Mexico Congregational Church June 18 - 06
Mexico Congregational Church
June 18, 2006
Rev. Ron Lynn
Introduction:
Father Knows Best
In commenting on being named Father of the Year, 1942, General Douglas MacArthur stated:
By profession I am a soldier and take pride in that fact. But I am prouder—infinitely prouder—to be a father. A soldier destroys in order to build; the father only builds, never destroys. The one has the potentiality of death; the other embodies creation and life. And while the hordes of death are mighty, the battalions of life are mightier still.
It is my hope that my son, when I am gone, will remember me not from the battle but in the home repeating with him our simple daily prayer, “Our Father Who Art in Heaven.“
Bingham, John Armor (January 21, 1815–March 19, 1900), was a U.S. Representative, 1855–63, 1865–73. He served as the U.S. Minister to Japan, 1873–85. He was Judge Advocate at the trial of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, and one of the managers of President Andrew Johnson’s impeachment trial. John Armor Bingham stated:
I was instructed in early youth by precept and example of my father and mother. I hereby became convinced of the truth of Christ’s teaching, and of the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. My convictions on this subject must suffice for me; I will not surrender them to any man.
Scripture:
Our scripture passage today comes to us from both the Old Testament (1 Sam 15:34-16:13 and the New Testament Mark 4:26-34
I will be reading from the New International Version of the Bible.
Background:
In the Old Testament scripture the prophet Samuel is mourning over King Saul and his failures. God has turned away from Saul and Samuel is sad. God now gives Samuel the task of anointing a new King for Israel.
Prayer: Lord we ask that you be with us today in Spirit and that you will bless your people in such a way that these scriptures will be heard and will become and used to your glory. Amen.
The Word of God.
Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13
34 Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. 35 Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord was grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel.
Samuel Anoints David
16 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”
2 But Samuel said, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me.”
The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”
4 Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”
5 Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.”
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” 9 Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” 11 So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”
“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered, “but he is tending the sheep.”
Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”
12 So he sent and had him brought in. He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features.
Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; he is the one.”
13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power. Samuel then went to Ramah.
Message:
Today we celebrate a special day for fathers. I want to recognize all the fathers and future fathers that we have here today. Preaching on a special day like this it is easy for those of you both old and young to sort of think today’s message will have no meaning for you in your life. However, I urge you to follow along with me today for the scripture has meaning for all.
In this Old testament scripture we find Jesse a father of eight sons probably doing what most of us do today with our children. Samuel has told him he has come to anoint a new king for Israel and Jesse is sending his strongest, best looking sons first. One by one they past by Samuel and each time God says no. At last Samuel asks “is this all the sons you have?”
At this point Jesse sends for David who is the youngest and weakest of them all and God tells Samuel this is the one.
The key message of this passage, the big idea is found in the middle of it. God says to Samuel, “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
We tend to the same thing, don’t we? When we look at someone we see their outward appearance and draw some kind of idea.
The big idea is that God looks inward at our hearts.
Second Message:
Our second scripture comes from the book of Mark Chapter four versus 26-29.
The Parable of the Growing Seed
26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
This little parable has many messages in it. The seed is the Word of God. The farmer plants it and it grows. The seed grows without the help of the farmer. Finally when the seed has reached it’s maturity, it is harvested.
The parable tells us the Word of God grows within our hearts. Once planted it continues to grow until God harvests it.
I believe the Big idea here is that the Word of God grows within our hearts, but someone had to plant it there. In the parable it was the farmer, in our lives it should be our parents.
Third Message:
Our last scripture also comes from the book of Mark Chapter four versus 30-34.
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.”
33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34 He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
The Word of God starts within our hearts like a small mustard seed, but grows larger than anything else in our lives. It is the most important thing that can be planted within us.
Once again, how powerful is the Word of God in our lives? Very powerful!
Lastly, this parable ends with “as much as they could understand.”
“Let those who have ears hear.”
At the beginning of this message today I said I would try and put together these three scriptures in such a manner as to relate to our lives today.
It is Father’s Day and the way I understand our roles as heads of our households is that we are to be the family spiritual leader. I understand this isn’t always the way it is.
God looks at our hearts and see what there is in it. He’s not looking at how we appear. It is what is in our hearts that is most important to god.
As parents, fathers, grandparents, friends, Christians, we are to plant the Word of God in the hearts of children, and lets just stick with children today. We are to lead by example and read the Word to our children daily. The scripture tells us the Word of God will then grow until the Lord returns to harvest His crop.
I believe it is our responsibility to do this for our children. God has especially given this task to all fathers since we are spiritual leaders. If we don’t, we let our children down and God also.
This is no small task for fathers today. In order to achieve this we must be in the Word ourselves daily. We must understand the Word and apply it to our lives. We must also stay healthy. We must respect ourselves by keeping in shape, getting enough sleep, eating right, working hard, and studying God’s Word so that we can share it with our families.
William Hendrickson put it this way: “The heart of Christian nurture is to bring the heart of the child to the heart of his Savior.” Do you read the Bible to your children? Do you tell them the great stories of the heroic men and women of the faith who’ve gone before? Do you pray for and with them daily? Do you take them to worship and Christian education classes, and let them see how important your involvement in the church is to you? Can they see the difference Christ makes in your life?
Does it really work? Listen to this story told by a dying man.
His Father’s Voice
He was only forty-five when the doctor told him he was dying. Sitting in stunned silence, Jonathan Thigpen of Wheaton, Illinois, tried to focus his gyrating mind on Dr. O’Riley’s matter-of-fact diagnosis. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. ALS. Lou Gehrig’s Disease. A cruel, incurable illness characterized by progressive muscular weakness resulting in paralysis and death. Fifty percent of all ALS patients die within eighteen months of diagnosis. The cause is unknown, and there is no cure. It is always terminal. Perhaps a year; two at most.
But it couldn’t be. This wasn’t part of the plan. Jonathan was relatively young and happily married. His daughter was in high school, and he himself was working on his doctorate. As head of the Evangelical Training Association he was providing Christian Education materials for churches and schools around the world.
Perhaps a year? Two at most?
Jonathan later recalled, I remember walking out of the doctor’s office in Carol Stream, Illinois, and deep in the pit of my stomach there was a feeling of overwhelming fear. I can’ t describe it other than it felt like I was being hugged by something so dark and so horrible that I can’t describe it.
Just before the darkness totally engulfed him, he heard a familiar voice speaking distinctly in his mind. Jonathan was a preacher’s kid, and, growing up, he had noticed that every night after supper his dad would disappear for an hour or two. For many years, Jonathan didn’t know where his father went. But one day his dad invited him to tag along, and from then on they spent their early evenings visiting the hospitals together. At every stop Dr. Thigpen would chat briefly with the patient, smile, ask concerned questions, then pull out his little New Testament and Psalms.
Time after time, Jonathan had listened as his dad had read from Psalm 46:
God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried
into the midst of the sea.
Now in the worst moment of Jonathan’s life, the voices of his earthly father and of his Heavenly Father united in the chambers of his memory, and those words reverberated in nearly audible fashion through his mind. The effect was electric.
By the time I got to my car that cloud of darkness had begun to lift because I realized that God was still in control. I didn’t have any more answers than I had when I was in the doctor’s office five minutes before, but I can tell you this: Fear cannot stand in the face of a faith and a God who does not change. My fear had left.
In the months that followed, Jonathan’s body weakened but his spirit grew stronger as he traveled across the country sharing Psalm 46, imparting strength to fellow-sufferers, and reminding his listeners of our refuge and strength—a God who is a very present help in trouble.
Let us pray.
“The heart” (16:7). In Heb. the heart (leb) represents the inner man, the real self. My Uncle Paul married a frail, unattractive woman weakened by constant bouts with arthritis. He met her at church, came to admire her, and fell in love with her inner beauty rather than her outward appearance. How important it is to learn the lesson God taught Samuel.
Jesse the Bethlehemite. Jesse was from the tribe of Judah, from the clan of Ephrathah according to 17.12. He lived in the city of Bethlehem. Ephrathah in the Old Testament refers both to the clan and to a city. The city is identified with Bethlehem in Micah 5.2 (see also Gen 35.19; 48.7). Probably Ephrathah had originally been a separate village but later became a part of the city of Bethlehem. See also Ruth 1.2. Here it is probably best to translate “Jesse from the town of Bethlehem” or “Jesse, who lives in Bethlehem” ( , ).
Consecrate yourselves. ritual purity was required before certain religious practices could be performed, and specific cleansings were required for different forms of ritual impurity. Compare Exo 19.9–15, where Moses consecrates the people of Israel. The verb used here and repeated in the following sentence contains the root meaning “holy.” It has to do with being set aside for a particular purpose, or being withdrawn from ordinary use to serve God in some way. In this case the elders of Bethlehem are instructed to devote themselves exclusively to the sacrifice Samuel was about tomake.
In preparation for the sacrifice Samuel instructed the elders to “consecrate” themselves, that is, to place themselves in a condition of ritual cleanness. Entering into ritual cleanness normally involved bathing, putting on clean clothes, the temporary suspension of all sexual activity, as well as avoidance of contact with any dead body. Samuel then went to the house of Jesse, where he personally invited him and his sons to the sacrifice and oversaw their consecration.