Audience of One

Sunday December 28, 2014

As a preacher, I´m rightly concerned with the content of each of my Sunday Sermons. I must confess, however, that I can fall into the trap of being overly concerned with what people think of my message -- not whether or not the message is clearly understood or whether the people and the Lord Himself are blessed by what I say. I can become more concerned with the goal of having church members like what I say and approve of my message. Sometimes a furrowed brow in the congregation, especially from someone I know and respect spiritually, can seriously interrupt my flow and cause me no small amount of consternation.

In 2 Samuel 6, David didn´t dabble in such self-obsession as he danced "with all his might" before the ark (v. 14). His behaviour wasn´t becoming for a king, nor was it in keeping with the character of a mighty warrior. ("Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands!" the people sang in 1 Samuel 18:7). Mighty warriors and kings simply didn´t behave so passionately, so exuberantly in front of their subjects. What must his generals have thought?

But David danced before God "with all his might", because God is worthy of all our worship, and He demands our all. The writer of the great hymn "When I survey the Wondrous Cross" put it perfectly : "Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all". Likewise, in John 7:1-52, we read of Jesus passionately doing what His Father wanted Him to do. His family, the Jews, the multitude and the Pharisees all turned on Him! But He pressed on, despite their sniping words and physical attacks. Only His Father´s opinion really mattered. May that also be true of us as we passionately serve our audience of One. - Russell Fralick

Read
2 Samuel 6:12-23
Now King David was told, "The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God." So David went down and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.
As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.
They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord. After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty. Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.
When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!"
David said to Michal, "It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord´s people Israel -- I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor."
And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.

Philippians 1:21
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Question to Ponder
How does pride sometimes prevent us from truly worshipping God?
Why are we sometimes held back by opinions of others?
What can we do about that?

**Article taken from ODJ (Our Daily Bread with God) Dec 2014 - Feb 2015 issue

Stirring, Searching, Humbling

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Christmas cards and nativity scenes depict the wise men visiting the Christ-child. But I think the story is bigger than the way it´s presented. The wise men´s journey is also a pattern for our spiritual journey.

"We saw his star," the astrologer-astronomers said (Matthew 2:2). That star, sent by God, initiated their quest to find Him. Like them, I believe our own spiritual journeys begin with such a stirring (John 6:44) - perhaps through a crisis or just a sense that there must be more to life than this.

"We saw his star," they say, "and we have come." After the stirring comes a searching. And what a search the wise men made! They may have travelled by foot for nearly a year to get to Jerusalem. What´s more, upon arrival, they had to go against the directives of a Roman-appointed king known for his brutality (Matthew 2:7-16). Few of us today pay such a price to search for God. But people still search, even if it´s just by buying a self-help book promising the secret to finding "something more".

We "have come to worship him". After the stirring and the searching comes a humbling. In a defiant act against the Herod (the self-proclaimed "King of the Jews"), their Persian kings (traditionally crowned "Kings of Kings") and their religion, the wise men bowed to Jesus (v. 11).

This final stage of the journey for us is a key, as it judges the results of our search. Does the spirituality we find call us to self-fulfillment alone, or to self-surrender? Does it lead us to ourselves or to Someone greater? Does it cause us to worship humanity or to bow before God?

I´m convinced that if our spirituality doesn´t cause us to bow to Jesus, who the wise men found, it´s not big enough to accept. - Sheridan Voysey

Read
Matthew 2:1-12
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people´s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written :

'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rules of Judah;

for out of you will come a ruler

who will be the shepherd of my people Israel' "

Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

John 13:12-17

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also should wash one another´s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them."

Question to Ponder

Can you see your spiritual journey in the wise men´s story?
How can their account help us better understand today´s spiritual seekers`

**Article taken from ODJ (Our Daily Journey with God) Dec 2014 - Feb 2015 issue