Immanuel Baptist Church

I hope each of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. This is a very special time for me and my family as we gather together and give thanks to God for all our many blessings. Blessings from God come to each of us day after day – so our thanksgiving to God should go on day after day.

The first Saturday in December we are going to Baptist College of Florida to enjoy their Christmas Musical. This will be on the 5th in the afternoon – more details next week. The tickets for the show are $5.00. I need to know this Sunday the 29th if you want to go. We will go out for dinner after the show.

Our monthly meeting for December will be Tuesday the 8th. Elizabeth Ford will be with us for our program. She will present a musical concert. She has a beautiful voice – you will not want to miss this time together as we worship God through her music. After this program we will have our Bible Study with Bob and then enjoy lunch together.

Our calendars are full for December – but remember to stay involved in all we do here at Immanuel.

Martha

The following is our menu for the Wednesday evening fellowship meal on December 2nd.

Roast beef
Rice
Green lima beans
Corn
Rolls
Dessert

The meal will begin at 5:30 in the fellowship hall. Those unable to attend can still come at 6:15 for the prayer time and Bible study.

Cost for meals is $5.00 per adult or $3.00 per child.

Matthew 5:13-16

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Part of our series on the Sermon on the Mount, this sermon was preached by Rev. Chris Roberts during the evening service on Sunday, November 29, 2009.

Genesis 3

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First in our Advent series, this sermon was preached by Rev. Chris Roberts during the morning service on Sunday, November 29, 2009.

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

For the next four weeks we will set aside our walk through Ephesians to focus on an event of crucial importance to the church: the birth of Jesus Christ. This season leading up to Christmas is known as the season of Advent. Advent itself is a word that reflects or waiting for the arrival of Christ. As Christians, we have two ways we must celebrate the Advent. First, by looking back to when Christ arrived in the manger. God took on flesh and made his dwelling among us. But we do not just look back; it is our great delight and hope to look forward with anticipation to the day when Christ will come once again, this time to reign as king over all the earth. The Advent season is a time to celebrate what Christ has done and what Christ will do.

We will look at the Advent through five movements, on each of the four Sunday’s of Advent and, if plans do not change, we will gather again on Christmas Eve to rejoice in the birth of Christ. Today we will look all the way back to Genesis at the fall of mankind, asking the question why did Christmas have to occur, why did the Savior need to be born?

We know that our first parents dwelled in the garden of Eden, that place of paradise where they fell from righteousness into sin. Adam and Eve were placed in the garden by the God who spoke all things into existence. In Genesis 1 we read that in the beginning there was no created thing until God spoke creation into being. God himself is no created being but has existed throughout eternity in a mystery of being we can never fully understand. Where did God come from? The question is invalid – God did not come from anywhere. To come from somewhere means there is some beginning point. In 1978 I came from my mother’s womb. But God has no beginning, no end, so he came from nowhere, he has simply always been. This is why in Exodus 3:14 God identifies himself simply as I Am.

This eternal God existed when nothing else existed and at some point in eternity he brought all things into existence. From nothing he spoke and there came into being a creation that was without form and void. There are endless debates about the mechanisms of creation but one way or another we stand before God who has made and shaped all things according to his will.

Among his creative works, he filled the earth with plants and animals. None of these things fulfilled God’s plan for the full expression of his creative power so God then made man, putting humans in a seat of authority over creation, making us the tenders of his garden.

God created Adam and Eve from the dust of his new creation. From our very creation we are joined to this world he has made. Adam and Eve were formed in the garden, in a place of paradise peace where they were left to take care of and fully enjoy what God had made. There was only one restriction placed: in Genesis 2:16-17 Adam is given access to everything the garden has to offer except for one tree; he was not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Some foes, seeking to slander God, will say that this religion opposes knowledge and will charge that God barred Adam and Eve from the tree of knowledge. But note what this tree bears: it is not any and all knowledge but the knowledge of good and evil.

Having created Adam and Eve and established them in the garden, God continued to visit with them, walking with them in Eden. We have no idea how long things continued in this way. It may have been a month, it may have been a million years. What we know is that at some point a serpent entered the garden.

Let us take a moment and read the encounter between Adam and Eve and this serpent, looking at Genesis 3:1-8.

Adam and Eve experienced a unique condition. At no other time in human history have people lived with an uncorrupted nature with the ability to choose good or evil. From Eden to Christ, mankind lived in bondage to sin and, as Genesis 6:5 describes, every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. But Adam and Eve were created good, pure, with the capacity to do either good or evil. When faced with the devil’s lies they decided to follow his way and were plunged into the darkness of sin.

Following their sin God confronted Adam and Eve, in Genesis 3:9-13.

God did not have to inquire about their sin, he knew what they had done, he knew why they had done it. But he gave them this opportunity to confess their wrongdoing and seek forgiveness. Instead they sought a scapegoat. They avoided responsibility for their wrongdoing and found someone else to blame for their actions. Because of their sin, God brought judgment. Genesis 3:14-24.

Adam and Eve were banished from paradise. This is both blessing and curse. It is curse because they were cast into the wilderness, into the wild lands beyond the paradise they had enjoyed. They were put into a world of labor and toil, of thorns and painful childbirth, a land of death and decay. But in death we see a reason for hope. God could have allowed them to live forever but consider the condition. They would have remained forever in their sins, for the rest of eternity struggling under a burden of a nature turned against God. But in death we pass from this world of sin into a world of glory and holiness. In death we are given true life with God where we are made new and incorruptible in the paradise of Heaven as we wait for the end of time when God will remake the heavens and the earth, removing sin from the earth. Then we will dwell eternally in bodies not marred by sin.

In the midst of judgment was another glimmer of hope. In verse 15 God says to the serpent, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. From the very first God promised that One would come who would strike the head of the serpent.

The events of Genesis 3 happened a long, long time ago. How does any of this affect us today? Are these just stories about people who lived in ages long past, so far distant that they do not touch us today? Or does this account reveal something about our own lives?

It can be difficult for us to understand just how strong the bond is between us and Adam. Adam stood as representative head of the entire human race. What he did affects all of us. What happened to him also happens to us. One place we see this is in the effect of sin. Death has spread to all the earth because of the sin of Adam. In 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 Paul contrasts the work of Adam with the work of Christ: For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. Adam stands as representative of all who are born in him, all of his descendants, so that we share in the penalty of sin. In the same way, Jesus stands as representative of all who are born in him, his spiritual descendants, so that we enjoy the reward of his righteousness.

But it is not just the punishment that is shared. The notion of original sin is found in Romans 5:12-15 where we see that as descendants of Adam we inherit the sin of Adam. Look at verse 12: Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned… By Adam’s sin we have all been made sinners. By Adam’s sin we have all been corrupted. Let’s look again at God’s description of humanity in Genesis 6:5: The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Then in verse 12: And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

We get a similar gloomy picture of man in Isaiah 53:6 but it is mixed with hope in the promises of God: All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned – every one – to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

There are these two threads throughout the Old Testament. Down one is a continual account of human sin. Because of the Fall we are all born in sin and from birth we live in opposition to a holy God. One does not have to look far in the Old Testament before finding many examples of human sin. But down the other thread is hope and grace and redemption, the mercy of a gracious God who could cast every person into eternal punishment but has instead given us promises of mercy. On him was laid the iniquity of us all! On whom? The Old Testament offers many glimpses at the coming Savior. Old Testament faithful were given this promise that God would bring deliverance, that God would pay a price they could not pay.

The price of sin is eternal judgment. The wages of sin, Romans 6:23 tells us, is death. Left to ourselves we would have to pay our own price, clearing the balance of our rebellion against the just commands of the eternal God. Left to ourselves, we could never pay the balance of our sin and would be subject to judgment for all eternity. Left to ourselves there is no hope, no bright future, nothing to look forward to except the fires of judgment. But God has not left us to ourselves.

This is the promise of the Old Testament, the promise we celebrate in the season of Advent. In his mercy and love God has promised a deliverer, Immanuel himself – God with us! He would come and deal with sin, paying what we could never pay. He would crush the head of the serpent, emptying sin and Satan of all their power.

Because of Adam’s sin, we all fall into judgment and corruption. Because of sin we will all die. After death comes judgment in which we would all stand guilty before God. But because of the promised Holy One of God, we need not despair. There is this answer to our distress: Jesus Christ and His righteousness.

His mercies are not automatically applied to every person. As we noted earlier, everyone born in Adam shares in his corruption while everyone born in Christ shares in his life. By natural birth we are all in Adam. Only by spiritual birth can we be in Christ. This spiritual birth requires that we look to God in faith, clinging to Christ and his righteousness rather than the work of our hand. We were created to live in relationship with God, a relationship that requires our complete submission to his will, his commands for our lives. To be born in Christ means surrendering any claim that we have authority over our lives and giving him full authority. He will be our savior and Lord of our lives.

When we thus cling to him by faith, we will enjoy the rich life he has promised to his children. Only in this way can we escape the curse of the Fall and the wrath of God. Only in this way can we have the life our creator God planned for his people. If you want the best kind of life, it is found in Christ alone.

Ephesians 5:3-6

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This sermon was preached by Rev. Chris Roberts during the morning service on Sunday, November 22, 2009.

I want to begin with a story this morning. In this story there is a group of refugees, struggling across a desert wasteland. They are hot, tired, dressed in rags. Many are weak and on the verge of death. They have no supplies and all around all they can see is the shimmering heat rising off of dry desert sand. They are doomed, hopeless. Then out of nowhere an oasis appears in their midst. With great cries of rejoicing the people plunge in. The oasis has an endless supply of water and abundant food, clearly enough to last the people for ages. The people enjoy the delights of the oasis for a time but a very peculiar thing starts to happen. One here, two there, a group over there, they all begin to return to the desert wilderness. No destination in mind, no other hope in sight, they return to their wandering. Their thirst quenched, hunger satisfied, they returned to the world of death, destruction, and despair, ignoring the peril all around them.

I wonder how many people in this room today are like those returning to the desert wasteland, returning to brutal slavery, returning to the stench of sin. We claim to be a people forgiven and set free but we live as though nothing has changed. Once we take care of our guilty feelings we return to the wasteland of sin and the world’s ways. We claim Christ but are shocked when actually expected to live like Christians.

Today we look at Ephesians 5:3-6. Up to this point Paul has said a lot about our lives as Christians, including what we should and should not be as followers of Christ. But he has not given us many specifics on things we should avoid. Back in 4:22 we were told to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires. In today’s passage Paul mentions six things Christians are to put off.

The New Testament contains various lists of virtues and vices. In our passage we find the only vice list in Ephesians. This vice list focuses on sins of a sexual nature. Let’s take a moment to look at these six vices.

The first two, sexual immorality and impurity, cover a range of sexual sins, from sins of the body to sins of the mind. God created human beings to enjoy sexual activity within certain parameters: one man and one woman united in marriage. Anything else is sin, whether it is sexual activity that takes place physically or mentally. In Matthew 5:28 we learn from Jesus that even lust is a form of adultery. Sometimes people, especially young people, will ask how far is too far. It is an evasive question, we already know the answer. Any activity of a sexual nature is too far. Paul warns Christians that they should avoid any sexual activity that goes beyond what God intended for human sexuality. Here is a simple formula. If you are not married, do not have sex or engage in sexual activity, period. If you are married, reserve all activity for your spouse.

The third vice, covetousness, could be taken two ways. Covetousness is greed, a desire to have something belonging to another. Here, Paul could mean covetousness in a general sense in which we might desire more money, more possessions, more influence, the power and prestige held by someone else. Certainly that is a vice Christians ought not hold. But given the context and focus on sexual immorality, I think Paul means covetous of a sexual nature, desiring someone that is not yours.

The next three vices all focus on the way we speak. In verse 4 Paul says, Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking. Again, the focus is on sexual things, only this time Paul says we are to have no speech of a degrading sexual nature. This ties into what he says in verse 3 that such things are not to be named among you. There he means that such sins should not be abiding points of casual conversation. Paul wants us to be people with pure lips. In Colossians 4:6 he tells believers to let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. We cannot obey Colossians 4:6 while having mouths full of impure things.

Christians are to have nothing to do with the works of darkness. That includes how we speak. Paul is not delivering an absolute prohibition against mentioning such sins or he could not write about them and I could not preach about them. What he means is your speech should not dwell on these things and certainly should not take them lightly. Humans enjoy making light of sin, whether we are joking about sin or simply lingering on topics about sin. The end result is we become desensitized. We become more open to sin, more accepting of it in the lives of others and, eventually, in our own lives. Paul wants our minds to be pure, so our hearts must be pure.

In Philippians 4:8 we are told, Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. How can we obey that command while thinking and speaking of topics that are degrading or immoral? In Luke 6:45 Jesus tells us, The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. What does your mouth say about you? What do your words reveal about the condition of your heart?

Whether in our words or in our actions we are so prone to being led astray. We live in a day when much evil is acceptable. Christians are mocked when they draw lines against sin. We are called legalists when we try to uphold what Scripture upholds. Even those claiming the name of Christ will ridicule others who seek to live and call others to live according to the Bible. There are dangers everywhere. Temptations lurk around every corner, snares wait across every step. You will hear people try to convince you that sin is acceptable. Paul says have nothing to do with such things. In verse 6 he warns us, Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

Today we live in a Christian culture absolutely consumed by sin. Rates of adultery, divorce, and unmarried pregnancy are as high within the church as without. Even among pastors the rate of immorality resembles the world. Too many Christians believe that in some way their sin is compatible with their faith.

It usually goes something like this: “I know sin is wrong. I know God commands us not to do these things. But my desire is great and I feel I cannot resist. God is a loving, forgiving God and I am already a Christian. If I give in to this temptation, the desire will go away. I will be sinning, but God will forgive me.” We find a myriad of ways to justify our sin. We explain away our immorality, whether it be physical acts of sexual sin or impure thoughts or vulgar talk or celebrating immorality through filthy jokes and filthy images. Paul says Do Not Be Deceived! Those words that seek to lure you to sin are empty, meaningless!

He goes farther than this. His word of warning would shock many if they bothered paying any attention to what he says. There are two warnings given to people who would commit such sins. First, Paul says in verse 5, For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Second, in verse 6, because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Paul is telling us that people who continue in these sins will experience the judgment of God.

In the first warning he says that such people have no inheritance in the Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is the realm of all who submit to the rule of God. It is made up of all who follow Christ Jesus as Lord. There are many who claim the name of Christ but do not submit to him as Lord. Such people may claim the Kingdom but they have no part in it. You must submit to Christ to belong to the kingdom of God. If you stubbornly insist on the sins of the flesh you show your refusal to honor Christ as Lord and you have no inheritance in God’s kingdom. If there is no place for you in the Kingdom, the only other place for you is Hell.

In the second warning, he says that because of these sins the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. We have seen this phrase before; in Ephesians 2:1-3 we read, And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

We were all once sons of disobedience but by the grace of God we have been saved out of that and made children of God. But children of God do not live in open rebellion against their Father. We will sin, we will struggle with temptation, we will fall. But we will see our sin and repent of our sin and cling to Christ, crying out for forgiveness and strength in the day of trouble. A true child of God will not embrace the world. Saints will not hold fast to their sins.

But there are those who love their sin, sons of disobedience who cling to wicked ways. Upon these the judgment of God will fall. Among these are many who call themselves Christian, many who feel secure because they have named Christ as Saviour though they have not begun to serve him as Lord. We have this warning in Matthew 7:21-23: Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.

It does not matter what things you claim to have done for Christ. If you ignore his commands, you are not his. The New Testament has this continual expectation that the people of God will not act like people in the world. If you need more evidence, read Galatians 5:19-21 or Colossians 3:5-6 or 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 or 2 Peter 2:10-22 or Revelation 21:8, and the list could go on and on. These are not isolated verses of Scripture, minor texts that we can ignore while we continue in our sins. This is the resounding call of God: “My people will be holy!” And if we refuse to submit to his rule, we are not his people and we will face the fires of Hell.

I am not saying that your works save you. We are not saved by living holy lives. But if we are saved we will live holy lives. Not without sin, but it will be our pattern and our desire. We will not casually accept sin in our lives but we will fight and strive for holiness.

Paul gives us an answer to temptation. When you struggle with sin, what can you do to find victory? Remember the works of the Lord and your heart to him in thanksgiving. In verse 4 Paul says to us, let there be thanksgiving. The person who is filled with joy over the works of God is not at great risk of giving in to sin. When God is his delight, he finds pleasure in doing the things pleasing to God, and a righteous life is pleasing to God.

When your focus is on the things of the world, you will do the things of the world. When your focus is on God, you will do the things of God. Hear the instruction of Hebrews 12:1-2, Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

We have been saved from so much. Will we now return to the wasteland of sin? We have claimed so much! Will we by our actions turn our back on our claim? Will the people of God be the people of God and not the people of the world? Turn from your sin. Turn from every hint of sexual immorality or vulgar talk. Turn from celebrating the works of darkness. To ignore these things is to display a heart that is not regenerate, not transformed by the Holy Spirit, not covered by the grace of God. To cling to the world is to cling to your sin and when you stand before a holy God you will be held to pay for your own wickedness.

But there is forgiveness and restoration to those who come to Christ with humility and repentance. When you come to Christ you will not find a closed door but a welcoming Savior. Lay your sins at his feet, confess your wrongdoing to him, and turn to the path of righteousness. In this way sinners will be made saints and saints will be brought safely home.

Please join us in the fellowship hall on Tuesday, February 24th at 5:30 pm for a pot luck Thanksgiving meal. Bring enough dishes to serve your family and some guests. Following the meal we will move to Trinity United Methodist Church for our joint Thanksgiving service.

There will be no fellowship meal or prayer meeting on Wednesday, November 25th.

We will have our midweek service on Tuesday, November 24th. Please join us in the fellowship hall at 5:30 for a pot luck Thanksgiving meal. Bring enough dishes to serve your family and some guests. Following the meal we will move to Trinity United Methodist Church for our joint Thanksgiving service.

On December 8th, we will meet for our regular luncheon meeting. Elizabeth Ford will be there to do our musical concert. We will also have our Bible Study.

The Baptist College of Florida is having their annual Christmas concert on Saturday December 5th in the afternoon. If you want to go, let me know. We will be taking the bus.

Stay involved!

Martha

Ephesians 5:1-2

No audio is available for this service.

This sermon was preached by Rev. Chris Roberts during the morning service on Sunday, November 15, 2009.

We have been looking at Paul’s commands that we put off the old self and put on the new, living with one another in love, truth, and generosity. We are to be a loving, forgiving people who avoid falsehood and bitterness, working instead for the good of one another. Our goal is to display to the world the love and glory of God as we encourage and build up one another in Christ.

Today, Paul brings together everything he has said and presents it to the believers in one brief command.

Ephesians 5:1-2

The first word in this passage is a contextual clue. Paul starts with Therefore, the word therefore telling us that what follows draws from what just came. By the time we have followed Paul’s previous instructions – putting off the old self, turning from sin, serving one another in love, and living for the glory of God, Paul sums it up with a command that takes us all the way: we are to be imitators of God.

There is a similar command found throughout the Old Testament, such as in Leviticus 11:45: For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. From early on the people of God were called to mirror the holiness of God. They were not specifically told to imitate God, but his holiness was to be displayed in their lives. This holiness code is repeated in 1 Peter 1:14-15: As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who calls you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct… You are children of God. As obedient children, be holy as your Father is holy.

We are not called to imitate God’s divine characteristics. We can never imitate God’s sovereign authority or his power. We will never have the fullness of his wisdom and insight. The call to imitate God is the call to be holy as he who calls you is holy. Beginning in verse 3 we will see that imitating God means avoiding the vices celebrated by the world. But before writing of some things believers must not do, Paul gives an example of what we must do: walk in the love of Christ.

Paul also tells us what our mindset should be as we imitate God. We are to be imitators of God, as beloved children. We are reminded of our place with God: beloved children. We are not slaves or vassals, we are children of the Most High.

Our imitation of God is not something we pursue grudgingly or half-heartedly, it should be the desire of our hearts that we be like our heavenly Father. We see this in young children, a delight that comes from imitating the actions of a parent. Children often want to be and do all that they see their parents being and doing. This is the way it ought to be. A good child will follow the example of his parents. As an aside, this also serves as a warning for parents. Your children are watching you – set an example worth following.

For Christians, we should seek above all else to be like our Father. One of our greatest delights should be when we find ourselves taking on his character, displaying his likeness, showing his goodness to the world. Are you so in love with yourself that you refuse to be like your Father? Are you so lovely that your character is more striking than his? Jesus tells us that the kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like little children. Be children who delight to follow in the footsteps of your Father.

So we come to the example of One who showed us the Father. In verse 2 Paul says we are to walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. In John 14:9 Jesus tells us that whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can we imitate the character of God? By following the example of Jesus. Through Jesus Christ we have the clearest demonstration of God’s righteousness and holiness. Through Christ we learn what it means to love. We imitate God by walking in the love of Christ.

To walk in love means to live our lives so that our actions, thoughts, and behavior display the love of Christ. Several times throughout Ephesians we have been reminded of Jesus’ words in John 13:35 that by this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. If our lives are characterized by bitterness or anger or hatred or rebellion or immorality, what will the world see of Christ? But if people see us first of all loving God, and loving him enough to obey him, and loving one another, enough even to live sacrificially, then they will know we are followers of God.

We mentioned living sacrificially. This is the example Paul gives of the love of Christ. Having told us to be imitators of God, as beloved children, we are told to walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. In what way did Christ give himself up? As a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Jesus Christ gave his life for us. He stepped out of a perfect Heaven, left the holiness of his Father, became part of the world he made, and lived in the midst of sin and suffering and pain.

If that were not enough, he then ministered to people all around him, traveling throughout the land to tell people the good news of the Father’s love. He put himself in the middle of the sick, the lepers, the tax collectors and adulterers, the religious hypocrites, the socially unacceptable. He loved them and taught them and gave them a way out of their sins.

If that were not enough, he then entered Jerusalem, the city of David, the holy hill where he was arrested and beaten and mocked and nailed to a cross. He was crucified. The Son of God was murdered on a tree he had spoken into existence. What was the meaning of his death? Why this sacrifice? Why this offering? Colossians 1:21-22 can help us: And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him…

Jesus Christ died to present us to his father as a people who are holy and blameless. He gave himself as a sacrifice so that we would not have to face judgment for our sins.

Sin is an offense against a perfect, holy, eternal God. It is an offense that warrants punishment. The punishment for rebellion against the eternal God is itself eternal, unending. The price of our sin is Gehenna, the fire pit, Hell, the place of fire that burns but darkness that is unending, a place completely cut off from the love and mercy of God, where for all eternity the unbeliever must face the just wrath of a holy God. Jesus Christ gave the greatest demonstration of love by offering himself as a sacrifice in our place. The eternal Son of God paid an eternal price none of us could pay. That payment is given on behalf of all those who would cling to him by faith.

If you do not receive his gift, your sins are not paid for. If you reject him, you must pay your own price. If you do not live for him, you live for yourself and by yourself you will stand before a holy God who will judge you in righteousness and you will fall condemned and will be cast for all eternity into Hell.

(Ephesians 2:4-5) But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved. (Romans 5:8) But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (John 3:16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 15:13) Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (1 John 3:16) By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

Christian, Jesus died to do for you what you could not do for yourself. He offered himself as a sacrifice to God for your sins. Now we are called to live as Romans 12:1 calls us, I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. As Christ offered himself to God for us, we offer ourselves to God in service of Christ. We are to imitate the sacrificial life of Christ, living not for our own good but for God as we serve others.

We remember Romans 8:35: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? Then in 38-39, For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Consider such love as this. Is your love this devoted? Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. What will separate someone from your love? Will grudges or harsh words or disagreements or skin color or political orientation block your love? Will we be as free with our love as Christ is with his?

We must remember one thing about Christ’s love. It was as fierce as it was free. We must never mistake his love as permission, his mercy as condoning our behavior. Jesus gave forgiveness and acceptance and he called the sinner to repent and turn from his sin. True love can do nothing less. Love will not leave a person in the stench of sin but will show people the way to be free and clean.

People of God, be imitators of God. You are his children, be like your Father and walk in the love of Christ. This is the love that led Jesus to call children to him. Children were powerless and insignificant, they could do nothing for the Savior. We are often quick to open our schedules for those who can improve our influence, but will we give our time for the least of these? The love of Christ also led him to show mercy and forgiveness to tax collectors, widows, prostitutes and adulterers. He loved the unlovely, showed mercy to the weak and helpless, ate with those considered morally unclean. The gospel was not reserved for The Right Kind Of People, it was preached to all. And in his love he went to the cross to carry our sins, satisfy the wrath of God, and win forgiveness and new life for us.

Imitate Christ’s love for others. Imitate his love for holiness. Imitate his love for his Father. We do not have his love if all we ever do is look at ourselves or other people, we must also look at his father. Nor is it love if we only look upward, never getting our hands dirty as we go out to serve God among our brothers and sisters in Christ and among the lost. It is not love that accepts the actions and behaviors God hates. It is not love that rejects the things God calls us to do.

Scripture should serve as our mirror. In the Bible the righteous character of God is on full display. If you want to be an imitator of God you must know what it is you imitate. What is God’s love? How do we understand his mercy and grace? All of these things are learned in Scripture. To be an imitator of God, become a student of his Word. Also spend time around those who themselves show Christ in their lives. In 1 Corinthians 11:1 Paul tells the people, be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. Find someone whose example you can follow, someone who serves as a guide of what it means to imitate God.

In all of this, live as dearly beloved children of God. His instructions to you are good for you. He is not robbing us of anything good but provides for us every true pleasure, every rich blessing. We were created to be like him. When we rebel and go our own way then our lives break down and face meaninglessness. Only in him can we find our rest, our meaning, the true adventures of life. Only in him can we be what we were meant to be. Only in him can we be free.

The following is our menu for the Wednesday evening fellowship meal on November 18th.

Country fried steak
Mashed potatoes
Carrots
Baked apples
Rolls
Dessert

The meal will begin at 5:30 in the fellowship hall. Those unable to attend can still come at 6:15 for the prayer time and Bible study.

Cost for meals is $5.00 per adult or $3.00 per child.