Choosing Grace Over Harm

When the Philistines capture the Ark of the Covenant in I Samuel 5-6, disaster and misfortune follows it as they move it from one location until another, until the nation concludes they must return the Ark to its proper owners. It takes seven months for them to reach this conclusion, and death, rats, tumors, and boils follow the Ark this whole time. Why does it take them so long to decide they are finished enduring these hardships? Is it pride; stubbornness; rebellion? There is no knowing, but chances are that pride had something to do with it.

When we look into our own lives, we can recognize things that are harmful to us spiritually. We can identify things we hold onto regardless of the negative influence they have on our lives. It can take a long time to get these harmful influences out of our lives. Sometimes, we are no better than these Philistines – holding fast to something that is harming us more and more despite the damage.

Self Destructive Stubbornness
I Samuel 18 contains some of the first hints of Saul’s decline as king. He had made mistakes before this chapter, but this chapter shows a shift in Saul’s character, consumed with jealousy and bitterness. This animosity grows to the point of tearing apart his family and leaving his nation vulnerable. This hatred becomes a monster in his life, occupying his time and energy, and he allows it to grow in its destructive power rather than eliminating it from his life.

We know the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4 where Abel offers God a more excellent sacrifice. In verse 5, Cain festers in anger; he allows bitterness to rot within him. God questions Cain in verse 6 regarding his bitterness and warns against the dangers of allowing these feelings to grow. He tells Cain it is within his power to rule over his rage and rid it from his life. Instead, Cain stoops to murder to fulfill his anger.

Turning Instead to Grace
The Philistines, Saul, and Cain contain three parallel events that illustrate individuals that hold onto something to their own destruction. In contrast, in II Corinthians 12:7-10, Paul speaks of an elusive thorn of the flesh. We do not know what this thorn is, whether it is a physical ailment, pangs of conscience, reminders of severed friendships; but we do know it wears on the apostle and gives him pain. He repeatedly pleads for its removal, but God responds that His power is completed in Paul’s struggle.

In times of anxiety or strain, we often draw closer to God and seek His power in our lives. Unlike Saul‘s and Cain’s circumstances, this is beyond Paul’s control, but, unlike those examples, Paul endures. Furthermore, God expresses the completion of His grace in the face of this trial. Time and again, we can see God’s grace alive in the life of Paul as well as in our own.

As a final example, we have Peter denying the Lord three times in Matthew 26:69-75. He weeps bitterly when he realizes what he has done, but Jesus has grace on Peter in John 21:15-19, and Peter does not allow this regret to eat him up. I Corinthians 15:3 records that Jesus appears to Peter even before this event. He is one of the first to Lord seeks out. What did that conversation look like? Why would Jesus seek Peter so quickly? Regardless, we know the man Peter grows into despite the pain his denial might have caused, and this is possible for Him because of Jesus’ grace.

There might be things in our lives we consider thorns. There may be things that hurt us spiritually and drag us away from God. Like Peter and Paul, though, we can press on to our goal, forgetting the things behind and reaching forward to the hope laid before us. We can be perfected in God’s love and grace if we are willing to put our pasts behind us and seek a future in Him.

lesson by Tim Smelser

Facing the Challenge of the Christian Journey

There are lessons we can take from facing extreme challenges. We may enjoy backpacking, kayaking, skydiving, or we may just enjoy seeing others participate in these challenges on survival reality shows, but the most extreme challenge we can take is to walk the Christian life. We watch these television shows or read about others facing the challenges of nature, and we think, “I can do that.” Many of us think that, but few of us would ever try – only five percent of visitors to the Grand Canyon, for example, ever descend below the rim.. Like the tiny percentage of people who ever go below the rim of the Grand Canyon, very few who look into God’s word find the will power to actually implement it.

Pressing Toward Our Goal
In James 1:22, James calls on us to be active in God’s word, and he says we fool ourselves if we study that word without becoming involved. We cannot be sideline observers in our spirituality. James says we must be workers of God’s word to receive God’s blessing. Also, in Matthew 7:13, Jesus calls on us to enter into salvation through the narrow, difficult gate. He illustrates destruction as the easy path. Sadly, in verse 21, Jesus observes that not all who call upon God’s name will enter into His kingdom. Rather, it will be those who commit to His will. We have to meet the challenge of participation to be blessed in God’s eyes.

Once our Christian journey begins, we have to understand the journey may be longer than we anticipate. We may begin our walk with great enthusiasm and confidence, but time and trials can cause us to question our resolve. When we face a challenge, stopping and quitting is not an option. Once you’re at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, you have to continue the journey to get back out. Luke 14:28 records Jesus talking about crucifying self to follow Him, and He encourages His listeners and us to count the cost of a great endeavor. He advocated preparedness. In Luke 9:62, we see a few examples of individuals willing to sacrifice self to follow Jesus. We have to be willing to finish what we started, never giving up until we reach the goal.

During this difficult journey, great benefit can be found in rest and refreshment. In Acts 2, the early church comes together for the purpose of encouraging and restoring one another. Verse 46 records this occurring daily, assembling to worship and to build each other back up. In Acts 4:23-24, persecuted disciples come to fellow Christians for encouragement in fellowship and prayer. Do we value the times we come together? Our times of worship and fellowship are not burdensome. It is a time to benefit from being in the presence of our brethren and our Lord.

We come together because we will not complete this journey by ourselves. We need each other. When we are on a long journey, we often share resources and provisions. We help those with whom we were journeying. We help keep each other on the right path, preventing each other from trailing off. In Hebrews 12, the author writes about running our race of faith, pressing on to a goal, laying aside unnecessary burdens. In verse 12, he encourages us to lift one another up, living peaceably with each other, and watching over each other. We need each other, and we need to be willing to ask for help when we need it.

Rejoicing In Our Goal
Always, the completion of our efforts will bring great joy. Sometimes, we enter into a task, and we think we will never finish. When we finish though, when we reach our destination, we have an unparalleled sense of accomplishment. Writing form prison in Philippians 3:12, Paul writes about his efforts pressing on, working toward the goal before him while leaving behind those things that might hold him back. Paul is looking toward a great joy waiting for him. In I Peter 4:12, Peter speaks of fiery challenges we may face in our journey, that these trials help prove us, help shape us. Just as Christ suffered, we may suffer, but we are made better through endurance.

Will we have the same stamina and endurance demonstrated by Jesus and by Paul? Hebrews 2:2 calls Jesus the author of our faith. He has cut the path for us, but it is not always an easy one. It is a path for which we must be committed and prepared. We must rely on one another, and we have to stay focused on the joy promised at its end. Jesus finished His work. We can follow His lead, walk after His footsteps, and enter into the home He has prepared for us.

lesson by Tim Smelser

The Christian Journey

We sing a song about a shepherd who goes through pain and agony to find his lost sheep. Every one of us are sheep that have lost our way, and our good Shepherd suffered and died to redeem us. The Christian life after redemption is sometimes called a walk our a path, and Psalm 119 describes God’s word as a light for our feet. We have to consider where we have been and where we are going. We will not reach our destination on accident.

A Walk, A Race, A Journey

Ephesians 4:1 calls on us to walk according to our calling, and chapter 5:1-2 continues by asking us to walk in love. Verse 8 encourages to walk as if in the light, and verse 15 calls upon us to take care in our walk. We are to be circumspect or wise. Paul tells Christians to be careful in how they make the journey set before them.

Hebrews 12:1 speaks of a cloud of witnesses who have gone before us, and these should give us strength to lay aside the weights that hinder the race we run. We push forward with endurance, always looking toward Jesus. In I Corinthians 9:24, Paul calls on Christians to run with our incorruptible crown in sight. He encourages Christians to run confidently, knowing the goal toward which we press.

In Hebrews 11:13, the author speaks of those who died in faith, knowing they were strangers and pilgrims while on this world. They seek after an eternal country to call their own, prepared in heaven to be their resting place. God’s children recognize themselves as transient residents wherever they are, always journeying toward another land. In I Peter 1:15, Peter quotes from Leviticus, calling on us to be holy, as God is holy, and he tells us to pass the time of our sojourn in awe and reverence.

Conclusion

Paul says we can run with certainty. Peter expresses confidence in Christ’s redemption. I Peter 1:24, quoting from Isaiah, reminds us that our race is finite. It will come to an end, but God’s word will endure. As we press toward our goal, we should be preparing for the destination. Our Shepherd has died as a Lamb so we can complete our journeys. We should run our race all the harder with that sacrifice in mind.

lesson by Tim Smelser

Waiting for the Lord

Beginning in Psalm 27:1, David praises God’s strength in his life. He expresses confidence in God’s ability to deliver him from various tragedies and difficulties. He expresses his desire to worship his God in joy. The first six verses declare trust and confidence, but the tone changes in verses 7-12 where he entreats God not to hide His face. David expresses fear of those plotting against him, and a study of his life demonstrates the reasons behind those fears.

David’s Life of Adversity
We are introduced to David in his defeat of the Philistine warrior Goliath, but his life becomes more difficult from this point. In I Samuel 21:1-10, David is fleeing for his life, and king Saul murderously pursues him. Those who assist him are murdered in the very next chapter, deaths for which David feels responsible. In chapter 23, David has to flee even after defending a city from the Philistines, and I Samuel 25:44 records Saul giving David’s wife to another man. He is forced to hide among rocks and caves. In II Samuel 15:13-14, King David’s own son Absalom plots against him. David again has to flee for his life. David’s life is full of danger and distress, and he approaches God with these concerns even when expressing his joy in the Lord as he does in Psalm 27.

Psalm 27:13-14 conclude David’s thoughts. Even feeling forsaken by all around him, he sings of his belief that he will again see God’s goodness. He instructs himself and us to wait on the Lord in His time. It is reminiscent of Moses comforting the Israelites before the Red Sea when he calls upon them to be still. It is a lesson of patience and fortitude, and it is often difficult to be patient. Wait for the Lord.

Trusting in the Lord
What does it meant to wait for the Lord? It is about trusting in God and looking to Him for answers. When Moses called upon the people of Israel to be still, he wasn’t calling upon them to remain inactive. He was calling upon them to remain calm and be ready to respond when God’s deliverance was made available. There are some things we must do if we are waiting on the Lord.

• Continual Fellowship with God. I John 1:6 encourages active involvement in our relationship with God. If I am looking to God, I must be in communion with Him.
• Constant prayer. I Thessalonians 5:17 calls upon us to pray continuously. We pray to God in good times and in bad. We speak with our God regularly to help maintain that relationship He desires.
• Remain in His presence. The entire book of Hebrews warns against the dangers of drifting away from God. Chapter 2:1, 4:16, and 6:1 call us to draw near to God, so we may trust in Him.
• Stay in the fight. I Kings 19 sees Elijah in fear of his life (much like David is time and again), and verse 18 records God reminding Elijah that he is not alone.
  

In His Time; In His Way
We have to be patient with God and remind ourselves that His time is not our time. God has never promised He will remove our trials, nor has He promised to make life easy. He may not even let us know the reason for our trials, but He has promised that our trials would make us stronger. James 1:2-3 tells us the testing of our faith produces endurance. In James 5:16, the author writes that our prayers for each other work, and we can better comfort one another if we have been prepared to do so through our own. Finally, God promises these trials will draw us nearer to Him. James 4:8 says that God draws nearer to us when we draw near to Him.

Like David, we can grow spiritually when facing the trials of this life. We can find peace and strength in Him. We can wait for God with the hope that we will dwell with Him forever in His house.

lesson by Tim Smelser

Naboth's Spiritual Heritage

We’ve spent a couple of weeks considering the question of suffering, and Satan’s efforts to draw Job from God. Satan believes we all have a price, and, at some point, we will sell God out. In this lesson, we’re going to look at another way Satan tries to find our breaking point, and it begins in In I Kings 21 when Ahab tries to procure the vineyard owned by Naboth. When Ahab tells his wife for Naboth’s rejection, Jezebel appeals to his pride and conspires to kill Naboth. Once he is dead, Ahab takes possession of the vineyard.

Ahab does not have Naboth’s interests in mind at any point in these events. Ahab considers only himself. His first offer is reasonable, even generous, but the problem lies in the uncountable value of the vineyard to Naboth. He seeks to find Naboth’s price, but Ahab finds the Jezreelite has none. Back in Leviticus 25:23-28, God sets a provision that God’s land may not be sold permanently at any time. Any land sold can be redeemed at any time, or it is returned in a Year of Jubilee. The land handed down generation to generation is to stay in the family. Naboth honors God’s law regarding land. He does not sell his heritage.

A Spiritual Heritage
Notice Naboth’s concept of heritage and inheritance. It is more than what comes down from his ancestors. It is more than something he will pass on to his descendants. He recognizes that his heritage is from God. We sometimes sing the song “Faith of Our Fathers,” reminding us that we have a spiritual heritage, that we are spiritual children with a spiritual inheritance. We create a continuous chain from generation to generation that we cannot sell or buy as Naboth could not sell the vineyard passed down in his family.

We receive our faith through those who have come before us, and we pass that heritage unto others as Paul sees Timothy as his son in the faith. The challenge is whether we will stand like Naboth, refusing to be bought out, or will Satan find our price? Back in I Kings 21, there is an interesting contrast between Naboth and Ahab. Nothing Ahab can offer will move Naboth, but after Naboth’s death, Elijah tells Ahab that the king has sold himself to evil in verse 20.

What would we have done in Naboth’s position? Would we have acquiesced to the king, to the path of least resistance? Would we have seen the potential to expand our business or pay off other debts? Could Ahab had found our price, or would we have justified giving in due to the evil of Jezebel and Ahab? Without our convictions, we have nothing. We cannot sacrifice our spiritual heritage.

Never Deserting Our Post
Elijah Lovejoy was a journalist who opposed slavery in Illinois back in the 1800s. One night, because of the large volume of anti-slavery editorials he had published, and angry mob tracked him down and shot him. On the memorial, his words are recorded, “I am impelled in the course I have taken because I fear God…I can die at my post but I cannot desert.” He was killed over his printing press.

We let the things of this world keep us from our spiritual familiy. We teach our children that recreation is more important than the Lord’s work. We let our possessions cloud our morals. In our jobs, we go along with things we know that are wrong to avoid making waves. In doing these things, we devalue our spiritual heritage. We show it can be bought with a price. Hebrews 11:32-40 calls on us to reflect the faith demonstrated in our spiritual forefathers, to continue and perfect the work they started. We owe it to those who came before us, to those who come after us, to our Savior, and to ourselves, to never sell out.

I Corinthians 6:20 tells us we have been bout with a price – the blood of Christ. We have been purchased by God to be his own. Our redemption is beyond value. We should strive to be like Naboth in our struggle against temptation, never deserting our post and never selling out to the devil.

lesson by Tim Smelser

Facing Suffering as God’s Child: Part 2

A Quick Recap
The subject of suffering and sorrow is one with which we and many theologians struggle. Why does God allow suffering in this world. The issue centers around a couple different hypotheses: that God is either not powerful enough to prevent suffering, or He is not loving enough to relieve our suffering. Most arguments regarding God and His role in suffering boils down to one or the other of those theories.

Suffering begins with sin in Genesis 3. Rebellion brings suffering. Sorrow also comes as a result of natural disasters. the wrongdoings of others or ourselves, and some suffering is born innocently. What we asking when we question God’s role? Do we want God to micromanage our affairs, removing any sense of free will? Do we believe we can understand the details of God’s creation? We want to place blame, however. We want to know why. The problem suffering poses for the monotheist is that cruelty must be sourced. Just like Job and his friends, we sometimes speak without wisdom in trying to make God answerable to us.

God’s People and Suffering
In Hebrews 5:7 and 2:18, the author of that book speaks to the challenges Jesus faced in suffering and pain. II Corinthians 4:8 says we are pressed on all sides, are pursued, are confused, are struck down. Paul ends up calling these light afflictions. Romans 5:13 tells us suffering works endurance, and James 5:10 calls on us to consider the patience of the prophets and the endurance of Job who suffered in the work of the Lord. God’s people are not immune to the pains and sorrows of this world.

The book of Job teaches us that what happens on Earth relates to eternal principles. We can be faithful despite our worldly conditions, and Satan seeks to challenge that at every opportunity. The devil seeks to find each man’s price. In Job 2:4, after Job has already lost so much, Satan still looks for Job’s price. He looks for a breaking point. He knows that faith is difficult when we hurt.

Job 1:21-22 records Job worshipping God after losing much of his family and his possessions. His wife blames God. His friends blame Job. Later, when God replies, the message is simply that God created all and offers no other explanation. Still, Job endures. Like him, we can stand as a monument of faith if we can endure Satan’s temptations in the face of suffering.

Reacting to Suffering
We should not feel as if we are solitary in our suffering. Too often, we compare our suffering to those who we perceive having lives than easier than ours, but we forge too consider those who face worse. Furthermore, we cannot let ourselves give up when faced with our perception of an overwhelming situation. Consider Peter and Judas, both faced with their roles in rejecting Jesus. One kills himself. The other reconciles with his Lord. In Acts 16, things look grim for Paul and Silas as they are chained in prison, yet they praise God. Finally, we should not reject help from our brothers and sisters. Philippians 4:13 says we can do all through Him who strengthens us.

God wants us to lift our eyes and trust Him. Psalms 121, 123, 119:66-67, and more record David looking to God despite any trials around Him. Psalm 118 calls the Lord our helper who keeps us from fear. Consider Jesus’ trust in the Father, knowing He would be raised to life after being lowered in death. He trusted His tomb would be empty after enduring the inhumanities of crucifixion. James 5:13 calls on us to give God our worries, and I Peter 5:6 says God will lift us up when we humble ourselves before Him. Our focus is on Him and the glories He prepares for us in Heaven. After asking who can stand between us and God, Paul calls God’s followers conquerors and inseparable from His love in Romans 8:37-39.

Enduring suffering is a challenge of epic proportions. We will all face things unique to our lives, but we are not alone. While we can debate the origin of suffering, Job teaches us that our resistance to the devil in the face of suffering is a monument to His power and the faith of His people. We can look to one another and to God when we face pain in this life, and let our faith grow so Satan knows we have no price.

lesson by Tim Smelser

Facing Suffering As God's Child [Part 1]

We live in a word filled with tragedies and sorrow. We see innocents suffer unjustly. Our possessions, families, or lives may be taken by factors beyond our control. You can't make it through a daily news report without hearing of a new shooting, abduction, natural disaster, or fatal accident. From these events comes an understandable question: why does God allow suffering in this world? It is a question theologians have wrested with for centuries, and the answers tend to boil into one of two theories.

• If God is inherently all-loving, He would stop suffering if He could. Therefore, He is not powerful enough to end suffering.
• If God is all-powerful, then He must not love us enough to end suffering.

Rabbi Kushner, in his book When Bad Things Happen to Good People, comes to the first conclusion. God is all-loving but not all-powerful. Job, on the other hand, faces a God that is clearly all-powerful, so does this infer God is unloving?

The Origin of Suffering
To understand suffering, we have to return to its roots. God demonstrates both power and love in the creation of all things and the paradise He provides for His creation. However, there is one provision to this paradise, and this provision is broken in chapter 3 when His love is questioned in that He forbade something from Adam and Eve. From that one sin, suffering entered the world. If God was unloving and merely wanting to just catch Adam and Eve off guard, He would have left it a secret – just waiting to be discovered. God clearly set the boundaries. He did not keep His provision a secret. Then, with the onset of sin, God sets a plan in motion to redeem His creation, but the consequences in this world remain.

The Case of Job
Job is a case study in suffering. He is a righteous man who loses everything. Satan seeks to find his price, and Job comes close to blaming God for his troubles in passages like Job 9:20. He feels he has been wrongly judged. In Job 19:5-7, 22; chapter 31, Job continues this idea. He even lists out evidence of his righteousness. He is a faithful person. Why would this suffering come upon him? If, like his friends argue, bad things only befall the unrighteous, Job is being unfairly judged.

God responds to Job in chapter 40. God asks if there is any who can argue with God. He asks if Job is capable of setting the universe in motion, if He is capable of balancing justice and reviewing God's judgments? Earlier, in Job 33:13, Elihu asks Job why he strives against God. We are accountable to God – it is not the other way around. This is a hard lesson to swallow, and it is natural to want to know why. However, it is not our place to condemn or try to correct God. Job receives no reason for his suffering, and we may never understand our own.

A Loving, Powerful God
Returning to the question of the reasons behind suffering, can we blame God? Do we serve a Lord either unable or unwilling to end suffering due to lack of power or love?

What hope can we have if God is not all-powerful? How do we know He will defeat the grave? How can we know that he will defeat Satan? How can we have any faith if we cannot have faith in His power? Psalm 139 records David writing of the all-powerful nature of God, able to overcome all and having power over all. Nothing is hidden from Jehovah. In John 16:33, Jesus states that he has overcome. He will suffer terrible things very soon, but His faith was in God’s power. He knows God will deliver Him from the hands of death.

If God is all-powerful, why does He not stop calamities? Does He not love His creation? We see God's love in passages like John 3:16 where God has shared His very nature and image with us to be killed in our stead. Abraham had confidence in God’s love when he prepared to offer Isaac. In Isaiah 55:6-9, God invites His people to forgiveness. Judah was extremely wicked at this time, but under even these circumstances, He would take back His people if only they turn back to Him. His love allows for infinite forgiveness and mercy.

What would we want God's role to be? When do we want God to intervene? Should He constantly be altering the forces of nature , continually disrupting the cycles that have been put in motion? Do we want God to take away our own free wills so we can neither harm ourselves or others? Do we want others to suffer consequences so we do not? What stipulations can we put on God’s actions? If God fails us in any way, we automatically will begin to question Him again.

God may intervene in ways we do not see or recognize. We do know, however, that He has a place prepared for us that is absent of all suffering. We can trust His power to be able to take us to this place, and we can trust that His love will allow sinners like us to enter into it (Romans 5:8). Our hope is not in this life but in the next.

lesson by Tim Smelser

Where Are They Now?

In Matthew 26:17, Jesus and His apostles are preparing for the Passover, an event we associate with the founding of the Lord’s Supper. This would lead quickly to the events of the cross and the empty tomb. These events conclude a ministry characterized by miracles, and He is followed by great multitudes in Matthew 4:25, 8:1, 8:18, 13:2, 19:2, and 21:9. Passage after passage speak of the thousands that press around Jesus, but when we come to the cross and His tomb, only a small handful are present. Where were those multitudes now?

Jesus knows that many saw Him as a source of wonder while others view Him as a sideshow. Some view Him as a source of inspiration while others view Him as a source for food. In this lesson, we’re going a few examples of people impacted by Jesus’ ministry. Their lives are changed by Jesus, but they are not among those numbered at the empty tomb.

Absent Before the Cross
John 9 records Jesus and His apostles passing by a blind man whom the apostles treat as a point of theological discussion. Jesus heals Him, and the Pharisees want to use Him as evidence against Jesus since the healing takes place on the Sabbath. The blind man does not cooperate and is basically excommunicated. Jesus goes to find this former blind beggar in verse 32, leading this man to worship Jesus. Where is he when Christ is crucified?

In Luke 5:17, some men lower a crippled friend to Jesus’ presence so he may be healed. Not only does Jesus heal this man, but He proclaims his sins forgiven. The formerly crippled man leaves glorifying and praising God. The crowds do likewise. Where are he and his friends when Christ is crucified and buried?

As Jesus is teaching in John 8, a prostitute is brought before Jesus, and the Scribes and Pharisees demand Jesus proclaim judgment upon her. Jesus ignores them for a while, then asks them to stone her if they indeed feel blameless and justified in doing so. He spares her life. He forgives her sins. He shows concern for her well-being and her soul. Where is she when Jesus is on the cross and in the tomb?

We learn of Jairus and his daughter in Mark 5:35. His daughter is sick, and she is dead by the time Jesus arrives at Jairus’ house. Jesus says she is merely sleeping and raises her up. She immediately gets up and walks. Many had been there to mourn her, and he brings them joy. Where was this family when Jesus was on the cross?

What Will You Do with Jesus?
Each of us are blind, crippled, guilty, and spiritually dead because of sin. Still, Jesus loves us as he did those individuals he healed and saved. We see countless examples of people touched by Jesus, but we never see many of them in scripture again. Christ’s joyous message comes with His death. The cross and the empty tomb are inseparable. When we realize what Christ has done for us, where will we be? Will we be like the multitudes who glorified His miracles but turned away from His death?

Our relationship with Jesus should cause me to have more than feelings. It should impel us to action. John 8:11 , John 13:34, and Matthew 16:24 are calls to actions. Deny self; sin no more; love one another; take up your cross. The question is not what we feel about Jesus. Instead, what will we do with Jesus? When things are difficult, when our lives are lonely, when we are faced with the bloodstained cross, where will we be?

lesson by Tim Smelser

Standing On the Shoulders of Giants

Back in 1990, the group Jesus Jones recorded a song called “Right Here, Right Now,” and it was reflective of a time when the world was changing. Communism was falling. The Berlin Wall was coming down. Once again, we see history being made with the inauguration of our first African-American president, and he came to this point on the shoulders of giants. J.C. Watts, Joe Lewis, Eli Whitney, Jesse Jones, Jackie Robinson, Frederick Douglas, Doug Williams, Tony Dungee and others are people have achieved milestones in African-American history.

Spiritual Giants
Spiritually, we stand on the shoulders of giants. To have an appreciation for our history, to understand those who have made our spiritual lives possible, is vital to our work as Christians. Spiritually speaking, friends and family members may have directly impacted our lives. This was true of Timothy in II Timothy 1:3 where Paul reminds the young preacher from where his faith originated. In John 1:40-41, Andrew runs to bring his brother to the Messiah. Also, in verses 43-44, Philip goes after Nathaniel. James and Jude are both physical and eventually spiritual brothers of Jesus. Perhaps a preacher or a teacher impacted our spiritual lives, men and women who have helped us develop our spiritual identities, who demonstrate faith and character we want to emulate.

We often reinforce the importance of the Restoration Movement of the early 1800s with figures such as Alex and Thomas Campbell. These emphasized the vitality of the silence of the scriptures. Before them, Barton Stone was preaching that the Bible was all that was needed and that God is not random in His salvation. Before him came John and Charles Wesley in the Reformation Movement, teaching about free will and sincere worship. Before that was John Glass who preached there was no national church and the weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper. Martin Luther preceded Glass, advocating that all believers are priests and that individuals can find salvation on their own. He believed that scripture – not the Church – is the final authority. Before Luther, John Huss opposed indulgences and encouraged the study of scripture and scripture alone.

Preceding all of these are twelve men who stand before a crowd of thousands in Acts 2. Here, Peter affirms the deity of Jesus. The apostles affirm the resurrection and preach baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Two chapters later, Peter and John claim salvation is in no name but Jesus. In Acts 5:29, facing the same prosecutors who had crucified Jesus, Peter answers them that obeying God is greater than obeying man. Stephen, in Acts 7, calls on his audience to rely on God more than their history and traditions. He states there is a difference between knowing what is right and doing what is right. Philip, in Acts 8, preaches Jesus and baptism to a governmental official from Ethiopia. Paul, Barnabas, Timothy, Titus – what they taught and what they wrote comes from God.

I Thessalonians 2:13 records Paul and II Timothy 3:16-17 both remind the readers of these letters from whom they heard God’s word, and Paul reinforces the divine source of those teachings. Those giants upon which the early Christians relied were standing on the teachings of Jesus in their work.

Shoulders to Stand Upon
We have to be the spiritual giants for future generations, speaking where God speaks and respecting His silence. Future generations of Christians will look back on us. Who will be the heroes of faith for the next generation of Christians? It has to be us. This means we cannot take the comfortable path. Those leaders of the Reformation and the Restoration knew that. They were alienated, imprisoned, exiled, burned, and put to death. We benefit from their sacrifices, and our own paths will be difficult if we are standing for what is right.

Hebrews 11 lists several heroes of faith, and chapter 12 picks up the theme, calling upon us to run our own races with endurance. He cites Jesus as the forerunner of our faith, and we must work if we are to pave roads for those who will come after us. Think about those who have influenced you spiritually. Why would they do that? We must determine that we will continue the spiritual heritage that has been handed to us. Our commitment to one another and our commitment to Christ go hand-in-hand. We are of equal importance in His eyes, and He can provide the love, patience, and endurance that will help us be heroes of faith, examples upon whom our children and grandchildren can look to as examples of faith.

sermon by Tim Smelser

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize

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“Keep Your Eyes on the Prize” is a folk song that grew in popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. This was a time when the United States faced deep internal turmoil. We were tormented by a war of potential – a Cold War – that threatened to tear apart the world at any minute. Our nation was plagued by an established and enforced inequality and segregation of races. We were a country a deep principles and deep hypocrisies, but some individuals came together to set things right. Their path would be difficult. They would risk much and lose much. Some would die, but these people had a focus. They had a goal. They had a prize, and they kept their eyes upon that prize regardless of the obstacles standing before them.

The song says, “I got my hand on the gospel plow/Won't take nothing for my journey now/Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on/Hold on, hold on/Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.” In Philippians 3:13-14, Paul writes about a prize set before him. He speaks of reaching forward, pressing onward, and looking upward. He speaks of a crown of righteousness in II Timothy 4:8 for which he is striving. Paul fixes his eyes on his prize, and he invites us to do the same, allowing us, like him, to overcome anything in the name of Christ.

A Persecuted People
This is a lesson about persecution. In I Corinthians 4:12, Paul writes bout enduring reviling and persecutions. Those First Century Christians faced hardships, faced brutality and trials the likes of which we can hardly imagine. The Jewish zealots would stone and beat them. The Roman rulers and military grew truly creative. With few exceptions, we don’t know what it is like to face true inhumanity, true cruelty, true persecution and come out the other side.

One group of people who did face true persecution were those same people who linked arms, singing to each other to keep their eyes on the prize, encouraging one another that the times, they are a-changin’ and edifying each other that they shall indeed overcome. Those people, who saw their mission as a completion of the work begun by Abraham Lincoln a century before, they faced persecution.

Jumping backwards a hundred years, people like Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas helped launch the Civil Rights movement in this country, attempting to bring our nation to the point of practicing what it’s founding document preached: that all are created equal. It was a mission against which our sixteenth president faced massive resistance, but, this is what he said at Cooper Union Field on February 27, 1860:

“Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations…, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction…Let us have faith…Let us, to the end, dare to do our duty…”

Lincoln basically says that there is nothing that will deter him from the goal set before him, and Paul encourages us to take that same attitude in Romans 8:37-39 when he encourages us that no man, no government, and no gulf of distance can separate us from our God. There is nothing that can tear our prize from our hands.

Those Who Lived and Died
Those activists trying to desegregate our society, working to give African Americans basic rights such as voting, striving to conclude the journey Abraham Lincoln began – they met resistance we have a hard time imagining. These were not people who were merely ignored by their peers. They were not simply called ignorant or stupid. Their persecution was not that of belittling or teasing. It was violence.

Protesters – man, woman, and child – faced high-powered hoses, attack dogs, beatings, bombings, betrayals, lynchings, and murders. In his song, He Was My Brother, Paul Simon (under the pseudonym Paul Kane) describes the atmosphere this way:

Freedom rider
They cursed my brother to his face.
“Go home outsider
Mississippi's gonna be your buryin' place.”

Writer Harlan Ellison, who participated in the 1965 march on Montgomery Alabama, describes the conclusion of his experience like this:

…They wouldn’t give us a loading ramp to get into the plane. We waited four hours. They found a bomb on the plane. It was a nine-hour flight back. Viola Liuzzo. She was killed hurrying back from Selma to Montgomery…It was a lot closer than I care to admit.

From Rosa Parks who was jailed for not giving up her bus seat for a white man, to the Little Rock Nine who faced school closure before desegregation, to Martin Luther King who was assassinated for threatening the status quo, to the countless unnamed who were beaten, battered and bloodied because they stood united against injustice, we see a true example of what it means to face persecution head-on and overcome. To many, these are heroes. They are like those heroes of faith in Hebrews 12:37-38 who “had trials of mocking and scourging and of chains of imprisonment, who were stoned, were sawn in two, were tempted were killed with the sword, who wandered in sheepskins and goatskins being destitute, afflicted and tormented.” We see men, woman, and children setting aside differences to work for a common cause. We see a people who look to a higher cause than themselves. We see the result of keeping our eyes on a prize.

Pressing Onward and Upward
How can we emulate these examples? How can we keep our eyes on our prize? God does not expect us to protest, to march on Washington, to hold rallies, or to riot. Our God’s focus is on our spiritual home rather than on secular politics, but we can press forward as these people did and as Paul does in Philippians 3. We can edify, encourage, and exhort one another toward a cause and a goal that is greater and higher than any of us individually.

In He Was My Bother, Paul Simon sings:

He was singin' on his knees
An angry mob trailed along
They shot my brother dead
Because he hated what was wrong.

What did this individual’s murderers find him doing? They found him on his knees, singing. In Matthew 10:21-22, Jesus says we too will be hated. How do we see those First Century Christians responding to such animosity? In Acts 16:25, Paul and Silas are found singing and praying while imprisoned. In Acts 5:41-42, Peter and other disciples walk away from an unjust imprisonment and hearing rejoicing, and the immediately return to their mission, hardly dissuaded by the trials.

When face with the threats associated with trafficking freed and escaped slaved to safer states, Harriet Tubman stated, “I can’t die but once.” She recognized that her life was a small thing when stacked against the accomplishments she and her supporters were achieving. She could be killed, but the Underground Railroad would live on. Likewise, in Matthew 10:28, Jesus encourages us to take this same attitude. We should not fear those who can take our lives, for our souls will live on. The cause of Christ will live on.

We may not be lynched for our beliefs. We may not be beaten, stoned, or hosed, but we never know what the future holds. Satan is always trying to distract us from our upward call. Jesus, in Matthew 6:21 tells us that where our treasure – or prize – is, so too are our hearts. Where is your prize? Upon what are our eyes and hearts fixed? When we focus on and obsess over the things of this world, then we will remain chained to the pains of this life, but we can be more.

We can resist Satan and whatever trials or persecutions he throws our way, and we can proclaim that we will not be moved. We can live in peace, and we can overcome. Time and again in our studies of Revelation, we read that Jesus wants us to overcome and spend eternity with Him, and I John 5:4 tells us that it is our faith that gives us the power to overcome. As Abraham Lincoln spoke of faith that drove him, so too our faith should drive us toward the calling of our hope.

Maya Angelou once wrote in Still I Rise:

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Likewise, we hope to rise again. The time could come when we are beaten down, when were are trodden underfoot, when we are threatened for hating what is wrong. Like those Freedom Riders and like our Christian forefathers, we can obtain a victory over the powers of this world that none can take from us. Our hands are on the gospel plow. We are walking hand in hand, and we are encouraging one another on a journey to a land where pain and suffering are no more. We must press on. We must keep our eyes on the prize. We must hold on.

sermon by Robert Smelser