Pastoral Resources

Cornell University’s Urie Bronfenbrenner cites nine specific changes that have taken place during the past generation which have increasingly separated children and youth from the world of adults, especially the adults in their own families:

1. Fathers’ vocational choices which remove them from the home for lengthy periods of time

2. An increase in the number of working mothers

3. A critical escalation in the divorce rate

4. A rapid increase in single-parent families

5. A steady decline in the extended family

6. The evolution of the physical environment of the home (family rooms, playrooms and master bedrooms)

7. The replacement of adults by the peer group

8. The isolation of children from the work world

9. The insulation of schools from the rest of society

This last factor has caused Bronfenbrenner to describe the current U.S. educational system as “one of the most potent breeding grounds for alienation in American society.” When he wrote these words in 1974, this trend toward isolation was in full swing, and it has not been significantly checked since that time.

A frantic mother called her pastor one day. She was experiencing a bad case of "nerves" as so many of us do. He thought he heard a child's voice while she was speaking, so he asked, "Is your child as upset and worried as you are?" "No, of course not," she replied. "But why not?" persisted the pastor. "I suppose she puts her trust in me and lets me do the worrying," she answered. "Then make a transference. Try to think of yourself as a child of God and, just as your child puts her trust in you, put your trust in God."

60% of all divorces involve children. Approximately 1,000,000 children each year are affected by divorce.”

1. Day care during infancy is associated with “deviations” in the expected course of emotional development.

2. Infants placed in twenty or more hours of day care per week avoid their mothers and are insecurely attached; some have attachment problems with both mothers and fathers.

3. Children placed in day care receive less adult attention, communicate less, receive and display less affection, are more aggressive, and are less responsive to adults.

4. Compared with children who were cared for by their mothers as preschoolers, third-graders who were placed in day care as preschoolers are viewed more negatively by their peers, have lower academic grades, and demonstrate poorer study skills.

Now there’s evidence based on interviews with children and grandparents that children need their grandparents and vice-versa. The study shows that the bond between grandparents and grandchildren is second in emotional power and influence only to the relationship between parents and children. Grandparents affect the lives of their grandchildren, for good or ill, simply because they exist. Unfortunately, a lot of grandparents ignore the fact, to the emotional deprivation of the young.

Of the children studied, only five percent reported close, regular contact with at least one grandparent. The vast majority see their grandparents only infrequently, not because they live too far away, but because the grandparents have chosen to remain emotionally distant. These children appear to be hurt, angry, and very perceptive about their grandparents. One of them said, “I’m just a charm on grandma’s bracelet.”

Positive roles that grandparents play are caretaker, storyteller, family historian, mentor, wizard, confidant, negotiator between child and parent, and model for the child’s own old age. When a child has a strong emotional tie to a grandparent, he enjoys a kind of immunity—he doesn’t have to perform for grandparents the way he must for his parents, peers and teacher. The love of grandparents comes with no behavioral strings attached. The emotional conflicts that often occur naturally between children and parents do not exist between grandparents and grandchildren.

Even that first famous Adams generation (children of 2nd president John Adams, 1735-1826) had more than its share of black sheep.

John and Abigail’s eldest child, Abigail, married a wastrel and at her death left her children to their care.

Son Charles married the sister of his spendthrift brother-in-law, dissipated family funds, died of alcoholism and left his widow to the care of his parents.

Son Thomas Boylston also became an alcoholic, again bequeathing his children to the care of the family.

Though John Quincy (1767-1848) turned out well, he and his unhappy wife Louisa hardly went unscathed. Their first son was an alcoholic and committed suicide at the age of 31. Their next son was expelled from college, failed in business and died of an alcohol-related illness. Only their youngest son, Charles Francis (1807-86), reacted against the family pattern by his exemplary sobriety, his prudence in business and fervent dedication to his wife and children. He spent years writing the biography and editing the words of his grandfather John Adams. But he concluded, “The history of my family is not a pleasant one to remember. It is one of great triumphs in the world but of deep groans within, one of extraordinary brilliancy and deep corroding mortification.”

This is a term used to describe the effect of Adam’s sin on his descendants (Rom. 5:12-23). Specifically, it is our inheritance of a sinful nature from Adam. The sinful nature originated with Adam and is passed down from parent to child. We are by nature children of wrath (Eph. 3:2).

In 1212 a French shepherd boy by the name of Steven claimed that Jesus had appeared to him disguised as a pilgrim. Supposedly, Jesus instructed him to take a letter to the king of France. This poor, misguided boy told everyone he saw about what he thought he had encountered. Before long he had gathered a large following of more than thirty thousand children who accompanied him on his pilgrimage. As Philip Schaff records it, when asked where they were going, they replied, “We go to God, and seek for the holy cross beyond the sea.” They reached Marseilles, but the waves did not part and let them go through dry-shod as they expected.

It was at Marseilles that tragedy occurred. The children met two men, Hugo Ferreus and William Porcus. The men claimed to be so impressed with the calling of the children that they offered to transport them across the Mediterranean in seven ships without charge. What the children didn’t know was that the two men were slave traders. The children boarded the ships and the journey began, but instead of setting sail for the Holy Land they set course for North Africa, “where they were sold as slaves in the Muslim markets that did a large business in the buying and selling of human being. Few if any returned. None ever reached the Holy Land.” Two cunning men enjoyed enormous financial profits simply because they were willing to sacrifice the lives of thousands of children.

When Jim Burke became the head of a new products division at Johnson & Johnson, one of his first projects was the development of a children’s chest rub. The product failed miserably, and Burke expected that he would be fired. When he was called in to see the chairman of the board, however, he met a surprising reception.

“Are you the one who just cost us all that money?” asked Robert Wood Johnson. “Well I just want to congratulate you. If you are making mistakes, that means you are taking risks, and we won’t grow unless you take risks.”

Some years later, when Burke himself became chairman of J&J, he continued to spread that word.

When the 10-year-olds in Mrs. Imogene Frost’s class at the Brookside, N.J. Community Sunday School expressed their views of “What’s wrong with grownups?” they came up with these complaints:

1. Grownups make promises, then they forget all about them, or else they say it wasn’t really a promise, just a maybe.

2. Grownups don’t do the things they’re always telling the children to do—like pick up their things, or be neat, or always tell the truth.

3. Grownups never really listen to what children have to say. They always decide ahead of time what they’re going to answer.

4. Grownups make mistakes, but they won’t admit them. They always pretend that they weren’t mistakes at all—or that somebody else made them.

5. Grownups interrupt children all the time and think nothing of it. If a child interrupts a grownup, he gets a scolding or something worse.

6. Grownups never understand how much children want a certain thing—a certain color or shape or size. If it’s something they don’t admire—even if the children have spent their own money for it—they always say, “I can’t imagine what you want with that old thing!”

7. Sometimes grownups punish children unfairly. It isn’t right if you’ve done just some little thing wrong and grownups take away something that means an awful lot to you. Other times you can do something really bad and they say they’re going to punish you, but they don’t. You never know, and you ought to know.

8. Grownups are always talking about what they did and what they knew when they were 10 years old—but they never try to think what it’s like to be 10 years old right now.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University reported that 30 years ago, the greatest fears of grade school children were: 1) Animals, 2) Being in a dark room, 3) High places, 4) Strangers, 5) Loud noises.

Today, kids are afraid of the following: 1) Divorce, 2) Nuclear war, 3) Cancer, 4) Pollution, 5) Being mugged.

Judith Rich Harris received the 1998 APA (American Psychological Association) scholarly award for her work in challenging the idea that parents are the primary influence on their children’s personalities. The following is excerpted from an APA Monitor article, Vol. 29, No. 10, page 9:

She [Harris] said her thorough review of the evidence reveals that parents, contrary to nearly a century of scientific doctrine, have no lasting effects on the personality, intelligence or mental health of their offspring….

So who does have the biggest impact on our personalities, if not Mom and Dad? According to Harris, children are most influenced by their peers—the people who tell them in the classroom, on the ball field or at parties just how well they’re fitting in. Children adopt certain behaviors in social venues in order to win acceptance from their peers, she says. And it’s those behaviors outside the home that remain steadfast through adulthood, she contends.

Dear God, I know you love me but I wish you would give me an “A” on my report card so I could be sure. Love, Theresa. (Age 8, Milwaukee)

Dear Pastor, Could you say a special blessing for my Aunt Beatrice? She has been looking for a husband for 12 years and still hasn’t found one. Yours sincerely, Debbie. (Age 9, Duluth)

Dear Pastor, Do I have to say grace before every meal? Even when I am only having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Wesley. (Age 9, Baltimore)

Dear Pastor, Thank you for your sermon on Sunday. I will write more when my mother explains to me what you said. Yours truly, Justin. (Age 9, Westport)

Dear Pastor, Please pray for all the airline pilots. I am flying to California tomorrow. Laurie. (Age 10, New York City)

Dear Pastor, We say grace every night before we eat dinner even when we have leftovers from the night before. Yours truly, Jacki. (Age 9, Chicago)

Dear Pastor, I say my prayer before I eat my supper but my mother still makes me finish my spinach and drink my milk. Julie. (Age 9, Buffalo)

During China’s Boxer Rebellion of 1900, insurgents captured a mission station, blocked all the gates but one, and in front of that one gate placed a cross flat on the ground. Then the word was passed to those inside that any who trampled the cross underfoot would be permitted their freedom and life, but that any refusing would be shot. Terribly frightened, the first seven students trampled the cross under their feet and were allowed to go free. But the eighth student, a young girl, refused to commit the sacrilegious act. Kneeling beside the cross in prayer for strength, she arose and moved carefully around the cross, and went out to face the firing squad. Strengthened by her example, every one of the remaining ninety-two students followed her to the firing squad.

Some preachers are like the Chinese jugglers. One stood against a wall and the others threw knives at him. They’d hit above his head, close by his ear, under his armpit, and between his fingers. They could throw within a hair’s breadth and never strike.

A group of elderly, cultured gentlemen met often to exchange wisdom and drink tea. Each host tried to find the finest and most costly varieties, to create exotic blends that would arouse the admiration of his guests.

When the most venerable and respected of the group entertained, he served his tea with unprecedented ceremony, measuring the leaves from a golden box. The assembled epicures praised this exquisite tea. The host smiled and said, “The tea you have found so delightful is the same tea our peasants drink.

I hope it will be a reminder to all that the good things in life are not necessarily the rarest or the most costly.

Experience is a comb that nature give us when we are bald. - Chinese Proverb

1st law of human interaction. If anything can go wrong, it will.

Corollary: If anything just can’t go wrong, it will anyway.

2nd law. When things are going well, something will go wrong.

Corollary: When things just can’t get any worse, they will.

Corollary 2: Anytime things appear to be going better, you have overlooked something.

3rd law. Purposes, as understood by the purposer, will be judged otherwise by others.

Corollary: If you explain so clearly that nobody can misunderstand, somebody will.

Corollary 2: If you do something which you are sure will meet with everybody’s approval, somebody won’t like it.

Corollary 3: Procedures devised to implement the purpose won’t quite work.

Corollary 4: No matter how long or how many times you explain, no one is listening.

When I stand at the judgment seat of Christ

And He shows me His plan for me;

The plan of my life as it might have been

Had He had His way, and I see.

How I blocked Him here and I checked Him there

And I would not yield my will,

Shall I see grief in my Savior’s eyes;

Grief though He loves me still?

Oh, He’d have me rich, and I stand there poor,

Stripped of all but His grace,

While my memory runs like a hunted thing

Down the paths I can’t retrace.

Then my desolate heart will well-nigh break

With tears that I cannot shed.

I’ll cover my face with my empty hands

And bow my uncrowned head.

No. Lord of the years that are left to me

I yield them to Thy hand.

Take me, make me, mold me

To the pattern Thou hast planned.

When Lord Sandwich offered the opinion that John Wilkes, an 18th century British journalist and politician would die “either of the pox or on the gallows,”

Wilkes shot back, “That will depend on whether I embrace your lordship’s mistress or your lordship’s principles.”

A man's sight left him. He sought the counsel of a trusted medical friend who prescribed a medicine for him. The man took the medicine regularly for four days, and his sight returned to him, but he could no longer remember anything. His friend suggested a remedy for that, too. After a few days his memory came back to him, but he went blind again. This continued for sometime. Eventually his friend said, "It looks like you have to decide which you want-your sight or your memory." The man thought for a moment and then said, "I believe I would prefer my sight. I would rather see where I am going than remember where I have been!" Where are you going?

Dr. Pierce Harris, a former pastor of the First Methodist Church of Atlanta, Georgia, preached to some prisoners. One of the prisoners got up and introduced him to the others with these words: "Several years ago, two boys lived in a town in north Georgia. They went to the same school, played together and attended the same Sunday school. One dropped out of Sunday school and said that it was 'sissy stuff.' The other boy kept on going. One rejected Christ; the other accepted Him. The boy who rejected Christ is making this introduction today. The boy who accepted Christ is the honored preacher who will speak to us today!" Choice made the difference.

About the Tongue

Many a blunt word has a sharp edge.

Keep your words soft and sweet; You never know when you may have to eat them.

About Gossip

Gossip is like soap—mostly lye!

A gossip is just a fool with a keen sense of rumor.

About Profanity

Profanity is a public announcement of stupidity.

Swearing is a lax man’s way of trying to be emphatic.

About telling the Truth

A lie is a coward’s way of getting out of trouble.

Truth is as clear as a bell, but it isn’t always tolled.

About Boasting

When you sing your own praise, you always get the tune too high.

Don’t brag; it isn’t the whistle that pulls the train.

For in many things we stumble. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. James 3:2

"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God" (Rom 12:2).

When an individual or a congregation has the attitude of compromise in regard to spiritual values and truths, dark days are ahead. All who strive to be Christians feel a certain amount of pressure from the world. Through the strength that Christ gives, we can overcome the world and its temptations.

A man starting a fish business put out his sign that read, "Fresh Fish For Sale Today" and invited all to visit his place of business on opening day. Many came and congratulated him on his new business, but one suggested that he change his sign. "Why the 'Today'? It is today." So he removed the "Today".

Someone else said, "Why, 'For Sale'? Everybody knows you have fish for sale-or else why the store?" The words "For Sale" came off the sign.

Another said, "Why the word 'Fresh'? You are a man of integrity, that guarantees your fish to be fresh." "Fresh" came off the sign.

Only one word was left, "Fish" and one complained about it. "I smelled your fish two blocks away."

The individual or congregation that tries to satisfy everybody ends up by pleasing nobody. If we start compromising, we will end up serving the devil. The man should have put up his sign and then stood by it. This is what we are to do in life. Accept God's will for our lives and stand on His promises.

A wealthy eccentric died and left a million dollars to his nephew, John. When the will was read at the lawyer’s office, the lawyer said to John, “According to your uncle’s instructions, payment of your inheritance will depend on choices that you must make.” The lawyer held his two fists out in front of him and asked, “Do you choose what is in my right hand or in my left hand?”

John decided to take what was in the attorney’s right hand. The lawyer opened his left hand to reveal a gold coin and a silver coin. “Had you chosen this hand,” he said, “you would have received a substantial share in a gold mine or a silver mine in Chile.” Then he opened his right hand to reveal a nut and a coffee bean. “These represent a million dollars’ worth of nuts or coffee from Brazil,” said the attorney. “Which do you choose?” John decided on the nuts.

A week went by before John arrived in Brazil to take charge of his holdings. In the interim, fire destroyed a huge warehouse where the nuts that John had inherited were stored and coffee prices doubled. Since John hadn’t gotten around to insuring his holdings, he soon was bankrupt.

He barely had enough for his airfare home to New York or Los Angeles, where he could stay with a friend. He chose Los Angeles.

Just before he took off, the New York plane came out on the runway—it was a brand-new super jet. For the connecting flight to Los Angeles, the plane was a 1928 Ford trimotor with a sway back that took half a day to get off the ground. It was filled with crying children and tethered goats. Over the Andes one engine fell off. Our man crawled up to the cockpit and said, “Let me out if you want to save your lives. Give me a parachute.”

The pilot agreed but said, “On this airline, anybody who bails out must wear two chutes.”

John jumped from the plane and as he fell he tried to make up his mind which rip cord to pull. Finally he chose the one on the left. It was rusty, and the wire pulled loose. He pulled the other handle. The chute opened, but its shroud lines snapped. In desperation the poor fellow cried out, “St. Francis save me!”

Suddenly a great hand reached down from Heaven, seized the poor man’s wrist and let him dangle in midair. Then a gentle voice asked, “St. Francis Xavier or St. Francis of Assisi?”

The words of Eleanor Roosevelt ring true:

One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words. It is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.

The story is told of D. Bonhoeffer, who while imprisoned in a concentration camp, saluted a German officer and said “Heil Hitler” as he walked by. Bonhoeffer noticed that another prisoner next to him was refusing to salute, and whispered to him, “Salute, you fool. This isn’t worth dying for.” We need to choose our battles carefully.

To choose to suffer means that there is something wrong; to choose God’s will even if it means suffering is a very different thing. No healthy saint ever chooses suffering; he chooses God’s will, as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not. Be merciful to God’s reputation. It is easy to blacken God’s character because God never answers back, He never vindicates Himself. Beware of the thought that Jesus needed sympathy in His earthly life; He refused sympathy from others because He knew far too wisely that no one on earth understood what He was going through. Notice God’s ‘waste’ of saints, according to the judgment of the world. God plants His saints in some of the most useless places. We say, ‘God intends me to be here because I am so useful.’ Jesus never estimated His life along the line of the greatest use. God puts His saints where they will glorify Him most, and we are no judges at all of where that is.

“When I was a boy, my father, a baker, introduced me to the wonders of song,” tenor Luciano Pavarotti relates. “He urged me to work very hard to develop my voice. Arrigo Pola, a professional tenor in my hometown of Modena, Italy, took me as a pupil. I also enrolled in a teachers college. On graduating, I asked my father, ‘Shall I be a teacher or a singer?’ “‘Luciano,’ my father replied, ‘if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must choose one chair.’

“I chose one. It took seven years of study and frustration before I made my first professional appearance. It took another seven to reach the Metropolitan Opera. And now I think whether it’s laying bricks, writing a book—whatever we choose—we should give ourselves to it. Commitment, that’s the key. Choose one chair.”

When the author walks onto the stage, the play is over. God is going to invade, all right; but what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else comes crashing in? This time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. That will not be the time for choosing; It will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side.

A pastor I know, Stephey Belynskyj, starts each confirmation class with a jar full of beans. He asks his students to guess how many beans are in the jar, and on a big pad of paper writes down their estimates. Then, next to those estimates, he helps them make another list: their favorite songs. When the lists are complete, he reveals the actual number of beans in the jar. The whole class looks over their guesses, to see which estimate was closest to being right. Belynskyj then turns to the list of favorite songs. “And which one of these is closest to being right?” he asks. The students protest that there is no “right answer”; a person’s favorite song is purely a matter of taste. Belynskyj, who holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Notre Dame asks, “When you decide what to believe in terms of your faith, is that more like guessing the number of beans, or more like choosing your favorite song?” Always, Belynskyj says, from old as well as young, he gets the same answer: Choosing one’s faith is more like choosing a favorite song. When Belynskyj told me this, it took my breath away. “After they say that, do you confirm them?” I asked him. “Well,” smiled Belynskyj, “First I try to argue them out of it.”

The idea of election goes back to Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3). God chose to make a nation of that patriarch’s descendants. He chose Israel to be his people. He worked his purposes out through that one nation and in due course sent his Messiah as a Jew. After that, God continued to choose, or elect, people in accordance with his purpose (Rom. 9:11), grace (Rom. 11:5), love (1 Thess. 1:4), and foreknowledge (1 Pet. 1:2). The “elect” can rely on God’s concern for them (Luke 18:7) and on their sure salvation (Rom. 8:33). They are to live lives befitting their status (Col. 3:12-14). Mystery is inherent in the concept of election, because we also know that God desires the salvation of all persons (1 Tim. 2:4).

I had no idea who I was, or what I could be away from tennis,” says Christ Evert, recalling the final years of her career. “I was depressed and afraid because so much of my life had been defined by my being a tennis champion. I was completely lost. Winning made me feel like I was somebody. It made me feel pretty. It was like being hooked on a drug. I needed the wins, the applause, in order to have an identity.

When the first missionaries went to St. Thomas, they could not get near the suffering and degraded slaves until they took part in their bondage and asked the masters to make them slaves also. Then they were received with perfect confidence and were able to bring multitudes of the poor suffering ones to Christ. They trusted them when they saw that they had become identified with their very own lives and lot. "Praise be to the Lord the God of Israel, because He has come and has redeemed His people" (Luk 1:68).

But He comes closer. These missionaries could work by the side of the slave, but they could not come into their hearts.

At a meeting where someone attacked missionary work, a Jewish gentleman asked if he might say a few words. "A few years ago," he began, "my bank sent me to make some studies of a place in Puerto Rico. It was the worst, the dirtiest city imaginable. It was a real hell. Two years ago I went back to that same city-it was entirely new. The change was unbelievable. The houses, the streets were all so clean. The taverns had gone out of existence! What had happened, I wondered. Did they elect a new mayor? Was the place invaded by new educators? No. A Christian missionary had come to work among them and teach them about Christ. I went and found this missionary and gave him a generous gift for his work. I saw with my own eyes what Christ can do in just a short time."

Plato was right when he said that no one has a right to become a doctor who has always been healthy. Christ suffered, and therefore He can understand our suffering. He did not deserve to suffer for He was sinless. But God was glorified through His suffering, which was not really for Himself but for us, for our sin.

A university student who had filled his wall with indecent pictures received an unexpected visit from his mother. She never said a word about them or gave any indication she had noticed them. But before she left she hung a picture of Christ in the middle of the other pictures. When she visited him again, the only picture hanging on the wall was Christ's. God had radically changed her son's heart.

What is a Christian? In the LETTER TO DIOGNETUS, which dates back to the second century A.D., an anonymous writer describes a strange people who are in the world but not of the world.

“Christians are not differentiated from other people by country, language, or customs; you see, they do not live in cities of their own, or speak some strange dialect. . . They live in both Greek and foreign cities, wherever chance has put them. They follow local customs in clothing, food, and other aspects of life. But at the same time, they demonstrate to us the unusual form of their own citizenship.

“They live in their own native lands, but as aliens. . . Every foreign country is to them as their native country, and every native land as a foreign country.

“They marry and have children just like everyone else, but they do not kill unwanted babies. They offer a shared table, but not a shared bed. They are passing their days on earth, but are citizens of heaven. They obey the appointed laws and go beyond the laws in their own lives.

“They love everyone, but are persecuted by all. They are put to death and gain life. They are poor and yet make many rich.

They are dishonored and yet gain glory through dishonor. Their names are blackened and yet they are cleared. They are mocked and bless in return. They are treated outrageously and behave respectfully to others.

“When they do good, they are punished as evildoers; when punished, they rejoice as if being given new life. They are attacked by Jews as aliens and are persecuted by Greeks; yet those who hate them cannot give any reason for their hostility.”

The word “Christian” has lost much of its meaning in our culture. It means “Christ in one.”

As you communicate the Good News of Jesus Christ during this Christmas season, this alliterative outline may be a helpful reminder.

Benjamin West, the great painter, speaking of Gilbert Stuart, a brother artist famed for his beautiful coloring, used to say to his pupils, "It's no use to steal Stuart's colors; if you want to paint as he does, you must steal his eyes." When we are baffled in our efforts to live as Christ lived, the record of His life, however wonderful it is, will not enable us to be like Him. What we need is His heart, His nature. Only divinity within us can recognize divinity without. Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot know Him as God.

In the Tabernacle Holy of Holies, the light of God's glory was present between the cherubim, telling Israel that God was in her midst. The mercy seat was the place appointed where God met once a year the blood of the sacrifice of atonement. The blood of atonement was sprinkled there. It was not an appeasement. God does not have to be appeased. He is merciful, compassionate, and full of lovingkindness, but He will not hold man guiltless without an atonement. When the blood was sprinkled, there was satisfaction. Sin was covered. The offering for sin was made.

The One whose soul was made an offering for sin is Messiah Jesus. He is the Mercy Seat where the justice of God and the satisfying sacrifice meet, bringing peace to all who believe.

One night while conducting an evangelistic meeting in the Salvation Army Citadel in Chicago, Booth Tucker preached on the sympathy of Jesus. After his message a man approached him and said, “If your wife had just died, like mine has, and your babies were crying for their mother, who would never come back, you wouldn’t be saying what you’re saying.” Tragically, a few days later, Tucker’s wife was killed in a train wreck. Her body was brought to Chicago and carried to the same Citadel for the funeral.

After the service the bereaved preacher looked down into the silent face of his wife and then turned to those attending. “The other day a man told me I wouldn’t speak of the sympathy of Jesus if my wife had just died. If that man is here, I want to tell him that Christ is sufficient. My heart is broken, but it has a song put there by Jesus. I want that man to know that Jesus Christ speaks comfort to me today.”

C. S. Lewis made these insightful observations about temptation: “No man knows how bad he is until he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. That is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is....Christ, because He was the only Man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only Man who knows to the full what temptation means.”

A missionary visiting a poor hut in a refugee district was challenged by a suffering woman: "You tell us that you are interested in us and want to help us. But it's very easy for you to simply come to see us in our poverty-stricken home. The question is, are you ready to bring your family from the clean and comfortable home in which they live, in order to live in our district with all its poverty and suffering and sin? Would you do that in order to lift us up?" That is exactly what Christ did. "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us" (Joh 1:16).

Christ for sickness, Christ for health,

Christ for poverty, Christ for wealth,

Christ for joy, Christ for sorrow,

Christ today and Christ tomorrow;

Christ my Life, and Christ my Light,

Christ for morning, noon and night,

Christ when all around gives way

Christ my everlasting Stay;

Christ my Rest, and Christ my Food

Christ above my highest good,

Christ my Well-beloved Friend

Christ my Pleasure without end;

Christ my Savior, Christ my Lord

Christ my Portion, Christ my God,

Christ my Shepherd, I His sheep

Christ Himself my soul to keep;

Christ my Leader, Christ my Peace

Christ hath wrought my soul’s release,

Christ my Righteousness divine

Christ for me, for He is mine;

Christ my Wisdom, Christ my Meat,

Christ restores my wandering feet,

Christ my Advocate and Priest

Christ who ne’er forgets the least;

Christ my Teacher, Christ my Guide,

Christ my Rock, in Christ I hide,

Christ the Ever-living Bread,

Christ His precious Blood hath shed;

Christ hath brought me nigh to God,

Christ the everlasting Word

Christ my Master, Christ my Head,

Christ who for my sins hath bled;

Christ my Glory, Christ my Crown,

Christ the Plant of great renown,

Christ my Comforter on high,

Christ my Hope, draws ever nigh.

Years ago, a large statue of Christ was erected high in the Andes on the border between Argentina and Chile. Called “Christ of the Andes,” the statue symbolizes a pledge between the two countries that as long as the statue stands, there will be peace between Chile and Argentina.

Shortly after the statue was erected, the Chileans began to protest that they had been slighted—the statue had its back turned to Chile. Just when tempers were at their highest in Chile, a Chilean newspaperman saved the day. In an editorial that not only satisfied the people but made them laugh, he simply said, “The people of Argentina need more watching over than the Chileans.

Commenting on this verse Martin Luther wrote: “All the prophets did foresee in Spirit that Christ should become the greatest transgressor, murderer, adulterer, thief, rebel, blasphemer, etc., that ever was or could be in all the world. For he, being made a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world is not now an innocent person and without sins…but a sinner.” He was, of course, talking about the imputing of our wrongdoing to Christ as our substitute.

Luther continues: “Our most merciful Father…sent his only Son into the world and laid upon him…the sins of all men saying: Be thou Peter that denier; Paul that persecutor, blasphemer and cruel oppressor; David that adulterer; that sinner which did eat the apple in Paradise; that thief which hanged upon the cross; and briefly be thou the person which hath committed the sins of all men; see therefore that thou pay and satisfy for them. Here now comes the law and saith: I find him a sinner…therefore let him die upon the cross. And so he setteth upon him and killeth him. By this means the whole world is purged and cleansed from all sins.”

The presentation of the death of Christ as the substitute exhibits the love of the cross more richly, fully, gloriously, and glowingly than any other account of it. Luther saw this and gloried in it. He once wrote to a friend: “Learn to know Christ and him crucified. Learn to sing to him, and say, ‘Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and given me what is yours. You became what you were not, so that I might become what I was not.’“

What a great and wonderful exchange! Was there ever such love?

Martin Luther wrote: “All the prophets did foresee in Spirit that Christ should become the greatest transgressor, murderer, adulterer, thief, rebel, blasphemer, etc., that ever was or could be in all the world. For he, being made a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world is not now an innocent person and without sins...but a sinner.” He was, of course, talking about the imputing of our wrongdoing to Christ as our substitute.

Luther continues: “Our most merciful Father...sent his only Son into the world and laid upon him...the sins of all men saying: Be thou Peter that denier; Paul that persecutor, blasphemer and cruel oppressor; David that adulterer; that sinner which did eat the apple in Paradise; that thief which hanged upon the cross; and briefly be thou the person which hath committed the sins of all men; see therefore that thou pay and satisfy for them. Here now comes the law and saith: I find him a sinner...therefore let him die upon the cross. And so he setteth upon him and killeth him. By this means the whole world is purged and cleansed from all sins.”

The presentation of the death of Christ as the substitute exhibits the love of the cross more richly, fully, gloriously, and glowingly than any other account of it. Luther saw this and gloried in it. He once wrote to a friend: “Learn to know Christ and him crucified. Learn to sing to him, and say, ‘Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and given me what is yours. You became what you were not, so that I might become what I was not.’”

What a great and wonderful exchange! Was there ever such love?

Robert Murray McCheyne (1813-1843), pioneer missionary to America, testified, “If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me!”

Once a great king visited a town to lay the foundation stone of a new hospital. Thousands of school children greeted him and sang for him. Soon after the king passed a group of children, a teacher saw a little girl crying. She asked, "Why are you crying? Did you not see the king?" The little girl sobbed out, "Yes, teacher, but the king did not see me." How different the Lord Jesus Christ is from earthly kings. Not only does He give life to each one, but He is also personally interested in and personally maintains each life.

A native of interior China wanted to become a Christian but couldn't understand how Christianity was superior to Confucianism and Buddhism. One morning he came to the missionary in a happy mood saying, "I dreamed last night, and now I understand. I dreamed I had fallen into a deep pit where I lay helpless and despairing. Confucius came and said, 'Let me give you advice, my friend; if you get out of your trouble, never get in again.' Buddha came and said, 'If you can climb up to where I can reach you, I will help you.' Then Christ came. He climbed down into the pit and carried me out." It takes the Savior of man to do that. Only a Savior would stoop so low as to save a sinful soul like yours and mine.

On a dark and stormy night, a child was lost in the streets of a large city. A policeman found him crying in distress, and gathering enough from his story to locate the home, gave him directions after this manner. "Just go down this street half a mile, turn and cross the big iron bridge, then turn to your right and follow the river down a little way, and you'll see where you are." The poor child, only half comprehending, chilled and bewildered by the storm, turned about blindly, when another voice spoke in a kindly tone, "Just come with me." The little hand was clasped in a stronger one, the corner of a warm coat was thrown over the shoulders of the shivering child, and the way home was made easy. The first man had told the way; the second man became the way. This is exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ has been for us. From eternity He has told us that He is the Way. He has to become our Light also, to lead us to the Way.

In the sixteenth century, Oliver Cromwell ordered that an English soldier be shot for a cowardly crime. The execution was to take place at the evening bell. But at the appointed time no sound came from the belfry. Investigation revealed that the girl who was engaged to be married to the condemned man had climbed into the bell tower and clung to the clapper of the giant bell to prevent it from striking. They found her there with her hands bleeding and torn to shreds.

All of us are sinners under sentence of death. But Christ intervened in our behalf. Look at His bruised and bleeding nail-pierced hands on that cross.

Certainty of salvation, because of the promises of God and the effectiveness of Christ’s atonement (1 John 5:13).

The word does not occur often in the Bible, but the idea is more frequent. It is basic that people do not deserve their salvation because of their own efforts; that would leave them always uncertain, never knowing whether they had been good enough. But Christ did all that was needed, and we can rely on his perfect work. Further, believers have evidence of God’s power in their lives (1 John 2:3-5; 3:19-21).

Our assurance rests on the certainty that what God has begun he will complete (Phil. 1:6).

The hymn writer Philip P. Bliss described Jesus’ atoning work on the cross as follows:

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,

In my place condemned He stood—

Sealed my pardon with His blood:

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Yes, only Christ could be our sinbearer!

- Philip P. Bliss

In the Philippines I heard a local pastor use the following parable to illustrate Christ’s offer of rest (Matt. ll:28) and the response of people who won’t trust Him completely: The driver of a caribou wagon was on his way to market when he overtook an old man carrying a heavy load. Taking compassion on him, the driver invited the old man to ride in the wagon.

Gratefully the old man accepted. After a few minutes, the driver turned to see how the man was doing. To his surprise, he found him still straining under the heavy weight, for he had not taken the burden off his shoulders.

Introduction, Christ's own testimony concerning his deity,

Testimony of the disciples,

Titles ascribed to Jesus Christ,

The Son of God, The Son of Man, The pre-existence of Christ,

The attributes of deity are ascribed to Christ,

Jesus' life the fulfillment of a divine plan,

The miracles of Jesus,

Importance of belief in the deity of Christ,

The humanity of Christ,

The humiliation of Christ,

The exaltation of Christ,

The relation of the two natures in Christ,

The incarnation,

The sinlessness of Jesus,

The virgin birth,

Christ the Messiah of O.T. prophecy,

The personal appearance of Jesus,

The offices of Christ,

Erroneous views concerning the person of Christ,

Conclusion

The evaluation of all humankind on the basis of works at Christ’s return (Matt. 25:31-32). The wicked will be condemned because of their evil deeds. Salvation is by grace and through faith (Eph. 2:8); the last judgment will test what believers have done with their lives (1 Cor. 3:13-15). Some will be rewarded (Luke 19:16-19). Thus, although our salvation depends on what Christ has one, our eternal reward is related to the use we have made of God’s gifts to us.

At the cross, Jesus drove out Satan, “the prince of this world” (John 12:31-33.

Today Satan is a usurper. The cross passed initial judgment on him. His claims were destroyed; his claimed authority was invalidated. His defeat was so complete that he has lost his place and authority. The Greek word ekballo means “to drive out, expel.” The cross doomed Satan to ultimate expulsion from our world, though he is still active and desperate in his anger and futility. He is the archon, the ruler of this age only until God enforces the judgment of the cross after Christ’s return.

At the cross, Jesus “disarmed the powers and authorities” (Col. 2:15). The word disarmed is from the Greek apekoyo, a double compound meaning “to put off completely, to undress completely and thus render powerless.” At the cross, Christ undressed all demon authorities. It is a picture from the ancient oriental custom of stripping the robes of office from a deposed official. At the cross, the leaders and authorities of Satan’s forces and kingdom were stripped of their authority and honor. They now have no authority to oppose, intimidate, or harass you.

But that is not all; there is even more in this picture. Paul says Christ “made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (v.15). This again is an illustration taken from ancient history. When a conquering emperor returned from a great victory, he was often given a triumphal procession. The victor and his army marched through streets lined by cheering thousands. While the musicians played, chariots and soldiers carried the looted treasures of the defeated king, and he and his general or other selected prisoners were led in chains, their shame openly displayed.

The Greek word edeigmatisen means “to make a public exhibition.” During the interval between Christ’s death and resurrection, when He announced (ekarussen) Satan’s defeat at the cross to the evil spirits in prison (I Peter 3:19), in symbolism Christ marched triumphantly through the spirit prison, with Satan and his demonic rulers chained in inglorious defeat behind Him. He made a public spectacle of their defeat, says Paul, and now every demonic being knows his cause is defeated forever, his satanic lord’s authority stripped from him, and his own doom waiting for the appointed time (Matt. 8:29).

At the cross, Satan and his unclean spirits were destroyed (Heb. 2:14). The word destroy is from the Greek katargeo, which means “to put out of action, to make useless.” It is used repeatedly to show how through the death and the return of Christ (parousia), the powers of destruction that threaten man spiritually are put out of action. In I Corinthians 15:24, this includes all dominion of demonic authority and power. In verse 26, death itself will be the last enemy to be rendered useless. All these are “coming to nothing,” including Satan himself (Heb. 2:14) and his demonic leaders (I Cor. 2:6).

In the sixteenth century, Oliver Cromwell ordered that an English soldier be shot for a cowardly crime. The execution was to take place at the evening bell. But at the appointed time no sound came from the belfry. Investigation revealed that the girl who was engaged to be married to the condemned man had climbed into the bell tower and clung to the clapper of the giant bell to prevent it from striking. They found her there with her hands bleeding and torn to shreds.

All of us are sinners under sentence of death. But Christ intervened in our behalf. Look at His bruised and bleeding nail-pierced hands on that cross.

When Bishop Hurst was in Poona, India, he went out to the great temple of Parvati, and there watched the worshipers. He asked the ancient Brahman priest, who for many years had received the offerings there, "Are there as many people coming here to pray as formerly?"

"No, there are fewer every year." "How long will this worship last?" was the next query. "God knows," he sadly replied. "What will bring it to an end?" "Jesus Christ," the Brahman answered.

Those who promote human religions are indeed afraid of Christ because He puts an end to human religion by introducing the promise of heaven.

In Mark 12, Christ calls Himself the measuring stone, or, as it is translated in our Bibles, the cornerstone. The cornerstone, in the minds of most Americans, is the stone that tells that a building was erected at a certain time, when a certain person was mayor, and so on. It is merely an exaltation of man.

But when the Bible refers to a cornerstone, it refers to the first stone laid for the foundation. The builders would get a stone from the quarry and chisel it carefully to get as near a right angle as possible. They would measure the placement of all the other stones against that cornerstone, that first measuring stone. It was the standard by which all the walls of the building were determined.

When Jesus Christ is called the cornerstone, God is saying, "I measure everything by Jesus Christ."

A professor of theology once asked his students to get a sheet of paper and divide it into three columns. In the first column they were to write every passage where Christ is spoken of as God-Man; in the second column all the passages where Christ is spoken of as God alone; and in the third, all the passages where Christ is spoken of as man alone. The papers were badly balanced. The first and second columns filled right up, but as to the third column, no one found a passage speaking of Christ as man alone. There just is no such passage.

Agostino d'Antonio, a sculptor of Florence, wrought diligently but unsuccessfully on a large piece of marble. "I can do nothing with it," he finally said. Other sculptors tried their hand at it, but they too gave up the task. The stone lay on a rubbish heap for forty years. Out strolling one day, Michelangelo saw the stone and its latent possibilities and ordered it brought to his studio. He began to work upon it, and ultimately his vision and work were crowned with success. From that seemingly worthless stone he carved one of the world's masterpieces of sculpture-David! The secret lay in Michelangelo, not in the stone. Look at life-your own with all its disappointments, and the lives of others with all that God has accomplished in them or all that He is able to accomplish. Expect Him to produce a masterpiece because you know the quality of the work of the Master Builder, Christ.

In the Rospigliosi Palace in Rome is Guido Reni's famous fresco, "The Aurora," a work unequalled in that period for nobility of line and poetry of color. It is painted on a lofty ceiling, and as you stand on the pavement and look up at it, your neck stiffens, your head grows dizzy, and the figures become hazy and indistinct. Therefore the owner of the palace has placed a broad mirror near the floor. In it the picture is reflected and you can sit down before it and study the wonderful work in comfort. Jesus Christ does just that for us when we try to get some notion of God. He is the mirror of Deity. He is the express image of God's person.

A Brahmin once said to a Christian missionary in India, "There are many things which Christianity and Hinduism have in common. But one thing Christianity has that is not found in Hinduism." "What is that?" asked the missionary. The Brahmin's answer was, "We do not have a Savior." He was right. Christianity is different in that Christ did not come as a social or economic reformer but as a Savior of individuals. God came to earth, not to change the adverse conditions under which men live but to change the sinful hearts responsible for such evil in the world.

At a meeting of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Bobby Richardson, former New York Yankee second baseman, offered a prayer that is a classic in brevity and poignancy: “Dear God, Your will, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. Amen.”

1. How’s your thought life?

2. How are you handling the balance between work and home?

3. Have you been in the Word over the last few days?

4. What has God been teaching you recently?

5. How are you doing in handling God’s provision of time, talent, and money?

6. Are you being responsible in protecting your eyes, hands, feet and mind with women other than your wife?

7. Are you shooting straight in answering the above questions--or trying to blow smoke?

A study conducted by The Roper Organization for High Adventure Ministries in 1990 found that the moral behavior of born again Christians actually worsened after their conversions. Examined were incidences of illegal drug use, driving while intoxicated and marital infidelity.

The problem can be solved, says one researcher, with a new commitment to accountability and discipleship.

As an elderly Christian lady with arthritis sat by her front window watching the traffic go by, she said, "I don't know what I'd do without that traffic to keep me interested."

Later on she was moved to a room in the rear where she could no longer see the traffic from the window. She conceded, "I like this better. I can watch the sweetest little children next door playing in the backyard."

At last she was moved to the slums of the city. To a friend she said, "Come and see my beautiful view-my beautiful view of the sky!"

What is meant by fellowship in this verse? Gossip? Cups of tea? Tours? No. What is being referred to is something of a quite different order and on a quite different level. “They met constantly to hear the apostles teach, and to share the common life, and break bread and to pray. A sense of awe was everywhere. All whose faith had drawn them together held everything in common. With one mind they kept up their daily attendance at the temple, and, breaking bread in private houses, shared their meals with unaffected joy as they praised God” (Acts 2:42-47, New English Bible). That is fellowship as the new Testament understands it, and there is clearly a world of difference between that and mere social activities.

The Greek word for fellowship comes from a root meaning common or shared. So fellowship means common participation in something either by giving what you have to the other person or receiving what he or she has. Give and take is the essence of fellowship, and give and take must be the way of fellowship in the common life of the body of Christ.

Christian fellowship is two-dimensional, and it has to be vertical before it can be horizontal. We must know the reality of fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ before we can know the reality of fellowship with each other in our common relationship to God (1 John 1:3). The person who is not in fellowship with the Father and the Son is no Christian at all, and so cannot share with Christians the realities of their fellowship.

A man once remarked that he could not swallow what the preachers called "original sin and Adamic nature." "My good fellow," said a Christian to him, "there is no occasion for you to swallow it-it's inside you already." The sooner we realize that grim fact in our Christian lives, the better. "Forewarned is forearmed" is especially good advice for the Christian. Dangers inducing us to sin are not all found outside ourselves; they are also inside; and sometimes the enemies within are stronger and more furious than those without.

But back to the biblical teaching on fruit. What is fruit? Actually the question ought to be phrased in the plural: What are fruits which a Christian can bear: The New Testament gives several answers to the question.

One, a developing Christian character is fruit. If the goal of the Christian life may be stated as Christlikeness, then surely every trait developed in us that reflects His character must be fruit that is very pleasing to Him. Paul describes the fruit of the Spirit in nine terms in Galatians 5:22-23, and Peter urges the development of seven accompaniments to faith in order that we might be fruitful (2 Peter 1:5-8). Two of these terms are common to both lists: love and self-control. The others are joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness goodness, faithfulness, meekness, virtue, knowledge, endurance, piety, and brotherly love. To show these character traits is to bear fruit in one’s life.

Two, right character will result in right conduct, and as we live a life of good works we produce fruit (Colossians 1:10). This goes hand in hand with increasing in the knowledge of God, for as we learn what pleases Him, our fruitful works become more and more conformed to that knowledge. When Paul expressed how torn he was between the two possibilities of either dying and being with Christ or living on in this life, he said that living on would mean fruitful labor or work (Philippians 1:22). This phrase could mean that (1) his work itself was fruit, or (2) fruit would result from his work. In either case, his life and work were fruit. So may ours be.

Three, those who come to Christ through our witness are fruit. Paul longed to go to Rome to have some fruit from his ministry there (Romans 1:13), and he characterized the conversion of the household of Stephanas as the firstfruits of Achaia (1 Corinthians 16:15).

Four, we may also bear fruit with our lips by giving praise to God and thankfully confessing His name (Hebrews 13:15). In other words, our lips bear fruit when we offer thankful acknowledgment to the name of God. And this is something we should do continually.

Five, we bear fruit when we give money. Paul designated the collection of money for the poorer saints in Jerusalem as fruit (Romans 15:28). Too, when he thanked the Philippians for their financial support of his ministry, he said that their act of giving brought fruit to their account (Philippians 4:17, KJV).

To sum up, fruit includes: (1) a Christlike character, (2) a life characterized by good works, (3) a faithful witness, (4) a pair of lips that praise God, and (5) a generous giving of one’s money.

The Bishop of Cambridge once taught a class. He said, "We have all learned to say in school: 'First Person-I; Second Person-You; Third Person-He.' But that is wrong in Christian grammar, so wrong that, to put it right, one has to turn it upside down. The Christian grammar is: 'First Person-He; Second Person-You; Third Person-I,' and 'He' means God, the First Person in the first place. Then 'You' means one's fellowman, and 'I' myself comes last."

I met a young man not long ago who dives for exotic fish for aquariums. He told me that one of the most popular aquarium fish is the shark. He explained that if you catch a small shark and confine it, it will stay a size proportionate to the aquarium you put it in. Sharks can be six inches long yet fully matured. But if you turn them loose in the ocean, they grow to their normal length of eight feet.

That is like what happens to some Christians. I have seen some of the cutest little six-inch Christians who swim around in a little puddle. You can look at them and comment on how fine they are. But if you were to put them out into a larger arena—into the broad view of a whole creation—they might become great.

God help us not to be confined to a little puddle out of insecurity, but instead to see that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. He made us, and if we will both have internal integrity and relate ourselves to the larger structures in the ways he has ordained, we will be able to serve him according to a holistic vision of his purpose on the earth.

Several years ago, I read about James Lewis Pettigru. His life was so exemplary that after his death the community erected a tombstone inscribed with these words:

UNAWED BY OPINION, UNSEDUCED BY FLATTERY, UNDISMAYED BY DISASTER, HE CONFRONTED LIFE WITH COURAGE, AND DEATH WITH CHRISTIAN HOPE.

As in the natural body, so in the mystical body of Christ, the Church, a large measure of liberty is granted to each member. But this liberty may not pass the bounds by which another member would be injured or suffer loss. My liberty to stretch out my arms depends on how close I am to the other fellow. As Paul says in Gal 5:13, "For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another."