Sermon Select
The Second Noel 12/19/99
Luke 2:9-14
JESUS CHRIST’s birth was attested to by citizens of Heaven and attended by citizens of earth. In it two worlds merged: the world of the spiritual and the world of the physical. For that reason His name was called Emmanuel, which means, “God with us.”
In that act God honored the role of mother and favored the process of birth. Neither should be taken lightly. The first should be avoided if there is any thought of the second having to be aborted. We, male and female, should respect what God has honored.
Christmas, the celebration of His birth, does many things for all of society. One thing it does is rekindle HOPE. In a culture where there appears to be so little hope, I rejoice over its being available to all.
The song writer Oscar Hammerstein in talking about his personal philosophy once said: “I cannot write anything without hope in it…when people point out that the world has evil and ugliness in it…I merely point out I know about all of those things, but I choose to align myself to the hope of side of life.”
My heart sings with Mary Martin those lines given her by Hammerstein: “I’m stuck like a dope in a thing called hope and I can’t get it out of my heart.”
I can’t! I just can’t, because Christ is my heart.
Hope is more than just a feeling—it is a vision, a way of looking at our world, a way of understanding the things that happen to us.
The Christmas story does not deny the presence of darkness, it just proclaims the presence of light.
It doesn’t ignore the reality of bitterness and hate, it just declares the dominance of love. It shouts of hope.
Christmas is a pencil sharpener for the emotions making them sharper and more sensitive.
Imagine the hope that must have sprung to life in the hearts of those astonished shepherds just outside Bethlehem on that eventful night when the angels came to them proclaiming Messiah’s birth. Consider —
I. WHAT THEY SAID: “GLORY TO GOD….PEACE…. GOOD WILL….”
A plethora of diversions tend to minimize the Christ whose birth we celebrate.
It was Christmas 1939 that the then department store giant Montgomery Ward came up with an advertising campaign featuring a character called “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer.” Today this reindeer with a “nose so bright” is better known by many American children than the One whose birth we celebrate.
In 1949, songwriter Johnny Marks put the ad-gimmick to music, and we have sung it “every foggy Christmas Eve” since.
Long before this guiding light Zacharias prophesied of another who would offer guidance:
“The rising sun (Jesus) will come to us from heaven… to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
We pragmatic people tend to think of there being no other state of being other than those we can see and prove. In doing so, we overlook the existence of the angelic band.
The Hebrew word for angel is the same as the name of the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi. It literally means “my angel.” I have a Malachi and so do you. They are at work today as in the day of Christ’s birth. They are also called “ministering spirits.”
The text says there was a “heavenly host.” The word “host” actually means “army.” There was a large force of angels involved.
Daniel (7:10) said of angels “ten thousand times ten thousand attend unto God.”
The writer of the Revelation (5:11) spoke of “a world of angels.”
Hebrews 12:22 lost count and referred to an “innumerable company of angels.” They are without number.
There are 108 references to angels in the Old Testament and 165 in the New Testament. They are referenced in the Garden of Eden and depicted as active in the Book of the Revelation.
Together this army of angels spoke in praise to God.
The angels were the heralds of the one of which it was said, “His name shall be called Wonderful…”
Audrey Mieir was absorbed in what was happening in her little church. They were having a Christmas presentation of the birth of Jesus. Mary was a teenage girl. The angels were young boys. The baby was a doll. Bathrobes revealed rolled up jeans under them. This simple setting provided for an electrifying moment. Audrey looked at the little children in the audience sitting open mouthed and expectant. Elderly friends wiped away tears remembering Christmases long past.
The pastor stood, raised his hands and said, “His name is Wonderful.” The words gripped Audrey. Immediately she began to write in the back of her Bible. She remembered that as she wrote it seemed to her God had something He wanted said. That night she sang the simple chorus around the piano with a group of youth. The words were simple and they picked it up right away. She wrote:
“His name is Wonderful, His name is Wonderful…
Jesus my Lord.
He is the mighty king, Master of everything.
His name is Wonderful, Jesus my Lord.
He’s the great Shepherd,
The Rock of all ages. Almighty God is He;
Bow down before Him, Love and adore Him,
His name is Wonderful, Jesus my Lord.”
Though they said it, choirs and congregations have appropriately sung it through the years. There is victory in that pronouncement. In Latin it is “Gloria in Excelsus Deo!”
Under divine inspiration the Apostle Paul wrote: “All the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”
The angels said:
GLORY TO GOD
Jesus taught us to pray: “…Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory…” He already has the glory we are blessed to be vessels through which His glory is seen and by whom it is acknowledged.
Christ’s coming focuses on the glory of God because in Him the attributes and attitudes of God are pleasantly revealed.
In the act of Christ coming, God revealed a bit more of His glory which had been concealed.
The fundamental way we can accent the glory of God is by giving ourselves in trust to Him as our Savior and yielding to Him in service as our Lord.
Next we can so love and live as to try to bring others to a saving knowledge of Him. There are those around us we are responsible for influencing. There are those beyond our sphere of influence. Many are in foreign lands. To them we can and must send missionaries. Missionaries become our proxies when we give financially to help them minister. Some people flinch when giving is mentioned.
A verse, long-lurking in my memory, goes:
“Go break to the hungry sweet charities bread,
For giving is living the angel said.
But must I keep giving again and again,
The weary worn question came.
No said the angel, piercing me through.
Just stop giving when God stops giving to you.”
An old man on the city bus sat across from a little girl who was apparently from a poor family. As he sat holding a beautiful bouquet of flowers he noticed they had captured the attention of the little girl. Every time he looked at her she was looking admiringly at the flowers but quickly looked away.
When the bus stopped at his place of getting off he reached out and gave the flowers to her saying, “I bought these for my wife, but I know she would want you to have them.”
The bus stop was a bit longer than usual and the little girl watched as the old man got off the bus and entered through an old gate into a little cemetery.
Give your best to the Master before it is too late to give.
PEACE ON EARTH
Peace is both an event and a process. On September 2, 1945, representatives of Japan and America, the two powers that had been locked in World War II, met on the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay and a peace treaty was signed. On that day peace was an event. Since that time it has been a process enjoyed by both parties to the treaty.
People want peace in their lives as a process. It is not possible without it first being an event. The event involves you signing a treaty with Christ. He has already signed it with His blood. Now by faith it is your turn to sign.
“Once on the eve of Christmas
when all strange things may hap,
I saw Mary the Mother
with her baby upon her lap.
I saw the Mother, Mary,
holding God’s little son.
She said to him, Small one, tell me
When shall man’s war be done?
Then the child spake and answered:
These wars shall end, said he,
when no man shall wound another
for fear of wounding me.”
Many persons misunderstand this angelic statement to refer to the absence of war and hostility, and feel that it is unfulfilled. Cynics scoff at the very idea of “Peace on earth…” They ask when and how. Longfellow wrote a poem that speaks to this.
“I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men.
And in despair I bowed my head:
‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said,
‘For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth good-will to men.’
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
‘God is not dead, nor does He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”
The angelic statement was not a prophecy of peace but rather a prescription for peace.
GOOD WILL
In this supernatural act God was showing His strong desire for our “good will.” His will toward us is good. He designed, devised, and desires our good will. Only we can prevent it.
II. WHAT THEY SAW “A STAR”
In announcing the birth of Christ the world’s first communication satellite was put in orbit above Bethlehem. All of nature was at the Father’s disposal and He used a star to mark the locale of Christ’s birth.
III. WHAT THEY SOUGHT
THE WISE MEN
These were not “wise guys”, that is, smart alecks. These were sun-crowned intellects. Let’s give them the dignity of their Bible identity, “wise men.” They were wise men not “rich dudes.”
They were magi not magicians, astronomers not astrologists, scientists not wizards.
Their presence reveals that though Christianity is for the masses of poor it is also for the wealthy intellects. It is applicable for the “whosoever” of John 3: 16.
There is a bit of wit circulating that notes what a difference it would have made if these had been three wise women rather than wise men. They would have stopped and asked directions, and arrived on time. They would have helped deliver the baby, clean the stable, make a casserole, and brought disposable diapers as gifts.
Every December, as I take out the Christmas decorations, I also take out the memory of a Christmas 20 years ago in a small town in central Maine and the gift that one little girl gave to another. In a world where Christmas is ever more glittery and commercialized, it reminds me that the true spirit of the season lies in giving, and receiving, from the heart.
Winters seemed to be colder back then, and school days dragged slowly by. At my small school, we had two classes for each grade. My class was for the children who got good grades. Most of us wore nice clothes and our parents were in the PTA. Those in the “slower” class didn’t get good report cards. Most of the kids were poor. We attended the same school year after year, and by fourth grade we all knew who belonged in which class. The one exception was the girl I shall call Marlene Crocker.
I still remember the day when Marlene was transferred to the “smarter” class. She stood by the teacher’s desk that morning in a wool skirt that hung down below her knees. Her sweater was patched, but her face was wide and hopeful.
She was not at all pretty except for her intelligent-looking brown eyes. I had heard Marlene was a good student, though, and I wondered why she hadn’t been in the “smarter” class all along. As she stood waiting for the teacher to assign her a seat, for a moment I imagined that I might become her friend and we would talk together at recess. Then the whispers began. “She’s not sitting beside me!” someone sneered.
“That will be enough,” the teacher said firmly, and the class turned silent. No one would laugh at Marlene again—at least not when the teacher was in the room. Marlene and I never talked together at recess as I’d first imagined. The boundaries that separated us were too firmly drawn.
One late autumn day, Mom and I happened to be out driving along a wooded back road. It was one that we seldom took because Mom said it wasted gas. I was busy chattering away when suddenly, out the window, I saw a tar-paper shack so tiny that it would have fit inside our bathroom. The shack was set far back in a big field littered with rusted car parts. Across the yard stretched a long clothesline, beneath which stood a little girl who looked at us as we sped past. It was Marlene. I raised my hand to wave, but our car had already passed her. “That poor little girl,” my mother said, “hanging out clothes and it’s going to rain.”
Once the snow came that winter, it seemed as though it would never stop. As Christmas drew near, my spirits were as high as the snowdrifts as I watched the pile of presents grow beneath our Christmas tree. At school, a few days before our school Christmas party, we passed around a hat in class to pick the name of a classmate for whom we’d buy a gift. The hat went around, and the names were drawn. Finally, the hat came to Marlene. One boy leaned forward, closer than anyone had ever been to Marlene, and hooted as he read her slip of paper. “Marlene got Jenna’s name.”
I began to blush furiously as I heard my name. Marlene looked down at her desk, but the teasing went on until our teacher stopped it. “I don’t care,” I vowed haughtily, but I felt cheated.
The day of the party, I marched to the bus reluctantly, carrying a nice gift of Magic Markers for the person whose name I had drawn. At school, we ate the Christmas cookies our mothers had baked and drank our grape drink. Then the presents were handed out, and the wrapping paper went flying as everyone tore into them.
The moment I had been dreading had arrived. Suddenly it seemed as though everyone was crowding around. Sitting on my desk was a small package wrapped neatly in tissue paper. I looked over at Marlene. She was sitting alone. Suddenly overcome by the need to protect Marlene from the mocking of my classmates, I seized Marlene’s gift, unwrapped it and sat there, holding it hidden in my hand.
“What is it?” a boy hollered, when he could stand it no longer.
“It’s a wallet,” I finally answered.
The bell rang and the buses came and someone said to Marlene, “Did your old man make it from the deer he shot?”
Marlene nodded and said, “And my ma.”
“Thank you, Marlene,” I said.
“You’re welcome,” she said. We smiled at each other. Marlene was not my friend but I never teased her. Maybe when I got bigger, I would ride my bike over there and we could talk and play. I thought about that as I rode the bus home. I tried not to think of what Marlene’s Christmas would be like.
Years went by. I went to high school and college, and lost contact with most of my childhood schoolmates. Whenever I struggled with math problems, I recalled the rumors that Marlene had dropped out of school to help her mother with the younger children at home. Then I heard that she had married young and stated having babies of her own.
One day, I came across the white doeskin wallet I had received at that Christmas party long ago. Funny how, of all the gifts, I’d kept this one through the years. I took it out and studied its intricate craftsmanship. Beneath the top flap, I noticed a small slit holding a tiny piece of paper that I had never seen before. Sitting in my comfortable home, I read the words that Marlene had written to me years before. “To my best friend,” they said. Those words pierced by heart. I wished I could go back, to have the courage to be the kind of friend I’d wanted to be. Belatedly, I understood the love that had been wrapped inside that gift.
There are a few things I unpack every year at Christmastime – an old wooden creche, shiny balls for the tree and a Santa figurine. I take the wallet out, too. Last year, I told my small son the story of the girl who had given it to me. He thought about it and then he said, “Of all the gifts, that was the goodest gift, wasn’t it?”
And I smiled, grateful for the wisdom that let him see that it was.
They were wise not because of their learning but because of their seeking for wisdom and truth. In Christ they found both.
Even the dumb animals in the manger in Bethlehem knew more about the Christ child’s birth than the pious religious leaders in Jerusalem. We must be certain that we don’t simply know a lot about Him but fail to know Him personally.
THE SHEPHERDS
They came seeking the One Who came to “seek and to save” them.
In contrast to the wise men, the shepherds represent one of the lowest classes of the society of the era. They were desert dwellers of low esteem. As Christianity is for the wealthy intellects so it is also for the poor and uneducated. It is for the “as many as will.”
When the angels spoke to the shepherds they responded: “Let us go…” (Vs. 15).
Now that you have heard what they heard will you not respond as they and say, “I am going…” “I am going to receive Christ.” “I am going to respond openly as did the shepherds.”
The First Noel 12/12/99
Luke 1:46-55
JESUS CHRIST was the highest form of God and the ultimate form of man. In Him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, yet He took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in our likeness.
He who spoke the universe into existence humbled Himself and became obedient — even unto death for us.
He was the Light of the World yet He hung in darkness.
He was the Fountain of Life, yet upon the Cross He cried, “I thirst.”
He was the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, yet He was led as a lamb to the slaughter.
He was the Ancient of Days, yet one day He became the babe of Bethlehem’s manger.
He did all of this that you might have a MERRY CHRISTMAS — and much more.
We are about to engage in what is becoming in the educational community the stealth celebration of Christ’s birth.
Let me acknowledge the government should not be expected to be the propaganda arm of Christianity or any religion. However, the Supreme Court has let stand a lower courts ruling that schools may recognize religious holidays “if the purpose is to provide secular instruction about religious traditions rather than to promote the particular religion involved.”
No court has ever ruled that singing carols at school is unconstitutional.
I believe in the separation of the institutions of church and state. It is a valid and vital precept. Government is not to establish a religion nor is it to prohibit the free exercise of it.
For fear of the Christ child whose birth 90% of Americans celebrate extremes are practiced. His name for some is the only unmentionable one in schools.
In Fayette County, Kentucky, school bus drivers were warned not to wish the children “Merry Christmas.” “Happy holidays,” or “Merry solstice,” or even “Hail winter” are OK.
In Philadelphia they are allowed to say, “Happy Sparkle Season.”
In West Orange, New Jersey the high school dean reprimanded students for singing “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” on school property. It is alright to sing a rap song about killing cops but not any of this merry stuff.
Schools in Scarsdale, New York forbade “Jingle Bells” and “Frosty the Snow Man.” Is Frosty a threat to separation of church and state? Envision “Saint Frosty.”
Candy canes are also outlawed. They look too much like a shepherds staff. Trees are allowed if called “unity trees” or “giving trees.”
Some schools have put a wrap on Santa Claus because the legend is based on a fourth-century saint. He has about as much to do with a Christian Christmas as Bugs Bunny has with Easter.
In one of our local schools they have banned the use of green and red decorations. What do these colors have to do with separation of church and state? Are they afraid someone will convert to green or become a devotee of red?
Christmas in reality is all about Jesus’ birth. In the person of Jesus Christ, God left a footprint in the sand of the Judean desert. He cast a shadow on the streets of Jerusalem. He stained the grey stones of Calvary with His blood as a demonstration of His love for you. He was a real person who did an actual thing.
Little wonder that the adoring apostle Paul bowed his head and wrote of Him: “Our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).
Who is our great God and Savior —- Jesus Christ.
Who is Jesus Christ —- our great God and Savior.
Consider the miracle of His emergence on planet Earth.
A teenage girl was casually involved in her regular routine. Her name was Mary. She was a simple, unsophisticated, unassuming pure young girl. Her humble home was in a little-known village called Nazareth. At that point let’s pick up the story and note:
I. THE RESPONSIBLE PRONOUNCEMENT
Six hundred years before this it had been the good fortune of the angel Gabriel to announce the forthcoming birth of Christ. Now he comes back for an encore to herald the fulfillment of that prophecy.
Just as her startled eyes saw the angel sent to greet her, he speaks, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you.”
“Rejoice…!” You’ve got to be kidding. It’s terror time. No person, prophet, or priest, had seen an angel for over 400 years. This unique phenomenon would have been a challenge to a mature Bible scholar but even more absorbing and alarming to a youthful girl.
Who was speaking? What did he want? Verse 29. “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you…”
Her open-mouthed puzzlement resulted in her startled silence. Then Gabriel broke the silence: “Do not be afraid, you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS” (Luke 1:30, 31).
Finding favor with God is life’s greatest blessing. However, it does not result in a pressure-free life of ease. There was a whole generation in the late 60s and early 70s that thought to find God was to find perfect peace. That finding favor with Him consequeted in a laid-back life of sitting around with arms and legs folded, eating lettuce leaves, and contemplating infinity of their navel.
Christians, like non-Christians, have pressures and problems. The difference is that the believer has a resource and reason. The resource is the grace of God and the reason is that we in our difficulties might allow God through us to show His sufficiency.
Knowing the promise of God and holding the hope related to the Messiah, she understood the meaning. However, how could she be a part of all this, she was not even married?
Gabriel anticipating her quizzical nature spoke again: “And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).
Further realizing Mary’s difficulty in accepting such an impossibility, Gabriel told her of another impossibility already in progress: “Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren” (Luke 1:36).
Her aged cousin Elizabeth, already beyond the age of child bearing was expecting. Gabriel assured Mary, this proves nothing is impossible — “For with God nothing will be impossible” (Luke 1:37).
Mary now believes God’s message to her and responds: “…let it be…” (Luke 1: 38). “Let it be”, let that be the watchword of your life. It is a summary way of saying, “Whatever you want Lord is OK with me. Anything you want me to do, I will gladly do it.” “Let it be.”
Her Son, Jesus Christ, prayed a similar prayer in Gethsamene: “Thy will be done.”
Around the globe today are over 3,000 Southern Baptist missionaries who have in effect said, “Let it be.”
Our missionaries span the globe to share the good news. They teach trades to prevent poverty, practice medicine to relieve suffering, communicate farm skills to alleviate hunger, and all share the gospel to bring souls to Christ.
Years ago a young girl from Cartersville, Georgia, said “Let it be” to the Lord’s call of her to serve Him as a missionary in ancient China. Her faithful service led her colleagues to name a special missions offering taken each year at Christmas after her — Lottie Moon.
When you give money to feed the poor, clothe the orphans, heal the sick, alleviate suffering, educate the backward, and do all this in an effort to seek and to save, you are using money for its loftiest purpose.
When you give to this special seasonal offering, you share in the fellowship of Christ’s suffering.
As a part of a trip to Brazil to play basketball I visited with one of our missionaries, Mrs. Rosealee Mills Appleby. The day she arrived in Brazil her husband died and her only child was born. When we were about to part company she said, “Tell the folks back home to do three things. Come and help us. Give to support us and pray for us. If they can’t come or give please pray.” That we should do.
Lord, do you want me to go? “Let it be…”
Lord, do you want me to give? “Let it be…”
Lord, do you want me to pray? “Let it be…”
II. THE RESPONDENT PERSON
Gabriel shared a compliment with Mary “blessed are you among women!” (Vs. 28b). Unfortunately some have pushed the appropriate compliment too far and have asserted that Mary was immaculately conceived, that is, that she was also virgin born. Follow this closely. If she was, she was divine. If she was divine and Jesus was conceived of the divine Holy Spirit, then He had no human parent; and thus was not human. The true miracle of the person of Jesus is that He was the God/man-man/God. He was God in flesh and blood. As much God as though He were not man and as much man as though He were not God. He had to have both natures in order to reconcile, that is, bring God and man together. He was “made of woman.”
Notice how Mary and Jesus related to each other. Later in life Jesus honored her but played down her role (Luke 11: 27, 28).
“And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!’ But He said, ‘More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!’” (Luke 11: 27, 28).
She honored Him and played up His role by acknowledging her need for a Savior. Mary called Jesus, “God my Savior” (Vs. 47).
To Mary, Christ not she, was the central character in the Christmas story. We dare not leave Him out.
As few years ago my family and I were walking around New York city on the eve of our first trip to the Bible Land. Christmas was only days away. As we walked, we gawked at the beauty of the “Big Apple” decorated for Christmas.
We paused a few moments in the cold to view a replica of the nativity characters on display in front of America’s richest church. You may have seen it. It is dwarfed by the skyscrapers that surround it on Wall Street. Years ago Queen Ann gave to Trinity Episcopal Church 250 acres of her farm on Manhattan Island. Today Wall Street runs through that tract of land. The church owns 29 of the largest buildings on Wall Street. There in front of the richest church in America was a simple depiction of the first Christmas. We studied each of the figures until at last our gaze focused on the cradle. Something was missing. Someone had taken the figurine depicting the Christ child. Christ was missing from the Christmas scene. Don’t you leave Him out.
III. THE RESPONSIVE PRAISE (VSS. 46 – 55)
Mary was visiting her cousin Elizabeth, wife of Zechariah, the high priest. Their joyous conversation resulting in a statement by Mary known as “the Magnificat,” meaning “My soul magnified the Lord.” This was perpetual tense, meaning this was a habitual act. Such a prominent role as Mary was to play might cause some to exalt themselves. She exalted God.
She knew he was the Savior and she knew and acknowledged it.
Mary was in AWE of God. She exclaimed:
“My soul magnifies the Lord” (Luke 1: 46). This means her willful response was to be such as would enlarge the sphere of His faithfulness. She was going to let the Lord demonstrate His faithfulness to all people through her.
“My spirit has rejoiced….” In speaking of being persecuted for His sake Christ said: “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! (Luke 6:23).
Mary knowing something of the ridicule sure to follow that her soul did “rejoice.”
A modern transliteration is: “My spirit shall dance like David before the arc, shall leap, shall bound, shall rejoice in God my Savior.”
We don’t have a word to accurately depict what is meant by the word “dance” in this passage. The Irish word for it is “gilliard.” It was very similar to the movements of a ballerina. What ever form it took it was “as unto the Lord” and was an expression of joy found in God.
“My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,” she continued. This is aorist tense meaning a specific act related to the birth.
This, though said not sung, might well be considered the First Noel, that is, praise of the Lord regarding Christ’s birth.
She spoke of His:
POWER — “For He who is mighty has done great things for me,” (Luke 1:49).
When Christ was about to vacate planet Earth He said, “All power is given unto me…” Later He said, “You shall receive power…”
Jose’ Ortega y Gasset, one of the greatest Spanish writers noted: “Before long there will be heard throughout the planet a formidable cry rising like the howling of innumerable dogs to the stars asking for someone or something to take command.”
Jesus Christ is the one with such power and He is indeed coming to do exactly that.
HOLINESS — “holy is His name” (Vs. 49b). God is concerned about your holiness. He knows that only by your holiness can you be happy.
MERCY — “And His mercy is on those who fear Him From generation to generation” (Luke 1:50). Grace is God giving to us all the good things we need. Mercy is God protecting us from all the bad things we deserve.
REAPPRAISED VALUES — “He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has filled the hungry with good things, And the rich He has sent
away empty” (Luke 1: 51, 53). Herein, spiritual values are contrasted with physical possessions.
Elvis Presley once said he aspired to threethings: wealth, fame and happiness. Just weeks before his death he confessed he had achieved two of the three: wealth and fame, but happiness had eluded him. Happiness, actually the joy to the world spoken of doesn’t come from wealth or fame, but from knowing and doing God’s will. It comes from obedience like that expressed by Mary: “Let it be unto me according to your will.”
Mom the Model 5/9/99
II Kings 4:22-26
JESUS CHRIST chose to make His earthly entrance through a family circle. The Biblical record of what happened to Joseph after Christ’s childhood is incomplete. Evidently Joseph died before Jesus reached the age when He set out on His earthly public ministry. There is interplay between mother and Son however. They had an exchange at the wedding of Cana of Galilee. Their ultimate regard for each other was revealed on Calvary. Even in His agony He provided for His mother Mary by instructing His disciple John to look after her. Thus is revealed the high regard with which He held the role of mother. We should also.
One day a year mom is showered with gifts, cards, and flowers. It’s her day. In reality she is entitled to be treated as the queen of the home every day.
Mothers are models whether they know it or not. They are observed by their children and mentor their offsprings by example as well as precept.
We can learn much from Bible moms. Can you imagine comments coming from these little Bible sons:
“Abraham, stop wandering around the countryside and get home in time for dinner.”
“Cain, get up off your brother. You are going to kill him if you keep that up.”
“David, I told you not to play with that sling in the house. Now put it down and practice your harp. We pay good money for those lessons.”
“Samson, get your hand out of that lion’s mouth. You don’t know where it has been.”
“Noah, no you can’t keep them. I told you I don’t want you to bring home any more stray animals.”
“James and John, stop that burping contest at the table. If you keep that up people will call you the sons of thunder.”
“Judas, have you been in my purse again?”
There is a beautiful Biblical example of a good mother. Things are not always good BUT God is always good. This mom’s life was interrupted by a tragedy no mom desires.
Let’s recapitulate the Old Testament story as recorded in II Kings 4. An elderly Shunammite woman asked the man of God, Elisha, to pray for her to have a child. By the grace of God she conceived. The blessing of late-blooming motherhood brought her unusual joy. She and her elderly husband had joined God in the creation of a life that had an eternal destiny.
One day the child was working in the field with his father and was overcome with a headache. He was taken to his loving mother. She like all mothers had to serve as a living hospital. Great grief struck later in the day when the child unexpectedly died. Having waited late in life to have the child made the loss even more grievous.
Seeking consolation the sorrowing mother asked her husband if she could visit the man of God, Elisha. The answer of her husband was in effect, “Why, it isn’t time for church?” She knew one’s religious life not to be confined to special days but rather was a lifestyle.
When Elisha saw her chariot coming, he sent his servant, Gehazi, to greet her with three specific questions: “Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?” She answered, “It is well.”
How is it with you?
I. HOW IS IT WITH YOU AS A PERSON?
“Is it well with you?”
Only when things are right with you can they be right in all areas of your life.
Her only child was dead and this is her answer.
Her initial response was appropriate. When the child died, she was overwhelmed with pungent sorrow. I am glad this is noted in the Scripture. Christians have feelings also. When trials come it is only natural we should feel them. Sorrow comes to all. We need to learn from her how to respond. Her’s was not: DESPONDENT SORROW, REBELLIOUS SORROW, MURMURING SORROW, BUT SUBMISSIVE, AND SANCTIFYING SORROW.
She didn’t brood over her bereavement, nor nurse her grief. She didn’t indulge in the luxury of sorrow.
She turned to the Lord by seeking counsel from the man of God.
Our trials like hers are intended to achieve three ends:
1. To reveal the true character of the person.
2. To demonstrate the true nature of God.
3. To show what purpose the trial is designed to serve.
It is in our adversities we have the greatest opportunity to bear our most effective witness.
II. IS IT WELL WITH YOU AS A PARTNER?
“Is it well with your husband?”
The word “partner” implies being a part of the whole. In any partnership it is possible for there to be a breakdown in the fulfilling of the role by one or both partners. What is to be done in a marriage when there is a breakdown in a marriage by your partner? Faithfully fulfill your role regardless of the conduct of your partner. You are not responsible for your partner’s faithfulness — you are responsible for faithfully fulfilling your own role. She was cooperative. She asked her husband.
Assess your role. How are you doing? What changes need to be made? When will you begin making these changes?
Measure yourself by the standard of Proverbs 31: 10, 11 & 25 – 31.
III. HOW IS IT WITH YOU AS A PARENT?
“Is it well with the child?”
The role of parent is one of the most responsible in all of life. The office of mother is of inestimable importance.
One mother belatedly realizing the importance of the role of mother said:
“If I had my child to raise all over again,
I’d finger point less and finger paint more.
I’d do less correcting, and more connecting.
I’d take my eyes off my watch, and watch my eyes more.
I’d care to know less, and know to care more.
I’d do more hugging and less tugging.
I’d teach less about love of power,
And more about the power of love.”
The Father of our country, George Washington, said, “The greatest teacher I ever had was my mother.”
Abraham Lincoln noted, “No man is poor when he has a godly mother.”
Andrew Jackson astutely noted, “The memory of my mother and her teachings were the only capital I had to start life with, and on that capital I have made my way.”
Sir Winston Churchill commented, “If we want to change our nation, begin by enlisting the mothers.”
For more than half a century the Statue of Liberty has enlightened New York Harbor as a symbol of freedom. When the sculptor, Bartholdi, looked for a model, he chose his own mother. Many children are looking for a model and mom is the one chosen.
In Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian the same word “Madre” signifies mother, as well as a mold for casting. German and Danish establish the fact the word for mother is matrix, mold.
Mom can be a much more effective mold than environment or heredity. Harry and Ada Mae Day lived remotely in a four room adobe house. They were far from any school. About the only person they saw all week was the mail man. Ada Mae saved and subscribe to newspapers. Using them she home schooled their daughter Sandra. Soon her capacity outgrew her mother’s teaching capacity. They sent her to boarding school. She excelled academically and later graduated from Stanford. She, Sandra Day O’Conner became the first female Supreme Court Jurist. Her mother modeled excellence for her and helped mold her.
Ada Mae knew the principle of the proverb: “Through wisdom a house is built, And by understanding it is established” (Proverb 24:3)
In our complex society we have a great diversity of mothers.
There are “potential mothers.” I use this term to refer to every unmarried female. Your regard for the dignity of your own sexuality is to be commended. You honor your God by obeying His word and maintaining your virginity until marriage. In spite of the popular misnomer, it can be done. After giving a lecture on sexual abstinence until marriage in a public school, one lovely teen emotionally, privately said to the speaker, “I didn’t know it was OK not to have sex. I thought if you were normal, you had to. I am so relieved to know you don’t have to.” That is how misinformed our youth are as a result of the entertainment media painting on a canvas intended for the brush of God’s Word.
There are those dear “would be mothers” who have not been involved in giving physical birth to a child. This may be true for any one of a variety of reasons. For whatever the reason, many of these have found fulfillment in modeling the virtues of godly womanhood. They too are to be praised.
There are “birth mothers.” These are young women who have become pregnant out of wedlock. They have come to the realization that they are not socially, emotionally, physically, or financially able to provide properly for their child. In love they elect to let their baby be adopted by loving parents who can better care for the infant. This is an act of great love on behalf of the birth mother.
By electing not to abort her child and to give it birth these young women have let a blessing grow out of a burden.
There are “traditional mothers.” A traditional mom is one who in marriage has joined with her husband in creating a life that has an eternal destiny.
Being a mother is one of life’s greatest blessings and biggest challenges. She is a living encyclopedia who is expected to know Hank Aaron’s batting average, how to tie a square knot, and where last Sunday’s comics are. She is expected to know where the sun goes at night, how jet propulsion works, the chief export of Zimbabwe, and where baby kittens come from.
She is a master mechanic who knows how to get a pants leg out of a bicycle chain and make an electric train back up without blowing a fuse. She can repair anything with Scotch tape and a paper clip.
She is a walking clinic in which splinters and loose teeth can be removed painlessly, an earache can be stopped in the middle of the night. AND she can cure chicken pox in time for the fourth grade picnic.
It is as a detective she fulfills her role best. She can find the missing mate to every pair of socks. When the flashlight, scissors, or comb disappears, she can find them before anyone confesses to the crime.
Mother’s are the wealthiest people in town. She is rich in pride when her teenager offers to mow the neighbor’s yard free when he is sick. She is rich with pride when her Little Leaguer insists on playing even with a sprained finger rather than let the team down. She is rich with pride as she watches her daughter tenderly tuck her doll into bed; she hopes her child will know the happiness of being a mother that she knows.
At birth a mother has placed in her hands a miniature human being who is a candidate for a personality. She, perhaps more than any other person, will imprint that young life with a system of values.
Mom’s even have their own glossary of terms in which they define from their perspective certain terms:
EAT: What children do between meals but rarely at meals.
EAR: Where children store dirt.
ENERGY: What children have too much of when there is nothing to do and none of when there is something to be done.
EXCUSE ME: A mother’s favorite expression allegedly used by children of previous generations.
CHINA: A mystical land allegedly populated by children who like left over vegetables.
CAR POOL: A system of transporting children usually assigned to a mom when the greatest distance is to be traveled with the most children who have had the most sugar.
One sign of national prosperity mentioned in scripture is, “Boys and girls playing in the streets”, Zechariah 8:5. We lack that. Threats of molesters and drug pushers make our streets unsafe. Make your home a place of play.
The process of training up a child in the way it should go must begin at birth. There is a tendency for the old sin nature to assert itself. “As soon as they are born,” says Psalm 58:3, “they “go astray, speaking lies.”
Teach your child “to choose the good and refuse the evil.” (Isaiah 7:l6). Train your child to look on both sides of a statement or issue by asking, “Where did this come from?” and “Where is this leading?” Does it have a Bible base and will it lead to results pleasing God?
Remove obstacles that might hinder your child. The first time one of our grandchildren came for a visit was memorable. I came home to find an antiseptic house. All decorative appointments were packed and anything not nailed down or weighing over l00 pounds was stored. Cabinet doors were secured with clever catches that would challenge a NASA scientist.
Remove improper TV, books, speech and habits.
Comfort your child. God wants you to set an example even He can follow. He said, “As one whom His mother comforteth, I will comfort you.” (Isaiah 66:13).
Every woman still engaged in mothering should rejoice to stop and ask of herself, “How is it with my child?”
For it to be right with the child, she must be able to give the right answer to the question, “How is it with you?”
She and her husband both need to ask, “How is it with my partner?”
How is it with your God? The answer to this question colors the responses to the others. Does your household know by profession and practice it is well between you and the Lord?
Not only do mothers need to answer this last question, husbands and children need to also.
As a child, you need to give your mother the assurance it is well with you and your Heavenly Father by making public your faith in Jesus Christ.
As a husband, you need to give your wife the confidence it is well between you two by making it right with your Heavenly Father.
A Memorial to the Foundations 5/30/99
“If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?” Psalm 11:3
Jesus Christ, with His crucifixion imminent, was dining in Bethany when a member of the dinner party anointed His feet with an expensive ointment and wiped them with her hair. The gift of the ointment was expensive but the wiping with her hair was expressive. A woman’s hair is her glory. If you don’t believe it try to interfere with her appointment at the beauty salon.
Jesus said, “Wherever this gospel is preached throughout the whole world, what this woman did will also be spoken of as a memorial to her” (Mark 14: 9).
A memorial is a testimony and tribute to something or someone noteworthy. Go on the Web and look for the heading “Memorial Day” and you will find a variety of headings, such as, Viet Nam Memorial,” “Beirut Memorial,” and a variety of others.
Our nation has a memorial day designated to honor those persons who have given their lives in defense of their country. The origin of the day is obscure. Some say it began on Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, some Columbus, Mississippi, others on Belle Island, in the St. James River, near Richmond, Virginia.
In 1966 the U.S. Government declared Waterloo, New York to have been the birth place of Memorial Day, May 5, 1865.
In his inimitable manner Henry Wordsworth Longfellow wrote of the graves of those killed in battle:
“Your silent tents of green
We deck with fragrant flowers;
Your’s has the suffering been,
The memory shall be ours.”
We have faint memories when it comes to recalling the values and virtues for which our country formerly stood. The Psalmist posed an intriguing question when he asked: “If the foundations are destroyed what can the righteous do?”
I. FOUNDATIONAL CONCEPTS
Unless we remember some of the primary concepts inherent in our culture the culture is in danger of degeneration. Most of the foundational virtues and values upon which our nation was built are now under attack.
WHO WE ARE is under attack. Evolutionary thought that we originated from green slime in a primordial swamp gives not dignity to humankind. The reality you were created in the image of and by a loving God gives dignity and self-worth.
We are told we are nothing but animals. God told us to have dominion over animals.
We are told we are only machines programmed to make automatic responses to external stimuli. The Bible says we were created by God and given a free will.
Methodically the foundations are being destroyed. Revisionist historians are presenting a skewed misrepresentation of our past. Biographers are increasingly hostile to their subjects dredging up any negative and exploiting it. Social scientists stridently assert that human beings are products of their genes and environment.
Secularism professes human beings are self- sufficient and have no need of God.
Many in the art and literary communities repudiate structure, form, and conventional values.
The media creates the impression sleaze is everywhere, that nothing is sacred, that no one is noble, and that there are no heroes. There are 81 TV sets per 100 Americans and the average set is on eight hours a day. Actors, actresses, supermodels, and musicians are no longer simply entertainers. They are treated as philosophers, theologians, deities telling us what values we should have.
Their immoral life style is advocated as the norm. The freedom allowed by cohabitation is to be preferred to the commitment marriage requires. They fail to tell the whole story as revealed by unbiased studies. When a mother and her boy friend live together the child is 33 times more likely to be abused. When the parents are unmarried the child is 20 times more likely to be abused.
If a couple lives together before they marry they are 46 times more likely to divorce than those who live morally.
Living together before marriage is divorce training.
Numerous studies confirm that couples who live together before marriage have a lower level of happiness and well-being than married couples.
The foundation of the church is constantly under attack. Tragedy of tragedy that it is often from within as clergy disgrace their office and abandon sound teaching in search for what the people want.
A leading personality in America wept recently (George Gallop) when he said of his denomination (Episcopal) “We have lost our denomination and can’t get it back. Because of the structure of the denomination it has fallen into the hands of liberal theologians and there is nothing we can do about it.”
That can be said of more than one denomination. It can be said of many churches in all denominations.
Much of the decline in the dynamic of the churches in America has been caused by ministers who don’t teach\preach God’s Word. H. Richard Niebuhr commented the faith of many is weak because: “It preaches that a God without wrath brought man without sin, into a kingdom without judgement through the ministration of a Christ without a cross.”
Materialism has become an effective means of destroying the foundations of righteousness.
Years ago Rousseau expressed it well in explaining the mood of street life in Paris. One of his heros said: “I’m beginning to feel the drunkenness that this agitated, tumultuous life plunges you into. With such a multitude of objects passing before my eyes, I’m getting dizzy. Of all the things that strike me, there is none that holds my heart, yet all of them together disturb my feelings, so that I forget what I am and who I belong to.” (Cox, “Religion in the Secular City”)
What are we to do?
II. FRAUDULENT COUNCIL
The first advice given the Psalmist is: “Flee as a bird to your mountain. For look! The wicked bend their bow, They make ready their arrow on the string, That they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart” (Psalm 11: 1, 2).
Psalm 11: 2 depicts the stealth assault to which believers are subjected.
Their tongue is bent like a bow and their words are “arrows” against the bow string. They seek to replace God’s law and justice with human autonomy and its resultant spiritual anarchy.
Let’s escape. Ignore it. Look the other way. There is nothing you can do about it.
U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia made remarkable comments to the Christian Legal Society at the Mississippi School of Law. He said, “Being a Christian means holding values the world will count as foolish.”
Did you notice who said it? A member of the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Scalia. Did you notice what he said? He didn’t say Christian values are foolish. To the contrary, he thinks they are correct. He said the world will count them as foolish.
Scalia warned that those who believe in the transcendent moral order and power of God that raised Jesus from the dead must be prepared for derision.
Justice Scalia illustrated his point by referring to Sir Thomas More, a noted English author and statesman during the reign of King Henry VIII. When Henry VIII announced he was going to divorce Catherine of Aragon and appoint himself head of an independent Britain Sir Thomas More refused to endorse the acts. He refused to compromise his convictions and resigned his post as Lord Chancellor of England. Henry VIII, a most worldly king, said of More and his Christian convictions, “That’s foolish,” and beheaded Sir Thomas More.
More did not flee he stood by his convictions. Justice Scalia’s critics proved him right about the world calling a person’s Christian convictions foolish. They demanded he resign from the court for holding such views.
III. FAVORABLE CONDUCT
The Psalmist offers three insights.
A. “In the Lord I will put my trust” (Vs. 1).
“The Lord is in His holy temple … His eyes behold the children of men…” (Vs. 4).
Go to the Lord in worship and prayer. He will enable you to gain strength to rebuild the foundations of your life.
A Harvard professor who is a Christian warned his students: “If you do not pray daily, one day you will have to learn how to pray.”
B. “His soul hates him that loves violence” (Vs. 5).
By the time the average American youth reaches the age of 18 he or she has seen over 18,000 acts of violence depicted on TV. Like the drip, drip, drip on a stone it gradually erodes the fabric of our society until it becomes the norm.
There is a stage of adolescent development known as the cognitive stage. In the word cognitive can be heard the word “cog.” Cogs lit together and result in productivity. During this stage of development a person learns to compute according to what they have learned. They learn to put the pieces together, to reason. When they have been fed a diet of violence it seems right. Teens of today are the same as they have been for every era. They tend to think the world focuses on them, what they wear and how they look. They form gangs into which to retreat and hang out. They seek to prove themselves. They fail to see the consequence of their actions. The school is the common ground where all these forces come to play.
Let me illustrate how influential the media is. A little boy in Ethiopia listened to a short wave radio account of an Olympic runner winning his race. That simple single message inspired him to sacrifice everything to become the greatest distance runner in the world and win his gold medal in Atlanta. If Haile Gebrselassie was so inspired by a short wave broadcast what influence is the media having on our youth. If a ten second spot can inspire people to purchase worthless products, then the pervasive violence on TV is having a tremendous impact on 77 million children turning into teenagers.
A corollary to God hating violence is His demand for justice. In his Second Inaugural address President Lincoln said, “The Almighty has His own purposes: ‘Woe unto the world because of offenses! For it must be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh …. as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, ‘the judgements of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether.’”
Cease to do violence!
C. “The Lord loves righteousness” (Vs. 7).
The starting point is with Jesus Christ.
If the foundations be destroyed what shall the righteous do? They must do what the Lord loves —- righteousness.
What does a basketball player do? He plays basketball.
What does a printer do? He prints.
They do what is inherent in their profession.
The righteous are to do what is becoming of their profession.
I contend we are each living a memorial to our self. Three things reveal our true values.
One is our calendar. Study your calendar and let it tell you what you think of our Lord and righteous deeds. Does your schedule reveal time reserved daily to spend time alone with Him in prayer and Bible study? What does your Sunday calendar reveal regarding your devotion to Him?
A second is your check book. In what are you investing. What support to you give to righteous causes? Is it a “me” centered check book or a Christ centered one revealing spiritual interests?
A third is your Bible. What does it reveal by its wear or lack of wear? Does it show signs of use?
John the disciple of Christ was called “Camel Knees.” His knees supposedly had callouses like those of a camel from kneeling so often in prayer.
Your membership involvement is a memorial to you. In what are you involved? How involved are you in the body of Christ?
Memorial Day is a day to pay tribute to those who gave their lives for us. In the eternal spiritual warfare Christ gave his life for us. What gratitude are you showing? What is your memorial to His victory won at Calvary?
The foundations of any nation can be destroyed. But there is one indestructible foundation on which
life can be built.
“No other foundation can any man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (I Corinthians 3: 11).
He can enable a person to live properly on their way to that city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10).
Mary: A Consenting Plodder 9/26/99
Luke 1:30, 31, 37 & 38
Jesus Christ in choosing to come to earth to rescue the eminently imperfect human race elected a unique portal to this planet. His purpose in coming was to make peace between God Almighty and us. To achieve this He had to be equal to both of the estranged parties: God and human beings. This necessitated the virgin birth involving the Holy Spirit and a young virgin girl from a remote peasant village named Mary.
Mary is a peerless pattern of a purposeful plodder.
The term plodder is used in a complementary way to speak of people who chart their course and don’t deviate. They know where they are going and intuitively they know they are going there.
No matter who you are or what you do there are times in the lives of virtually everyone when tempted to quit; just give up. It happens to everyone. Great achievers are those who have come to those points and kept plodding full speed ahead.
You like most people may not have a bonfire of zeal burning in your soul at all times. Just be sure you keep the pilot-light lit so at the right moment you can turn up the heat.
Equally talented and wise persons who have come to that point and quit have littered the playing field of life with unrequited ability. They have left undone what their higher calling demanded of them. Unfinished tasks are a monument to what might have been.
The saddest words on tongue or pen are these — it might have been!
Perseverance is the pavement on which the wheels of progress turn most productively.
Quitters never win and winners never quit.
Living effectively and enjoyably for Christ demands perseverance; perpetual plodding. Fits of herkey-jerkey, starts-and-stops do nothing to honor Him or add to the joy of the Christian life. A long obedience in the same direction.
Friedrich Nietzche, by no means a philosophical moral model, nevertheless shared a classic challenge to consistency in his book Beyond Good and Evil:
“The essential thing ‘in heaven and earth,’ is…that there should be a long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living.”
When you have a dream, a concept, you are persuaded is of the Lord, commit yourself to it regardless of the odds.
“Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass” (Psalm 37: 5).
A modern English translation makes it even clearer: “Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him to help you do it and He will.”
If you have the conviction that what you are about to do is of the Lord: eye it, buy it, and try it. That is, make your commitment even before you solve all the problems. Personally be sold on the idea and then be willing to pay the price of persistence.
Realize that if a concept is of the Lord and you drop the ball you will have shown disrespect of the Lord by spoiling one of His ideas.
If you say you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ make a commitment. Belief always calls for commitment and commitment always calls for disciplined perseverance. If you have an idea you are convinced is of the Lord make a commitment and engage in the discipline necessary to fulfill it.
You like everyone else have great ideas. Who is your worst opponent, the one who kills more of your good ideas than anyone? Take a look in the mirror and you will find your answer. The missing ingredient is often follow-through, the failure to keep plodding.
Inspiration is derived from secular current events as well as Biblical lives.
Albert Schweitzer, a virtual genius with three graduate degrees started a hospital in the jungle. One day he asked a local with whom he had been working to bring in some fire wood. The young man had been learning to read and write and replied, “I’d like to, sir, but it’s beneath my dignity. I am a scholar – and intellectual.”
Schweitzer chuckled and said, “I’ve always wanted to be an intellectual too, but never quite made it, so I’ll carry the wood!” He went out and did it. Commitment is never beneath the dignity of a plodder.
Plodders persevere when faced with adversity and defeat. Consider the life of Winston.
A Scottish farmer was out walking one day when he heard the desperate cry of a young boy. The call for help was coming from a nearby bog. The farmer ran to offer help. He found the boy bogged down up to his waste in the thick mud and sinking even deeper. He extended his staff to the boy and pulled him to safety. Remember that mud caked boy you will meet him again in a moment.
The next day a carriage drawn by beautiful horses pulled up to the farm house. An elegantly dressed man emerged and in the moments that followed offered to reward the Scotsman, who refused.
During the conversation the farmer’s son came out of the house. (Keep the son of the farmer in mind. You will meet him again also.)
Seeing the lad the nobleman made the Scotsman an offer: “Let me take your son and give him a good education. If the lad is anything like his father, he’ll grow into a man you can be proud of.” The offer was accepted and agreed upon with a hand shake.
Now the two boys! With the passing of time the Scotsman’s son graduated from St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School, London. He later became known globally as Sir Alexander Fleming, the renowned discover of penicillin.
The mud caked son of the nobleman was Winston Churchill. He first distinguished himself in the Boer War in 1899. As a brave 25 year old he made a spectacular escape form captivity. A fellow officer writing to congratulate him predicted he would someday be prime minister of England. In part he wrote, “You possess the two necessary qualifications; genius and plod. Combined I believe nothing can keep them back.” One without the other would have kept him back. His route to that eminent office required plodding.
As first lord of the admiralty he was unfairly made the scapegoat in the Dardanelles fiasco in 1915, where 200,000 persons died in battle. His officers refused to obey his commands and lost the battle.
He became a writer and survived from royalty check to royalty check. But he kept plodding to become one of the greatest British authors.
Later in his political career he suffered two major defeats.
Five years after being elected he was un out of office because of economic reversals. From 1932 to 1940 his party was out of power and he without influence. He became absorbed with the conduct of an emerging German leader Adolph Hitler. In 1933 he made his first speech warning of Hitler’s threat to freedom. Churchill was branded a fanatic and warmonger.
He suffered deep depression which he called his “black dog.”
On the eventful morning Hitler amassed two million troops along the borders of Belgium and Holland the British began to look for a leader. Churchill was named First Lord of the Administration and days later Prime Minister. At age 66 he was prepared to lead Great Britain to their finest hour.
He infused his burning persistence into the soul of the nation. His gift of plod was contagious in the life of his countrymen. It turned their despair into hope.
In one of the darkest hours of the war he addressed his nation by radio with these inspiring Words: “We shall go to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender.”
That dogged determination is needed in the spiritual arenas of our lives. With it more spiritual conquest would be enjoyed.
This man gifted with genius and plod was stricken with pneumonia at the height of the crisis. In those days it was most often fatal. His life was sparred by a new miracle drug.
Flashback! Remember it was young Winston who was pulled from the bog by the Scottish farmer. Enter the farmer’s son educated by Churchill’s father, Sir Alexander Fleming. He administered his new drug called penicillin and the life of Sir Winston Churchill was spared. The son of the man who saved young Winston from the bog became the doctor who saved his life from pneumonia.
The gift of plod lifted the cause of freedom over the tarantelle powers of despotism fostered by Hitler.
Dr. Beck Weathers is an example of a pursuant plodder. On May 10, 1996 a violent storm swept over Mt. Everest buffeting the thirty adventurers who were descending from the mountain’s summit. The heavy snow and hurricane force winds caught them off guard. Within 24 hours eight of the climbers were dead.
Among the climbers severely injured by the spring storm was Dr. Seaborn Beck Weathers, a forty- nine year old amateur climber. Lying unconscious and exposed on the mountain’s icy rocks he had been left for dead.
The next morning, after the storm had passed, he awoke dazed and badly injured. His vision was impaired and he could see only three or four feet. His hands were badly frostbitten and he had no feeling in his feet. It’s his story let’s let him tell it:
“I was lying on my back in the ice. It was colder than anything you can believe. I figured I had three or four hours to live, so I started walking. All I knew was, as long as my legs would run, and I could stand up, I was going to keep moving toward that camp, and if I fell down, I was going to get up. And if I fell down again, I was going to get up, and I was going to keep moving until I either hit that camp or I couldn’t get up at all, or I walked off the face of that mountain.”
Dr. Weathers, a gifted surgeon, lost his right hand to frostbite, and part of his left as well. Though he lost his hands he never lost hope. He literally kept on plodding.
You may be experiencing your own icy storm and be tempted to give up. Don’t! Like Dr. Weathers keep on plodding toward your God given goal.
Now consider with me one of the most admirable of Bible plodders. We first meet her in the village of cave dwellers called Nazareth. The historian Josephus list over 200 settlements in Galilee. Nazareth was so small and undeveloped it was not included. Excavations reveal it to have been the habitat of cave dwellers. In a private moment Mary was startled by the appearance of an angel.
“Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS” (Luke 1:30,31).
As a young woman she knew the punishment for pregnancy outside of marriage was death by stoning. She being a virgin asked a logical question, “How can this be?” A tremor must have gone through her when the angel said to her:
“And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).
Knowing the mentality of most youth today if Mary had responded as they might she would have said, “Yeah, right! Whose going to believe that?”
Not this plodder. By angelic revelation she had first to eye it. Then she had to buy it. Immediately her response indicated she was willing to try it as she replied: “Then Mary said, ‘Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word’” (Luke 1:38).
She was a consenting plodder. Her Son, our Savior, would later pray a similar prayer in Gethsamene, “Not my will, but thy will be done.”
Belief always calls for commitment and commitment requires disciplined perseverance. Mary, a classic plodder, made her commitment and engaged in disciplined perseverance.
Logic fills in some blanks in Scripture. After the birth of Jesus Joseph isn’t heard of. At the wedding in Cana of Galilee Mary is there but Joseph isn’t. No civil wife would have dared to go to such a social event without her husband if he were living. Evidently Joseph had died. However, before his death he and Mary had other children. They are named in Matthew 13:55.
As a single parent she kept plodding along in an environment alien to easy child rearing. Some of the world’s greatest plodders have been and are parents who have faithfully reared their children without spousal support.
To such persons who may be weary and overburdened to the point of being fatigued and inclined to compromise —- don’t. Mary didn’t. She kept plodding and the Lord honored.
Jesus Christ was the God\man-man\God. As God, Immanuel, He subjected Himself to human limitations regarding His own person. He emptied Himself and became obedient to human limitations. The only time He used His supernatural powers was for the benefit of others. As an infant, child, and youth He was the earthly child of Mary. His early years are summed up;
“And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52).
Mary was involved with cultivating the young Jesus and saw to it that He developed a balanced life.
He grew in wisdom – intellectually,
Statue – physically,
Favor with God – spiritually,
and men — socially.
Certain things are known about her that help our understanding of what a model mother she was.
Theirs was a poor family. At the birth of Christ Mary and Joseph gave the sacrifice of a pair of pigeons, the gift of the poor.
She gave Him an unpretentious earthly home, the only one He knew. In that home were modeled character-forming influences.
Mary descriptively spoke of herself as “the handmaid of the Lord.” What a beautiful concept. He servant temperament was ever evident.
Gabriel had told her, “the Lord is with thee.” She lived with an awareness of His divine presence. To her God was not a supernatural being remote and uninvolved with her. He was ever present.
Obedience was a trait of Mary revealed at the time of the birth announcement. She modeled it to her household. A child who will not obey his or her parents will not obey God. Children are more likely to obey their parents if they see their parents obeying God. If the parent is willing to put self under authority the child is much more likely to put himself under the authority of the parent.
Restricting Himself to human limitations the child Christ had to learn. What He learned is evidenced by His knowledge of Scripture. He was evidently taught it in the home. The home should still be the primary place of instruction.
Later in life Jesus is depicted as going to the synagogue “as was His custom.” He was taught that divine worship was proper.
Next, let’s look in on this plodder at the wedding of Cana of Galilee. A need arises at this festive social gathering and Mary asked Jesus to supply the need. His response to her seems to our western ear harsh. Nevertheless, she turns to the servants and says, “Whatever he says to you, do it” (John 1: 5).
She was compliant and called on others to comply.
Fast forward to one of our last glimpses of Mary. Her son hangs before her on a cross. He is falsely accused of making a bogus claim that He is the Son of God.
Mary was either the most heartless mother to ever live or the most heartbroken. If the story of the virgin birth were a lie she is willfully letting her son die because of her youthful lie. It was no lie and she of all people knew it to be true. She had no doubt as to who He was. She knew Him to be the virgin born Son of God.
At the announcement of His pending birth she had sung: “My soul Magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior” (Luke 1: 46).
This compliant mother who had faithfully plodded all of life’s journey with her child, the Son of God, is compliant and suffers her grief at the cross knowing she can truly say He is “God my Savior.”