Father of Heaven and Universe beyond, Lord we humbly come to you in thanks for all of the good your ways bring in the world. Please forgive us our many sins, as we learn to forgive people who have hurt us, and help us Father to grow in your ways. Amen!
Message: Loved Before Time, Anointed for Now!
Today, I am excited as I am every Sunday to get an opportunity to talk with you about just how singular each of you are to the greatest power that ever has and ever will exist in the entire universe. Our Father who we call, God. Our Lord who not only created every molecule in your body, but everything you will ever experience, He not only will see it coming, but will walk you in your faithwalk with Him. All the way.
The same God that Isaiah instructed Israel and us who listen to God’s word today about. Isaiah described how God created each of us, and the Lord’s activities in the world that are ongoing. Reading from Isaiah 44:24-25a
24 “This is what the Lord says—
your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb:
I am the Lord,
the Maker of all things,
who stretches out the heavens,
who spreads out the earth by myself,
25 who foils the signs of false prophets
and makes fools of diviners,
who overthrows the learning of the wise
and turns it into nonsense, …
So when someone berates you for not following the science, only to realize what seemingly is like moments later, that science has changed once again… Well only God knows the real narrative. Cuz He made it all!
We are talking about a God who not only loved, loves, and will love you, … His creation through eternity, and is passionate about wanting us to choose to be in a relationship with Him. A deity that takes great pleasure when we praise glorify, and magnify, His Holy, and precious name. We do that very thing when we do what we were created for doing. Loving Him, and His creation!
When we attempt to love God back by learning how… Well, we are walking in David’s footsteps, writing songs of real adoration to God. Case in point, Psalm 119:13-18:
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
No wonder we sang, “Nearer my God to Thee”, this morning in our Praise Hymns!
Both Isaiah and David in the Psalms compliment Jeramiah’s instruction to us that first; God indeed made you, me, all of creation, second; that God has always known us, and third; wants us to know Him! Reading again from today’s Call to Worship from, Jeremiah 1:4-10;
4 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
6 “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”
7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.
9 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
Before I made you in the womb, “I knew you”. Wow! And wow again! The creator of everything has known each and every one of us, and everybody else that has ever lived. Scripture gives you and me those very words of God, that Jeremiah describes. Does this begin to give you a hint of the majesty that is God, and what we can achieve for and through Him?
To the point that when the world calls us to account for ourselves and to explain God’s word, the Lord’s word will be a part of us. Reminding us of what the Lord Himself said in Mark 13:10-11;
10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. 11 Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.
When I am in a relationship with and in my Lord, I have also developed with Him a routine of studying and beginning to understand, … His word in scripture. I have begun to fill my own reservoir (my wellspring of being), with His word, and His Spirit has a foundation to build upon.
No wonder we sang, “Wonderful Words of Life”, this morning in our Praise Hymns! Because in each passage from God’s spokesmen, from Isaiah, David, and Jeramiah, we have received the words that tell us how blessed we are in this thing called life. And as God loved, appointed, and anointed Isaiah, David, and Jeramiah, to the bigger things in life, He has done as much for each of us listening to my voice today.
Each of us have been selected, appointed, and anointed to a ministry in the Lord’s service. But what does that mean? What is my ministry you might be asking, and how do I even begin to do whatever it is that God is calling me to do?
I would say, that when you have begun to go down that faithwalk that you are on, you have already begun to grasp the essentials. You know the basics such as;
- God has so loved the world, including you; He sent His Son to die for you. Not to condemn you, but to save you and all the willing!
- God is inviting everyone. Even the people we don’t like.
- God wants us to;
- Love Him with all that we are, (and)
- Love other people (all of them), and then share this knowledge with those other people.
- Free, no strings attached
- Even when they don’t like you
- Through the example of your life
God has given you, me, the whole world a template, or; a roadmap for better living if you will. On how we can live our lives and be an example to not only ourselves, but to other people. All of those whom we have been called to witness or share the happiness we have found in this room, outside where it is needed desperately. Today we looked at a portion of that roadmap for better living in our Message Reading from Paul’s letter to the Church of Corinth two thousand years ago.
Reading again from, 1 Corinthians 13;
1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
But how do we even begin to do that stuff in our own lives and even begin to make a difference in the cesspool of a culture that you and I live in right now?
First to remember; is that the world has been a mess since the fall of mankind from the garden on we have been fallen people living in a fallen world.
Secondly to keep in mind; since the world is a mess, and needs help, that is why God has placed you here at this time to make your little corner a little brighter, a little more compassionate, one act of sincere kindness and love at a time.
Let’s look at our reading from Paul a little deeper, starting with verses 1-3;
1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Side Note: In other words, be genuine. Be real! No more; sloppy agape! You know that person on the TV who is selling instead of sharing the Good News. You can almost smell the high-priced cologne dripping from them. Full of shallow, hollow words, and misdirection. People are led astray, because the presenters are lost themselves, and God is not amused! Caring and loving others, must be something you are doing because you are edifying God and not yourself!
Next in our passage is the best explanation of what to shoot for each day, because it’s an ideal description of an understanding of what our Lord is like. Perhaps the best passage I know on how to learn about reading scripture in the Spirit as in baby steps. Beginning at verse 4;
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails…
Replace the attribute love with Jesus’ name, and it fits. When I replace it with my name (to do a self-test to see where I am in my faithwalk), I not only fail, but I begin to learn who God is, and what I am not! When we all start to reflect on how we could live more healthy lives in the Lord, whole churches begin to apply this self-test, the community of God begins to grow in the Spirit because there is fertile ground for God to work with.
Our roadmap continues with a description of the temporary nature of the world (the stuff we are so tied to it seems), compared to the permanency of our goal, love. Continuing
…But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.
All the stuff that we have been stressing over (to include high priced cologne), will pass away. Meaning, as we grow in the spirit, new things become important to us:
Continuing now with who we were in the past, or…
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
In my old existence, my reasoning was all about me, my hopes and dreams, which resulted in very little growth in the Spirit, or satisfaction from life. Just the feeding of a bottomless hole of selfishness, ego, and fear. But now, we all are beginning to understand a little better Paul’s final comment in this passage:
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Because the greatest is God, and God is able to mix and mold all three; faith, hope, and love in each of our lives. Allowing them to mutually support, build, and nurture each other, as we grow in Him, because each of us have been anointed by our Lord to apply these attribute as we share His Good News with other people.
Because you have been anointed in the here and now, God will give you understanding of knowing the difference between;
- Love, not being co-dependent.
- Love doesn’t give another drink to an alcoholic, or equipping others with the material for more misery.
- Love, like God, doesn’t always say yes to our plans for our wants.
- Because we are easily led astray, usually by our own selves!
My hope for all of you this week, is that you will make progress on realizing your commission in God. Your anointing in the here and now, is God’s appointing you to a ministry of service to others through Him. The very source of all those words we just explored about love in our lives.
Yes, my hope is that when headwinds make your walk a struggle, that you will share your struggle with someone in your family of God. And together may you find comfort in those wonderful words of life from our God. Amen!