual places, who live for the day that they can buy their very own Victorian… be careful what you wish for.

As a follower of Jesus Christ, I can enjoy things, I can appreciate their beauty, but when a “thing” or a pleasure becomes the object of life, I will die spiritually just as certainly as I would die physically if I walked up to a sleeping tiger and patted him on the head.

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Calling Disciples

Posted on August 13, 2024 by Don Merritt

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.

Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them,  and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Matthew 4:18-22

As we continue with Matthew’s account of Jesus, we come to the time when He began calling disciples, and no matter how many times I read these accounts whether it be here in Matthew or in one of the other Gospels, I am always struck by the fact that Jesus called and they came immediately. No excuses, no arguments, nobody had to “pray about it” (so they could avoid saying no): Jesus called, they responded.

This short account begins with the calling of Peter and Andrew, two fishermen who were out on the Sea of Galilee fishing. Jesus calls them and says that He will make them fishers of men. Notice they had nets in the water at that moment and they just left them there and went with Jesus. Let’s be clear, they were fishermen, not sportsmen; fishing wasn’t their hobby, it was their livelihood. When they just left everything and followed Jesus, they lost their business. They also left their boat behind… they sacrificed greatly to follow Jesus, and they did it without hesitation.

Next, Jesus called John and James who were fishing with their father, and once again, without hesitation, they left not only their profession but they left their father to follow Him. If walking away from your livelihood is big, turning your back on your family is bigger still. There is a cost to following Jesus; we may not like to talk about it, but it is true nevertheless.

So to recap, these four disciples responded to Jesus immediately, and in doing so, they gave up everything they had in this world to follow Him. In our day, what do we give up to follow Him? Cussing? An hour a week?

Yet often we say following Him is too hard!

Next time, we’ll see how His early ministry was doing; see you then!

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A Day of Opportunity to Shine

Posted on August 13, 2024 by Don Merritt
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I don’t know about you, but I’m a morning person. Many people that I know say that I get up way too early, but what’s so early about 4 am? It’s a bit like getting to the ballpark in time to watch batting practice; if you haven’t seen batting practice, you haven’t really seen the game… Right?

Right!

Every day brings opportunities to serve others, to meet the needs of others who might need comfort or a helping hand in some way. It’s an opportunity to get necessary chores done, to learn something new, and to spend time alone with our Lord Jesus Christ and to build that all important relationship with Him.

It’s also an opportunity to grow spiritually.

OK, I know what some are thinking, and yes, I’ll admit that every day also brings its challenges, irritations and difficulties.

Yet, I find that when I’ve gotten to the ballpark of a new day early enough for batting practice, those challenges, irritations and difficulties are much easier to deal with, because my mind is in a much better place, than if I lay in bed dreading getting up.

Even so, a number of people have told me that being up until late at night does the same thing for them that being up early does for me, and while that is hard for me to imagine, if that’s your way, then that’s fine. The really important lesson to all of this is that we all need our quiet time to reflect, recharge and to grow with Him. In our time, this might require that we make a special effort to secure our quiet time to ensure that it isn’t drowned out by the chaos of daily life.

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