New Year's 2023
1. To Find Pleasure in God
Absorbed in the Sunset
A mother had called her five-year-old son to dinner five times. He was slow responding. Impatiently, she declared, “This is the fifth time I have called Billy to dinner. I will have to see about this, and I will spank him and teach him a lesson.” Running from the dining room towards the front porch, she found her son standing there, absorbed in contemplation. Young man, why don’t you come to dinner? I have called you five times.” “But Mother,” he replied, “I only heard you three times, and, besides, I am watching God put the world to bed.”
Becoming One with the Foundation
1 Corinthians 15:28; Ephesians 4:15; 1 Peter 2:6
Preaching Themes: Character, Union with Christ
In the old Roman walls the mortar seems to be as hard as the stones and the whole is like one piece. You must blow it to atoms before you can get the wall away.
So is it with the true believer. He rests on his Lord until he grows up into him, until he is one with Jesus by a living union, so that you scarce know where the foundation ends and where the upbuilding begins; for the believer becomes all in Christ, even as Christ is all in all to him.297
Finding and Loving Him
In A Twentieth-Century Testimony, Malcolm Muggeridge wrote: “The true purpose of our existence in this world‚ which is, quite simply, to look for God, and, in looking, to find Him, and, having found Him, to love Him, thereby establishing a harmonious relationship with His purposes for His creation.”2
Let Jesus In
Once I heard this story concerning King Edward VII of England. He and his queen were out walking late one afternoon when suddenly she stumbled and sprained an ankle. In great pain, and with considerable difficulty, she limped along, holding to her husband’s shoulder. At dusk, they approached the home of a humble man. The king knocked on the door. “Who’s there?” came the query.
“It is Edward. It is the king. Let me in.”
The man on the inside shouted back, “Enough of your pranks now. Be off.…”
The king, not being accustomed to such language, was shocked. He hardly knew what to do, but he knocked a second time. The cottager inquired, “What do you want?”
“I tell you it is the king! It is Edward, your king. Let me in.”
In anger the man shouted, “I’ll teach you to torment an honest man trying to get his sleep.” He threw open the door in disgust, only to see that indeed it was his king! With profuse apologies the laborer invited the royal visitors in and sent for help to attend his queen.
Years later, when the Britisher was too old to work, he would spend much time rocking on the porch and visiting with neighbors. He took great delight in reviewing that experience, always concluding with the same words: “And to think, to think, I almost didn’t let him in! To think I almost didn’t let him in!”
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20).
Not until you open your heart and let Jesus in will you know what God is like.
2. To Live as a Sacrifice
3. To Not Conform
Let Down Your Bucket
An unforgettable experience of my college days was to hear a series of lectures by George Washington Carver. His life is a chronicle of sacrifice, humility, brilliance, good deeds, and dedication. He stated his personal philosophy in these simple words, “Let down your buckets where you are.” He encouraged us and everyone not to go through life dodging issues, complaining, and criticizing, but to contribute something.
This was illustrated time and time again in Dr. Carver’s own career, but never more dramatically than when he was offered one-hundred-seventy-five thousand dollars a year to work with Thomas A. Edison, and declined. His reason: “I felt that God was not through with me in Tuskegee; there was still plenty of work to do for Him there.”
An Unpurchasable Person
Dr. Reid Vipond of Canada shares a story of an oil company that needed a suave public-relations man for its office in the Orient. After interviewing several candidates, the officials decided to ask a local missionary to take the position. Company executives met with this man of unusual gifts. Whatever their proposition, his answer was always “No.”
“What’s wrong?” asked one interviewer. “Isn’t the salary big enough?”
The missionary replied, “The salary is big enough, but the job isn’t.”
Hands Too Full
Saint Augustine declared: “God wants to give us something, but cannot, because our hands are full—there’s nowhere for Him to put it.”
4. To Overcome Evil
Beat On Your Heart
In 1580, a Dutch Protestant leader named Klaes was arrested and condemned as a heretic. Eventually he was burned at the stake. When the tragedy was over, his dear wife took their small son by the hand and walked through the back streets of town to the hill where their loved one had perished as a Christian martyr. At the place of execution, the bereaved widow gathered up a few of the ashes, placed them in her satchel, and hung it around her boy’s neck, saying.
Son, I place these ashes on your heart, and on the heart of every son of these Netherlands in all eternity. Whenever and wherever in this world there is an injustice or wrong committed, these ashes will beat on your heart and you will speak out without fear, even at the fear of death.1
Pass It On
R. L. Middletown shared a scintillating story concerning a wealthy industrialist who stopped every morning at a certain shoeshine parlor. An Italian boy always shined his shoes. Tony liked Mr. Ward, and the feeling was mutual. One morning Ward asked his young friend, “If you could have one wish fulfilled, Tony, what would that wish be?”
The boy stopped, looked his friend in the eye, and replied, “I would like to study medicine. Above everything else in the world, I would like to be a doctor.… But I have to take care of my mother.”
Deeply moved, the philanthropist retorted, “Tony, suppose I told you that I would give you—not lend you—enough money to see you through the university and medical school, what would you say?”
Smilingly the boy answered, “I would say you wouldn’t do it.”
“I will do it, Tony. You are shining your last pair of shoes.”
The boy laid down the shine rag and kissed the shoes that were being bathed in tears.
Their friendship continued. Arduous years of schooling were completed. Time passed. Tony married. He enjoyed a lucrative practice. Then one day, a beautiful car stopped in front of Ward’s office. The young doctor hurried up the familiar stair. The meeting of the men was very tender. Finally, Doctor Tony said, “This is a great day for me. Here’s a check for all the money you have spent on my education, with interest.”
Ward took the check, looked at it for a brief moment, slowly endorsed it, and handed it back, saying, “Tony, I never expect any returns from the investments I make in human life. Anyhow, God has credited me with it on His books, so it does not belong to me. Take it and find another boy that is worthy. Send him through school on it. Maybe someday he will hand it back to you.”