BY JIM BISCAN
Well, that was nice! I really enjoyed that. It just shows what teamwork and working together and a little discipline and practice can do. I think Mr. Hamlisch would have been proud by the way you ladies played that song. Well done!
Well, I’d like to begin by thanking every one for coming out for the potluck this morning. Thank you for making effort to take time out of your Sabbath for that. We know that’s why you’re here. Unfortunately you do have to sit through a sermon and I’ll keep that in mind that there is a potluck after church. Welcome back to Terry and Sherri Buchanan and his family. Mr. Lee was telling me that in the past on potlucks Terry has threatened to cut off the mike if Mr. Lee spoke too long. So fortunately he’s not on the sound today but his son Eric is. So, I’ll try to keep that in mind that we do have a potluck going on.
I better get my notes outs. Well, Brethren, one look around on the calendar and here we are June 14th, already the middle of June. And by that fact alone, many people would say that summertime is here. Others would look around and say, “Well, we’ve been in the summer season for several weeks. Officially our summer season started with Memorial Day. Our national summer season runs from Memorial Day till Labor Day.” Others would say, “Well, I don’t need a calendar. I mean have you been outside lately? Have you felt the 80’s and 90’s and the high humidity? Summertime is here.”
And then even by our own church calendar, we can see that the summer season is here. The Spring Holy Days are over with, Passover and Unleavened Bread. Pentecost has come and gone. Pentecost is sometimes called a late spring or an early summer festival depending when it occurs. And this year with it occurring in June and the high temperatures, we can easily say that it was an early Summer Festival.
So anyway you want to measure it, we’re in the summer season. School is out. I guess I should say school is out for most people. There may be some going to summer school whether you’re late in high school or early in college and good luck with that endeavor. Those who are in summer school, you’re just experiencing what us adults already know and that you’re coming into adulthood where the days of the long summer break may be over. But school is out for most people. The temperature is up. There’s lots of activity going on. Father’s Day is coming up, as we heard about. The circus is in town. That’s a sure sign of summer. Circus Flora is in town.
And so, in thinking about the summer season and all that goes on with the summer season, and yes, even the downsides of the summer season, it occurred to me that there are lessons that we can draw out from this season of the year that we’re in. There are some downsides to the summer season and I want to draw some spiritual lessons from that.
One of the ways that the Bible teaches us is to use physical events and objects to make spiritual lessons, to teach us applications of the spiritual world. And that’s what we’re going to do today. We’re going to draw some spiritual lessons from this season that we’re in.
And so I attempt to call this message Lessons From Our Summer Season. Again, I apologize for not getting the title to the sound crew earlier than today. I know we’re going to have to write it on the tapes, but that is the title of the message: Lessons From Our Summer Season.
Now, as you know, there are good and bad things about every season that goes throughout the year. And it just depends on your preferences, your likes, your dislikes. In the winter, of course, we have our cold temperatures, the snow, the ice. Some people like that. Some people like getting outside and feeling that sting on their faces called the wind chill. Others don’t like it so much.
Then, of course, in the springtime we have new life coming back. It’s a time of renewal. Animals and birds are coming back. There’s lots of activity. Of course, there’s also the potential for bad weather in the springtime. There have been some tornadoes and some flooding going on in the late spring.
Summer, of course, we have our heat and our humidity, our high temperatures. We have poisonous plants. We have stinging insects. We have the potential for sunburn, heat exhaustion. Those are some of the downsides. Drought and we have floods going on in our country.
There was something in the news concerning the heat. I had heard that in one of our baseball games out east that the east coast is really getting hammered with a heat wave. And I think it was the Washington Nationals but it was so hot that during the game a cloud, a single cloud, came over and covered the sun and cast a shadow on the field and people were clapping and almost giving it a standing ovation. Then when the cloud moved, the people started booing because they had lost their only source of shade for that, whatever it was, thirty seconds.
But that’s one of the downsides of the summer season is the heat and the temperatures. But on the other hand, summer has some long days. You can get a lot done. There’s time for a lot of activity. You can really get a lot of things done.
Fall, the last season, there are fall colors and that’s a
beautiful time of the year. The days are
drier, not so much humidity. And there
are some great drives you can take in this area between
And it just depends on your preferences. So I’m using the summer season and some of the downsides of the summer season to make some comparisons and to draw out some spiritual lessons. I apologize in advance if you’re one of the people that like some of these downsides as I see them. If you like the heat, if you like the humidity, if you like the poison ivy, if you like sunburn, then I apologize in advance, but to me those are some of the downsides of the summer season. So it’s kind of hard to generalize about what’s good and bad, but we’re going to try and draw some lessons as we go along.
So anyway that is the lead-up to the message.
Let’s turn to a place where Jeff left off. And we’re going to start with John chapter 17.
And going through and setting up my notes, I’m just going to bring out two points and maybe list a couple of others during the message. And my first point is this that even though the summer season has a downside or dangers, as we might call it, we cannot avoid coming into contact with that downside or the dangers of the summer season. We just can’t avoid it. It’s inevitable. At some point we’re going to experience the heat as we already have. At some point we’re going to experience the humidity. We’re going to get stung by those insects and maybe get a rash from those poison plants that are out there as you’re taking care of things. You might even overwork during all the activity that’s going on. The only sure way of avoiding all that would be to stay inside, to stay indoors all the time, physically. And that’s just not practical. We just can’t do it. We can’t go through life being a hermit, being a recluse. You have to get out and go through life, take care of things, take care of business. And in doing that, you’re going to run into some of these downsides of the summer season.
So it’s the same way with our spiritual life, with our Christian life. It’d be nice if we could avoid all the downsides of the summer season in our Christian life however that plays out, however the storms play out in your life, however the poisonous plants, the stinging insects. Some of those could be compared to the people that we run into. There are some people where you come in contact with them and then within a day or two you get a rash of running into these people. Not literally, but just because of their personality or the problems that they cause. They’re like stinging insects sometime.
And again, we could avoid all that if we just became a recluse like some people have done throughout time, throughout the so-called “Christian” world. But that’s just not an option for Christians as we’re going to see here in John chapter 17.
Jeff used this as a tie in to Father’s Day which is a point I had not considered. But here is our elder Brother talking to His Father in a very deep and meaningful prayer. This prayer has been called His “High Priest Prayer” because He intercedes for those who believe on Him. He intercedes as a High Priest would for those who will believe on Him. And as Jeff said, “This prayer is meant for us as well,” because in verse 20, He says
John 17:20. “I do not pray
for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;
And that is us today. We do not believe on Jesus Christ because of being exposed to the truth directly from the Christ. That happened almost two thousand years ago. We were not around. We believe on the Christ because of what we read in His Word and because of what others have taught us through the years. But He is still including us in His prayers. And that’s a very good thing.
Well, we’re going to read that it’s not in the cards that we are to be taken out of the world. That would solve many of our headaches. That would solve many of our problems, but it’s just not in the cards.
Verse 13, Jesus says this
John 17:13. “But now I come
to You,
He’s speaking to His Father.
John 17:13b. and these
things I speak in the world, that they [His disciples] may have My joy
fulfilled in themselves. 14) “I have
given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the
world, just as I am not of the world.
Verse 15.
John 17:15. “I do not pray
that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from
the evil one. 16) “They are not of the world, just as I am
not of the world. 17) “Sanctify them by
Your truth.
Or set them apart.
John 17:17b. [And] Your word
is truth.
And again, note what it is that one of the very things that our High Priest prays. To be in line with His Father’s will, He says, “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world.” And so basically He’s saying that we don’t have an option to withdraw from our society, to form our own little group, to form our little enclave to escape and get away from our problems.
And, I said there have been groups in the past in mainstream “Christianity” that have tried doing that. And they do that in an effort to devote time to prayer and meditation on God’s Word. And there are some advantages to that. They get away from having to deal with the poison ivy people that are around them or the people that would cause them problems. They get away from some of those situations.
And that would be nice if we could withdraw from the problems and hard times of our summer seasons that come up in our Christian lives, but it’s just not in God’s plan. As adults, in one way or the other we’re going to have to interact with the world. There’s just no way to avoid it. It’s part of God’s will for His firstfruits.
We read some of this earlier but verse 18.
John 17:18. “As You sent Me
into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
Again, we are to be in the world.
John 17:19. “And for their
sakes I sanctify [or set apart] Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the
truth.
Verse 20, we’ve read.
John 17:20. “I do not pray
for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their
word; 21) “That they all may be one, as
You, Father, are in Me, and I in You;
that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
And ultimately that oneness happens at the spirit level when we are changed. And then it is the experience fulltime what it is that that oneness is all about.
But the point is that we are not in this by ourselves. We may have to go into the world. We may have to interact with the world but keep in mind that Jesus Himself, Jesus Christ Himself, is praying for us. He is concerned about us as we are in the world. Yes, we are not to be taken out of the world, but He’s praying that we are to be kept from the evil one. We are on His mind. We are on His list of concerns. He is praying that we be set apart by the truth. And He’s praying for those of us who have come to believe on Christ’s name, again, through His Word and through what others have taught. Jesus Christ is on our side even as we have to interact with the problems around us or the situations that come up in our lives. And as John said in another place, “We have an Advocate with the Father, called Jesus Christ the Righteous.”
Let’s go over to Matthew 5 please. We’ll start in verse 13. But I think the Scripture teaches that one of the purposes for God not taking us out of the world is so that we can be lights to the world. We can be examples. Matthew 5 verse 13, we’ll just read a few verses. But, of course, this is part of the Sermon on the Mount, three whole chapters of instruction. And in these chapters Jesus is describing the righteous living that we are to show as members of His Family. And it’s quite a responsibility. Matthew 5 verse 13.
Matthew 5:13. “You are the
salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be
seasoned? It is then good for nothing
but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 14) “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be
hidden. 15) “Nor do they light a lamp
and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are
in the house. 16) “Let your light so
shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father in
heaven.
So, one of the reasons then that God does not take us out of the world is so that we can be examples to the world. Salt adds flavor to a meal or to a situation. A light helps people see which way to go. And what an example it can be if you are not known as a busybody! If you are known as an honest person, if you are known for someone who does not tell lies, who does not use bad language, if you are known as someone who puts in an honest effort when it comes to maybe your studies at school or your work assignment, it makes a difference. It does stand out in this day and age as we heard in the sermonette.
We’ve lost so much over the years in this country. We have forefathers that started out as Bible believers, Bible readers and that helped frame a government that we enjoy the benefits to this day where we have freedom of religion to live and believe and teach what God’s Word says. Not every country has that opportunity. But we’ve lost so much over the years. So that was a good point to remember, our own forefathers.
But again, yes, it would be nice if we could escape our problems, but if we did that, where would the opportunity be to let our light shine? Where would the opportunity be to throw some salt to season a situation? Not to rub salt in a wound but to season a situation.
Verse 16, it says
Matthew 5:16. “Let your
light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your
Father in heaven.
I just want to point out that when it says that other people will glorify our Father in heaven, we need to be realistic and accept the fact that they’re acknowledging our good works before the Father. It may not happen in this day and age. It may not happen until they are called which would be the eighth day, or the Last Great Day, in the Holy Day scheme of things. And that’s when people will come up in a new world without the Devil’s influence and then they’ll be able to see that our examples were really about a Christian way of life.
There’s just something today that they just don’t get. People just don’t understand. And one example that came to mind was when we go to the fall Feast of Tabernacles that was mentioned in the announcements. I mean a lot of people just don’t understand. They just can’t grasp the idea of going away, getting out of town to hear messages about a better world after Christ’s return. And they just scratch their heads. Some say, “You’re going where? You’re going there for what? To hear some messages about a better world to come? Okay, well have fun.” Sometimes they just don’t know what else to say and it’s just not obvious to them that that is anything that God would require or that that would be anything that would be considered a good work as part of our Christian way of life.
Some other things are very obvious to them. It’s very intuitive on one level where people see an honest person where a person is not known for being a liar. It’s obvious on one level when you’re a good hard worker. And so those things they could give glory to our Father in heaven if they had a mind to do so. Those things are kind of intuitive. But some other things, it’s not just on their radar to be on their minds that that is anything worth in terms of being a good work.
But what about a thousand years from now? A thousand years from now when they come up in their day of salvation, that’s going to be different. Then, as I said, their minds will be open. And then they may understand. “I get it now. I understand why you were always going off to these places in the fall. I understand why you were never available for work on Saturdays. I understand why you never ate the pepperoni pizzas. Now I get it when you said it was a religious thing.” At that time their minds will be open when they start to receive the truth.
And for me, it helps me sometimes to be a “light,” (quote unquote), to explain what our beliefs are knowing that even though they may not understand now, even though they may think it’s strange or weird now, but I know that someday a thousand years from now they’re going to come up and they’re going to understand and they’re going to see. And who knows? At that time maybe some will even acknowledge and say, “Man, I understand why you did these things before and I’m sorry for hassling you so much. I’m sorry for thinking you were so weird over this religion of yours, but I get it.”
I just want to point out that there are some of our works that will not be acknowledged before our Father in heaven until that day. And I think Peter alludes to that as well. Let’s go over to 1 Peter chapter 2 and we’ll read a verse that supports this idea. Because Peter here—1 Peter 2 verses 11 and 12—he indicates that, again, they’re glorifying God for our good works may be for a time in the future. 1 Peter 2 verse 11.
1 Peter 2:11. Beloved, I beg
you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain
from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,
12) Having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they
speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of
visitation.
And that’s the phrase I wanted to key on, “in the day of visitation,” which I take to mean that time in the future when they keep their appointment with God, to use our Holy Day terms. And when does that Holy Day appointment happen for them? Again, it happens in the eighth day or the Last Great Day. It happens a thousand years from now. That will be their day of visitation when God and they keep an appointment. And that is in the future.
You can read where he goes on in verses 13 through 17. We’re not going to read it here. But he says that we have a responsibility now to live good and peaceable lives so that some of these people that talk against us may be put to silence.
So to me in taking all this instruction together, there are times now when our good works will be recognized for what they are. There are just some that are more obvious than others. They get them. People get these good works. But there are other good works that represent our way of life that may not be acknowledged or recognized by others until that time in the future. That’s just how God’s plan is working out.
Let’s go over to Philippians 2, please, verses 12 to 16. And we’re going to see one more New Testament reference on this thing about us being lights. Of course, Paul is writing here. And he also encourages us to be lights in the world. Philippians 2 verse 12, Paul says this
Philippians 2:12. Therefore,
my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much
more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13) For it is God who works in you both to
will and to do for His good
pleasure. 14) Do all things without
[murmuring] and disputing, 15) That you
may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of
a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the
world, 16) Holding fast the word of
life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or
labored in vain.
And one of the ways that we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling is to be without fault amidst this society, amidst this generation, even though it is crooked and perverse. The two go hand in hand. There’s no point in being a light if it’s not going to be seen by people and to do that you have to interact with people in the world. That’s just part of the plan. But he says that being with fault in this generation is how we can be lights in the society. Being without fault goes hand in hand with being a light. Being a light is strengthened when you are without fault or without discredit, as it can be translated.
As Jeff pointed out, we’re never going to be perfect in this age. That is our goal. We’re never going to be without sin. But let’s face it. It’s hard to stand up and say, “Hey, I’m a light,” when you get caught red handed doing something that the Bible teaches against.
Being a light is strengthened by being without discredit. And on the other hand, it is weakened when we are found to be discredited. The two go hand in hand. We are to be salt of the earth. We read that earlier. But there’s nothing that will cause salt to lose its seasoning quality in our Christian lives so fast as being caught doing one thing while saying another.
And that’s one of the things that Jesus Himself was so upset with the religious leaders of His day. Jesus was always taking them to task because they were preaching one thing, saying one thing, and then living another way. And He wanted their actions and their teachings to be consistent.
And that’s the same way with us. Being a light and being without discredit go hand in hand. And when I read these verses, it comes up to me how important it is that God be involved with this process. In verse 13, he says, as we’re working out our own salvation
Philippians 2:13. For it is
God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
And so, yes, we are making the effort as it says in verse 14. We are to be working and not grumbling and complaining. But the goal is verse 15 so that we can become more like the children of God, harmless and blameless by which we will be these lights that he talks about.
But if we remember that God is to be involved in the process, that may help give us the stamina and the fortitude to stand up and be counted from time to time when those opportunities come up. When we realize that God is involved in this process, God is behind us, then maybe that can help us get past some of the awkwardness and the uneasiness about being a light. It’s not easy. It’s not easy being a light. A light doesn’t make any sound with his lip, but there are forces that can snuff out the light. So it takes some effort to keep that light going, but keep in mind the fact that God is working with us. Jesus Christ prayed for us. He is interceding for us. God is involved with this process as well.
I thought it was interesting in reading through these verses that Paul himself would not know if his exhortation to do all these things, be a light, and then in verse 16 to hold fast the word of life, he wasn’t going to know that people were following through until, as it says in verse 16, until they reached the day of Christ. And then he would know whether or not he was running in vain in making the effort to try to teach and exhort. He encouraged them to hold fast the word of life but he wouldn’t know until the day of Christ’s return. And how would he know at that time? Well, when he would be there standing before Christ so would be the Philippians on his right hand or on his left. Then he would know that they had listened, that they had followed through on his teaching. He says he would take great joy from that if that were to take place, if that were to happen.
So we could add to Paul’s joy as well. Now he doesn’t know us from Adam. He doesn’t know that we were going to just two thousand years later but just like the Philippians we could add to Paul’s joy. We could add to Peter’s joy. And they would be able to say with much more feeling, “Yes, it was worth all the trouble we went to,” that they went to back then when they see so many of Jesus Christ’s Brethren standing there when Christ returns. And we can be there. We can be there with the Philippians and with Paul and Peter if we continue being those lights that God wants us to be, if we continue to hold fast the word of life as Paul refers to adhere. And that will help us be there in that day of salvation.
So I think from seeing these verses, the Bible is showing us that God does not take us out of this world. He expects us to carry on as His children even though there are hardships and troubles in our summer season. Again, however that plays out in our lives. We don’t get the option of withdrawing from our society.
Let’s go over to Jeremiah 42 because there’s an example in the Old Testament where this principle of God not taking us out of the world was actually played out by some people of that day. Jeremiah 42 verse 1.
A little background is this.
This is an account of some of the remnant of the nation of Judah who
were thinking about leaving
And there’s a group of people, a remnant, who are sick of the war. They’re sick of hearing the alarm of war as we’ll read. And they’re sick of going hungry. And they just want to get out of that society at the time and get away from things. How familiar does that sound with some of our situations? We’re sick of things as they exist today and we’d sure just like to get away and get out. Well, we’re going to read that Jesus Christ, actually it was the Lord God of Israel, the one who became Jesus Christ, says, ‘No,” to these people’s request to escape out of the land at that day. And I hope to point out that it’s for a greater purpose that the Lord God said, “No.” And there’s a greater purpose in our lives as to why He says, “No,” to us today in being taken out of this world.
So these people were afraid of more reprisals by
Jeremiah 42:1. Now all the
captains of the forces, Johanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of
Hoshaiah, and all the people, from the least to the greatest, came near 2) And said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please,
let our petition be acceptable to you, and pray for us to the Lord your God, for all this
remnant (since we are left but a few
of many, as you can see), 3) “That the Lord your God may show us the way in
which we should walk and the thing we should do.” 4) [And] Then Jeremiah the prophet said to
them, “I have heard. Indeed, I will pray
to the Lord your God according to
your words, and it shall be, that
whatever the Lord answers you, I
will declare it to you, I will keep
nothing back from you.” 5) So they said
to Jeremiah, “Let the Lord be a
true and faithful witness between us, if we do not do according to everything
which the Lord your God sends us
by you. 6) “Whether it is pleasing or displeasing, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we send you, that
it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.”
So in these verses it seems like they are really doing a
good thing. They do the right thing in
that they come and they seek to find out God’s will in this matter. So it all seems right and good on the
surface. But if you go through and read
the entire chapter and chapters 43 and part of 44, you’ll see that they were
not so sincere in their request.
Basically they had already made up their mind. And, as Jeremiah discovers, when God gives
them an answer, they had always decided to go down to
But if we’re going to be going before our God to ask what His will is on a situation, let’s be sincere about things. Let’s remember that verse in Hebrews where it says that the word of God is living and active, a two-edged sword that can discern the thoughts and intents of our heart. So God knows what our motives are. Let’s not go before Him in pretense trying to seek His will and all along we already made up our mind and we just want someone to rubber stamp it.
So verse 7, it says
Jeremiah 42:7. And it
happened after ten days that the word of the Lord
came to Jeremiah.
Verse 8, he gathers them together. And then a few more verses, verse 9, Jeremiah says to them.
Jeremiah 42:9b. “Thus says
the Lord, the God of Israel, to
whom you sent me to present your petition before Him:
God says this, verse 10,
Jeremiah 42:10. ‘If you will
still [abide] in this land, then I will build you and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not
pluck you up. For I relent concerning the disaster that I
have brought upon you.
Referring to the national captivity. The punishment was over. And he continues
Jeremiah 42:11. ‘Do not be
afraid of the king of
Verse 13.
Jeremiah 42:13. “But if you
say, ‘We will not dwell in this land,’ disobeying the voice of the Lord your God, 14) “Saying, ‘No, but we will go to the land
of Egypt where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor be
hungry for bread, and there we will dwell’—
15) “Then hear now the word of the Lord,
O remnant of Judah! Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If you wholly set your faces to enter Egypt,
and go to [sojourn] there, 16) ‘Then it
shall be that the sword which you
feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt; the famine of which you
were afraid shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there you shall die.
So just reading these verses we can see that God was telling
them that there was no good thing that would come of them going to
Jeremiah 42:19. “The Lord has said concerning you, O remnant
of
In verse 20 he exposes their motives.
Jeremiah 42:20. “For you
were hypocrites in your hearts when you sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the Lord our God, and according to all that
the Lord your God says, so declare
to us and [that] we will do.’
So Jeremiah knew from God’s Spirit that these people were
not sincere. They had already made up
their mind. And I just wonder. What was this group of people thinking? What was the remnant of
Again, we can read verse 14. God is repeating some of what they were thinking when He says, “Are these your thoughts?”
Jeremiah 42:14b. ‘No, but we
will go to the land of Egypt where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of
the trumpet, nor be hungry for bread, and there we will dwell’—
They wanted to escape the problems of their day. And, again, that can sound very familiar with the things that we go through in our Christian lives. Again, the heat, the humidity to get back to that example. The hard times, the dehydration that we can go through. Summer drought, the floods. We can long to be taken out of our troublesome world as well just like these people, but just as the Lord God of Israel said, “No,” to them, Jesus Christ is in line with His Father’s will and God does not want us taken out of this world as well.
And then the question may come up, “Why?” Why didn’t God want these people to escape
these hard times? What was wrong with
them asking to get away from the sounds of war, to not be so hungry? What’s wrong with that request, our God?”
they might say. Well, on the surface,
there’s nothing wrong with that request.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to have a better life. The thing is that God had a greater purpose
in mind for the remnant of
Now in light of these people saying, “No,” we know that
seventy years later, God made sure that a group of Jews came back from
And so, looking at our lives and our Christians lives and the troubles that we go through, is there some greater purpose as to why God says in John 17, “It is not My will that you should be taken out of the world”? Is there some greater purpose for our lives? We read about one of them in that we are to be lights in the world and to do that we need to be in the world.
But remember some of the messages that we’ve heard here locally. How else would the firstfruits get all the experiences they need to better help Jesus Christ in the world tomorrow, in that Last Great Day, unless we get those experiences by living in this world today? And so for that greater purpose, maybe our Father says, “No,” to taking us out of our problem filled lives today.
And then we might want to consider this as well. I mentioned how that people will be coming up in a thousand years and having their minds and eyes opened to the truth. Well, what if someone is resurrected, their minds are open to God’s truth, they hear about salvation, they hear about all the requirements of a righteous life, the straight and narrow life that God wants all of His people to live? That’s not going to change. This person comes up and what if he says, “That’s asking too much. It’s too hard. No one could live by these rules.” Well then all that God would have to do is turn and point to the firstfruits harvest and say, “Take a look. See it can be done. Here is a group of people that have lived this way of life that you think is too hard. And what’s more. This group of people did it at a time when they were within the Devil’s world. They went through this world. It was a much harder time for them. So if they could do it with My help, then surely you could do it in a day when there is no Devil, in a day when you’re free from that corrupting influence.” So maybe that’s part of the reason as well as to why God says now we are not to be taken out of our world today.
I think I need to emphasize that by this Old Testament
example and by this New Testament teaching, no one is advocating that you don’t
make a better life for yourself. No one
is advocating that you don’t take care of your family. And if that means moving to a different city,
moving to a different state, maybe moving to a different country, going to
school in a different state to make a better life for yourself, if that’s what
it takes to take care of your household and your family, then there’s nothing
wrong with that. Through these examples
of Jeremiah, no one is canceling out the example of Abraham, our father in the
faith. Abraham’s life, much of his life
was an example of being a traveler and a pilgrim, a sojourner. But remember he traveled still within the
world. He was not taken out of the world
even during his sojourning. The children
of
All I was trying to do with this chapter 42 of Jeremiah is to apply it to this narrow point that when it comes to being taken out of this world, we don’t have that as an option. And God in principle plays that out in part in this chapter as well. We don’t get that wish now.
And for the record, in no way am I saying that Jeremiah 42 and John 17 in any way conflicts or rules out the promise for the future that at some point we’re going to be taken to a place of nourishment and taken care of for a time, times, and half a time. I believe that that is one of the sure promises of God that at some point in the future, the woman, the Church, will be given those two wings of a great eagle and will be nourished for that time, times, and half a time. That’s in Revelation 12:14 where we will be nourished away from or out of the presence of the serpent. I believe that that is a sure promise that God offers to those who have been faithful in His Church.
So what is the difference? How come it’s okay in the future to be taken out of this society and nourished, but it’s not okay now to pull up roots and escape and go off and seclude ourselves? If Christ Himself stayed within the Father’s will by praying that God not take us out of the world, how does that square with Revelation 12:14? Well, I hope we can see that in John 17 in Christ’s prayer that applies now as a general statement of where God wants His people to live out their lives. It is to be in this world for some of the reasons that we talked about.
But you can read throughout the Scriptures and even when His people were dwelling in the world, there were times when God provided protection, where God provided intervention, where God did some mighty things to protect and nourish His people. And that’s all that Revelation 12 and verse 14 is. It’s just another example that God Himself is going to step in and provide for His Church, those that have been faithful. And let’s not forget that part of it. That this belief in a kind of nourishment is not just something made up by those who are “only seeking to save their own hides.” You have to remember that God Himself promises this protection, this nourishment, at His timing, of course. We have to remember that. That’s just one of the benefits that He provides to those who have been faithful in His Church. And it’s as much a part of the Father’s will for a time in the future as God’s will is now that we not be taken out of the world. Yes, it’s true when that time to go to that place of nourishment happens in a very real sense then we are being taken out of this world. We are escaping whatever problems happen, are going on in our lives at the time. But it’s much more than that. It’s a time of nourishment. It’s a time of intervention. It’s a time of God fulfilling another one of His promises. So I hope that we see that there is no conflict that both are within God’s will. They’re just for different times in our lives.
Well, that is my first point. I think it is time that we go on to another point. After all I only have five or six more points to go and at thirty minutes each we’re going to be here for a while. I think that woke up the back row over there. [Laughter.] Actually I mean as I said, “We’re just going to be covering two points.” And even the second point is not near as long as this first one.
And I just have to tell on Mr. Leroy Schuster. I hope he doesn’t not consider me a brother after this, but if you think I have the potential for going long, Mr. Schuster gave the opening prayer today. Now if you remember, he was asked to give a closing prayer one time. And if you remember, that closing prayer was more like a sermonette. And I give the man credit how he could weave those Scriptures together in that closing prayer. It was an amazing thing. But sometime later I was mocking him about it. [Laughter.] And I was saying something like, “Well, you didn’t have to make a sermonette out of that.” And do you know what his reply was? He said his reason for giving that long prayer was this, “You people are in too much of a hurry to get out of here and get some food. And I was going to keep you here for just a little bit longer.” [Laughter.] So God provides. God had Mr. Schuster give the opening prayer rather than the closing prayer so that we could get to our potluck in time. And I’ll try and keep that in mind. So hopefully he and I can still wash each other’s feet next spring.
But my first point has been in drawing lessons from the summer season: Yes, it’d be great if we could just withdraw from all of our problems. We’d have to stay indoors. We’d have to go off and hide. And that’s just not in God’s plan.
A second lesson from our summer season is this: We need to make sure that we’re getting enough water or other fluids to keep ourselves hydrated—to use a fancy word. Dehydration is a real danger in the summer. One of the advantages of being in the summer season is that we have lots of daylight to get a lot of things done and a lot of activity that’s going on. And there’s always the danger of overdoing it and doing too much activity where you start to suffer heat exhaustion and that’s where you start getting dizzy. You don’t quite feel right. Maybe you feel a little “vomitose.” Nauseous, excuse me. (“Vomitose” is a word that we use around our house and it just slips out now and then. The word—not the actual act. [Laughter.]) But there is a danger of becoming overheated if we don’t take in enough water. And heat exhaustion is one form of that. After that it goes on to something a little bit more serious called heat stroke. And that’s where things are getting worse. And the body actually shuts down. And of all things, you stop sweating. And your body temperature shoots up. And all that is a result of not getting enough water. There are some serious conditions that can happen from not taking in enough water. And actually it’s known that by the time you start feeling thirsty, you are already in a fluid deficit. So they advise you in going out and doing all these activities to take in enough water beforehand. So water is not only a maintenance item but it’s also a preventative as well.
And, of course, there’s a parallel for our Christian life. During the summer season, the summer months, our schedules can get very busy, very busy where it tends to crowd out our spiritual life where we’re not taking in the water of life that is written for us in the Bible. Who has time to open up this book and see what it says when I’ve got to get all these other things done? Well, I’d better be finding time to see what this word of life has to say otherwise I’m going to end up in a situation where I become dehydrated and am not able to carry on in a spiritual way.
Let’s go over to Ephesians chapter 6 verse 10. We’ll just read a few verses. Ephesians 6 verse 10, I’ll just read it. It says
Ephesians 6:10. Finally, my
brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
And my point is how can we be strong in the Lord if we don’t know, first of all, who the Lord is, what He is up to, what His teachings are? How can we be strong if we never open up this Book to read what He has to say? Eventually if you neglect it long enough, if you don’t take in this water of life, eventually you become weak in the Lord. And you’re not going to be, we can’t be those lights that God wants us to be. We have to be taking in this fluid beforehand.
Verses 11 through 14, you can read that on your own sometime where he talks about putting on the “armor of God that we may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, (verse 13) to stand. 14) Stand therefore ….” Again how can we stand spiritually if we’re not taking in the living waters that’s written in this Word? When you’re physically dehydrated, when you’re physically weak, you have to at some point sit down and get some rest. And for us spiritually, our Sabbath is a day of rest where we can recoup and catch our breath. But if you carry on long enough without taking in God’s Word, you’re not going to be able to stand during the rest of the week, during those other six days. We’re just not to be spiritually healthy on the seventh day. We’re to be spiritually healthy the other six days as well. And it takes taking in His Word to do that.
Let’s go over to John 15 verse 4. John 15 verse 4. To me reading the Bible and thinking about God’s Word and what God is doing in our lives is part of staying connected to the vine which is the example Jesus gives here. John 15 verse 4.
John 15:4. “Abide in Me, and
I in you. As the branch cannot bear
fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you
abide in Me. 5) “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much
fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
6) “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is
withered; and they gather them and throw them
into the fire, and they are burned.
And this came to mind. About a week and a half ago I had some tree work done at our house where there’s a line of overgrown trees on the south side of our house where I had the tops sheared off. And then the branches hanging over into the other yard, I had sheared off as well. And so you can imagine there’s a lot of limbs and branches, some fairly big, that still had leaves on them. And it’s amazing how you can be fooled where even though the branch is cut off from the tree in this case, it still looks like it’s a perfectly healthy branch because for a while those leaves don’t dry up, those leaves don’t curl. And so you think that you’re getting everything out of the upper branches of the tree as these branches are being cut off and fall to the ground. You think you got everything, but again, you can be fooled. And it wasn’t until the next day that I got home from work and I could see that we had missed a few the day before. The plan was to get the trees trimmed up the one day and then have it chipped and shredded the next day and carried off. And so there was a lot of these branches on the ground but there were still a few in the tree that we had missed from pulling out. And you could see now after a day of drying out in the heat just what were the live branches and which were the ones that were cut off.
And so there are things we can learn from that as well. If we do not stay connected to the vine, if we do not continue to take in the waters of life, it’s like being that branch that gets trimmed off when it’s overgrown. For a while it may look like that branch is alive. And spiritually in our Christian lives, how long is that if we cut ourselves off from the vine? Can we last a day? A week? A month? A year? That depends on your own physical and mental and spiritual resources I suppose.
And that’s talking about branches that are cut off. You could be a branch that’s still attached to the vine but maybe isn’t taking in as much water as it should. How long will a branch stay in healthy condition that way? Well, you would think it would be a little bit longer than being cut off. But why take the chance? Why would you want to be the one to be the case study where God figures out how long can a person last by staying attached but not getting enough water? Why not be the one that is a healthy branch that always has enough of the words of life coming in by reading regularly what God has to say and thinking about where you’re headed in your life?
It takes some effort. We’re not going to go there but if you wanted a reference, Proverbs 4 verses 1 through 9. It takes some effort. We’re doing a lot of things during the summer season. We’re going about taking care of the physical things we need to, getting things done, but let’s remember Proverbs 4 and verse 7 particularly. Let’s remember to take care of things in the spiritual level as well where Solomon says, “In all your getting, get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.” We’re getting things done in our lives, but let’s make some time to get the things that matter of real value, the teaching from God’s Word. And all of that I liken to staying connected as a branch to the vine, a branch to the tree. You can liken it to getting enough water as we go about the heat of the day.
And then you might also remember the example of Daniel. Daniel was talking to the king about one of the king’s dreams. I don’t remember what chapter that was. The dream, it was bad news but the king wanted to hear it anyway. And what did Daniel tell the king? Daniel said to the king, “Sir, hear my counsel and listen to my words.” And he said, “Break off your sins so that these bad things don’t happen to you.” He was advising the king to break off his sin.
And that’s something that we can keep in mind. Break off our sins. We do not want to break ourselves off from the vine, but we do want to cut away and cut off those parasitic plants that are clinging to us. As Hebrews refers to it, it’s time to get rid of “the sin that so easily ensnares us.” It’s like those vines that we see in the summertime holding onto other trees. Jesus Himself said, “If our right arm offends us, cut it off. It is better to enter into life maimed than to go into hell complete.” So there are things we need to cut off and we need to cut off those sins. So that is part of taking in enough nourishment as well, thinking about where we are headed, see if we need to make any course corrections, see if there are some strangling vines that are coming around our lives that we need to get rid of.
I’m hurrying a little bit here but there is one more example that I wanted to talk about. I wasn’t sure if I should include it in the second point or just keep it separate on its own. But I decided that I’m going to take a chance and include it with this second point. It may be a stretch. My second point has been to emphasize the need that we have to access water during the heat and the humidity. And that applies to our spiritual lives as well. And so this last example it’s about staying humble.
Staying humble, you might say, is evidence that you have been taking in the words of life that are in this Book because if you are of a lowly attitude about yourself and about your relations, your stature compared to the Almighty God, that’s maybe considered evidence that you have been reading a few things from this Book. You’ve been reading where it says in Genesis, “Remember, man, that you are dust and unto dust you will return.” You’ll remember in the Psalms about how David said, “What is man that You are mindful of him?” You will have read how we are mortal, houses of clay. That we are in need of a Savior. We are in need of eternal life. We do not have it yet.
And the point that I wanted to make is that we would have read where Paul says we should not think of ourselves more highly than we ought. Now the Bible clearly says that in these verses. We should not think more highly of ourselves than we ought. But I find it interesting that the heavenly bodies themselves teach that principle for us as firstfruits. The heavenly bodies teach us that principle with relation to the Holy Days and specifically the phase of the moon at Pentecost. Now if you’re wondering, “Well, what is he talking about?” Please hear me out for just the next few minutes.
We know that we are to be the firstfruits in God’s plan of salvation. The very next humans after the Christ to be born into God’s Family, to go through that real born again experience. That’s an amazing thing and that can be heady knowledge where maybe it fills one of these houses of clay, one of us, with more self-importance than we ought to have.
But to me it’s interesting that the phase of the moon at Pentecost may have been designed to be a reminder to us not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought. And, yes, we are firstfruits. Yes, we are an important step in God’s plan of salvation but we need to remember that we are just that. We are just a step in God’s plan as that phase of the moon may show and I’ll talk about it in a minute. We are not the end all, be all in God’s plan of salvation.
Now if you know, the moon goes through different phases each month from new moon reflecting no light of the sun. Over the next seven days roughly, it becomes a half moon. Then it becomes a full moon over fourteen or fifteen days. And then it reverses the process where the light diminishes over the next two weeks. And that’s called going through different phases.
Now generally for most people, the most impressive phase of that moon is when it’s big and bright and it’s a full moon in the sky where it’s just so noticeable. You go out at night and you look up and it’s there. I mean how many songs have been sung about the crescent moon versus a full moon? When Dean Martin, when he was singing “That’s Amore,” I don’t think he was singing about that crescent moon but he was singing about the full moon. And I’ll spare you my rendition of “That’s Amore.” I don’t want to break the sound system. But generally it’s the full moon that catches people’s attention.
Now the Church Holy Days and the Festivals were set up by God to occur at specific times of the Hebrew month. And when that happens, they occur with specific phases of the moon. Passover, as we know, always is going to occur at a full moon. That’s just how it’s set up. The First Day of Unleavened Bread will always be a full moon or near a full moon. The First Day of Tabernacles will always be a full moon because it always occurs on the fifteenth day of the month. Trumpets is always going to be a new moon. No light from that moon because it’s the first day of that Hebrew month, a lunar calendar. And the other Festivals have varying amounts of light depending on when those days fall in the Hebrew month though they’re fixed dates. And they’re either in a time of increasing light or a time of decreasing light.
But what about Pentecost, the Festival of the Firstfruits? Pentecost, as we know, doesn’t occur on a fixed date which means it doesn’t always occur on the same day of the Hebrew month which means the phase of the moon for Pentecost varies from year to year. And about the only thing you can say with certainty is that the phase of the moon on which Pentecost occurs, the phase of the moon is in an increasing light. I went back and looked over the last twenty-eight or twenty-nine years and the stage of the moon is somewhere between four days old up to eleven days old. That is to say that it is somewhere between new moon and a full moon. It is never ever a full moon. The phase of the moon at Pentecost is never a situation where all the light that can be reflected by the moon is being reflected by the moon.
So you may wonder, so what? What’s the point? Is it possible that God has set up things like that in the heavenly bodies to make the point that as important as the Firstfruits Festival is in the plan of God, as pictured by Pentecost, it is not the brightest time in the night sky in the plan of God? There are Festivals and days where more light is reflected by the moon. It is a brighter time so to speak. Passover is one. The First Day of Tabernacles is another one. All you can say about Pentecost is that it is in a time of increasing moonlight which makes it an important Festival. But all I’m suggesting by all this is that by God’s design is He saying to the firstfruits, “Hey, you may think you’re important and you are an important part of My plan, but the Firstfruits Festival is not the brightest time in the night sky when it comes to My plan”? “You are a time of increasing moonlight and a time of increasing light, but there are Festivals and situations that will be much brighter in one sense when it comes to the plan of God being fulfilled then.” So all I’m suggesting is that did God design the phase of the moon at Pentecost, another reminder that we are not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought? We said that in the Scriptures we can read that by taking in the waters of life but is there some other evidence that that may be the case?
And that’s what I wanted to cover today. There are some other things we could think of. Maybe we could think about these things on our own time. But not only is it the case that God is not taking us out of the world, we have to live within the world. And not only is it important that we get enough water in our Christian lives, but there is also a time of need to get some rest as well during the summer months. Don’t forget rest and that’s what the Sabbath is all about, a day of rest. There are times where we need to keep an eye on the sky during our summer months and perhaps that applies in our Christian lives in keeping an eye on prophecy and some of the bad things that are coming down our way. We need to be aware of those things.
But regardless, I tried to bring out these two points. And the bottom line is that we do not have to end up like one of these branches that gets cut off from the vine. We do not have to become dehydrated. We do not have to be separated from our God. It takes some effort. We need to be taking in these living waters, but let’s do that. Let’s stay close to God during the summer months and we’ll realize His greater purpose for our lives and not only that we’ll stay healthy spiritually and we’ll be those lights that God wants us to be to the people around us.
Transcribed by kb